A brief explanation of the science of global warming

The science of global warming beautifully and simply explained by Dr. Carl Sagan, ca. 1985. pic.twitter.com/r85v5Vj5Kp

— Physics In History (@PhysInHistory) August 16, 2023

Blockade Australia August 2023: climate crisis activists court appearances update

 

BLOCKADE AUSTRALIA, media release, 23 August 2023:

Emma Dorge appeared before Magistrate Breton at Penrith Local Court today. Emma was found guilty to resisting arrest by plain clothes officers at Springwood train station.

The Magistrate did question why the initial arrest was even made for breaching bail, as police were unable to specify the breach or provide any evidence, and did not lay this charge. Police prosecution claimed that police were acting in good faith, despite concurrent bail breach accusations against Emma of not being allowed in NSW and not residing at a NSW address. In response to this, the Magistrate stated, "I suggest otherwise, it seems there was no breach of bail, meaning there would have been no power to arrest her at all".

"Despite the obvious lack of reason for my arrest, the magistrate still decided that me turning to get out my phone to contact help constitutes resisting arrest. The judicial system has once again protected police mis-use of power; over the rights of people affected by it."

"As we see increasing over-reach by the police and courts, we also see increasing extreme climate events around the world. We must match this with resistance." Emma Dorge

Blockade Australia is a growing network of people commitment to targeting the economic pinch points that materially disrupt the exportation and exploitation that this political system relies on. This was demonstrated in a simultaneous week of actions at Brisbane, Newcastle and Melbourne ports in June.

Blockade Australia acknowledges First Nations Peoples as the custodians and true owners of this land

Earlier Blockade Australia media news announcement, 23 August 2023:

Emma Dorge, who was arrested in June 2022 in a spree of arrests made by police to repress Blockade Australia's planned mobilisation in Sydney last year, is facing court today [Wednesday 23rd] at Penrith Local Court. Several other Blockade Australia activists have faced court or had charges dropped by police this past week - details below. Two of these people - Daniel Heggie and Emma Dorge will be available for comment at court today.

Emma Dorge is pleading not guilty to resisting arrest when being apprehended by two undercover officers at a train station in June last year. The police attempted and failed to bring a detention order on Emma. Emma has been living with `bail conditions for 14 months, including: not to associate with 25 others, including their partner, had to move house and leave NSW. These conditions, whilst extensive, have been used against various activists arrested in the period in association with Blockade Australia.

At the same time in June last year, Max Curmi and Daniel Heggie were being held in custody after the bungled Colo surveillance operation which led to the large scale raid. Both were given a significant list of charges each. Daniel was facing charges of aid and abet in the commission of a crime, for unloading a trailer at Colo, was subsequently on bail for over a year, only for all charges to be dropped the day before the court date. Max was charged with conspiracy and affray, for which he was held on remand for over 3 weeks, along with Tim Neville who was also arrested during the raid.

On these police tactics, Max wrote from prison in June last year, "I'm a political prisoner, I'm being held on prefabricated charges because I refuse to let this system continue destroying this continent, the climate and our right to a livable future".

Aunty Caroline Kirk, Ngemba Elder and Lily Bett were in Paramatta court last week for charges of obstruct and intimidate the police during the Colo raids in June last year. The intimidation and obstruct charges were laid on them for yelling at or standing in the path of, what they identified as armed intruders at a private residence.

Aunty Caroline was given $400 in fine and Lily a 6 month CRO. Both had no conviction recorded.

At the time of the charges in question, police were dressed in camouflage and black clothes, refused to identify themselves and hit several people in the process of leaving in a car. It was not until 100+ police, with dogs and helicopters made their way down the valley, smashing up the camp and holding everyone for hours, that it became clear it was a police operation.

"Over the past 18 months we have seen harsh bail conditions, surveillance and incarceration of climate activists, even when no legitimate charges end up being laid. These underhanded police tactics go hand in hand with the anti protest laws introduced early last year. Australia uses these repressive mechanisms to uphold this destructive profit-growth system and block meaningful climate action." - Emma Dorge

More than $847.25 million in wages are estimated to be underpaid each year, affecting 1.38 million workers - in June 2022 that included approx. 16,045 NSW Northern Rivers employees believed to be owed stolen wages of est. $4.8 million

 

“Australian workers are dealing with the rising cost

of living, housing market pressures, a rental crisis,

and stagnant wage growth.

Unpaid earnings harm people who worked in good faith for their pay packet and - right now - people are having to carefully count every dollar…

More than $847.25 million in wages are estimated to be underpaid each year, affecting 1.38 million workers, or

about 11.5 per cent of the employed Australian workforce”

[McKell Institute, “Unfinished Business: The Ongoing Battle Against Wage Theft”, August 2023]

Smart Company, 22 August 2023:

Wage theft is costing Australian workers $850 million a year, demonstrating an “ingrained culture” of deliberate underpayment and the need for criminalisation at the federal level, according to a damning new report from the McKell Institute.

A fresh analysis of Fair Work Ombudsman audits stretching back to 2009 shows more than a quarter of audited businesses failed to observe the monetary obligations set out by industry awards or enterprise agreements, according to the think tank.

Its calculations show nearly 27,000 businesses were found to have underpaid approximately 1.3 million Australian workers over that time frame.

The real level of wage underpayment is likely higher, McKell Institute CEO Ed Cavanough said, as the analysis did not cover the underpayment of penalty rates, or circumstances where payment under a different award would have been more appropriate.

“This is an extraordinary amount of money being stolen and it’s unacceptable,” Cavanough said in a statement.

Wage underpayment hits businesses big and small

The report arrives against a backdrop of high-profile wage underpayments claims, with Coles, Target, and Bunnings just a few of the major brands to have revealed significant wage underpayments in recent years.

Wage underpayment also stretches deep into the small business sector, with the Fair Work Ombudsman on Tuesday revealing it has levelled nearly $85,000 in penalties against two Victorian businesses accused of underpaying young workers, as a result of its latest investigation.

The Ombudsman recently launched a spate of undercover campaigns targeting small restaurants and food court vendors deemed to offer suspiciously low-cost fare.

The McKell Institute argues laws criminalising wage theft across the board are necessary to discourage employers from deliberately withholding earnings and entitlements.

The report throws its weight behind the federal government’s upcoming industrial relations reform package, which is expected to contain legislation making wage theft a criminal offence across the board….

Read the full article here.

In the NSW Northern Rivers region there are two federal electorates, Page and Richmond.

According to the McKell Institute 29-page analysis of the economic impact of wage theft in Australia, as of June 2022:

• In the electorate of Page there were est. 1,366 non-compliant business which between them were believed to have stolen wages from 7,023 employees with a total minimum value of $4,289,664.

• In the electorate of Richmond there were est. 1,754 non-compliant businesses which between them were believed to have stolen wages from 9,022 employees with a total minimum value of $5,510,65.

North Coast Voices will not be posting from Saturday 19 August to Wednesday 23 August 2023

Personally, I find a UK gaoler/overseer supplying convict labour for outdoor work in Australia has an uncomfortable historical resonance even when dressed up as ‘work experience’

 

Clarence Correctional Centre is a 1,700 bed maximum- and minimum-security correctional centre for male and female offenders, which includes 400 minimum security beds. The centre is located at Lavidia 12km south east of Grafton in the Clarence Valley.

This prison opened in July 2020 is managed on a twenty-year contract by Serco Asia Pacific on behalf of the NSW Government. This contract was initially worth UK £1.5 billion to the Serco Group.

The Serco Group Plc is a UK-based, publicly listed, multinational corporation which in the first half of 2023 had revenue of UK £2.4 billion and is expected to end the year with revenue of at least UK £4.8 billion (AUS $9.4 billion).

Apparently Serco appears to be anticipating that Clarence Valley Council will assist it in meeting this revenue target – presumably by way of a program grant from government directly to Serco.

Personally, I find a UK gaoler/overseer supplying convict labour for outdoor work in Australia has an uncomfortable historical resonance even when dressed up as ‘work experience’.

It should be noted that Serco has a long history of contract breaches when it comes to correctional and immigration detention facilities, for overcharging government for its services, poor security and human rights abuse.

The Daily Telegraph, 15 August 2023:

The United Services Union states Clarence Valley Council wants to use prison inmates for repair and maintenance work in parks and reserves such as Market Square in Grafton.

But the council has hit back in a statement accusing the union of embarking on a campaign “built on misinformation and scaremongering”.

Northern regional organiser John Hickson said the main issue which upset the union was the lack of communication from the council.

“The way we found out was a phone call from our delegate that two supervisors had been summoned to a meeting about areas where prisoners could work around Grafton,” he said.

“We were upset because we weren’t informed or consulted about it … we even sent a letter to the council asking them to respond to the issue, which they’ve failed to do.

“What’s happening is so wrong because it should be council work for council employees — not for prisoners.”

In response, Mr Hickson started a campaign on Tuesday – including flyers and a placard on a bus – to make Grafton aware of the council’s proposal.

“The community response so far has been absolute shock and outrage — they knew nothing about it too,” he said….

The council stated key outdoor staff have been asked to provide feedback on the pilot program, which, if it goes ahead, would provide work experience to inmates.

“The ideas floated at a meeting with Serco executives early in August include repair and maintenance of park and recreational spaces,” the council stated.

“The pilot program is at the inception end of development and no details have been finalised or agreed.

“Council management is disappointed in the response by the United Services Union, which is built on misinformation and scaremongering.”

The statement declared the program “is not intended to replace council staff”.

“(Council is even) preparing to increase its Open Space workforce by up to six employees to accommodate increased workloads due to recent upgrades and the influx of tourists to the area,” it read.

Later in the afternoon, council issued another statement, which welcomed a decision to discontinue a matter that was being heard in the Industrial Relations Commission today.

“(The ruling gives) council clear direction to progress discussions with staff and the union about partnering with Serco to establish a day release work program, noting any activities should not be those that are contained within current staff work program,” the statement read.

Clarence Valley Council has been contacted for further comment.

Ray White Yamba is to be congratulated for deciding to not use the Ailo app in its rental business model

 

Ailo app 1.0 was released in or about April 2020 and has had nine iterations up to 25 July 2023.

From the beginning this app appears to have had stability issues – eg., app crashing, failure to load (Loading Error, Server Timeout Error, Connection Reset Error, Connection Failed Error) – and raised some general concerns about security of personal information due to potential third-party data sharing, possibly including photographs of occupied rental interiors.

This post in a Reddit thread appears to encapsulates renter unhappiness:

I've had nothing but problems since being forced to use this god awful app. Incorrect due dates for rent, incorrect amounts being charged for rent, receiving repeated emails stating my rent is $5 overdue ( this one lasted for months). Not to mention the annoyance of trying to pay rent without being charged a fee.

While a Whirpool forum show tenants are fighting back:

I successfully complained to the Dept of Fair Trading NSW and Ailo have now offered a 'fee-waiver form' as a way to stop fees being charged for direct debit rent payments.

It does sound like you only avoid paying fees if you know about the fee-waver form.

In my view the wording of the current legislation is too open to abuse, which is what Ailo have done (see Residential Tenancies Act 2010, Sect 35.) Fair Trading and others are putting pressure on Ailo and it seems to be working; make your voice heard if this is affecting you.

Fair Trading recommended contacting policy @customerservice.nsw.gov.au, who review legislation reforms, and Tenants Advice or Advocacy Services (TAAS) at www.tenants.org.au

Hope this helps.

So Ray White Yamba is to be congratulated for deciding to not use the Ailo app in its rental business model.

Clarence Valley Independent, 16 August 2020

Increasing cost-of-living pressures have led Ray White Yamba to elect not to use the Ailo mobile app, introduced by the company across its network of agents as a property management system, for tenants to pay and landlords to collect rental payments.

Recently, some Ray White agents, along with other real estate brands, across Australia emailed tenants and landlords inviting them to use Ailo, a third-party property management app to pay their rent, which was founded by former Ray White Director Ben White.

Ray White Yamba Managing Director, Daniel Kelly said after piloting and testing the Ailo property management system they decided against implementing it for their clients.

“The Ailo technology is not exclusive to Ray White, there’s other brands around the country that are using it as well,” he said.

“Based on our experience in using it, we feel as though it is not the right fit for us.”

The Ailo app charges 0.25 per-cent for an automated direct debit from a bank account, 0.95 per-cent for debit card payments and 1.5 per-cent for credit card payments, while also offering a fee-free method of payment as required.

In NSW, a law was passed in 2011 that every real estate agent must offer a fee free means of paying rent.

Mr Kelly said convenience and increasing cost-of-living pressures were reasons why Ray White Yamba chose not to use the Ailo app.

“Predominantly one reason was convenience for our clients, tenants in particular, because it’s a system that largely would have been accepted, I believe by landlords, but, from a tenancy perspective the feedback that we have had is that it removed a level of convenience for them in paying the rent,” he said.

“The decision we came to was, obviously cost-of-living is a big issue at the moment, and we don’t want to be inflicting further pain on people, so it wasn’t the right fit for us.”

A GST fraud wave costing Treasury at least $4.6 billion has been perpetrated by thousands of greedy people falsely asserting they own & trade as a business

 

Financial Review, 14 August 2023:

An explosive wave of fraud that has shaken the Tax Office’s GST system had been building for months before accountants began to notice early last year. By then it was everywhere and no one wanted to talk about it.

“I started seeing it through the office about March of 2022, a few people came in with business files with the ATO – these really large credits going out, big, big credits, unusual credits,” a western Sydney accountant told The Australian Financial Review.

“It didn’t prick my attention. Then I saw a few more, and a few more, and a few more. It kept growing. Tax time came [from July 2022] and it was rampant, absolutely rampant.”

By then, accountants around Australia were realising that the country was in the thick of a multibillion-dollar explosion of GST fraud that had gone viral. It’s the crime wave the Tax Office didn’t see coming.

How big a crime wave? “The inside word among tax officers is $4.6 billion – that is insane,” says the accountant, who like others spoke to the Financial Review on condition of anonymity. “Everyone’s too scared to go up against the ATO.”

The Tax Office has confirmed the $4.6 billion figure, which seems likely to be an underestimate.

It was “the biggest tax revenue fraud against the community in the history of the ATO”, deputy commissioner John Ford said in a speech in May.

The fraud is a simple one that involves individuals using their MyGov account to claim refunds on GST payments that were never made.

While the fraud may be simple, piecing together this invisible crime wave raises questions about why the Tax Office took so long to catch on.

And now it’s tax time again. While the Tax Office insists it has the fraud under control, accountants in western Sydney are painting a darker picture.

“They keep changing [the scam],” an accountant says. “I saw more clients today that [the ATO] didn’t pick up. One guy got $50,000, then another $35,000, then another $25,000.

“He hasn’t had to pay it back. He got this at the end of 2022. This isn’t being picked up as fraudulent activity.

“I’ve seen two more already this morning. One has a debt of $18,000. He tried to get more but was stopped eventually by the ATO.”

A client received $130,000 from fraudulent claims in July 2022 and was not picked up until December. Another client was paid $60,000 last September. How did it get to this?

Banks had been warning the Tax Office about a rising pattern of GST fraud – and freezing suspect accounts – from late 2020. They became increasingly frustrated by the apparent lack of action by the ATO, as they were faced with the decision of what to do with the frozen accounts…..

By mid-2021 the fraud was exploding as social media – in particular TikTok – was full of explainers how to get a “loan” from the government.

In one example cited to the Financial Review a man claimed a $50,000 GST refund in August 2021, then raised another $50,000 several months later. It was only when he tried it again last May that the Tax Office caught up with him.

Read the full article here.