Phone scammer stung by ABC radio presenter

ABC News, 12 September 2017:

A man claiming to be from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has given an expletive-ridden spray to ABC presenter Nick Rheinberger after being told their conversation was being recorded.

It was a voicemail likely to make even the most honest taxpayer frightened — a message from someone claiming to be from the tax office accusing you of tax fraud and asking you to call back immediately.

This is what happened to the ABC Illawarra presenter recently, so he called them back from his radio studio.

AUDIO: ATO Scam recorded (ABC News)

The phone call (which was not broadcast live) started politely with a man identifying himself as an ATO employee, who then asked for Rheinberger's details.

The conversation quickly turned offensive when the ABC presenter told him he was in a radio studio.

"I need to let you know I'm recording this call as well," Rheinberger said.

"F*** you, and the recording, and put this recording to your ass as well mother f***er," the man said.

"Right, OK, that's what I'd expect from the Australian Taxation Office," Rheinberger said sarcastically.

"OK? So go and get f***ed, go and f*** your mum."

The call was recorded because Rheinberger suspected it was a scam and wanted to highlight the problem, which the ATO warns has already scammed Australians out of $1.5 million this year.

The caller (who sounds as if he is an Australian resident) has been attempting to make contact with a number of people this month. See http://www.reverseaustralia.com/lookup/0253062283/

The name “Michael Anderson” or “Mike Anderson” appears to be associated with a number of scams and more than one scammer – lottery win, advance fee, cash advance debt recovery, scam victims compensation fund, next of kin inheritance fraud, unlawful prescription drug purchase, application fee, romance and more.

One of these “Michael Andersons” was caught, charged and convicted sometime between 2006 and 2008.

A number of the other Mr. Andersons appear to still be busy dialling and emailing – trying to get the unwary to either hand over their cash or volunteer enough personal information to allow the caller to attempt identity theft.

Marriage Equality and levels of community support

The Guardian, 21 August 2017:

A majority of Australians favour changing the law to allow same-sex couples to marry and over 80% of respondents also plan to vote in the looming postal survey, according to the latest Guardian Essential poll.

The latest weekly survey of 1,817 voters found that 57% of the sample favours a change to the law to allow marriage equality, with 32% against and 11% saying they don’t know.

People most supportive of the change are Labor voters (71%), Greens voters (69%), women (65%) and voters aged between 18-34 (65%).

Asked about the likelihood of voting in the non-compulsory postal ballot, 63% said they would definitely vote, 18% said they would probably vote, 4% said they would probably not vote and 6% said they would definitely not vote – with 9% unsure.

Yes voters are more likely to participate than no voters. Seventy-four per cent of those in favour of same-sex marriage will definitely vote compared with 58% of those opposed.

Close to 90% of respondents (88%) said they were enrolled to vote at their current address, while 7% said they weren’t and 5% were unsure. Supporters of same-sex marriage are a bit more likely to be enrolled than those who are opposed (92% compared with 86%).

The ballot itself remains deeply contentious, with 49% of the sample disapproving of it and 39% approving. The postal ballot has become more unpopular since marriage equality advocates confirmed they would challenge it in the high court.

NOTE:

Challenges to the voluntary postal survey were dismissed by the High Court of Australia on 7 September 2017.

Quotes of the Week

“We’re a middle-of-the-road country with ambitions for change caught in a political culture that’s come to see its mission as preventing the future.” [Columnist David Marr writing in The Guardian, 21 August 2017]

“In addition to the obvious social benefits of having a highly skilled population, maximising training and educational attainment should be an uncontroversial policy aim. Yet the government imposes cuts to trades training, is underfunding school education, ramping up university fees and forcing those who get a degree to pay for it more quickly.” [Research Fellow at Per Capita Stephen Koukoulas writing about unemployment in Australia in The Guardian, 11 September 2017]

Just because it is beautiful.........(32)

Gang-gang Cockatoo

Callocephalon fimbriatum

(male)

Found from southern Victoria through south- and central-eastern New South Wales

Vulnerable species in NSW

Image via @theleast

Australian governments continue to trip over their own hypocrisy

http://www.smh.com.au/environment/utterly-unsustainable-scientists-warn-koalas-at-risk-as-bulldozers-let-loose-20160707-gq0fjh.html

Crikey.com.au, 4 September 2017:

The forests of the Amazon basin are often referred to as the lungs of the Earth, nurturing life through rich, tropical biodiversity. Although often overlooked, it’s equally fitting to consider the jungles of the Asia-Pacific as the Earth’s heart. After all, they contain 20% of the world’s plant and animal species, and by some measurements make up six of the world’s 25 biodiversity hotspots. Australia adds to the variety, with its wealth of native vegetation. Each one of these areas is unique and plays an integral part in the world’s interrelated ecological systems.

The positive news is that the international community recognises them as such. Last month marks the one-year anniversary of the Asia-Pacific Rainforest Summit in Brunei-Darussalam, an initiative set up in 2014 to discuss the alarming rate of deforestation in the region.

In the last five years, Indonesia has overtaken Brazil to become the greatest forest-clearing nation in the world. South-east Asia more broadly has lost almost 15% of its forests over the last 15 years. Representing the Turnbull government at the summit, then-newly promoted Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg himself recognised the significance of these figures and declared that Australia was “committed” to rainforest protection throughout the Asia-Pacific.

A year on, Australia has appeared to take steps to support its Asian neighbours, such as contributing funding to assist in ending illegal logging. However, it is interesting to note that while the government seems to portray itself as one of the chief proponents in curbing international deforestation, land clearing remains hugely significant in Australia. In actual fact, the east coast of the continent is considered one of the worst deforestation areas in the world today.

http://www.wwf.org.au/news/news/2017/tree-clearing-causing-queenslands-greatest-animal-welfare-crisis#gs.lfpuVWc

Take a bow, the Turnbull Coalition Government, NSW Berejiklian Coalition Government, Victorian Andrews Coalition Government, Queensland Palaszczuk Labor Government and Tasmanian Hodgman Coalition Government – you are making Australia famous for all the wrong reasons. 

The Guardian, 7 September 2017:

Australia is rapidly losing its world-famous biodiversity. More than 90 species have gone extinct since European colonisation (including three in just the past decade) and more than 1,700 species are now formally recognised as being in danger of extinction.

Despite the pride many Australians feel in our unique natural heritage (and the billions of dollars made from nature-based tourism), the amount of federal funding for biodiversity conservation has dropped by 37% since 2013.

If a local industry or public institution experienced such a drastic funding cut, the people affected would petition their local representatives and the issue would be raised in parliament as a matter of local or national importance.

Threatened species cannot of course lobby government. But all threatened species on the land have at least one elected official who should take responsibility for them.

Threatened species as local constituents

A member of parliament’s primary job, besides being a party member and parliamentarian, is to speak up for local interests. Data from the Species of National Environmental Significance shows that every federal electorate contains at least one threatened species, so every single federally elected politician has a role to play in abating species extinction.

We’ve used that data to create a map that shows the number of threatened species in each federal electorate, along with details of the local MP and their party. It’s obvious from a glance that a handful of electorates contain most of Australia’s threatened species.

If you live in these electorates it's time to shame and name your MP at every opportunity.

Working for a GM-free future

The Gene Scene 6 GM-free News & Views View this email in your browser

http://mailchi.mp/geneethics/l7euy0cffw-1299153?e=0050597362

Are banks and insurance companies misusing personal health information and medical files?

“After an insured has made a claim against their policy, the insurer obtains access to and reviews the insured’s medical records. PIAC has seen instances of insurers obtaining an insured’s complete medical history, including from doctors that treated the insured during childhood, before deciding a claim.

PIAC has found that insurers often rely on matters ‘discovered’ during the review of the insured’s medical records to allege that the insured has breached their duty of disclosure.

Often the conclusions drawn by the insurer from the insured’s medical record about their experiences of mental health are inconsistent with the insured’s medical record and the opinions of their treating medical practitioners.

PIAC has represented individuals who have had a policy avoided because the insurer has relied on medical records to impute a medical condition that either did not exist or that the insured did not know existed at the time of applying for insurance.

In PIAC’s experience, it appears that consumers are being disadvantaged by the reforms to the remedies available to insurers (as set out above), or at the very least, are not seeing any benefits flowing from the increased flexibility.” [Public Interest Advocacy Centre, 18 November 2016]

Parliament of Australia, Inquiry into the life insurance industry:

On 14 September 2016, the Senate referred an inquiry into the life insurance industry to the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Corporations and Financial Services for report by 30 June 2017.

The committee welcomes individual stories that may identify widespread issues and recommendations for reform. The committee is not able to investigate or resolve individual disputes.

If you make adverse comment about people in your submission, the committee may reject such evidence or offer a right of reply.

Submissions close on 18 November 2016.

On 29 March 2017, the Senate extended the reporting date from 30 June 2017 to 31 October 2017.

Submissions received by the Committee can be found here.

ABC News, 8 September 2017:

Doctors are pushing back against insurance companies asking them to send them their patients' entire health records as they make decisions about life insurance.

"I am very alarmed that there might be tens of thousands of people's entire health record across the country now stored with insurance companies," Labor Senator Deborah O'Neil told Parliament's joint committee on corporations and financial services.

Edwin Kruys from the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners told the committee doctors do not believe it is appropriate to send entire files to insurance companies.

"It contains information that is often not relevant to the claim, it is all sorts of information that patients have shared with their doctor over the years and they may not even remember what they have shared," Dr Kruys said.

Anne Trimmer from the Australian Medical Association (AMA) told the committee it is challenging for a doctor to determine which parts of a file are relevant.

"And you overlay that with doctors who are time poor with busy practices, it is really hard to make the determination of what is really relevant," she said.

Helen Troup who is managing director of the Commonwealth Bank's Life Insurance arm, CommInsure, told their insurance customers agreed to let doctors provide the files.

"We do get a full authority," Ms Troup said.

She said the company keeps the files but could not say how many it had.

"Our claims principle is to ask for information that is relevant to the claim assessment," she said.

But she said it sometimes meant the company received the full file.

"We of course take due care with that information," Ms Troup said.

But Dr Kruys said he did not take a tick in a box on a form as true consent from his patients to hand over their records, so he contacted them and checked.

He told the committee that they often then withdrew that consent and he would instead send a much more specific report.

Associate Professor Stephen Bradshaw of the Medical Board of Australia told the committee that the request for medical records could come months or years after the doctor had seen the patient.