....and it is fading and dying before our very eyes, while the Turnbull Coalition Government follows in the footsteps of the Abbott Coalition Government by turning its back on us and our concerns.
Monday 14 May 2018
Here we are on the NSW North Coast living amid remnants of the splendor that was Australia in 1788.....
....and it is fading and dying before our very eyes, while the Turnbull Coalition Government follows in the footsteps of the Abbott Coalition Government by turning its back on us and our concerns.
North Coast Environment Council, media
release, 7 May 2018:
… SCIENTISTS ARE
THE NEXT CASUALTIES …
Malcolm Turnbull's
Government has launched yet another offensive on the environment, with the
announcement it was sacking dozens of scientists.
“The rivers of cash that
the government has to splash around don't extend to environmental protection,”
said Susie Russell, North Coast Environment Council Vice-President.
“This will have a
significant impact on north coast forests. We have been relying on the Recovery
Planning process to guarantee some protection for nationally endangered
species. Only last month, NCEC was a signatory (with NEFA, the National Parks
Association and the South East Region Conservation Alliance) to a letter to
federal Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg. We pleaded for Canberra to take
its environmental responsibilities seriously. We pointed out that the NSW
Government was not abiding by Federal Recovery Plans for threatened species.
The Greater Glider is one of the species where a Recovery Plan is required,
but nothing gets produced.
Photo by Jasmine Zeleny.
Aboriginal elders calling for NSW Berejiklian Government to commit to expanding the youth Koori court program
The Guardian, 7 May 2018:
Aboriginal
elders have called for the NSW government to commit to expanding the youth
Koori court program after an evaluation found it halved the amount of time
young people spent in detention. The court began as a pilot project at
Parramatta children’s court in February 2015 but has not received ongoing
funding. A University of Western Sydney evaluation has found it cut the average
number of days spent in youth detention, as well as helping address underlying
issues such as unstable accommodation, lack of engagement in education and employment, and disconnection from Aboriginal
culture. Elders said it reached children who had little family
support and were isolated from the community.
Sunday 13 May 2018
Growing older in Australia is becoming fraught with financial risk
The Guardian, 4 May 2018:
Half of the 51,300 older
Australians affected by an increase in the age pension age would move on to
Newstart or the disability support pension in the first year alone, new figures
suggest.
The Coalition has
long proposed increasing the age pension
age from
67 to 70, kicking in from 2025-26. The change is likely to make Australia’s pension age the highest in the
developed world.
Government estimates
show the move would affect 51,300 people in the first year alone, according to
a response to questions asked in Senate estimates.
The government also
predicts 12,934 people would move from the age pension to the disability
support pension and 12,825 to the Newstart Allowance unemployment payment.
The changes have not yet
been legislated, but the pension changes remain Coalition policy after being
first proposed in 2014.
They would follow Labor’s
increase of the pension age from 65 to 67 when it was last in government – a
change that is being gradually implemented from July 2017 until July 2023.
The opposition has
pledged to fight any further increase to the pension age.
The shadow social services
minister, Jenny Macklin, said the data showed increasing the pension age would
not necessarily keep older Australians in work, as the government intends.
“Many Australians won’t be able to work for
longer like Mr Turnbull wants them to. Instead they’ll just be forced to live
on Newstart or the DSP,” Macklin said.
“Labor understands how
hard it is for older Australians to find work, particularly when their job has
taken a toll on their body and where there is age-based discrimination in the
workforce.”
Safer Pathway program becomes third government-led domestic violence initiative to be found ineffective by BOCSAR
The NSW Government domestic violence program rolled out between September 2014 and July 2015......
The safety and
protection of victims and their children lies at the heart of It Stops
Here: Standing Together to End Domestic and Family Violence, the NSW
Government’s Domestic and Family Violence Framework for Reform.
Safer Pathway proposes a
fundamental change in how agencies and organisations support victim’s safety in
NSW. Through Safer Pathway, the right services are provided to victims when
they need them, in a coordinated way.
The key components of
Safer Pathway build on the existing service response. These are:
* a Domestic Violence
Safety Assessment Tool (DVSAT) to better and consistently identify the level of
domestic violence threat to victims
* a Central Referral
Point to electronically manage and monitor referrals
* a state-wide network
of Local Coordination Points that facilitate local responses and provide
victims with case coordination and support. By the end of March 2018, Safer
Pathway will be operational at the following 43 sites: Albury, Armidale,
Ashfield/Burwood, Bankstown, Bathurst, Blacktown, Blue Mounatins, Bourke,
Broken Hill, Campbelltown, Coffs Harbour, Deniliquin, Dubbo, Far South Coast,
Goulburn, Gosford, Griffith, Hunter Valley, Illawarra, Lismore, Liverpool,
Moree, Mt Druitt, Newcastle, Newtown, Northern Beaches, Nowra, Orange,
Parramatta, Penrith, Port Macquarie, Queanbeyan, St George, Sutherland,
Tamworth, Taree, Toronto, Tweed Heads, Wagga Wagga, Walgett, Waverley,
Wollongong and Wyong.
* Safety Action Meetings
in which members develop plans for victims at serious threat of death,
disability or injury as a result of domestic and family violence
* information sharing
legislation that allows service providers to share information about victims
and perpetrators so that victims do not have to retell their story multiple
times, to hold perpetrators accountable and promote an integrated response for
victims at serious threat.
The outcome at Year 4 of the program......
Clare Ringland, The
Domestic Violence Safety Assessment Tool (DVSAT) and intimate partner repeat
victimisation, April 2018
Wai-Yin Wan, Hamish Thorburn, Suzanne Poynton and Lily Trimboli, Assessing
the impact of NSW’s Safer Pathway Program on recorded crime outcomes – an
aggregate-level analysis, February 2018
The
Sydney Morning Herald,
2 May 2018:
A signature NSW
government program to reduce domestic violence rates is failing to protect
women from further harm, a new report reveals, casting doubt over the
Premier’s target of reducing reoffending by 25 per cent by 2021.
The Safer Pathway
program, a key feature of state government's 2014 domestic violence reforms,
"has only had a limited effect on the incidence of domestic
violence", according to two reports released today by the NSW Bureau of
Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR).
It is the third
government-led domestic violence initiative to be found ineffective by
BOCSAR in recent months.
Dr Don Weatherburn,
BOCSAR's director, said the Premier's goal of reducing the number of
perpetrators who reoffend within 12 months to 10.7 per cent by 2021 was
now out of reach.
"Judging from what
we've seen there's no way we are going to have a 25 per cent reduction in
domestic violence reoffending by 2021," he said.
Under the Safer Pathway
program, police are required to assess all victims who report domestic violence
using a questionnaire known as the Domestic Violence Safety Assessment Tool.
Victims assessed as
having a "serious risk" are then referred to a Safety Action
Meeting (SAM), where a team of experts develop an "action plan"
for the victim.
BOCSAR tracked more than
24,000 cases of domestic violence between January 1, 2016, and June 30, 2016,
and found that the questionnaire was a "very poor instrument for
measuring the risk of repeat domestic violence victimisation, often performing
little better than chance".
As part of the
questionnaire, victims are required to answer 25 questions designed to assess
their risk-level. A police officer then performs a further assessment,
including whether there are children at risk of harm. Victims are considered at
"serious risk" if they respond "yes" to at least 12
questions, and if the officer's assessment also concludes there is a legitimate
threat.
However, BOCSAR's report
found that 90 per cent of those who experienced repeat victimisation had
responded ‘'yes'’ to fewer than 12 items in the questionnaire.
“Large numbers of women
who are at serious risk aren't being identified as such and aren't being
given the support of a safety action meeting,” Dr Weatherburn said.
He said the questionnaire also
failed to ask critical questions, such as whether the victim intended to live
with the perpetrator.
"We were shocked to
discover how bad that instrument was. You might as well guess who is at
serious risk,” Dr Weatherburn said…..
Dr Weatherburn said the
program's ineffectiveness was partly a byproduct of the inadequacies of the
screening process, which he said resulted in women who were not at serious risk
being referred to the safe action meetings.
A spokeswoman for Pru
Goward, the minister for the prevention of domestic violence, said the NSW
government was currently working with BOCSAR to develop "a revised and
improved risk assessment tool for domestic violence victims."
Saturday 12 May 2018
Time to show support for the ABC
The situation in 2018.......
The
Guardian, 8
May 2018:
Dear
colleagues,
The
government has tonight announced it will freeze the ABC’s annual funding
indexation for three years from July 2019, which will cost the organisation
$84m. This will be compounded by the decision to cease a further $43m in
funding to support quality news and current affairs services and follows the
cumulative $254m in cuts imposed since 2014.
This
decision comes at a critical time for us. As you are all aware from our
conversations following this year’s annual public meeting, we are at a
watershed moment as a public broadcaster as we continue to strive to deliver
the high standards of programming Australian audiences expect, despite
escalating global competition and rising production costs.
Let
me be frank with you: I am very disappointed and concerned that after the
measures we have introduced in recent years to deliver better and more efficient
services, the government has now seen fit to deliver what amounts to a further
substantial budget cut. This decision will make it very difficult for the ABC
to meet its charter requirements and audience expectations.
However,
we will continue to pursue our strategy during triennial funding negotiations
with the government this year to achieve the proper levels of funding we
require to meet the expectations of not only our current audiences but those of
the next generation.
Our
priorities have and always will be to our audiences and the programming we
create for them. Our success in this is a tribute to the talent, dedication and
high-quality work of our teams right across the country and the world.
Our
public interest journalism, breaking news coverage and independent analysis are
highly valued by the community, including across regional Australia. The drama,
comedy and children’s content we deliver every hour are likewise important to
the cultural life of the country. And services like triple j, RN and ABC Local
remain crucial channels for audiences everywhere to join the national
conversation.
Unfortunately,
the government has overlooked this contribution and the trust and value more
than 80% of Australians place in us as an independent national broadcaster.
In
a statement in response I have made clear this decision
will have an impact on our audiences.
We
will continue to oppose the decision and seek every opportunity to reverse the
cuts in the coming months before they take effect.
Michelle
Guthrie
Abc.net.au, Statement, 8 May 2018:
The
Government’s decision to freeze the ABC’s indexation from July 2019 will cost
the broadcaster $84 million over three years and will be compounded by the
decision to cease a further $43 million in funding to support quality news and
current affairs services.
This
decision comes at a critical time for the ABC as it commences triennial funding
negotiations with the Government and comes on top of a cumulative $254 million
in cuts imposed since 2014.
The
ABC’s independence and its commitment to in-depth analysis and commentary has
never been more valued or trusted by Australian audiences, nor so critical to
the challenges facing the nation.
ABC
Managing Director Michelle Guthrie said the impact of the decision could not be
absorbed by efficiency measures alone, as the ABC had already achieved
significant productivity gains in response to past budget cuts.
“The
ABC is now more important than ever given the impact of overseas players in the
local media industry and the critical role the ABC plays as Australia’s most
trusted source of news, analysis and investigative journalism,” Ms Guthrie
said.
“Our
talented and dedicated content makers consistently deliver award winning public
interest journalism, regional services and critically acclaimed original
Australian programs and content.
“Stable,
adequate funding is essential if we are to continue to deliver for Australian
audiences.”
The
ABC’s long-term strategy published at an Annual Public Meeting in February 2018
outlines the broadcaster’s plan to respond to changing audience expectations,
and to remain as relevant in the future as it always has been in the past.
The
ABC will continue to negotiate its funding requirements with the Government to
ensure it can deliver on this commitment to a future which ensures the ABC
remains relevant in the digital age.
Ms
Guthrie also rejected as unnecessary the proposed efficiency review given
efficiency programs introduced by the ABC in recent years.
Time to pick up that pen and object to this funding freeze........
Prime Minister Hon. Malcolm Bligh Turnbull MP
Parliament House
Canberra, ACT 2600
PH: (02) 6277 7700
FAX: (02) 6273 4100
Online email at https://www.pm.gov.au/contact-your-pm
Deputy Prime Minister Hon. Michael McCormack MP
PO Box 6022
House of Representatives
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
House of Representatives
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
PH: 02) 6277 7520
Minister for Communications and Minister for the Arts Senator Hon. Mitch Fifield
Parliament House
Canberra, ACT 2600
PH: (02) 6277 7480
EMAIL: Minister@communications.gov.au
PH: (02) 6277 7480
EMAIL: Minister@communications.gov.au
Minister for Regional Communications Senator Hon. Bridget McKenzie
PO Box 6100
Senate
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
Senate
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
PH: (02) 6277 3200
FAX: (02) 6277 5755
Local MPs by Electorate contact details here.
Quotes of the Week
“Meeting the narrow test of legality is not a licence to be a bastard” [Journalist Peter Hartcher writing about corporations in The
Canberra Times, 5 May 2018]
“budget's forecasts and projections, prepared by that well-known Italian
economist, Rosie Scenario”
[Economics editor Ross Gittens writing in The
Sydney Morning Herald about Federal Budget 2018-19, 8 May 2018]
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