via @AnitaHess

Anniversary of the 1997 report Bringing Them Home: National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families

Trump accuses Australia of interfering in 2016 American presidential election process?

Will there be a falling out between the Bobbsey Twins?

It seems the world leader Prime Minister and Liberal MP for Cook Scott 'Liar from the Shire' Morrison openly admires and, whose dress, mannerisms and tactics he apes, is no longer happy with the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison Coalition Government.

News.com.au, 25 May 2019:

US President Donald Trump has announced he wants Australia’s role in sparking the FBI probe into links between Russia and his election campaign examined by US Attorney-General William Barr.

Despite Australia’s historically strong alliance with the United States, President Trump specifically named Australia as a nation whose part in what he calls the “Russia hoax” must be thoroughly investigated.

“What I’ve done is I’ve declassified everything,” Mr Trump told AAP reporters at the White House on Friday before departing on a trip to Japan.

“He can look and I hope he looks at the UK and I hope he looks at Australia and I hope he looks at Ukraine.

“I hope he looks at everything, because there was a hoax that was perpetrated on our country.”

The reason behind this sudden urge to hit out at Australia? 

Well, that's not hard to find.

Ex- Donald Trump campaign aide George Papadopoulos - out of prison after a short stay for lying to the FBI - in what appears to be an attempt to rid himself of a well-deserved reputation for indiscreet tongue wagging is now asserting that he was the victim of a set-up.

Trump who himself has a reputation for believing a thousand impossible or implausible tales before breakfast has obviously been following @GeorgePapa19's conspiracy tweets.

*Photos used in montage from Google Images

Gunditjmara: honouring the past and the present

The Guardian, 10 January 2017. Photo Budj Bim

The Guardian, 23 May 2019. Photo Denis Rose

The volanic eruption of Budj Bim (Mt. Eccles) around 30,000 years ago was witnessed by the Gunditjmara people and the subsequent lava flow formed rock over an area 18 kms long & 8 kms wide.

This easily worked, durable rock turned the people into stone masons and around 6,600 years ago allowed them to create one of the world's largest aquaculture systems.

The Guardian, 23 May 2019:

A 6,600-year-old, highly sophisticated aquaculture system developed by the Gunditjmara people will be formally considered for a place on the Unescoworld heritage list and, if successful, would become the first Australian site listed exclusively for its Aboriginal cultural value.

Known as the Budj Bim cultural landscape, the site in south-west Victoria is home to a long dormant volcano, which was the source of the Tyrendarra lava flow.

The Gunditjmara people used the volcanic rock to manage water flows from nearby Lake Condah to exploit eels as a food source, constructing an advanced system of channels and weirs. They manipulated water flows to trap and farm migrating eels and fish for food. It is one of the oldest aquaculture systems in the world.

On Tuesday night in Paris, the International Council on Monuments and Sites, which works for the conservation and protection of cultural heritage places around the world, officially recommended world heritage status for Budj Bim. The nomination will be formally considered by the world heritage committee in the final step in the process in July.

The Budj Bim cultural landscape is largely managed by the Gunditj Mirring Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation, who also protect the Gunditjmara-owned properties along the lava flow. The project manager and also elder, Denis Rose, said the homes challenge the idea that all Aboriginal people were hunter-gatherers.

“There are around 200 registered and recorded stone house sites, so people were living a sedentary life,” Rose said. “The area had such a reliable water supply from Darlot Creek, and the traditional name for that creek is Killara, which means ‘always there’. It’s a very appropriate name because even during the dry this year, it was still running.”

The Gunditjmara traditional owners have led the process to have Budj Bim added to the world heritage list, and Rose said the recognition would lead to the site being better protected and managed.

Read the full article here.

Quotes of the Week

“Donald Trump has traits of a dictator and after he managed to get out of the Mueller investigation, he turned on the heat and is becoming more and more dismissive of the basic measures of democracy such as free press and the rule of law. I cannot really believe that I am writing these words in reference to America, as from where I came from, America seemed to be the only place where free press and the rule of law mattered. Donald Trump is attacking the blood vessels of democracy and it’s really hard to watch what he is doing to this country…” [Journalist Ksenija Pavlovic, The Pavlovic Today, 23 May 2019] 

“I have always believed in miracles! I'm standing with the three biggest miracles in my life here tonight  - and tonight we've been delivered another one…..God bless Australia!”  [Prime Minister & Liberal MP for Cook Scott ‘Liar From The Shire’ Morrison in his victory speech after his government won re-election, 18 May 2019]

Tweet of the Week

Scott Morrison’s new tourism campaign pic.twitter.com/xmTlCk5F7o

— Mark Humphries (@markhumphries) May 23, 2019

The 2019 federal election is over - so now the Morrison Government cuts are on again

Patient to GP Ratio [RACGP, General Practice: Health of the Nation,  2018]

Having waited until the 18 May 2019 federal election was over, Prime Minister 'Liar from the Shire' Morrison 7 his cronies are rolling out the funding pennypinching once more - and it's no surprise that it's the very young, very old and the poor who are the targets again.

ABC News, 22 May 2019:

Bulk billing of children and pensioners, as well as home visits to elderly and dying patients, could be scrapped in outer metro areas across Australia because of cuts which doctors say they will not be able to afford.

An incoming change to bulk-billing incentives has pushed GPs to breaking point, medical groups have warned, requiring them to provide crucial primary health services for less than the cost of a barber's cut.

The Federal Government has changed a key geographical classification, scrapping some outer suburban zones of incentives intended for rural areas.

From January 2020, the bulk-billing incentive in outer metro areas will be reduced from about $10 to $6 per patient, per visit.

The changes will affect GP practices in as many as 13 outer metro regions, including in Canberra, Adelaide's south, the New South Wales Central Coast, Geelong and the Mornington Peninsula.

The Australian Medical Association SA president, Dr Chris Moy, said many of the affected regions are low socio-economic areas.

He said the changes could put more pressure on already costly hospital systems, because patients could no longer afford to visit their GPs regularly.

"This is an example of a just a small change. It's not a huge change, but it's enough to break the camel's back," he said.

"It's more difficult for individuals to pay a gap in those situations so it's unfortunate this has happened."

Royal Australian College of General Practitioners president Harry Nespolon said general practitioners in the city and in the country were effectively being asked to work for free.

"The Medicare rebates are insufficient to provide the care that patients need," Dr Nespolon said.

"I don't think people want their GPs to do work for nothing but that's effectively what we're being asked to do.

"If the services become marginal in the sense they don't cover their costs, then they've got a choice — they can either go out of business or charge a fee.

"GPs in practices everywhere, rural or otherwise, are considering whether or not the current amount of rebate if they do bulk bill a patient is able to keep them in business."…….

Quick explanation of rebates:

·       The Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) is a list of medical services for which the Australian Government provides a Medicare rebate.

·        Each MBS item has its own scheduled fee — this is the amount the Government considers appropriate for a particular service (e.g. getting a blood test or seeing a psychologist).

·        Rebates are typically paid as a percentage of the Medicare scheduled fee. In the case of GP consultations, the rebate is 100 per cent of the schedule fee.

·       This means that bulk-billing GPs agree to charge patients the Medicare schedule fee ($37.60 for a standard appointment) and are directly reimbursed by the Government, and there is no cost to the patient.

·        GPs who don't bulk bill charge a fee higher than the Medicare schedule fee, meaning patients must pay the difference between the schedule fee and the doctor's fee — out of their own pocket.

·       For example, if your doctor charges $75 for a standard consultation, you'll pay $75 and receive a rebate of $37.60 — leaving you $37.40 worse off.

According to the federal Dept. of Health areas which will be losing the higher bulkbilling incentives (for treatment of patients with concession cards and children under 16 years) include:

Mandurah (WA)

Mornington Peninsula (Vic)

Canberra (ACT)

Newcastle (NSW)

Central Coast (NSW)

Queanbeyan (NSW)

Maitland (NSW)

Sunshine Coast (Qld)

Gawler (SA)

Geelong (Vic)

Melton (Vic)

Pakenham (Vic)

Ellenbrook (WA)

Baldivis (WA).

However the existing patient to GP ratio in an area is not necessarily the primary factor in determining who is on or off this list.

It seems you only have to live in an area where the local town/city has grown to over 20,000 residents since 1991 to find GPs being deprived of the full incentive payment per concession card/child patient seen.

Anyone living in the regions mentioned will know that what can appear to be a comfortable patient to GP ratio is not always evenly spread and in some areas certain GPs have already closed their books and are not taking new patients or are having difficulty attracting new GPs to established practices to fill unmet needs.

Just to make matters clear. some of the named places which will see GP incentive payments reduced on 1 July fall into the categories of regional or peri-urban area and, as at 30 June 2018 Australia-wide there were only 6,994 GPs in Inner Regional areas and 3,285 GPs in Outer Regional areas, according the the federal Dept. of Health statistics.

Where Australia's finances stand ahead of the convening of the 46th federal parliament

Given that Australian Prime Minister Scott ‘liar from the shire’ Morrison has already signalled that he does not intend to allow truth to interfere with his political rhetoric – describing truth telling as verballing that he “won’t be allowing to happen” – now is perhaps the time to remind ourselves of the truth about the nation’s finances under Morrison & Co ahead of the commencement of the 46th Parliament.

According to the Dept. of Finance the Morrison Government’s Assets and Liabilities as at 31 March 2019 (12 days out from the start of the 2019 federal election caretaker period) were:

• net worth minus $450.5 billion;

• net debt $376.7 billion; and

• net financial liabilities $656.4 billion.

In March 2019 the general government sector’s total revenue fell short of its total expenses by $1.5 billion.

The Australian Office of Financial Management reported on 17 May 2019 (the day before the federal election) that the face value of Australian Government borrowings (ie the national debt) stood at $538.2 billion.

The Reserve Bank of Australia’s May 2019 Statement on Monetary Policy - Economic Outlook  has expected Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth for the year ending in June 2019 at 1¾%, revised down from 2½% due to a slower domestic economy.