Pollies spend up big on travel before leaving office

The Canberra Times (27/02/2008) details the extent to which our federal politicians spent up on overseas travel in the first half of the 2007 election year.

The Times reported:

Pollies spend up big on travel before leaving office

They were on the way out but they went up, up and away at our expense first.

Retiring politicians fill nine of the top 11 places of backbenchers with the heaviest use of taxpayer-funded overseas travel for the first half of the 2007 election year, according to Department of Finance figures.

Those leaving Parliament (seven MPs and two senators, who do not go until June 30 this year) shared in a total of more than $2.5million spent by federal politicians on overseas travel between January 1 and June 30, 2007.

Leading the retirees' pack (five Coalition, three Labor and one Democrat) was the former Liberal minister Senator Kay Patterson at $37,082.24.

Then came Labor's Ann Corcoran, already rolled for preselection for the safe Melbourne seat of Isaacs when she racked up $30,659.12.

She was followed by Liberal Kay Elson, who retired from the Queensland seat of Forde, at $28,540.14, ahead of NSW National Ian Causley, at $28,382.24. Mr Causley was deputy speaker in the last parliament.


The 13 government front-benchers totalled $1,663,673.74, well over half the $2,568,277.31 spent by all 226 federal Members and senators.

The portfolios that commanded that their ministers travel led the way, with former foreign minister Alexander Downer at $380,853.64, followed by former trade minister Warren Truss at $305,773.66, former prime minister John Howard at $238,809.55 and former defence minister Brendan Nelson at $222,056.04.

Read the report at:
http://canberra.yourguide.com.au/articles/1191186.html?src=topstories

What do I say to Iemma's plan to privatise NSW electricity supplies?

NO!

That loud enough for you, Mr. Iemma? Get the picture yet?

Penny Wong rolls up her sleeves and gets on with the job

The new Federal Minister for Climate Change and Water, Senator Penny Wong, is doing what the Howard Government failed to do over a decade. She has announced that the Commonwealth has begun a $50 million buy-back of water licenses in the Murray Darling Basin in order to return some environmental flow to this significant river system.

The move doesn't really go far enough but it's a good start.

Australia is going to have to face the fact that it needs to reduce the total number of irrigated farms, in order to ensure future national water security. Even if it means that the next couple of decades will see a reduced variety of vegetables and fruit on offer in the market place while the agricultural sector adjusts.

This new Federal Government can sometimes irritate and disappoint, but it's moments like these when it becomes clear exactly why the Australian electorate preferred Labor over the Coalition.

So Opposition environment spokesman Greg Hunt can say; "The defining failure of the first 100 days of the Rudd Government has been their inaction on the Murray," but he is patently whistling in the wind. 

I just know that the 2020 Summit will bomb - Rudd's invited Tim Costello!

For most of us regional 'mushrooms' the Australia 2020 Summit suddenly appeared on the horizon trailing wisps of the 2001 Australia 2020: Foresight for our Future research paper.

The summit sounded like a good idea when it was first announced, but its obvious elitism was troubling.

The death knell for summit credibility came at the beginning of the week for me, when Kevin Rudd announced the steering committee members who will issue invitations for the 10 topic discussions and also chair the working groups.

 

Yeah, there he was - Tim Costello of World Vision fame. The meister of self-promotion.

A man renown on the NSW North Coast for his verbosity and ego.

A man who in the early 2000s, acting as co-facilitator at a Maclean community meeting, alternatively insulted and patronised. 

A WASP who so dominated the meeting time that he left only 15 minutes for the entire community to put its views and discuss issues.

Then after milking the event for every drop of media coverage he b*ggered off back home, leaving a community asking why it had bothered to spend a night with Tim and Chris.

So strike off 2020 achieving anything except hot air and a plethora of buzz words when it comes to the topic on "strengthening communities, supporting families and social inclusion".

 

Oh and by the way, our Kev is allowing the unwashed masses 2 pages per topic in any not-so-eagerly-awaited submissions.

Why should we on the NSW North Coast bother? It's obvious we'd be talking to a corporatised brick wall surrounding a set of 'solutions' decided weeks, months or even years ago.

Kevin Andrews proves just how dumb the Libs are

In The Herald Sun yesterday Kevin Andrews opens his mouth to give us all these pearls in an effort to justify former Howard Government industrial relations law, WorkChoices.

Thereby demonstrating that he is politically out to lunch as well as out of government.

• JOHN Howard wanted to limit unfair dismissal laws to businesses with more than 200 employees and abolish all minimum wage classifications.
• Coalition MPs were also collectively blind to the political danger of a policy that potentially tore away entitlements.
• On the day the package was presented to the joint party room meeting, Mr Andrews received a standing ovation.
• Mr Andrews said he was not trying to blame the former PM. "(In the end) this was a cabinet decision and we discussed WorkChoices I suspect more than any other piece of legislation that I can recall," he said.
• But other senior Liberals said Mr Howard was blind when it came to WorkChoices, and in the last few months of government would "erupt" if anyone tried to suggest there was still a problem.
• Mr Andrews said some members of cabinet were more determined to push as far as possible on WorkChoices than others.
• The revelations by Mr Andrews suggest Senator Minchin was reflecting the view of the cabinet when he apologised to the HR Nicholls society early in 2006 for the government not going far enough.  

Share in $1,000 by guessing the number of weeks until Brendan Nelson loses Liberal leadership

The Monthly joins the rest of the media scrum in wondering just how long Brendan Nelson can last as Liberal Party and Opposition leader. It currently has an online guessing competition worth up to $1,000.

"Can you rise to the challenge? The Monthly invites predictions on how long Brendan Nelson's leadership of the Opposition will last, before being ended by any event - such as his elevation to prime minister, his resignation, or a party decision. In the second part of the question, The Monthly asks who you think will be Nelson's successor as leader of the Opposition.

Respondents who correctly forecast the answers to both parts of the question will share in $1000 cash. (A note to those who presume that the public mood can't shift dramatically: consider the unlikely ascensions of Ronald Reagan, Arnold Schwarzenegger and John Howard.)"

Enter the competition here.

 

A Crikey moment

www.crikey.com.au

Why should there be Higgins and Mayo by-elections this year?

Rumour is going strong (fuelled by comments from Andrew Robb) that the Liberal Party is pressuring Peter Costello and Alexander Downer to resign in the second half of 2008 so that by-elections for their seats can be called.

What a bl**dy hide. The Higgins and Mayo electorates voted these pollies in on a three-year implied contract and now the party machine wants their resignations.

Have a little decency fellas - at least wait until mid next year so we can all pretend that voters still decide federal election outcomes in Australia.

feral poodle

The feral poodle is getting on, I've had her for twelve years and she was at least two years old when she arrived into our family.

Her puppy-hood was not the best; she had suffered starvation and beatings, just skin, bones and mattered hair when she arrived here. This left a lasting legacy; she would flinch if anyone picked up a stick or yelled since she is not by nature a shy dog it is out of character.

She was a handy cattle dog till her blindness got the better of her two years ago, we discovery that her sight was failing when we were rounding up some Angus cows and calves. She stood in the paddock and kept barking at this black object in the grass, on closer inspection we found that it was a stump.

Her work ethic is great her eyesight terrible.

Since then she has steadily declined, she is now virtually blind, the arthritis is playing up and she has recurring bladder problems but this has not stopped her from patrolling the house yard, greeting visitors and general dog duties.

She can no long jump into the farm paddock basher so she waits patiently to be lifted in and sits in regal splendour on the front seat.

She was not a dog that I would have usually had on the farm, this woe begotten toy poodle but she has brought great joy to all the family over her many years.

We did the Australian thing and gave her a fair go sure there were problems, have you ever tried to clean a poodle that has rolled in some long dead animal and stinks to high heaven, but the benefits greatly outweighed the disadvantages.

We are all richer for having known her.

For the poodle's point of view see the song It's Hard To Be a Poodle with a Cowboy by Your Side in the Music from the North Coast sidebar.