Have a roof over your head that you can afford? You're luckier than many

By 2016, thirty-two per cent of Australia’s homeless population lived in New South Wales. 

Other states and territories account for 21 per cent (Victoria), 19 per cent (Queensland), 12 per cent (the Northern Territory), 8 per cent (Western Australia), 5 per cent (South Australia) and 1 per cent each in the ACT and Tasmania.

Homelessness has grown the most in NSW; between 2011 and 2016, there was a 37 per cent increase in the number of homeless people in the state, and a 27 per cent increase in the rate of homelessness. Indeed, over the decade to 2016, the rate of homelessness in NSW increased by 49 per cent. NSW now has the highest rate of homelessness outside of the Northern Territory.

The Clarence Valley may be below the national average when in comes to homelessness but it still rather uncomfortably ranked 96th out of 328 region when the 2016 national census data was published.

The Richmond Valley-Hinterland ranked 59th, Richmond Valley-Coastal ranked 68th and Tweed Valley 86th, which placed these three regions above the national average for homelessness.

In 2016-17 Specialist Homelessness Services supported over 74,000 clients in New South Wales – yet according to Homeless NSW they are only contracted to deliver services to 57,000 clients each year.

According to the Australian Government Institute of  Health and Welfare in 2017-18:

One in 110 people in New South Wales (NSW) received homelessness assistance, lower than the national rate (1 in 85). 

The top 3 reasons for clients seeking assistance were: 

• housing crisis (45%, compared with 39% nationally) 
• financial difficulties (41%, compared with 39%) 
• domestic and family violence (32%, compared with 39%). 

On average, 31 requests for assistance went unmet each day.

An est. forty-seven per cent (47%) of those presenting for assistance were accompanied by children.

As of June 2018 the number of applicants on the official waiting list for public housing in New South Wales was 52,9325 people who have an estimated average wait of 5 to 10 years before housing becomes available.

The bare fact is that the amount of affordable housing stock has not kept up with the increased demand, coming from a rising state population during a prolonged period of low wage growth in an era where full-time employment is obviously not the norm, given that by June 2019 54% of the NSW civilian workforce was either in part-time (by definition insecure) employment or unemployed and looking for work in a tight job market.

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