Opposition Leader Tony Abbott admits that Australia is doing well

In The Australian 3 July 2013 Opposition Leader Tony Abbott made a rare admission:

“Australia is undeniably a successful society with its high and rising standard of living, just and generally accepted institutions, and a relatively happy recent history.”

Are Australia's 18 to 25 year-olds finally beginning to realise that politics matter when it comes to their wellbeing and way of life?

The Australian 4 July 2013:

The Australian Electoral Commission's Phil Diak said yesterday tens of thousands of people had enrolled since Labor's dramatic leadership change on June 26.

The AEC has run campaigns encouraging people to sign up to vote but it appears Mr Rudd's return has done most of the work this time.

"There were 22,000 online submissions since the leadership change through to Monday morning, compared to the normal 8000 we'd expect over that period," Mr Diak said.

More than 1.4 million eligible Australians, about 9 per cent of the total population, are missing from the electoral roll. About a quarter of all 18- to 25-year-olds and half of all 18-year-olds are not enrolled.

Courier Mail not impressed by Abbott doing 'charity' work and the taxpayer picking up his tab

This was Brisbane’s The Courier Mail  9 July 2013:

Anyway, Abbott's chief of staff, Peta Credlin, agreed to repay more than $6200 for flights "inadvertently booked for official travel rather than private''. Then the following year, Special Minister of State Gary Gray wrote to Abbott in relation to a further $3100 in travel expenses related to his book tour, which had also been incorrectly claimed. This too was repaid.

Clearly an honest mistake and very easy to confuse more than $9000 worth of private travel with official business. It happens to me all the time.

Abbott does have form with expenses though, especially when it comes to claiming every penny of what he believes he is entitled to.

Even when Abbott is out raising money for charity (and promoting brand Tony in the process), he is doing it on the public purse. For three years of his annual Pollie Pedal ride for example (2010-2012), he claimed more than $8000 in expenses for official business.

Likewise, according to registers published by the Department of Finance, we get hit up for travel allowances for Surf Lifesaving swims, Wagga fun runs and even $1100 for his Tony the Trucker stunt driving a rig down the Pacific Highway late last year.

Keep this in mind for the next time you hear a Liberal politician carrying on about greedy unions and unrealistic pay claims.

This is the man who is using his media empire in support of Opposition Leader Tony Abbott's bid to become Australian Prime Minister.....

Invading people’s privacy by listening to their voicemail is wrong. Paying police officers for information is wrong. This is why News International is co-operating fully with the police, whose job it is to see that justice is done. [Rupert Murdoch 2011]

"We're talking about payments for news tips from cops: that's been going on a hundred years, absolutely...But why are the police behaving in this way? It’s the biggest inquiry ever over next to nothing. " [Rupert Murdoch 2013]

US media mogul Rupert Murdoch mocks police and the investigation into News of the World telephone hacking.

Video at http://www.channel4.com/news/murdoch-rupert-tape-police-the-sun-journalists

According to Channel 4 3 July 2013:

Throughout the recording, which lasts about 45 minutes, the News Corp boss repeatedly accuses the police of incompetence - of being "unbelievably slow" he says at one point.

At another point, he said of the police that he didn't really trust anything they said.

But if he is contemptuous of the police, he also shows remarkable disdain for the offence they're investigating.

He belittles the corrupt payments issue. And for anyone convicted over it - the message is: he'll be there for them....

One of the clips starts, Channel 4 News understands, with the sound of Murdoch slapping the table.

"What they're doing, what they did to you, and how they treated people at [******], saying 'a couple of you come in for a cup of tea at four in the afternoon''," he says.

"You guys got thrown out of bed by gangs of cops at six in the morning, and I'm just as annoyed as you are."

"It would be nice to hit back when we can", one journalist suggests later in the meeting.

"We will", replies Mr Murdoch. "We will".

Further extracts here and here.

Tom Watson a Member of the House of Commons UK sent this Letter to Senator Rockefeller:

July 4th, 2013

Senator John D. Rockefeller IV

Chairman

United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation

Washington

DC 20510-6125

USA

Dear Sir

I am writing to you by virtue of your role as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation and this Committee’s interest in the conduct of News Corporation.  I am also copying this letter to Senator Patrick Leahy in his capacity as Chairman of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary which I understand oversees matters relating to the Foreign and Corrupt Practices Act.

I attach to this letter a transcript of a meeting that took place earlier this year in the offices of News International Limited, a subsidiary of News Corporation.  The meeting records the exchanges between Rupert Murdoch, CEO of News Corporation, and employees who had been arrested or were otherwise under investigation by the UK Metropolitan Police.  As you will be aware this police force has been investigating alleged criminal conduct by News International (or its subsidiary News Group Newspapers) employees relating to phone hacking and corrupt payments by journalists to public officials.

The transcript reveals Mr Murdoch’s approach to the alleged criminality within his organisation. It also reveals how his employees claim that they were simply doing what was expected of them and that they had continued a practice of paying public officials that had been going on for decades.  Mr Murdoch’s replies, in my view, demonstrate a significant level of knowledge of the practice and a shocking contempt for the police investigation into it.  Perhaps even more sinister is his confirmation that his organisation will “hit back” at the police because of their investigation.

No doubt you will read the entire transcript and come to your own conclusions.

It has been my view from the outset that the most senior executives within News Corporation should be held responsible and called to account for the wrongdoing of the UK journalists and other employees of its subsidiaries.  It is Rupert Murdoch who is most responsible for the culture in his organisation. We now know more of his attitude towards, and knowledge of, the culture of corruption in his UK newspapers (and, he alleges, across his competitors) and his condemnation of the police’s attempts to route it out.  Having had this revealed, I would encourage the authorities both in the UK and US to ensure that their investigations into News Corporation are not inhibited in going to the very top, notwithstanding the power and influence wielded by Mr Murdoch.

If I can assist you in any way, please do not hesitate to contact me.

The Guardian UK 6 July 2013:

DCI Laurence Smith told Exaro News that the police would seek a production order compelling it to disclose the recording if it did not do so voluntarily. It is understood the police have also approached Channel 4, which aired a small part of the recordings.

The development is the clearest indication yet that police in London are ready to examine Murdoch's private disclosures since the tapes emerged on Wednesday night. Murdoch is recorded saying the culture of paying police officers for stories "existed at every newspaper in Fleet Street. Long since forgotten. But absolutely."...

The press law campaign group Hacked Off on Friday urged the Commons culture, media and sport select committee to recall Murdoch, and said he "may have committed contempt of parliament". Evan Harris, the associate director of the group, wrote to the cross-party committee's chairman, John Whittingdale MP, saying: "There is a strong prima facie case that Mr Murdoch may have committed contempt of parliament by misleading your committee over his true response to the police investigations into phone hacking and bribery of public officials....

Anchor Resources granted yet another exploration lease in the Clarence River Catchment by O'Farrell Government

From A Clarence Valley Protest 4 July 2013:

Anchor Resources extends its mining exploration footprint within the Clarence River catchment area

Chinese-owned mining exploration company Anchor Resources Limited has extended its mineral tenements within the Dorrigo Plateau-Clarence River catchment area.

In June 2013 the NSW O’Farrell Coalition Government granted a further three-year exploration lease EL 8100 which connects those gold and antimony tenements the company has already extensively explored. 

This increased footprint comes with an increased risk of antimony, arsenic, and/or mercury contamination in a sensitive section of the catchment should the proposed commercial mines come to fruition.

Australian Government National Pollutant Inventory:

Both mercury and its compounds have high acute(short-term) and have high chronic (long-term) toxicity on aquatic life. Eating fish contaminated with mercury has caused poisoning in humans; birds and land animals exposed in the same manner could also be subject to the same effects. There is not sufficient data to determine the acute toxicity of mercury and its compounds on plants, birds or land animals. Mercury and its compounds are highly persistent in water and the environment and will bioaccumulate or concentrate in the tissues of fish. These concentrations will be considerably higher than the water from which the fish is taken.

* Map found at www.anchorresources.com

New Generation Medicines Added To The PBS

 

THE HON TANYA PLIBERSEK MP

Minister for Health

MEDIA RELEASE

30 June 2013

NEW GENERATION MEDICINES ADDED TO THE PBS

A new medicine that can significantly extend the life of people with deadly melanoma (skin cancer) has been approved for inclusion in the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.

Minister for Health Tanya Plibersek said the inclusion of ipilimumab, sold as Yervoy^® on the PBS would save patients requiring the treatment more than $110,000 a year on average.

“Australia has the highest skin cancer incidence rate in the world, with one in 17 Australians at risk of contracting the disease,” Ms Plibersek said.  

“While prevention is always the best option, the PBS listing of ipilimumab is a major step forward for people who have developed malignant melanoma.

“It is the first in a new class of medicines for melanoma and the first effective treatment in over a decade.”

In clinical trials, more than 60 per cent of patients with very advanced melanoma who were treated with ipilimumab were still alive after one year and notably, some 10 per cent of them were still alive after five years.

A new and effective drug for treating prostate cancer, abiraterone (Zytiga^®) will also be listed on the PBS. Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in Australian men, with about 20,000 new cases diagnosed each year.  

“The PBS listing of abiraterone will benefit more than 1,000 Australians each year who would otherwise have to pay around $27,000 a year to access the drug.  This medicine offers an important treatment option for patients who are not well enough to tolerate further chemotherapy,” Ms Plibersek said.

Subsidies for vinorelbine (Navelbine®) which treats advanced breast cancer will also be extended to allow the drug to be used when other therapies have failed.

Provided orally, vinorelbine offers an important treatment option for patients but currently costs around $17,314 for an average of six prescriptions a year.

The new subsidies for these three cancer medicines will cost the Australian Government more than $430 million over four years.  

“Cancer is the number one cause of sickness and death in this country and fighting it has always been a top priority for this government,” Ms Plibersek said.

“With these new listings the Government has committed around $3.9 billion to improve the detection and treatment of cancer, including nearly $2 billion on subsidies for new cancer medicines since 2007. This brings the number of new or amended listings subsidised for cancer treatment since 2007 to 36, for 17 different types of cancer.”

More than a hundred thousand Australians will also benefit from the extension of PBS subsidies for a new generation oral anticoagulant medicine, on the PBS.

Rivaroxaban – marketed as Xarelto® – will soon be subsidised as a treatment for the prevention of stroke in patients with irregular heartbeat and treatment of blood clots in the lungs and legs.  

Irregular heartbeat or non-valvular atrial fibrillation is common among older people and increases the risk of severe stroke.  

The extension of the PBS subsidy will cost the Australian Government more than $450 million over four years and will benefit around 120,000 patients per year. Without PBS subsidy, rivaroxaban cost around $1200 per year for the average patient.

Ms Plibsersek said two drugs used to terminate pregnancy for medical reasons would also be available through the PBS from 1 August 2013.

Mifepristone (Linepharma®) and misoprostol (GyMiso200®) will be subsidised for medical terminations up to 49 days of gestation.

“While termination of pregnancy is always difficult, the listing of these drugs provides women and their doctors with greater choice at an affordable price,” Ms Plibersek said.

A total of 17 new and amended PBS listings will come into effect between 1 August and 1 October this year at a cost to the Government of almost $1 billion over four years. Almost 350,000 people a year will benefit.

Patients will only have to pay $5.90 or $36.10 per month to be treated with these medicines.  

“These listings reflect the Government’s continuing commitment to consumers and industry to ensure that effective medicines are readily available to Australians as soon as possible after they are proven effective,” Ms Plibersek said.

“We are able to provide these medicines at a subsidised price because of our diligent work to ensure that the PBS also provides good value for taxpayers and is sustainable.”

 

Details of changes to the PBS 1 August to 1 October 2013

 New listings

·        ipilimumab (Yervoy^®) - for the treatment of certain types of malignant melanoma

·        abiraterone (Zytiga^®) - for the treatment of prostate cancer

·        mifepristone (Linepharma^®) and misoprostol (GyMiso200^®) - for the termination of pregnancy for medical reasons in women who are up to 49 days of gestation

Amended and extended listings

·        vinorelbine (Navelbine^®) - for the treatment of advanced breast cancer, to extend the current listing to include treatment after failure of standard prior therapy

·        botulinum toxin type A (Botox^®) – for the treatment of urinary incontinence, to extend the current listing to include patients with specific neurological conditions, such as multiple sclerosis and adult spina bifida

·        cephalexin (various brands) - for use as an antibiotic in the treatment of urinary tract infection, to amend the current listing to increase the maximum quantity and number of repeats available

·        corifollitropin alfa (Elonva^®) - for use as part of infertility treatment in women, to extend the current listing to remove the weight restriction

·        diazepam (Orion Diazepam Elixir^®) - for the treatment of chronic spasticity in children, to extend the current listing to include an oral solution

·        imatinib (Glivec^®) - for the treatment of gastrointestinal stromal tumour, to extend the current listing to change the maximum duration of treatment to three years

·        lacosamide (Vimpat^®) - for the treatment of epilepsy, to extend the current listing to remove a restriction for continuation of treatment and amend the listing to a Streamlined Authority

·        lenalidomide (Revlimid^®) - for the treatment of patients with a rare blood and bone marrow disorder (a certain type of myelodysplastic syndrome)

·        risedronate (Actonel^®) - for the treatment of osteoporosis, to extend the current listing to include patients that meet certain age and bone mineral density criteria

·        rivaroxaban (Xarelto^®) - for the prevention of stroke in patients with irregular heartbeat (non-valvular atrial fibrillation)

·        rivaroxaban (Xarelto^®) - for the treatment of blood clots in the lungs (pulmonary embolism) and prevention of recurrent blood clots in the legs and lungs (venous thromboembolism)

·        sorafenib (Nexavar^®) - for the treatment of a type of liver cancer, to amend the current listing to a Streamlined Authority

·        trimethoprim (various brands) - for use as an antibiotic in the treatment of recurrent urinary tract infections, to amend the current listing to increase the maximum quantity and number of repeats available

All PBS listings and price changes are subject to final arrangements being met by the suppliers of the medicines.

For all media inquiries, please contact the Minister's Office on 02 6277 7220

 

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott caught out charging Australian taxpayers for his own book promotion expenses

On 28 July 2010 ABC The Drum raised the matter of Opposition Leader Tony Abbott’s alleged misuse of parliamentary entitlements in 2009 to promote his book, Battlelines.

The initial Abbott response contained in that article was:

A spokesman for Tony Abbott dismissed the allegations as a smear campaign." All travel undertaken by Mr Abbott has been within the entitlement. This is a blatant attempt by Labor to smear and mislead."

However, documents obtained under Freedom of Information found at Tony Yegles’ Scribd account tell another story.

Dept of Finance to Mr Tony Abbott - 19 August 2010 by Tony Yegles

Peta Credlin to Dept of Finance - 29 October 2010 by Tony Yegles

Gary Gray Special Minister of State to Mr Abbott - 10/11/2011 by Tony Yegles

Less than two months after receiving the first letter from the Dept. of Finance and Deregulation and, in the same month he began to repay monies received to which he was not entitled, this was Opposition Leader Tony Abbott on his feet in The House of Representatives on 9 October 2012:

Never mind that the squalid deal that the Prime Minister cooked up last November involved placing in the chair of this parliament someone whom her own government was investigating for misuse of entitlements…

Apparently when another member of parliament claims money from the taxpayer that he should not have received it is a matter so grave that it should bring down a government, but when Tony Abbott himself does the same thing it is a matter of small importance to be easily shrugged off and lied about to the media.

UPDATE:

Despite the previous written admissions of 29 October 2010 made by his chief of staff on behalf of Tony Abbott, the Opposition Leader continues to lie to the media and the Australian electorate.

The Guardian UK 8 July 2013:

When asked at a press conference on Monday morning if he had wrongly claimed travel expenses while promoting Battlelines, Abbott replied: "No, I did not."
He did not elaborate on the answer before taking the next question and ended the press conference after answering questions from two other journalists on the press club debate and the potential timing of the election....

We now learn from Michelle Grattan that his publisher, Melbourne University Press, actually repaid the debt.