The Australian Minister for Women is clearly not capable of understanding his role

The Australian 26 March 2011

On 30 December 2014 The Sydney Morning Herald reported:

The number of women on government boards has slipped below the 40 per cent target and a new report says men made up 75 per cent of new appointees within Tony Abbott's own Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet this year.

The Prime Minister, who is also the Minister for Women, has assured voters he is committed to the gender diversity target but the opposition says the statistics should "set the bells ringing".

The annual Gender Balance on Australian Government Boards Report says overall female representation slipped from its peak of 41.7 per cent under Labor in 2013 to 39.7 under the Coalition in 2014.

The Coalition drastically slashed the number of board positions from 4039 to 3206 when it came into government as part of its deregulation agenda.

The report, prepared by the Office for Women, which sits in the Prime Minister's Department, PM&C, said there were 639 new appointments to boards as of June 2014.

63.5 per cent of those positions were offered to men, meaning 36.5 per cent went to women……

"The government is committed to the 40:60 target and the Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Women is working with colleagues to ensure this target is achieved," said a spokesman for Mr Abbott….

Not only has female board representation slipped significantly, the self-appointed Minister for Women clearly does not understand the gender diversity policy he is supposed to support.

A 40:60 target? One presumably giving 40 positions to women and 60 to men?

No, the real target is 40:40:20.

Where women hold at least 40 per cent of Australian Government board positions, men hold another 40 per cent of these positions and the remaining 20 per cent can be held by either gender.

That he doesn’t understand or chooses to ignore this target is clearly demonstrated by his own Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet with its 16 boards and 170 active positions, where only 50 women (29.4%) hold any of these positions, and of the 87 new board appointments in this particular portfolio in 2013-14 only 21 were female.

The gender imbalance becomes more pointed when one realises that the Gender Balance On Australian Government Boards Report 2013-14 only includes those boards covered by the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013 (PGPA Act) which have some level of input or sign-off from particular representatives of the Government.

That is:

* the Prime Minister alone;

* one or more Australian Government ministers;

* the Governor-General in Council; and

* the Cabinet.

Overall the Abbott Government is exceeding the gender diversity target’s set quota for male government board members and failing to meet the set board member quota for females.

Here is the breakdown of gender diversity by portfolio:

The Sydney Morning Herald 14 December 2014

What will Abbott's Australia look like in 2015?

So what will Abbott's Australia look like in 2015?

Taxpayers will be footing a conservatively estimated bill of $400 million this year for the Abbott Government’s participation in the war against ISIL, with little practical effect on either the political situation or the fighting in Iraq and Syria.

At the same time taxpayers will also be paying out an estimated $5.3 million a month this year because the Abbott Government assumed full responsibility for the continuing search for missing Malaysian Airlines commercial flight, MH370, which disappeared into the ocean ten months ago with 6 Australians amongst the 239 passengers. 

Purchase of Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s personal VIP jet will possibly be completed during 2015. This purchase is estimated to cost at least $250 million.

http://militaryaircraft-airbusds.com/Missions/MissionsMilitary/Transport/VIP.aspx

By July this year the budget deficit will probably have blown out past the December 2014 MYEFO predictions.

Childcare fees are predicted to rise again and an est. 74,400 families are expected to hit the rebate cap and be cut off from further childcare assistance sometime during the year and, therefore be ineligible to apply again until the following financial year.

Increased GP fees are expected to commence this month and increase again in July for over 15 million Australians, many of whom will be paying an upfront fee of $80 or more for a simple visit to their local doctor.

Changes to the Goods and Services Tax (GST) will probably be presented to the Australian Parliament by the Abbott Government and, an increase in the base rate or widening of this tax (effective in 2017-18) is likely to be tagged onto the end of these changes to compensate states which would otherwise lose a percentage of existing GST income under these proposed changes.

Wages for ordinary workers are not expected to increase markedly and real wages may even fall further than the September 2014 annual growth low of -0.01% which was due to cost of living rises outstripping the 2.29 % wages growth.

There will be an estimated 803,952+ people without a job.

Affordable housing stock will continue to decline for the estimated 2.3 million Australian who rent their housing. On 5 April 2014 there were only 808 properties for rent on the NSW North Coast and none were affordable by an unemployed single parent (with one child over 8 years of age) receiving the Newstart Allowance and only 25 rental properties were affordable by a single person on the minimum wage .

On any given night this year there will be more than 100,000 homeless men, women and children living on the streets or without a permanent roof over their heads.

Mainstream media is expected to begin reporting deaths said to be related to the Abbott Government’s ongoing funding cuts to health/social services delivery and eligibility changes to safety net welfare payments.

Near El Niño conditions are predicted to continue in the first part of this year which means drier and warmer than average weather is likely in many areas.

Treasurer Joe Hockey will be careful not to be photographed doing a victory dance before presenting the 2015-16 Budget Papers to the Australian Parliament.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott will in all likelihood increase the frequency of his formal televised statements in an effort to lift his own polling numbers and yet still manage to be caught by professional photographers inappropriately touching women in public.

http://www.dailylife.com.au/news-and-views/dl-culture/abbott-under-fire-for-awkward-unwelcome-photo-op-with-new-female-cabinet-minister-sussan-ley-20141224-12d8sd.html

Voters may also hear more about the Prime Minister’s alcohol consumption and further allegations concerning drinking binges by the admitted “Grog Monster”.

Questions will continue to be raised concerning entitlement expenses lodged by Prime Minister Abbott and his ministers, with a possible focus on cash refunds from taxpayer pockets for what is essentially party political campaigning.

Activities of the Coalition Advisory Service, headed by Government Whip Phillip Ruddock with a staff of ten and ultimately financed by the taxpayer, may begin to come under scrutiny as unofficial electioneering heats up ahead of the 2016 federal election.

#Libspill rumours on Twitter and in mainstream media will possibly continue throughout the year, due in part to a persistent and deep sense of anger and frustration among Coalition supporters.

**********Happy New Year and Welcome To 2015**********

******Have a Merry Festive Season & A Happy New Year******

The blog will be on holidays between 25 - 31 December 2014
We looking forward to seeing you all again in 2015

Santa's sleigh journey to Australia tonight

Notice issued by Airservices to all airlines operating in airspace over Australia on the night of Wednesday 24 December 2014 with flight details for SLEIGH RIDER 1:

This year Santa will be coming in from New Zealand and going first to Tasmania, flying up to Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory, then onto New South Wales and taking his sleigh further up into Queensland, before turning down again to South Australia and then going across to West Australia before finally going to the Northern Territory and then leaving Australia for Papua New Guinea and Indonesia.

All boys and girls need to be in bed once it gets dark outside.

http://youtu.be/dk9Bb5CeGSQ

Give 'em a good fright for Christmas

Despite the Martin Place siege having no apparent links to ISIL or to terrorism generally, Rupert and Tony are doing their best to usher in Christmas with a scary tale or two…….

There are people who would do us harm and can do us harm 

[Prime Minister Tony Abbott during his latest Christmas news conference]

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/in-depth/terror/sydney-siege-copycat-attack-fear-as-terror-chatter-increases/story-fnpdbcmu-1227165693867

Something to think about when disposing of all that festive season packaging

The estimated amount of plastic in the world's ocean represented by Blue Whales, the largest creature in the sea reaching up to 100 feet (30 meters) long and weighing over 200 tons (181 metric tons).
From Grist 10 December 2014