Russian Dolls 101: news of historic Australian security breaches discovered nested inside a more recent national security breach

Opps, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) permanently lost 707 Cabinet and National Security Committee documents between 2008 and August 2013.

 The general public find out about these losses approximately four to ten years later in January 2018, when mention was made of the situation in one file document within thousands of other top-secret and highly classified documents obtained by the ABC after yet another security breach involving Cabinet papers and other classified files found in old government locked filing cabinets sold at public auction in Canberra.

Even John le Carré would have thought this plot line was nigh on unbelievable - but then he didn't know our very own federal bureaucracy.

ABC News, 31 January 2018:

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) lost nearly 400 national security files in five years, according to a secret government stocktake contained in The Cabinet Files.

The Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet regularly audits all government departments and agencies that have access to the classified documents to ensure they are securely stored.

The missing documents are not the same files the ABC has obtained.

The classified documents lost by the AFP are from the powerful National Security Committee (NSC) of the cabinet, which controls the country's security, intelligence and defence agenda.

The secretive committee also deploys Australia's military and approves kill, capture or destroy missions.

Most of its documents are marked "top secret" and "AUSTEO", which means they are to be seen by Australian eyes only.

An email exchange between the cabinet secretariat and the AFP reveals the documents were lost between 2008 and 2013……

Troop deployments in Afghanistan and Iraq, counter-terrorism operations, foreign relations and Australia's border protection were among the top-secret and sensitive issues decided in the five-year period.

The cabinet secretariat's general practice was to give up searching and write off lost documents if they could not be found after consecutive audits, according to another document in The Cabinet Files.

Of course it is only three or four years ago that nearly 5,000 secret, confidential and restricted documents from two major federal departments held in a "B Class" secure container ended up in a recycling yard in Canberra.

There was an internal inquiry at the time but that obviously didn't translate into accounting for the whereabouts of all secure containers/filing cabinets and safes holding sensitive documents.

Given the fact that Australia's public broadcaster actually had possession of documents in the latest security breach, rather belatedly the secutity services began to care about national security.

ABC News, 1 February 2018:

ASIO officers have moved to secure the thousands of top secret and classified Cabinet files obtained by the ABC, in early morning operations in Canberra and Brisbane.

Officers delivered safes to the public broadcaster's Parliament House Bureau and South Bank studios around 1:00am, just hours after the massive national security breach was revealed.

The ABC still has access to the documents, now kept in the safes, and negotiations are still underway between lawyers for the ABC and the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet (PM&C).

The department launched an urgent investigation on Wednesday, after it was revealed the trove of documents had been discovered in two locked filing cabinets offloaded to a second-hand furniture depot in Canberra.

The Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet (PM&C) launched an urgent investigation into how the massive breach occurred, within an hour of the ABC revealing the trove of documents.

But the ABC understands the Australian Federal Police (AFP) are yet to join the inquiry.

* Russian Doll pic found at Google Images

Bellingen Environment Centre (BEC): “The reality is the hardwood native forest industry on the North Coast is in long term decline following the overharvesting of our native forests to meet over commitments in wood supply to North Coast sawmills"

Guardian News, Nambucca Valley Conservation Association, 29 January 2018:

​

Melinda Pavey's  recent comments on forestry issues  frequently begin with phrases like  " let's consider reality" or "let's listen to the science". 

Unfortunately she appears to do neither according to the Bellingen Environment Centre (BEC) and the Nambucca Valley Conservation Association. 

"The reality is the hardwood native forest industry on the North Coast is in long term decline following the overharvesting of our native forests to meet over commitments in wood supply to North Coast sawmills . In response the industry  is seeking  to intensify harvesting to convert remaining available forests into highly flammable matchstick farms, harvested  intensely  by machines  when very young with much of the outputs burnt in 3 biomass plants proposed for Grafton, Kempsey and Taree," BEC spokesperson Ashley Love said.

"The authoritative document for the North Coast forests is the Regional Forest Agreement (RFA) for North East NSW.  It is one of nine regional forest agreements covering the majority of the forested regions of Australia. 

"The reality and the data shows that  North Coast  forests  have the worst representations of forests in conservation reserves of any of the nine regional forest agreement regions throughout Australia.

The forestry industry is seeking to intensify harvesting to convert remaining available forests into highly flammable matchstick farms

Ashley Love, Bellingen Environment Centre

"Rather than a ratio of conservation reserves to harvestable forest of 6:1 as Ms Pavey claims, the RFA  reveals a ratio of conservation reserves to total forest area of 1:3.

"Admittedly, not all the forests are harvestable and not all the reserves are covered in forest, so Ms Pavey must be cautious with figures which she uses."

Mr Love said Ms Pavey's claim that recent field survey work had found high koala occupancy in state forests did not have a broad scientific consensus as "the methodology used for the assessment was largely based on the results from placement of limited numbers of sound recording devices in the field – a very imprecise way of assessing koala populations".

"Her claim that harvested areas of forest regenerate is contradicted by the recent progress report of the RFAs which reports natural regeneration of  70 per cent over of areas harvested during the last 15 years. 

"We don't want to see 30 per cent of our forests lost each time they are harvested." 

"Ms Pavey's report of 27 timber mills between The Hunter and the Tweed indicates just how much the industry has declined – once there were hundreds of mills on the North Coast and thousands of employees in the timber industry.  Logging practices of cutting smaller and smaller trees have meant that the future sawlogs are not being left to grow on."

"She infers that 750 direct jobs in the timber industry are at risk by the establishment of the Great Koala National Park (GKNP) .  In so claiming, she is including in her estimate all the people employed in the industry between the Hunter and the Tweed Rivers and is including those working within plantations and private forest areas which are not included in the GKNP proposal."

NVCA president Paula Flack said that regardless of the National Party's continuous exaggeration of timber industry job numbers on the North Coast, they were dwarfed in comparison to the number of direct and indirect jobs which the GKNP would generate. 

"One recent study from Victoria indicated that one conservation reserve proposal for the Central Highlands forests would generate an additional 750 jobs," Ms Flack said.

"The establishment of national parks on public land and marine parks at sea is a global phenomenon and one of the universal responses to the increasing recognition of the need to protect and, in many cases, restore our natural environments. 

"Unfortunately our current Liberal National Party political leaders are unwilling see the wider environmental, social and economic benefits of the Great Koala National Park and would rather ignore the facts and science by swimming against the tide." 

Quotes of the Week

"The Cozy Bear [Russian] hackers are in a space in a university building near the Red Square. The group's composition varies, usually about ten people are active. The entrance is in a curved hallway. A security camera records who enters and who exits the room. The AIVD hackers manage to gain access to that camera. Not only can the intelligence service now see what the Russians are doing, they can also see who's doing it. Pictures are taken of every visitor. In Zoetermeer, these pictures are analyzed and compared to known Russian spies. Again, they've acquired information that will later prove to be vital."  [De Volkskrant, on the subject of Russian interference in 2016 presidential election, 25 January 2018]

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"The separation of powers doctrine dictates that the judiciary should not be the subject of improper influence by the other branches of government – being the executive and legislature. Comments by Dutton and other Coalition ministers to the effect that members of the judiciary should be selected on the basis of their ideological leanings and ability to deliver "tough" sentences – rather than independently look at all factors and apply the law – seek to undermine this doctrine and unduly influence both the selection process and practices of the judiciary. Dutton's populist political grandstanding may have some members of the public "egging him on", but the reality is that such rhetoric seeks to undermine one of the central pillars of our democracy." 

[Sydney Criminal Lawyers, 23 January 2018]

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“No president in history has burned more public money to sustain his personal lifestyle than Donald Trump”  [former George W. Bush staffer David Frum in his book Trumpocracy: The Corruption of the American Republic]

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“The events I’ve described in these pages are based on conversations that took place over a period of eighteen months with the president, with most members of his senior staff—some of whom talked to me dozens of times—and with many people who they in turn spoke to. The first interview occurred well before I could have imagined a Trump White House, much less a book about it, in late May 2016 at Trump’s home in Beverly Hills—the then candidate polishing off a pint of Häagen-Dazs vanilla as he happily and idly opined about a range of topics while his aides, Hope Hicks, Corey Lewandowski, and Jared Kushner, went in and out of the room.

Conversations with members of the campaign’s team continued through the Republican Convention in Cleveland, when it was still hardly possible to conceive of Trumps election. They moved on to Trump Tower with a voluble Steve Bannon—before the election, when he still seemed like an entertaining oddity, and later, after the election, when he seemed like a miracle worker.

Shortly after January 20, I took up something like a semipermanent seat on a couch in the West Wing. Since then I have conducted more than two hundred interviews.” [Author Michael Wolff from his book “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House” published 5 January 2018]

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What those cruise industry lobbyists probably don't tell the NSW Minister for Roads, Maritime and Freight

Once National Party MP for Oxley Melinda Pavey was appointed NSW Minister for Roads, Maritime and Freight in January 2017 she met with representatives of international cruise lines and cruise industry lobbyists on at least six occasions before that year ended 1.

In fact the cruise ship industry has been busy lobbying any state minister2 that is seen as even remotely capable of advancing its greedy drive for more harbour access along the New South Wales coast.

I would be greatly surprised if at any of these meetings any mention was made of the fact that cruise ship tourism is often seen as a nuisance to be avoided by those land-based tourists who actually like to holiday near harbours, bays and river estuaries and who freely spend their money there.

So to fill a possible knowledge gap I offer these ministers a few quotes..........

“There are few places in the world with sunset views as spectacular as Santorini, but the tiny island in the Greek Cyclades is reaching breaking point. Almost two million people visited in 2017, 850,000 on cruise ships which drop anchor in its caldera, with passengers staying for a matter of hours rather than days. While those numbers have been capped to 8,000 a day by the island's mayor, with a rising population due to the tourist boom, Santorini is in serious danger of losing its charm.” [CNN Travel, 12 destinations travellers might want to avoid in 2018, 24 January 2018]

"Hi, We are hoping to stay a few days in West End and a few in West Bay and would like to avoid staying in West Bay the days that cruise ships arrive. Does anyone know which days of the week they arrive? Thanks!" [Trip Advisor, 27 January 2018]

“My spouse and I are going to Belize for two weeks next month and would like to make a trip to Roatan. We have been to Belize twice already and love to snorkel so we would love to check out Roatan as it's an easy flight from Belize City. We are concerned however about crowds as we heard Roatan is a cruise ship port. How large is the island? Any recommendations for a place to stay on the island that is far enough away from the cruise ships that we can avoid the crowds and the high prices? Somewhere far enough away that cruise ship passengers wouldnt spent their time going to for just a day but close enough for us to spend a few days? Thank you.” [Trip Advisor, 25 February 2017]

“Cozumel and Grand Cayman can get overrun with passengers from the giant cruise ships that call there. The only way to avoid the cruise crowds is to dive at off-peak times or to go with a dive operator who knows the secret spots.” [Wendy Perrin, 10 March 2017]

If you really want to be on the fjords I’d recommend staying in a village nearby Ålesund, Geiranger, and Trollstigen, but also not too close to any of them. Definitely avoid Geiranger itself, as it’s crammed with hotels and only really offers views of cruise ships and tourist buses. [Heart My Backpack, 11 April 2017]

“For centuries their remote location off the far north of Scotland ensured that they remained an idyllic outpost of tranquillity. Now the Orkney Islands, once pillaged and settled by the Vikings, are struggling to cope with an invasion of cruise-ship passengers. Residents of the archipelago, which has a population of just over 20,000, will be joined by more than 120,000 visitors this summer. The waterborne influx is putting attractions such as Skara Brae, Europe’s best-preserved Neolithic settlement, under strain. Such is the desperation of the island authorities that they are looking at introducing berthing permits and charges in an attempt to ease the congestion. Last year there was an outcry when dozens of German tourists barged their way into a funeral at St Magnus Cathedral…”  [The Sunday Times, 16 May 2017]

i'm happy to report that my husband and i have planned and booked our first visit to key west! we will be there for five days the first week of june, so four weeks from today! i'm super happy to report this, because it is how we are celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary, and i won the 'argument' over which trip to take. my husband wanted to do a western caribbean cruise, and i didn't (we've cruised before, me more than him). my point was that cruises are crowded and rushed. i sold this as a 'land cruise'--we will be driving down from MIA over the course of two days, stopping in key largo and marathon to really take our time getting there. we are super excited about it. and....then i checked the port schedule. there will be a ship in port all but one of the days of our visit, and on tuesday there are two (and i fear one is a disney ship). we don't have kids. we don't particularly like kids (sorry). and we definitely do not love huge crowds. so i'm looking for tips on how to best approach our time in key west, knowing that it is going to be pretty packed. [Trip Advisor, 9 May 2016]

“On the day I planned to visit St. Mark's Basilica and the Doge's Palace, I had company from about half a dozen cruise ships. Consequently, St. Mark's Square, the locale of these attractions, was flooded with tourists, way more compared with other days. Plan around these behemoths of the seas. Visit top attractions on days with few cruise ships in port, or get there early. Consult Cruise TT for a calendar of cruise ship arrivals.” [Los Angeles Times, 23 July 2015]

“We will be in Dubrovnik Saturday thru Tuesday (or perhaps Wed) in September. A friend has told us that the cruise ships fill the old town with tourist hordes. Does anyone know if they arrive every day or if they leave by certain time or anything that might help us avoid these crowds? thanks in advance roland” [Rick Steves’ Europe, 4 December 2015]

“Just off the coast of Mexico's Riviera Maya lies the small island of Cozumel, a Caribbean gem of an island. Due to its close proximity to the United States, Cozumel welcomes thousands of visitors each day. Scuba diving is the defining attraction here: with many world-class reefs only minutes away from shore. If you don't dive or snorkel, nor enjoy spending time in or next to the ocean, Cozumel is probably not for you. The tourism industry is developing rapidly here, creating two distinct groups of visitors: those divers staying in the Cozumel Hotels and the people straight from the gigantic cruise ships. Sometimes as many as 11 ships (with plans for more) unload their human cargo onto the island in just a few hours. This means that you could be sharing Cozumel's somewhat limited space, with as many as 6,000 other day-trippers. I've seen many divers and hotel guests become extremely frustrated and annoyed by this cruise ship phenomenon, having to share resources and endure price gouges. So, I'm here to offer you a friendly guide with some handy suggestions and advice for best avoiding the herds.” [Travel Notes, undated]

FOOTNOTE

1. Minister Pavey's 2017 meetings were with Royal Caribbean (28 February & 8 June), Carnival Australia (10 March, 8 June & 8 July), Carnival Global (21 March), Norwegian Cruise Lines (8 June), Cruise Line International Association (8 June & 21 June).

2. Some Berjiklian government ministers who also appear to be on the cruise ship industry's lobbying list are:
Deputy Premier, Minister for Regional NSW, Minister for Skills, Minister for Small Business, Nationals MP for John Barilaro;

Minister for Tourism and Major Events, and Assistant Minister for Skills, Nationals MP for Northern Tablelands, Adam Marshall;

Minister for Trade, Tourism and Major Events and Minister for Sport, Nationals MLC Niall Blair; and

Minister for Transport and Infrastructure, Nationals MP for Bega Andrew Constance.

How we see the cost of living in Australia in 2018

Essential Report, 30 January 2018:

​A substantial majority believe that, in the last 12 months, cost of living (73%) and electricity costs (75%) have all got worse. The only economic measure that has got better is company profits (42% better/12% worse).

Compared the last time this question was asked in February 2016, there has been an increase in the percentage that think electricity costs (up 13% to 75%) have got worse. However, there has also been an increase in the percentage that think company profits (+12), unemployment (+19) and the economy overall (+18) have got better.

51% (down 2% since August) believe that, in the last two years, their income has fallen behind the cost of living. 28% (up 3%) think it has stayed even with the cost of living and 14% (down 1%) think it has gone up more.

64% of those earning under $600 pw and 58% of those earning $600-1,000 pw think their income has fallen behind while 54% of those earning over $2,000 pw think it has stayed the same or gone up.

Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), media release, 31 January 2018:

Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), 1 November 2018:

According to the ABS, over the last twelve months up to end September 2017 the Living Cost Index* rose:

2.0% for Pensioner and Beneficiary Households

2.1% for Other Government Transfer Recipient Households

1.7% for Age Pensioner Households

1.6% for Self-Funded Retiree Households

1.5% for Employee Households 

One of the principal drivers to the rise in costs for these groups has been the rise in housing costs due to the rise in wholesale electricity costs.

* The Living Cost Indexes (LCI) have been designed to answer the question:

'By how much would after tax money incomes need to change to allow householdsto purchase the same quantity of consumer goods and services that they purchased in the base period?'

A lesson in political repression courtesy of the Turnbull Government

On 7 December 2017 the Turnbull Coalition Government introduced a bill called the Electoral Legislation Amendment (Electoral Funding and Disclosure Reform) Bill 2017.

It is currently before the Senate and the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters which reports to Parliament on 2 March 2018.

This bill purports to amend the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 to: establish public registers for key non-party political actors; require non-financial particulars, such as senior staff and discretionary government benefits, to be reported; prohibit donations from foreign governments and state-owned enterprises being used to finance public debate; require wholly political actors to verify that donations over $250 come from an organisation incorporated in Australia, or with its head office or principal place of activity in Australia, or an Australian citizen or Commonwealth elector; prohibit other regulated political actors from using donations from foreign sources to fund reportable political expenditure; limit public election funding to demonstrated electoral spending; amend the enforcement and compliance regime for political finance regulation; and enable the Electoral Commissioner to prescribe certain matters by legislative instrument; and Referendum (Machinery Provisions) Act 1984 to make consequential amendments.

The bill contains these clauses in relation to not only donations made to political parties but also to donations made to advocacy groups and charities which lobby government:

# 287AA Meaning of allowable donor

 (1) A person or entity is an allowable donor if:

(a) for an individual who makes a gift—the individual:

(i) is an elector; or

(ii) is an Australian citizen; or

(iii) is an Australian resident, unless a determination is in force under subsection

(2) determining that Australian residents are not allowable donors; or

(b) for an entity that makes a gift:

(i) the entity is incorporated in Australia; or

(ii) for an entity that is not incorporated—the entity’s head  office or principal place of activity is in Australia; or

(c) for a person or entity that is a trustee of an unincorporated trust fund or unincorporated foundation, out of which a gift is made—the person or entity is an allowable donor within the meaning of paragraph (a), (b) or (d); or

(d) the person or entity is in a class of persons or entities prescribed by the regulations for the purposes of this paragraph. Australian residents 

(2) For the purposes of subparagraph (1)(a)(iii), the Minister may, by  legislative instrument, determine that Australian residents are not allowable donors.

# 302P Information relating to allowable donor status

(1) A person (the first person) obtains appropriate donor information from another person establishing that the other person is an allowable donor if:

(a) the first person obtains a statutory declaration from the other person declaring that the other person is an allowable donor (unless subsection (2) applies); or

(b) if the regulations determine information that the first person may seek from the other person in order to establish that the other person is an allowable donor—the first person obtains 11 that information from the other person.

(2) For the purposes of paragraph (1)(b), the regulations may (but are not required to) determine that a statutory declaration that a person is an allowable donor is not appropriate donor information.

Note: A person who obtains appropriate donor information may not commit an offence or contravene a civil penalty provision in this Division (see 17 subsection 287(9) and section 302M).

It should be noted that approved witnesses to a Commonwealth statutory declaration come from specific occupational pools and only justices of the peace are prohibited from charging a fee to act as a witness.

It should be further noted that these clauses are in addition to the bill's amending of the definition of an associated entity which GetUp! asserts threatens its independence.

GetUp! had this to say on the subject:

It's a killer blow

Our lawyers just uncovered a killer clause in the Turnbull Government's new anti-democratic legislation that would decimate GetUp's ability to fundraise.Can you dig deep to help establish a GetUp Survival War Chest -- while we still can?

If passed, this killer clause would force then anyone who contributes as little as $4.80 a week to the GetUp movement to provide a signed and witnessed statutory declaration.

The impossibility of collecting thousands upon thousands of these documents would spell the end of people-powered fundrasing as we know it.

Of course, we're going to fight tooth and nail to stop this legislation in its tracks. But to prepare for the worst, we're creating a GetUp Survival War Chest, to ensure we run can keep our campaigns thriving no matter what.

Can you dig deep now (while we still can) as an act of defiance against this effort to choke off our people powered impact?

 How does the killer clause work?

 What's in the rest of this anti-democratic legislation?

 Is this different to the 'GetUp Clause'?

 What’s the deal with foreign donations?

Donations page here.

A warning about tax cuts

Something for an Australian Coalition Government  to ponder, as it slavishly adopts the political blunders of the current US Republican Government.

The Guardian, 27 January 2018:

Donald Trump's huge tax cuts are a threat to the stability of the global economy, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund has warned.

Christine Lagarde singled out Trump's tax reforms as one of three risks that could destabilise the current economic recovery, especially given the boom in stock markets in the past year.

"While the US tax reforms certainly will have positive effects in the short term, for the US and other countries around, it might also lead to serious risks," Lagarde told the World Economic Forum in Davos.

 "That has an impact on financial vulnerability, particularly given the high asset prices that we see around the world, and the easy financing that it still available," she added.

She was speaking shortly after the US president told Davos that his tax reforms had created "a big, beautiful waterfall" of pay rises for US workers, as American companies passed the tax cut on.

However, the IMF is concerned that cutting taxes will lead to a bigger US budget deficit, and that extra borrowing by the US Treasury will force up long-term American interest rates. As a result, it fears growth could be choked off in the longer term, making the stock market vulnerable to a sudden downward lurch.

Lagarde cautioned against people becoming too complacent about the pick-up in global growth reported by the IMF at the start of the WEF's annual meeting. The IMF raised its forecasts for global expansion to 3.9% this year and in 2019, reporting that all major economies – the US, the eurozone and Japan – are doing better.

 "I don't think that we've completed the job," said Lagarde, who fears that the growing economic inequality in many countries is creating "fractures".

"Having growth is good, improving productive is good, but [policymakers should] make sure that the results of that growth are properly allocated," said the IMF chief, adding that inequality is growing in many advanced economies, and very high in emerging markets.

In addition to financial instability and inequality, Lagarde said a third risk was the lack of international cooperation and the geopolitical risks that could be created as a result.