Some Clarence Valley residents with NDIS packages will be forced to find new assistance

The Daily Examiner, 8 June 2019, p.3:

Some local residents with NDIS packages will be forced to find new assistance as service providers downsize in regional Australia.

In the past month two major disability service providers have announced changes in the Clarence Valley, with the Benevolent Society closing its Grafton office and Australian Unity leaving regional NSW altogether.

The move by Australian Unity comes just three years after the company took on more than 4000 staff and 50,000 aged and disability clients from the NSW Government’s Home Care Service of NSW, after winning a tender in 2015.

The organisation would not confirm how many clients it had in the Clarence Valley region.

However Community and Public Sector Union Regional Organiser Asren Pugh said the move by providers was concerning and a direct result of the State Government’s decision to privatise all disability services in 2016.

Mr Pugh said members had approached him with concerns that some NDIS clients would lose workers with whom they had formed strong relationships.

“Some of our members have said they have had the same client for 15 years,” he said.

“Some clients have said they are really distressed about that because they are afraid they will lose the worker who has been looking after them for 15 years.”

In a statement on its website Australian Unity said it would be focusing on provision of aged care services and did “not anticipate the decision to scale down its NDIS business will result in any job losses”.

Meanwhile the Benevolent Society has confirmed it will be closing its Grafton office with Coffs Harbour becoming the “primary hub” for the region…..

Further reading

North Coast Voices, 4 June 2019, The National Disability Insurance Scheme continues a bumbling problem-filled roll out during which its clients suffer

PRESS FREEDOM IN AUSTRALIA: Letting The Light In - Part One

It has been reported that the day this article (set out below) was published by the Australian public broadcaster, the then Chief of the Defence Force and Acting-Secretary of Defence referred said article to the Australian Federal Police.

Six days short of two years after that Defence Force complaint and, after a lengthy investigation by the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force as well as the arrest of a whistleblower in September 2018, the AFP decided to raid ABC offices at Ultimo on 5 June 2019.

This raises a suspicion that the two raids conducted over the last 48 hours may have been held back so they did not occur during the recent federal election campaign - thus raising politically sensitive questions the Morrison Government might have been obliged to answer before polling day.

As this is the third instance in which journalists and a radio commentator have been approached in the last few weeks by either the federal police or the Dept. of Home Affairs and questioned over source/s of information contained in articles or on air commentary, one has to wonder what the Morrison Government and its agencies are playing at.

The original article……

ABC News, 11 July 2017:

Hundreds of pages of secret defence force documents leaked to the ABC give an unprecedented insight into the clandestine operations of Australia’s elite special forces in Afghanistan, including incidents of troops killing unarmed men and children.

The ABC can reveal that some of the cases detailed in the documents are being investigated as possible unlawful killings.

The Afghan Files

This is one story in a seven-part series based on leaked documents exposing Australian special forces troops’ role in the Afghanistan war. For context, they are best read in order.

This comes a day after the ABC revealed the alleged cover up of the killing of an Afghan boy and another alleged incident in which a father and son were shot dead during a raid.

The documents, many marked AUSTEO — Australian Eyes Only — suggest a growing unease at the highest levels of Defence about the culture of Australia’s special forces as they prosecuted a bloody, secretive war against insurgents across a swathe of southern Afghanistan.

One document from 2014 refers to ingrained “problems” within special forces, an “organisational culture” including a “warrior culture” and a willingness by officers to turn a blind eye to poor behaviour.

Another document refers to a “desensitisation” and “drift in values” among elite Special Air Service soldiers serving in Afghanistan, while others allude to deep divisions between the two elite units which primarily comprise the special forces - the SAS based in Perth and 2 Commando Regiment based in Sydney.

A large proportion of the documents are reports on at least 10 incidents between 2009-2013 in which special forces troops shot dead insurgents, but also unarmed men and children.

The Inspector General of the Australian Defence Force is investigating at least two of the incidents as part of its inquiry into the conduct in Afghanistan of special forces, which includes alleged unlawful killing…..

Read the full article here.

NOTE

* Details of the first AFP raid on the home of a News Corp journalist on 3 June 2019 and the 2018 article which allegedly prompted that raid is at http://northcoastvoices.blogspot.com/2019/06/on-4-june-2019-federal-police-raided.html

* Further ABC stories:

#2 An interrogation, a shooting and no witnesses

#3 What the documents reveal about killings of unarmed Afghans

#4 The spy and the SAS soldier with a loaded Glock#5Who is the enemy? Australia’s secretive rules of engagement

#6 Chaos over severed hands

#7 Relations between Australia’s special forces units on ‘knife edge’

Still waiting on the official report concerning the alleged unlawful killings……

ABC News, 8 March 2019:

A lengthy investigation into possible war crimes committed by elite Australian soldiers in Afghanistan will not be made public before this year's federal election.

Senior military and government figures have told the ABC they are not expecting the long-awaited report by the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force (IGADF) to be ready for release until at least the second half of this year, well after voters go to the polls in May.

In 2016 the IGADF began examining "rumours of possible breaches of the Laws of Armed Conflict by members of the Australian Defence Force", but inside the special forces community frustration is growing at how long the process is taking.

One special forces veteran, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told the ABC that there were "natural justice impacts" from having the inquiry extended, and that it was "painful" for those involved.

"I can only hope the ultimate findings are of sufficient gravity to justify this extended process," the former high-ranking Commando said.

For almost three years New South Wales Supreme Court Justice and Army Reserve Major General Paul Brereton has been leading the secretive IGADF investigation, which is believed to have uncovered numerous concerns about the conduct of elite soldiers, including several incidents of possible unlawful killings.

Many in the ADF had originally anticipated the inquiry would be completed by 2018, but in a statement to the ABC the Defence Department has confirmed the independent IGADF inquiry is "ongoing"……

Read the full article here.

Morrison Government's newly appointed “Special Envoy” for the Great Barrier Reef is in favour of large scale land clearing on the reef's doorstep

This is the newly appointed “Special Envoy” for the Great Barrier Reef, Liberal MP for Leichhardt Warren Entsch…..

The Sydney Morning Herald, 1 June 2019:

Coalition MP Warren Entsch has backed a plan to bulldoze 2000 hectares of pristine forest near the Great Barrier Reef despite being appointed to a role championing the natural marine wonder.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison appointed the veteran Liberal MP, who represents the seat of Leichhardt in north Queensland, as special envoy to the Great Barrier Reef in last month’s ministerial reshuffle.

Mr Entsch once owned Olive Vale station, a large Cape York farm north-west of Cairns, and has been a vocal proponent of land clearing on farming properties in north Queensland. Land clearing can create sediment and nutrient run-off and is the main driver of serious water quality problems on the Great Barrier Reef.

Liberal MP Warren Entsch is a strong advocate of land clearing, despite the possible effects on the Great Barrier Reef's water quality.

In particular, Mr Entsch lobbied his government on behalf of a highly contentious proposal to clear 2000 hectares of forest at Kingvale Station on Cape York Peninsula.

The land drains into two rivers that run into the Great Barrier Reef 200 kilometres downstream. Government-commissioned experts have warned that soil erosion from the work is likely to damage the reef.

Mr Entsch told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age that despite his new responsibilities, the Kingvale land-clearing proposal had his “total support”.

“It has absolutely nothing to do with my role [as reef envoy],” he said…..

New Environment Minister Sussan Ley will decide on the Kingvale plan, which is being assessed under Commonwealth laws.

This is what Mr. Entsch is determined to ignore……

The relationship between the position of Kingvale Station in a river catchment which discharges water into the Great Barrier Reef at a point where the reef is under stress from multiple coral bleaching events.

Normanby Catchment in Far North Queensland

Kingvale Station approximate position maked in red

Map found at Great Barrier Reef Foundation

Warren Entsch cannot be ignorant of this relationship, as Kingvale Station is in the federal electorate he has held for the last twenty-three years.

A suspicious person might wonder if Mr. Entsch was one of the government MPs who allegedly 'lobbied' departmental staff on the matter of Kingvale Station land clearing consent in the past,

Such a mind might also ponder the proposition that he was made Special Envoy for the Great Barrier Reef in order to assist in subverting attempts to stop landclearing so close to this World Heritage listed marine area.

BACKGROUND

ABC News, 22 May 2018:

The Queensland Government has launched legal action against the owner of a Cape York cattle station at the centre of a land-clearing controversy for allegedly breaching an obligation to care for Indigenous heritage.

The owner of Kingvale Station on the Cape York Peninsula legally cleared 500 hectares of land before the Federal Government intervened in 2016, over internal concerns about the effect on sediment run-off into the Great Barrier Reef.

The traditional owners of the land, the Olkola people, claim the owner of Kingvale Station went ahead with the clearing without their knowledge and may have destroyed a burial site.

The ABC can reveal the Queensland Department of Environment and Science is taking court action as a result of an investigation which started as early as 2016, when the Olkola people complained to the Government that they believed Kingvale Station may be in breach of the Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act.

The Sydney Morning Herald, 27 November 2018:

The Morrison government has conceded it botched scrutiny of a plan to bulldoze 2000 hectares of pristine Queensland forest near the Great Barrier Reef and has been forced back to the drawing board following a legal challenge by conservationists.

The development comes as confidential documents show government MPs lobbied environmental officials to wave through the proposal, which would raze land almost three times the size of the combined central business districts of Sydney and Melbourne.

As Fairfax Media reported in May, the Department of the Environment and Energy in a draft report recommended that the government allow the mass vegetation clearing at Kingvale Station on Cape York Peninsula.

The finding, which prompted public outrage, came despite the department conceding the native forest was likely to contain endangered species, and despite expert warnings that runoff caused by the clearing may damage the Great Barrier Reef.

Environmental Defenders Office NSW (EDO NSW), media release, 27 November 2018: 

In a case demonstrating the critical role community organisations play in holding elected officials to account,  the Federal Court has upheld a challenge by the Environment Council of Central Queensland (ECOCeQ) – represented by EDO NSW – to a proposal to clear 2,100 ha of native vegetation on Kingvale Station on the Cape York Peninsula in the Great Barrier Reef catchment.

Early in 2018, the Federal Minister for the Environment decided that the proposed clearing could undergo the least rigorous form of environmental assessment available under Commonwealth environmental law.  The Minister was required, among other things, to be satisfied that the degree of public concern about the action is, or is expected to be, ‘moderately low’.

The Minister has now conceded that decision was not made lawfully. 

ENVISAT satellite image of the Great Barrier Reef alongside the York Peninsula.

“The Act deliberately applies a strict test that must be satisfied before the Minister can opt for the least rigorous assessment,” David Morris, CEO of EDO NSW, stated.

The Government’s own experts found that the proposed clearing would have a significant impact on the Great Barrier Reef and a number of threatened species.

The Minister must now go back to the drawing board to decide afresh how the environmental impacts of the proposal will be assessed. Steps that have been completed since the Minister made the original assessment decision are now void, including the Secretary’s draft recommendation report that was published online for comment in April 2018.

What follows next will depend on the assessment methodology selected by the Minister. Whichever approach is selected, there will be further opportunity for the public to comment on the proposed clearing.

Christine Carlisle, President of ECOCeQ, said ‘We hope the Minister rejects the tree clearing proposal outright, since it will destroy habitat for threatened species, the bulldozing of the forest will contribute to climate change, and there can be no guarantee that sediment run-off from this huge area will not make its way into Princess Charlotte Bay and then on to the Reef.’  

‘We trust that the Minister for the Environment will act in the best interest of the environment, and not rubber stamp this dangerous proposal. The Minister received 6,000 public comments when this clearing was first proposed, and I hope the public responds again to ensure this proposal is not approved at any level,’ she said.

This case illustrates yet again the value of the extended standing provisions in the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. Without community groups like ECoCeQ, and lawyers to represent them, this unlawful decision would have proceeded without scrutiny and key safeguards for our environment ignored.

Tweets of the Week

I really cannot get to grips with people suggesting that hearing of same sex relationships in school will influence children to 'become' gay.

I've been studying camelid medicine in somewhat intense detail lately and despite being ~quite~ impressionable, I have not become a llama

— Ami Vet (@ami_vet) May 31, 2019

Cartoon of the Week

@mdavidcartoons

@cathywilcox1

Northern NSW residents are still over-represented when it comes to smoking cigarettes

The Daily Examiner, 4 June 2019, p.7:

Northern NSW residents are still over-represented when it comes to smoking cigarettes.

Despite years of warnings and anti-smoking campaigns, statistics taken in 2016 reveal 20.3 per cent of population in the North Coast Local Health District is smoking.

The rate has remained largely unchanged for years as a report released by the Cancer Institute showed the number of smokers in 2011 stood at 20.4 per cent

This contrasted with statewide smoking trends which showed the number of smokers had dropped considerably over the past decade, down from almost 20 percent to just 15.2 per cent in 2017.

There was a clear difference between metropolitan and regional areas, with city health districts recording bigger falls and one regional health district, Western NSW, recording an increase of four per cent since 2012.

Males aged 25-34 were the most likely to be lighting up as 25.9 per cent of the group were smokers compared to 11.8 per cent of women the same age.

In fact, the only age group in which women out-smoked men was in the 55-64 and 65-74 categories and in both cases it was only a one per cent difference.

A higher proportion of women reported smoking while pregnant, with Northern NSW recording a rate five per cent above the state average of 8.3 per cent......

So who is to blame for the new Morrison Government?

As of 4:09pm on Thursday 6 June 2019 an est. 6,613,352 Australian citizens had voted for the Liberal-Nationals Coalition at the 18 May 2019 federal election, by either directly giving their first preference to one or the other of these two political parties or placing them high on the range of second preference choices printed on ballot papers.

So let’s get one thing clear, it is not the fault of any one state or territory that the hard right Morrison Coalition Government was returned to power. It is not the fault of Labor or the Greens.

Full responsibility for the election result lies with those est. 6,613,352 people and, they know who they are.

They are the voters now personally responsible for any and all actions of the Morrison Government, from the date government ministers were sworn-in post-election to the day the 2022 federal election is held.

To all those individuals I say this:

If the national economy tanks in the next three years – it’s your fault;

If wages fall even further behind the cost of living for low and middle income households – it’s your fault;

If there is no significant increase in the Newstart allowance meaning that young and older job seekers continue to starve in an economy which has limited job vacancies – it’s your fault;

If the national debt increases even further to cope with reckless government spending and dubious overgenerous government tenders – it’s your fault;

If the annual budget blows out into significant deficit because so many greedy people are joining the franking credit rort – it’s your fault;

If Liberal and National parliamentarians become even more profligate while on the public purse – it’s your fault;

If there are more budget funding cuts to essential services, including health, public education, welfare, domestic violence, legal assistance – it’s your fault;

If more people suicide because of the federal government's flawed and punitive debt recovery system – it’s your fault;

If there is an increase in the privatisation of government services with a corresponding decrease in adequate service delivery – it’s your fault;

If the cost of child care continues to make life economically difficult for women wanting to participate in the workforce – it’s your fault;

If women pushed onto the ParentsNext scheme continue to be punished by the Morrison Government by the withholding of money to feed their babies and small children – it’s your fault; 

If young first home buyers continue to be squeezed out of the housing market by investors and property speculators – it’s your fault; 

If there is an increase in discrimination against vulnerable groups, including the LBGTI community – it’s your fault;

If human rights abuses continue in immigration detention centres – it’s your fault; 

If the frail elderly don't have access to timely free urgent dental care – it’s your fault;

If the National Disability Insurance Scheme continues to fall short of its legislated responsibilities and administrative goals, leaving the needs of clients unmet – it’s your fault;

If the poor continue to have limited access to and no real equity in the benefits derived from a modern democratic society – it’s your fault;

If the discriminatory cashless welfare card is extended to more areas across the country and/or to wider categories of welfare recipients – it’s your fault;

If blatant water rorts and water thefts continue and more towns/cities run low or are completely out of drinking water over the next three years – it’s your fault;

If environmental degradation of the river systems in the Murray-Darling Basin is not halted – it’s your fault;

If a federal government data breach compromises your privacy or the privacy of a friend or family member – it’s your fault;

If the number of citizens arrested and tried for calmly speaking truth to power begins to rise – it’s your fault;

If the Morrison Government loses China’s goodwill as our largest trading partner in order to curry favour with US President Donald Trump – it’s your fault; and

If climate change hammers this nation into the ground over the next three years – it’s your fault.

There are no excuses, there is no magical do over. The est. 6,613,352 Australian citizens who either voted directly or indirectly for the Liberal-Nationals Coalition chose the political path we are now on.

These people alone are to blame for whatever flawed or corrupt actions the Morrison Government takes and the consequences of that government's neglect or indifference during its current term in office.

I reiterate. Each of you brought the second Morrison Government into existence. You own that fact. So don't even try to deflect the blame onto others.