Wikileaks cables: Crikey the only MSM not treating readers like mewling infants

While much of the rest of the world's media published transcripts of diplomatic cables (released to the media by Wikileaks) which were the subject of newspaper articles, Australian editors remained reluctant to publish full texts of material released to them until Crikey broke the mould.

Whether these editors thought this would increase acceptance of the journalists perspective on information contained in these cables or because they were hesitant on other grounds, as one can see from the two examples below these cables contain very little which has not been reported on in some shape or form previously and in one instance only exposes how erroneous political predictions from outsiders can be.

1074 6/10/2009 22:19 09CANBERRA545 Embassy Canberra CONFIDENTIAL//NOFORN VZCZCXRO5793OO RUEHBC RUEHDBU RUEHDE RUEHDH RUEHDT RUEHIHL RUEHKUK RUEHPB RUEHPWDE RUEHBY #0524/01 1550727ZNY CCCCC ZZHO 040727Z JUN 09FM AMEMBASSY CANBERRATO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 1573INFO RUCNAFG/AFGHANISTAN COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATERUCNARF/ASEAN REGIONAL FORUM COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATERUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATERUEHBN/AMCONSUL MELBOURNE IMMEDIATE 6392RUEHPT/AMCONSUL PERTH IMMEDIATE 4656RUEHDN/AMCONSUL SYDNEY IMMEDIATE 4617RUEHIN/AIT TAIPEI IMMEDIATE 1211RHHMUNA/CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI IMMEDIATERUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATERUEKJCS/CJCS WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATERUEKDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATERHMFISS/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL IMMEDIATERUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATERHEHNSC/NSC WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATERUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATERHEHAAA/THE WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATERUEHNO/USMISSION USNATO IMMEDIATE 0868RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK IMMEDIATE 0811 C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 CANBERRA 000545 NOFORN SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/31/2019 TAGS: PGOV, ELAB, AS SUBJECT: GILLARD: ON TRACK TO BECOME AUSTRALIA'S NEXT PRIME MINISTER REF: A) 08 CANBERRA 609 B) CANBERRA 167 C) CANBERRA 305 Classified By: CDA Daniel A. Clune for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 1. (C/NF) SUMMARY: Described by her many supporters as "smart, tough, loyal, and the best parliamentary performer in the Australian Labor Party (ALP)," Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard - who visits Washington later this month - has positioned herself as the heir apparent to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd as ALP leader (ref A). Part of Rudd's inner circle, she has handled a combined workplace relations and education portfolio with confidence and ability. Gillard has had a good year. She successfully shepherded through Parliament the Government's key workplace relations reform bill in March and she is overseeing the Government's investment in every school in Australia. Gillard, a product of the ALP Left in the state of Victoria, has shifted towards the political center since Rudd became ALP leader and is now a strong supporter of the Australia-US Alliance and Israel. Although she is still seen as a leftist by key right-wing union powerbrokers, that is not likely to stop her from succeeding Rudd as the next leader of the ALP. END SUMMARY THE GANG OF FOUR 2. (C/NF) With Treasurer Wayne Swan and Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner, Gillard is part of Rudd's inner circle, a group collectively known as "the gang of four." She is a member of the National Security Committee of Cabinet and when Rudd is out of the country, or on leave, Gillard is Acting Prime Minister. Labor insiders speak admiringly of her ability to understand issues quickly and of her negotiating toughness. Unlike Rudd, however, whose brittle temperament and micromanagement have come under fire, Gillard is seen by most we've spoken with as a good manager. She oversees one of the better-managed offices in the Government and her staff seem very loyal. Conservative columnist Janet Albrechtson - no friend of the ALP - says of Gillard: "most people I've spoken to are of a firm view that Gillard is far more engaging and impressive than the dour Prime Minister." A GOOD LISTENER WITH AN EVEN DISPOSITION 3. (C/NF) Gillard listens carefully to advice. Kim Beazley, the former Defence Minister and Leader of the Labor Party, told Charge that Gillard listened intently when she met with him to learn his views on national security policy and the alliance with the U.S. The next day, Beazley recounted, he was startled to hear her in a radio interview repeating many of the things he had told her the day before. Unlike the Prime Minister and many other members of the Government, who have been criticized for occasional emotional outbursts, Gillard's demeanor is always controlled. A member of her protective detail told Charge that he was with her constantly for several months and never saw her mistreat staff or even raise her voice, rare behavior for ministers, he commented. A STAR AT QUESTION TIME 4. (C/NF) Gillard is almost unanimously viewed as the Government's best parliamentary performer. She is a superior debater to Rudd, who gets bogged down in bureaucratic jargon and tends to speak for too long. In Parliamentary Question Time, it is evident that ALP MPs enjoy hearing Gillard more than Rudd. She enjoys taunting the Opposition but, as one Qthan Rudd. She enjoys taunting the Opposition but, as one journalist noted, "the only problem is getting her off the corpse." Late last year, in a widely publicized exchange, Gillard pummeled Deputy Opposition Leader Julie Bishop (who was under pressure in a Treasury portfolio she has since relinquished). Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull later described Gillard as "very nasty" and "vicious." A visiting U.S. political scientist noted after watching Question Time that the Opposition normally heckled Government speakers but in stark contrast, they were completely silent when Gillard was on her feet. A LEFT-WINGER NOW A PRAGMATIST 5. (C/NF) Many believe that Rudd, after he became ALP leader in December 2006, did not give Gillard the Treasury portfolio (the normal portfolio for a deputy leader) because she was from the Victorian Socialist Left faction - traditionally the most radical faction in the ALP. Gillard recognizes that to become Prime Minister, she must move to the Center, and show her support for the Alliance with the United States. Albrechtson, who attended the June 2008 Australian-American Leadership Dialogue in Washington with Gillard, wrote that Gillard's speech "could have been given by the Howard Government." Last week, in a speech to the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) national conference, Gillard defended the Government's workplace relations reforms and splashed cold water on union demands for further changes. Although she was heckled by some of the attendees and publicly chided by union leaders, two former leaders of the ACTU defended Gillard's in the press and her public stance against "union radicalism" is likely to be popular with the Australian public. 6. (C/NF) The ALP Right in Gillard's home state of Victoria are not convinced that she is a transformed moderate. Some Victorian right faction members tell us they are looking for a Gillard alternative - although they admit there is no one at present. Beyond Victoria, Gillard has earned the high regard of the powerful right faction within the New South Wales ALP. ALP state secretary Matt Thistlethwaite, a key right faction powerbroker, told us June 3 that Gillard's remarkable message discipline and shrewd management of key portfolios has earned her the respect of virtually all NSW ALP members. We heard a similar message from NSW labor union contacts, who told ConGen Sydney over lunch May 20 that Gillard appears to be Rudd's heir apparent. Thistlethwaite said the NSW right faction would probably challenge Gillard if they had someone of her "caliber," but he admitted they did not. Ambitious young MPs and former Union leaders Bill Shorten and Greg Combet are routinely mentioned as possible future prime ministers, but Thistlethwaite said that neither one is in any real position to challenge Gillard. More focused on the next election, party powerbrokers have not had any serious conversations about a Rudd successor, according to Thistlethwaite. PRO-ISRAEL 7. (C/NF) Gillard has thrown off the baggage of being from what one analyst called the "notoriously anti-Israel faction" of the ALP. As Acting Prime Minister in late December 2008, Gillard was responsible for negotiating the Government's position on Israel's incursion into Gaza. Left-wing ALP MPs, a group to which Gillard used to belong, wanted her to take a harder line against Israel. Instead, she said Hamas had broken the ceasefire first by attacking Israel - a stance welcomed by Israel's supporters in Australia. MP Michael Danby, one of two Jewish members of Parliament and a strong supporter of Israel, told us that after the Gaza statement he had a new appreciation of Gillard's leadership within the ALP (ref B). Israeli Ambassador Yuval Rotem told us that Gillard has gone out of her way to build a relationship with Israel and that she asked him to arrange an early opportunity to visit. He will accompany Gillard and a delegation of Australian officials (including newly-appointed Minister Mark Arbib and Liberal Party heavyweights former Treasurer Peter Costello and Chris Pyne, Manager of Opposition Business in the House) to a meeting of the Australia-Israel Leadership Forum later this month. LABOR REFORM PASSES 8. (C/NF) On March 20, the ALP's reform of Australia's Q8. (C/NF) On March 20, the ALP's reform of Australia's workplace relations laws passed (ref C). Gillard consulted broadly with business and the unions in drafting the legislation so that when the new law was finally introduced in Parliament, there was little left for either side to criticize. When independent senators in Parliament tried to soften a pro-labor provision in the legislation, Gillard stood her ground, and forced them to back down. Her tenacity in defense of workers' rights did not go unnoticed. Right-wing ALP MP Richard Marles, a former official with the ACTU, told us recently that Gillard "hasn't put a foot wrong" since becoming Deputy Prime Minister. 9. (C/NF) Gillard also managed to win the admiration of big business in the workplace relations consultation process. Katie Lahey, CEO of the Business Council of Australia (an umbrella organization representing Australia's 100 largest firms) told Charge in March that Gillard was well respected by executives thanks to remarkable outreach and a "genuine" willingness to listen. While making her rounds with executives in the lead-up to the workplace relations law, Lahey said Gillard made you feel "as if there were nobody else in the room." Executives unsurprisingly found items in the law with which they disagreed, but broadly say that they were adequately consulted. THE EDUCATION REVOLUTION 10. (SBU) In his election campaign, Rudd promised an "education revolution," to improve education and boost productivity and international competitiveness. Despite the opposition of the teachers' unions and elements within the ALP Left, Gillard has supported a voucher system for vocational education and performance pay for teachers. She has also invited New York Education Chancellor Joel Klein to Australia. The Rudd Government's second big economic stimulus package, passed in February, provided money for infrastructure upgrades for every school, public and private, in Australia. While this funding may improve educational outcomes, the political benefit for ALP politicians will be immediate: in the next twelve months, each school will have a ceremony celebrating the investment, presided over by the local ALP politician. THE FRONT RUNNER 11. (C/NF) COMMENT: All the ALP MPs we have spoken to have enormous respect for Gillard. However, as one ALP Right MP told us, choosing a leader from the Left would be a massive cultural change for the ALP. Don Farrell, the right-wing union powerbroker from South Australia told us Gillard is "campaigning for the leadership" and at this point is the front-runner to succeed Rudd, conceding that the Right did not yet have an alternative. Agriculture Minister Tony Burke, one of the early NSW Right backers of the Rudd-Gillard team, confided that Gillard is the clear front runner to succeed Rudd and in the end, the ALP caucus will follow the opinion polls if she is the one the public wants. Two keenly anticipated books on Gillard are expected to be released within the next 12 months (one of them authored by the wife of Beazley's former Chief of Staff). At present, the question of a successor to Rudd is probably two elections away. Several Rudd confidantes have told us that Rudd appreciates Gillard and sees her as a possible PM, but that he wants to avoid anointing her to head off a possible leadership challenge when his poll numbers inevitably sag. The PM's brother Greg told us in April that Rudd wants to ensure that there are viable alternatives to Gillard within the Labor Party to forestall a challenge. Mark Arbib once told us a similar story, though he stressed that Rudd appreciates Gillard's strengths. However, another Rudd advisor told us that while the PM respects Gillard, his reluctance to share power will eventually lead to a falling out, while Gillard will not want to acquiesce in creating potential rivals. In the meantime, Gillard has proven her value to the Prime Minister and we expect her to remain the most important member of the Rudd Government, after the Prime Minister himself. CLUNE

80743 10/5/2006 7:28 06CANBERRA1574 Embassy Canberra CONFIDENTIAL//NOFORN VZCZCXRO0361PP RUEHPBDE RUEHBY #1574/01 2780728ZNY CCCCC ZZHP 050728Z OCT 06FM AMEMBASSY CANBERRATO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5872INFO RUEHPB/AMEMBASSY PORT MORESBY PRIORITY 1652RUEHWL/AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON PRIORITY 4760RUEHBN/AMCONSUL MELBOURNE PRIORITY 3191RUEHBAD/AMCONSUL PERTH PRIORITY 1742RUEHDN/AMCONSUL SYDNEY PRIORITY 1166RHEHNSC/NSC WASHINGTON DC PRIORITYRHHMUNA/CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI PRIORITY C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CANBERRA 001574 SIPDIS NOFORN SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/04/2016 TAGS: PGOV, ELAB, ECON, AS SUBJECT: INTEREST RATES MORE IMPORTANT POLITICALLY THAN LABOR LAW CHANGES Classified By: Political Counselor James F. Cole, REASONS 1.4 (b) and ( d). SUMMARY 1. (C/NF) Interest rates will be a key political issue for the 2007 federal elections, according to a number of observers Embassy poloffs met with during a visit to Sydney. The consensus was that changes to the industrial relations laws will be at most a contributing factor. So far, the impact of the labor law changes on workers has been minimal given the strong economy and low unemployment. According to these observers, most Australian voters, thinking about their finances when they vote next year, will likely support the Coalition but they will not want the Government to continue controlling the Senate, as it does now. New South Wales (NSW) Labor Party Secretary Mark Arbib (Protect) noted that left-of-center parties have stressed a "national vision" for the future but security concerns have helped right-wing governments since 9/11. INTEREST RATES BIGGER ELECTION ISSUE THAN INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS REFORM 2. (C/NF) During a trip to Sydney September 28-29, Embassy poloffs met with Garry Brack (Protect), Chief Executive of Employers First, Mark Lennon (Protect), Assistant Secretary of the Labor Council of New South Wales, Dr. John Buchanan (Protect), Director of the Australian Centre for Industrial Relations Research and Training at the University of Sydney, and Mark Arbib (Protect), General Secretary of the New South Wales Labor Party. 3. (C/NF) Mark Lennon, deputy director for the labor-union umbrella organization in NSW, said that while the changes to the industrial relations laws were a key issue for organized labor, the voters would be focused on the pocketbook when they voted next year — and the key issue for them was interest rates. Given the large mortgages needed to buy the expensive real estate in Sydney, and the fact that most loans had adjustable interest rates, a rise in rates affected most voters' disposable income. Many voters were chary of Coalition Senate control, Lennon also maintained. With a healthy economy and stable interest rates they would keep the Government in power in the House but were less likely to vote for Coalition senators. POST-9/11 SECURITY CONCERNS HAVE HELPED RIGHT WING PARTIES 4. (C/NF) Arbib echoed Lennon's sentiments on interest rates, noting that during the 2004 election campaign, PM Howard's standing in the polls always increased when he focused on interest rates, and conversely, decreased when he changed the subject. Not only does the strong economy help the Coalition, Arbib said, but post-9/11 security concerns were another factor. Left-of-center governments need to articulate a vision for the future, and unless Australia invests in its future it will only be a "quarry for the Chinese and a tourist destination for the Japanese." However, Arbib continued, the immediate issues for every voter are the economy and security, and the Howard Government currently holds the advantage on both. It will be a tough struggle for the Labor Party (ALP) to win the federal elections in 2007, Arbib admitted, but the ALP has a stronger team of young leaders coming up through the political system and he was confident for the future. 5. (C/NF) Arbib said Kim Beazley, because he was the opposite of the volatile Mark Latham, was the right man to lead the ALP at the present time. Arbib noted that the March 2007 state elections in NSW would be tough for the ALP. They had been in power for 12 years and were having some problems but the Opposition leader was inexperienced and not yet ready to challenge for the leadership. Coalition control of the Federal Government and ALP control of the states and territories was accentuated by the fact that the best Coalition political operatives gravitated toward Canberra, where they could get better jobs working at the national level. The best jobs for the good ALP politicians and staffers were in the state governments, which the ALP run. 6. (BIO NOTE: Young, dynamic and friendly, Arbib is reputed to be the leader of the right wing of the ALP (traditionally centered in NSW) and the one who chose Beazley to be the ALP CANBERRA 00001574 002 OF 002 leader after Latham. He also told us that he, unlike Beazley, supported Iraq as well as the war on terrorism in general.) WITH A STRONG ECONOMY, WAGES INCREASE DESPITE NEW LABOR LAWS 7. (C/NF) Employer representative Brack explained that under the old awards system of industrial relations, an "award" issued by the Australian Industrial Relations Commission in response to a labor dispute increased compensation and benefits for a particular industry. That award would then provide the benchmark that would increase wages and benefits in other industries throughout the economy. This made it impossible for businesses to control labor costs and compete internationally, Brack said. 8. (C/NF) While the reforms instituted by the Howard Government in 1996 and amended in 2005 have provided more job-market flexibility and ended the steady increases in wages and benefits, the reforms have had little impact, Brack pointed out. With a growing economy and essentially full employment, the tight job market is continuing to push salaries higher. Employers are most concerned with keeping their skilled employees. In addition, Brack noted, many employees are covered by awards or state compensation laws that pre-dated the 2005 workplace law and have not yet expired. 9. (C/NF) Dr. Buchanan, whose research institute has done a number of studies on the new workplace relations laws, said that strikes were much harder to mount under the new laws and the unions had lost bargaining power. Skilled employees would be less affected by the changes than the 20 percent of workers at the bottom, who would lose many of their protections. Under the old awards system, this 20 percent was paid relatively well, forcing employers to use fewer workers more efficiently. Buchanan noted that New Zealand and the states of Victoria and Western Australia had undertaken similar reforms that dismantled industry-wide guarantees in favor of individual agreements and a few statutory minimum conditions. The result has been the growth of low-paying jobs and greater wage inequality, especially for women, young people and low-skilled employees. 10. (C/NF) The new industrial relations laws — designed to give employers the ability to hire a more flexible workforce to compete internationally — may be partially responsible for the fact that unemployment is at the lowest level in 30 years (4.9 percent). As Buchanan noted, under the old system employers had to pay their less-skilled workers relatively well, so they hired fewer. His fear — and perhaps a fear of many Australians — is that employers may now be able to create a class of so-called Walmart employees in Australia. COMMENT 11. (C/NF) The economy and security appear to remain the issues over which the elections will be fought next year. The observers we spoke with stressed that PM Howard is a master politician who will lay claim to the country's current prosperity and keep interest rates lower than a Labor government would be able to do. He will also be a formidable campaigner in the fight to convince the electorate which party can best deliver on national security. OWENS

An evergreen word on editors

A hatip to Clarrie Rivers for this glimpse into our collective newspaper past.......

From the last Australian Newspaper History Group newsletter of 2010:

60.4.7 A TOAST TO THE EDITOR Grafton Argus, 28 May 1875 (from the Papers): ―At a printer's festival at Boston, a short time since, the following capital toast was drunk: ‗The editor—the man who is expected to know everything, tell all he knows and guess the rest; to make known his good character, establish the reputation of his neighbours, and elect all candidates to office, to blow up everybody, and reform the world; to live for the benefit of others, and have the epitaph on his tombstone, ―Here he lies at last; in short, he is a locomotive runner on the track of public notoriety; his lever is his pen; whenever he explodes it is caused by non-payment of subscriptions.'

Some issues of the Grafton Argus and Clarence River General Advertiser (1874-1920) can be found in print and on microfiche and the National Library of Australia.

GetUp! loses all credibility

I’ve had a lot of time for GetUp! Action for Australia in the past but this organisation is beginning to stretch its credibility too thin these days.
Get an load of this from the website:

Save Wooli

Right now the Clarence Valley Council is considering adopting a policy of "planned retreat" for village of Wooli and its unique environment. This abandonment is their only response to the increased threat from coastal erosion caused by climate change.
Urge them to reject it and protect Wooli, by signing this Right now the Clarence Valley Council is considering adopting a policy of "planned retreat" for village of Wooli and its unique petition below.

I believe that if Council approves the recently released Wooli Coastal Plan, no action will be taken to defend the Wooli Community and environment from the threat of coastal erosion caused by climate change and Council will adopt a policy of planned abandonment of the village. I ask that Clarence Valley Council reject this plan.

No mention of the fact that Wooli is not the only place on the Clarence Coast or in the river delta suffering the early effects of climate change and relentless erosive wave patterns.
Not a word about the CSIRO predicting higher and stronger tides taking away coastal and estuary foreshore, making the aquifer saline and raising the water table. That this will often be occurring in urban areas built on reclaimed marshland and in natural flood storage areas.
Absolutely dumb on Commonwealth Government predictions of ‘worst case’ sea level rises and storm surges which will see quite a few houses in Yamba inundated on a regular basis or lost completely. That coastal erosion on Yamba Hill and at Broom’s Head is a fact of life, as well as sections of Palmers Island now so unstable that no-one can safely live there.
Silent as the grave when it comes to Clarence Coast landowners (including those at Wooli) knowing the risks for well over a decade and putting their heads in the sand while buying seafront or riverfront property anyway.
Last but not least, no mention of how a local government with so much vulnerable shoreline and a small rate base is going to manage to pay millions of dollars decade in and decade out in a vain effort to hold the ocean back from a small village built on a sand spit between a tidal river and the Pacific Ocean.
GetUp! needs to grow up.

Australian journalism continues to attract blinkered conservatives into its ranks

The Daily Examiner, 14 December 2010, Opinion,
snapshot of opening paragraph

One regional reporter from the Andrew Bolt School of Journalism obviously has problems with the concept of universal health care as practised in Australia through the 'free' public hospital-community health system, Medicare rebates and subsidized medicines.

Apparently the 17th Century British notion of there being deserving and undeserving poor still has supporters loitering in dark and dusty corners of the fourth estate.

This particular journalist's attitude to taxpayer funded health services taken to its 'logical' conclusion would see proof of innocence required to be shown when presenting at the local hospital's accident and emergency department.

Given that cardio-vascular disease (according to the Heart Foundation the most expensive disease) is impacted by a wide range of environmental and lifestyle choices, his attitude would see around three million Australians across all socio-economic groups locked out of subsidized health care - and that's only one of many disease groups.

What Son-of-Bolt also forgets is that even the poor pay taxes in this country, if not always through personal income tax then always through the national consumption tax and indirect taxation.

However, what elicits a big grin is that part of his taxes already go towards supporting people who are sick through no fault of their own, so he has little to complain about in reality.

McDonald's Yamba - only open days and the littering of surrounding streets begins

Maud up the Street wants to know if she has the first 'official' pic of branded litter from the newly opened McDonald's hamburger joint in Yamba.
Maud reckons on the third day of Maccas opening its door she followed a trail of tossed litter down one of the streets leading straight to this store.

Hot on the heels of Maud's pic came this one from a Yamba resident who picked it up in Admiralty Park - at least half a kilometre away from Macca's new outlet.

Clarencegirl sent me evidence of this bit of branded litter picked up from the vacant lot opposite McDonald's fast food outlet and she tells me that she has heard that clusters of Macca's litter are now turning up in front yards on the outskirts of Yamba.
Well done, Ronald McDonald - you're living up to your lousy and very messy reputation!
And please write a reminder note in block letters on your Neanderthal foreheads, all those Clarence Valley shire councillors who voted to impose this architectural and social eyesore on a very reluctant Yamba community.

UPDATE:
This cluster of branded litter ran in a trail from outside McDonald's in Treelands Drive, Yamba and on through to Telopea Steet at about 10.30 am on Sunday 19 December 2010 according to the Yamba resident who picked it up.

Question: Can you put a name to this face?

My money says the average Joe and Josephine Blow living in NSW cannot put a name to this character. In fact, when I undertook a quick check of the good folk in my neighbourhood not a single soul knew who this bloke is.
Okay, the poll that was undertaken didn't have the status of Roy Morgan Research, but nonetheless its result says a lot about how NSW been  governed for the last decade and a half.
This fellow has been haunting the corridors in Macquarie Street since, officially, September 1991.
Sad, but true!
This bloke has carried more clout than he deserves. He's figured in the behind the scenes appointments of premiers, cabinet ministers and sundries of other appointments.
Okay, so who is this power broker?
Answer: Click here

Finally! ICAC publicly states something everyone already knows - Kristina Keneally 'wrong'

In The Australian on 14 December 2010:

NSW Premier Kristina Keneally was wrong to water down independent planning controls introduced by her main rival, Frank Sartor.

The state's corruption watchdog, the Independent Commission Against Corruption, yesterday called for the powers of the independent Planning Assessment Commission to be widened, along the lines originally projected by Mr Sartor when he was planning minister between 2005 and 2008.

ICAC media release on 13 December 2010 concerning its report on the exercise of discretion under provisions of two NSW planning acts: EXERCISE O) CISE OF

Monday 13 December 2010

The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) recommends that the NSW Minister for Planning refer private sector applications under Part 3A of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979, which exceed development standards by more than 25%, to an independent quasi-judicial body for determination.

The Commission recommends that this role be assumed by the Planning Assessment Commission (PAC). In view of the important functions the PAC would assume, the Commission makes recommendations to strengthen its independence and to ensure that it is composed of appropriate persons, on a full-time basis but with a limited tenure.

The Commission's report, The exercise of discretion under Part 3A of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 and the State Environmental Planning Policy (Major Development) 2005, released today, makes altogether 20 recommendations to more effectively manage and mitigate potential corruption risks in the Part 3A process.

Commencing in 2005, Part 3A consolidates the different assessment and approval regimes for "major" projects in NSW determined by the Minister for Planning. The State Environmental Planning Policy (Major Development) 2005 (the MD SEPP) identifies several classes of Part 3A projects including significant private developments (for example, residential flats and commercial developments), and public sector infrastructure projects (for example, desalination plants and pipelines).

The ICAC recognises that it is appropriate that in many of these classes the Part 3A discretion should continue to be vested in the Minister. Nevertheless, in other situations there is a risk that perception may arise of corrupt influences playing a part in the Part 3A decision-making process. The key issue is the adequacy of safeguards when such Part 3A discretions are exercised. The need for adequacy of safeguards applies to elected or unelected officials at every level of government.

"The Part 3A system is characterised by a lack of published, objective criteria," the report says. "There are also various elements of Part 3A that are discretionary, particularly as regards residential and commercial development, which are prohibited or exceed existing development standards. The existence of a wide discretion to approve projects that are contrary to local plans and do not necessarily conform to state strategic plans has the potential to deliver sizable windfall gains to particular applicants. This creates a corruption risk and a community perception of a lack of appropriate boundaries."

While there are no established examples of the corrupt use or manipulation of discretion under Part 3A there is, nonetheless, considerable discretion built into Part 3A. Similar kinds of discretion have been the subject of several Commission investigations and investigations in other jurisdictions and beyond.

Under the current system, the Minister has the discretion to declare a project to be a Part 3A project by Ministerial Order. It is the loose criteria and the broad discretion that potentially give rise to perceptions of undue influence. The risk of this occurring is heightened by the Minister not being bound by the provisions of local environmental plans (and SEPPs generally, in the case of critical infrastructure projects).

To limit discretion and improve safeguards, the ICAC recommends that the NSW Government amend the EP&A Act to limit the application of Part 3A to projects that are permissible under existing planning instruments. The Commission also recommends that the PAC perform a gateway role, by way of independent scrutiny, in reviewing proposals to call in private sector projects via specific Ministerial Order.

The Commission and the NSW Department of Planning established a joint task force this year to examine whether there were corruption risks attached to Part 3A and to develop measures to address any of the identified risks. The Commission acknowledges the valuable assistance provided by the Department in participating in the task force.

However, the report has been prepared in its entirety by the Commission, and consequently its recommendations are those of the ICAC.

Full Report