Monday, 3 September 2018
More evidence of the rot at the heart of the Liberal Party of Australia....
.....a political party dominated by self-important 'entitled' British-Europen white males.
Julia
Helen Banks, Liberal MP for Chisholm
56 years of age in September 2018.
Married with two children.
Elected
to the House of Representatives for Chisholm, Victoria, 2016 - population 160,000.
One of only
twelve women in a federal parliamentary Liberal Party of sixty members.
Committee
Service: House of Representatives Standing: Economics from 14.9.16; Social
Policy and Legal Affairs from 14.9.16 (Chair from 6.2.18).
Qualifications
and occupation before entering Federal Parliament:
BA
(Monash), 1984.
LLB
(Monash), 1986.
GAICD.
Lawyer,
Private Practice.
Corporate
Counsel, Hoechst Australia.
General
Counsel (Australia/NZ), Senior Counsel (Asia Pacific), Director Corporate
Affairs (Australia/NZ, Asia Pacific), Kraft Foods, 1992-2008.
General
Counsel and Company Secretary; Head of Compliance and Risk Management,
GlaxoSmithKline Australasia, 2009-14.
Chief
General Counsel and Company Secretary, George Weston Foods, 2014-16.
The
Guardian, 29
August 2018:
The Morrison government
has taken another blow in the aftermath of last week’s leadership spill, with
Liberal backbencher Julia Banks declaring she will quit Parliament at the next
election in a decision that puts a key marginal seat in play.
Ms Banks blasted the
“vindictive” behaviour of the Liberal Party’s factional powerbrokers in a
thinly-veiled attack on those who pushed for Peter Dutton to replace Malcolm
Turnbull in last week’s chaotic spill.
Her decision is a
devastating blow for the government because its survival depends on its ability
to hold ground like her seat of Chisholm in suburban Melbourne, which she won
by a margin of just 1.6 per cent at the last election after leaving a
successful career in business.
“I have always listened
to the people who elected me and put Australia’s national interest before
internal political games, factional party figures, self-proclaimed power-brokers
and certain media personalities who bear vindictive, mean-spirited grudges
intent on settling their personal scores,” Ms Banks said in a statement.
“Last week’s events were
the last straw....
The announcement came
after a frantic 24 hours of negotiation as Prime Minister Scott Morrison and
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg urged Ms Banks to stay in Parliament and fight the
next election to hold her crucial marginal seat.
Sunday, 2 September 2018
PACIFIC HIGHWAY UPGRADE: Time for the NSW MP for Clarence and Federal MP for Page to front their respective ministers and insist this cost-shifting onto local ratepayers does not occur
Clarence Valley Council, media release, 27 August 2018:
Mayor:
Jim Simmons LOCKED BAG 23 GRAFTON NSW 2460
General
Manager: Ashley Lindsay Telephone: (02) 6643 0200
Fax:
(02) 6642 7647
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 27, 2018
Some highway concerns
remain for Clarence Valley Council
 |
Clarence Valley Mayor, Jim Simmons, talks
with Ulmarra residents today about their concerns about some of the arrangements
that will be in place when the new highway opens.
THE Clarence Valley Council will call on the State and Federal governments to address a range of serious safety, access and cost issues related to the construction of the new Pacific Highway.
Council last week agreed
to lobby the Deputy Prime Minister (as Minister For Infrastructure and Transport);
the Federal Minister for Regional Development, Territories and Local
Government; the Member for Page; the NSW Premier; the NSW Minister for Roads;
the NSW Minister for Local Government, and; the Member for Clarence in order to
have some proposed arrangements relating to the new highway addressed.
Councillors were told
there was a planned exit from the new highway at Eight Mile Lane, Glenugie, but
it was not designed to cater for B-Doubles. That would mean many B-Doubles
wanting to travel into or out of Grafton would have to use the proposed
interchange at Tyndale.
Council’s works and
civil director, Troy Anderson, said the planned B-Double route to and from
Grafton would result in large numbers of B-Doubles travelling along the
existing Pacific Highway and through Ulmarra and Tyndale.
“The communities of
Tyndale and Ulmarra and all residences in between will still be subjected to significant
B-Double movements through their villages,” he said.
“The residents in those
areas have expressed concern about safety and noise.”
A further concern was
that the Roads and Maritime Service (RMS) maintenance of Eight Mile Lane.
“Despite a motorway exit
and entry being planned at Eight Mile Lane, there are no plans to change its local
road classification, leaving funding for maintenance and any upgrade works up
to local ratepayers,” he said.
“From a road safety and
capacity perspective, it is recommended this road is upgraded prior to thecompletion
of the new Pacific Highway and that required works are funded by RMS not the
Clarence Valley community.”
Mr Anderson said that
once the new highway was operational, RMS planned to change the classification of
the existing highway between Tyndale and Maclean to that of a local road, which
would leave Clarence Valley ratepayers responsible for the cost of its
maintenance and any upgrades.
“A more logical
extension would be to extend the Gwydir Highway through Grafton to Maclean so
these two major centres are connected via a State road network,” he said.
“The section of existing
highway between Maclean and Tyndale is in poor condition and, being adjacent to
the river for most of this section, has significant associated risks.
“A section of the
existing highway has previously slipped into the river, causing major
disruption and costly repairs. This overhanging burden should not be forced
onto ratepayers of the Clarence Valley.
“These matters will
create considerable cost shifting to council through necessary road upgrades
and increased maintenance.
“In addition, a large
number of residents will be still subject to B- Double movements close to their
residences and through the villages of Tyndale and Ulmarra.”
 |
A group of Ulmarra residents beside the
Pacific Highway as a large semi-trailer passes.
Release ends.
|
Peter Dutton and the French au pair
On 17 June 2015
then Australian Minister for Immigration and Border Protection & Liberal MP
for Dickson Peter Dutton overturned
a departmental decision to classify the holder of an e-Visa as “an
unlawful non-citizen” - allowing Alexandra Deuwel entry into
Australia and supplying her with a tourist visa despite her declaration that she intended to work during her stay.
 |
|
|
The
Australian Government has unsuccessfully attempted to hide details of the minister’s
decision.
The
Guardian, 3
August 2018:
The Australian
government spent more than $10,000 in taxpayer cash fighting a legal battle to
keep documents secret about the home affairs minister Peter Dutton’s decision
to save two foreign au pairs from deportation.
The visa status of the two
unknown young women has
been in the spotlight since March, when it was revealed that Dutton used
his powers of ministerial discretion to grant them visas on public interest
grounds.
In the first case, an au
pair whose visa was cancelled at Brisbane’s international airport in June 2015
was able to make a phone call and within a couple of hours the minister
approved a new visa.
In November the same
year, Dutton defied written warnings from his own department that granting a
visa to a second au pair was of “high risk” because she had been previously
counselled about work restrictions.
Dutton insists he
doesn’t know the two individuals involved and that they didn’t work for his
family.
The
Guardian, 28
August 2018:
The home affairs
minister, Peter
Dutton, saved an au pair from deportation, intervening after the AFL’s
chief executive officer, Gillon McLachlan, raised the young woman’s case.
Guardian Australia
understands that a French woman named Alexandra Deuwel was detained at
Adelaide’s international airport late on 31 October 2015.
Her tourist visa was
cancelled at the border because there were suspicions she intended to work and
she had previously been counselled over visa conditions during an earlier stay
in Australia.
Deuwel had previously
worked for McLachlan’s relatives Callum and Skye MacLachlan in South
Australia and was returning to visit them. Callum MacLachlan is joint managing
director of the cattle and sheep company Jumbuck Pastoral.
An AFL official,
who works for Gillon McLachlan, is understood to have contacted Dutton’s chief
of staff, Craig Maclachlan, on behalf of Callum regarding the former au
pair’s situation. Although related to Gillon McLachlan, Callum’s side of the
family spells its name differently. Craig Maclachlan is not related to either
Callum or Gillon.
On the eve of a
ministerial visit to Zaatari, a Syrian refugee camp in Jordan, Dutton was
alerted to the case, by Craig Maclachlan. He used his discretion powers under
the Migration Act to grant the young woman a tourist visa on public interest
grounds within 24 hours of her arrival. The visa was granted on the condition
she undertake no paid work.
In freedom
of information documents released on Tuesday to the ABC, Dutton gives
his reason for Deuwel’s visa allowance.
“Having regard to this
person’s particular circumstances and personal characteristics, I have decided
to exercise my discretionary powers under section 195A of the (migration) act
as it would be in the public interest to grant this person a visa.
“In the circumstances, I
have decided, that as a discretionary and humanitarian act to an individual,
with ongoing needs it is in the interests of Australia as a humane and generous
society to grant this person a visitor visa (subclass 600) for a period of
three months.”….
A former department
official said what horrified frontline airport personnel most about the au pair
cases was that their decisions were being “overruled so quickly and at such a
senior level for such a trivial matter”….
On 28 August 2018 this
article was amended. A previous version said it was not known whether Craig
Maclachlan was related to relatives of Gillon McLachlan. Peter Dutton’s office
has since said they are not related.
Minister for Home Affairs Peter
Dutton issued a somewhat choleric response to media reports on 28 August 2018:
Saturday, 1 September 2018
Tweets of the Week
He may be an odious, pernicious, spiteful, browbeating, incompetent, callous, prevaricating, psychopathic, coercive, bullying, precipitous, acquisitive bigot, but Scott Morrison...sorry what was my point? pic.twitter.com/KXsfgFoj3H— Richard O'Brien (@RichardAOB) August 24, 2018
Indigenous people: We want a voice to parliament.— IndigenousX Pty Ltd (@IndigenousXLtd) August 28, 2018
ScoMo: Ok, Tony Abbott will be your voice.
Indigenous ppl: ... we're speechless.
ScoMo: Perfect.
Quote of the Week
“This
country would throw itself in the sea if it wasn't already girt by it.” [Freelance journalist Andrew Stafford’s 17
August 2018 tweeted
response to Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s removal of a climate
change target from the National Energy Guarantee,
"sitting on the lap of the
member for Warringah [Abbott] like a really scary wooden puppet come to life.
With the hand of the member for Warringah up his... back. Like Chucky." [Labor MP for Sydney & Deputy Leader of
the Opposition Tanya Plibersek on the subject of Liberal MP for Dickson Peter Dutton, Twitter,
21 August 2018]
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