Counting the coins as we wait for the 45th Parliament to commence

Before Malcolm Turnbull (as prime minister of a government in the third and final year of its first term in office) called a double dissolution election, the last Dept. of Finance Australian Government General Government Sector Monthly Financial Statement due was for May 2016 and, this revealed an underlying cash balance for the 2015-16 financial year to 31 May 2016 which was in deficit to the tune of $34,860 million.

With Income, Expenses & Debt Year to Date May 2016 coming in at:

total government revenue - $360,209 million of which $340,866 million was taxation revenue

total expenses - $388,061 million leaving a shortfall of $27,852 million

public debt interest - $14,101 million

net government debt - $284,657 million.

The June figures are yet to be published and it will be a case of track the Dept. of Finance website for the next three years as the Liberal-Nationals Coalition fails yet again to reign in its own discretionary spending.

Meanwhile Prime Minister-elect Turnbull - in an election so close that by 18 July 2016 only 13 of 150 House of Representatives seats have been officially declared - held an evening of champagne and canapés with a who’s who of Liberal and National MPs and senators at The Lodge in Canberra on 17 July.

The food included Pialligo ­Estate’ smoked salmon on rye toasties with horseradish cream, Moroccan lamb rissoles with harissa yoghurt, vegetable samosa with mint relish, roast beef en croute with stilton cream and tomato chutney, Vietnamese prawns with chilli jam and chicken satays.

I sincerely hope that Mr. Turnbull personally paid for use of The Lodge that night and for all catering and security at this event, as he didn’t become the official tenant again until after the Governor-General swore him in on 19 July 2016.

Mr. Turnbull's reportedly in excess of $1 million donation to the Liberal election campaign may possibly have brought him government but it could never buy the allocation of taxpayer funds for his private victory party.

As Night Follows Day: increased unconventional gas mining led to higher domestic gas prices

MacroBusiness acting shocked on 18 July 2016 that the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association (APPEA) and gas industry, with the connivance of government, delivered the unfair domestic gas pricing scheme that the anti-coal seam gas movement repeatedly stated that it would:

Another shocker of a week for gas users with MB’s east coast average price still at an astonishing $10.86Gj for spot markets while in Japan the same Australian gas can be purchased for $5.75Gj:

…….

To sum up:

$80 billion dollars has been burned on three LNG plants in QLD that make no money;

but, they are a part of an east coast gas cartel that can charge whatever they like at home given their exports have generated a shortage;

that is, locals are subsidising the export losses of Banana Republican gas titans who mis-allocated this much capital piled upon pallets:

and, to boot, we’ve given ourselves epic Dutch disease because our manufacturing is driven out of business owing to cheap gas in Japan (and everywhere else but here).

This rates as one of the most singularly stupid and rapacious examples of the “resources curse” anywhere in the Third World which, frankly, is where our policy-makers seem to have learned their craft…..

Turnbull Government in 2016: stupid is as stupid does

In the financial year ending June 2015 the Australian Government processed  a total of 192.25 million PBS concessional prescriptions (including Safety Net prescriptions) for a population of over 23 million – a 2.6 per cent volume increase representing a -3.9 per cent cost-to-government decrease on the previous financial year.

So it is hard to imagine why Malcolm Turnbull & Co or the government appointed Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee thought this additional cost cutting measure which would be well-received.

The Sydney Morning Herald reporting on 16 July 2016:

Hospitals faced a surge of type two diabetes patients over the past three years, alarming health insurance companies about their growing medical bills.

NSW recorded the biggest increase, with 20 per cent more patients admitted to hospital due to type two diabetes in 2015 compared to 2013, according to statistics collected by Medibank on its members.

The growth in admissions was as high as 42 per cent in Sydney's central suburbs, compared to a national average increase of 15 per cent.

Medibank chief medical officer Linda Swan said the figures sent a clear signal to the health fund that it needed to staunch the spiralling cost of type two diabetes.

"We've been hearing about the epidemic of diabetes for years, but it's not until you see the stark reality that you see this is growing at an extraordinary rate and clearly we're not doing enough," Dr Swan said.

One day later in The Age:

Diabetics will pay 50 times more for strips that help them monitor their blood sugar levels after the government removed the subsidy, raising concerns about more health complications as the condition of those patients spins out of control.

The federal government removed the subsidy on blood glucose test strips for people with type two diabetes who are not insulin dependent effective July 1, though there will be a six-month transition period…..

About 900,000 people with type two diabetes are registered with the National Diabetes Services Scheme and more than two-thirds of them are not insulin dependent.

Turnbull Government Second Ministry: and the stupid it continues.....

Well here you have it.

The Turnbull Government Ministry for the 45th Australian Parliament was announced on 18 July 2016 and, added to the list of usual suspects, there is now a climate change denier heading the resources portfolio, an individual heading the environment portfolio who thinks nuclear energy, coal seam gas and coal are the greatest things since white bread, a person mentioned in a 2015 NSW ICAC investigation becoming the minister dealing with urban infrastructure and, a former ministry reject recalled to the assistant ministry to join Barnaby Joyce's secondary circus.

Party	Minister	Portfolio
Liberal	Malcolm Turnbull MP	Prime Minister Leader of the Liberal Party
National	Barnaby Joyce MP	Deputy Prime Minister Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources Leader of the National Party
Liberal	Julie Bishop MP	Minister for Foreign Affairs Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party
National	Senator Fiona Nash	Minister for Regional Development Minister for Regional Communications Minister for Rural Health Minister for Local Government and Territories Deputy Leader of the National Party
Liberal	Senator George Brandis QC	Attorney-General Leader of the Government in the Senate Vice-President of the Executive Council
Liberal	Scott Morrison MP	Treasurer
Liberal	Senator Mathias Cormann	Minister for Finance Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate
Liberal	Christopher Pyne MP	Minister for Defence Industry Leader of the House
CLP	Senator Nigel Scullion	Minister for Indigenous Affairs Leader of the Nationals in the Senate
LNP	Peter Dutton MP	Minister for Immigration and Border Protection
Liberal	Greg Hunt MP	Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science
Liberal	Sussan Ley MP	Minister for Health Minister for Aged Care Minister for Sport
Liberal	Senator Marise Payne	Minister for Defence
Liberal	Senator Mitch Fifield	Minister for Communications Minister for the Arts
Liberal	Senator Michaelia Cash	Minister for Employment Minister for Women Minister Assisting the Prime Minister on the Public Service
Liberal	Christian Porter MP	Minister for Social Services
Liberal	Senator Simon Birmingham	Minister for Education and Training
Liberal	Senator Arthur Sinodinos AO	Cabinet Secretary
LNP	Steven Ciobo MP	Minister for Trade and Investment
National	Darren Chester MP	Minister for Infrastructure and Transport
Liberal	Kelly O'Dwyer MP	Minister for Revenue and Financial Services
Liberal	Josh Frydenberg MP	Minister for Environment and Energy
LNP	Senator Matthew Canavan	Minister for Resources and Northern Australia

Liberal	Paul Fletcher MP	·         Minister for Urban Infrastructure
Liberal	Senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells	·         Minister for International Development and the Pacific
Liberal	Richard Colbeck not reappointed due to undecided Senate vote	·         Minister for Tourism and International Education ·         Minister Assisting the Minister for Trade and Investment
Liberal	Michael Keenan MP	·         Minister for Justice ·         Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Counter-Terrorism
National	Michael McCormack MP	·         Minister for Small Business
Liberal	Dan Tehan MP	·         Minister for Veterans' Affairs ·         Minister for Defence Personnel
Liberal	Alan Tudge MP	·         Minister for Human Services
Liberal	Senator Scott Ryan	·         Special Minister of State

Based on Wikipedia, 18 July 2016

Malcolm Turnbull press conference, 18 July 2016:

Parliamentary Secretaries, who will continue to be known as Assistant Ministers.

Karen Andrews will become the Assistant Minister for Vocational Education and Skills.

Alex Hawke will become the Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection.

Keith Pitt will become the Assistant Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment.

And Craig Laundy will become the Assistant Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science.

There are three new appointments as Assistant Ministers.

Luke Hartsuyker will be appointed Assistant Minister to the Deputy Prime Minister.

Senator Zed Seselja will be appointed Assistant Minister for Social Services and Multicultural Affairs.

And Dr David Gillespie will be appointed Assistant Minister for Rural Health, a responsibility previously held directly, as you know, by Senator Nash.

Former Australia Trade and Investment Minister Andrew Robb - moved from parliament to private sector without a pause

Andrew Robb with Chinese Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng and former prime minister Tony Abbott

at the signing of the China trade agreement in 2015. Alex Ellinghausen

Former Liberal Member for Goldstein and former Australian Minister for Trade and Investment Andrew Robb officially retired when the federal election was called on 9 June 2016 after around twelve years in the House of Representatives.

His annual parliamentary pension is thought to be well in excess of $102,000 for life.

Despite receiving a pension which is at least four times higher than an average person on the aged pension, a month later Mr. Robb announced he had found employment in capacities which allow him to take immediate advantage of contacts he made as a minister of the crown.

What could possibly go wrong?

The employment list so far……..

Australian Financial Review, 11 July 2016:

Former trade minister Andrew Robb will advise a Geelong start-up that's invented a genetic guide to antidepressant drug dosage, in the mental health advocate's first corporate role since retiring from politics at the recent federal election.

CNSDose, founded at University of Melbourne's MAP accelerator last year by alumni Ajeet Singh, has just raised $1 million and in January inked a distribution deal with a US-wide chain of DNA testing labs, AlphaGenomix.

Now Mr Robb, inspired by his own experience battling depression, is helping the start-up make connections with pathology lab chains in China, Hong Kong and the US, based on his own networks.

Australian Financial Review, 13 July 2016:

Former trade minister Andrew Robb has joined investment bank Moelis & Company, where he will focus on deals with China.

It is Mr Robb's second appointment since leaving politics at the recent federal election, after he took up a role advising Geelong healthcare start-up, CNSDose.

The role with Moelis, a New York-listed investment bank, will see Mr Robb mainly helping Chinese companies looking to enter the Australian market.

He will have the title of independent adviser.

Moelis also has an asset management business focused on wealthy Chinese wishing to obtain an Australian passport, through the Significant Investor Visa program.

Mr Robb was responsible for redesigning this program while in government to tilt the required $5 million in investment away from passive bonds, towards higher risk venture capital and small company investments.

Moelis says it has about $1 billion in assets under management from this program.

As a Minister in the Abbott and Turnbull governments, Mr Robb was responsible for concluding long-stalled free-trade deals with China, Japan and South Korea.

The Australian, 15 July 2016:

Malcolm Turnbull is being urged to greenlight a private-sector proposal by eager regional councils for a $200 billion fast train linking Sydney with Melbourne.

But the keen response from rural councils in NSW and Victoria was tempered by a more cautious approach by state and federal governments to the ambitious proposal from private company, Consolidated Land and Rail ­Australia.

CLARA, which is advised by high-profile former politicians including former Victorian premier Steve Bracks, former NSW premier Barry O’Farrell and former trade minister Andrew Robb, is proposing a 915km fast-train project for travel between Sydney and Melbourne in less than two hours.

Lismore City Council quarry fined for failure to conduct ground water assessment before rock extraction

A business unit of Lismore City Council, with an annual turnover of around $12 million and a licence to extract 600,000 tonnes of aggregate per annum until 2039, has been caught breaching council’s consent conditions.

NSW Dept.pf Planning and Environment, media release, 4 July 2016:

The Department of Planning and Environment has fined Blakebrook Quarry $15,000 for failing to undertake a ground water assessment before commencing extraction in the quarry’s South Pit, in accordance with their conditions of approval.

A spokesperson from the Department said compliance officers have liaised with the company on numerous occasions since 2011 about the failure to submit the required groundwater assessment, which was due by 30 June 2010.

“Despite the Department issuing a Notice of Intention to Give an Order in September 2011, a subsequent Warning Letter in January 2012 and a Draft Order in March 2013, the company has not submitted the required ground assessment,” a spokesperson said.

“Compliance officers have confirmed extraction of hard rock has begun in the South Pit without the ground water assessment, which must be approved by the Department.

“The Department has confirmed works in this pit have continued as recently as December 2015.

“In addition to the $15,000 penalty, the Department has issued an Order to the company to conduct monitoring, and provide the groundwater assessment by a specified date.

“Failure by the company to comply with the Order may attract stronger enforcement action which could include the commencement of proceedings in the Land and Environment Court.

“Our compliance officers conduct spot checks without warning, regular inspections and audits as well as work with companies to ensure they are sticking to the rules.

“The Department actively conducts compliance audits and also offers education and training.

“The Department can issue the highest on-the-spot fines in the country for breaches of conditions.

“The community is also encouraged to contact the Department with any concerns. Complaints will be investigated by the compliance team.”

A reminder of why there has been no successful water raids on the Clarence River or its tributaries during the protracted water wars of the 21st Century

Northern New South Wales

Proposals similar to the Bradfield Scheme have also been suggested for the coastal rivers of New South Wales. A review of 22 coastal catchments found that only nine had western boundaries on the Great Dividing Range. Even though diverting some of these nine rivers was technically possible, the cost was too high to justify construction.

Later, proposals were raised for inland water diversion from the Clarence River. However, none of these proposals for the Clarence River were supported by cost– benefit analyses or environmental and social impact assessments. The Clarence River basin is unique in that it lies in a transition zone between temperate and tropical flora.

This makes it a region with high biodiversity values. A 1999 Healthy Rivers Commission report argued that any proposal to divert significant quantities of water out of this river basin would pose significant risk to the health of riverine ecosystems, and the activities and values those systems support.

In 2003, an analysis of 23 options to divert water inland from the Clarence River was undertaken by Hunter Water Australia. The study estimated that the final delivery cost to irrigators for diverted water would range from $163 to $2807 per ML (approximately 10 to 200 times greater than the existing irrigation costs).

Similarly, a desktop analysis of 40 options to capture and divert water from the Northern Rivers of NSW (including the Clarence River) to north east NSW and south east Queensland was undertaken by the Snowy Mountains Engineering Corporation Australia in 2007. The study estimated that the best value option was to deliver up to 100 000 ML of water per year from the Clarence River, at a delivery cost to users of $1730 per ML. The study also found that a more detailed environmental analysis would be required before any of the options could be progressed.

[Australian Government Dept. of the Environment, “Water for the Future - Moving water long distances: Grand schemes or pipe dreams?”, 2011]