Shorter Tony Abbott: I lost the RU486 vote on the floor of the House - so I'll privately threaten to get my own way

Australian Broadcasting Corporation

TV PROGRAM TRANSCRIPT

LOCATION: http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2006/s1652360.htm

Broadcast: 31/05/2006

Claim Abbott warned pharmaceutical industry against marketing RU486

Reporter: Margot O'Neill

EXCERPT

MARGOT O'NEILL: It was one of the most intensely personal debates Parliament has seen, involving a unique push from a group of women across four parties to allow the abortion drug RU486 into Australia. In a rare conscience vote, the Health Minister, Tony Abbott, lost his veto over the drug. 

SENATOR LYN ALLISON, DEMOCRATS LEADER (16 FEBRUARY): We've demonstrated that it's possible for parliamentarians who are not ministers - not even members of the Coalition - to take an issue forward and to fix a problem. 

MARGOT O'NEILL: But while he lost his veto on the floor of parliament, a senior figure in the pharmaceutical industry has told Lateline that Tony Abbott and his staff sought to exercise a surreptitious veto by privately warning the industry not to market the drug. At his request, the man's appearance and voice have been disguised. Lateline has confirmed his senior role in the pharmaceutical industry. 

PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY LEADER, ACTOR'S VOICE USED: The Minister approached me before the vote was taken in the Parliament. It was at a social function. His approach was quite a casual one, but his message was clear. He made it clear to me that he was not interested, or it was against our interests if we were to market RU486 in Australia. 

MARGOT O'NEILL: He says, at the time, he didn't take it as a threat, but then something happened that made him think again: he got a call from one of Mr Abbott's key staffers. 

PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY LEADER: A couple of weeks later I did receive contact from his office. In fact, I had two connections, or communications, with his office and on both occasions the message was much clearer and the message really was that it was not in any company's interest to market RU486. 

MARGOT O'NEILL: So, what exactly was said on those two occasions? 

PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY LEADER: I can't recall specifically what was said but the message was clear. It was one suggested or pointed out that there were a number of issues that were facing the broader industry and would impact and affect individual companies, and that if any company did consider marketing RU486 and making it available in Australia, that it wouldn't be in the company's or the industry's interest. 

MARGOT O'NEILL: Did you take it as a threat? 

PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY LEADER: It wasn't a casual conversation; it was a clear message. So, I suppose, I have to accept that it was a threat. 

MARGOT O'NEILL: At the time, he says, there were a number of issues which could impact on the sustainability of the pharmaceutical industry and that were taxing the minds of all companies, so he passed on the warning. And what did you kind of mention to people in other companies? 

PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY LEADER: Basically, that if they were considering it, they should think very seriously about it because it might not be in their interests. It could upset the Minister and it could impact on them and the broader drug industry. 

MARGOT O'NEILL: No company has applied to market RU486 as an abortion drug in Australia and Democrats Senator Lyn Allison, who co-sponsored the bill that led to the conscience vote, believes the minister is, at least, partly to blame. 

Aboriginal Legal Service 24 hour custody notification phone line may cease operating in June 2013

From Save the CNS:

To keep the CNS operating, the ALS needs:

►Funding of $500,000 per annum to commence 1 July 2013

►A funding commitment of three - five years

The phone line costs the same to operate per annum as holding two juveniles in detention for one year.

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

WE NEED YOUR HELP TO KEEP IT RUNNING! We NEED to get the government on board. Show how MASSIVE the support is for the government to fund this service by:

'LIKING' the ALS Facebook page and future posts regarding the Custody Notification Service
 

'JOINING' our SAVE THE CNS Facebook Event and click 'GOING'
 

'INVITING' all your friends to this event
 

'POSTING' your comments on this page
 

FOLLOW us on Twitter to learn more about the Custody Notification Service
 

EMAIL US  to add your name to our growing list of Supporters
 

There have been no Aboriginal deaths in police custody since this service began. YOU HAVE THE POWER TO SAVE LIVES. SO PLEASE DO!

Koori Mail current edition:

.. a funding stand-off between the federal and state governments means the ALS will be forced to cut the CNS at the end of the financial year, which chief legal officer John McKenzie said would impact vulnerable people.

When you live like this why would you hold back from assisting Metgasco Limited to turn sections of the Northern Rivers into 1,000 well-strong coal seam gas fields?

Trevor Charles St Baker and various members of his family - through ERM Power Limited where they and entities associated with them comprise an estimated twelve of the top twenty shareholders - have a considerable interest in Metgasco Limited a coal seam gas exploration and mining company with tenements on the NSW North Coast.

Therefore it might be suggested that the St. Baker family appear to endorse the potential for coal seam gas mining in the Northern Rivers.

This is the gated estate on which Trevor and some family members live:

…one of Brisbane’s most exclusive acreage enclaves…….From the postcard perfect gated entry, a sealed road meanders through magnificent community grounds studded with jacaranda and myrtle, past the tranquil lake area……The views are simply amazing, capturing Brisbane & beyond to Moreton Bay on a clear day.

The estate is understood to have two golf greens and a 12 ha communal park area.

Google Earth aerial view of part of Lot 2 on the estate

 

A far cry from the decidedly more modest homes in Casino, Doubtful Creek and Glenugie on the NSW North Coast, where Metgasco has been sinking some of its exploratory and pre-production wells.

A lifetime away from the tens of thousands of ordinary workers and returned servicemen and women who were born in, raised their families across, or retired to, this environmentally diverse and culturally enriched region.

Which might explain why ERM Power has been buying up Metgasco shares at a time when it is increasingly obvious that a great many local communities have rejected coal seam gas mining and production in the Northern Rivers and will never grant a social licence. It does not see these communities as having value.

What mining billionaire and presumptive United Australia Party leader Clive Palmer is not mentioning to voters in the Page electorate

Clive Palmer, former Liberal National Party member and presumptive leader of the inchoate United Australia Party, is happy to tell us he is an oppressed billionaire, but he doesn’t mention his Galilee Coal Project (China First Coal) which will develop an integrated coal project including a coal mine, railway and port facility to export thermal coal to international markets.

Supporters of Bimblebox Nature Reserve had this to say:

If allowed to go ahead, this project will destroy the Bimblebox Nature Refuge, impact on our precious groundwater resources and help open up the whole Galilee Basin to more coal mines.

Over the life of the mine, the coal from the China First project will generate greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to nearly four years of Australian total annual emissions! It would need to be transported over farmland and shipped through the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.

His attitude is already well known already when it comes to off-shore gas exploration leases in Papua New Guinea:

If we find gas, we develop it and make billions of dollars out of it. First we are looking at reserves, then the cost of extracting, but it looks very promising.

He also had this to say in 2011 about coal seam gas mining in Australia:

Let me be clear, I do support the CSG industry.

As Palmer has stated his intention to a run candidate in the Page electorate at the September 2013 federal election, perhaps the local media should be asking him about his attitude to mining in our region – in light of the fact that his company Waratah Coal Pty Ltd is currently seeking to renew its 3,200 ha exploration license EL 6467 and its 4,616 ha exploration license  EL 7186 centred 36 km SSW and 33 km SSW of Grafton respectively.

Both these licenses cover tenements in the Nymboida River catchment (part of the wider Clarence River Catchment) which supplies drinking water to an estimated 126,000 people in the Clarence Valley and Coffs Harbour City local government areas.

This is a Waratah Coal photograph purporting to show its exploration activities in the Nymboida region:

NSW DPI Division of Resources and Energy mapping:

The truth about Grafton Hospital funding

From The Daily Examiner letters to the editor pages in April-May 2013.

HE SAID:

Truth about hospital

I take deep umbrage to the statement by Shirley Adams that Janelle Saffin is the only one to do anything for Grafton and the Valley.
Shirley has never been backward in blowing her own trumpet but she knows very well what was achieved in my time as member.
The community centre, South Grafton levee, the hockey complex, the Airport Road, upgrades to state and private schools, a new railway station, the tourist centre, the list can go on.
The Grafton hospital is a good case in point. John Howard asked me to identify a project in my electorate to be funded from the surpluses we were achieving in government. I chose Grafton Base Hospitable because the State Labor Government had been promising upgrades but nothing ever happened.
The estimated cost of upgrade at the time was $18million.
John Howard came to Grafton and announced that the Federal Government would provide $18million to upgrade the hospital but he would give the money to a local committee because he did not trust the State Labor Government to spend the money on the hospital. If John Howard had not made this commitment, there would have been no interest from Labor.
These commitments were made because we had money in the bank, not the legacy from Janelle Saffin - at present $272billion of debt. Interest alone on this debt is $8billion a year. How many Pacific Highways would that fund?
Shirley Adams, Dr Allan Tyson and The Daily Examiner were all at that press conference and heard the statement. None has had the decency to acknowledge that as fact. There was no election called and the money was immediately available.
Remember, hospitals and highways are state responsibilities under the constitution and John Howard was the first prime minister to offer federal help for health, the Pacific Hwy and money to local councils for rural roads.
The very fact that Janelle Saffin claims there was interest accumulating proves the money was in a dedicated account for Grafton hospital and not part of the budget process of the new government.
I am delighted that Grafton Base Hospital has finally been upgraded, but an outbreak of the truth in these matters, instead of blatant politics, would be a pleasant change.

 Ian Causley

Chatsworth

SHE SAID #1:

Unrealised promise

Ian Causley (The Daily Examiner, letters April 23) stated; "John Howard came to Grafton and announced that the Federal Government would provide $18 million to upgrade the hospital but he would give the money to a local committee because he did not trust the State Labor Government to spend the money on the hospital.
The very fact that Janelle Saffin claims there was interest accumulating proves the money was in a dedicated account for Grafton hospital and not part of the budget process of the new government."
Yes, John Howard was reported as making that announcement on October 10, 2007.
Four days before he announced his intention to call a federal election and seven days before the writs were issued, Parliament dissolved and the caretaker period commenced. (Australian Electoral Commission 2012).
Additionally, this promised hospital upgrade funding was not included in the Howard Government 2007 budget papers, in October there was no "local committee" for it to go to if it had actually been allocated and, on October 11, 2007 the NSW Government rejected this "election promise" (ABC News).
Then on November 24, 2007 the Coalition lost government and John Howard lost his seat. So Mr Causley's $18 million existed only as an unrealised promise and it is wrong of him to suggest otherwise.
Especially as in June 2008 the then NSW Nationals MP for Clarence identified federal Grafton Hospital upgrade funding as being provided by the Rudd Government.

Judith M. Melville

Yamba

SHE SAID #2:

The real truth

It is a bit sad that former member for Page Ian Causley (DEX April 23) feels the need to claim credit from retirement for delivering the Grafton Base Hospital redevelopment.
I acknowledge that Ian, after years of inaction, elicited an $18 million commitment out of former prime minister John Howard in the dying days of that government.
However, that pledge was unfunded and had strings attached. Mine was funded and came with no strings.
The big difference here is that my 2007 election commitments of $18 million for stage one and $5 million for the Grafton GP Super Clinic, made with former prime minister Kevin Rudd's full support, were rock solid.
I was the politician who actually delivered the goods. Federal Labor's $18 million was in the 2008-09 budget, the money went to the then NSW Labor Government, where it earned $1.2 million in interest while the project was being planned.
Ian is plainly wrong when he suggests that the money was in some dedicated federal account. It was not.
I lobbied former NSW health minister John Della Bosca for the interest to be directed to the project, which was unprecedented, and for his government to contribute a further $500,000 to planning.
I got both for our community.
I made sure, with Dr Allan Tyson's attention to detail and Shirley Adams OAM's vigilance, that a total of $19.7 million in funding was wisely spent on building a first-class emergency department, operating theatres, and some extras.
Ian's attack on Shirley, who is widely respected as one of the Clarence Valley's leading citizens, was unwarranted and petty.
He should know that it is not just about the funding.
Hard-working MPs then work with their community to bed down the project with bureaucrats, construction managers and staff.
This is how we, as a united local community, fought for and won first-class health facilities offering high standards of patient care.
And for the record, I secured and delivered a further $10 million for stage two of the Grafton Base upgrade, made up of $6 million from this federal government and $4 million from the then NSW government.

Janelle Saffin MP

Federal Member for Page

A blast from the past

Does the name Neville Newell ring a bell? The letters editor of The Sydney Morning Herald awarded top marks to Newell's contribution and gave it the pole position.

Windsor's dignity turned on the light

So it appears that now a National Disability Insurance Scheme levy will have bipartisan parliamentary support (''Green light for the NDIS as Abbott comes to the party'', May 3). Good news indeed. Good news coverage for this positive move from the Opposition just 24 hours after Tony Abbot's expressed indifference and Joe Hockey's hostility.Why not any credit for the person whose words shook the perennial negatives from the Opposition ? Not undoubtedly because they were about to be rendered irrelevant by the Independents surely. Thanks, Tony Windsor MP, your speaking up frightened some ''humanity'' into our federal opposition.

Neville Newell Brunswick Heads

Source: SMH, 4/05/2013

Pic credit: Parliament of NSW

Abbott outed as class warrior intent on taking from the poor and giving to the rich

Excerpt from Nicholas Reece writing in The Age 29 April 2013:

As Age columnist Tim Soutphommasane presciently observed in these pages, ''class warfare'' has become the catchcry of a new conservative political correctness.

The truth of this assessment is made clear by an analysis of the competing policy platforms of Labor and Tony Abbott's Coalition. What it shows is that both parties have policies that result in a redistribution of resources from one group in society to another.

This is not surprising. With only finite revenue, a decision to give to one individual or group means, by definition, that another will miss out.

What is surprising is the extent to which Coalition policies will result in a significant redistribution of wealth upwards rather than downwards. Consider the following Coalition policies:

■ Lower the tax-free threshold from $18,200 to $6000. This will drag more than one million low-income earners back into the tax system. It will also increase the taxes for 6 million Australians earning less than $80,000.

■ Abolish the low-income superannuation contribution. This will reimpose a 15 per cent tax on superannuation contributions for people earning less than $37,000.

■ Abolish the proposed 15 per cent tax on income from superannuation above $100,000 a year. The combined effect of these two superannuation changes is that 16,000 high-income earners with superannuation savings in excess of $2 million will get a tax cut while 3.6 million workers earning less than $37,000 will pay more than $4 billion extra in tax on their super over the next four years.

■ Abolish the means test on the private health insurance rebate. This will deliver a $2.4 billion tax cut over three years for individuals earning over $84,001 a year, or couples earning over $168,001. People on lower incomes will receive no benefit.

■ Introduce a paid parental leave scheme that replaces a mother's salary up to $150,000. To put it crudely, this means a low-income mum gets about $600 per week while a high-income mum gets close to $3000.

■ Abolish the means-tested Schoolkids Bonus that benefits 1.3 million families by providing up to $410 for each primary school child and up to $820 for each high school child.

These policies will result in low- and middle-income earners paying billions of dollars more in tax while those on higher incomes receive billions in tax cuts and new benefits. Rather than take from the rich and give to the poor, the Coalition policies are a case of take from the poor and give to the rich. And this remains the case even taking into account the flow-on effects of the abolition of the carbon price and the funding of the Coalition's paid maternity leave through a tax on big companies.

So who is waging the real class war?