Sacked by the national electorate in 2020 former one-term president Donald J Trump confirming he is refusing to debate Vice-President Kamala Harris during the 2024 US presidential election campaign
Ingraham: Why not debate Kamala Harris?
— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) July 30, 2024
Trump: Because everyone already knows everything
Ingraham: They’re saying you’re afraid of debating her
Trump: I’m leading in the polls pic.twitter.com/gmOwg5lzvC
On 21 September 2023, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the Commonwealth Government COVID-19 Response Inquiry which had the stated purpose "to identify lessons learned to improve Australia’s preparedness for future pandemics".
The independent panel members heading this inquiry are Robyn Kruk AO (Chair), Professor Catherine Bennett (Member) and Dr Angela Jackson (Member).
The list of authors of the 2,092 submissions received by COVID-19 Response Inquiry from 6 November to 15 December 2023 and, those who gave permission for publication, can be read at:
https://www.pmc.gov.au/covid-19-response-inquiry/consultation/submissions.
COVID-17 Response Inquiry's published summaries can be found at:
The Independent Panel will deliver the COVID-17 Response Inquiry Final Report to Government, including recommendations to the Commonwealth Government to improve Australia’s preparedness for future pandemics, by the end of September 2024.
The following excerpt from a media article is the latest journalistic opinion on Inquiry evidence to date, in what has been a rather low profile inquiry.
The Sydney Morning Herald, 27 July 2024:
COVID-19 has left Australians with poorer physical and mental health, helped fuel inflation because of too many government handouts and encouraged people into the black economy, the first wide-ranging inquiry into the pandemic has heard.
Businesses, unions, health experts and the education sector have told the inquiry, due to report in weeks, that Australia needs to prepare for future pandemics to avoid repeating mistakes made across all levels of government that are still being felt in some parts of the nation.
The inquiry, promised by Anthony Albanese ahead of the 2022 federal election, is being headed by former senior public servant Robyn Kruk plus economist Angela Jackson and infectious diseases expert Professor Catherine Bennett.
Established last year, the 12-month inquiry is due to report by September. It has been given a wide remit to look at joint Commonwealth-state actions, although its terms of reference preclude examining unilateral actions taken by states and territories or international programs.
Across a series of roundtables, the inquiry has been told of major shortcomings with elements of the federal and state governments’ responses to COVID-19 and the long-term problems these have caused.
Health experts said border closures had a “significant” impact on healthcare provision, particularly in rural, remote and border communities, arguing health workers should be exempt from such restrictions.
Australia’s average age fell last year while the country experienced a record number of deaths in 2022.
Chronic disease monitoring and cancer screening were disrupted, the sector said, noting a nationally co-ordinated effort was now required to clear the backlog of tests.
“People are currently waiting longer for care than before the pandemic, are often sicker and [are] finding it less affordable,” the sector said.
Experts said the mental health system was in crisis before the pandemic, and COVID-19 had exacerbated problems that had only worsened since.
“Australian communities are experiencing a process of rolling recoveries from one emergency to the next (extreme weather events and the pandemic), with resulting cumulative trauma,” they told the inquiry.
“More emphasis is needed on community resilience and on strengthening the system ahead of the next emergency.”
It doesn't happen very often in the NSW Northern Rivers region. To have a local area make the latest batch of police news releases - much less three times over the course of two days.
Three arrested as part of drug supply investigation - Tweed Heads
Wednesday, 31 July 2024 04:28:34 PM
Three people are assisting police with inquiries after being arrested following an investigation into drug supply in the state’s north.
About 1.10pm (Wednesday 31 July 2024), police from the Northern Rivers Region Enforcement Squad, assisted by the Tactical Operations Unit, stopped a vehicle at a service station in Chinderah.
The three occupants of the vehicle – a 37-year-old woman, and two men aged 28 and 51 – were arrested at the scene.
They have been taken to Tweed Heads Police Station where they are assisting police with their inquiries.
Further information will be released once available.
Police officer charged - Northern Region
Wednesday, 31 July 2024 02:20:09 PM
A NSW Police officer has been charged for allegedly accessing restricted data.
In January 2024, officers attached to the Professional Standards Command commenced an investigation into alleged misconduct and unlawful access to data held on the Police computer system.
Following inquiries, a 50-year-old man was served a court attendance notice and charged with eight counts access/modify restricted data held in computer and holder of public office misconduct him or herself.
He will appear before Tweed Heads Local Court on Monday 16 September 2024.
The officer’s employment status is suspended without pay.
Man charged following alleged assault - Tweed Heads
Tuesday, 30 July 2024 07:16:03 PM
A man will face Court after being charged following an investigation into an assault at Tweed Heads earlier this month.
About 3.30pm on Thursday 11 July 2024, emergency services were called to a shopping centre on Minjungbal Drive, Tweed Heads South, following reports of an altercation.
Officers attached to the Tweed/Byron Police District attended the scene and were told several people were involved in an altercation, in which a man – aged 25 – was injured.
The man was treated at the scene by NSW Ambulance paramedics for facial injuries, before he was taken to Gold Coast University Hospital for treatment. He has since been released from hospital.
A tomahawk was recovered at the scene and was seized by police for forensic examination.
About 3.00pm today (Tuesday 30 July 2024), following an investigation by officers from Tweed/Byron Police District, police arrested a 23-year-old man at Tweed Head Police Station.
The man was charged with reckless wounding in company. He was refused bail to appear at Tweed Heads Local Court on Wednesday 31 July 2024.
Inquiries into the incident are ongoing.
As investigations continue, anyone who witnessed the incident or has footage of the incident, including dashcam footage, is urged to contact local police or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000
UPDATE:
Sometime on the afternoon or evening of 30 July 2024 REX Express Holdings Limited appears to have informed the media it is going into "voluntary administration" - apparently before it notified the Australian Stock Exchange on which its shares are traded.
It has made announcements of imminent doom in past years, ceased ticket sales, suspended flights or air routes when seeking a government bailout or an increase in monies received from a government industry funding scheme.
Based on past behaviour receiving such financial assistance is no guarantee REX will not go ahead and abandon some regional airport destinations.
Having built its Australian air routes by bullying regional councils & indulging in what looked suspiciously like corporate extortion at federal level, is the Singapore-based corporation operating REX Airlines, seeking yet another government bailout?
ABC News, 30 July 2024:
Rex Airlines' future uncertain in wake of ASX trading halt
Regional Australian airline Rex has suspended trading on the Australian stock market pending an upcoming announcement.
The ASX-listed company halted trade on Monday ahead of making an announcement dealing with a media report published over the weekend.
It is understood the announcement relates to a piece published in The Australian suggesting the airline has called in a turnaround team from consultants Deloitte.
The pause in trading is expected to remain in place until tomorrow or until Rex releases a statement to the market.
In a comment to the ABC, a spokesperson from Rex Airlines said the company was currently in an ASX trading halt "pending making a material announcement".
"In the meantime it isn't appropriate for us to make any further comments," the spokesperson said.
Transport Workers Union boss Michael Kaine said he had written to Rex as about 2,000 jobs were at risk.
"This is a sign that the aviation industry is broken, it's actually in crisis," he said.
"We're looking forward to hearing back from Rex as a matter of urgency, to try and get some more clarity on this situation.".
Government to 'work with' Rex
Asked whether the federal government would help keep Rex in the air if required, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said it was "an important airline" and he was "very hopeful that they'll see their way through".
"We have sought information from the airline through [Minister for Transport] Catherine King, who came to see me about this today … we will continue to monitor what happens there," he said.
"There are a range of communities in New South Wales, in Queensland, in South Australia and right around the country that rely upon Rex … so it's important," he said.
The prime minister said the airline had come through COVID and received substantial government support, "and we will remain vigilant when it comes to this airline and continue to work with them".
"We want to see not just those jobs maintained, but we also want to see those communities continue to have access to aviation that's so important for their economy and for their way of life," he said.....
The Australian, 27 July 2024, p.25:
Rex calls in turnaround specialists
Stories abound of instability in the nation’s aviation sector. Budget airline Bonza fell into administration in April. The mooted listing of Virgin Australia keeps faltering, and now Qatar Airways wants to gobble up a strategically important part of it.
And what of Regional Express? Its executive chairman, Lim Kim Hai, was hot-swapped in June for deputy chair John Sharp, a former transport minister in the Howard government. Lim had served as executive chairman for 21 years, and aside from brief remarks issued by the company acknowledging his “extraordinary service”, no further reason was provided for this sudden and startling tweak to the board.
Seething, as you would expect, Lim went on to requisition a shareholders meeting to remove Sharp and three other directors from the board: Lee Thian Soo, Ronald Bartsch and Jim Davis. No reasons were provided for that development either.
This upheaval is taking place just as Rex finds itself in a spot of serious financial bother, so serious, it seems, that Margin Call hears that the airline has invited a turnaround team from Deloitte to rifle through its books and try to stop the proverbial plane from crashing into the mountain.
Leading that team are Sal Algeri and Richard Hughes, memorable for their role in the recovery of Virgin Australia after that airline slid into voluntary administration in 2020. Deloitte didn’t respond to questions about Rex and Rex itself declined to comment. “Given Rex is a public company, we do not respond to press or market rumours or speculation,” a spokesman said.
Rex’s troubles are not necessarily with its regional routes, which are said to be profitable, but with its expansion into the prized city destinations of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, known in the industry as the Golden Triangle (a misnomer, by the way, the route connecting them forms no obvious triangle).
An expansion into those capital city markets began in 2020, its market share remains in the single digits, and the whole jolly has cost the business dearly. Deloitte’s partners are in a fever attempting a restructure solution as a rescue package. That too, we hear, is teetering towards failure.
Where to from here? Rex’s Golden Triangle dilemma could become intractable enough to push the airline into administration. Whether or not that occurs, the appearance of Deloitte’s clean-up team at least provides a plausible explanation for the airing of linen about to start in the boardroom.
After all, it was Sharp who said last year that profitability mattered more than market share, a remark made only after Rex posted a loss of $16.5m for the half to December 2022. Its latest results weren’t quite as fugly – a $3.2m loss for the half to December 2023....
AAP General News Wire, excerpt, 29 July 2024:
Rex reported a loss of $3.2 million for the first half of the 2023-24 financial year in February, compared with a $16.5 million loss in the prior period, saying escalating costs, particularly for fuel, made it hard to predict full-year profitability.....
The Australian, podcast, excerpt, 30 July 2024:
Anthony Albanese hails the importance of struggling Rex’s regional routes and promises to examine rescue packages, but questions the airline’s foray into competitive big city routes....
BACKGROUND
The Australian Stock Exchange 2024 announcement list re Regional Express Holdings Limited (REX) contained the following:
* 11.03.24 10:02.am ASX Release - REX announces partnership with UAE's national airline Etihad which entrenches REX passenger plane landing rights at Sydney and Melbourne airports as a connecting carrier of Eithad ticket holders.
* 06.06.24 8:33am Change to the Board - Deputy Chairman John Sharp ceases that board role & becomes Non-Executive Chairman. Kim Lim Hai ceases to be Non-Executive Chairman but remains a Non-Executive director & a significant shareholder in the company.
* 12.07.24 9:50am General Meeting of Members - Kim Lim Hai serves notice of a general meeting of members at which he will request the removal of six named directors as well as the majority of any directors that may have been appointed fron 5 May 2024 to the end of the general meeting.
* 29.07.24 9:50am Market Release - Pause in trade of Rex securities
* 29.07.24 10:17am Market Release - Trading Halt in Rex securities at own request until 31.07.24 and pending an announcement.
A LITTLE LOCAL BACKGROUND
North Coast Voices, 1 June 2022
Today REX Airlines began to abandon Northern Rivers regional airports - yet again
On 31 May 2022 Regional Express (REX) airlines confirmed that it was withdrawing airline services from Lismore and Grafton on 1 June 2022 and from Ballina on 2 July 2022.
At the same time it announced cessation of service to Kangarooo Island.
Very predictably this withdrawal again - as it has so often in the past - coincided with the cessation of federal government funding which heavily subsidizes REX.
The phrase 'shakedown merchant' comes to mind.
The image of Hannah Grace which on her instruction heads this "The Echo" news online obituary.
The 26 July 2024 Farewell to Hannah Grace begins:
"Sometime before she passed away last month, Hannah Grace wrote the following note to The Echo:
‘Dear Echo people, I want this picture to go across two columns of the dead people section. Thanks a lot for everything. Cheers, Hannah xx’. ‘
Ps: This photo’s the last chance I’ve got to show off! Xxxx’
Accompanying the note was the beautifully irreverent and unashamedly racy photo, pictured.
The request, one of Hannah’s last on this planet, encapsulates some of the qualities that made her such a loved and member of the Byron community since her arrival in the Shire nearly 50 years ago."
Read on at
https://www.echo.net.au/2024/07/farewell-hannah-grace/
“They risk their lives to protect magistrates, lawyers and the general public and they’re not paid enough to do it.” [Public Service Association (PSA) regional representative, Rebecca Reilly, quoted in Daily Telegraph, 4 July 2024]
After a statewide walk off the job on 4 July 2024 and holding protests outside Coffs Harbour, Grafton, Maclean, Bellingen, Macksville, Lismore, Newcastle, Port Macquarie and Tamworth and Gosford courthouses along with a number of others that same day protesting poor pay & conditions, NSW court sheriffs have been continuing their industrial campaign.
Particularly in northern NSW. There are 300 sheriffs working across the state and it’s understood about 95 per cent of northern officers have joined the industrial action.
Sheriffs are alleging that their workload is exacerbated by chronic understaffing and have been declining to work without two officers present. They have also been refusing to work more than seven hours each day (unless directed) or at locations where overnight stays would be needed. As well the work ban appears to include declining to issue any new Certificate of Authority to security contractors, and to conduct security screening only at permanent perimeter screening points.
By 26 July mainstream media was reporting that due to lack of a sheriff security presence some mid North Coast courthouses have been closed to the public, cases have been relegated to audio visual links and proceedings are now heard online.
Coincidentally, 2024 marks the 200th anniversary the NSW Sheriffs Office, Australia’s oldest law enforcement agency.
The Sheriffs Office was established by the Third Charter of Justice (New South Wales Act), which came into effect in 1824 when the colony of New South Wales comprised the whole of eastern Australia, as well as Van Dieman's Land (now Tasmania).
The Northern Daily Leader, 5 July 2024:
"Sheriffs are highly trained in what was risky and stressful work - these guys come to work everyday at risk of serious harm," he said.
"They work in ballistic vests, carry handcuffs, batons, and capsicum spray and stand at the front door of the court house ready to stop anyone trying to injure court house staff, the magistrates, prosecutors, or the general public.
"Sheriffs ensure the court house is a safety work space."....
Aside from working at the court house, Mr Mears [PSA representative] said Sheriffs also enforced court orders which meant entering people's properties to serve writs and warrants.
The world’s richest have truly never been richer and the gap between the rich and the poor in most countries has truly never been wider. In the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, the world’s ten richest men doubled their collective fortunes – from $700 billion to $1.5 trillion – at the same time that incomes for 99% of humanity fell. [Patriotic Millionaires, January 2023]
Wealth Of Australia’s 50 Richest On Forbes List Rises To $222 Billion [Forbes, 15 February 2024]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Top 1 percent bags over $40 trillion in new wealth during past decade as taxes on the rich reach historic lows
______________________________________
Oxfam Australia Media Release
______________________________________
Thursday 25 July 2024
The richest 1 percent have amassed $42 trillion in new wealth over the past decade, nearly 34 times more than the entire bottom 50 percent of the world’s population, according to new analysis by Oxfam today ahead of the third meeting of G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Here in Australia, billionaires have increased their wealth by 70.5% or $120 billion since 2020. Australians are increasingly concerned about this growing inequality and support a wealth tax to address it. This is evidenced by newly released YouGov polling commissioned by Oxfam. The polling shows:
76% of Australians are concerned about the growing wealth gap between the ultra-rich and everyday people
74% Support a wealth tax of people with wealth of over $50 million
63% Support wealth tax proceeds being used to reduce inequality
The average wealth per person in the top 1 percent globally rose by nearly $400,000 in real terms over the last decade compared to just $335 – an equivalent increase of less than nine cents a day – for a person in the bottom half.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Responding to the Rio de Janeiro G20 Ministerial Declaration on International Tax Cooperation published on 26 July 2024, Oxfam International’s Tax Policy Lead Susana Ruiz, said:
"This is serious global progress —for the first time in history, the world’s largest economies have agreed to cooperate to tax the ultra-rich. Finally, the richest people are being told they can't game the tax system or avoid paying their fair share.
"Governments have for too long been complicit in helping the ultra-rich pay little or zero tax. Massive fortunes afford the world’s ultra-rich outsized influence and power, which they wield to shield, stash and supersize their wealth, undercutting democracy and widening inequality.
"Now to the next step: at the G20 Summit in November this year, leaders need to go further than their finance ministers and back concrete coordination: agreeing on a new global standard that taxes the ultra-rich at a rate high enough to close the gap between them and the rest of us.
"Brazil has kickstarted a truly global approach to tax the ultra-rich. But the work is just beginning and international cooperation is crucial.
"We call on G20 leaders to align with the progress being made at the UN and establish a truly democratic process for setting global standards on taxing the ultra-rich. Entrusting this task to the OECD —the club of mostly rich countries— would simply not be good enough."
BACKGROUND
TOP 10 RICHEST AUSTRALIANS
according to Forbes, 14 February 2024
1. Gina Rinehart; US$30.2 billion
2. Andrew Forrest & Family; $21.5 billion
3. Harry Triguboff; $16.2 billion
4. Mike Cannon-Brookes; $13.7 billion
5. Scott Farquhar; $13.5 billion
6. Anthony Pratt; $10.3 billion
7. Cliff Obrecht and Melanie Perkins, $8.8 billion
8. Bianca Rinehart & Siblings, $8.5 billion
9. John, Alan & Bruce Wilson, $6.6 billion
10. Frank Lowy, $6.5 billion
