So who is 'whistleblower' Rod St. George ?

SBS Dateline 23 July 2013:

He's throwing away his career to speak out about his experiences working in the Manus Island refugee centre. …

Earlier this year, Rod St George took up the position as the compliance manager for G4S's contract to provide security on Manus Island……

So who is thus Rod St. George that we are told is throwing away his career to speak out? 

Well there is little in the online public record, except for an instance where he seems to have given contradictory evidence in a court case.

From Australia’s Hall of Shame:

March 16, 2006 Geelong Informant
PORT Phillip Prison operator Global Solutions Limited (GSL) was yesterday called to account over its bungling of a prisoner's delivery to Geelong County Court on Tuesday. The mishap resulted in a prisoner being forced to go without food or drink for seven-and-a-half hours. Judge John Nixon requested the attendance of GSL's Transport Operations Manager at court after the prisoner, due to stand trial in Geelong County Court at 10.30am, was not delivered at court until 2.30pm. When he arrived, concerned court staff discovered the man had been locked in a holding cell at Port Phillip Prison since 7am and had not been given anything to eat or drink since breakfast. It was also discovered that after collecting the prisoner from Port Phillip at noon, the prison vehicle travelled to Geelong via Melbourne Assessment Prison and other places. Judge John Nixon described the situation as absolutely outrageous. At 10am yesterday GSL Transport Operations manager Roderick St George appeared in Geelong County Court where he was questioned under oath by Crown Prosecutor Andrew Moore about the incident. Mr St George said a jail order had been faxed to the prison at 3.31pm on March 13 but because Monday was a public holiday, the jail order sat in the tray until it was read at 7.15am Tuesday morning. He said no one knew the prisoner was to come to Geelong until the fax was read, despite the prisoner already having been taken to the holding cell at 7am to await transport. Mr St George said any jail order received after 4pm would be regarded as ad hoc, yet he had already told the court the jail order had been faxed to the prison half an hour earlier. He said there was no indication the job was of high priority and said he was unaware the prisoner was required for trial, even though a letter was attached to the jail order, to the contrary. Mr St George said he had collected the letter before attending court yesterday and had not been made privy to its contents earlier. When asked why the man had not been given food or drink for seven and a half hours, Mr St George said it was the prison's responsibility to feed and water prisoners. Judge Nixon told Mr St George that what had taken place was an inexcusable blunder on GSL's part and Mr St George agreed.

Metgasco Limited enters the realm of make believe

This is Metgasco Limited’s attitude to Northern Rivers resistance to coal seam gas exploration and mining. Apparently local communities and councils are the forces of darkness and it a force for good.

CSG empires fight back against their critics*

* Metgasco might like to consider whether it has permission from Lucasfilm to use these Star Wars images to support its own commercial agenda.

The company’s level of self-delusion is painfully displayed by this snaphot of its revamped website, which still claims an expectation of local gas sales by the end of 2013 despite having no wells in actual production:

Metgasco’s retreat into phantasy may be explained by the fact that its Bowerbird E03 CSG Core Well, Casino, NSW was refused by the NSW  Dept of Trade & Investment’s Division of Resources and Energy in July 2012 and its Water Management Plan rejected five months later.

And by its Quarterly Activities Report 30 June 2013 which stated that:

At the time of reporting it is still unclear how the exclusion zones will affect Metgasco’s reserves. However, it is expected the reduction could be in the order of 15% to 20% for 2P reserves and 20% to 30% for 3P reserves. Revised numbers will be calculated, certified and reported when the impact of the exclusion zones becomes clear. The revised numbers will also reflect the results of Bowerbird E04…..

Metgasco retains its development approval for the Casino Gas Project / Richmond Valley Power Station. The project is currently on hold. Apart from the NSW CSG regulatory environment, changes in the eastern coast electricity market have questioned the timing for new base load power stations. Metgasco will continue to review options, which include the building of a peak load power station rather than a base load power station….

Metgasco's commercial plan looks less like a Jedi on the march and more like a business braggart in retreat  - unable to meet even the weak environmental requirements of the NSW Coalition Government, having less available gas reserves in the future and the likelihood of a power plant which contributes to the delivery of a more expensive product.

In developed countries including Australia, increased peak demand has resulted in increased electricity cost due to the need for the installation of peaking power plants which serve for very short periods annually, normally during the peak summer days, and the cost of transmission infrastructure necessary to cope with the peak demand [Prof. W. Saman & Dr. E. Halawa, Sustainable Energy Centre, University of South Australia, 2009].

Julia Gillard is parked in cyberspace

http://juliagillard.com.au/#

It will be interesting to see if the ALP National Secretariat makes use of this website which is only parked at present.

Given that contact person Ben Hubbard was Prime Minister Gillard’s chief of staff, I’m presuming the site was set up before Kevin Rudd ousted her as Leader of the Parliamentary Labor Party.

Whois.com

Domain Name:                     juliagillard.com.au
Last Modified:                   10-Jul-2013 05:01:30 UTC
Registrar ID:                    TPP Wholesale
Registrar Name:                  TPP Wholesale Pty Ltd
Status:                          ok

Registrant:                      THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY NATIONAL SECRETARIAT
Registrant ID:                   ABN 38318251221
Eligibility Type:                Company

Registrant Contact ID:           HUBE1133
Registrant Contact Name:         Ben Hubbard
Registrant Contact Email:        Visit whois.ausregistry.com.au for Web based WhoIs

Tech Contact ID:                 Z137291134365356
Tech Contact Name:               Brett Collett
Tech Contact Email:              Visit whois.ausregistry.com.au for Web based WhoIs

Name Server:                     ns2.dnsrecord.com.au
Name Server IP:                  27.131.66.3
Name Server:                     ns1.dnsrecord.com.au
Name Server IP:                  27.131.66.2

McDonalds talks down Australian economy and tells whoppers to save face as sales fall

Don Thompson

Reuters 22 July 2013:

The world's biggest restaurant chain by sales reported a lower-than-expected quarterly profit and said it expects global same-restaurant sales in July to be relatively flat, sending its shares down almost 3 percent in midday trading.

Camden Haven Courier 24 July 2013:

McDonald's, the world's biggest fast-food chain, says sales in Australia are going backwards, citing incorrect figures on the level of youth unemployment to help explain why fewer people are buying its burgers and fries.

Although the introduction of the "Loose Change" menu in 2012 bolstered sales of its food last year, thrifty consumers have withdrawn from even that bargain basement offer and are spending less at the McDonald's counter.

Addressing investors in the US, McDonald's global chief executive and president Don Thompson warned that lower levels of spending in Australia and cut-throat competition among fast-food chains in the region had slashed revenue for the company.

He told the mostly US audience that the economy in Australia had worsened since 2012 and is reported to have said that youth unemployment had hit more than 25 per cent…..

So has Australia's youth unemployment hit more than 25 per cent as Don Thompson asserts?

This is what the International Labour Organisation's report Global Employment Trends For Youth 2013 states:

The weakening of the global recovery in 2012 and 2013 has further aggravated the youth jobs crisis and the queues for available jobs have become longer and longer for some unfortunate young jobseekers. So long, in fact, that many youth are giving up on the job search. The prolonged jobs crisis also forces the current generation of youth to be less selective about the type of job they are prepared to accept, a tendency that was already evident before the crisis. Increasing numbers of youth are now turning to available part time jobs or find themselves stuck in temporary employment. Secure jobs, which were once the norm for previous generations - at least in the advanced economies - have become less easily accessible for today’s youth. The global youth unemployment rate, estimated at 12.6 per cent in 2013,is close to its crisis peak. 73 million young people are estimated to be unemployed in 2013. At the same time, informal employment among young people remains pervasive and transitions to decent work are slow and difficult. The economic and social costs of unemployment, long‐term unemployment, discouragement and widespread low‐quality jobs for young people continue to rise and undermine economies’ growth potential… Since 2009, little progress has been made in reducing youth unemployment in the Developed Economies and European Union as a whole. The youth unemployment rate in 2012 is estimated at 18.1 per cent, the same rate as in 2010 and the highest level in this region in the past two decades. If the 3.1 per cent discouragement rate is taken into account, the discouragement adjusted youth unemployment rate becomes 21.2 per cent. The youth unemployment rate is projected to remain above 17 per cent until 2015, and decrease to 15.9 per cent by 2018….. Regional youth unemployment rates show large variations. In 2012, youth unemployment rates were highest in the Middle East and North Africa, at 28.3 per cent and 23.7 per cent, respectively, and lowest in East Asia (9.5 per cent) and South Asia (9.3 per cent). Between 2011 and 2012, regional youth unemployment rates increased in all regions except in Central and South‐Eastern Europe (non‐EU) and Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Latin America and the Caribbean, and South‐East Asia and the Pacific. Encouraging trends of youth unemployment are observed in, for example, Azerbaijan, Indonesia and the Philippines......

In June 2013 Forbes, The Centre for American Progress and Armstrong Economics were reported that youth unemployment in the USA has hit 16.2 per cent.

While the Australian Bureau of Statistics's 6202.0 Labour Force Australia states that in June 2013 the unemployment rate for people looking for full-time work in the 15-24 year old age group was 11.2 per cent and the unemployment rate for those looking for part-time work in that age group was 11.7 per cent. Australia's overall unemployment rate is currently 5.7 per cent.

So it seems that Mr. Thompson might be searching just a little to hard for excuses and, if he were to look at McDonalds history in Australia of poor workplace practices and equally poor corporate behaviour he might find the real answer as to why its 'burger and fries' sales are falling in this country.

Background:

McDonalds on the NSW North Coast

McDonalds in Tecoma, Victoria - BurgerOff, Tecoma Village Action Group, Tecoma Petition, NO McDonalds in The Dandenong Ranges

Kevin Hogan appears to have forgetten a basic environmental rule - not a good look for someone with so many coastal communities he is hoping to represent

Captain Turtle ‏@Captainturtle6m

Hi @KevinHogan4Page Please stop handing out #balloons at stalls? I'd hate to find one in a dead #turtle. pic.twitter.com/gvBjxQQhPd

 

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott & Co alienate yet another sovereign nation on Australia's doorstep

Background: 

Rudd accuses Abbott of lying about the PNG asylum deal

UPDATE

ABC NEWS 24 July 2013:

Mr O'Neill has accused the Opposition of misrepresenting a private briefing he gave them last week about the deal for political gain.

"I don't particularly appreciate being misrepresented by others for their own political interests," he told the ABC.

"I am disappointed with some of the debates put forward by some of the leaders in the Opposition in Australia, in particular statements I am alleged to have made to them.

"They are completely untrue."

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has suggested the foreign aid money would not be spent responsibly and with accountability.

Mr O'Neill is calling on the Opposition to show more respect in its dealings with his government.

"We are not going to put up with this kind of nonsense," he said.

"We are helping resolving an Australian issue. Try and be respectful when we start talking about these issues."

Mr O'Neill says many of the projects involving Australian aid will also be partially funded by the PNG government.

"So I don't see why we should be dragged into a debate that is now taking a new twist to represent individual interest and political interest in Australia," he said.

Clarence Valley Indigenous Art Award 2013 - entries now open

CVIAA (Clarence Valley Indigenous Art Award) 2013

The Clarence Valley Indigenous Art Award promotes contemporary Indigenous art of the North Coast of New South Wales.

Entries are now open for the 2013 CVIAA

Entry form and artworks are due on the Friday 4 October

2013 CVIAA entry form [word 62 KB]  ;  2013 CVIAA entry form [pdf 245 KB]

The Clarence Valley Indigenous Art Award supports the development of the collection of contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art held by the Grafton Regional Gallery.

This award is open to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists who reside in the traditional areas of the Yaegl, Bundjalung and Gumbaingirr nations.

Artists are invited to submit up to two artworks within the given size limits for the following prizes an Open Acquisitive Prize of $5000 and encouragement awards for New Media up to $1000.

The winners of the previous CVIAA are:

2011 Frances Belle Parker Yaegl Land
2009 Danielle Burford Wonambi and the Wollemi Pine
2007 Alison Williams Black Cowrie - old medicine