Commonwealth Integrity Commission: “It’s a body set up to shield parliamentarians and public servants"

The Morrison Government's proposed new Commonwealth Integrity Commission gets another bad review.

The Guardian, 24 January 2019:

A former judge of Victoria’s highest court has attacked the Coalition’s proposal for an anti-corruption body, describing it as a sham designed to shield politicians and public servants from scrutiny.

Stephen Charles, a retired Victorian court of appeal judge, said there was simply “no justification” for the Coalition’s proposal to limit the commission’s powers when investigating the public sector. He said the proposal to not allow public hearings for public-sector cases – as opposed to investigations of law enforcement – made no sense. Nor did the proposed body’s narrow remit, the high burdens of proof needed to initiate an investigation, its inability to take public tip-offs and its lack of resources.

“We see this body, the [Commonwealth Integrity Commission], insofar as public servants and parliamentarians are concerned, as a sham,” he told Guardian Australia. “It’s not really an anti-corruption commission at all.

 “It’s a body set up to shield parliamentarians and public servants.

“It’s a very glitzy model filled with all the bells and whistles but it masks the fact that it’s not an anti corruption [body] at all in so far as public servants are concerned. And the public servants are where the really large money is going.”

The Coalition’s model for an integrity commission was released late last year. It drew early criticism for not allowing public hearings or public tip-offs. The body is also only able to begin an investigation if it is satisfied to a high threshold of suspicion that a crime has been committed.

Transparency International Australia, one of the key anti-corruption agencies lobbying for a federal integrity commission, also criticised the narrow focus of the reform. The group said major improvements were needed to systems governing lobbying, donations and a revolving door between politics and big business.

Five-year assessment of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan released

Shorter version of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan five-year assessment – behind schedule, badly managed by governments and agencies, based on too many false assumptions, evidence of unintended outcomes, not delivering on environmental needs, past excessive water extraction admitted, key risks not properly managed, expensive and no longer fully fit for purpose so in need of reform.

Australian Government Productivity Commission, 25 January 2019:

Murray-Darling Basin Plan: Five-year assessment

Inquiry report

This report was sent to Government on 19 December 2018 and publicly released on 25 January 2019.

The report makes findings on progress to date in implementing the Basin Plan and recommendations on actions required to ensure effective achievement of Basin Plan outcomes. Most of our recommendations involve incremental improvements to the current arrangements. Others are to provide the strong foundations needed for the Plan to succeed — sound governance, good planning, and effective and adaptive management.

Download the overview

Overview and recommendations (PDF - 1085 Kb)

Overview and recommendations (Word - 490 Kb)

Download the report

Murray-Darling Basin Plan: Five-year assessment - Inquiry report (PDF - 4373 Kb)

Murray-Darling Basin Plan: Five-year assessment - Inquiry report (Word - 1938 Kb)

Scott Morrison's Captain Cook would be barely recognisable to an historian

This was the Australian Prime Minister and Liberal MP for Cook Scott Morrison in The Australian on 24 September 2018:

“I believe Cook should be revered as one of the most significant figures in our national history,” the Prime Minister said. “He engaged with cultures different from his own but was always prepared to listen and engage. That’s why I believe, for Australians, Cook can be a figure of reconciliation.”

Morrison is still pushing this point in 2019, calling Cook "enlightened".

So let us look at James Cook's instructions from the British Admiralty concerning possible contact with tradtional owners.

You are likewise to observe the Genius, Temper, Disposition and Number of the Natives, if there be any and endeavour by all proper means to cultivate a Friendship and Alliance with them, making them presents of such Trifles as they may Value inviting them to Traffick, and Shewing them every kind of Civility and Regard; taking Care however not to suffer yourself to be surprized by them, but to be always upon your guard against any Accidents. 

You are also with the Consent of the Natives to take Possession of Convenient Situations in the Country in the Name of the King of Great Britain: Or: if you find the Country uninhabited take Possession for his Majesty by setting up Proper Marks and Inscriptions, as first discoverers and possessors.  [my yellow highlighting]

Then examine his interaction with traditional owners, first at Ka-may (Botany Bay) in New South Wales and later at Waalumbaal Birri (Endeavour River) in Queensland.

Cook's Journal: Daily Entries

29 April 1770
Sunday 29th In the PM winds southerly and clear weather with which we stood into the bay and Anchor'd under the South shore about 2 Mile within the entrence in 6 fathoms water, the south point bearing SE     and the north point ^East, Saw as we came in on both points of the bay Several of the natives and afew hutts, Men women and children on the south shore abreast of the Ship to which place I went in the boats in hopes of speaking with them accompaned by Mr Banks Dr Solander and Tupia- as we approached the shore they all made off except two Men who seem'd resolved to oppose our landing - as soon as I saw this I orderd the boats to lay upon their oars in order to speake to them but this was to little purpose for neither us nor Tupia could understand one word they said.   we then threw them some nails beeds &Ca a shore which they took up and seem'd not ill pleased with in so much that I thout that they beckon'd to us to come a shore but in this we were mistaken for as soon as we put the boat in they again came to oppose us    upon which I fired a musket between the two which had no other effect than to make them retire back where bundles of thier darts lay and one of them took up a stone and threw at us which caused my fireing a second Musquet load with small shott and altho' some of the shott struck the man yet it had no other effect than to make him lay hold of a ^Shield or target ^to defend himself    emmediatly after this we landed which we had no sooner done than they throw'd two darts at us  this obliged me to fire a third shott soon after which they both made off, but not in such haste but what we might have taken one, but Mr Banks being of opinion that the darts were poisoned made me cautious how I advanced into the woods - We found here a few Small hutts made of the bark of trees in one of which were four or five small children with whome we left some strings of beeds &Ca    a quantity of darts lay about the hutts these we took away with us - three Canoes lay upon the bea[c]h the worst I think I ever saw   they were about 10 12 or 14 feet long made of one peice of the bark of a tree drawn or tied up at each end and the middle kept open by means of peices of sticks by way of Thwarts —

19 July 1770
Thursday 19th Gentle breezes at SE and fair weather. Employ'd geting every thing in readiness for sea —

In the AM we were viseted by 10 or 11 of the natives   the most of them came from the other side of the harbour River where we saw six or seven more the most of them women and like the men quite naked; those that came on board were very desirous of having some of our turtle and took the liberty to haul two to the gang way to put over the side but being disapointed in it ^this they grew a little troublesome, and was were for throwing every thing overboard they ^could lay their hands upon; as we had no victuals dress'd at this time I offer'd them some bread to eat, which they rejected with scorn as I believe they would have done any thing else excepting turtle - soon after this they all went a shore   Mr Banks my self and five or six more of our people being a shore at the same time, emmediatly upon their landing one of them took a handfull of dry grass and lighted it at a fire we had a shore and before we well know'd what he was going about he made a large circuit round about us and set fire to the grass on the ground in his way which ^and in an Instant burst like wild fire the whole place was in flames, luckily at this time we had hardly any thing ashore besides the forge and a sow with a Litter of young pigs one of which was scorched to death in the fire —

as soon as they had done this they all went to a place where some of our people were washing and where all our nets and a good deal of linnen were laid out to dry, here with the greatest obstinacy they again set fire to the grass which I and some others who were present could not prevent untill I was obliged to fire a musquet load with small shott at one of the rig leaders which sent them off. as we were apprised of this last attempt of theirs we got the fire out before it got head, but the first spread like wild fire ^in the woods and grass.nNotwithstanding my fireing in which one must have been a little hurt because we saw some ^a few drops of blood on some of the linnen he had cross'd gone over, they did not go far from us for we soon after heard their voices in the woods upon which Mr Banks and I and 3 or 4 More went to look for them and very soon met them comeing toward us as they had each 4 or 5 darts a piece and not knowing their intention we seized upon six or seven of the first darts we met with, this alarmed them so much that they all made off and we followd them for near half a Mile and than set down and call'd to them and they stop'd also; after some little unintelligible conversation had pass'd between us they lay down their darts and came to us in a very friendly manner   we now return'd them the darts we had taken from them which reconciled every thing. We now found  there were 4 strangers among them that we had not seen before and these were interduce'd to us by name by the others: the man which we suppos'd to have been wounded struck with small shott was gone off, but he could not be much hurt as he was at a great distance when I fired. They all came along with us abreast of the ship where they stay'd a short time and then went away and soon after set the woods on fire about a Mile and a half and two miles from us —

20 July 1770
Friday 20th Fresh breezes at SE and fair weather. In the PM got every thing on board the Ship, new berth'd her and let her swing with the tide. In the night the Master return'd with the Pinnace and reported that there was no safe passage for the Ship to the northward - At low water in the AM I went and sounded and buoy'd the bar, being now ready to put to sea the first oppertunity — [my yellow highlighting]

Morrison also coveniently forgets that Cook died while attempting to kidnap the 'King of Hawaii'.¹

www.captcook-ne.co.uk, Timeline:

When Cook left Hawaii his ships ran into gales which broke a mast, forcing him to return to Kealakekua Bay for repairs on 11th February. This time the native people were less friendly and stole the cutter of the Discovery. The next day, the 14th February 1779, Cook went ashore to take the Hawaiian king into custody pending the return of the cutter but a fight developed and Cook, four of his marines and a number of natives were killed. Cook’s remains were buried at sea in Kealakekua Bay.

The Guardian, 13 July 2004:

The unexpurgated version of the death of Captain Cook, presenting a more realistic version than the familiar heroic scene, has been rediscovered more than 220 years after the deaths of both the explorer and the artist……

A painting of the scene by John Webber, the official voyage artist, and innumerable engravings of it fixed it in legend: it shows Cook with his back to the mob, nobly signalling to his ships to cease firing on men armed only with spears and a few clubs.

However John Clevely's version, based on first-hand accounts and sketches by his brother, a ship's carpenter with the voyage, shows Cook fighting desperately for his life, in the last minute of his life, his shot gone, about to club an islander with the butt of his rifle. Most of the islanders have heavy clubs, and others have picked up rocks. One is about to smash the skull of a fallen sailor and the bodies of several islanders are heaped at the water's edge.

The painting, and three other watercolours also on display, was made in about 1784, but by the time it was engraved and published, only a few years later, the artist was dead and the engraving was altered to match the official version of the story.

"The image of Cook signalling his ships to hold their fire made him a classic humane and heroic figure of the age of enlightenment," said Nicholas Lambourn, an art historian, at Christie's yesterday, where the painting went on public display for the first time.

"Clevely's is less heroic but certainly more accurate."….

Notes on the back of Clevely's watercolours say they are based on his brother's sketches and descriptions of the scene. ….

Footnote

1. See:

https://www.captaincooksociety.com/home/detail/225-years-ago-january-march-1779 & 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kidnapping_of_Kalanu ʻōpuʻu_by_Captain_James_Cook

Inequality writ large in the NSW hospitality industry as a company grows wealthy by denying a fair rate of pay to its workforce

Multimillionaire Justin Hemmes comes from a privileged background having inherited the bulk of his wealth rather than earned it independently of the family company.

Yet as CEO of M.R.V.L. Investments Pty Ltd since March 2015 at which point the Merivale portfolio was said to contain more than 50 restaurants, bars, pubs and hotels in Sydney, with an estimated value of more than $1 billion he kept the family company’s wages bill so low for est. 3,000 employees - lawfully so under a Howard Government Workchoices-era collective agreement - that words fail me.

Merivale.com, retrieved 22 January 2019:

Owned and run by the Hemmes family for over 60 years, Merivale began as an iconic fashion house started by John and Merivale Hemmes. Merivale’s fashionable beginnings were soon followed by a venture into hospitality, opening a Thai tea café within their Sydney CBD fashion building in 1970. From here, Merivale’s hospitality roots were firmly planted.

Merivale is now led by CEO Justin Hemmes, whose creativity and knack for pushing the boundaries has made Merivale what it is today. Hemmes has become a pioneer within the Australian hospitality industry, growing the ever-expanding Merivale portfolio to over 70 brands and venues.

Financial Review, 23 May 2018:

Prominent Sydney hotelier Justin Hemmes has ridden the property boom all the way to this year's Rich List.

Hemmes and his family have amassed a $951 million fortune via the ownership of 70 pubs, hotels, restaurants and venues in and around Sydney, including The Ivy on George Street in the heart of the CBD.

He joins the biggest group of Rich Listers, property magnates, who this year account for 51 of the 200 names. Hemmes also just misses being among the record 76 billionaires on the list.

ABC News, 12 November 2018:

The drinking and dining empire led by high-profile Sydney hotelier Justin Hemmes is facing a push to kill off a workplace agreement that some current and former staff say denies them weekend penalty rates……

A former Merivale staff member, Maddie Lucre, raised concerns about being denied weekend penalty rates.

Ms Lucre worked at the Coogee Pavilion from January 2016 until July this year. With the assistance of United Voice, where she works in an admin role, Ms Lucre made a claim against Merivale for the weekend and public holiday amounts she claimed was owed to her under the company's agreement.

She was offered $2,706.72, the amount she claimed she was owed, on the condition that she sign a non-disclosure agreement. No admissions of fault were made by Merivale.

"I know that if I keep my mouth shut then no-one's going to find out about this," Ms Lucre told 7.30.

"Merivale has never been held to account for the fact that they are potentially underpaying people."

Financial Review, 21 January 2019:

Merivale is reviewing the viability of its business practices due to the axing of a WorkChoices-era enterprise agreement that gave it a significant commercial advantage in the industry.

The Fair Work Commission on Monday terminated Merivale's long-expired 2007 EA that allowed the hospitality giant to pay some 3000 workers below the award – more than 20 per cent below in some cases – by not applying overtime or full penalty rates for almost a decade.

The decision, which will not take effect until March to give Merivale time to transition to the award, is the result of United Voice taking action on behalf of two casuals who complained they were missing out on thousands of dollars a year……

Ms Tones, quoted by the union's submissions, said that 71 per cent of the company's workforce were casuals and 48 per cent worked on some form of visa.

Under the agreement, casuals were not paid full evening, weekend and public holiday rates or even overtime.

United Voice said one employee was paid $6 an hour less than the award on Saturdays, $10 an hour less on Sundays and $25 an hour less.

The Fair Work Commission having found on 21 January this year it would not be contrary to the public interest to terminate Merivale Employee Collective Agreement 2007 which had passed its nominal expiry date of 21 December 2012, Merivale now appears to be hinting that if it were to pay proper award rates to all its workforce it might have to close one or more businesses because it may not be able to afford a higher wages bill.

Again, words fail me.

NOTE: Justin Hemmes joined Twitter in March 2010 as @justinhemmes. Although he seems to have tired of the account sometime in 2014 it is still active and Twitter will allow civilised comments on this site.

Meet Australian Prime Minister Eejit approximately 14 weeks out from a federal election

See this man?

He is Prime Minister of Australia and Liberal MP for Cook Scott John Morrison.

And so is this.

As well as this.

This poor excuse for a thinking leader is about to spend $6.7 million on a re-enactment of the voyage of Lieut. James Cook circumnavigating Australia.

Why is that remarkable? 

Because all Cook undertook in April-August 1770 was a limited exploration of the east coast of Australia captaining HM Bark Endeavour.

Circumnavigation of Australia didn't begin until 1801, by which time James Cook had been dead for a full twenty-two years.

This is an image of prime ministerial brain activity on 22 January 2019.

* Photographs of Scott Morrison found on Google Images.

Hard right ideology has so blinded the Morrison & Berejiklian Coalition Governments that water sustainability is at risk in yet another part of New South Wales in 2019

This particular coal mining project below has a long history and each step of the way Liberal and National politicians at state and federal level have supported the interests of foreign-owned mining corporations over those of local communities and ignored the need for intergenerational equity.

The O'Farrell & Baird Coalition Governments went to bat for the coal mining industry in New South Wales in 2014 after Wyong Coal Pty Ltd neglected to gain consent from a landowner, the Darkinjung traditional owners:

Darkinjung Local Aboriginal Land Council v  Wyong Coal  Pty Ltd [2014] NSWLEC 3, 4 April 2014:

Wyong Coal  are not, however, the owners of the land the subject of the DA. Rather, the DA partially covers land owned by the applicant, the Darkinjung Local Aboriginal Land Council ("Darkinjung"). Moreover, the DA partially covers land over which a land rights claim has been made by Darkinjung under the Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1983…..

The proposed development is State Significant Development under Section 89C of the Environmental Planning & Assessment Act 1979 (EP&A Act) as it is 'development for the purposes of coal mining', as specified in the State Environmental Planning Policy (State and Regional Development) 2011. The Minister for Planning and Infrastructure is the consent authority for the project. However, the Planning Assessment Commission (PAC) will determine the application under delegation. In addition to approval under NSW legislation, the project is also a controlled action requiring assessment and approval under the Commonwealth's Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. The Commonwealth will undertake a separate assessment and determination under its legislation.

The Berejilian Coalition Government in 2018 carried the flag for an amended Wyong Coal development application which bypassed the need for Darkinjung LALC consent:

Environmental Defender’s Office NSW, November 2018:

Wyong Coal Pty Ltd, which trades as Wyong Areas Joint Coal Venture, and Kores Australia Pty Limited, are co respondents. KORES Australia Pty Ltd, a fully-owned subsidiary of Korea Resource Corporation, is the majority shareholder of Wyong Coal Pty Ltd.

The case is being fought on four main grounds: climate change, flooding impacts, compensatory water and risks to water supply for farmers in the region.

Wallarah 2 involves construction and operation of an underground coal mine over the next 28 years, until 2046. It would extract five million tonnes of thermal coal a year. The total greenhouse gas emissions over the life of the mine will be 264+ million tonnes of CO2.

In approving the Project, the PAC chose not to take into account emissions which come from the burning of coal mined at Wallarah 2. Our client argues that the law wasn’t followed with respect to climate change impacts. The key ground with respect to greenhouse gas emissions is that the PAC failed to consider an assessment of downstream emissions from the project. Under the EP&A Act, the PAC was required to consider the public interest. ACA argues that in 2018, considering the public interest for projects such as coal mines mandates the consideration of principles of ecologically sustainable development, particularly intergenerational equity and the precautionary principle.

In addition, our client argues that the PAC unlawfully failed to consider the risks of the flood impacts and the potential loss of water occasioned by the mining project.  

The Project, located within the Central Coast water catchment, would have significant impacts on the Central Coast water supply and residents in the surrounding areas. 

It would permanently alter the landscape, causing flooding events that will only increase over time as the impacts of climate change are realised. The PAC approval proposes dealing with these devastating flooding events by first requiring the mine to try mitigation measures like putting people’s houses on stilts, relocating homes or building levees. If those measures don’t work, then the mine would be required to pay the owners of the properties for the harm. Our client says this simply is not a lawful way to mitigate harm from flooding. There is no evidence that the mitigation measures will work or that compensation is an effective way to remedy harm caused by flooding.

The mine is also likely to impact upon the Central Coast water supply and access to water for farmers in the surrounding region.  The mine proposes to construct a pipeline to deliver compensatory water to the Central Coast Council and provide emergency and long-term compensatory water supplies to farmers if they lose access to water on their properties. If compensatory water cannot be provided, the mine can agree to buy those farmers out. The approval does not cover how the pipeline and the compensatory water is to be provided. ACA argues that the mitigation measures proposed by the PAC in the conditions of approval are not lawful, primarily because they go beyond the power of the PAC to deal with environmental impacts of the Project.

The Morrison Coalition Government by the hand of Minister for the Environment, Liberal MP for Durack and former mining industry lawyer Melissa Price, gave the stamp of approval on 18 January 2018:

This is the second time in the space of days NSW residents have learned that Liberal-Nationals politicians have allowed a new coal mine to progress towards operational capability in New South Wales.

Both of these new coal mines Shenhua Watermark and Wallarah 2 represent threats to regional water security.

Australian Water Wars 2019: how NSW rivers were running on 22 January

The news cycle is such that even the dire straits the Murray Darling Basin finds itself in, with regard to environmental, cultural and township water flow security, is already fading into the background.

If we let it do so then it will be business as usual for the Federal, Queensland, New South Wales, Victorian and South Australian governments and, it is business as usual which is causing an ecological crisis in Basin waterways.

This is a snapshot of an interactive map supplied by NSW Water showing river flows on Tuesday 22 January 2019.

Every red marker against a river or section of river indicates that at that point the flow was less than 20 per cent of the natural flow.

You will note that even the coastal rivers of Northern NSW are running at less than 20 per cent of their natural flow.

Along the length of the Darling/Barka River many points like Brewarrina, Bourke and Wilcannia recorded zero natural flow passing on 22 January.

This was also a day when land surface temperatures were still uncomfortably high, with parts of the Murray-Darling Basin predicted to reach temperatures of 42-45+ Celsius.

Remind your local MP that they still need to stand up and be counted when it comes to legislating measures to mitigate climate change and need to be persistent in demanding their political parties bite the bullet on water management reform.