Saturday 5 May 2018
Quote of the Week
“One
of the distinguishing traits of the troll-style politics that dominates
Trump-era conservatism is the utter disregard for any values outside of winning
at all costs and, perhaps even more importantly, defeating liberals. Decency,
political norms and truth itself are all treated as acceptable casualties in
the endless quest to fuck with the left.
But while many of
the excesses of the right seem new, the reality is that the Trumpian right is
just the outgrowth from roots laid years, even decades ago, in the American
right. The racism and sexism, the conspiracy theories, the harping about
political correctness? All of it goes back decades and is only exploding out of
control now because the right wing political infrastructure has let these foul ideologies
and stupid ideas flourish for so long.” [Author Amanda Marcotte, Troll
Nation: How The Right Became Trump-Worshipping Monsters Set On Rat-F*cking
Liberals, America, and Truth Itself, 2018]
Friday 4 May 2018
Liberal Party apparatchik lays out part of Turnbull Government workplace reform game plan?
More rabid than the most rabid Liberal and Nationals party members elected to the 45th Australian Parliament, former CEO of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry & present inaugural Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman, Kate Carnell, released a 4 page position paper on 27 April 2018.
On those double-spaced A4s Ms. Carnell managed to lay out the what looks very like an Institute of Pubic Affairs-Coalition Government game plan.
Amongst other things found on this wish list are:
By-pass the Fair Work Commissioners by creating an "online dispute resolution tool as an early intervention to quickly resolve more straightforward termination disputes".
* “small business must
make good [on underpaid wages owed to workers] but there is to be "no prosecution, penalty or fine”.
* “Lower the compensation cap, and reduce the cost and time of conciliation and settlement processes” with “maximum compensation limited to 13 rather than 26 week’s pay”.
* “Lower the compensation cap, and reduce the cost and time of conciliation and settlement processes” with “maximum compensation limited to 13 rather than 26 week’s pay”.
* “Recognise and legally accept the common small business practice of paying a buffer above the minimum award wage on the assumption this will ‘take care’ of additional obligations” so that businesses do not have to meet the full legal conditions of employment.
* “Elevate substantive over procedural matters for unfair dismissal” - after all employers shouldn't have to fully comply with a Fair Work Commission code.
* Provide "free access to legal expertise" for employers, that is free access to private businesses involved in matters before the Fair Work Commission which is funded by the taxpayer.
* “The FWO to review the mechanism for providing definitive [free] advice so small businesses can have certainty and can rely on [in tribunal hearings] when defending a dispute to the FWC”.
* “tackle the behavior [sic] of those who do not do the right thing and gain unfair advantage”.
Earlier in the year on 31 January Ms. Carnell was in the media as Ombudsman decrying any reasonable increase in the national minimum wage.
So there you have it - supressed wages growth and less worker rights are on the agenda in the lead up to the forthcoming federal election.
Former hotelier, Australian Minister for Small and Family Business, the Workplace and Deregulation & current Liberal MP for Reid, Craig Laundy, is also "keen to make life easier for small and family businesses to navigate our complex industrial relations system".
He would be most pleased if businesses would "use their trust and friendship with their workers" to convince them that any changes to industrial relations legislation is going to turn their futures into paradise here on earth.
Thursday 3 May 2018
A guide for those following the Turnbull Government response to evidence given in the Financial Services Rooyal Commission
It won't be long before members of the Turnbull Government - from lowly backbenchers through to cabinet ministers - will be seeking to find excuses to give banks, along with finance and insurance companies, a 'get out of gaol free' card despite whatever findings and recommendations are contained in the final report of the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry.
It almost goes without saying that such big political donors are bound to have some members of the government willing to fight in their corner in order to water down whatever post-royal commission legislative provisions are proposed.
To help with discerning just who might play those games, here is a list of Liberal and Nationals MPs and senators with banking/finance/insurance/superannuation backgrounds or who worked for large accountancy firms.
Altogether they make up 16.98 per cent of the Turnbull Government.
AUSTRALIAN HOUSE OF
REPRESENTATIVES 45TH PARLIAMENT
Malcolm Turnbull MP (Lib) – former investment banker, Goldman
Sachs
Josh Frydenberg MP (Lib) - former director, Deutsche Bank
AG
Kelly O’Dwyer MP (Lib) - former executive, National
Australia Bank
Mathias Cormann MP (Lib) – former health services manager
& acting general manager, HBF Insurance
Scott Bucholz MP (Lib) - former agri-finance manager
Bert Van Manen MP
(Lib) - former bank officer, financial adviser
Jason Falinski MP (Lib)
- former
strategy and M&A, Insurance Australia Group
Steven Ciobo MP (Lib) - former senior associate,
Australasian Institute of Banking and Finance
John McVeigh MP (Lib) – former graduate executive trainee,
Bank of Queensland
Barnaby Joyce MP (Nat) - former rural banker
Kevin
Hogan MP (Nat)
- former money market and bond trader,
State Bank of NSW/Colonial State Bank & former Investment officer,
Australian Catholic Superannuation Fund, former superannuation consultant
Michelle Landry MP (Nat)
- former
supervisor, National Australia Bank
David Littleproud MP (Nat) – former banking and finance roles
AUSTRALIAN SENATE 45TH
PARLIAMENT
Jane Hume SEN (Lib)
- former investment research manager
NAFM/ NAB, private banker NAB, senior manager, Rothschild Australia, vice
president Deutsche Bank
Arthur Sinodinos SEN (Lib) - former banker
Dean Smith SEN (Lib) - former head
insurance strategy, IAG
OTHER
MEMBERS OF TURNBULL GOVERNMENT WHO FORMERLY WORKED FOR LARGE ACCOUNTANCY FIRMS/FINANCIAL
INDUSTRY GROUPS
Ian Goodenough MP (Lib)
- former accountant and senior associate,
Financial Services Institute of Australasia
Michael Sukkar MP (Lib) – former senior consultant,
PricewaterhouseCoopers
Matt Canavan SEN (Nat) – former senior executive, KPMG
Note: Employment descriptions are ones that have been used by MPs & Senators themselves as of 28/04/18
ABC reprimanded for calling the most destructive politician of his generation "the most destructive politician of his generation"
It seems poor 'Aunty' ABC was caught out for telling a basic truth about former sacked Australian Prime Minister and current Liberal MP for Warringah Anthony John "Tony" Abbott.
She should have known better - that judgement is not due to be handed down by historians until the day after his earthly demise.
Until then Australian voters must politiely pretend in public they have no idea this is so.
Australian Communications and Media
Authority, media release, 1 May 2018:
A statement contained in
an ABC News report breached the impartiality provisions of
the ABC Code
of Practice (the code), the Australian Communications and Media
Authority (ACMA) has found.
The ACMA investigated a
complaint about an ABC News report, broadcast nationally on 10
October 2017, covering a climate change speech by former prime minister the
Hon. Tony Abbott, MP to the Global Warming Policy Foundation think tank.
The investigation found
the report generally demonstrated fair treatment and open-mindedness in the way
it presented Mr Abbott’s views on climate change over time.
However, a statement
made to camera by the ABC’s political editor that Mr Abbott was ‘the most
destructive politician of his generation’ was declarative and not in keeping
with the scope of the factual matters presented earlier in the report.
The ACMA considered the
statement judgemental, not in language considered as analysis and one that the
ordinary reasonable viewer would have understood as a pejorative descriptor. As
a result, the ACMA found a breach of Standard 4.1 of the code, in that the
report was not presented with due impartiality.
‘The impartiality
provisions in the ABC’s own code require it to demonstrate balance and fair
treatment when presenting news, and avoid conveying a prejudgement’ said ACMA
Chair Nerida O’Loughlin.
‘This is only the second
breach by the ABC of its impartiality rules since 2011. While this demonstrates
strong compliance with these important provisions of the code, the ABC did not
get it right on this occasion,’ Ms O’Loughlin said.
The ABC has advised the
ACMA that ABC News will incorporate the ACMA finding into its
editorial compliance training programs. The ACMA accepts this as an appropriate
action by the ABC in the circumstances.
For more information,
please contact: Emma Rossi, Media and Communications Manager (02) 9334
7719, 0434 652 063 or media@acma.gov.au
Media release 11/2018 -
1 May
Wear the reprimand with pride, Andrew
Probyn and Aunty!
UPDATE
Time for the Streisand Effect to kick in......
Labels:
ABC television,
Our ABC
Wednesday 2 May 2018
Q. If Telstra steals est. $60 million, repays $5 million in compensation and is fined $10 million, leaving a profit of $45 million - how big are the telco’s performance bonuses this year?
Readers with a Telstra mobile phone account need to check that their phone was not set to ‘Premium Direct Billing’ before 3 March 2018.
Because although Telstra put out a media release there was no promise to proactively contact all mobile customers with this news below and, the telco will be be deciding which individual account holders (who have been overcharged for a service they did not consent to) will be contacted concerning compensation.
It is possible it will not manage to contact every customer who had been improperly charged. So if you suspect that you may have been then phone Telstra.
New
Matilda, 27
April 2018:
Ordinarily, when you get
caught stealing, you have to pay the money back, and the punishment you receive
is meant to dissuade you from stealing again.
Unless you’re a major
Australian corporation. In which case, you can steal tens of millions of
dollars from your ‘valued clients’, pay a fine that represents a tiny proportion
of what you pinched, issue a few million in refunds… and then keep the rest.
Introducing Telstra and
its third-party ‘Premium Direct Billing’ scam, which netted Australia’s biggest
Telco a cool $45 million profit, after fines and refunds.
Yesterday, the Federal
Court fined Telstra $10 million for the rip-off after it found that Telstra
“did not adequately inform customers it had set the Premium Direct Billing
service as a default on their mobile accounts. If customers accessed content
through this service, even unintentionally, they were billed directly by
Telstra”.
“Thousands of Telstra
mobile phone customers unwittingly signed up to subscriptions without being
required to enter payment details or verify their identity.
By introducing and
operating the Premium Direct Billing service, Telstra generated substantial
profits by exposing customers to unauthorised charges,” Chairman of the
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission Rod Sims announced in a media
statement.
The prosecution was launched
by the ACCC with powers delegated from the Australian Securities &
Investments Commission. You might remember that sleepy Australian corporate
watchdog from such scandals as the banking royal commission....
“Telstra estimates it
has provided refunds of at least $5 million, and it will review any future
complaints in light of this action and deal with those customers in good faith.
The ACCC estimates further refunds may be in the order of several million
dollars.”
Labels:
ACCC,
compensation,
scam,
Telstra
The man who would be prime minister
“In
terms of ministerial oversight, the portfolio has the following ministers: the
Minister for Home Affairs, who sits in the cabinet and who is also separately
sworn as the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection; the Minister for
Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs; the Minister for Law Enforcement and
Cybersecurity; and the Assistant Minister for Home Affairs. The core functions
of the department are policy, strategy, planning and coordination in relation
to the domestic security and law enforcement functions of the Commonwealth as
well as managed migration and the movement of goods across our borders…..four portfolio agencies that sit alongside the
department, which are statutorily independent, but they are within the
portfolio. They all, like me, report to the cabinet minister. The Australian
Federal Police, ACIC, AUSTRAC and Australian Border Force. That is four. Then,
with the passage of relevant legislation that is currently before the
parliament, ASIO will move across soon.” [Secretary Dept. of Home Affairs Michael
Pezullo at Senate Estimates
Hearing, Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation
Committee, 26 February 2018]
The
worry about concentration of political power per se and that power in inappropriate hands…….
The
Saturday Paper,
28 April 2018:
Peter
Dutton is arguably the most powerful person in the country. In his new ministry
he has oversight for national security, for the Federal Police, Border Force
and ASIO, for the law enforcement and emergency management functions of the
Attorney-General’s Department, the transport security functions of the
Department of Infrastructure, Regional Development and Cities, the
counterterrorism and cybersecurity functions of the Department of Prime
Minister and Cabinet, the multicultural affairs functions of the Department of
Social Services, and the entire Department of Immigration and Border
Protection.
It is hard to imagine any member of
federal parliament less suited to exercise the sort of powers now held by
Dutton. It is easy to argue that no minister should be entrusted with such vast
powers. But the fact that those powers are in Dutton’s hands is seriously
alarming.
Ministerial powers are subject to
limits. The rule of law means that the limits are subject to supervision by the
judicial system. Most ministers understand that. Dutton apparently does not…..
On
April 7, 2018, Dutton called for “like-minded” countries to come together and
review the relevance of the 1951 Refugee Convention.
So,
here it is: Australia’s most powerful minister is wilfully mistreating innocent
people at vast public expense. He is waging a propaganda war against refugees
and against the people who try to help them. And he is trying to persuade other
countries to back away from international human rights protection.
He
tries to make it seem tolerable by hiding it all away in other countries, so
that we can’t see the facts for ourselves. [my
yellow highlighting]
Evidence
that the community concern is justified…….
MSM
News, 29
April 2018:
Ministers
are planning to make it easier for the government to spy on its own citizens, a
leaked document has revealed.
As
it stands, the Australian Federal Police and Australian Security
Intelligence Organisation need a warrant from The Attorney-General
to access Australians' emails, bank records and text messages.
But ministers are reportedly planning
to amend the Intelligence Services Act of 2001 to allow Home Affairs Minister
Peter Dutton and Defence Minister Marise Payne to give the
orders without the country's top lawyer knowing.
The
intelligence - which could include financial transactions, health data and
phone records - would be collected by a government spy agency called the
Australian Signals Directorate.
The
plan was revealed by a leaked letter from Home Affairs Secretary Mike
Pezzullo to Defence Secretary Greg Moriarty.
The
top secret letter, written in February and seen by The Sunday Telegraph,
details a plan to 'hack into critical infrastructure' to 'proactively disrupt
and covertly remove' cyber-enabled criminals including child exploitation and
terror networks.
In
March, the plan was outlined in a ministerial submission signed by Mike
Burgess, the chief of the Australian Signals Directorate.
It
states: 'The Department of Home Affairs advises that it is briefing the
Minister for Home Affairs to write to you (Ms Payne) seeking your support for a
further tranche of legislative reform to enable ASD to better support a range
of Home Affairs priorities.'
But
a proposal to change the law has not yet been made.
A
spokesman for the Defence Minister Ms Payne said: 'There has been no request to
the Minister for Defence to allow ASD to counter or disrupt cyber-enabled
criminals onshore.'
An
intelligence source told The Sunday Telegraph that the proposals could
spell danger for Australians.
'It
would give the most powerful cyber spies the power to turn on their own
citizens,' the source said.
The
letter also outlines 'step-in' powers which could force companies to hand over
citizens' data, the source added.
The
submission says the powers would help keep Australian businesses and
individuals safe. [my yellow highlighting]
The inherent dishonesty
of the Dept. of Home Affairs…..
Secretary of Department of Home
Affairs Michael Pezullo,
Senate
Estimates, Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee, 26
February 2018, denying the possibility of by-passing the judiciary and “the country's top lawyer”:
As I said at the last
estimates meeting of this committee, all executive power is subject to the
sovereignty of this parliament and to the supremacy of the law. In bringing the
security powers, capabilities and capacities of the Commonwealth together into
a single portfolio, these fundamentals will remain in place. All of them are
crucial attributes of liberty. I repeat what I said last year to this
committee: any contrary
suggestion that the establishment of Home Affairs will somehow create an extra
judicial apparatus of power bears no relationship to the facts or to how our
system of government works, and any suggestion that we in the portfolio are
somehow embarked on the secret deconstruction of the supervisory controls which
envelop and check executive power are nothing more than flights of
conspiratorial fancy that read into all relevant utterances the master
blueprint of a new ideology of undemocratic surveillance and social control.
[my
yellow highting]
Ministerial denial - of sorts....
When confronted by the mainstream media Dutton supported government spying on its citizens, saying he believes there is a case to be made for giving the Australian Signals Directorate more powers to investigate domestic cyber threats, with appropriate safeguards in place and "If we were to make any changes ... I would want to see judicial oversight or the first law officer (attorney-general) with the power to sign off on those warrants".
Hands up everyone in Australia who will sleep well knowing that the tsar has spoken. *crickets*
Ministerial denial - of sorts....
When confronted by the mainstream media Dutton supported government spying on its citizens, saying he believes there is a case to be made for giving the Australian Signals Directorate more powers to investigate domestic cyber threats, with appropriate safeguards in place and "If we were to make any changes ... I would want to see judicial oversight or the first law officer (attorney-general) with the power to sign off on those warrants".
Hands up everyone in Australia who will sleep well knowing that the tsar has spoken. *crickets*
Tuesday 1 May 2018
In incremental moves Trump is distorting rights and protections in the U.S.
The U.S.
Dept. of Justice Manual contains a collection of basic manuals, guidelines,
policy statement and procedures that govern the action of U.S. Attorneys
working for the department.
The U.S.
Attorneys’ Manual having recently been reviewed by the Trump Administration no longer contains
this section for the instruction of its law officers – in PUBLIC SAFETY, PUBLIC TRIALS, PUBLIC SAFETY & MEDIA
RELATIONS sections 1-7.112 Need for Free Press and Public Trial.
Labels:
democracy,
Donald Trump,
fascism,
law,
Republican Party,
US policy,
US politics
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