Iluka NSW Population 1,746: in March 2021 a small village with a big heart reminded the Morrison Government that women have a right to R.E.S.P.E.C.T.

 

Clarence Valley Independent, 24 March 2021:

Around 60 women and eight men joined together in Iluka on Monday of last week in the Clarence Valley march4justice protest march, organised by Berri Brown (Iluka) and Robin Thomas (Woombah) to say, “Enough is Enough”.

Berri Brown, shared her reason for protesting, saying that, “Domestic violence is about emotional, financial and verbal abuse. I want things to change so that my little girl will be able to go about her day in the knowledge that whatever she decides to do in her future she will never have to be silenced or not be believed if this was to happen to her”.

Guest speaker Prue Leggoe OAM of Maclean said, “Of the 60 women present only one woman put up her hand to say she had never experienced sexual harassment or abuse. One of the men attending said he was there to stand for his two daughters who had experienced sexual abuse. This is a devastating statistic”.

Prue added that is seemed that nothing had changed since she had experienced sexual harassment when a Member of the Victorian Parliament 40 years ago. “It seems to have gotten worse in Parliaments, where power is used to manipulate and frighten an abused person, and workplaces continue to be unsafe for many women and men.” She said…...

Quote of the Week

 

Cathy Wilcox

Liberal Party women are beginning to openly speak truth to power

 

IMAGE: NSW Liberal Party

Catherine Cusack (left) is a member of the NSW Legislative Council, hailing from the Northern Rivers region. She has been a member of the NSW Parliament since 2003,was the first female NSW Young Liberal President in 1985-1986 and sat on the Liberal Party Executive 2000-2003.

Here she speaks about behaviours displayed by men within her own party - cronyism, rampant self-interest, alcohol abuse, election campaign dirty tricks, pushing female politicians in front of the cameras when questions get awkward, male colleagues expecting support from women for their flagrant abuse of power.

The Guardian, 25 March 2021:

I joined the Young Liberals in 1982 when things were definitely on the up for women. It was an exciting time – a youthful Nick Greiner was state leader, Rosemary Foot his deputy. I found an amazing peer group that was not bored to tears by my interest in politics. I met my future husband there – we are both former YL state presidents. When our sons, now aged in their 20s, joined, we were jokingly accused of trying to establish a monarchy inside the YLs. The Liberal party has been my life.

I entered the New South Wales parliament in 2003. John Howard as prime minister openly celebrated his female MPs, whom he frequently credited with saving his government. In 2004 Chris McDiven became our first female federal president – but sadly the storm clouds had already gathered. This momentum for women came to a crashing halt with the brutal factional wars that transformed the culture and behaviour of the party, harmed our reputation and triggered an exodus of ordinary members.

Howard had tried unsuccessfully at the 2003 Adelaide federal convention to warn of the dangerous path we were on. “I think factionalism is weakening and eroding the strength of this party and the respect of this party in the Australian community,” he said.

As he feared, his message fell on deaf ears. The Howard government’s 2007 campaign was derailed when high-ranking Liberal volunteers were arrested in the dead of night letterboxing a fake Labor campaign brochure. The destructive factional wars and resultant toxic behaviours had gone too far – a halt was called to the infighting and a small group of factional leaders agreed to share power. And so began the Liberal boys’ club that has been calling the shots ever since.

“We have some young men on big salaries, doing aggressive factional work … they are intoxicated with power as well as alcohol”

The factional system relies on compliance and patronage, so straight away the idea of merit-based selection went out the window. This doesn’t just affect women – it affects everyone. Even Mike Baird needed a special deal to secure Liberal selection for the 2007 election in Manly. Favours given and favours repaid is how this works.

In other states, this model was nicknamed “the NSW disease”. Unfortunately, it spread. It has escalated.

An MP might be asked to allocate a staff position to a factional operative and in exchange his/her preselection is assured. Step away from the factions and they might all combine to unseat you. In this way, the factional model is part taxpayer-funded.

So now we have some young men on big salaries, doing aggressive factional work out of some ministerial and MP offices. And they are intoxicated with power as well as alcohol. Their bosses need to bear much of the blame. They legitimise and tolerate behaviours that serve their own self-interests in terms of getting and retaining power.

There are many reasons why women across Australia so triggered and upset by what’s going on in Canberra. Personal experience, solidarity with the victims – but most of all it has been the sense of powerlessness they feel when the issues are seemingly dismissed. It has happened over and over again and this time they are telling us: “Enough!”

Maybe there are bubbles inside the Canberra bubble? I don’t know – I am just convinced the PM needs to seek out and listen to his female MPs, who have their own stories to tell.

An alleged rape has occurred inside the citadel of Australian democracy.

Our prime minister needs to be told why people are so angry. And it’s up to his female MPs to take it to him direct.

It’s not really a choice any more. For years there has been a ludicrous expectation by Liberal leaders that we female MPs can be wheeled out to defend these disgusting behaviours. When the power to fix the problem lies with them – not with us.

It has reached the point where our personal integrity is being publicly pitted against our loyalty – it’s upsetting and embarrassing and, frankly, they should not be asking that of us.

Tell him.

Step up, be hopeful and make the case for change. Most importantly, back one another. The moment has chosen us.

Tell him.

And conservative women in the media have begun to join in....

IMAGE: The Sydney Morning Herald

Niki Savva is a journalist who has worked in the media for around thirty years. Her mid-career employment outside of journalism was as a press secretary to then Australian Treasurer and Liberal MP for Higgins Peter Costello for six years, before becoming a policy adviser to Australian Prime Minister and Liberal MP for Bennelong John Howard for four years. She is now employed by News Corp.

The Australian, 24 March 2021:

There were a few things Scott Morrison got right with his mea culpa press conference on Tuesday. The first was that he had it. It was at least a sign that the Prime Minister finally realised just how much trouble he was in.

He has floundered for five weeks. Revelations by Peter van Onselen of yet another scandal close to home spurred him to front the media to talk about floods, then apres that deluge he tried to construct a shelter from the other deluge threatening to drown him.

He tried everything. He was repentant, he sought forgiveness, he admitted he made mistakes, he promised to make amends without saying exactly how, he allowed his emotions to overflow as he expressed his love for his family and his faith.

Morrison was tearful in front of the media, then choked up again as he walked into his party meeting, before he even spoke, although that might have had more to do with the way his press conference ended, with yet another disaster, than how it began.

He had to take a moment to compose himself before urging his female MPs to be trailblazers like Dame Enid Lyons, the first woman elected to the House of Representatives.

Liberal women have suffered by allowing themselves to be chained to the talking points, to become the new Stepford Wives of politics, often forced to defend the indefensible. Now at least they are free to talk about quotas.

That is useful, although quality of the candidates as well as the capacity of the leader to consult, listen and act matters more. Also, hearing women of influence bemoan the toxic culture they helped perpetuate by bullying other women is sickening. But that’s a column for another day.

One of the many problems faced by Morrison during this rolling crisis is that the case against him and the failure of government to protect women has been prosecuted largely by women. The government’s senior women, compromised or timid or too ambitious to even think about breaking out, have held back.

The defence, such as it is, has been mounted largely by men, mainly the Prime Minister, although one of the best suggestions came from Russell Broadbent for a national gathering of women, which Morrison says is already in train, which came as a surprise to people.

Strong, articulate women, such as Grace Tame, followed by Brittany Higgins, began the essential difficult work of demolishing structures that have protected predators. Their cause was relentlessly, devastatingly pursued by Labor frontbenchers Tanya Plibersek, Kristina Keneally, Penny Wong and Catherine King, the Greens’ Sarah Hanson-Young, crossbenchers Zali Steggall and Helen Haines, and a slew of opposition backbenchers. It’s a bomb squad planting devices, detonating or defusing them.

And Morrison and his government have been spectacularly, conspicuously, inept in their responses. Unfortunately, the reset the Prime Minister had embarked on literally ended in tears.

In portent and content it was biblical, full of thunderbolts and lightning, following a sadly familiar pattern. So much about it was wrong. It was too late coming. Too much of it was about him. Too much of it didn’t stack up. There were too many deflections, too many straw men and women, and it climaxed with vengeful threats of retribution after he was challenged by a journalist.

Morrison was not criticised (Twitter aside), as he sought to imply, for discussing the rape allegations made by Higgins with his wife, Jenny, or for talking about his daughters. He was criticised because he had failed to grasp the gravity of the situation himself. His wife had to explain it to him, and even after that he lapsed again, like in his scripted speech effectively telling March 4 Justice protesters they were lucky they were “not met with bullets”. He sort of apologised for that by saying he hadn’t meant to offend.

Careful attention needs to be paid to every event and every word because of the slippery, tricky words or technicalities used by others and by him to extricate or protect him or change the conversation. They go like this: don’t ask, don’t tell; don’t show and don’t tell; if you don’t know, you can’t be blamed; even if you do know, it doesn’t mean you have to accept responsibility; keep denying, even if you have misled parliament, because eventually the story will move on.

It has been a wretched and shameful period for the government. So many important matters surfaced that the Prime Minister claimed not to know or hadn’t made it his business to find out, compounded by the other thing he purported to know that never happened…..

Read the full article here.

The Liberal Party of Australia showing its dark ugly side......

 

The failure to understand that the toxic misogynistic culture within the Liberal Party is not acceptable to the community at large continues to rip the party apart.

This is what www.tas.liberal.org.au said about one of its “team”, Speaker in the Tasmanian Legislative Assembly and current Liberal MLA for Clark Sue Hickey (left), on 12 March 2021:

Sue Hickey has proven experience and commitment to public service with six years in local government and over 30 years in small business.

Sue was elected as Lord Mayor of Hobart in 2014, she is a former Telstra Tasmanian Business Woman of the Year and she has an MBA (Masters of Business and Administration).

As a strong, thinking woman, Sue has an enormous capacity for hard work and a record for getting things done!

This webpage has since disappeared and on 22 March 2021 ABC News reported that Speaker Hickey was not being endorsed as a Liberal Party candidate at the next Tasmanian state election due to be called on or about 14 May 2022. 

Her personal website as MLA for Clark is now password protected and therefore no longer visible to the general public. She has announced that she will now be standing as an Independent at the next election.

In an ABC Northern Tasmania radio interview on 23 March 2021 Ms. Hickey spoke about a conversation she had with a then unnamed, high profile, elected federal member of the Liberal Party.

Subsequent to this interview she released this statement under parliamentary privilege, the contents of which Liberal Senator for Tasmania Eric Abetz denies:

That statement was followed by this.....

Sue Hickey has again used the Speaker’s chair to make a public comment, this time responding to Eric Abetz’s response to her! #politas #auspol @WINNews_Tas pic.twitter.com/iLT3zFsDH7

— Alex Johnston (@swegen31) March 24, 2021

By midday on 24 March 2021 the Tasmanian Premier and Liberal MLA for Bass Peter Gutwien has passed the problem back to where it belongs, on the desk of the Australian Prime Minister & Liberal MP for Cook.

ABC News, 24 March 2021:

Tasmania's Premier has written to the Prime Minister, urging him to "consider" accusations Liberal senator Eric Abetz "slut-shamed" alleged rape victim Brittany Higgins.

In a written statement, Peter Gutwein said Tasmian Speaker Sue Hickey told him several weeks ago that Senator Abetz had made offensive comments — which he has since strongly denied — but not to the level of detail raised in the state's Parliament this morning.

Late on Wednesday, Mr Gutwein acknowledged Senator Abetz had denied making the comments.

But he added: "A few weeks ago Ms Hickey raised this matter with me but not to the level of detail that was in her statements today and did not make a formal complaint to me or request that I take any action.

"As Ms Hickey has outlined her allegations in more detail in the Parliament, this afternoon I have written to the Prime Minister and requested that he consider the matters raised."…...

Predictably, at 2pm on 24 March Prime Minister Morrison publicly backed Senator Abetz.

Australian Parliament, House of Representatives, Hansard, 24 March 2021, pp.43 &45:

Mr MORRISON (Cook—Prime Minister and Minister for the Public Service) (14:00): I note the statement that has been issued by Senator Abetz: Ms Hickey's defamatory allegations under parliamentary privilege are categorically denied. Allegations of rape are serious matters and have always been treated as such by me. Sexual assault is an issue on which I've been consistently outspoken including domestic violence. He goes on to make a number of statements. I'd refer the member to the senator's statement, as it's very clear that he completely denies those statements…..

Mr MORRISON (Cook—Prime Minister and Minister for the Public Service) (14:07): The comments that have been referred to by the Speaker are obviously repugnant. What I can only refer to is the absolute denial of those statements by Senator Abetz. Now, I was not a party to this conversation. There were two persons who were allegedly party to this conversation. I was not one of them; nor was the member who asked the question…..

Mr MORRISON: The matter has been absolutely denied by Senator Abetz, and that is a matter of public record, and he will continue to serve in the role that he has. Senator Abetz has been a significant contributor to the chamber opposite—to the Senate—over a long period of time. He has served his state and he has served his nation. He has served as a minister both in the Howard government and over the term of this coalition government since they were elected. So, he will continue to serve in the roles that he now serves in within the Senate. I can only refer to his complete denial of those allegations. But the actual comments that have been quoted of course the government would find completely and utterly repugnant.

NSW floods continue and market sources suggest an insurance industry loss of more than A$1 billion is possible due to the scale flooding across the eastern half of Australia

 

The rain continues across north-east NSW.

Minor flooding is still occurring along the Wilsons River at Lismore and the Richmond River is rising from Wiangaree through to Coraki where the flood gauge registered 3.98 overnight.

Overnight the flood gauge at Grafton in the Clarence Valley registered 5.55 metres which means the flooding is now classed as "Major" there.

Down river the gauge at Ulmarra registered 4.20 metres which is just 0.07 metres below major flooding, while the gauge at Maclean registered 2.01 metres.

Coutts Crossing and Glenreagh are still affected by flooding from the Orara River, a tributary of the Clarence River. Overnight their gauges read 11.60 metres and 7,65 metres respectively.

Iluka at the mouth of the Clarence River is still cut off by Esk River flooding and access to Yamba is hampered by poor road surface conditions on the Romiaka and Oyster Channel causeways.

Road closures due to water across roads, land slips or badly damaged road surfaces are making local travel very difficult.

Elsewhere in the state, it appears that every major coastal river is either on Flood Watch or covered by a Flood Warning

There is every indication that the total damage bill for this March 2021 flooding across New South Wales will be eye-wateringly large.

Reinsurance News, 22 March 2021:

The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) says it is working with the New South Wales Government to understand the severe weather and flooding currently impacting large parts of the region, particularly around the Mid-North Coast and Hawkesbury-Nepean.

The ICA has also declared a catastrophe for large parts of NSW, following the evacuation of around 18,000 residents as a result of widespread and intense rainfall.

Market sources suggest an insurance industry loss of more than A$1 billion could be seen, with the worst still anticipated over the next two days.

Days of torrential downpours have prompted rivers and dams to overflow around Sydney and in south-east Queensland……

Insurers are reported to have received storm-related claims over the last four days, however it is still too early to estimate the damage bill as many communities remain isolated.

The ICA adds that insurance assessors are standing by to move into these communities once the flood waters recede.

“The volume and intensity of rain that has fallen in the past few days has caused damage over a huge area of NSW,” said Andrew Hall, Chief Executive Officer, ICA.

“Insurers are assisting customers with their claims to help alleviate the stress and uncertainty associated with this unfolding weather event.

“Insurers have placed disaster response specialists on standby to move into affected communities and assist customers with claims as soon as it is safe to do so.”

The Daily Telegraph, 22 March 2021:

The state’s flood disaster is expected to produce a massive clean-up bill, with insurers yesterday warned not to try and reduce payouts to people facing the worst of it.

Immediate disaster recovery payments were yesterday made available for families in 34 local government areas, with more council areas set to be added to the list.

Those eligible will be able to access a one-off payment of $1000 per adult and $400 per child to cover emergency costs.

The payment will be made available immediately to people in areas including Armidale, Bellingen, Central Coast, Cessnock City, Clarence Valley, Coffs Harbour, Dungog, Hawkesbury, Kempsey, Lake Macquarie, Maitland City, Mid-Coast, Nambucca Valley, Newcastle City, Port Macquarie-Hastings, Penrith, Port Stephens and Tenterfield.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison was yesterday briefed by Emergency Management Australia on the extreme weather issues in NSW. “This is a very complex weather system that is impacting on NSW at present over a very large area,” Mr Morrison said.

Mr Morrison and Premier Gladys Berejiklian have discussed the unfolding disaster with the Australian Defence Force. All mutual obligations for people on Jobseeker have also been suspended for those in the local government areas impacted by the NSW floods until at least April 6…….

The Daily Telegraph, 18 March 2021, p.11:

THE NSW government has waived the waste levy fee for residents disposing of storm and flood generated waste in seven North Coast local government areas declared Natural Disaster Areas.

NSW Environment Protection Authority CEO Tracy Mackey said the levy waiver followed storms and localised flooding that severely impacted the region in February.

“We hope that this assistance helps communities to expedite their clean-up operations to help them get back on their feet as soon as possible,” she said.

The councils exempted include Clarence Valley, Coffs Harbour City, Kyogle, Lismore City, Nambucca Valley, Port Macquarie-Hastings and Richmond Valley. The exemption applied until May 31 on debris and waste created by local flooding. The levy would be waived at waste facilities nominated by the councils and local waste facility gate fees could still apply. 

Details of financial assistance available to flood affected individuals and families in New South Wales through Services Australia can be found at:

https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/individuals/services/centrelink/new-south-wales-floods-march-2021-australian-government-disaster-recovery-payment

List of eligible local government areas in which individuals and families are eligible for assistance:

https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/individuals/services/centrelink/new-south-wales-floods-march-2021-australian-government-disaster-recovery-payment

Widespread rain set to continue into next week across much of Australia

 

ABC News, 22 March 2021:

BOM warns more wild weather to come as tropical cloud band collides with east coast trough

Heavy rainfall is expected to continue in the coming days before starting to ease off Wednesday.
(

Supplied: Bureau Of Meteorology

)

"Absolutely incredible" totals are set to continue as weather systems collide, bringing a peak to the rain overnight and into tomorrow morning.

Every state and territory, except Western Australia, is expected to be under some sort of heavy rain warning by this evening.

Very dangerous conditions continue for flood-affected areas as another 50 to 100 millimetres is expected to fall on already swollen catchments today…...

• Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) Warnings Current as of 7.28pm 22 Mach 2021:
• 
  
• Marine Wind Warning Summary for New South Wales,
• Severe Weather Warning for Northern Rivers, Mid North Coast, Hunter, Metropolitan, Illawarra, South Coast, Central Tablelands, Southern Tablelands, North West Slopes and Plains, Central West Slopes and Plains, Upper Western, Snowy Mountains, Australian Capital Territory, Northern Tablelands and parts of South West Slopes and Lower Western Forecast Districts. ,
• Hazardous Surf Warning for New South Wales,
• Warning to Sheep Graziers for Northern Tablelands, Illawarra, South Coast, Central Tablelands, Southern Tablelands, North West Slopes & Plains, Central West Slopes & Plains, South West Slopes, Riverina and Snowy Mountains forecast districts,
• Flood Watch for parts of Northern Rivers, Mid North Coast, Sydney, South Coast, South West, Central West and North West,
• Initial Minor Flood Warning for the Wilsons River,
• Minor to Moderate Flood Warning for the Bellinger River,
• Moderate Flood Warning for the Macleay River,
• Moderate Flood Warning for the Hastings River,
• Moderate Flood Warning for the Manning and Gloucester Rivers,
• Major Flood Warning for Wollombi Brook and Minor flood warning for the Lower Hunter River,
• Moderate to Major Flood Warning for the Hawkesbury, Nepean and Colo Rivers,
• Moderate Flood Warning for the Deua River,
• Minor Flood Warning for the Tuggerah Lake,
• Moderate Flood Warning for the Orara River,
• Minor Flood Warning for the Paroo River (NSW),
• Final Flood Warning for the Marshalls Creek,
• Final Flood Warning for the Wallis Lake,
• Minor Flood Warning for the Paterson and Williams Rivers,
• Moderate Flood Warning for the Nambucca River,
• Final Flood Warning for the Camden Haven River,
• Initial Minor Flood Warning for the Richmond River,
• Minor Flood Warning for the Myall River,
• Moderate Flood Warning for the Macquarie River to Bathurst,
• Road Weather Alert for Sydney for all suburbs,
• Minor Flood Warning for the Snowy River.

Go to https://www.livetraffic.com/ for updates on NSW road and bridge closures due to flooding, as well as roads with poor driving conditions.

And the Abbott-Turnbull- Morrison Government's NBN copper saga continues......

 

One of Telstra's old pits being used by the NBN
IMAGE: Coast Community News, March 2016

Now that so many old Telstra copper-laden access pits which connect households with NBN fibre-to-the-node broadband technology are currently under flood water up and down the coast of New South Wales, it might be time to consider how all this water is impacting the integrity of the copper components in these concrete pits and the effect that this might have on current and future access to the Internet and modem-connected landlines.

Because it seems copper is still king for NBN Chair Ziggy Switkowski and his seven fellow directors.

The New Daily, 21 March 2021:

The NBN Co’s decision to continue to purchase and roll out ‘obsolete’ copper cabling over ‘future proof’ fibre-optic cables is costing Australia, telco experts say.

New figures show NBN Co has purchased 55,911 kilometres worth of copper cabling for use in the national broadband network’s footprint – enough to wrap around Australia twice.

The government-owned business has replaced 6,300 degraded copper lead-ins on fibre-to-the-kerb (FTTC) with brand new copper, it was revealed this week.

RMIT associate professor of network engineering Mark Gregory slammed NBN Co’s continued use of copper as “wasteful”.

The admission by NBN Co that it had purchased 55,911 km to boost “obsolete” copper-based connections including fibre-to-the-node (FTTN) and FTTC “is shocking and should be met with outrage by taxpayers who will have to pay again, in the form of higher broadband plan costs, to have the obsolete copper based technologies replaced over the next decade,” Dr Gregory said.

“The Coalition’s NBN plan has become a national disgrace. The NBN rollout, which in reality has yet to be completed, is beset by cost and technology problems and the list of the government’s failed promises growing by the month.”

The copper figures were revealed in the Senate in response to Questions on Notice, and were 57 days overdue.

The Morrison government and NBN Co have faced criticism for being slow to answer Questions on Notice.

Last month, overdue responses to QoNs revealed that NBN Co had paid out more than $77 million in bonuses during the midst of the pandemic – nearly twice as much as the previous year…….

The NBN rollout was officially completed last year, but the Morrison government has already conceded that the many of the network’s copper-based connections already need to be upgraded.

In September, Communications Minister Paul Fletcher promised to pour more than $3 billion into upgrading millions of copper-based connections to fibre-to-the-premises by 2023.

This is on top of the cost of the rollout, which is estimated to have exceeded $57 billion…..

Labor’s shadow minister for communications, Michelle Rowland, accused Liberals of deceiving the public over the cost of fibre.

“We now know the Liberals knew back in 2013 that deploying fibre was dramatically cheaper than what they claimed in public,” Ms Rowland said.

“Malcolm Turnbull and Paul Fletcher kept this a secret and spent eight years knowingly misleading Australians to justify their copper mess.

“With waste and dishonesty as far as the eye can see – is it any wonder the cost of their copper NBN has gone from $29 billion, to $41 billion, to $49 billion and now $57 billion?”…..