NSW Nationals in disarray in 2020

NSW Nationals Leader and Deputy-Primer John Barilaro is reportedly on mental health leave from 18 September 2020 and MLA for Port Macquarie Leslie Williams quit the Nationals on 20 September to join the NSW Liberal Party.

This junior partner in the Coalition is showing the strain of having such a divisive leader. Barilaro has been at the helm for less than four years and in that time the Nationals have lost four seats in the state parliament - Lismore, Murray, Barwon and now Port Macquarie. 

The Nationals now hold only 12 seats in the 93 seat NSW Legislative Assembly.

The Sydney Morning Herald, 21 September 2020:

Two senior NSW Nationals figures have quit the party and Port Macquarie MP Leslie Williams has had her membership of the Liberals accepted a day after abandoning the Nationals in disgust.

Former Nationals leader and deputy premier Troy Grant last week resigned from the party, while former Water Minister and deputy leader Niall Blair has not renewed his membership.

Mr Grant and Mr Blair did not want to comment on their decision to leave the Nationals, but a source close to Mr Grant said he did not "support the direction of the party".

Ms Williams' membership of the Liberals was rubber-stamped on Monday morning, ensuring she did not have to sit on the crossbench when NSW Parliament resumes on Tuesday.

Her shock resignation on Sunday came after John Barilaro, the NSW Nationals' leader, and his MPs threatened to destroy the Coalition by moving to the crossbench if they did not get a raft of changes over a contested koala planning policy.

Ms Williams released a statement on Sunday saying: "Sadly, the events of the past weeks and months have cemented my decision."

The former head of the New South Wales Young Nationals and chair of its women’s council Jess Price-Purnell has also resigned from the party after being threatened with expulsion from the party because she publicly criticised John Barilaro's handling of the Koala planning policy issue.

Debt laden Clive Palmer's United Australia Party currently being considered for deregistration by the Australian Electoral Commission

Australian Electoral Commission notice of 17 September 2020:

This political party appears to be on the chopping block because it now has less than 500 members.

In recent years Clive Frederick Palmer appears to have exclusively funded this political party through his companies Mineralology Pty Ltd and Palmer Coolum Resort Pty Ltd.

It currently has debts of $8,829,343 of which $8,208,389 is owed to Google Australia Pty Ltd and another $609,039 to IPG Marketing Solutions.

According to an Australian Securities and Investments Commission media release billionaire Clive Palmer is due back in court on 27 November 2020 in relation to; two counts of contravening section 184(2)(a) of the Corporations Act 2001 (Act) - dishonest use of position as a director and two counts of contravening section 408C(1)(d) of the Criminal Code Act 1899 (Qld) – fraud by dishonestly gaining a benefit or advantage in that he allegedly dishonestly obtained a benefit or advantage for Cosmo Developments Pty Ltd and/or the Palmer United Party (PUP) and others by authorising the transfer of $10,000,000 contrary to the purpose for which the funds were being held. It is alleged that he dishonestly used his position as a director of Mineralogy Pty Ltd (Mineralogy), a mining company owned by him, in obtaining that advantage.

Orara Valley branch of NSW National Party dissolved to protect sitting Nats MLA for Coffs Harbour

The Sydney Morning Herald, 20 September 2020:

The NSW Nationals have been accused of branch-stacking and then dissolving a rural branch after members raised questions about the preselection process of a state MP.

The MP, Gurmesh Singh, was selected at a November 2018 meeting for the seat of Coffs Harbour. But office holders of one of the seat's two branches raised doubts about the voting process and his eligibility.

Members of the Orara Valley branch, who had raised the questions, say they turned up to their annual general meeting in July 2019 only to find their numbers had suddenly swelled by almost double.

The newcomers included Andrew Fraser, Mr Singh's predecessor as MP for Coffs Harbour and currently chairman of NSW Nationals. They intervened to spill existing office holders before the meeting ended in chaos.

"We wondered just what the hell had gone on," Barry Lee, the branch's then vice chairman, told The Sun-Herald at his house in Bonville, near Coffs. "We were not experts at fighting these kinds of battles."

After months of emails and letters to party headquarters, then state director Ross Cadell told the members on January 31 – his final day in the role – that Orara was "no longer [a] constitutionally formed branch", effectively dissolving it.....

The local party spat has the potential to create wider ripples for the NSW Nationals, who recently threatened to take down the government of Premier Gladys Berejiklian over koala planning laws they said undermined farmers' rights to clear land as they see fit.

One of the first MPs to complain about the koala guidelines was Mr Singh, who, according to a Channel Seven report, told Planning Minister Rob Stokes that his family's properties could be affected.

Mr Singh told The Sun-Herald he had spoken to Mr Stokes "about various issues" involving the koala planning policy……

Mr Singh referred all questions about his eligibility to run as a Nationals candidate at the 2019 election to the state's central organisation. Mr Singh declined to say whether he had been a member for the requisite six months prior to the election, nor whether he had received a waiver from the party's organisation as an alternative.

The Sun-Herald also asked Mr Fraser for comment about why he changed branches from Coffs to the Orara Valley, and whether his transfer had been approved by the local branch three months before he voted at the July meeting.

Mr Fraser has told the local newspaper he had property in the Orara Valley, making him eligible to switch branches.

Documents seen by the The Sun-Herald show the small branch's numbers swelled from 12 to 23 as a result of those transfers. Mr Cadell, who now works as a lobbyist at Newcastle Ports, defended the party's actions in closing down the Orara branch.

"The rules were entirely followed," he said. "The only problem was they didn't like the rules. It was a large amount of people [who switched] but it is quite regular for people to transfer between branches."

Members, though, describe being bewildered by the sudden interest in their branch from party heavyweights, with one saying: "We abhor branch stacking within the Labor Party but we witnessed it ourselves ... I couldn't believe it."…...

Gurmesh Singh is a blueberry and macadamia nut farmer as well as the NSW Nationals MLA for Coffs Harbour since the March 2019 state election.

He opposed amendments to the NSW Water Act aimed at increasing transparency concerning ownership of water licenses.

Singh along with Chris Gulaptis wwas strongly behind National Party Leader and  NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro, as he attempted to remove SEPP protections for koalas and koala habitat.

Singh also supports his electorate Coffs Harbour as the site for any future nuclear power station.

It is also alleged that he attempted to quash a Coffs Harbour City Council move to request state and federal funding during the pandemic - apparently even going so far as to enlist the assistance of the Minister for Local Government Shelley Hancock in an attempt to block a specific project.

The Oz Group Co-op Ltd of which Singh was then chair and founding director received $1 million in federal government funding in February 2018 - the same year he stood for National Party preselection. 

There have been a number of  allegations of conflicts of interest on Singh's part since he entered the NSW Parliament.

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.