Liberal disunity on show in NSW

Echo NetDaily, 10 March 2017:

NSW Premier Gladys Berijiklian is without a parliamentary secretary after the shock resignation of Lennox Head-based Liberal MLC Catherine Cusack.

Divisions within the government are beginning to show, with the premier’s office on Thursday announcing it had accepted Ms Cusack’s resignation after an explosive email was leaked to the media.

The email, sent by Ms Cusack to the premier following a factional meeting on Wednesday night, strongly criticised the makeup of Ms Berejiklian’s new cabinet.

‘If the situation was not already offensive enough, if you ever say again you made these decisions “on merit”, I swear I will resign from the Liberal Party and join the cross bench’, Ms Cusack reportedly wrote.

She also took aim at Energy Minister Don Harwin, whose controversial promotion to cabinet has already ruffled feathers within the party.

ABC News, 10 March 2017:

Outspoken NSW Liberal MP Catherine Cusack has withdrawn her threats to move to the crossbench, but is standing by her criticism of Premier Gladys Berejiklian's Cabinet appointments.

Late on Wednesday night, Ms Cusack sent a furious email to Ms Berejiklian criticising her ministerial line-up, saying it was based on factions rather than merit.

"If you say one more time that the Cabinet is based on merit, I will resign from the Liberal Party," Ms Cusack wrote in the email.

The Upper House MP, who yesterday quit as parliamentary secretary, said she now regretted sending the damning email, calling it a huge error of judgement. But she said she stood by her comments about Don Harwin being selected as the state's new energy minister.

Ms Berejiklian suggested Ms Cusack's fiery email may be a case of sour grapes after being overlooked for a position on the Government's frontbench.

"I don't blame people for being disappointed for not being in Cabinet," she said.

"She is entitled to her opinion, but I don't support her views; all of my colleagues have my full support."

Social Housing Minister Pru Goward rejected Ms Cusack's suggestion that the Cabinet was selected based on factions rather than merit.

Dear Michaelia, About that young man......

In April 2016 an 18 year-old young man suffered a fatal injury while taking part in a Turnbull Government Work for the Dole program in Toowoomba ,Queensland.

He was cleaning up rubbish at the local showgrounds which is owned and operated by the Royal Agricultural Society of Queensland (RASQ).

According to New Matilda in May 2016: On the very same day the young man was killed – in a grim coincidence – a group of unionists, social workers, activists and unemployed workers met in Melbourne. The conference was organised by the Australian Unemployed Workers’ Union, and heard testimony from people placed in Work for the Dole programs about the absence of proper safety measures on their sites. Little did they know that at the moment they were discussing these problems, the program claimed what may be its first fatality.

Work for the Dole Letter by BuzzFeedOz on Scribd

Cottoning on to Donald Trump's tweets

Graphic by @gibilisco

Excerpt from A Taxonomy of Trump Tweets interview with cognitive linguist George Lakoff, 13 January 2017:

BROOKE GLADSTONE:  Obviously, you don't think the media are handling these utterances very well. What do you suggest that we do?

GEORGE LAKOFF:  The media is addicted to breaking news, so we have to give the tweet first. That’s the breaking news. Wrong, because that allows him to manipulate you as a reporter and manipulate the truth.

BROOKE GLADSTONE:  So you're saying don't report on the tweet?

GEORGE LAKOFF:  You begin by telling the truth and giving the evidence for that truth, then mention his tweet, point out that that contradicts the truth and then talk about what kind of tweet this is. You know, you say, this is a case of diversion. Here’s what he is diverting, quickly. Don't have a panel discussion about it, you know, [LAUGHS] just do it and go on. Keep going back to substance and the truth.

Also, what is the effect of his tweeting on the truth? He’s trying to say, usually, that this truth is a general truth. And that’s another thing that I should add to this list of the things he does, is to take a specific case and say that it's the general case.

The Guardian, 7 March 2017:

President Donald Trump is the most powerful cornered animal in the world

For all his inconstancy of character, Donald Trump is a master manipulator. He rose to political prominence by slandering Barack Obama. He rode the birther myth as far as it would go – before brazenly jettisoning it with the insistence that it was all the handiwork of Hillary Clinton.

Now once again, he seeks to buoy his political fortunes by attacking Obama. Perhaps what is so striking about the tweets is not their desperation, but their cynicism. In exclaiming “This is McCarthyism!”, Trump said something deeply revealing – only about himself. McCarthyism was never in the first instance about wiretapping. It was about defaming public officials with charges of treason without a shred of evidence. Sounds familiar, no?

Equally revealing was Trump’s tweet: “I’d bet a good lawyer could make a great case out of the fact that President Obama was tapping my phones in October, just prior to Election!” As Trump well knows, a good lawyer can make a case out of anything.

In the 1970s, after the justice department accused the Trump Corporation of racially discriminatory rental policies, Trump hired Roy Cohn. This was a man who, as a young lawyer, had assisted Joseph McCarthy’s red-baiting. On Trump’s behalf, Cohn countersued the government for $100m, a tactic Trump absorbed and has practiced throughout his career: when on the defensive, attack.

Concerned about congressional investigations into contact between his campaign and the Russians? Make a groundless charge of wiretapping against Obama and insist that the allegations be included in the investigations.

Cohn’s countersuit did not prevail, nor will Trump’s charges against Obama stick. But that is not the point. The point is to distract attention away from real allegations by creating a chaos of conflicting claims. And in this regard the strategy is all too effective. If there is something extraordinary about Trump it is how low he is willing to go……

Since his inauguration a scant six weeks ago, Trump has defamed a great newspaper, a federal judge, and a former president. He has attacked whole institutions, pillars of American democracy. He appears willing to hold a great constitutional order hostage to his narcissism and political insecurities.

One wishes to echo the words of Joseph Welch who famously asked of Joe McCarthy: “Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?”

The optics are bad for the Turnbull Government in 2017

On 9 December 2015 the Tenterfield Star reported that Federal Nationals Leader and Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce had been spending big on electoral offices and travel:

BARNABY Joyce has gone on the defensive after he skyrocketed to the top of the pile for claimed expenditure.

The Member for New England has registered $1,073,991.45 in expenses over the first six months of 2015, new documents have revealed.

A year later and, in addition to another hefty bill for office facilities, from January to June 2016 Joyce received the following payments from the Dept. of Finance:

$76,459.42 air travel costs for self & family members

$23,668 accommodation in Canberra & when travelling

$17,907.20 private car costs

$12,123.98 chauffeured car for self & family members.

So it comes as no surprise that this meme appeared in March 2017:

Following hot on the heels of these media reports.

News.com.au, 8 March 2017:

Figures provided to the department today show Human Services launched more than 103,000 assessments into overpaid welfare recipients in November and December alone.

The department ramped up its recovery efforts in September with the number of assessments increasing from 844 in August to more than 62,000 the next month.

Overall, about 216,000 investigations were launched from September to December and 133,078 debts were recovered.

More than 97,000 people were charged a “recovery fee”as they had not provided information about their income or a reasonable explanation for the lack of information.

Five and a half thousand people had their debts waived as they were under $50 and were not cost effective to pursue or because there was an administration error or unusual circumstances.

Greens Senator Rachel Siewert, chair of the senate inquiry, said the government “should be ashamed” of calling in debt notices over Christmas.

“A large portion of those had a recovery fee applied, meaning struggling Australians are paying debts they may not owe as well as additional recovery fees,” she said.

“I continue to hold deep concerns that people are complying and paying debts off that don’t exist - 2875 people so far have had their debts reduced to zero since the program began but I suspect many people are still in the process of reassessment and review.

“Unfortunately the Department couldn’t provide these figures and took that question on notice.

“I fear far more people did not challenge the debt so the figure could be far worse.

“It is a shame the Department has steadfastly supported the system with some adjustments despite overwhelming evidence that it is causing great distress to struggling Australians.”

Centrelink’s “aggressive” debt collection tactics came under fire at the Senate inquiry.

The inquiry heard elderly welfare recipients have received inaccurate debt notices of thousands of dollars, generated by the automated system, before it was confirmed they owed just $50.

Senators also heard private debt collectors, engaged by Centrelink to recover debts, have threatened to seize clients’ assets or take them to court if they failed to pay what was owed to the agency.

The Community and Public Sector Union raised concerns Centrelink staff have faced increased aggression from welfare recipients since the scheme launched.

Staff have dealt with swearing, threats, physical aggression and spitting as clients faced increased financial stress from debt recovery notices, CPSU national deputy president Lisa Newman said.

The union is pushing for the scheme to be suspended while the government reviews it.

Australian Council of Social Services bosses raised concerns that Centrelink was not subject to consumer protection laws.

The Sydney Morning Herald, editorial excerpt, 11 March 2017:

More than 36,000 of those letters did not result in any debt to Centrelink. What's more, about 6600 welfare recipients first learnt of their alleged debt from debt collectors.

Mr Tudge blamed those people for failing to update addresses on their Centrelink files.

While his department head Kathryn Campbell claims the system has been adjusted to reduce that risk, she also blamed welfare recipients – for not replying to the initiating letters.

Worse, Ms Campbell said she would not discuss potential solutions to systemic flaws with the Australian Council of Social Service or unions representing staff who have to handle the backlash.

The justification Ms Campbell gave for not meeting with unions or ACOSS was that the media was interested in the issue. The justification Mr Tudge gave on ABC radio was that unions and ACOSS "frankly have a philosophical objection" to widespread compliance checks.

 The Herald suspects Mr Tudge and his department have a philosophical objection to legitimate public scrutiny.

Thank goodness the media are holding the department and the minister to account because, failing that, thousands of people would be demonised in secret and there would be no Senate committee inquiry exposing the flawed process.

The committee began public hearings this week into the error rates of debt notices; the government's response to concerns raised by affected individuals; whether the debt recovery scheme complies with Australian privacy and consumer laws; and the adequacy of the data matching of Centrelink and ATO information.

Deputy Commissioner of Taxation Greg Williams told the inquiry the ATO had "reached out" to the Human Services Department as flaws emerged in the robo-debt system, but was told its help was not required. 

"We are involved in identity matching and the provision of data, but we are not involved in the data-matching that occurs on the DSS/DHS side," Mr Williams said. "We are trying to maintain the level of integrity in the role of the ATO in this exercise."

The Senate inquiry is also accepting submissions from people who have been forced to deal with the system. 

The first submission on the committee's website comes from a "a teacher, university lecturer and single mother who has been working part-time since my son was nine months old". She tells how the system "impacted my mental health and caused significant stress over the Christmas period. Not only did I suffer, but my inability to fully engage with family at this time also impacted them." She spent eight hours on the phone with Centrelink only to find that her debt was $0. "Apparently this was a mistake and a day later … it was up to over $1300," the submission says. "On receipt of the second letter I broke down in tears again ... it turned out I had been overpaid by Centrelink less than $1.80 a week. I am hard-working, smart and determined to fight this because I knew I reported my income to the best of my ability. There will be a lot of people who are not in the mental headspace, or have the ability to work out that Centrelink are wrong."

The price of a system with insufficient human oversight and flawed safeguards is too great. The Senate committee should propose alternatives that offer taxpayers value for their welfare dollar without demonising innocent people.

Australia at the sharp end of global warming

“Australians endured another intense summer, with more than 200 record-breaking extreme weather events driven by climate change” [Climate Council, 7 March 2017]

World Weather Attribution (WWA), media release, March 2017:

Extreme Heat:

A look at the recent record high temperatures in Australia

New South Wales, located in southeastern Australia, just experienced its hottest summer on record (Figure 1). Temperature records across the central and the eastern parts of Australia were broken, leading the Australian Bureau of Meteorology to issue a Special Climate Statement on the exceptional heat. For example, January 2017 saw the highest monthly mean temperatures on record for the cities of Sydney and Brisbane, and the highest daytime temperatures on record for Canberra. Overall, Australia experienced its 12th hottest summer on record.

There were three distinct heat waves in southeast Australia during January and February, with the highest temperatures recorded from February 9th to the 12th. For much of the country, the heat peaked on the weekend of February 11th and 12th, when many places hit upwards of 113°F (45°C). The 2016-2017 heatwaves broke long-standing records in central New South Wales that were originally set back in January of 1939 (Figure 2).

The WWA team and colleagues from the University of New South Wales conducted a rapid attribution analysis to see how climate change factored into the exceptionally warm summer (December to February) of 2016-2017. The team also looked at the hottest three-day average February temperatures in Canberra and Sydney.

 Figure 1: New South Wales, located in southeastern Australia, reported its hottest summer (Dec. 2016 – Feb. 2017) on record while the northwestern part of Australia reported cooler than average temperatures. Map shows temperature deciles. Source: Australian Bureau of Meteorology

Figure 2: Time series (1910-2016) of summer mean temperature anomalies for New South Wales. The 2016-2017 heatwaves broke long-standing records in central New South Wales that were originally set back in January of 1939. Source: Australian Bureau of Meteorology

Regional Level: New South Wales

The New South Wales record hot summer can be linked directly to climate change. Two different methods were used to reach this conclusion. First, drawing from a previously published analysis using coupled model simulations, we see that average summer temperatures like those seen during 2016-2017 are now at least 50 times more likely in the current climate than in the past, before global warming began. The team also performed an analysis based on the observational series from ACORN-SAT. This approach is similar to previous analyses used for record heat in the Arctic in 2016 and Central England in 2014. Comparing the likelihood of this record in the climate of today compared with the climate of around 1910 (before global warming had a big impact on our climate system and when reliable observations are available), the team again found at least a 50-fold increase in the likelihood of this hot summer.

The team then looked at the maximum summer temperature for New South Wales (see graphic below). Based on climate model simulations (weather@home and CMIP5) and observational data analysis (ACORN-SAT), maximum summer temperatures like those seen during 2016-2017 are now at least 10 times more likely in the current climate than in the past, before global warming began. In the past, a summer as hot as 2016-2017 was a roughly 1 in 500-year event. Today, climate change has increased the odds to roughly 1 in 50 years — a 10-fold increase in frequency. In the future, a summer as hot as this past summer in New South Wales is likely to happen roughly once every five years. In addition, climate change has increased the intensity of an exceptionally hot summer like this by roughly 1ºC (1.8°F). In the future, the intensity increases by roughly 2°C (3.6°F).

Local Level: Canberra and Sydney Heatwaves

The team also looked at the local scale to see if a climate change role could be measured in the heat waves that hit Canberra (population ~380,000) and Sydney (population ~4.9 million). Climate has much larger variability at the city level compared to a big area like New South Wales. This can make it more difficult to see the influence of climate change within the overall noise of the weather system.

In Canberra, temperatures hit 96.8oF (36°C) on February 9th and 104oF (40oC) on both February 10th and 11th. Using the weather@home model and ACORN-SAT observations, we analyzed three-day average maximum temperature. Both the observational data and the climate model simulations show that climate change increased the likelihood of the kind of extreme three-day heat observed in Canberra. The weather@home results point to at least a 50 percent increase in the chance of a heatwave like that.

For Sydney, a coastal city, the effect of climate change on this heat wave is less clear. Observations show that climate change increased the chance of such a heat wave occurring, but the high year-to-year variability makes identifying a clear human influence more difficult.

The Future

The heat seen this past summer across parts of Australia is still rare in our current climate. However, if greenhouse gas emissions are not dramatically reduced, intense summer heat will become the norm in the future.

For Further Information Contact:

Andrew King (University of Melbourne): andrew.king@unimelb.edu.au

Sarah Kirkpatrick (University of New South Wales): sarah.kirkpatrick@unsw.edu.au

David Karoly (University of Melbourne): dkaroly@unimelb.edu.au

Geert Jan van Oldenborgh (KNMI): persvoorlichting@knmi.nl (press office)

*****ENDS*****

Excerpts from The Climate Council’s Angry Summer 2016/17: Climate Change Supercharging Extreme Weather report released on 7 March 2017:

In just 90 days, more than 205 records were broken around Australia.

The state-wide mean temperature in summer was the hottest for New South Wales since records began, with temperatures 2.57°C above average.

Sydney had its hottest summer on record with a mean temperature 2.8°C above average.

Brisbane had its hottest summer on record in terms of mean temperature at 26.8°C, equivalent to 1.7°C above average.

Canberra had its hottest summer on record in terms of daytime temperatures and recorded temperatures of at least 35°C on 18 days, already far higher than what is projected for 2030 (12 days).

Adelaide experienced its hottest Christmas day in 70 years at 41.3°C.

Moree in regional New South Wales experienced 54 consecutive days of temperatures 35°C or above, a record for the state.

Perth had its highest summer total rainfall on record of 192.8 mm.......

The impacts of the last Angry Summer of 2013/14 cost the Australian economy approximately $8 billion through absenteeism and a reduction in work productivity. The economic impact from the 2016/17 Angry Summer has not yet been quantified.

The Australia State of the Environment (SoE) 2016 Overview was tabled in the Australian Parliament on 7 March 2017.

Next time a member of the Turnbull Government asks you, your family or community to tighten belts for the good of the country remember this......

Those people elected to govern the country and who decide national economic and social policies (which can make or break ordinary individuals and families) enter into to a class of salary earners whose members enjoy an above average lifestyle whilst in 'employment'.

A financial outcome which tends to cushion them from the harshest economic facts of life.

In 1901 the average annual wage of a person living in Australia was £46 [Australian Bureau of Statistics A Snapshot of Australia, 1901]. That represented less than £1 per week.

The Australian Parliament was established by the UK Australian Constitution Act 1900. Section 48 of the Constitution determined that all members of the Parliament would receive an ‘allowance’ of 400 pounds per annum, until the Parliament decided otherwise [Remuneration Tribunal, A Brief History Of Parliamentary Remuneration, 2012]. This averaged out at over £7 per week.

In December 2016 the average annual full-time adult wage/salary of an individual was est. $79,721 or $1,533 per week before tax and in an employment field of 12.06 million workers only 8.30 million had full-time jobs.

While in that same year a member of federal parliament’s base annual pay was $199,040 plus allowances & entitlements or est. $3,827.69 take home pay each week for each of the 224 federal parliamentarians – more if the member sits on a committee/s, is a parliamentary secretary, assistant minister, minister or one of a smaller number of shadow ministers. Plus a generous electoral allowance and free travel, as well as both a subsidised car and subsidised away from home accommodation & food 

Parliamentarians’ base salaries have increased 19 times in the last 20 years. Can the average worker say that about his or her hourly rate?

Remember this the next time the Turnbull Government asks you, your family or community to tighten belts for the good of the country. Just as importantly remember this when you vote in 2018-19.

Australian Fair Work Commission: Who's Who - a member cheat sheet for 2017 and other matters

The Fair Work Commission (FWC), formerly known as Fair Work Australia, is the Australian industrial relations tribunal created by the Fair Work Act 2009. It replaced the Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC) and a number of AIRC members became part of the FWC organisational structure.

As part of a four-yearly review of modern awards the Full Bench of the Fair Work Commission handed down a decision on Sunday penalty rates for workers in hospitality and retail sectors on 23 February 2017.

For the purposes of this review the Full Bench was composed of:

Justice Iain Ross, President

Vice President Joseph Catanzariti

Deputy President Ingrid Asbury

Commissioner Peter Hampton

Commissioner Tim Lee

In 2016 the Queensland Labor Government made a submission to the FWC modern awards review opposing cuts to penalty rates, along with the ACT Labor Government, the Victorian Labor Government and South Australian Labor Government. 

As did the federal parliamentary Labor Party (The Loyal Opposition) as well as the state parliamentary Labor Party in Tasmania , New South Wales and Western Australia.

The Turnbull Federal Coalition Government was notable by its absence in the list of submissions. As was the Coalition state governments in Tasmania, New South Wales and Western Australia.

A full list of submissions, including those by unions and industry/employer groups can be found here.

As this probably will not be the last time the Fair Work Commission decides to extend its brief to cutting the hourly rates of ordinary workers, a closer look at who is making these decisions is merited.

This is as much as I could glean to date concerning the current makeup of the Commission in March 2017:

Fair Work Commission President

Justice Iain Ross AO  – Labor Government appointee 2012 to 2024

Vice Presidents

Joseph Catanzariti  - Labor Government appointee 2013 to 2024

Adam Hatcher SC  - Labor Government appointee 2013 to 2028

Deputy Presidents

Jennifer Acton – Labor Government appointee 1992 and then Labor Government appointee 2009 to 2020

Lea Drake – Labor Government appointee 1994 and then Labor Government appointee 2009 to 2018

Reginald Hamilton - Coalition Government appointee 2001 and then Labor Government appointee 2009 to 2022

Matthew O'Callaghan - Coalition Government appointee 2001 and then Labor Government appointee 2009 to 2021[resigned February, leaving April 2017]

Jonathan Hamberger - Coalition Government appointee 2004 then Labor Government appointee 2009 to 2024

Peter Sams AM – Labor Government appointee 2012 to 2021

Anna Booth – Labor Government appointee 2012 to 2021

Ms Ingrid Asbury - Labor appointee 2013 to 2028

Ms Anne Gooley - Labor appointee 2013 to 2018

Mr Val Gostencnik – Labor appointee 2013 to 2028

Jeffery Lawrence – Labor appointee 2013 to 2017

John Kovacic – Labor Government appointee 2013 to 2022
Geoffrey Bull – Coalition Government appointee 2015 to 2022
Melanie Binet – Coalition Government appointee 2016 to 2034
W. Richard Clancy - Coalition Government appointee 2016 to 2036
Lyndall Dean - Coalition Government appointee 2016 to 2037

Commissioners

Paula Spencer - Coalition Government appointee 2001 then Labor Government appointee 2009 to 2029

Bruce Williams – Coalition Government appointee 2006 to 2023

Anna Cribb - Labor Government appointee 2009 to 2019
Ian Cambridge - Labor Government appointee 2010 to 2033
John Ryan - Labor Government appointee 2010 to 2017
Peter Hampton - Labor Government appointee 2010 to 2025
Julian Roe - Labor Government appointee 2010 to 2017
Michelle Bissett – Labor Government appointee 2010 to 2022

Chris Simpson – Labor Government appointee 2010 to 2034

Tim Lee – Labor Government appointee 2011 to 2029

Susan Booth – Labor Government appointee 2011 to 2022

Donna McKenna Labor Government appointee 2012 to 2025
Bernie Riordan - Labor Government appointee 2012 to 2027
David Gregory - Labor Government appointee 2012 to 2019

Nickolas  Wilson - Labor Government appointee 2013 to 2025

Leigh Johns OAM - Labor Government appointee 2013 to 2034
Tony Saunders - Coalition Government appointee 2015 to 2039
Tanya Cirkovic - Coalition Government appointee 2015 to 2028
Christopher Platt - Coalition Government appointee 2015 to 2026
Katrina Harper-Greenwell - Coalition Government appointee 2016 to 2033
Jennifer Hunt - Coalition Government appointee 2016 to 2038

[https://www.ausgovboards.gov.au/boards/fair-work-commission]

Additional members – can be found here.