What some people will pay for a spot in local government

Figures released by the NSW Election Funding Authority show that Pat Comben, a former minister in the Queensland Government, had what it took to win one of the nine spots on Clarence Valley Council at the 2008 elections.

To secure a spot at the CVC decision makers' table, Comben spent $6855.50.

Daylight was second, followed by other biggish spenders Karen Toms ($3057.25) and Craig Howe ($2481.98).

Joining Comben, Toms and Howe at the decision makers' table are Richie Williamson ($1263.03), Ian Dinham ($969.96), Jim Simmons ($937.50), Sue Hughes ($374.40), Margaret McKenna ($70) and Ian Tiley (Nil).

Yes, Ian Tiley didn't spend a cent! Well, that's what his declaration to the EFA states.

Tiley wasn't the only candidate who didn't put his hand in his pocket. EFA documents show there were others.

Still, to this day, a number of candidates are yet to reveal how much the exercise cost them.

Here's what the candidates said they spent:

ELIZABETH BLOOMER Nil
JEREMY CHALLACOMBE $ 1,053.00
GRACE CLAGUE No details provided
PATRICK COMBEN $ 6,855.50
IAN DINHAM $ 969.96
TERRENCE FLANAGAN No details provided
MARK KINGSLEY Nil
CRAIG HOWE $ 2,481.98
SUSAN HUGHES $ 374.40
DENISE HYDE $ 1,533.60
KURT KRISTOFFERSEN No details provided
MAURICE MAHER $ 1,748.60
MARGARET MCKENNA $ 70.00
BRENDAN MORANT No details provided
DENNIS PEARCE $ 968.00
DONALD PHILBROOK No details provided
JANET PURCELL $ 467.45
JAMES SIMMONS $ 937.50
IAN TILEY Nil
KAREN TOMS $ 3,057.25
RICHARD WILLIAMSON $ 1,263.03

Go here to see copies of candidates' declarations to the EFA.

Remembering both partners in the legend on Anzac Day 2009

Australian and New Zealand soldiers resting at Gallipoli 1915
Images from Wikipedia and the Corbis Collection

Why war is hell

Paul Mitchell bravely lifts the curtain on a timely reminder of why war is really hell for everyone.

Drinking to their deaths on Anzac Day

Crikey reader Paul Mitchell writes:

World War II veteran Keith sits on the beach in the TV ad and reflects on the death of his mate Jack. I think of my late grandfather, but Keith's stubby and the empty chair beside him don't remind me of Bill's war deeds.

I'm proud of Bill, who fought in the Middle East and Crete. He arrived back in Australia with a wounded knee and arm, but played and umpired 500 games of football. He should never have been at war -- he signed up at 16 -- but he's one of the many we remember every Anzac Day...........

As well as physical wounds, my grandfather received deep psychological damage. Post-traumatic stress disorder was unknown in the '40s, and there were no counselling services. So he did what many of his mates did: numbed the pain with grog.

Bill drank solidly for 52 years and his liver, kidneys and spleen were shot when he died. But the alcohol didn't just affect his body: he was a violent alcoholic who created a warzone. He physically and psychologically abused his wife and kids, and the effects continue: his four children have had psychological problems; two of his sons have been alcoholics (with four marriages between them) and one of their daughters suicided.......

Keith's trembling voice as he talks about his mate reminds me of my grandfather's on the rare occasions he allowed the terrified boy inside himself to remember the war. I want to raise a glass to Keith, Bill and all the men and women like them. But respect for those who have lived through domestic warzones means I won't.

Australian state government hires spies

Last Friday The Sydney Morning Herald reported on an Australian company which contracts to supply open intelligence to business and government:

David Vaile, executive director of UNSW's Cyberspace Law and Policy Centre, believes SR7 may be acting unethically and said he suspected companies were using dirt gathered from social networking sites as an excuse to fire people due to the challenging economic climate.

He said the practice could backfire when the economy turns around as people would refuse to work for or trust companies that spied on staff.

He said the issue raised questions over where the boundary is between public and private comments.

Here's what the company says about itself:

We provide protection and strategy for brands and reputations.

While one of its published case studies is quite frankly fascinating:

SR7 undertook a comprehensive audit for a leading State Government department to identify on-line risks to the organization and its business units with exposure to social media.
The assessment unearthed a series of online activities by employees and stakeholders, acting as an early warning system for key decision makers.
SR7 provided counsel and advice on mitigation strategies for implementation by the relevant agencies.

So which public servants were being spied on and in what state and which government department was silly enough to contract out this strange work to a company that brags like this?

Happy birthday, Mr. Shakespeare.

With his actual birth date unknown, the arrival of William Shakespeare into the world is usually celebrated in April on St. George's Day.


He may have written wildly inaccurate history into his plays, have littered the whole with crude stereotypes - but oh, the language soars.


Living as he did in the 16th century, William would of course find the modern world passing strange and, perhaps even stranger should he come to hear of Australia.


However there are some things he would recognize - national finances are precarious, soldiers are fighting overseas, terrorism and treason are often topics of the day and the government censor is beginning to breathe more heavily over shoulders.

Photograph: BBC News

Rudd's 2020 continues to underwhelm at my house

The official view from Canberra in the wake of that basically elitist gabfest; "The Australia 2020 Summit was held on 19 and 20 April 2008 at Parliament House in Canberra, bringing together 1,000 participants from across the nation and generating more than 900 ideas."

The media view on Wednesday; "JUST nine new ideas from nearly 1000 developed by Kevin Rudd's 2020 Summit talkfest are set to be adopted. But the most popular one, for Australia to become a republic appears to have sunk without a trace."

Apparently Rudders favours:
"A national "golden gurus'' mentoring program;
$50 million for the development of a bionic eye;
The creation of a civilian corps help out in war zones and natural disasters;
A dedicated ABC children's TV channel;
A new indigenous cultural education centre;
A PM's award scheme to boost Asian links;
A "roundtable" for business and schools; and,
A high-speed broadband for vocational education organizations."

As well as:
"A Skills for the Carbon Challenge initiative to equip workers and business with green skills"

Well, I guess vocational education organizations will be underwhelmed, since Rudders has already announced a national high-speed broadband for every town of 1,000 souls or more.
Likewise the various inventor's of bionic eyes will probably be grateful for further funding, but also might've preferred to have had that money during the hard slog of creating medical prosethesis.
While the Republic Movement will be livid and plotting dire revenge.

Now we hear that the PM wants a 2020 summit every few years.
I think all those in-flight gourmet meals must be going to more than Rudders' chin line when he come up with a mish mash idea like that.
After all - Cate Blanchett might not want to have another baby every few years!

For what it's worth here's the report Responding to the Australia 2020 Summit.

The International Monetary Fund report pretends to tell us something we didn't already know (transcript)

With so much media coverage of the global financial crisis it would be hard not to understand that toxic debt is actually higher than originally anticipated, working capital is hard to find and, in the case of Australia, that the national economy was bound to go into recession this year, government revenue fall and unemployment deepen.

So the International Monetary Fund's April 2009 report on global financial stability does not report the unexpected:

The global financial system remains under severe stress as the crisis broadens to include households, corporations, and the banking sectors in both advanced and emerging market countries. Shrinking economic activity has put further pressure on banks' balance sheets as asset values continue to degrade, threatening their capital adequacy and further discouraging fresh lending. Thus, credit growth is slowing, and even turning negative, adding even more downward pressure on economic activity. Substantial private sector adjustment and public support packages are already being implemented and are contributing to some early signs ofstabilization. Even so, further decisive and effective policy actions and international coordination are needed to sustain this improvement, to restore public confidence in financial institutions, and to normalize conditions in markets. The key challenge is to break the downward spiral between the financial system and the global economy. Promising efforts are already under way for the redesign of the global financial system that should provide a more stable and resilient platform for sustained economic growth.To mend the financial sector, policies are needed to remove strains in funding markets forbanks and corporates, repair bank balance sheets, restore cross-border capital flows (particularly toemerging market countries); and limit the unintended side effects of the policies being implemented to combat the crisis. All these objectives will require strong political commitment under difficult circumstances and further enhancement of international cooperation. Such international commitment and determination to address the challenges posed by the crisis are growing, as displayed by the outcome of the G-20 summit in early April. Without a thorough cleansing of banks' balance sheets of impaired assets, accompanied by restructuring and, where needed, recapitalization, risks remain that banks' problems will continue to exert downward pressure on economic activity. Though subject to a number of assumptions, our best estimate of writedowns on U.S.-originated assets to be suffered by all holders since the outbreak of the crisis until 2010 has increased from $2.2 trillion in the January 2009 Global Financial StabilityReport (GFSR) Update to $2.7 trillion, largely as a result of the worsening base-case scenario for economic growth. In this GFSR, estimates for writedowns have been extended to include other mature market-originated assets and, while the information underpinning these scenarios is more uncertain, such estimates suggest writedowns could reach a total of around $4 trillion, about two thirds of which would be incurred by banks. There has been some improvement in interbank markets over the last few months, but funding strains persist and banks' access to longer-term funding as maturities come due is diminished. While in many jurisdictions banks can now issue government-guaranteed, longer-term debt, their funding gap remains large. As a result, many corporations are unable to obtain banksupplied working capital and some are having difficulty raising longer-term debt, except at much more elevated yields.

Global Financial Stability Report, April 2009 Summary Version and Statistical Appendix