One aspect of Scott Morrison's personal war on the poor and vulnerable becomes the subject of a legitimate study

“Income management quarantines a portion of social security payments, placing these funds in a special account that can only be used to pay for essentials such as food and bills, and cannot be used to purchase alcohol or tobacco. Compulsory income management was first introduced to Australia - and, indeed, the world - in 2007 as part of the Northern Territory Emergency Response (‘the intervention’), and has been through several incarnations in the decade since. A comparable policy - ‘money management’ - was introduced to New Zealand in 2012.

While numerous government evaluations of income management have been undertaken in Australia, their findings have been inconsistent. Stakeholders and politicians alike have called for a rigorous and independent study of the program to better understand its impacts.

To date, no evaluations - independent or otherwise - have been conducted into money management in New Zealand.

This project therefore represents the first large independent study of compulsory income management in Australia and New Zealand. It investigates how income management has developed as a policy, how it is being implemented by service providers, and how it affects the lives, choices and autonomy of benefit recipients.

A key aim of this study is understand the lived experiences of those who are subject to compulsory income management, and feed these findings back to policymakers.”  [About The Study, February 2020]

University of Queensland, media release, 25 February 2020:

COMPULSORY INCOME MANAGEMENT ‘DISABLING, NOT ENABLING’, STUDY SHOWS

Restricting where and on what social security payments can be spent does more harm than good, according to the first large, independent study into Compulsory Income Management (CIM) policies in Australia.

The University of Queensland’s Professor Greg Marston said the majority of participants using the BasicsCard or Cashless Debit Card reported practical difficulties making purchases and paying bills, which introduced new instability into their lives.

“Income management proponents say it can stabilise recipients’ lives and finances, and our study found some people have experienced these benefits,” Professor Marston said.

“However many more people have faced additional financial challenges because of the policies.

“Many also found their expenses had increased as they were blocked from participating in the cash economy and burdened with new fees and charges.”

The study team said CIM had often been framed as an intervention to strengthen benefit recipients’ independence, build responsibility and help transition people away from “welfare dependency” and into work.

Professor Marston said previous evaluations had raised significant concerns about the capacity of income management policies to meet their stated objectives, yet income management continued to be expanded.

“There have been recent moves to extend the Cashless Debit Card across the Northern Territory, but our findings show that CIM has in fact weakened many participants’ financial capabilities and autonomy,” he said.

“To manage their finances, many participants have become reliant on family members, service providers or automatic payment systems.”

Researcher Dr Michelle Peterie said the study was unique for its focus on individuals’ and communities’ experiences with the Cashless Debit Card and BasicsCard.

“These voices have frequently been lost or ignored in the policy debate,” she said.

Dr Peterie said the research showed a voluntary, opt-in form of income management could have a place, however the social, emotional and economic costs of continuing with a compulsory, widespread system outweighed the benefits.

“The overwhelming finding is that compulsory income management is having a disabling rather than enabling affect on the lives of many social security recipients,” Dr Peterie said.

“This was true across all of our research sites.”

Professor Marston said a policy approach that focused on providing employment and training opportunities and ensuring accessible social services and affordable housing would be a better starting point for creating healthy, economically secure and socially inclusive communities.

The research involved 114 in-depth interviews, conducted at four trial sites (Playford, Shepparton, Ceduna and Hinkler), and a mixed-methods survey of 199 people at income management sites across Australia.

ENDS

Full study can be accessed at https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5bff47d1da02bc49ad4e890b/t/5e54c6934eb2985cbbf830a5/1582614180484/Hidden+Costs+Report+-+FINAL.pdf

Image: The Conversation, 26 February 2020

Boral Concrete at Maclean in NSW does the wrong thing and gets caught rehanded, fined $15,000

On 15 October 2019 a  member of the public alerted the NSW Environmental Protection Agency (NSW EPA) to the fact that cement slurry was being discharged into the Clarence River by Boral Concrete (part of the multinational Boral Limited group).

It is not known how long such discharges had been occurring before this environmental vandalism had been discovered.

Google Earth image of Boral Concrete by @pilligapush

NSW EPA, media release, 27 February 2020: 

NSW North Coast concrete plant fined $15,000 for water pollution incident 

A North Coast concrete batching plant that allegedly discharged cement slurry into a drain that flows to the Clarence River has been fined $15,000 by the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA). 

A complaint from a member of the public alerted the EPA to the discharge from the Boral Resources (Country) Pty Ltd plant on the outskirts of Maclean, in the Clarence Valley region, on 15 October 2019. 

The EPA alleges that poor environmental management practices at the plant contributed to the discharge. 

EPA Director Regulatory Operations Regional North Karen Marler said the slurry appeared to have been discharging from the Boral plant for some time prior to 15 October 2019. 

“The EPA issued a Clean Up Notice that ordered Boral to take immediate actions to prevent the continuing escape of this material and to remove the slurry discharge from the stormwater drain to prevent further impacts,” Ms Marler said. 

“Subsequent EPA inspections confirm the clean-up and the actions taken to improve plant operation were effective.” 

The $15,000 Penalty Notice for pollution of waters is a reminder to all companies of the importance of monitoring internal systems and carrying out regular checks to prevent environmental incidents. 

Ms Marler said that community members play a vital role in preventing environmental harm. 

Reports of pollution can be made to the EPA’s 24-hour Environment Line on 131 555. 

Fines are just one of the ways the EPA can enforce compliance. The EPA can also use formal warnings, official cautions, licence conditions, notices and directions and prosecutions. 

For more information about the EPA’s regulatory tools, see the EPA Compliance Policy at https://www.epa.nsw.gov.au/licensing-and-regulation/legislation-and-compliance/policies-and-guidelines.

This is not the first time Boral has been fined in Australia.

In 2019 the company was fined $15,000 for cement dust pollution at its plant in New Berrima, NSW; in 2016 it was fined $15,000 for excessive fluoride emissions on the NSW Central Coast; and in 2009 it was fined $5,500 for dumping concrete slurry on land in Numurkah, Victoria.

As Boral Resources it was also fined $15,000 for water pollution at its site at Marulan, NSW.

A message for the Prime Minister of Australia in 2020

A message for the Prime Minister @ScottMorrisonMP #DearScotty pic.twitter.com/kLYjNpXjZa

— 💛Australian Wind Alliance💛 (@AusWindAll) February 24, 2020

Two public meetings revealed that patient comfort & care at Maclean District Hospital is being downgraded and Lower Clarence Valley residents are not happy

Maclean District Hospital
Image: Clarence Valley Independent, 26 February 2020

Two community meetings were called in the Maclean, NSW, concerning changes to the Level 3 Rural 43-bed Maclean District Hospital (established 1885) which services communities in the Lower Clarence Valley and the holidaymakers who flock in large numbers to Clarence coastal towns and villages.

The first meeting was called by the NSW Midwives and Nurses Association for 6pm on Thursday, 27 February 2020.

However, apparently having realised it had not fully consulted with the community, Northern NSW Local Health District quickly called its own community meeting which it scheduled a day earlier - from 3.30pm to 5pm on Wednesday, 26 February.

Readers should note the timing of this local health district meeting - it conveniently knocked out concerned residents who worked on that day as well as nursing staff who were doing shift handovers during that time period. Thus reducing community scrutiny of what heath officials said at this meeting.

The Clarence Valley Independent reported that this meeting's intention was "to counter the misinformation in the community and reassure them that the services at the hospital are not being reduced".

The Daily Examiner, 29 February 2020: 

Maclean voices opposition to hospital reconfiguration 
Fight is on for hospital 

The real costs of the proposed reconfiguration of Maclean District Hospital were laid bare to a full house on Thursday night as opposition grows to the plans announced by Northern NSW Local Health District..... 

Both the union members and community involved expressed their frustration at the NNSWLHD plan for Maclean District Hospital to move the 14-bed acute section on Level 2 downstairs into a combined subacute and acute 33-bed ward on Level 1. 

The vacant upstairs level of the hospital would be used for peak times in a “surge” capacity only. 

NSW NMA Clarence Valley branch vice-president Narelle Robison outlined some of the concerns raised by their members over the proposal, such as reduced bathroom and bed numbers. 

“(Nurses) may find themselves sponging people that are capable of having showers with assistance and maybe even panning people when toilets are full,” Ms Robison said. 

“Yes, it has been mentioned that we’ve managed before with those few bathrooms in years gone by but just because we have done it before does not make it acceptable in 2020. “There will be reduced single rooms and two-bed areas and they would need to be prioritised for infectious patients or those that are immunosuppressed and to our palliative patients. 

“With this in mind, there will be a higher chance of a palliative patient, end stage of life, receiving nursing care in a four-bedded room. 

“Our patients deserve better than this. It’s 2020 and this is not acceptable. “All patients who enter the public health system deserve to be afforded quality care and have their dignity respected and maintained as a bare minimum.” 

Australian Paramedics Union delegate Tim McEwan said nothing in healthcare happened in isolation and a ­reconfiguration of the hospital would have flow-on effects. 

“What’s going to happen is that when paramedics transport someone to Maclean hospital and that patient is unwell enough to require admission, if there are less beds than what there are now in Maclean hospital they’re going to have to be transferred to another facility,” he said. 

“The majority of the time for acutely unwell patients it is NSW Ambulance that does that transport. Not only do we respond to 000 emergency calls, we do transports between health facilities.

“If you’re unfortunate enough to have one of us ­attend when you need transport to hospital, what you’re likely to experience after this reconfiguration is a delay ­getting off the stretcher and on to one of the few beds at ­Maclean emergency department and while that’s happened we’re with you for every minute you’re waiting there and we’re unable to respond to other emergencies in the community.”

The Daily Examiner, 28 February 2020:

The largest roar from the crowd came after repeated questioning from Patrick Morgan, who stated he was looking to become part of the community. 

Not satisfied with the first response to his question, he pushed back, asking what the actual dollar figure would be saved by the new plan. 

“You wouldn’t be going to this trouble if there wasn’t a pot of money at the end that you were hoping to achieve,” he said. 

“How much are the opinions of this room worth?” 

“It’s about $150,000,” Ms Weir said. 

“Is that all?” came the reply chorused through the room.

NSW HEALTH, Northern NSW Local Health District, 13 February 2020:

Community Information regarding Maclean District Hospital [with my red annotations]

Q: Are beds closing at Maclean District Hospital? 
A: No. We are consolidating patients and staff into one ward, while the other ward will remain available for ‘surge’ capacity in times of peak activity. This ward reconfiguration will continue to deliver high-quality patient care, as well as maximise the use of existing hospital resources and space. 

According to the NSWMNA (as reported in the Clarence Valley Independent) in the planned merging of the Acute Ward, with the Sub-acute and Rehabilitation wards, one-third of the present available beds are being lost. 

In practice this loss would represent the total 14 available bed spaces on a closed Level 2 and, the crowding of 43 beds into a Level 1 floor area which would only comfortably hold 29 beds.

Q: What does ‘surge’ capacity mean? 
A: Surge capacity, or surge beds, are additional beds, which become available if there is high demand at the hospital. 

Q: Are the services at Maclean District Hospital changing? 
A: No. There are no changes to any services provided at the hospital. As with any hospital stay, patients are admitted to the appropriate facility and ward based on the level of care and treatment they require. 

The NSW Nationals MP for Clarence, Chris Gulaptis, was quoted in the Clarence Valley Independent as stating he has been “reassured” the hospital would not be disadvantaged by the proposed changes. 

Local readers might remember that Mr. Gulaptis has a track record littered with failed assurances from his masters in Sydney. Gulaptis did not attend either community meeting citing a need to be in Macquarie Street.

Q: Are staff being laid off? 
A: No. There will be no loss of jobs. All nurses will transfer to the reconfigured ward. Two substantive positions will be affected by the change, and the hospital is talking with these staff about opportunities to work elsewhere in the hospital. 

Q: Will patients continue to receive the level of care they need? 
A: Yes. The hospital is increasing the Nursing Hours Per Patient Day (the number of nursing hours available for each patient) and are recruiting additional staff to support this increase.

Again, according to the NSWMNA, there will be no Acute Ward. Level 2 will be closed, including the est. 7 toilet/showers on this floor.

On Level 1, there will be the existing 10-bed Rehab facility, consisting of five 2-bed rooms with ensuites. 

All other patients, whether they be Acute, Sub-Acute, Palliative Care or Infectious will be placed in the remaining four 4-bed rooms, three 2-bed rooms and one single bed (with ensuite) on Level 1. 

For these 23 patients they will be sharing a toilet/shower between 4.4 patients. This ratio is more than double that of the present Acute ward. 

Q: Is Maclean District Hospital closing? 
A: No. There are no plans to close Maclean District Hospital. We value the ongoing role that Maclean District Hospital plays in the Clarence Health Service and our public health system, and our staff play an essential role in caring for this community. 

Q: Is consultation occurring with staff and Unions? 
A: Yes. Hospital management have met with staff this week, and will continue these discussions over the coming weeks. Northern NSW Local Health District will meet with the NSW Nurses & Midwives Association soon to discuss the changes.

The Morrison Government is still not managing to present itself in a good light in 2020

Dissatisfaction with the Morrison Government appears to be widespread....

In November 2019 there were fears Tweed Heads could lose hundreds of jobs if Centrelink moves three of its offices to the Gold Coast.

The offices were identified as a national call centre, service centre and administrative centre.

At the time Centrelink denied it was moving out of the region.

But less than three months later, on 22 Februrary 2020, Centrelink announced it was indeed closing its Tweed Heads office.

Branches at Newcastle and Newport in New South Wales and Mornington in Victoria will also close their doors.

This news was reported as far away as the UK:

Some offices will be replaced with a so-called 'agency' or kiosk that will be staffed by one person.

Each day more than 66,000 people walk into Centrelink offices around the country.

This is being dwarfed by the amount of people who access government services online, with half a million people logging into the MyGov website each day.

Former opposition leader Bill Shorten has claimed the closing of some Centrelink locations is a move by the government to cover costs in other areas at the expense of citizens.

'This government's more interested in band aiding a dodgy budget surplus and it's going to do it by shafting everyday Centrelink users,' Mr Shorten said.

Services Australia, which oversees Centrelink, said in its annual report that it is trying to 'maximise the benefits of digital capabilities while reducing the costs of administering payments'…..

In Mornington, Mayor Sam Hearn told 9 News that he is furious. He says 35,000 people in the area could be worse off when the local branch closes at the end of the next month. Mr Hearn is now urging Prime Minister Scott Morrison to intervene.

Given Mornington is in Australian Minister for Health, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Public Service and Cabinet & Liberal MP for Flinders Greg Hunt’s electorate, the mayor’s fury may yet be translated into action by his local member who appears to have been as much in the dark about these closure as everyone else.

However, the residents of Tweed Heads and environs have little chance of their dismay registering with Prime Minister & Liberal MP for Cook, ‘Scotty From Marketing’ Morrison, as Tweed Heads is in a federal electorate which has been held by the same Labor MP for the last fifteen years and six federal elections.

The Daily Examiner, 22 February 2020:

DAVE and Jan Binskin are in quarantine in “a sh-thole” in Darwin. After being evacuated from the Diamond Princess cruise ship where two people died and 620 people tested positive for coronavirus, the Casino couple and 170 other Australians are in another 14 days’ quarantine in a mining compound.

They were on the ship in Japan when the Australian Government notified them they could return to Australia, but face further quarantine.

The conditions at the compound are terrible, Mr Binskin said. “Morrison conned us. They didn't prepare for us and the people opposite us didn't even have water for six hours,” he said.

Their quarantine sounds more like a prison.

“They locked us into an area with double fences around us and then decided it was a fire risk and took down the fences,” he said.

The Binskins were excited to be going back to Australia, he said, but conditions were worse than on the boat.

They have single beds, the room is unclean, the TVs don’t work and they’re not allowed to have alcohol, Mr Binskin said.

“We were told they didn't want the old people drinking and falling over,” he said.

“We can’t use the pool, we don't even have a garbage bin and some people don’t even have bed linen.” The couple tested negative for coronavirus.

“The government has forgotten about us,” Mr Binskin said in a flat voice. With nothing to do in the compound, Mr Binskin said his wife Jan liked knitting and providing her with wool and needles would help.

“It’s against human rights,” he said.

Had they disembarked in Japan they would have been free to leave, but were told they would be looked after in Australia.

“They didn’t prepare for us,” Mr Binskin said…...

He said many people at the compound had received letters from their local member of parliament.“We’ve heard nothing from Kevin Hogan (Member for Page),” Mr Binskin said.

ABC News, 23 February 2020:

The Country Women's Association (CWA) has slammed the Federal Government over its drought assistance, describing the latest funding announcement as "disappointing, infuriating, insulting and disrespectful".

But the CWA said despite repeatedly seeking more federal funding for its drought programs since September, it only learned of the voucher announcement on Wednesday evening.

"It was a total disregard, it's disrespectful ... it would have been nice to have been consulted," national president Tanya Cameron said.

"It's very disappointing. It's actually infuriating. It's very annoying. I'm really quite angry.

"It's quite insulting and it's disrespectful to an organisation that has been around as long as ours has."

The CWA has written to the Government to say it will not be participating in the outreach program as it is currently proposed.

It said its state branches did not support the process of administering $500 vouchers at public events, such as barbecues or roadshows, as they understood the Government intended.

"We've explained to the Federal Government on a number of occasions very clearly why, for NSW, the vouchers don't work," CWA NSW chief executive Danica Leys said.

"I don't think the provision of assistance in this way should be tied to having to attend an event to get it."

In New South Wales, the CWA has distributed more than $16 million of drought aid in recent years, directly depositing funding in the recipients' bank accounts.

"People are given the dignity and respect to make the decision they need to make," Ms Leys said of the CWA system.

"Obviously someone in the federal bureaucracy thinks they know better how to get it out.

"If they know how to get it out, then they should perhaps think about doing it themselves before verballing us and telling us that they're partnering with us.

Ms Ley said there were many questions around the logistics of how people would get the vouchers.

"We absolutely support further investment into drought-affected communities, and vouchers can be helpful for some people, but a $500 voucher at the outset is quite minimal in nature," she said.

"That is not what is needed ... not to sound ungrateful, but more than that is needed."……

Australian Prime Minister Morrison gives full amnesty to employers who have stolen all or part of their employees superannuation

Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), media release, 24 February 2020: 

With daily revelations of wage theft dominating the start of the new parliamentary year, the Morrison Government has today passed a bill which will waive penalties for employers who have stolen superannuation from workers. 

The bill protects employers from prosecution by the ATO for any theft of superannuation back to the birth of the system, regardless of the size of the theft or the intent of the employer. 

This is an unprecedented move by a federal government – blanket pardoning of a serious contravention of federal law, with no caveats or limits. 

The Government has said publicly that if employers cannot determine the extent of their theft before the end of the amnesty, it will be extended.

Quotes attributable to ACTU President Michele O’Neil: “We are living through a national crisis of wage theft and superannuation forms a significant part of this issue. Instead of punishing the employers who have been stealing money from their employees, potentially for decades, the Morrison Government has waved them through without any penalty whatsoever. 

“This law will recover a tiny fraction of the billions in super estimated stolen since the beginning of the system and will do nothing to change behaviour in the business community. 

“The Government has had seven years and has done nothing to help workers with unpaid super. Workers need their right to Super included in the National Employment Standards so that repayment can be easily pursued and have super paid at the same time as wages. 

“The best way to stop wage and super theft is to allow unions to once again conduct compliance checks in workplaces to end this epidemic of ripping off workers. 

“This is a shameful act by a Government which it seems will stop at nothing to cater to employers at the expense of working people. 

“The ACTU will continue to explore all available legal avenues to ensure that working people get the money they are owed and that thieves are held accountable for their actions.”

The amount of unpaid super owed to workers in Australia was estimated in 2018 to be at least $5.9 billion and wages theft by employers was thought to total $12.8 billion.

Australian Forestry Industry: these future eaters need to be stopped

Australia is the world's smallest continent with a land area of 149,450,000 km2 completely surrounded by ocean.

It is not by accident that the vast majority of its est. 25.6 million strong population live along its fringes - that's where most of the forests and rivers are.

What you see on this map represented approximately 3 per cent of the world’s forests in 2016 and, globally Australia was the country with the seventh largest forest area.

It is estimated that when British-Europeans first came to Australia in 1788, forests covered one-third of the continent - a total of around 49,811,685km2. 

This had fallen to less than one-fifth or 19 per cent by 2006. At that time more than 16,500 plant and 3,800 animal species had been identified as forest-dependent.

Ten years later Australia​ had only 134 million hectares of forest remaining, covering 17 per cent of its land area. 

In the 228 years between 1788 and 2016 under the policies, legislation and regulations of successive federal, state and territory governments a total of 24,405,185km2 of predominately tall trees had disappeared under the forester's and farmer's axe, never to return.

The eating of Australia's future continues to this day as projections suggest that by 2030, another 3 million hectares of untouched forest will have been bulldozed in eastern Australia.

That's on top of the tree cover lost in the 2019-20 bushfire season when over 5 million hectares of forest and grassland burned - with 100 per cent of tree canopy lost in some areas of the vast firegrounds.

Combined forest burnt in New South Wales and Victoria this fire season has been estimated in one study as 21 per cent of Australia's entire remaining forest cover.

Yet despite what has been lost and the uncertainty surrounding what might regrow due to the continuing stressful heating and drying of the Australian continent caused by climate change, the forestry industry is pushing hard to expand its activities further into state forests, nature reserves and national parks.

The relentless, selfish greed of this industry needs to be called out for what it is - a collective madness.

If you would like to see the federal government and east coast state governments reign in this madness, please express your views to your local state & federal members of parliament and to the following:

The Hon. Scott Morrison MP, Prime Minister of Australia, PO Box 6022 House of Representatives Parliament House, CANBERRA, ACT 2600

The Hon. Sussan Ley MP, Minister for the Environment, PO Box 6022, House of Representatives, Parliament House, CANBERRA, ACT 2600

The Hon. Gladys Berejiklian MP, Premier of New South Wales, 
GPO Box 5341, SYDNEY, NSW 2001 
willoughby@parliament.nsw.gov.au 

The Hon. Matt Kean MP, NSW Minister for Energy and the Environment, 
52 Martin Place, SYDNEY, NSW 2000 
hornsby@parliament.nsw.gov.au 

The Hon Annastacia Palaszczuk MP, Premier of Queensland, 
PO Box 15185, CITY EAST, QLD 4002 
thepremier@premiers.qld.gov.au 

The Hon Leeanne Enoch MP, Minister for the Environment and the Great Barrier Reef, 
GPO Box 5078 BRISBANE, QLD 4001 
environment@ministerial.qld.gov.au 

The Hon. Daniel Andrews MP, Premier of Victoria, 
Office of the Premier, Level 1, 1 Treasury Place, EAST MELBOURNE, Victoria 3002 
daniel.andrews@parliament.vic.gov.au 

The Hon. Lily D'Ambrosio MP, Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change, 
Level 16 8 Nicholson Street, EAST MELBOURNE, Victoria 3002 
lily.dambrosio@parliament.vic.gov.au 

The Hon Peter Gutwein MP, Premier of Tasmania, 
Ground Floor, Public Building, 53 St John Street, LAUNCESTON, Tasmania 7250 peter.gutwein@dpac.tas.gov.au 

Roger Janesh MP, Minister for Environment and Parks, 
GPO Box 44 HOBART, Tasmania 7001 
roger.jaensch@parliament.tas.gov.au