Sadly the Joke of the Decade was on the Australian people

"I will not lead a party that is not as committed to effective action on climate change as I am."  [Liberal Party leader Malcolm Bligh Turnbull, October 2009]

Tweet of the Week

So far what grade do you give Donald Trump as president. retweet everyone.......

— Trump Administration Supporter (@Robfortrump2020) August 15, 2018

Nationals MP for Page Kevin Hogan tries to straddle the Coalition fence by becoming a Faux Independent after the new Morrison Government is sworn-in

The political situation in Australia thus far this week..............

You can't get any more blunt than @murpharoo's assessment of #libspill -

"The Government is killing itself in plain view ... It doesn't matter who wins because they're stuffed" pic.twitter.com/1HazIUyd06

— News Breakfast (@BreakfastNews) August 22, 2018

Thinking to hedge his bets in a toxic political environment and remain in the federal parliament beyond the forthcoming federal election, Kevin Hogan sent out this media release on 23 August 2018: 

STATEMENT FROM KEVIN HOGAN

This constant rotation of Prime Ministers by both the Labor Party and the Liberal party, I cannot condone.

 I am announcing today, that if there is another leadership spill for the position of Prime Minister prior to the next federal election, I will remove myself from the government benches and sit on the cross benches.

 I have made this decision because my community is fed up. What we have been seeing in Canberra with leadership changes over the last 10 years, is letting our great country down.

This is not about Peter Dutton, Malcolm Turnbull or Kevin Hogan, it is about the Office of Prime Minister.

I remain 100 per cent committed to delivering for my community. I remain committed to the National Party.

If this occurs, I will still attend National Party meetings if invited. I will not attend Coalition Party Room meetings.

 I will support the Government in No Confidence Motions and Supply.  Any other legislation I will take on a case by case basis.

The model I intend to follow is similar to what the Western Australian National, Tony Crook did.

I will continue to focus on what my community has sent me here to do. I thank them for their overwhelming support. [my yellow hightlighting]

Hogan has been in the federal parliament and a member of the Abbott & Turnbull Coalition governments for almost five years and in that time has never voted against Liberal-Nationals party policy.

What Hogan is doing with this media release is taking a hollow stance.

He fully intends to support the new Liberal Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Nationals Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack.

An arrogant new prime minister with a history since 2013 of human rights abuses as Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, of welfare recipient bashing as Minister for Social Services, of relentless cost cutting as Treasurer and as a strong supporter of propping up the rich at the expense of low income families.

Federal Labor promises to pursue return of dodgy grant to Great Barrier Reef Foundation

Excerpt from email sent out over Labor Senator Kristine Keneally's signature on 17 August 2017:

On April 29 Mr Turnbull announced the largest donation of taxpayers money to a private foundation in Australian history.

Half a billion dollars was given to the Great Barrier Reef Foundation, a private foundation with only six full-time staff at the time.

That's why we're calling on Mr Turnbull to return the reef money. Here's what we know so far:

• There was no tender process for the donation and the foundation never applied for the money.
   
• The Prime Minister was present at the meeting with the foundation and he personally told the chair, Dr John Schubert about the donation. It appears no public servants were present.
   
• Before receiving the donation the budget for the foundation was only $9 million and it only employed six full time staff.
   
• The negotiations for  the contract that governs the half a billion dollars of taxpayers' money only began after the money had been announced and committed by the government.
   
• The foundation has acknowledged the biggest threats to the reef include climate change and land clearing, yet the foundation has made clear none of its work goes to act against climate change or land clearing.
   
• All the probity checks and balances which ordinarily apply to expenditure by government agencies will not apply to spending decisions made by the foundation.

Effectively, half a billion dollars of taxpayers’ money has been given away without process, probity or policy justification.
 
The future of the reef should not be determined behind closed doors by Mr Turnbull’s mates......

Labor will continue to pursue this through the Senate Inquiry process and all other avenues available to the opposition.

Australian Attorney-General releases a draft bill which will allow the gaoling of Australian citizens for 10 years if they refuse to reveal passwords or encryption codes

According to Crikey.com.au on 15 August 2018:

In addition to its village idiot approach to undermining end-to-end encryption in new surveillance laws, the government is also seeking a blunt-force trauma approach: it wants to jail people for a decade if they refuse to give up the password to their devices.

Under the draft Assistance and Access Bill 2018 unveiled yesterday, the government is giving police, spy agencies and regulators like the ATO the power to demand that tech companies help them plant malware on computers and phones to help it defeat end-to-end encryption.

See Exposure Draft for Telecommunications and Other Legislation Amendment (Assistance and Access) Bill 2018: A Bill for an Act to amend the law relating to telecommunications, computer access warrants and search warrants, and for other purposes

“Sneaky laws which declare you as guilty in the eyes of the law the minute the police say you are guilty” - Turnbull Government legislative overreach continues in 2018?

Sydney Criminal Lawyers, 16 August 2018:

A Senate committee has just given the Turnbull government the green light to nationalise a scheme that allows government to seize citizens’ assets unless their legitimate origins can be explained, even if the owner of the wealth hasn’t been charged with let alone convicted of an offence.

On 6 August, the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee recommended that the federal government pass the Unexplained Wealth Legislation Amendment Bill 2018 without any changes.

Unexplained wealth laws currently exist in every Australian jurisdiction, but the new scheme provides a broader model allowing for federal and state authorities to work in collaboration across jurisdictional borders to target serious and organised crime.

“The scale and complexity of this criminal threat has necessitated an enhanced focus on cooperative, cross-jurisdictional responses by Australian governments,” home affairs minister Peter Dutton said in the second reading speech of the bill.

However, critics of the scheme warn that existing unexplained wealth laws undermine the rule of law and broadening their scope will lead to a further erosion of civil liberties. And while these laws are meant to target untouchable crime bosses, they’re actually being used against petty criminals.

Presumption of guilt

“These beefed-up laws bring down all the secret surveillance and the swapping of scuttlebutt masquerading as intelligence on everyone in Australia,” Civil Liberties Australia CEO Bill Rowlings told Sydney Criminal Lawyers.

“The unexplained wealth laws completely overturn the presumption of innocence, which is part of our rule of law in Australia,” he continued. “They are sneaky laws which declare you as guilty in the eyes of the law the minute the police say you are guilty.”

Unexplained wealth laws are a recent development in Australia. But, unlike other proceeds of crime laws that allow for the confiscation of assets derived from prosecuted criminal acts, unexplained wealth places the onus upon the individual to prove their wealth was legally acquired.

“People don’t understand, under these laws the government can confiscate your assets even if you haven’t been found guilty of anything,” Mr Rowlings stressed.

Broadening the reach

The current Commonwealth unexplained wealth laws were introduced in 2010 via amendments made to the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (Cth) (the Act).

These laws apply where there are “reasonable grounds to suspect” an individual’s assets have been derived from a committed federal offence, “a foreign indictable offence or a state offence that has a federal aspect.”

There are three sorts of orders that can be sought in relation to unexplained wealth. Section 20A of the Act provides that a court can issue an unexplained wealth restraining order, which is an interim order that restricts an individual’s ability to dispose of property.

Section 179B of the Act allows for the issuance of a preliminary order, which requires a person to appear in court to prove their wealth is legitimate. And under section 179E, an order can be issued requiring that the payment of an amount of wealth deemed unlawful be made to the government.

The new legislation amends sections 20A and 179E, so that these orders can be issued in respect to relevant offences of participating states, as well as in relation to territory offences. Relevant state offences will be outlined in state legislation that enables participation in the national scheme.

Sharing it around

The legislation broadens the access authorities have to an individual’s banking information in relation to an unexplained wealth investigation.

Section 213 of the Act allows certain authorised Commonwealth officers to issue access notices to financial institutions. This provision will now be extended to states and territory law enforcement agencies.

Proposed section 297C of the Act outlines how federal, state and territory governments will divvy up the seized wealth. A subcommittee will be established to distribute the money. And while any state that opts out of the scheme will be eligible for a share, it will be a less favourable amount.

The legislation also makes amendments to the sharing of information provisions contained in the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979.…..

Backdoor revenue raising

The NSW government has already introduced legislation into parliament, which enables that state to participate in the national scheme. The legislation sets out that the relevant offences the laws apply to are set out in section 6(2) of the Criminal Assets Recovery Act 1990.

NSW police minister Troy Grant told parliament that the legislation allows the state to refer matters to the Commonwealth, which then authorises the Australian federal police to use certain NSW offences as a basis for the confiscation of unexplained wealth.

But, Mr Rowlings states that the nationalising of the scheme will actually streamline a process that sees the unwarranted confiscation of wealth to prop up government coffers.

“The cash seized is paying for extra government lawyers to help seize more cash,” Mr Rowlings made clear, “so it’s a devious upward spiral where more and more unconvicted people will have their assets taken, and then have to prove their innocence or the government gets their assets.”

Read the full article here.

Corruption in the Australian public sector

All three tiers of government in Australia have recorded instances where public service employees allegedly participate in potentially criminal activity.

Here is the most recent……

WA Crime and Corruption Commission, 16 August 2018:

The Corruption and Crime Commission (CCC) has today tabled in State Parliament a comprehensive report into corrupt activity at the North Metropolitan Health Service (NMHS) that went undetected for up to a decade. 

The Report into bribery and corruption in maintenance and service contracts within North Metropolitan Health Service highlights serious misconduct at its most shocking – corrupt relationships between the private and public sectors resulting in the gross misuse and fraudulent misappropriation of hundreds of thousands of dollars of public funds.

The Commission heard evidence of corruption and serious misconduct involving public officers who:

• accepted tens of thousands of dollars in gifts of interstate and overseas travel and accommodation from contractors in return for awarding them work;

• accepted tens of thousands of dollars in gifts of expensive restaurant meals, entertainment, alcohol and other gratuities in return for awarding work;

• received thousands of dollars in cash payments from contractors in return for awarding them continued work;

• facilitated contractors to fraudulently invoice NMHS to cover the costs of the corrupt benefits of travel, accommodation, meals, entertainment and cash they received;

• colluded with particular contractors in 'bid rigging' activities for the purpose of subverting the WA Health and NMHS procurement processes; and

• a senior public officer used contractors to renovate his private residence at a discount and then facilitated the building contractors to fraudulently invoice NMHS approximately $170,000 for works carried out on his private residence.

The Report recommends that prosecuting authorities consider preferring criminal charges against three former public servants (including a former Executive Director of Facilities Management at NMHS and a former Executive Director of Perth Children’s Hospital Service Integration) and no fewer than 10 private sector contractors.

Read the full media release

Media release - CCC report reveals corruption within the North Metropolitan Health Service and serious warnings for public sector agencies and private sector contractors.pdf 

Download the Report

Report into bribery and corruption in maintenance and service contracts within North Metropolitan Health Service

ABC News, 16 August 2018:

Senior WA Health bureaucrats corruptly reaped hundreds of thousands of dollars in gifts and travel paid for by contractors in exchange for winning work on Government projects, an explosive new report has found.

One senior bureaucrat allowed contractors to fraudulently bill the North Metropolitan Health Service (NMHS) for $170,000 in renovations carried out on his private home, while he and another accepted benefits that included overseas travel, restaurant meals, entertainment, cash bribes and alcohol in exchange for the awarding of government contracts.

The Corruption and Crime Commission began investigating after a tip-off from a junior whistleblower within the department in 2014.

Its report recommends charges be considered against three former senior health bureaucrats and nearly a dozen contractors, for what was described as sustained efforts to engage in and cover up bribery.

The report named former NMHS executive directors John Fullerton and David Mulligan, as well as former facilities development manager Shaun Ensor, as the bureaucrats involved in the corrupt conduct.

"This report details more than a decade of corrupt conduct reaching into senior levels within WA Health," the CCC report stated.

"It exposes a culture of contractors freely giving gifts and benefits to public officers, with the expectation of thereby winning work and recovering the costs of the gifts through fraud.

The report uncovered extensive efforts by contractors to shower Mr Fullerton with gifts and other benefits in exchange for government work.

Examples of corruption found by the CCC:

Lavish lunches at restaurants including Nobu, Rockpool and Coco's totalling more than $50,000

A three-week business-class trip to the UK for Mr Fullerton and his wife, Jacqui

A business-class trip for the Fullertons to Canada to attend their son's wedding

A three-week US holiday for Mr and Mrs Fullerton

Annual trips to Melbourne for Mr and Mrs Fullerton

Trips to Canada, Bali, Hong Kong, China and Dubai for Mr Fullerton and his wife

An all-expenses paid trip to the UK for Mr Mulligan

A night at the Galaxy nightclub including paid hostesses

Melbourne Cup lunches and AFL grand final tickets

Gifts of cologne, shoes, business suits and shirts worth thousands of dollars

Cash payments of more than $25,000

Over about a decade, Mr Fullerton received thousands of dollars in cash and $150,000 in gifts including flights, meals, perfume and clothes paid for by contractors, according to the report.

"In return, those contractors obtained regular work at NMHS," the report stated.

"For the majority of contractors, this was the price of doing business with Mr Fullerton."……

The CCC said prosecution should be considered for 10 contractors involved in the corruption, as well as the three senior bureaucrats.

"On occasion, money added to NMHS invoices [was] purely for greed rather than to recoup money spent on 'gifts'," the report stated.

CCC commissioner John McKechnie said covert surveillance discovered some of those involved discussing plans to destroy evidence and create falsified records to cover up their wrongdoing.

"It's staggering, the extent of this in North Metro Health and the fact it has continued for so long," Mr McKechnie said.

"We think serious consideration should be given to prosecuting not only the public officers but some of the contractors.”

BACKGROUND

Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, 17 July 2018:

Public sector corruption refers to the misuse of public power or position with an expectation of undue private gain or advantage (for self or others). It may include:

bribery

embezzlement

fraud

extortion

trading in influence

perverting the course of justice

exchanging goods for money or information.

Corrupt conduct can occur directly through the improper or unlawful actions of public sector officials, or through the actions of individuals operating in the private sector who attempt to inappropriately influence the functions of government.

Organised crime groups try to corrupt public officials to gain access to public funds, information, protection and other services to facilitate criminal activities. These officials are likely to be from law enforcement agencies, border agencies, and agencies that issue identification documents.

Corruption has a serious impact on government, industry and national security. It prejudices the rule of law and distorts markets. It can inhibit foreign investment and international credit ratings and damages Australia’s reputation as a safe reliable economy in which to invest and trade. It can also harm cooperation and relations with foreign governments and law enforcement agencies.

Corruption of public sector officials has substantial multiplier effects and benefits for organised crime. There may be significant links between corruption in the public sector and organised crime groups that, by their very nature, remain hidden. The key challenge in identifying and investigating corruption is that corrupt conduct occurs in secret, between consenting parties who are frequently skilled at deception.