Were you wondering why so many federal political parties & their candidates never seem to be held accountable for how they fund election campaigns? Well, wonder no more

”The AEC does not appropriately act upon identified non-compliance. It is not making effective use of its enforcement powers and as such has not implemented a graduated approach to managing and acting on identified non-compliance.” [ANAO, “Administration of Financial Disclosure Requirements under the Commonwealth Electoral Act”, 17 September 2020]

After quite a few Australians on social media bragged on Monday of last week about our independent agency conducting federal elections, it seems we all found out three days later that in fact it has rather mucky feet of clay......

Australian National Audit Office (ANAO), Auditor-General Report No. 8 Of 2020–21, Administration of Financial Disclosure Requirements under the Commonwealth Electoral Act, excerpt:

Conclusion

6. The AEC‘s management of the financial disclosures required under Part XX of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 is partially effective.

7. The arrangements that the AEC has in place to administer the financial disclosure scheme are limited in their effectiveness as:

a. across the four year period examined, while the AEC has obtained 5882 annual and election returns, as at 30 June 2020, 75 returns have not been obtained. There have also been delays with the submission of returns to the AEC with 22 per cent of annual returns and 17 per cent of election returns lodged after the legislated due date;

b. the AEC does not make effective use of available data sources to identify entities that may have a disclosure obligation that have not submitted a return;

c. there is insufficient evidence that the returns that have been provided are accurate and complete;

d. there is limited analysis undertaken of returns that are obtained; and

e. risks to the financial disclosure scheme are not managed in accordance with the risk management framework.

8. Compliance monitoring and enforcement activities are partially effective with the result that the AEC is not well placed to provide assurance that disclosure returns are accurate and complete.

Supporting findings

9. Across the four year period examined by the ANAO the AEC has obtained 5882 annual and election returns, and as at 30 June 2020, has not obtained 75 returns. Compliance with legislated timeframes has also been an issue, with 22 per cent of annual returns and 17 per cent of election returns lodged after the legislated due date. Forty four entities have submitted annual returns on average over 30 days late on two or more occasions, with 12 (27 per cent) having lodged, on two or more occasions, on average over 120 days late. Additionally, the AEC does not make effective use of available data sources to identify entities that may have a disclosure obligation and have not submitted a return.

10. There is insufficient evidence that annual and election returns are accurate and complete. While the AEC checks that all fields have been completed and looks for some obvious errors it does not compare the figures disclosed with other data available from internal or external sources, instead relying on its annual compliance review program to provide sufficient evidence that the annual and election returns are accurate and complete.

11. The effectiveness of the analysis undertaken by the AEC is limited. Annual returns submitted by third parties and donors are not analysed. Election returns submitted by candidates, senate groups or election donors are not analysed. The analysis that is undertaken of annual returns submitted by political parties and associated entities is limited as there is no detailed analysis of the financial information, and effective data analytics and data matching techniques are not employed by the AEC.

12. Risks to the financial disclosure scheme have not been managed in accordance with the AEC’s risk management framework. While the risk appetite and tolerance statement of this framework states that the AEC has a low/moderate risk tolerance for risks associated with the disclosure function there is no evidence that risks relating to all entities that have a disclosure obligation have been assessed and are being managed appropriately. Additionally, there is no treatment plan in place for the risk that has been identified by the AEC, being the risk of non-compliance by political parties.

13. While the AEC has identified some lessons that it could learn from other electoral bodies that regulate financial disclosure schemes, there is little evidence of any resulting changes having been made to how the Commonwealth scheme is administered. The AEC has also not taken adequate steps to implement agreed recommendations from a review it commissioned in 2012 of the disclosure compliance function (which concluded that the AEC needed to become more proactive in its approach).

14. The AEC does not apply an appropriate risk based approach to planning and conducting compliance activities.

• While most reviews are planned on the basis of a risk assessment, there are a number of limitations in the risk assessment methodology employed.

• Over the period assessed the AEC did not undertake a compliance review of any election donor returns or of any annual returns that included no financial disclosures (that is, a nil return).

• The number of reviews, and the resources allocated to them, have declined considerably across the five year period analysed. These reductions do not reflect an assessment that the risk of non-disclosure or non-compliance has reduced and this situation is also at odds with the significant growth that has occurred in the total value of receipts and other figures included in the financial disclosure returns provided to the AEC.

15. Planned compliance activities are not implemented in a timely and effective manner. Of the 168 reviews that were planned to have been conducted over the five year period examined by the ANAO, 58 (35 per cent) have not been completed. While completion rates have improved in the last two years this is due to the AEC significantly reducing the number of planned reviews, narrowing the scope of planned reviews, and reducing the value of the transactions being tested. There has also been a marked decline in the number of full reviews that are being conducted on large entities with disclosure obligations.

16. The AEC does not appropriately act upon identified non-compliance. It is not making effective use of its enforcement powers and as such has not implemented a graduated approach to managing and acting on identified non-compliance.

The full report at:

https://www.anao.gov.au/work/performance-audit/administration-financial-disclosure-requirements-under-the-commonwealth-electoral-act

COVID_19 reached Australia around 236 days ago but Prime Minister Scott Morrison did not act on fully implementing contact tracing of overseas air arrivals until Day 234

Australian Prime Minister and Liberal MP for Cook Scott Morrison and his office were quick with the excuses and blame for others when found out, but a man already notorious for being chronically workshy has just reinforced his reputation.

There was a reason most of the jobs he held between leaving university and entering the Australian Parliament lasted no more than two years' duration and, unfortunately the drought, then the bushfires and now the pandemic are showing us that reason.

News.com.au, 18 September 2020:

Scott Morrison was warned that COVID-19 contact tracers urgently needed airlines to keep more data on travellers in January but failed to secure agreement on the mandated collection of information for travellers until today’s national cabinet.

Correspondence obtained by news.com.au confirms that Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk wrote to the Prime Minister on January 31, just days after the first confirmed case in Australia on the “matter of national importance”.

As the states dealt with the influx of international passengers, they were shocked to learn that incoming travellers’ passenger cards were essentially thrown in the bin or unable to be accessed on privacy grounds.

In the letter, the Queensland Premier warned the Prime Minister that the states’ ability to respond to the emerging public health crisis would be greatly assisted “if your government, as the primary recipient of information concerning people entering Australia, could undertake to contact anyone considered at-risk”.

“It is important that in times such as these we work together to respond quickly and effectively to minimise the potential risk this emerging public health issue poses to our community,” she wrote.

The correspondence also asked the Morrison Government to share information with the states about arrivals from Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak.

“Only the Federal Government has the details on their incoming boarding card of who they are, where they are staying and their mobile phone contact numbers.

“We need to contact those people. I don’t know at the moment in Queensland where people from the Hubei province currently are because the Federal Government has that information.”

Ultimately, Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said the full Tigerair manifest, including emails, contact numbers and other known details of all the passengers was given to the Queensland Government.

But despite the pleas of state leaders since January, the mandatory collection of data on domestic flight has taken more than six months to finalise.

Privacy laws have proved a minefield for public servants to navigate, with the Morrison Government forced to find “work arounds” to provide contact details on international travellers while the collection of information on domestic flights was even worse.

The Prime Minister confirmed the new arrangements today for the mandatory data collection on domestic flights to assist states and territories when it comes to contact tracing.

“From 1 October, part of the mandatory manifest information will be name, email address, a mobile contact number, and a state of residence,’’ Mr Morrison said.

“There’s still some work to be done there. That will be arranged with the major airlines, with the Department of Infrastructure, and those arrangements are being put in place now.

“Now, that is just simply to help our state and territory agencies in the contact tracing that they may be required to do, when it comes to tracking when people are moving from state to state, and that information will, of course, be treated sensitively by the states and territories in the same way that public health information is always treated.”  [my yellow highlighting]

ABC News, 19 September 2020:

Flights with confirmed cases of COVID-19 are published by state health authorities.

According to New South Wales Health, there were nine domestic flights that passed through the state that had confirmed cases of COVID-19 from May to August.

Health authorities list the rows considered to be "close contacts" of the confirmed case.

Those who have been in close contact with a confirmed case are required to self-isolate for 14 days.

* CREDIT: Image of Scott Morrison from The Monthly.

Around 10% of the Australian workforce are temporary migrants and overseas students - what help are we giving then during the COVID-19 pandemic?

UNSW Newsroom, media release, 17 September 2020:

A nationwide survey of more than 6000 international students and other temporary migrants conducted in July 2020 has found 70% lost all or most of their work during the pandemic. 

Thousands have been left unable to pay for food and rent. These migrants make up 10% of the Australian workforce. 

As if we weren’t humans: The abandonment of temporary migrants in Australia during COVID-19 is the latest report from UNSW Law Associate Professor Bassina Farbenblum and UTS Law Associate Professor Laurie Berg, co-directors of the Migrant Worker Justice Initiative. 

The survey revealed more than half the respondents (57%) believe their financial stress will deepen by year’s end, with one in three international students forecasting their funds will run out by October. Thousands expressed anguish and anger over the federal government’s decision to exclude temporary migrants from JobKeeper and JobSeeker support. 

Beyond their immediate humanitarian plight, hundreds linked their distress to the Prime Minister’s message that those unable to support themselves should “make [their] way home”. They expressed feelings of abandonment and worthlessness: “like we do not exist”, “they don’t see us. They can’t hear us”. 

In addition, a quarter experienced verbal racist abuse and a quarter reported people avoiding them because of their appearance. More than half of Chinese respondents reported experiencing either or both of these. 

“Over 1600 participants described being targeted with xenophobic slurs, treated as though they were infected with COVID because they looked Asian, or harassed for wearing a face mask”, says A/Prof. Farbenblum. 

“Many reported that because of their Asian appearance they were punched, hit, kicked, shoved, deliberately spat at or coughed on by passers-by in the street and on public transport.” 

For example, one female Vietnamese student said: “People were saying some racist comments and pushed me, saying that I was the reason for COVID and I should go away.” Another Chinese student said: “I have been harassed by teenagers and throwing eggs on my way home from school”. 

While previous studies have documented aspects of the financial hardship of temporary migrants, this is the first study that reveals the depth of social exclusion, racism and deeper emotional consequences of Australia’s policies, which have significantly impacted Australia’s global reputation. 

Following their pandemic experience, three in five international students, graduates and working holiday makers are now less likely or much less likely to recommend Australia as a place to study or have a working holiday. This includes important education markets such as Chinese and Nepalese students (76% and 69% respectively were now less likely to recommend Australia). 

“I feel [the] Australian government doesn't think of temporary visa holders as human beings but merely a money-making machine,” said one female Indian international student. “It’s appalling to see the PM consoling the citizens saying that we are all in this together but at the same time telling migrants to go back home in a pandemic.” 

Another international Master’s student observed, “It's completely hypocritical that we’re important for tax purposes, and in the sense that we contribute billions of dollars to the economy as university fees, but are treated as some breed of untouchables”. 

A/Prof. Berg says that Australia will bear the diplomatic and economic consequences of these policies for decades to come: 

“Many of those suffering in Australia now will return home to become leaders in business and politics, holding roles of social influence around the region. Their experiences during this period will not be quickly forgotten.” 

Read the full report.

Excerpt from the report: 

Current sources of financial support are deeply inadequate to meet need

• Since the first lockdown in March, a third (33%) of all respondents indicated they had sought emergency support to meet their essential needs (37% of international students).

• Charities and others provided food, one-off cash payments and other forms of emergency relief, but education providers were the source of the overwhelming majority of support received.

• Education provider support was limited to one-off payments, mostly to university students, among whom a quarter (26%) received support. Only one in ten students (11%) at private colleges received support. The overwhelming majority of those who received support got a one-off payment of under $1000.

• The Red Cross provided support to 2% of respondents. Two thirds of these were international students, among whom 68% received a one-off payment of $500 or less.

• State governments provided support to 4% of respondents, almost all of whom were international students.

• Close to a third (29%) indicated they did not seek emergency support because they were worried it might affect their visa. Visa concerns were a more common barrier among college students (33%) than university students (27%), and even more common for graduates (38%). Surprisingly, visa concerns were also identified by considerable proportions of TSS visa holders (26%).

Yet another election lockout for Australian PM 'Scotty From Marketing' Morrison?

In the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic Queensland holds a state election from Monday 19 October 2020 to Saturday, 31 October 2020 and, now the Australian Electoral Commission will also be obliged to hold a by-election in the federal seat of Groom in south-east Queensland.

IMAGE: Google Images

However, the man who is out to convince his own political party and the world that only he wins elections in Australia across the first two tiers of government, Australian Prime Minister and Liberal MP for Cook Scott Morrison (left), will apparently not be able to campaign on the ground. 


NZ Herald, 18 September 2020:

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison will be banned from entering Queensland for the duration of the state election campaign unless he is prepared to pay A$2800 ($3046) to quarantine for 14 days in a government facility. 

Nearly seven weeks after he last entered the sunshine state, there is no sign that the Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk will lift the border bans before the October 31 election. 

Queensland's border ban will effectively stop the Prime Minister, Labor leader Anthony Albanese and any other frontbenchers from entering the state for the duration of the election unless they are prepared to spend a fortnight in quarantine.....

ABC News, 18 September 2019:

Toowoomba-based federal MP John McVeigh has resigned from politics, effective immediately. 

He said he made the difficult decision to quit politics so he could concentrate on caring for his wife Anita, who has been suffering from a major illness. A federal by-election will now have to be held in the Groom electorate. 

Groom (Toowoombah & Darling Downs) has been held by the Liberal-Nationals Coalition since 1984 and is currently considered a very safe Liberal Party seat. 

The result of this forthcoming by-election will probably come as no surprise, but expect Scott Morrison to up his attacks on Labor, increase his media appearances and indulge in more scaremongering ahead of the by-election polling day. 

IMAGE: Gold Coast Bulletin

John McVeigh (right) lost his post as federal  Minister for Regional Development, Territories and Local Government in 2018 when Scott Morrison became prime minister and been a backbencher ever since. 

Like many other Coalition federal MPs, Mr. McVeigh has been the subject of allegations concerning improper allocation of federal government funding.

Cartoons of the Week

Cathy Wilcox

Jon Kudelka

Abject apologies. Due to illness there are no North Coast Voices posts until 20 September 2020

Getting old is both a medieval trial by ordeal  and modern physical endurance test. 

Hopefully North Coast Voices blog will make it to the next New South Wales local government, state and federal elections. 

The blog will return on 20 September 2020.

Australian federal & state governments are preparing to exploit large gas resources that are still in the ground

The Australia Institute, “Weapons of gas destruction: Lifting the lid on greenhouse gas emissions from Australian fossil gas projects and resources” September 2020, excerpt from Discussion Paper summary:

The fossil gas industry in Australia tripled production from 1990 to 2010 and then from 2010 to 2019 production tripled again. Nearly all of the new production was exported. Australia has become the world’s largest exporter of liquified natural gas (LNG) and one of the world’s biggest gas producers. Australia’s gas and coal exports make Australia’s the third largest exporter of fossil fuels in the world, after Russia and Saudi Arabia.

Over the decade to 2018 Australia was responsible for most of the growth in LNG, and a third of the growth over the last 20 years, more than any other country Australia’s share of global gas production soared in recent years, even as its share of global proven gas reserves levelled out.

Australian Government publications list 22 new gas production and export proposals across Australia with an estimated gas production capacity of 3,368 PJ pa. Governments and companies are preparing to exploit further gas resources in the ground that are larger still.

Despite calls for decarbonisation be central to the economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, the Australia government is proposing policies and subsidies for what it calls a “gas fired recovery”. From an economic and employment perspective, this makes little sense. There are many low cost ways to reduce gas consumption, and the industry, despite its size, employs few Australians. Expanding fossil gas production also threatens to release large amounts of greenhouse gases.

Burning fossil gas releases carbon dioxide (CO2). In addition, extracting, processing transporting and exporting fossil gas is also highly emissions intensive, and already responsible for more than 10% of current Australian emissions, on official government data. A large portion of these emissions come from gas burned by LNG facilities.

Australian LNG facilities burn around nine percent of all gas they receive to help liquify the remaining gas for export. Gas consumption in LNG facilities is double the size of whats consumed by Australian households and about as large as what is consumed by Australian manufacturing.

Another major climate impact is ‘fugitive’ emissions from flaring, venting and leakage. The true impact of these emissions is larger than officially reported. Fossil gas is made up mostly of methane, itself a greenhouse gas with much greater heat trapping potential than CO2. While methane is more powerful than CO2 over a 100 year timeframe, which is the conventional basis for comparison, methane traps far more heat over the nearer-term (a 20 years horizon). A small amount of methane loss greatly increases the climate impact of fossil gas.

Many recent studies show rates of methane loss much higher than the Australian government’s official figures, especially in unconventional gas production, such as coal seam and shale gas where techniques like hydraulic fracturing are required. Methane loss at rates observed in recent studies of large US shale gas fields range from 2.3% to 3.7%, at the higher end delivering a near-term climate impact equivalent to doubling the emissions of the burnt gas. Reducing and avoiding the release of methane emissions is essential to meeting the Paris Agreement climate goals.

There are 22 major new gas projects proposed by companies and listed by the Australian Government’s Office of the Chief Economist. The analysis here converts the supply capacity into common units for comparison and aggregation. The proposed projects are spread across the country and are of various sizes, types and stages. The largest projects are offshore fields designed for gas export, especially off Western Australia’s coast. The single largest project, Woodside’s Browse / Burrup Hub Extension, would involve piping gas from a large new gas field nearly 1000km through new undersea pipelines to an onshore facility for export…...