Cause and effect Abbott-style?

CAUSE?

Democracy4Sale:

Donations to the state branch of the Liberal Party by tobacco companies totalled $588,796 between 2007-2010.

Donations to the Federal Liberal Party by tobacco companies totalled $959,140 between 1998-2008.

EFFECT?

The former federal health minister and Federal Liberal Party Member for Warringah (NSW) Tony Abbott in June 2009:

One cigarette I am told does you damage but it does you so little damage. It is only when you start smoking a lot of cigarettes for a long time that it starts doing very serious damage. So being hard hearted to your kids, not encouraging them to be their best, I think are probably much more serious parental crimes and so I personally would not get hung up on something, in my view, as trivial as smoking while the kids are in the car.

Stranger Than Fiction: In 2012 the Gillard Government tried to protect Tony Abbott's back by amending legislation

 

Last year the Gillard Government quietly attempted to rectify a blunder on the part of the Leader of the Opposition Tony Abbott stemming from his time as federal health minister.

 

However, the Australian courts remain unimpressed and Abbott’s famed lack of attention to the finer points of law and legislative detail may yet see the Commonwealth held liable.
 
Lee v Napier [2013] FCA 236 (20 March 2013):

 

Conclusion
I therefore conclude (subject to the separate question of whether the amending legislation survives the Constitutional challenge so as to cure the problem) that the purported appointments on 24 January 2005 of Dr Robyn Napier, Dr Rodney McMahon and Dr Huy An to be Panel members were invalid because there had been a failure to consult the AMA about those appointments within the meaning of s 84(3) of the Act. The consultation was still under way when the appointments were made. The Minister pre-empted the outcome. It follows that the purported appointment on 27 March 2006 of Dr Robyn Napier as a Deputy Director of Professional Services Review was also invalid because Dr Napier was not at that time a Panel member. I will list the second separate question for directions on Monday 25 March 2013. I reserve the question of costs.

Brisbane Times 2 April 2013:

 

Dozens of doctors penalised for allegedly rorting Medicare may seek compensation following a Federal Court ruling that the appointments of certain members of the disciplinary panel they faced were invalid.

Doctors suspended between 2005 and 2010 on the advice of the general practitioner members of the Professional Services Review are affected.

Judge Anna Katzmann ruled that these GP members had not been validly appointed because the then health minister Tony Abbott had not consulted the Australian Medical Association before appointing them……

Last year the federal government enacted legislation that retrospectively validated the appointments to the committee, but Dr Lee plans to challenge the validity of that legislation.

If successful, his action would open the floodgates to claims by doctors dealt with by the committee - about 50 a year.

How the Murdoch media spins its web

Crikey 27 March 2013:

The Tele's article invoked some heavyweights to back up its case, including Saul Eslake, who told Crikey he'd been taken a little out of context in the piece. According to Eslake, Rolfe had contacted him to ask if Australia faced a debt crisis. Eslake's reply was that Australia didn't, and he compared us with Canada, which will not return to surplus for some years and will likely have a debt approaching 30% of GDP, compared with 11.5% for Australia. Over time, Eslake suggested, Australia might develop a problem due to the actions of a number of governments, including the John Howard government. This prompted Rolfe to ask how soon it would become a crisis, which Eslake answered by noting a debt crisis can come on very quickly — "the lights don't turn amber, they turn red". This, said Eslake, was portrayed as him saying a debt crisis was around the corner and it was entirely the fault of this government.

Public Forum on Coal Seam Gas, 8 April 2013 at the University of New England Armidale

At this forum supporters of coal seam gas mining and those opposed to this form of mining will be speaking.

The gentler, caring side of Tony Abbott in 1987?

Excerpts from an article by Tony Abbott in The Bulletin 18 August 1987 via Australians for Honest Politics:

*A little earlier, I had been appointed college infirmarian. This post was a legacy from quasi-monastic days and involved supervising the medicine cabinet and ensuring that the ill were not forgotten in their rooms.

But during winter, when up to 30 percent of the college would be down with “flu” at any one time, the infirmarian spent much of his day ferrying food and aspirin to the rooms of the sick. My view was that I knew nothing about medicine and that those too sick to eat in the dining room ought to be in hospital.

Anyway, I thought, most were malingering. So I encouraged “self-service” of medicines and suggested that meals would be better fetched by the friends of the sick. Many deeply resented this disdain for college’s caring and communitarian ethos. And, I confess, I did not have the courage to refuse room service to members of the seminary staff.

*I missed the glittering company of Oxford and the student burly­ burly. But mostly l felt “had “by a seminary that so stressed ”empathy” with sinners and “dialogue” with the Church’s enemies that the priesthood seemed to have lost its point.  

So determined are some journalist to see Labor in a negative light that they often get it gloriously wrong

The latest Australian journalist to get it gloriously wrong is Alex Easton writing in The Northern Star on 2 April 2013:

Snapshots 2 April 2013

The Financial Review addressed the very same subject three days earlier on 31 March 2013:

Federal Labor has created the first viral ad of the election campaign with a graphic about government net debt that has now been seen by more than 844,500 Facebook users since late Monday night.

To put that figure into perspective, it is more than the capital city audience that watched the ABC evening news on Friday, according to OzTam estimates.

This is the graph in question:

Dart Energy withdraws from the Northern Rivers and Australia

 

Dart Energy media release 2 April 2013:

 

Company restructures, cuts costs, cancels international IPO

 

Focus on near term value creation

 

Dart Energy (ASX: DTE, “Dart” or the “Company”) advises that it has instituted a restructuring, cost cutting and refocusing program. This comes in response to current market conditions, a reassessment of the Company’s priority projects, recent decisions in Australia by the NSW and Federal Governments relating to Coal Seam Gas (CSG) and shareholder feedback.

 

In summary, the Company’s forward strategy is focused on maximising the value of the company's UK portfolio, and taking those assets into cash flow on a 12 – 18 month view, while reducing the cash draw from the balance of the portfolio.

The following are the key features of the changes. Additional details are included in the separate presentation.

 

Strategy – Focus on UK

 

• The Company’s strategy in the short term will be to focus on its attractive CSG projects in Scotland, and on the company’s extensive shale assets in England, specifically the Bowland basin, which has to-date seen encouraging exploration and appraisal results. The Company believes that within its portfolio these assets offer the best prospects for near-term value creation, especially given the clear UK Government policy promoting the development of that country’s unconventional gas resources.

• Despite the lifting of the court injunction at Fullerton Cove on March 28th, field operations in NSW will be suspended until NSW and Federal policies are in place to support the industry in being able to meet the needs of projected natural gas demand.

• Operations in Indonesia to assess the Company’s high quality projects will continue, albeit at a reduced pace. The near-term focus will be securing an off-take partner and establishing commerciality for the Company’s South Sumatra assets.

• In China, the focus will be on securing regulatory approvals for its shale gas PSC, and finalising the associated farm-out to fund that exploration program.

• Other operations (India, continental Europe, certain assets in Indonesia and China) are considered non-core, and will be scaled back substantially, with a view to partnering, farming-out, selling, or exiting, in a manner that best maximises the return to the Company. Additional capital will not be deployed to these non-core operations.

• The Board and management team continue to acknowledge the long term strategic value of the Company’s portfolio. However, the revised strategy better matches the company’s immediate opportunities with available resources.

 

Cost Reductions

 

• To reflect the changed focus of the Company, the Company’s global staff base has been reduced to c.50 people, a total reduction of 70%.

• The Company’s global office infrastructure is in the process of being reduced. Offices will be downsized or shut, as appropriate.

• Following completion of all changes, overall overhead cost savings, including at the Board level, will be in the region of 60%.

• The company's “burn” rate will reduce to approximately $12m pa (approximately $1m per month), of which 50% is G&A and 50% is costs directly attributable to projects.

• The Company currently has approximately $17m in cash and liquid assets, and in the coming six months an additional $5m will become available as cash-backed guarantees are released. Net of an estimated $2m in restructuring costs, the Company’s immediate cash availability is thus approximately $20m.

 

Board & Management

 

• The Dart Energy Board will consist of Nick Davies - Non-Executive Chairman, and Shaun Scott, Stephen Bizzell and Simon Poidevin - Non-Executive directors. UK based Norrie Stanley will join the Board as a Non-Executive director. Norrie has extensive UK and international energy / gas industry experience, and was formerly a senior executive at BP.

• John McGoldrick (currently CEO of Dart Energy International) will assume the role of CEO of Dart Energy Limited. Duplicate executive functions throughout the Company have been eliminated.

 

Funding and Dart International IPO

 

• The proposed IPO of Dart Energy International has been cancelled.

• This reflects the Directors’ view that recent NSW and Federal government decisions have materially impacted on the short-term prospects for the Company’s assets in Australia. Had an IPO of DEI progressed, the short-term viability of the Australian assets as a stand-alone business would not have been assured.

• The Company’s revised strategy and reduced cost base will provide time for the Company to pursue and secure its longer-term capital needs, including in particular via farm-outs, asset sales, and strategic partnerships.

 

Commenting, Nick Davies, Chairman, said:

 

“The Board of Dart has taken aggressive steps to respond to market conditions and shareholder feedback. We have done so in a comprehensive fashion.

With the changes we are implementing, and with the 2013 planned work programme now focusing primarily on the UK, existing funds will meet the company’s needs for the next 12 months. Value-adding joint ventures of the UK assets and other project sell-down initiatives are underway and attracting significant interest.

The Board of Dart is extremely disappointed with the uncertainty created by recent NSW and Federal government decisions in relation to CSG development in Australia. The consequence is that investment is leaving the country, field operations are being suspended, Australian jobs are being lost, and the impending energy crisis in New South Wales is not being addressed, and indeed, will only get worse. This is in direct contrast to the United Kingdom, where the Government is actively seeking to support the responsible development of unconventional gas resources.

It is with regret that Robbert de Weijer, CEO of Australia, will be leaving the Company. I would like to thank Robbert for his excellent leadership and his dedicated and passionate efforts to take the CSG industry forward in NSW. Until his departure, Robbert will lead an initiative to identify consolidation and farm-out opportunities for the Australian assets.

We have taken steps to reposition Dart so as to focus on building value in the UK in the near-term, through our CSG projects in Scotland and our shale gas assets in England. In the mid-term we still see considerable value in our Indonesian assets, the shale gas opportunity in China, and through preserving our high quality blocks in Australia until Government policies are reformulated”.

 

For and on behalf of the Board

Paul Marshall, Company Secretary

For further information contact:

Nick Davies Chairman Tel: +65 6508 9840

Di Brookman Investor Relations Manager Tel: +61(2) 9146 6336