So why did Prime Minister Abbott phone President Obama?

Sometime during the evening of 11 September 2013 US President Barack Obama telephoned the then Australian Prime Minister-elect, Tony Abbott, and later his office circulated this media release:

The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
September 12, 2013

Readout of the President’s Calls with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Prime Minister-Elect Tony Abbott of Australia

The President called Prime Minister-elect Tony Abbott last night to congratulate him and the Opposition Coalition for his success in the Australia federal election on September 7.  The President and Mr. Abbott discussed their grave concern about the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government, and the viability of the Russian proposal to put all Syrian chemical weapons and related materials fully under international control in order to ensure their verifiable and enforceable destruction.  The President and Prime Minister-elect discussed ways to further strengthen the U.S.-Australia alliance, including by implementing fully the force posture initiatives announced by the United States and Australia in November 2011.  They also discussed the importance of concluding the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations this year.

The President also called outgoing Prime Minister Rudd.  The President thanked Prime Minister Rudd for his friendship, leadership, and unflinching support of the U.S.-Australia relationship, as well as for his strong position on the Syrian regime’s use of chemical weapons on August 21.

Australian media also covered the courtesy call in detail.

However, I’ve yet to hear a word about a second telephone call which Tony Abbott disclosed during a telephone interview with The Washington Post conducted sometime between 20 to 24 October 2013:

He’s a very busy man, and I don’t want to make his life more complicated by demanding an early meeting. He was good enough to take a phone call from me after the election. I expect to visit the United States sometime next year.

Hmmmm.......

Federal Industry Minister demonstrates his contempt for Nationals MP Kevin Hogan

Liberal MP and Federal Industry  Minister Ian Macfarlane apparently wasn’t going to conceal his contempt for a fellow member of the Abbott Government and, unfortunately Page MP Kevin Hogan was obviously unable to find the courage to openly confront him in the media.

Northern Star 24 October 2013:

THE latest survey suggests Richmond Valley residents are against coal-seam gas, but that has not swayed Federal Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane's support for the industry.

Yesterday Mr Macfarlane met with Northern Rivers stakeholders in Canberra including anti-CSG groups, farmers, local dairy and beef industry representatives, local MPs, and Metgasco chief executive Peter Henderson......

"The local member for Page, Kevin Hogan, said to me there were 7000 protesters at a protest - he has over 100,000 people in his electorate - that doesn't sound like a majority to me," Mr Macfarlane said....

Page MP Kevin Hogan said he was happy that all parties had the opportunity to have their say.

2GB falls foul of the Australian Communications and Media Authority - yet again courtesy of radio shock jock Alan Jones

Fifteen hundred people in the Department of Climate Change earning a minimum of 135,000 dollars a year. [Alan Jones, 23 October 2012]

The carnage is everywhere... The Yallourn power station, a major brown coal power station in Victoria’s LaTrobe valley, will today announce that it will scale back electricity production by shutting down one of its four units. Yallourn says the carbon price is driving up operating costs and the government’s renewable energy target is threatening the sustainability of the electricity market. How... for how many months have I been saying this? It says the renewable energy target is suppressing wholesale power prices to uneconomic levels, which will end up costing consumers 53 billion dollars. Yallourn’s decision means that more than 3,000 megawatts of coal-fired power generation capacity has been cut back or closed in recent times.  Queensland’s Stanmore Corporation will close two of its production units. Tony Abbott warned all this would happen and has been vilified in the Parliament for it. Alinta Energy has closed coal-fired production units in South Australia and Delta Energy has closed the Munmorah station in the Hunter Valley. I suppose this is what the government wanted its carbon tax and renewable energy target to achieve. But what are the consequences? Even higher prices and power insecurity. Striking at the heart of our economic strength: cheap energy sources. Are we looking to a future of brownouts, are we? This is just... ugh! Don’t start me. An absolute disgrace. This is the carbon dioxide tax at work. [Alan Jones, 17 October 2012]

Media Release 23 October 2013

2GB breaches accuracy and complaints-handling codes

Harbour Radio Pty Limited, the licensee of Sydney radio station 2GB, breached the accuracy obligations in the Commercial Radio Australia Codes of Practice 2011 in two broadcasts of the Alan Jones Breakfast Show.

Code 2.2(a) requires licensees, in the preparation and presentation of current affairs programs, to use reasonable efforts to ensure that factual material is reasonably supportable as being accurate.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority found 2GB did not make reasonable efforts to ensure the accuracy of:

> comments made by Mr Jones on 17 October 2012 about power station closures (Investigation 2962). Here, the sources relied on by 2GB were contradicted by primary material readily available on the website of the owner of the power stations, 
and

> comments made by Mr Jones on 23 October 2012 about salaries paid in the Department of Climate Change (Investigations 2952, 2953 and 2954). Here, there was no evidence of 2GB’s efforts to ensure the accuracy of the comments.

A third complaint about the accuracy of comments made by Mr Jones on 29 October 2012 concerning the NBN and other matters was not upheld (Investigations 2947 and 2960). The ACMA found the comments broadcast were statements of opinion. The ‘accuracy’ obligation in the codes applies only to factual material.

The ACMA also found two breaches by 2GB of its complaints-handling obligations.

In Investigations 2952, 2953 and 2954, 2GB submitted that it was not obliged to respond to a complaint it considered frivolous, vexatious or an abuse of the complaints process. The ACMA did not accept this submission as the Codes require licensees to provide a substantive response to a complaint, including information about the complainant’s right to refer the matter to the ACMA.

In Investigations 2947 and 2960, 2GB submitted that it did not receive the complaint. However, the complainant provided the ACMA with a fax transmission report showing that the complaint had been successfully sent to 2GB.

In these two matters the ACMA found that 2GB was obliged to give a substantive response and breached the code when it failed to do so.

A link to the Investigations can be found here.

The ACMA is in discussions with 2GB about remedial measures.

For more information or to arrange an interview please contact: Emma Rossi, Media Manager, (02) 9334 7719 and 0434 652 063 or media@acma.gov.au.

* Photograph from The Sydney Morning Herald 30 September 2012

Will someone please tell Tony Abbott that the 2013 federal election campaign is over and it's time for the junkyard dog to turn into a statesman

The very unstatesman-like Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott speaking about the former Federal Labor Government, during a telephone interview with The Washington Post sometime between 20 to 24 October 2013:

I thought it was the most incompetent and untrustworthy government in modern Australian history. They made a whole lot of commitments, which they scandalously failed to honor. They did a lot of things that were scandalously wasteful and the actual conduct of government was a circus. They were untrustworthy in terms of the carbon tax. They were incompetent in terms of the national broadband network. They were a scandal when it came to their own internal disunity. They made a whole lot of grubby deals in order to try and perpetuate themselves in power. It was an embarrassing spectacle, and I think Australians are relieved they are gone.

UPDATE

The Sydney Morning Herald 28 October 2013:

Tony Abbott's use of a Washington Post interview to brand his Labor predecessors as ''wacko'' and ''embarrassing'' could set back his working relationship with the Obama adminstration, a leading US commentator says.

Norman Ornstein, an author and political scientist with the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute, said he ''winced'' when he read the interview in which Mr Abbott put the boot into the Rudd-Gillard government in unusually strong language for a foreign interview.

''It really does violate a basic principle of diplomacy to drag in your domestic politics when you go abroad,'' Dr Ornstein said. ''It certainly can't help in building a bond of any sort with President Obama to rip into a party, government and, at least implicitly leader, with whom Obama has worked so closely.

''Perhaps you can chalk it up to a rookie mistake. But it is a pretty big one.''

Metgasco's smaller shareholders remain unimpressed with the current board

On a Hotcopper forum this month:

Fellow shareholders, my disillusion with our current board crystallized with its total capitulation on our NSW assets, withdrawal from Northern NSW, closure of operations both conventional and CSG, appointment of another "Esso man" to our board ( the Esso million dollar retirement fund ) to explore for opportunities in other jurisdictions.
WTF.
Some how two days following notice from the Boards stylised " minority shareholder" group; our Board have an enema, announcing that we may return to NSW and low and behold we are going to revisit Rosella some time in the future!!!!
Demonstrating much nimbleness, and a further epiphany our CEO in a desperate bid for position preservation, has back flipped, and dispute all previous justification on his proposed excessive option allocation, now announces "in the companies interest" he intends to decline this offer from our remuneration committee of which he is not a member ( given the number of company employees, maybe the tea lady is committee chairperson!)
IMHO we have witnessed another "to hot in the kitchen moment"
Time to pass the baton Mr Henderson, thank you for trashing our brand.

Motsa

There is a more fundamental problem here. The current Board does not consist of some fly by night bushranger types. In June when they awarded these shares, they must have seriously believed that $0.14 was a significant hurdle. So much for faith in the Company's assets or a viable strategic plan
The real problem is that the current Board does not understand the business and they take too long to come up to speed.
This cancellation of the share issue to Peter Henderson comes almost three months after it was awarded, and just days before voting for the AGM effectively closes.
I see it as just one more example of on the run policies and thought bubbles that predominate their thinking.
We can also see that they are now in panic mode, desperately trying to talk to all the shareholders when they basically ignored them for the past twelve months since the last capital raising.
We have to get a change at the Board level.

CGG Guy

Dear Nick and Peter,

As a shareholder with approximately $000,000 invested in your company for many years, (eventually refused to commit more), I have become as infuriated as I have been appalled at the seeming lack of finesse, judgement and street smarts employed by officers of the company who were entrusted to utilise my capital to the best of their abilities.

Over the last eight months or so, in some instances longer, I have been reminded of a retreating rabble of an army, employing slash and burn tactics akin to cutting off your noses to spite your faces, (OUR faces if you don’t mind).

I am concerned your actions may have severely damaged the Metgasco brand, setting us back an inestimable time in this industry. Until recently when it became clear some of your “material” had begun to be written professionally, (possibly for an additional fee), any releases from the company were irrational, very, very contradictory, lacking in conviction and frankly embarrassing to have to endure.

I consider your five to midnight decision to now incur further expenditure in a spurious act of self-justification selfish and desperate. I refer to the engaging by the Board of a firm to canvas shareholders who have been badly LET DOWN, in the hope of securing your tenure for another term.

I have now decided to seek my own advice as to the legal appropriateness of this latest tactic, coming so close to your likely removal from the duties you have been entrusted to. 

In that light, you should consider the wisdom of continuing to spend shareholder funds on non-core tasks such as this, in such a small company.

The roles you have occupied thus far, (of course Peter is employed, by those WE appointed), are conveyed by privilege; NOT as your right. We grant them, and we take them away if necessary.

I believe you have seriously under-estimated the combined experience, vision, and patience of those you serve. This has to come at a cost, which will have to be borne by you.

Yours sincerely,

Xxx Xxxxx (joint shareholder)

Pretty interesting tactic from the Company to include a share price chart. This is something that I thought the proposed new Board members would rely heavily on. It is for all the world like picking at a scab and reminds all holders of their disappointments.
Since Peter Henderson’s appointment as MD was announced, the share price has fallen from $0.55 to a minimum of $0.049. This is even worse than his stint at Nido where the share price only halved during his time as MD.
If you read the notes on the chart, every price movement except the suspension, even the positive ones are attributed to external factors. So in the two years covered, what exactly did the Board and management do? It reminds me very much of the dictum that if you want a change in the outcome you need to change the way you are doing it. And our current Board and management seem to be hell bent on justifying the way they have done it before.
It is more instructive to look at the actual price changes rather than try to decipher the nebulous comments appended to the chart.
Reading the chart you get the impression that the share price drop in early 2013 is mainly all due to the announcement of the 2 km exclusion zones. But the share price history tells quite a different story. The NSW Government announced the 2km exclusion zones on 19th February. The same day the company released a very short two paragraph statement including the following:
“The details of these changes are not yet clear but they could have a significant impact on Metgasco’s Northern Rivers CSG operations.”
True shoot from the hip and think later approach that we have come to expect from our Board i.e. we have no idea but it might really hurt us. We now know that it is likely to have little or no effect on MEL.
Well quite predictably the share price fell and on that day it fell 28%, but how much was due to the Government’s announcement and how much was due to the Company’s shoot from the hip announcement, no one can tell.
However three weeks later the Company did it all on its own and announced the suspension of activities around Casino. This resulted in a 22% drop in the share price.
So all of this fall was the Government’s fault – not a chance. And it does not even attempt to explain the fall from the $0.20 at the time of the capital raising in September 2012 to the $0.145 at the time of the Government’s announcement.
Then we look at the recent share price strengthening which the Company attributes all to the results of the Federal election. Well the Federal election was on September 7th and the Company released an announcement to the market of September 9th implying that nothing had changed. But the share price leap (doubling over three days) did not occur until September 18th on very high turnover.
11 days after the result of the election was known. Market a bit slow to catch on – again I very much doubt it. What else could have triggered the jump?
We now know that the shareholding group lodged their formal notices for replacement Board members on September 27th, nine days after the jump in price. We also now know that the Board invited the proposed new Directors to meet with them on September 27th. Obviously this invitation was issued some time before the 27th. So the question becomes when did the Board actually know that there was likely to be a challenge?
It appears as if the Board might have rushed out the Notice of AGM on Friday 27th in an attempt to try to head off the challenge. So what and how much did the Board know on September 18th.
But I guess the most important take away for the share price chart and notes, is that the Company believes every share price movement good and bad, bar for the suspension, is due to the actions of someone else. So what has the current Board and management achieved for shareholders in two years?
Time for fresh blood – you betcha.

CSG Guy

Voted Liberal Party or Nationals in September 2013? This is how they treat you the following month

A majority of good people of Winmalee voted for an Abbott Government on 7 September 2013, as did many other Blue Mountains communities....

http://vtr.aec.gov.au/HousePollingPlaceFirstPrefs-17496-1816.htm

Then this roared towards their small town one month later....

Leaving a traumatised community in its wake....

The Abbott Government response....

ABC News 26 October 2013:

Fire-affected residents in the Blue Mountains have criticised the Federal Government for tightening the eligibility rules for disaster relief payments, as fires continue to burn uncontrolled....

Emergency services and Government officials briefed hundreds of fire-affected residents about the recovery effort at a community meeting in Winmalee last night.

Upset locals used the meeting to vent their frustration at the Federal Government for tightening eligibility rules for disaster assistance.

A disaster recovery payment is available for people who are severely injured or if their homes have been destroyed or badly damaged.

The payment is $1000 per adult and $400 per child.

However, the payment is only available for people who are severely injured or if their homes have been destroyed or badly damaged.

Unlike victims of the Tasmanian bushfires or Tropical Cyclone Oswald, the Government is not offering assistance to those who have been cut off from their homes or who are without electricity or water.

Locals say not everyone affected can get the help they need.

One resident, Leigh, said his mother lost her home in the fire and is eligible for the assistance.

But he is angry that funding will not be available for his sister, whose home was damaged, when she would have been eligible in the past.

"When I found out people were having entitlements stripped from them that they would have had previously, I was livid," he said.

"It's something I'll keep on until I get an answer from our local member Louise Markus who is supposed to be representing us."

* Hat tip to @vogrady2132 for pointing out the relationship between voting and outcomes for one community

** Photographs found at Google Images