So is there an army of "Quiet Australians" backing the Morrison Coalition Government or is it just another political myth

The Morrison Coalition Government, its ministers, senators and MPs, have been making much of the notion that there is a large mass of citizens who quietly agree with them on every subject they discuss and every policy position they hold. 

This survey suggests that rather than there being a large number of head nodders in the community, these so-called 'quiet' Australians may broadly disagree with the Morrison Government on issues involving treatment of vulnerable people and low income households - especially when it comes to the Newstart Allowance level of payment. 

Essential Report, Australian survey, 8 August 2019 by clarencegirl on Scribd

  http://www.scribd.com/document/421336946/Essential-Report-Australian-survey-8-August-2019

Alleged data theft by HealthEngine leaves hundreds of thousands of Australians vulnerable

Perhaps now is the time for readers to check who owns the company they might use to make medical appointment online.

ABC News, 8 August 2019: 

Australia's biggest medical appointment booking app HealthEngine is facing multi-million-dollar penalties after an ABC investigation exposed its practice of funnelling patient information to law firms. 

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has launched legal action against the Perth-based company in the Federal Court, accusing it of misleading and deceptive conduct. 

In June last year, the ABC revealed HealthEngine was passing on users' personal information to law firms seeking clients for personal injury claims. 

The details of the deal were contained in secret internal Slater and Gordon documents that revealed HealthEngine was sending the firm a daily list of prospective clients at part of a pilot program in 2017.

PHOTO: A negative review on HealthEngine's app page complaining about contact from personal injury lawyers. (Supplied: Apple App Store) 

The ACCC has also accused the company of passing the personal information of approximately 135,000 patients to insurance brokers in exchange for payments.

"Patients were misled into thinking their information would stay with HealthEngine but, instead, their information was sold off to insurance brokers," ACCC chairman Rod Sims said in a statement.

The information sold included names, phone numbers, dates of birth and email addresses.

The ACCC has not said how much money the company earned form the arrangement.

The ABC revealed last year that HealthEngine had also boasted to advertisers that it could target users based on their symptoms and medical conditions. 

HealthEngine has also been accused of misleading consumers by manipulating users' reviews of medical practices. 

"We allege that HealthEngine refused to publish negative reviews and altered feedback to remove negative aspects, or to embellish it, before publishing the reviews," Mr Sims said. 

Among a range of examples, the ACCC alleges that one patient review was initially submitted as: "The practice is good just disappointed with health engine. I will call the clinic next time instead of booking online." 

But when that review was made public, it was allegedly changed to simply read: "The practice is good." 

HealthEngine is facing a fine of $1.1 million for each breach of the law, but the ACCC has yet to determine how many breaches it will allege....

Meme of the Week

Doing the rounds on Twitter is this group portrait 

of the Morrison Coalition Government

Tweets of the Week

Here's @TurnbullMalcolm in 2015: "Hard work is important, but there are taxi drivers who work harder than I ever have and they do not have much money; there are cleaners who work harder than I ever have or you ever have and they do not have much money." https://t.co/DkgyoFXAAL

— James Jeffrey (@James_Jeffrey) August 2, 2019

The AFP raids on journalists have had a chilling effect across the entire Australian media — even @Sandra_sully and @10newsfirst.
🎫https://t.co/HodTVg69Kn #auspol #pressfreedom pic.twitter.com/gBeHNlDIFj

— A Rational Fear (@ARationalFear) August 5, 2019

Last night’s talking point at the table of knowledge

There’s no prize for correctly guessing the main item of discussion at the table of knowledge at the local watering hole last night.

Basil: “The voting for/against the bill to decriminalise abortion in the NSW Legislative Assembly on Thursday night was 59 Ayes and 31 Noes. My simple understanding of arithmetic says 59+31= 90, but there are 93 members of the Assembly, so what happened to the other three votes?”

Albert: “Well, I suspect the Speaker in the Assembly, Jonathan O’Dea, the Liberal Party MP for Davison, wasn’t required to exercise any right to vote, so had a very silent and private vote which he kept very close to his chest.”

Basil: “Okay, that accounts for 91, but what about the other two votes?”

Paddy (he’s our deep thinking member who knows a thing or two about just about everything but isn’t one to burst onto the scene and steal someone else’s thunder): “Seriously, fellas, it was just a simple matter of ticking the names of those who voted off a list of the names of all MLAs. According to my add-ups, take-aways and gazintas ... .”

Frank (interrupting): “Yes! My inspection of the names listed under the Ayes and Noes revealed the absence of two MLA’s names, Mark Coure (Liberal MP for Oakley) and Sonia Hornery (ALP MP for Wallsend).”

Charlie: “Hey, my mate who knows someone who knows someone told me that Ms Hornery had previously shown her hand as a prospective Aye in earlier votes in the debate and had also spoken along those lines. However, she was unwell and not in the Assembly when the final vote was taken, so it’s a pretty fair call to say she would have been an Aye.”

Basil: “Okay, but what about the other vote, that of Mark Coure?”

Errol: “Who’s Mark Coure?”

Paddy: “Exactly! Nuff said!”

Footnote: to be fair to Mr Coure, anyone with information about him in relation to this matter is asked to provide that information in the comments section below

NSW lower house votes to decriminalise abortion. Check out how MPs voted

The Sydney Morning Herald reports:

Abortion is set to be decriminalised in NSW, after lower house MPs voted to remove terminations from the state's criminal code.The bill to decriminalise abortion passed 59 to 31, but it created a split within the Liberals, with many of the party's 35 MPs opposed the bill.

The NSW Legislative Assembly’s Votes and Proceedings for 8 August 2019 shows how MPs voted:

AYES 59

Ms Aitchison, Mr Anderson, Mr Ayres, Mr Barilaro, Mr Barr, Ms Berejiklian, Mr Butler, Ms Car, Ms Catley, Mr Chanthivong, Mr Clancy, Mr Constance, Ms Cooke, Ms Cotsis, Mr Crakanthorp, Mr Daley, Mrs Dalton, Mr Dominello, Mr Donato, Ms Doyle, Mr Evans, Mr Greenwich, Mr Griffin, Mr Gulaptis, Mrs Hancock, Mr Harris, Ms Harrison, Ms Haylen, Mr Hazzard, Mr Henskens, Mr Hoenig, Mr Kean, Ms Leong, Mr Lynch, Mr Marshall, Ms McKay, Mr Mehan, Mr Minns, Dr O’Neill, Mr Park, Mr Parker, Mrs Pavey, Mr Piper, Mr Provest, Ms Saffin, Mr Saunders, Mr Scully, Mr Singh, Ms Smith, Ms Tesch, Mr Toole, Ms Voltz, Mr Ward, Mr Warren, Ms Washington, Mrs Williams and Ms Wilson.
 Tellers: Mr Crouch and Ms Watson

NOES 31

Mr Atalla, Mr Bali, Mr Bromhead, Mrs Davies, Mr Dib, Mr Elliott, Ms Finn, Ms Gibbons, Mr Johnsen, Mr Kamper, Dr Lee, Ms Lindsay, Dr McDermott, Dr McGirr, Ms Mihailuk, Mr Perrottet, Ms Petinos, Ms Preston, Mr Roberts, Mr Sidgreaves, Mr Sidoti, Mr Smith, Mr Speakman, Mr Stokes, Mr Taylor, Mrs Tuckerman, Ms Upton, Mr Williams and Mr Zangari.
Tellers: Mr Conolly and Mr Lalich

Clarence River under stress as it passes through Kyogle region

The Daily Examiner, 5 August 2019, p.13:

“It's pretty bad,” was how one Tabulam resident described the current state of the once mighty Clarence River. 

Residents have stopped pumping water from the river because of blue-green algae caused by low water levels. 

Three of four water trucks pass Mr McMillan’s front door every day, taking water from the river and he said they are likely to be doing this legally but it wouldn’t be helping with the river flow. 

“In 1991 people used to have ski boats and put them in behind the police station and ski upstream,” he said. 

Now that same area is a pasture with no sign of the river, the small flow hidden behind mounds.

Further upstream past the Tabulam Bridge there is an island of sand that was never there before, Mr McMillan said.... 

 “Council is aware that some residents supplement their rainwater tank supply with water sourced from the Clarence River. With the flows in the Clarence so low at present, it is likely that the ability to source this supplementary supply would be compromised.”.....