Which NSW coastal town has "world-class surf, more beaches than you can shake a stick at, friendly, easygoing locals and over 300 days of sunshine a year"?

Aerial photograph found at www.visitnsw.com

Yamba, situated where the Clarence River meets the sea, received some well deserved media attention this week.

It is now a year round go to destination which helps produce tourism statistics like this for the NSW North Coast:

NSW destination preference: regional and Sydney, 2015 vs 2016

Source: Roy Morgan Single Source (Australia), April 2014-March 2015 (n=15,913) and April 2015-March 2016 (n=15,074). Base: Australians 14+

Travellers who’d like to holiday on the NSW North Coast are also a high-value group (27.9% of them spent $200+ per night on their last holiday); just ahead of those with a preference for Sydney Surrounds – North (27.2%). The Murray Riverina (23.3%) is the least likely of the new Destination Networks to be on the radar of big-spending holiday-goers. [Roy Morgan Research, July 2016, Destination NSW: A Regional Perspective]

News.com.au, 24 July 2016:

YAMBA, NSW

With world-class surf, more beaches than you can shake a stick at, friendly, easygoing locals and over 300 days of sunshine a year, Yamba has understandably been a longtime favourite for surfers in-the-know. However, since Australian Traveller Magazine named it “Australia’s best tourist town” back in 2009, word has quickly started to spread and the former-fishing village is now truly coming into its own.

Yes, it’s still populated by surfboard carrying, wetsuit clad beach bums but amid the salty surfers, the number of both visitors — and city slickers relocating — is increasingly annually and with this increase of stressed urbanites flocking to Yamba for a sea change, a burgeoning food scene has been born.

You can see this in action at Irons and Craig, a cafe where fresh produce rules and everything is made on site, from the bread to the custom-blended coffee.

In contrast to the jam-packed beaches of Byron, Yamba’s 11 pristine stretches of white sand, five of which are close to the town centre, are positively Robinson Crusoe-like and with 16 great surf spots, an empty break is virtually guaranteed.

But for serious surf-hounds, the nearby beachside enclave of Angourie — just 5km down the road — is bona fide surfing Mecca. A National Surfing Reserve — the second site in Australia to be recognised — it remains a fixture on the international surfing map.

In awe of the strength of first peoples protecting land

Sometimes two sentences hold a wealth of meaning.....

Post on the Facebook page No Yamba Mega Port announcing that the corporation which manages the two Native Titles over the Clarence River on behalf of the Yaegl People will not support Australian Infrastructure Development's scheme to industrialize the high environmental and cultural value Clarence River estuary.

Shop at Woolworths on the NSW North Coast? You need to read this

Fair Work Ombudsman

Trolley collection services procurement by Woolworths Limited,  media release date June 2016: 

In June 2014 we commenced an Inquiry into Woolworths’ procurement of trolley collection services.

For nearly a decade before this, we'd been investigating allegations of serious non-compliance with workplace laws involving businesses providing trolley collection services to Woolworths Limited (Woolworths).

In response to a perceived lack of improvement in compliance and disturbing allegations of violence towards workers at some Woolworths' sites, we started an Inquiry into their procurement of trolley collection services. It aimed to comprehensively identify and address the levels and drivers of non-compliance with Australian workplace laws by businesses involved in Woolworths' labour supply chains.

We examined around 130 Woolworths' supermarket sites across Australia and found indications of some form of non-compliance at 79% of them. The findings of this report indicate an entrenched culture of non-compliance in the Woolworths trolley collection supply chain.

At the time of publishing, as a result of the Inquiry, we've taken enforcement action against a number of businesses (and their Directors) involved in various Woolworths' labour supply chains, including:

commencing legal action against 2 businesses and their Directors, one of which we believe provided us with false and misleading records and the other for allegedly underpaying over $25 000 in wages

issuing 9 letters of caution for various Award contraventions, failing to adequately keep records, and misclassifying employment as an independent contracting arrangement.

We are also considering future legal proceedings against a number of other businesses providing labour to Woolworths for similar alleged contraventions.

Download the full report on our Inquiry into trolley collection services procurement by Woolworths Limited (PDF 1.1MB).

EXCERPTS

Examining 130 (or 13.5%) of Woolworths’ supermarket sites across Australia , the Inquiry found:

n more than 3 in every 4 (79%) of sites visited had indications of some form of non-compliance with workplace laws

n almost 1 in every 2 (49%) of sites visited presented serious issues, that is multiple indicators of non-compliance

n deficient governance arrangements contributing to a lack of Award knowledge and substandard record keeping

n false, inaccurate or misleading records

n failure to issue pay slips to workers

n workers being paid rates as low as $10 an hour

n cash payments which disguised the true identities of workers and actual amounts paid to workers

n manipulation of the identity card system implemented by Woolworths

n workers vulnerable to exploitation and often complicit in acts of non-compliance

n complex labour supply chains with networks of corporate structures and intermediaries to facilitate cash payments, recruitment of vulnerable workers and production of false records.

These characteristics are indicative of an entrenched culture of non-compliance in the Woolworths trolley collection supply chain......

We examined correspondence and the Trolley Collection Service Agreement from 2011 relating to 17 NSW and ACT supermarket sites. By dividing the agreed price by the weekly labour hours required to deliver the service, we found the cost per labour hour was below minimum pay rates at 15 of the 17 sites.

The casual cruelty of the Turnbull Government can leave one speechless

@bamboozled3 tweeted this snapshot on 24 July 2016 from Sue Robinson's Facebook page entry of 21 July:

The Australian Health Minister is reported as stating that we are now working through her situation in a bid to address her concerns.

A statement which does not deny that Ms. Robinson was refused this diagnostic test on the basis that she had no money to pay upfront.

News.com.au reported on 25 July 2015:

On Monday afternoon, Ms Robinson posted an update to say thank you for the support and revealed Ms Ley had made contact.

“It looks as if there might be some action on it, and that is a direct result of your response,” she wrote.

“As a result of the number of ‘shares’ and responses, the office of the Federal Health minister, Sussan Ley posted with contact details asking me to call.

“I did and was put through to a young man called Alex. We established two things. Alex assures me that the guidelines for bone scans haven’t changed since the election (I didn’t think they had, but I thought they might have since the last budget).

“He says there should have been no recent changes at all, and if I was eligible, for example, last year, I should still be eligible as I am still on the meds that compromise my bone density.

“However, according to the Medicare website I was shown this weekend my meds are on the list of those for which a bone scan is recommended, but not one for which it is reimbursed.

“There doesn’t seem to be any justification for this and it does specifically exclude cancer patients because the meds concerned are for cancer.

“I also asked Alex why are there guidelines at all? Surely if a cancer specialist regards such a test as necessary for a patient, that should be enough? After all, every case is different and the referring doctors are the only ones who can really know what is required in each case. Alex said that was a good question, but didn’t answer it, though he did tell me that these exclusions are worked out by a medical services advisory committee.

“We agreed that he would investigate further and I am sending him a link to the Medicare website so he may check the guidelines for himself.

“I also have a little more information on the charging system being used for these tests. I called other local practices who do such scans here and asked about bulk billing. They all had the same reply ... It’s complicated. It seems they can’t tell if you are eligible until you go in and then fill in a form.

“It is your answers in this form, and not the referral, which determine if you are eligible, so they say. They can’t tell you before you arrive whether or not you will be asked to pay. But if you are, the charges vary from practice to practice.

“For those of you who posted saying you are in the same boat, here are the costs you might have to pay if you are excluded from bulk billing. PRP will charge a $60 fee, Erina Radiology charges $85. Medical Imaging at Erina charges $50 for pensioners and $100 for the employed, but also states that they do whatever they can to bulk bill you. This practice was also recommended by one of my Facebook friends Maryellen Golden who said she had been bulk billed for a bone scan there herself. (Thank you Maryellen)

“I guess this isn’t unaffordable (unless you are on a limited income like a pension), and as long as you know it, you can save up. But I can’t help but wonder why it should be costed at all. I’m hoping this will be treated by the government as an unfortunate oversight that will be corrected.

And if it is, it will be your overwhelming response that brought it to their attention. Thank you again.”

For all low-income patients there are other pitfalls awaiting the unwary no matter what the diagnosis.

The Medicare website states; If you have more than one service during the same visit you may not be bulk billed for every service.

What it does not state is that the Medicare treats a patient’s claim involving multiple services differently from a claim involving a single health item and therefore the dollar amount a patient is reimbursed can be much lower.

As much as $65 lower in the instance of which I am aware, leaving the pensioner $125 out-of-pocket in total.

One of the more bizarre positions that the federal government takes is that the patient (or presumably the patient's estate if they left one) is responsible for the cost of the death certificate issued by an attending doctor - Medicare specifically includes this certificate in items not eligible for a rebate.

"Although Medicare benefits are not payable for the issue of a death certificate, an attendance on a patient at which it is determined that life is extinct can be claimed under the appropriate attendance item. The outcome of the attendance may be that a death certificate is issued, however, Medicare benefits are only payable for the attendance component of the service."

Medicare Benefits Schedules (Complete MBS and MBS by Category) operating from 1 July 2016 can be found here.

Another blow for Australian Infrastructure Developments: ACCC Chair reveals port privatisations not in the nation's best interests

Australian Infrastructure Developments Pty Ltd and its shadowy backers face more than a Lower Clarence community determined to fight its scheme to industrialise Port of Yamba situated in the high environmental value Clarence River estuary.

Now it has been revealed that its desire to extensively expand and privatise this small domestic port will in all likelihood increase freight costs for the Murray-Darling Basin farmers, graziers, agri-businesses and mining corporations that are supposed to be its future customers.

Financial Review, 26 July 2016:

The head of the competition regulator has called out governments for blatantly structuring asset sales to maximise profits at the expense of consumers and businesses.

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chairman Rod Sims said he had been a strong advocate of privatisation for 30 years because he believed it enhanced economic efficiency but he now believed "people in the street" who oppose privatisation because it raises prices had it right based on recent port sales in NSW. 

He said he was now "almost at the point of opposing privatisation" because state and federal governments were becoming increasingly blatant about structuring sales to maximise proceeds at the expense of competition.

"I am getting more exasperated. I just think governments are more explicitly now privatising to maximise the proceeds - including the Commonwealth," he said. 

"They are explicitly saying the reason they don't want to do this or this is that it'll damage the proceeds they are getting. They're not even playing the rhetorical game anymore. 

"I see it getting worse. I think a sharp upper cut is needed in this area. That's why I am saying, 'let's just stop the privatisations'. It is increasing prices - let's just call it out." …..

Mr Sims said ports privatisation was the best example of the approach that had turned him off privatisation as a policy. 

The ports of Botany and Kembla had been privatised together to limit competition, a big debate was under way in Victoria about making sure the Port of Hastings would be a competitor to a privatised Port of Melbourne in future, and "the same battle" was being waged over the Port of Fremantle, where  the WA government wants to give the buyer a right of first refusal over a future outer harbour port. 

The ACCC chairman last month criticised the way Port Botany was privatised, saying price monitoring of unregulated monopolies was ineffective. But this is the first time he has gone so far as the call a halt to sales of public assets. 

Mr Sims said he was less concerned about the NSW government's power poles and wires privatisations because the state has an independent pricing regulator. The NSW government has applied to the Australian Energy Markets Commission to draw out until 2024 an annual price hike of up to $520 per household that was scheduled take effect from July 2017 to avoid a "price shock" for consumers. 

Mr Sims said he was also concerned that monopoly ports were being privatised without any pricing regulation, leading to "lovely headlines in the Financial Review saying 'gosh what successful sales, look at the multiples they achieved'."

"Of course they bloody well did. The owners have factored in very large price rises because there's no regulation of how they set the prices of a monopoly. How dopey is that?" he said.  

'It's damaging our cost structure'

"I think it's a serious issue facing Australia. I think it's damaging our cost structure considerably. 

"And when you meet people in the street and they say, 'I don't like privatisation because it boosts the prices', and you dismiss them, no no, they're right. Recent examples suggest they're right." 

U.S. Politics 2016: A cry from the heart

GOPLifer, 22 July 2016:

Resignation letter

Chairman Cuzzone:

We come together in political parties to magnify our influence. An organized representative institution can give weight to our will in ways we could not accomplish on our own. Working with others gives us power, but at the cost of constant, calculated compromise. No two people will agree on everything. There is no moral purity in politics.

If compromise is the key to healthy politics, how does one respond when compromise descends into complicity? To preserve a sense of our personal moral accountability we must each define boundaries. For those boundaries to have meaning we must have the courage to protect them, even when the cost is high.

Almost thirty years ago as a teenager in Texas, I attended my first county Republican convention. As a college student I met a young Rick Perry, fresh from his conversion to the GOP, as he was launching his first campaign for statewide office. Through Associated Republicans of Texas I contributed and volunteered for business-friendly Republican state and local candidates.

Here in DuPage County I’ve been a precinct committeeman since 2006. Door to door I’ve canvased my precinct in support of our candidates. Trudging through snow, using a drill to break the frozen ground, I posted signs for candidates on whom I pinned my hopes for better government. Among Illinois Republicans I found an organization that seemed to embody my hopes for the party nationally. Pragmatic, sensible, and focused on solid government, it seemed like a GOP Jurassic Park, where the sensible, reliable Republicans of old still roamed the landscape.

At the national level, the delusions necessary to sustain our Cold War coalition were becoming dangerous long before Donald Trump arrived. From tax policy to climate change, we have found ourselves less at odds with philosophical rivals than with the fundamentals of math, science and objective reality.

The Iraq War, the financial meltdown, the utter failure of supply-side theory, climate denial, and our strange pursuit of theocratic legislation have all been troubling. Yet it seemed that America’s party of commerce, trade, and pragmatism might still have time to sober up. Remaining engaged in the party implied a contribution to that renaissance, an investment in hope. Donald Trump has put an end to that hope.

From his fairy-tale wall to his schoolyard bullying and his flirtation with violent racists, Donald Trump offers America a singular narrative – a tale of cowards. Fearful people, convinced of our inadequacy, trembling before a world alight with imaginary threats, crave a demagogue. Neither party has ever elevated to this level a more toxic figure, one that calls forth the darkest elements of our national character.

With three decades invested in the Republican Party, there is a powerful temptation to shrug and soldier on. Despite the bold rhetoric, we all know Trump will lose. Why throw away a great personal investment over one bad nominee? Trump is not merely a poor candidate, but an indictment of our character. Preserving a party is not a morally defensible goal if that party has lost its legitimacy.

Watching Ronald Reagan as a boy, I recall how bold it was for him to declare ‘morning again’ in America. In a country menaced by Communism and burdened by a struggling economy, the audacity of Reagan’s optimism inspired a generation.

Fast-forward to our present leadership and the nature of our dilemma is clear. I watched Paul Ryan speak at Donald Trump’s convention the way a young child watches his father march off to prison. Thousands of Republican figures that loathe Donald Trump, understand the danger he represents, and privately hope he loses, are publicly declaring their support for him. In Illinois our local and state GOP organizations, faced with a choice, have decided on complicity.

Our leaders’ compromise preserves their personal capital at our collective cost. Their refusal to dissent robs all Republicans of moral cover. Evasion and cowardice has prevailed over conscience. We are now, and shall indefinitely remain, the Party of Donald Trump.

I will not contribute my name, my work, or my character to an utterly indefensible cause. No sensible adult demands moral purity from a political party, but conscience is meaningless without constraints. A party willing to lend its collective capital to Donald Trump has entered a compromise beyond any credible threshold of legitimacy. There is no redemption in being one of the “good Nazis.”

I hereby resign my position as a York Township Republican committeeman. My thirty-year tenure as a Republican is over.

Sincerely,

Chris Ladd

Fatal Extraction: how Australian mining companies exploit Africa

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists:

Australia is a giant in African mining, but its vast, sometimes deadly footprint has never been examined – until now….

Number of Australian-listed mining companies active in Africa:
more than 150* 

Market capitalization:
about $133 billion*

One of the earliest recorded mentions of an Australian mine worker in Africa:
1902

Number of countries in Africa where Australian mining companies are active:
33*

Number of licenses:
about 1500*

Country with the most licences held by Australian-listed companies:
Tanzania (about 360)*

Number of fatalities linked to Australian-listed mining companies in Africa (2004-2015):
more than 380

Country with the most fatalities during that time:
South Africa (more than 240)

Median minimum mining wage in South Africa:
about $5500

Average starting salaries for Australian mine workers:
about $60,000

Number of Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) filings consulted:
more than 1000

Number of kilometers traveled by reporters in the Fatal Extraction team:
about 33,000

Number of reporters, researchers, and editors in the Fatal Extraction team:
30

*Pertains to mining companies listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) that have mining licences in Africa as of December 31, 2014. Read more about ICIJ's data methodology for Fatal Extraction. Contributors to this story: Cécile Schilis-Gallego and Will Fitzgibbon

FATAL EXTRACTION: AUSTRALIAN MINING'S DAMAGING PUSH INTO AFRICA  - more here.

Australia’s Wild West – slide presentation.

The Productivity Commission states what those with even a modicum of intelligence knew instinctively

Apparently the Australian Government is going to learn the hard way that modern free-trade agreements rarely provide low manufacturing-high primary production & natural resource extraction economies such as ours with the anticipated level of additional income from international trade.

The Guardian, 25 July 2016:

A key economic policy adviser to the federal government has said the Trans-Pacific Partnership has provisions of “questionable benefit” – including an investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) clause allowing foreign corporations to sue the Australian government if they think the government has introduced or changed laws that hurt their commercial interests.

The Productivity Commission made the comment in its annual trade and assistance review, released on Monday. The review quantifies the level of assistance governments give to Australian industry and this year criticises regional adjustment programs that have followed the exit of the carmakers, and also the Turnbull government’s big defence procurement spend rolled out in the countdown to the recent federal election.

On the TPP the commission says it is uncertain whether the US will sign the controversial pact before the presidential election in November 2016. While noting that, the commission says the TPP contains provisions of questionable benefit. “These include term of copyright and the investor state dispute settlement elements.”

The commissioner, Paul Lindwall, warned the success in defending a recent landmark ISDS case relating to tobacco plain packaging entailed reported legal costs of about $50m.

The tobacco giant Philip Morris used an ISDS provision in the Hong Kong-Australia bilateral investment treaty, signed in 1993, in an effort to sue the Australian government over the plain packaging laws implemented by the Gillard government in 2012. The case dragged on for years before an international tribunal ruled in Australia’s favour, saying Philip Morris Asia’s claim was an abuse of process.

“As it was resolved on a technicality, and costs are apparently yet to be recovered, this success should not be taken as an indication that ISDS is essentially harmless,” Lindwall said Monday…..

Australian Productivity Commission Trade & Assistance Review 2014-15 here.

The Sydney Morning Herald, 12 January 2016:

Australia stands to gain almost nothing from the mega trade deal sealed with 11 other nations including United States, Japan, and Singapore, the first comprehensive economic analysis finds.

Prepared by staff from the World Bank, the study says the so-called Trans-Pacific Partnership would boost Australia's economy by just 0.7 per cent by the year 2030.

The annual boost to growth would be less than one half of one 10th of 1 per cent…..

World Bank graphs: Trans-Pacific Partnership

According to The Age economics editor Peter Martin, the three North Asia free-trade agreements (with China, Japan and the Republic of Korea) combined are only expected to increase total Australian exports by 0.5 per cent and local employment by less than one-half of one-tenth of 1 per cent by 2035. The agreements will boost imports into Australia from these countries by est. 2.5 per cent, sending Australia’s trade balance backwards.

NOTE: At the dissolution of the Senate and the House of Representatives on Monday, 9 May 2016 the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties ceased to exist.  Any inquiries that were not completed have lapsed and submissions cannot be received.

NT Attorney-General Johan (John) Wessel Elferink's incompetence and possible negligence exposed

Sometime between 8.30 pm on 25 July 2016 and the following morning the Hon Johan (John) Wessel Elferink MLA (pictured left) was removed as the Northern Territory Minister for Correctional Services and Minister for Justice.

However, according to the Dept. of the Chief Minister (2.20pm 26.07.16) to the best of its knowledge he remains NT Attorney-General. 

Elferink also remains listed on NT Government main website as Minister for Children and Families, Minister for Health, Minister for Disability Services and Minister for Mental Health Services.

Here is how this serious issue is being reported in the mainstream media…….

Crikey.com.au, 26 July 2016:

The ABC’s Four Corners program has produced another swift response from government, with Malcolm Turnbull already promising a royal commission into allegations of abuse of children in Northern Territory juvenile detention. But despite protests from authorities that they could not have known what was going on, the abuse was well documented almost a year ago.

In last night’s graphic broadcast, journalist Caro Meldrum-Hanna detailed the use of tear gas on six boys held in the Behavioural Management Unit of the Don Dale Youth Detention centre outside of Darwin in August 2014, as well as so-called spit hood head coverings and strapping children to chairs in footage reminiscent of the treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay…

The Guardian, 26 July 2016:

Malcolm Turnbull has announced a royal commission following the airing of shocking footage showing the treatment of children at the old Don Dale detention facility in Berrimah, outside Darwin.

The prime minister told ABC radio that like all Australians he was “deeply shocked ... and appalled” at the graphic footage of abuse at the centre, shown by the Four Corners program on Monday.

Four Corners showed shocking vision of instances of apparent abuse of teenage detainees and examined long running issues and instances of mistreatment in the Northern Territory youth justice system. CCTV footage showed the restraint and spit-hooding of one youth, as well as another being stripped and physically held down by guards on more than one occasion.

Turnbull said there was “no question” about the mistreatment of young people as recently as 2014.

He said the Don Dale centre had to be examined specifically but the royal commission would also consider “whether there is a culture that spreads across the detention system in the Northern Territory, whether it was specific to that centre”.

“The important thing is to get to the bottom of what happened at Don Dale, and there may be other matters connected to that to be looked into.”

Asked whether the royal commission would consider the Northern Territory justice system generally, Turnbull said inquiries needed a “clear focus so you get the answers to the specific problem”.

The deputy prime minister, Barnaby Joyce, played down the prospect of a broader inquiry, noting “the wider you make it, the longer it takes”.

“We want this to get moving as quickly as possible, to get to a conclusion as quickly as possible. We don’t want this issue to be investigated for years.”

Asked what Nigel Scullion – a Northern Territory senator and Indigenous affairs minister since September 2013 – knew about the mistreatment, Joyce replied “if Nigel Scullion had known about this he would have acted”.

“The issue we had is that we didn’t know about this.”

Turnbull said he had consulted the Northern Territory chief minister, Adam Giles, federal attorney general George Brandis, Scullion and human rights commission president Gillian Triggs, who all agreed the government needed to move swiftly.

He noted the Don Dale centre had been “controversial” in the past and the subject of previous inquiries.

“We will get to the bottom of what happened here: we want to know how this came about, what lessons can be learned from it, why there were inquiries that did not turn up this evidence,” he said.

“We need to expose the cultural problems, the administrative problems that allowed this type of mistreatment to occur,” Turnbull said.

“We need to understand how it was that there were inquiries into Don Dale, as a place where there had been allegations of abuse – there were inquiries, but did not produce the evidence that we’ve seen last night.”

Turnbull said children in detention should be treated humanely, but did not call for Don Dale to be immediately shut down – the centre was moved to the adult jail at Berrimah following the events illustrated on Four Corners. He said the royal commission, to be conducted jointly with the Northern Territory government, would be established and would report as soon as possible.

Patrick Dodson, Labor’s shadow assistant minister for Indigenous affairs, called on the government to take a broader look at the justice system and detention, not just the Don Dale centre.

He said the Northern Territory’s attorney general, John Elferink, should immediately be stood aside until the inquiry took place…..

News Hub, 26 July 2016:

At a press conference today NT Chief Minister Adam Giles announced he had taken over the portfolios of Corrections and Justice from John Elferink, the now former minister responsible for young detainees in the Northern Territory, reports Australian media.

"Can I start by saying that anybody who saw that footage on television last night on Four Corners would undoubtedly describe it as horrific footage. I sat and watched the footage and recognised horror through my eyes," Mr Giles said.

Mr Giles said the footage that aired on ABC's Four Corners had been withheld from him, Mr Elferink and other officials in what he called a "culture of cover-up within the corrections system."

"I think there's been a culture of cover up going on for many-a-long year. The footage we saw last night going back to 2010 - and I predict this has gone on for a very long time."

That said Mr Giles sympathises with the Far North Australian Territory's desire to rid the community of youth crime.

"They've had a gutful of cars getting smashed up, houses getting broken into, people being assaulted. There's no doubt. And the majority of the community is saying let's lock these kids up," he said.

ABC News, 26 July 2016:

The man formerly in charge of the NT's juvenile justice system has a complicated history, which includes making citizens arrests and public altercations.

John Elferink was today sacked as Northern Territory minister for corrections after featuring in the Four Corners report which aired on Monday night, defending the actions of guards at the Don Dale detention centre near Darwin.

"When kids arm themselves with broken glass, when kids arm themselves with metal bars, then reasonable force has to be brought to bear upon them, to subdue them," Mr Elferink said during the program…..

ABC News, 26 July 2016:

The NT Government should not be allowed to play any part in the royal commission into the mistreatment of young offenders at Territory juvenile detention facilities, former chief justice of the Family Court of Australia, Alastair Nicholson, says…..

Human Rights Commissioner Gillian Triggs called for an independent inquiry into the treatment of NT children in detention.

Mr Turnbull said the royal commission would be held in conjunction with the NT Government but Justice Nicholson said the Territory Government was part of the problem.

"The fact that it's in conjunction with the Northern Territory Government troubles me, because the Northern Territory Government is part of the problem," he said.

"I think that will act as a brake on the freedom of the commission to inquire into what it ought to be inquiring into.

ABC Four Corners program, Australia's Shame, 25 July 2016 can be viewed here.

UPDATE

Chief Minister Adam Giles has now taken over as NT Minister for Correctional Services and Minister for Justice.

This is him on his feet in parliament less than six years ago - forgetting that exclusion from society is the punishment meted out by the courts when sending people to gaol or juveniles to detention and that the correctional system is not supposed to inflict additional punishment by way of harsh treatment or abuse of human rights.

Northern Territory Parliament, Hansard, 19 October 2010:

The recidivism rate is at all-time highs in Australia. The prison system is not teaching anyone anything. People are not afraid to go to gaol. If one of us in this room was deprived of our liberties and placed in a prison system, I am sure we would not like to be there. However, for the majority of the people who go to gaol it is like going on a holiday. Going to gaol is like going to a resort. Going to gaol is like having a reprieve from society as you know it. To have the clean bed, food, meals, $25 a week, Coca-Cola and chip vending machines - why would you not want to be there? More than half the people there do not have this in their normal lives. It encourages people.

I understand there are rules which guide the prisons in Australia and the United Nations, and how we use basic human rights in the treatment of prisoners and so forth. I understand that. What I do not understand is how we are soft, flaccid, and incapable of punishing prisoners in our Corrections system. The soft and flaccid approach of the treatment of prisoners in the Northern Territory is having a detrimental effect on building the social fabric in our towns and, in particular, Alice Springs…..

I would love to be the Corrections minister. It is not the portfolio I really aspire to but, if I was the prisons minister, I would build a big concrete hole and put all the bad criminals in there: ‘Right, you are in the hole, you are not coming out. Start learning about it’. I might break every United Nations’ convention on the rights of the prisoner but, ‘Get in the hole’. The member for Nelson spoke about if you do the wrong thing, you do not go to a course, or you cannot play pool. I am sure every taxpayer in the Northern Territory would like to have a pool table, or be unhappy to know prisoners get pool tables and are paid to do menial tasks.

New Matilda, 28 July 2016:

The man who will lead the Royal Commission into the abuse of children in juvenile detention in the Northern Territory needs no introduction. At least not to Aboriginal people. Chris Graham explains.

Brian Martin, the former NT Supreme Court Chief Justice, achieved infamy among Aboriginal communities in April 2010 when he described five white youths who bashed an Aboriginal man to death in a racially charged drunken rampage as “of otherwise good character”.

The youths – Scott Doody, Timothy Hird, Anton Kloeden, Joshua Spears and Glen Swain – spent the night getting drunk at the local casino, before driving up and down the dry bed of the Todd River, where homeless Aboriginal people sleep.

They abused campers, fired a replica pistol at them, and ran over at least one swag with their vehicle.

Eventually, the boys stopped and kicked to death Kwementyaye Ryder, aged 33, after he threw a bottle at their car as they drove at him.

The killing remains infamous in Alice Springs to this day, in part for the racial motivation behind the attack…..

But the killing is most infamous for the amount of time the five young men ending up serving.

Chief Justice Martin sentenced one of the men to as little as 12 months. The longest time served was four years.

One of Justice Martin’s justifications for the light sentences was that the youths would be caused ‘additional hardship’ in prison, given the overwhelming majority of inmates are Aboriginal.

Following is a story I wrote for the ABC’s Drum site in 2010, while staying in Alice Springs for several months. It should give New Matilda readers some insight to how Brian Martin’s stewardship of the Royal Commission is likely to be greeted by black Territorians.

Time for Nationals MP for Page Kevin Hogan to do more than shrug his shoulders

The Daily Examiner, Letter to the Editor, 6 July 2016:

Hogan no hero on Yamba mega port proposal

THE Nationals' Kevin Hogan was quoted in a June 26 Daily Examiner article as stating of the Yamba mega port proposal that "it was disappointing this was still an issue. There is absolutely no chance this will ever happen. It's absolute pie-in-the-sky stuff. The project is not feasible and has no support at any level of government."

Fine words which display little understanding of the situation.

For starters, neither the Turnbull or Baird Governments have formally rejected this proposal for the industrialisation of the Port of Yamba as set out by Australian Infrastructure Developments Pty Ltd, because the first stage documents are still being prepared for submission to state government according to the company directors.

Then there is the fact that in May this year a Moree local government councillor made a pro-mega port presentation to the Namoi Councils Joint Organisation and, two of the persons present were a regional co-ordinator with the NSW Dept. of Premier and Cabinet, which has the carriage of unsolicited proposals such as this, and the chair of Regional Development Australian Northern Inland.

The end result of that meeting was that Australian Infrastructure Developments was sent a letter inviting it to a joint organisation meeting to further explain its 36 sq. km Eastgate plan for the Clarence River estuary.

As the Baird Government has already privatised three major coastal ports (Newcastle, Port Kembla and Botany) to consortiums which include foreign investors and will be required to sell off more assets in order to receive federal government funding for future public infrastructure under the Asset Recycling Initiative, there is no guarantee that this particular privately funded overdevelopment won't be considered by Macquarie Street.

Finally, there is the matter of the degree of National Party support - examples of this being a NSW National Party member agreeing to be the talking head for a promotional video for the mega port, at least one North Coast Nationals politician being happy to be photographed while being lobbied on export potential by a mega port supporter, and Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce allowing the company CEO a photo opportunity to accompany his April 2016 corporate statement in which Mr. Joyce was quoted as saying he could see no impediment to the proposal [being submitted to the NSW Government].

None of this inspires confidence in Mr. Hogan's view that the matter should not concern Lower Clarence.

Concerned residents can let the issue rest when the Baird Government formally announces it has rejected the unsolicited proposal and the Turnbull Government publicly supports that rejection.

Judith M. Melville, Yamba 

On  7 July 2016 Namoi Councils Joint Organisation continued its conversation with the greedy Australian and foreign corporations intent on laying waste to the aesthetic, environmental, social, cultural and economic values of the Clarence River estuary for their on financial benefit.

This is the second time this organisation has listened to a presentation of an expanded proposal which is yet to make it into the first stage of the Dept. of Premier and Cabinet's unsolicited proposal process.

Australians continue to be uneasy concerning the Australian Bureau of Statistics increased intrusion into the private lives of the population

Australians continue to be uneasy concerning motives of the Australian Bureau of Statistics ahead of expanded data collection and retention from August 2016 Census information.

ABC News, 22 July 2016:

Privacy advocates are calling on the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) not to collect names of individuals in next month's census, due to privacy concerns.

For the first time, the ABS will keep Australians' names and addresses on file for four years instead of 18 months.

Meanwhile, it has emerged the ABS has been using people's names and addresses to cross-reference data with records kept by other Australian departments since 2006.

Before this, they were largely used for administrative purposes, to ensure everyone completed the census.

The revelations have prompted concern on talkback radio and social media, with some people declaring they will boycott the census because of the changes.

The Australian Privacy Foundation is calling on the ABS to stop using people's names for data analysis.

"We all gave our names in good faith, thinking they'd be deleted," said the foundation's vice-chair Kat Lane.

"We've now since found out they're not being deleted at all, they're being stored and made into unique identifiers.

"We don't want the ABS to have very sensitive personal details like names. We want them to be deleted."….

The head of The Statistical Society of Australia, Dr John Henstridge, said he did not believe the ABS did enough to consult with the community.

"I think it probably needed more of a publicity campaign about this and being a bit more open," he said.

"If people don't want to cooperate with the census because they are concerned about how the data might be used then that is a real concern."

The 2016 census will be held on August 9.

Given it was only last year that an ABS employee was gaoled for three years and three months for unlawful use of statistical data after pleading guilty to four charges of abuse of public office, one charge of insider trading, and one charge of identity theft, I strongly suspect that everyone has a right to feel concerned.

Especially as the independent Review of ABS Sensitive Information Controls conducted once the fraud was discovered revealed an organisation which had grown rather sloppy about employee access and compliance.

Now that all names and addresses will be kept effectively in perpetuity by the Bureau, one can expect that the number of times staff are approached to unlawfully supply information (or seek unauthorised information on their own behalf) will rise.

Centrelink records highlight how staff with access to sensitive information are tempted to breach regulations and even break the law – for example in 2006 it was reported that  there had been 580 breaches in 2005-06, in 2011-12 there were 126 formal investigations for substantiated privacy breaches, in 2013 another 68 breaches were revealed and in 2014 sensitive information was removed from the agency and left on a railway station platform.

Misuse of information and communications technology is endemic across the public sector and the Australian Bureau of Statistics now appears intent on exacerbating this problem.