Friday, 14 June 2024

NACCered: a brief look at the immediate repercussions of the National Anti-Corruption Commission decision not to pursue Robodebt Royal Commission referrals but instead focus on ensuring lessons learnt

 

The public reaction to the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) announced decision - to dismiss those referrals of corruption findings received from the Royal Commission into the Robodebt Schemewas immediate and an intense mix of emotions dominated by shock, disbelief, distress, worry and anger.


The tone and wording of NACC's media release was frequently viewed as insulting, arrogant and divorced from reality.


These are the reasons originally given by the NACC for not investigating those six person referred to it by the Royal Commission.....


National Anti-Corruption Commission decides not to pursue Robodebt Royal Commission referrals but focus on ensuring lessons learnt


Media Releases

Published: 6 Jun 2024


On 6 July 2023, the National Anti-Corruption Commission (Commission) received referrals concerning six public officials from the Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme (Robodebt Royal Commission) pursuant to section 6P(2B) of the Royal Commissions Act 1902 (Cth).


The Commission has carefully considered each referral and reviewed the extensive material provided by the Robodebt Royal Commission, including its final report, and the Confidential Chapter.


The Commission has become aware that five of the six public officials were also the subject of referrals to the Australian Public Service Commission (APSC).


The Commission is conscious of the impact of the Robodebt Scheme on individuals and the public, the seniority of the officials involved, and the need to ensure that any corruption issue is fully investigated.


However, the conduct of the six public officials in connection with the Robodebt Scheme has already been fully explored by the Robodebt Royal Commission and extensively discussed in its final report. After close consideration of the evidence that was available to the Royal Commission, the Commission has concluded that it is unlikely it would obtain significant new evidence.


In the absence of a real likelihood of a further investigation producing significant new evidence, it is undesirable for a number of reasons to conduct multiple investigations into the same matter. This includes the risk of inconsistent outcomes, and the oppression involved in subjecting individuals to repeated investigations.


In deciding whether to commence a corruption investigation, the Commission takes into account a range of factors. A significant consideration is whether a corruption investigation would add value in the public interest, and that is particularly relevant where there are or have been other investigations into the same matter. There is not value in duplicating work that has been or is being done by others, in this case with the investigatory powers of the Royal Commission, and the remedial powers of the APSC.


Beyond considering whether the conduct in question amounted to corrupt conduct within the meaning of the Act and, if satisfied, making such a finding, the Commission cannot grant a remedy or impose a sanction (as the APSC can). Nor could it make any recommendation that could not have been made by the Robodebt Royal Commission. An investigation by the Commission would not provide any individual remedy or redress for the recipients of government payments or their families who suffered due to the Robodebt Scheme.


The Commission has therefore decided not to commence a corruption investigation as it would not add value in the public interest. However, the Commission considers that the outcomes of the Robodebt Royal Commission contain lessons of great importance for enhancing integrity in the Commonwealth public sector and the accountability of public officials. The Commission will continue through its investigation, inquiry, and corruption prevention and education functions, to address the integrity issues raised in the final report, particularly in relation to ethical decision making, to ensure that those lessons are learnt, and to hold public officials to account.


In order to avoid any possible perception of a conflict of interest, the Commissioner delegated the decision in this matter to a Deputy Commissioner.


The Commission will not be making further comment.


A brief look at the response to that decision on social media platform X more familiarly known as Twitter....


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


An example of media reporting of the developing situation, as reported by Crikey on Thursday 13 June 2024:


A NACC that ignores robodebt is no NACC at all


It took the federal anti-corruption watchdog a year to decide to do nothing on robodebt, and a few hours to realise it faced a public relations disaster. What it had failed to see was that its inaction would outrage more than just the direct victims of the Coalition’s illegal scheme, writes Michael Bradley. It would outrage any Australian fed up with a political system we no longer have any trust in.


Another example of mainstream media's account of NACC's response including a statement by the Inspector of the National Anti-Corruption Commission, as reported by ABC News on 13 June 2024:


The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) will be asked to explain why it refused to launch a fresh probe into the Robodebt scandal, after the watchdog's watchdog received nearly 900 complaints about the decision.


The Inspector of the National Anti-Corruption Commission, tasked with overseeing the agency's operations and conduct, has announced it will start its own inquiry into the matter.......


Inspector Gail Furness SC said her office had received nearly 900 complaints after the NACC made its ruling.


"Many of those complaints allege corrupt conduct or maladministration by the NACC in making that decision," she said in a statement.


"I also note that there has also been much public commentary.


"Accordingly, I have decided to inquire into that decision. I anticipate that I will make my findings public in due course."....



NOTE


Inspector of the National Anti-Corruption Commission website as at 13 June 2024:


Roleof the Inspector

The Inspector’s role is to:

  • detect corrupt conduct in the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC)

  • undertake preliminary investigations into NACC corruption issues

  • undertake investigations into NACC corruption issues that could involve corrupt conduct that is serious or systemic. ‘Serious or systemic’ means something that is significant, something more than negligible or trivial but it does not have to be severe or grave. Systemic means something that is more than an isolated case, it involves a pattern of behaviour or something that affects or is embedded in a system

  • refer NACC corruption issues to the NACC, Commonwealth agencies and State or Territory government entities

  • investigate complaints of maladministration or officer misconduct by the NACC or a staff member of the NACC. The Inspector cannot deal with complaints about any other agency or its staff provide relevant information and documents to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on the NACC 

  • receive public interest disclosures under the Public Interest Disclosure Act 2013

  • audit the NACC to monitor compliance with the laws of the Commonwealth

  • report to Parliament on the outcomes of the Inspector’s activities.


Thursday, 13 June 2024

As the gentle giants pass by......


Twice a year the ocean off the NSW Coast becomes a busy highway.

Between May and July these gentle giants can be seen heading north towards their sub-tropical breeding grounds and then between September and November they pass along coastal waters heading south back to Antarctica. 

Here are some scenes of the northern migration in 2023 and 2024 as the whales make their way through the waters off northern New South Wales.

 

Video by  Joe Young

 

Via @OzEcology


 Video byByron-Jindabyne


Video by Alex McNaught


Wednesday, 12 June 2024

Less than twelve months out from the next federal election and Peter Dutton's 'when I am prime minister' promises are beginning to mount


IMAGE: The Guardian 11.06.24
Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP
It would appear that Leader of the Opposition & Liberal MP for Dickson, Peter Dutton(left), has decided that his style of leadership less than twelve months out from the next federal general election is to commence a sustained presidential-style campaign to win back government.

The 'when I am prime minister' comments and promises have increased recently.


To add context and keep track of what Dutton has been promising since becoming opposition leader, here is a list of promises made so far. Not all of which have stood the test of time.


Dutton’s super promise

The Mercury, 2 March 2023:

The Opposition Leader said the Coalition would not support the changes given Labor had declared it would not tinker with superannuation during the election campaign. “We’re dead against it, and we will repeal it. We’re not going to stand by and watch Australians attacked,” Mr Dutton said. Treasurer Jim Chalmers defended the changes on Wednesday morning, arguing while there would be some “political cost” to the move, overall it was a “modest” reform.


Dutton promises improved facilities for female sports participants during shire visit

St. George and Sutherland Shire Leader, 18 August 2023:

Mr Dutton, accompanied by the MP for Hughes and shadow sports minister, made an early election promise that a Coalition government would help sporting clubs improve facilities to help increase female participation.

He said $250 million would be provided over four years for community sporting infrastructure across the country.


Dutton promises another vote if Indigenous Voice fails

Brisbane Times, 2 September 2023:

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has promised to hold a referendum on constitutional recognition for Indigenous Australians if the Voice is defeated at the ballot box next month, and he wins power at the next election.

Setting out some of his alternatives to a Voice that is written into the Constitution, the opposition leader said he supported “regional voices” and the recognition of First Australians.


Cook returns fire over Dutton defund pledge

The Australian, 31 January 2024:

The federal Opposition Leader on Tuesday used an address to the WA Chamber of Minerals and Energy to promise to withdraw financial support for the EDO [Environmental Defenders Office]...


Dutton railroads PM in byelection: Campaign on Track

Sydney Morning Herald, 02 Feb 2024:

Dutton will travel to Melbourne's bayside today to pledge $900 million towards extending Melbourne's rail network to the booming suburbs south of the electorate.

The electrification of the Frankston-Baxter line, along which a diesel V/line service runs, would include new stations at Langwarrin and Frankston East, both of which sit within Dunkley.


Dutton promises more tax cuts under Coalition

The Sydney Morning Herald, 07 February 2024:

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton emerged from a Coalition party room meeting yesterday to admit he could not block the Labor tax cuts and would not roll them back if he won power, but he vowed to add to them with further measures announced before the election.


Dutton: 'I'll wind back regulation'

The Australian Financial Review, 3 April 2024:

Peter Dutton will promise business leaders cheaper energy prices and less government interference under the Coalition, pledging to stay out of the way of employment and profit growth through a simplified industrial relations system...

Invoking the vision of Liberal Party founder Robert Menzies in an address to the Council of Small Business Organisations Australia, Mr Dutton will pledge to better represent workers and business operators if the Coalition wins the next election, delivering a "back-to-basics economic agenda"....

A year out from the next election, Mr Dutton will to call for sustainable wage growth delivered through productivity enhancements....

He will tell attendees the Coalition is developing plans for a dramatic ramp-up in domestic gas production and will present policies for deployment of nuclear power technologies.


Campbell: Dutton’s migration promises a year too late to seize political initiative

The Daily Telegraph (Online),19 May 2024:

On Thursday night, in his budget-in-reply, speech Peter Dutton finally grabbed the political opportunity this represents by promising to cut permanent migration for two years from 185,000 to 140,000 – or by 25 per cent – and to work with universities to set a cap on foreign students.

He will also ban foreign investors and temporary residents from buying existing homes in Australia.


I’ll kick out any foreigner who commits serious crime: Dutton

The Australian, 7 June 2024:

Peter Dutton says no non-citizen who commits a dangerous crime in Australia should be allowed to stay in the country as a matter of principle, arguing they should be deported “immediately”


Dutton vows to ‘make Victoria great again’

Herald Sun, 8 June 2024:

Peter Dutton wants Victoria to return to its “manufacturing powerhouse” glory days — and he says with his strong economic leadership skills, he can get us there.


Dutton to pull Australia out of Paris Agreement if elected

The Sydney Morning Herald, 8 June 2024:

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has signalled he will scrap the nation’s legally binding 2030 climate target and risk Australia’s membership of the Paris Agreement on climate change, following his vow to deploy nuclear energy to reach net zero by 2050.

Dutton declared on Saturday that a Coalition government would not pursue Australia’s legally binding climate target to cut emissions by 43 per cent from 2005 levels by 2030.


To be continued.....

Tuesday, 11 June 2024

Is The Bureau of Meteorology Marching Australia Into Even More Danger As Climate Change Risks Increase?

 

No-one who lived through the catastrophic combination of weather systems which flooded est. 600 kilometres of Australia’s east coast in 2022 would be in doubt that the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) was failing in its primary function.


Particularly here in the NSW Northern Rivers region, where the erratic & contradictory forecasting by BOM during the eight days of 23 February to 2 March 2022 saw at least four people drown in preventable deaths.


Months after that record-breaking flood event ABC News reported on the findings of a NSW parliamentary inquiry:

information from the State Emergency Service (SES) and Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) was "incorrect and out of date", leaving the community with "no other option but to ignore government advice and save lives"....It urged the weather bureau to review its rain data infrastructure and flood modelling tools.


However, the worry began for me long before that, when in 2016 I read this:

Dr Johnson has a Bachelor of Agricultural Science (Honours) and PhD from the University of Queensland and a Masters in Public Administration from the John F Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University where he was a Rotary Foundation Scholar. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technical Sciences and Engineering and the Australian Institute of Company Directors.


And realised there was no indepth formal meteorological training in his background.


Worries about BOM under Dr.Johnson have been bubbling to the surface in the media since his installation as Director and this below is only the latest.....



"I'm told a nationwide data centre outage on Friday affected observations ~across the entire country~ Missing min and max temps, wind speeds for Friday and Sat at every single obs. station with the exception of the airports which are not yet auto" [Rick Morton

@SquigglyRick, 10 June 2024]





The Saturday Paper, June 8 – 14, 2024 | No. 503:



Inside the Bureau of Meteorology’s forecast failings


As the Bureau of Meteorology pulls back on its international obligations, increasing automation and a lack of experienced staff has made forecasts less reliable.


By Rick Morton



Bureau of Meteorology chief executive Dr Andrew Johnson turned up to Senate estimates last month without his right-hand man, Peter Stone, many of the bureau’s other executives and, apparently, his briefing notes.


Johnson, who is also the director of meteorology, appointed to the now $533,000 a year job in 2016 by former environment minister Josh Frydenberg, claimed not to be able to answer basic questions about BoM processes. At one stage, he even attempted to prevent his chief operating officer from speaking.


So, you have no familiarity? Don’t you come prepared for Senate estimates?” Liberal Senator Jonathon Duniam said after asking basic questions alongside Greens Senator Barbara Pocock about how the BoM handles cost overruns and contract delivery delays.


I am shocked at the lack of capacity to answer questions of that nature even in a general sense. This is astounding.”


It was less astounding to senior Bureau of Meteorology staff who have watched a $1 billion-plus technology transformation project at the agency, called ROBUST, slide off the rails over several years. And less surprising still to the meteorologists at the forecaster, who have witnessed a centralisation of the BoM’s remaining qualified staff to a “national production” model based in Melbourne and Brisbane while being told not to change automatic local forecasts they know to be wrong.


The philosophy was ‘near enough is good enough’,” a former meteorologist says.


When the director would come around spruiking the centralisation, that was the actual quote. You know, if you’re saying it’s going to be wet and it’s super wet, that’s not life-threatening. He wants to focus on ‘high-impact events’ but they are not going to be a problem because they’ve got specialised teams.


But, for a farmer, five millimetres [of rain] as opposed to 20 millimetres is a massive big deal.”


The noticeable slip in forecast quality, especially where meteorologists have been prevented by resourcing constraints or internal policy from correcting known errors in the automatic model outputs, was first confirmed by The Saturday Paper and stems in part from a broader cultural shift at the Bureau of Meteorology. According to sources, this shift has seen a massive restructure of talent and the removal of internal voices of dissent.


You can warn them about quality but they will straight up tell you black is white and then move on, expecting you to get with the program,” one forecaster says. “And then they wonder why the wheels are falling off.”


Since Johnson came to the role eight years ago, eight members of the small executive team who report directly to him have left. The turnover in management ranks below has been much greater.


Meanwhile, forecasters – including those who work on floods or bushfires in addition to the meteorologists – have increased by just five positions. The work required of these highly qualified people, however, has become more demanding and more complex.


Poor planning and management practices at the weather agency have exacerbated resource constraints. Like the weather they forecast, these issues operate in a tightly interconnected system of feedback loops.


Take the now abandoned plan to move the national forecast grid to a three-kilometre resolution. After years of effort, the project was deemed “too hard” and shelved in late 2021, returning the nation to a six-kilometre grid in every state and territory, including Victoria and Tasmania, which were already successfully running at the sharper resolution.


At the same time, however, a new Australian Fire Danger Rating System (AFDRS) was already in development with prototypes tested by the BoM and the New South Wales Rural Fire Service. The royal commission into the 2019-20 Black Summer bushfires recommended it be fast-tracked.


Among other features, this new system was designed on a three-kilometre grid. The race to have it launched suffered as “all Graphical Forecast Editor (GFE) development resources” were dedicated to making the grid change happen, pushing back delivery timelines on the new fire-warning system.


At the other end of delivery, new delays were added. Aborting the three-kilometre grid project resulted in the need to translate BoM’s six-kilometre resolution data to the fire grid via additional “workarounds” from forecasters.


Testing of the AFDRS has now also been compromised by a six-year delay in upgrades to the Bureau of Meteorology supercomputer, Australis II.


The attitude there now seems to be ‘what’s in it for us?’ despite the fact the BoM is a big player in the Pacific region with climate change and tropical cyclones.”


Last month, BoM researchers led by Paul Gregory and Naomi Benger released a report analysing the seasonal outlooks produced as part of the new rating system.


Currently the outlooks cannot be verified in realtime as there are no sources of gridded, realtime, AFDRS observations,” the paper says.


This lack of realtime observations also prevents the Bureau from providing any post-event analysis using AFDRS. This service gap can be filled by integrating the AFDRS computational modules into the Bureau’s National Analysis System (NAS), and the realtime BARRA-2 reanalysis system.


Both of these systems are currently in trial and are awaiting the upgrading of the Bureau’s supercomputer (Australis II) for deployment.”......


Forecasters who spoke to The Saturday Paper, on condition of anonymity because they feared reprisals, have attributed at least some of their deep unhappiness at the BoM to the management culture.


One persistent issue is the decision to launch the massive Public Services Transformation project alongside the ROBUST technology investment. While the former might have had some appeal from an efficiency point of view, the parallel nature of the two vast projects created substantial backlogs and catastrophic delays.


To be honest, we have never recovered from either program,” another employee says.


We have just been crunched. And at the same time, the country has faced some of its worst ever flood and fire events one after another. I feel like the accountability has gone out the window.”


ROBUST was in part inspired by a cybersecurity incident, and its funding, provided by the former Coalition government, was labelled “cabinet in confidence” and has never been officially revealed.


At Senate estimates late last month, Andrew Johnson told the parliament his executives were accountable to him but that he did not have a performance agreement personally.


My performance agreement in a sense is the corporate plan that I table to the minister and which is tabled to the parliament, but I personally don’t have a performance agreement, and I’ve not had one since I commenced in 2016,” he said.


Under Johnson’s leadership, the Bureau of Meteorology has stopped meeting all of its World Meteorological Organization obligations, cutting back substantially on the frequency of upper atmosphere soundings.


Content now removed from the BoM website states the “benefits” in data sharing under the World Meteorological Organization are “substantial but also impose a responsibility for Australia to also contribute to the international system”.


As one meteorologist told The Saturday Paper: “The attitude there now seems to be ‘what’s in it for us?’ despite the fact the BoM is a big player in the Pacific region with climate change and tropical cyclones.”


Domestically, quality suffers in subtle but important ways. Overnight shifts on the national production desk can shrink to four people who are responsible for an entire country’s forecasting. Almost all of this is model output, but changes still need to be made and there are only so many available to perform the work.


Now even the capital city airports – a fiercely protected domain by aviation forecasters at the BoM – are subject to automation with a $3.3 million, one-year contract issued by the weather agency in the middle of May.


Last weekend, in Perth, the BoM’s Saturday night forecasts were accurate but the Sunday forecast predicted “armageddon” – despite the fact the weather had all but cleared.


And the issue that comes out early in the morning, that’s the four o’clock issue, it’s done from Melbourne,” a meteorologist says. “The forecasters come in at 6am and then have to look at what mess they’d been left with, basically, and try and make sense of it.”


Early Sunday morning, the BoM was still predicting 25 to 50 millimetres of rain in Perth, with thunderstorms that were possibly severe.


It had all gone overnight Saturday and into Sunday morning,” the forecaster says.


So by eight o’clock Sunday, you were left with a few residual showers before the forecast got changed at nine o’clock, and reflected what it should have been. They had the rainfall totals down to about seven millimetres, but the app continued to show 20 to 50 millimetres.”


Such an approach to forecasting nationally is not without consequences. Farmers in the Western Australian wheat belt were furious. Organisers of a WA Day celebration event in Burswood cancelled the festival in advance, based on forecasts that showed “even heavier rainfall” throughout the long weekend.....


The Bureau of Meteorology said in a statement that Peter Stone, who earlier this year was found by a Federal Circuit Court judge to have engaged in a deliberate attempt to mislead the court regarding a BoM workplace case, was sick during the week of Senate estimates.


This article was first published in the print edition of The Saturday Paper on June 8, 2024 as "Inside the BoM’s forecast failings".


Read the full article at:

https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/environment/2024/06/08/inside-the-boms-failings-they-will-straight-tell-you-black-white


Monday, 10 June 2024

Opposition Leader & Liberal MP for Dickson, Peter 'The Dickson Spuddler' Dutton, receives a burning response to his declaration on Saturday that a Coalition government would not pursue Australia’s legally binding climate target to cut emissions by 43 per cent from 2005 levels by 2030





Bushfire survivors call out Peter Dutton’s abandonment of communities on the frontline of climate change

________________________________


Bushfire Survivors for Climate Action

________________________________


June 8, 2024


BUSHFIRE SURVIVORS FOR CLIMATE ACTION (BSCA) has spoken out in response to Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s statements in The Australian today that the Federal Liberal Party would dump Australia’s interim emissions reduction targets. The organisation, founded and led by bushfire survivors, has labelled the move reckless and devastating.


Here we are watching communities face climate-fueled disasters roll around again and again, with insurance costs rising and homes in some regions becoming uninsurable, yet the Opposition Leader is prepared to delay climate action until the 2040s. To say our members are distraught is an understatement,” said Serena Joyner, Chief Executive Officer of Bushfire Survivors for Climate Action.


What’s particularly hard to understand is how the Coalition can justify the ever growing expense of worsening climate disasters. The bushfires of 2019-2020 and the 2022 Northern Rivers floods each cost insurers more than $4 billion, and the cost to farmers of the Black Summer fires was $5 billion. Nearly 60% of all local government areas were disaster-declared in 2022 and councils everywhere have been unable to keep up with repairs to local infrastructure.


And insurance costs are just beginning when accounting for the personal financial and emotional costs to people and communities across the country from more frequent and destructive fires and floods. There’s only so much we can take. Does Peter Dutton expect our regions to just give up and move to the city?


Scientists tell us if we delay urgent climate action we guarantee that global temperatures will keep rising. That would condemn Australia to face summers like Black Summer on a regular basis, if not worse. It is beyond belief that the Opposition Leader thinks that is an acceptable future for this country.”


About Bushfire Survivors for Climate Action:


BushfireSurvivors for Climate Action (BSCA) is a non-partisan, community organisation made up of bushfire survivors, firefighters and their families working together to call on our leaders to take action on climate change. BSCA formed shortly after the Tathra and District fire in March 2018, and its founding members were all impacted by bushfires, including the Black Summer bushfires in 2019-20, Blue Mountains in 2013, Black Saturday in 2009 and Canberra in 2003.


BSCA has been at the cutting edge of legal reform to reduce climate emissions and hold governments, agencies and companies to account. In 2023 the NSW Environment Protection Agency was the first such agency in the country to introduce a climate policy, which it was required to do as a result of landmark court action taken by BSCA.


https://bushfiresurvivors.org


Opposition Leader & Liberal MP for Dickson, Peter 'The Dickson Spuddler' Dutton, firmly reminded that “Australians voted decisively for action on climate in the 2022 election"


Peter Dutton proposes decades of delay on climate 

Federal Liberals still with no climate plan

_________________________________


Solutions for Climate Australia

_________________________________


8 June 8 2024


National climate group Solutions for Climate Australia expressed extreme disappointment and concern at the Opposition Leader Peter Dutton proposing further decades of delay in tackling climate change, despite increasing climate disasters.


This follows a statement by Peter Dutton today, in an interview with The Australian, that the Federal Liberal Party wants to reject current targets and plans to reduce Australia’s climate pollution this decade.


It is a tragedy that the Federal Liberal Party has no plan to stop the increasing climate disasters which are directly killing Australians, and damaging communities, agriculture and businesses across the country, and globally,” said Dr Barry Traill, Director of Solutions for Climate Australia.


We need decisive action on climate pollution this decade to protect farmers, our food supply, businesses and trade. From uninsurable houses, to declining crop yields, to direct threats to life and property, we are all now being hurt by climate disasters.


Australians voted decisively for action on climate in the 2022 election. Mr Dutton’s weak, do-nothing approach on climate is out of step with the electorate. The community showed it expects all political parties to adopt strong, science-based targets to reduce pollution.”


The federal Coalition has not heeded the message of the nation on climate. They must do better.”


ENDS