Simply because Australia's public broadcaster, the ABC, refused to televise this particular Press Club address.....

https://youtu.be/pb1oP9TQkXM

Climate change impacts begin to affect regional land values in NSW Northern Rivers region

 

As of 28 January 2020 the climate change-induced 2019-20 bushfires in New South Wales had burnt 5.3 million hectares (6.7% of the State), including over 52 per cent of the land area in the Clarence Valley and close to 49% of the land area in the Richmond Valley.

Now we find out how this affected land values in those two local government areas.

Decreases were evident in some areas impacted by bushfire events, with the largest land value decreases in Rappville and Whiporie in Richmond Valley (-21%) and unspecified moderate to strong decreases in localities south of Grafton, Coutts Crossing and the Clarence River.

  

Daily Telegraph, 10 February 2021:

THE 2019 bushfires have had a lasting impact on the Clarence Valley, with the NSW Valuer General revealing areas hit hard by the disaster have seen a decrease in land values.

The total land value for the North Coast NSW region increased by 2.5 per cent between July 1, 2019 and July 1, 2020 from $87.1 billion to $89.3 billion.

“However, moderate to strong decreases in rural land values occurred in other localities including south of Grafton, Coutts Crossing and the Clarence River because of the 2019 bushfires,” NSW Valuer General Dr David Parker said.

“Decreases in land value were evident in some areas impacted by the 2019 bushfires such as Rappville and Whiporie.” According to the NSW Valuer General’s report, rural land values in the region remained steady at 1.5 per cent and Kempsey (6 per cent) experienced moderate increases due to continuing demand for good-quality agricultural land with reliable water combined with strong commodity and stock prices.

Dr Parker said property sales were the most important factor valuers considered when determining land values.

“Last year was a difficult year for determining land values in the aftermath of last summer’s horrific bushfires, followed by the impacts of the COVID-19 crisis,” he said.

“My office has undertaken separate studies of the impact of both bushfires and COVID-19 on the property market. Our valuers have applied the findings of these studies to affected areas and property types where there are insufficient sales available to determine the land values.” Valuer General NSW has established a dedicated assistance line for landholders impacted by the 2019-20 bushfires, or who believe their land value has been impacted by COVID-19. Affected landholders are encouraged to call 1800 458 884….

Cartoons of the Week

 

Cathy Wilcox

Matt Golding

Quotes of the Week

 

“ Since the start of the 46th Parliament, there have been about 538 divisions in the lower house. Just 18 of those divisions have occurred to pass legislation. A staggering 233 have occurred to prevent Opposition MPs giving speeches. That means government MPs have voted more times to silence their political opponents than they have to make laws – by a factor of 13.”  [Labor MP for Watson Tony Burke, writing in The New Daily, 28 January 2021]

“ For those concerned about the cumulative impact of Fox News in America on the radicalisation of US politics, the same template is being followed with Sky News in Australia. We will see its full impact in a decade’s time…..At its core, it has delegitimised the twin pillars of the enlightenment: empirical fact and rational argument. The assault by Fox News on both as “fake news”, the culture that validates the world of “alternative facts” and the adulation of far-right “opinion” as somehow co-equal with (or superior to) scientifically established truths, all undermine the foundations of an informed citizenry in a functioning democracy. It also creates a political environment that is increasingly receptive to the world of fantasy, conspiracy, identity politics and extremist religious views no longer anchored in any common foundation of evidence and reason. The result is not just the creation of two warring political tribes based on different concepts of economic interests and social values, but two different conceptual worlds that can no longer communicate with each other because they no longer speak a common language. Murdoch’s Fox News has been central to this process of dividing the way in which Americans talk with each other for nearly 30 years. Most importantly, its net effect has been to delegitimise the democracy itself in the eyes of many Americans. It has created a radically divided country where the possibility of rational compromise has become progressively impossible between the warring tribes that Murdoch has sought successfully to create. This weakening of the American democracy, and the fracturing of the republic on which it rests, has dealt more damage to the global standing, influence and power of the United States than the combined efforts of the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China. Murdoch’s template for America, culminating in the political crisis of 6 January 2021. It’s a template which Murdoch has believed would maximise his personal, business and ideological interests – by demonising the agency of government; undermining essential government regulation; and most importantly by minimising corporate and personal tax. Trump achieved all three. It’s also Murdoch’s vision for Australia.”  [Former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, excerpt from written submission to Australian Parliament, Senate Standing Committee on Environment and Communications, Inquiry into Media Diversity in Australia]

NSW Member for Lismore Janelle Saffin is hoping Lismore City Council can reset and make local ratepayers and businesses its main priority in the months leading up to local government elections in September this year

 

Lismore City Council resets in lead-up to election: Saffin

STATE Member for Lismore Janelle Saffin is hoping Lismore City Council can reset and make local ratepayers and businesses its main priority in the months leading up to local government elections in September this year.

Responding to media inquiries for comment on the election overnight of Cr Vanessa Ekins as Mayor and the departure of General Manager Shelley Oldham, Ms Saffin said these were decisions for the elected body alone to make.

“Locals have told me it’s been a few torrid years at Council and what we need is some calm leadership for the good of ratepayers and residents. Looking after them must again be the Council’s main priority, as it is mine,” Ms Saffin said.

“I’d like to see more attention given to our CBD businesses and industry. The September election is likely to ring in changes in the make-up of a new Council who will have the job of recruiting a new GM with a view to the future.

“I wish only positive things for that future.”

Media Release, Wednesday, 10 February 2020.

Well it didn't take long the undeclared federal election campaign to sink down to the lowest common denominator - abuse of a journalist during an interview

Well it didn't take long for the undeclared federal election campaign, begun in earnest this month, to get nasty after the Liberal Party began to white ant basic rules. 

It's the fact that a general election has not yet been called - which  means that the rules for publicly funded information campaigns still have to be obeyed to the letter - which will cause problems.

Stating a clear intention to go to the polls has never suited the Prime Minister's preference for conducting most of an election campaign before setting a date (which triggers an AEC timeline) so he can milk the public purse for millions of dollars in campaign expenses.

The guidelines and underlying principals are clear.....

https://www.finance.gov.au/sites/default/files/2019-11/campaign-advertising-guidelines.pdf

The underlying principles governing the use of public funds for all government information and advertising campaigns are that:

a. members of the public have equal rights to access  comprehensive information about government policies, programs and services which affect their entitlements, rights and obligations;

b. governments may legitimately use public funds to explain government policies, programs or services, to inform members of the public of their obligations, rights and entitlements, to encourage informed consideration of issues or to change behaviour; and  

c. government campaigns must not be conducted for party political purposes. [my yellow highlighting]

For some reason the Minister for Health and Aged Care & Liberal MP for Flinders Greg Hunt - a veteran of seven federal election campaigns to date - decided to make it glaringly obvious that he intended to rack up as much free advertising as possible and well as bill personal campaign expenses to the public purse through his taxpayer funded media team. 

He did this by putting the Liberal Party logo on paraphrased text from a 4 February 2021 Australian Dept. of Health announcement - which skated on thin ice when it comes to publicly funded information campaigns but didn't quite break the rules.

It didn't break the rules because the only place the logo appeared was in visual material on Greg Hunt's free social media accounts, which are officially authorised as the Liberal Member for Flinders even though they carry little local electorate content being primarily geared to display content associated with his ministerial role.  

On the advice of the Scientific Industry Technical Advisory Group on Vaccine lead by Professor Brendan Murphy, the Australian Government has secured an additional 10 million doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. pic.twitter.com/OHGZ0eepUx

— Greg Hunt (@GregHuntMP) February 4, 2021

.@mjrowland68 asks Federal Health Minister @GregHuntMP why he attached a Liberal Party logo to a Government announcement about COVID-19 vaccines. pic.twitter.com/ccbwfrvAXk

— News Breakfast (@BreakfastNews) February 9, 2021

In the end it was Hunt's arrogance and nasty name calling which gave the game away. As for the justification he gave - it was nothing but arrant nonsense.

The NSW Nationals are being a touch more circumspect in tying past federal government grants to the undeclared federal election campaign.  They offered over-egged comment only, which didn't have to skate over any ice at all.

The Grafton Regional Livestock Selling Centre has been given a million-dollar grant by the NSW Nationals in the federal government.https://t.co/bKsImtxQcj

— NSW Nationals (@NSWNationals) February 10, 2021

BACKGROUND

The problems with abuse of process in relation to federal government advertising has been recognised but unfortunately not resolved.

Australian National Audit Office (ANAO), Government Advertising: June 2015 to April 2019, 26 August 2019:

13. The Australian Government’s campaign advertising framework was introduced in 2008 with the express purpose of providing confidence that taxpayer funded campaigns are legitimately authorised, properly targeted and non-political. A decade on, this area of government administration remains contested, with an ongoing focus on the discretion inherent in the framework and the long-term trend of increased campaign expenditure before elections. The persistence of debate over the use of public resources for certain government campaigns indicates that the framework has not achieved its primary purpose of building confidence and is therefore ineffective in respect to this outcome. In these circumstances, there would be merit in the Parliament and Australian Government revisiting the framework. This audit report includes recommendations aimed at improving both the selected entities’ administration and the framework’s transparency. The recommendations reflect the findings of this audit and four previous ANAO audits conducted since the framework’s introduction. Framework-level recommendations focus on: clarifying mandatory requirements to reduce the large measure of discretion which is a feature of the framework; strengthening the third-party compliance advisory function to enable it to review campaigns at any stage of development; improving the transparency of approved campaign budgets and annual expenditure reporting; and applying certification processes to media releases associated with launching a campaign. [my yellow highlighting]

It’s looking more and more like 2021 is going to be a federal election year.

 

It’s looking more and more like 2021 is going to be a federal election year if the actions of the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition are anything to go by.

Prime Minister & Liberal MP for Cook Scott Morrison has been parading himself before the cameras at Williamtown, NSW.

The PM arrives at RAAF Base Williamtown in the Hunter to make a defence announcement on the Joint Strike Fighter program, with 'Highway to the Danger Zone' blaring in the background. @SBSNews #AusPol #TopGun pic.twitter.com/gSFLg7C8ev

— Naveen Razik (@naveenjrazik) February 8, 2021

Giving thumbs up and knocking elbows at every opportunity.

Leader of the Opposition & Labor MP for Grayndler Anthony Albanese has been busy tweeting assurances.

The Federal Opposition Leader @AlboMP has used a visit to the Fraser Coast to pledge a boost for manufacturing jobs, if Labor wins the next election. https://t.co/kDhhmxDYB0 @TheRosieOBrien #auspol #7NEWS pic.twitter.com/gNM7ia8ttU

— 7NEWS Wide Bay (@7NewsWideBay) February 9, 2021

Child care for when we grow up.

Medicare for when we get sick.

Aged care for when we grow old.

Governments should be there for people.

— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) February 1, 2021

In an effort to differentiate the two Coalition brands, Deputy Prime Minister, Leader of the National Party & MP for Riverina Michael McCormack managed to wreck his senior partner's latest crafted 'announcement' on climate change policy.

IMAGE: @QuentinDempster

While Labor MP for Bruce Julian Hill decided to fire an early shot across LNP bows….

Australia’s Global Performance: Falling Behind, February 2021:

When Scott Morrison won the 2019 election, he opened his

victory speech by rhetorically asking:

How good is Australia!?”

Since then, the Prime Minister has developed a truly inane habit of asking that same question over and over and over again.

Expecting that no one will ever bother to answer.

But, it is a question that can be answered.

And, unfortunately for the PM, the answer is:

“not as good anymore – going backwards, and being left behind”

Australia is less productive, more unequal, more corrupt, less happy, more indebted, less affluent, and less trusting of public institutions than when the Liberal National Party government was elected in 2013.

Australia was once a world leader in so many areas – economic growth, reform, democratic innovation, industrial relations, fairness, healthcare and education.

While like any country we have had our faults and historic failures, successive governments and communities were committed to working together to make things better for all Australians.

But now, after seven years of this Liberal government, Australia is no longer a world leader but increasingly a world laggard…..

Australia is going backwards under the Liberals, and falling behind much of the rest of the world. Australians are being left behind in areas critical to daily life and wellbeing.

• Real wages in Australia were 0.7% lower in 2019 compared to 2013, and Australia sat in third last place out of 35 OECD countries for wage growth.

• Australia ranked 5th last in the OECD in terms of its productivity rates. In fact, Australian productivity was negative at -0.3%. Household debt as a share of GDP is 119.4% — now the 2nd highest rate of 43 countries.

• Australia ranks behind Uganda at 87th out of 133 countries globally for economic complexity.

• Australia has the third most unaffordable housing market and is the 11th most unequal OECD nation.

• Australia’s rate of greenhouse gas emissions per capita has been the highest in the world.

• Australian children’s educational outcomes have slipped in both national and international terms.

• Broadband speeds are now so slow that Australia ranks 61st in the world.

• International corruption rankings show Australia is becoming more corrupt, and Australians are increasingly distrustful of government.

• Australia now ranks 8th out of 11 high-income countries for healthcare affordability.

Yes, it is going to be an interesting year.