Australian political financial disclosure returns for 2006-7 just released

Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) media release today.

 

"The 2006/07 annual financial disclosure returns from political parties, associated entities and donors have been released for public inspection.

The annual returns are on the Australian Electoral Commission's website at http://fadar.aec.gov.au/

The returns for the 2006/07 financial year include 49 political party returns, 218 associated entity returns and 194 donor returns. 

For the first time, people who engage in political expenditure are required to lodge a return.  Fifty-one political expenditure returns have been lodged for 2006/07.

Total receipts disclosed by political parties in the 2006/07 financial year were $127,218,316.76 compared to $74,556,334.55 for the 2005/06 annual returns.

For associated entities, the total declared receipts increased from $113,397,256.91 in 2005/06 to $637,938,063.70 in 2006/07 – largely as a result of the increase in the number of associated entities.

At this time last year, the AEC had received 80 political party returns, 89 associated entity returns and 317 donor returns. 
The increase in associated entity returns since last year can be attributed to the broadening of the definition of associated entity to include trade unions affiliated with the Australian Labor Party. 

The decrease in donor returns is a result of the new increased disclosure threshold (more than $10,300 for 2006/07) applying for the full financial year.  During the 2004/05 financial year, the last to use the old threshold, there were 1,286 donor returns. In 2005/06, when the new threshold applied for half the year, the number declined to 317 donor returns.

Attached is a fact sheet showing the basic disclosure requirements."

 

For those who love following the money trail, all the usual suspects plus more can be found using the search button at:

http://fadar.aec.gov.au/

Sen. Ted Kennedy on the campaign trail for Obama and asking for money

The emails received from Democrat presidential nominee Barack Obama's campaign team have been a fascinating glimpse into the American political process as it is practised.

One of the marked differences from the Australian system is the constant drive for political donations from ordinary citizens.

Now Senator Ted Kennedy has said "I'm for Obama" and went on to (rather mistakenly) ask me for money yesterday.

What puzzles me [sly smile]. Where are Hillary's emails? Does Senator Clinton have all the campaign funding she needs? And why have no Republicans placed me on their mailing lists?

 

The email:

Dear [edited],   When I endorsed Barack Obama on Monday, I was also endorsing a candidate with the power to transform America.   As President Kennedy said in 1960, "It is time for a new generation of leadership."   This campaign is about a new generation of leadership today. A generation ready to be part of something bigger than themselves. A generation ready to change the country, and a generation ready to change the world.   I'm doing everything I can to elect Barack Obama. With less than a week before my state and 21 others make their voices heard, there is no time to lose.   Please join me by making a $50 donation now:   https://donate.barackobama.com/newgeneration   Like my son Patrick and my niece Caroline, I have found a new generation of leadership for America in Barack Obama -- and I hope you have too!   Sincerely,   Senator Edward M. Kennedy

It's time to speak up in Professor Garnaut's review of climate change issues and carbon trading

The government-sponsored Garnaut Review has committed to undertaking an extensive consultation process to encourage open and informed discussion on key climate change issues.

 

With less than an estimated one quarter of all Australian businesses currently attempting any form of climate change action, it seems that ordinary Australians might have to ginger the debate by making submissions to the Garnaut Review.

 

A strong demand by actual or future customers, for industry wide mid-term climate change targets, is one way to jerk the business community out of its present torpor.

 

Remember, approximately 50% of all Australians live within 7km of our coastline which is expected to take the early brunt of extreme climate change events.

Such extreme events won't just affect the value of houses but, in some cases, the actual value of the land on which they stand.

Climate Change Review Discussion Paper:

http://www.garnautreview.org.au/CA25734E0016A131/WebObj/FinancialServicesforManagingRisk-ClimateChangeandCarbonTradingIssuesPaper/$File/Financial%20Services%20for%20Managing%20Risk%20-%20Climate%20Change%20and%20Carbon%20Trading%20Issues%20Paper.pdf

 

Information on making submissions to the Review:

http://www.garnautreview.org.au/CA25734E0016A131/pages/submissions-financial-services

Kevin Rudd sprays for propaganda roaches and Brendan Nelson bombs

Rudders is a bit of a wonder. The election promises of Kevin 07 are being ticked off at a gratifying rate.

Now it's the turn of the former Howard Government propaganda juggernaut.

The Ministerial Committee for Government Communications is to be abolished and the Government Communications Unit is gone.

Government advertising is to be slashed. Advertising policy and practice are being redesigned -

hopefully with reference to the many calls for a more transparent disclosure of marketing costs.

I look forward to a life where government advertising doesn't constantly assault my senses with the bl**dy obvious or insult my intelligence with blatant lies.

Or am I living in a fool's paradise?

 

This week Brendan Nelson wants a preview of the Commonwealth Government's formal apology to indigenous Australians, to make sure that the government is not apologising for the wrong things. He worries that other matters are more important.

Is this Liberal Party buffoon serious? Will someone please put this bloke out of his misery by challenging his leadership.

 

"Moggy Musings" [Archived material from Boy the Wonder Cat)

Post-election musing:
Well it's all feeling rather flat at my house. Watching the tellie is no fun because my human has stopped shaking her fist and yelling at the pollies. Though I did catch her saying a rude word when little Morrie Iemma told everyone in rural NSW that we have to give up the security of a state-owned electricity supply so that Sydney can get an expensive metro train service.
Warning musing:
I saw you girl! Just because you wear young Butcher Bird feathers doesn't mean you can sneak into the kitchen and steal my breakfast. What is the world coming to when a cat has to fight off impertinent youth in the middle of a quiet meal.
Cautionary musing:
Bruce the Superdog from Yamba was thrilled to learn that he had won 480,152 pounds in a British lottery this week and most disappointed when his human pointed out that the email personally addressed to him was a scam. Bruce would like to warn anyone receiving this sort of email to junk it immediately.
First 2008 musing:
Happy New Year to every living thing with fur, feathers, fins, shells or scales!
I am pleased to report that I tolerated the noise of local fireworks with never a care. However my little canine friend, Veronica Lake, hid under clarencegirl's desk and wouldn't come out until all those big bangs ceased.
Hip, hip, hooray! musing:
On the third day of 2008, Diff the bull mastiff was rescued from a cliff on Mt. Maroon in south-east Queensland.
Welcome back down, Diff. Congratulations to Mark Gamble who climbed up to save him.
Well done, chaps musing:
Saw this in the news as I looked over clarencegirl's shoulder.
Two Australian kayakers have completed their journey across the Tasman Sea.
James Castrission, 25, and Justin Jones, 24, reached shore at Ngamotu Beach, about 4km west of New Plymouth on NZ's West Coast, on Sunday 13 January 2008 after spending two months paddling across the Tasman Sea.
Well done, James and Justin. Me - I'll just stick to paddling in the bath.
Natural disaster musing:
A thought to ponder.
In case of bushfire or flood - do you have an emergency evacuation plan for the family pet?

Australian business has poor record on climate change action

"A new survey has found that despite the warnings, just 22 per cent of Australian businesses have taken action in response to climate change.
The report surveyed more than 300 business groups around the country that had an annual turnover of $150 million.
It found that four out of five corporate leaders want to take a more active role but expressed concern about the quality of emissions data available."
ABC News:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/01/30/2149464.htm?section=business

Such a typical response from Australian business - blame someone else, preferably government.
Action on climate change could start tomorrow with most companies, when it comes to waste generated, transport, electricity consumption and product packaging.
Companies with potentially high emission levels are also quite capable of contracting their own assessments of greenhouse gas produced by the company.
However it seems that many businesses has eyes firmly on carbon trading offsets as the easy way out, rather than actual greenhouse gas reduction at production sites.

Crikey gives Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty a serve

Greg Barns writing in www.crikey.com.au yesterday gives Mick Keelty a well-deserved serve.

"Are there two Mick Keeltys? Last night a man calling himself Mick Keelty and claiming to be the Australian Federal Police Commissioner told a Sydney audience that he wants a black-out of all media coverage of terrorism investigations and cases. This Mr Keelty claims that police records of interviews are being leaked to the media to help the person under investigation get public sympathy. And this Mr Keelty thinks there should be a secret society of editors that he and his fellow security agency heads can brief, on an off-the-record basis, so that matters are set straight.

 

Now, let's turn to the other person who calls himself Mick Keelty and who also claims to be the nation's top cop. This is the Mick Keelty who revels in media publicity about terrorism cases, whose organisation leaks to the media and who runs a police force which wrongly accused a Gold Coast Indian doctor of terrorism offences (besmirched his name in the media in the meantime).

 

Could the real Mick Keelty please stand up? Is it the man calling for media black-outs and secret briefings, or is it the man who uses the media relentlessly to chase his quarry? The evidence suggests it's the latter."

 

"Aunty ABC" took a more measured approach which canvasses similar views.

 

"After taking sustained criticism for the Australian Federal Police's handling of the Mohamed Haneef saga, AFP Commissioner Mick Keelty has gone on the front foot to defend his organisation's handling of terrorism cases.

In a speech to the Sydney Institute last night, Mr Keelty took a swipe at media coverage of such cases, saying it is often uninformed and gives an incorrect perception that the AFP is failing in its duties.

But lawyers and journalists involved in the Mohamed Haneef case say Mr Keelty is simply shooting the messenger in what they say is a crude attempt to regain credibility for the AFP.

When Mr Keelty addressed the Sydney Institute last night, he had a few things he wanted to get off his chest.

"For most people, their sole source of knowledge regarding the AFP's counter terrorism investigations is in the mass media," he said.

"As such, it would be perfectly understandable if they mistakenly thought or held the belief that the AFP has failed the community.'-------

The Australian newspaper's Hedley Thomas won Australian journalism's highest award, the Gold Walkley, for his coverage of the Mohamed Haneef affair. He describes Mr Keelty's reasoning in the speech as strange.

"On the one hand he was saying that defendants and suspects deserve a much better go in the court of public opinion, as he described it, and that the media should treat them more kindly," he said.

"But the facts are that in the Mohamed Haneef case and others, it's been the police, the security agencies and the politicians using police information, that have smeared the character of the suspects before they have even been charged."

Dr Haneef's barrister, Stephen Keim, is equally perplexed with Mr Keelty's views about media coverage of AFP operations."

ABC News report yesterday:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/01/30/2149867.htm