Making sure that one remnant of the Howard era, NGO gag orders, never surfaces again

Introduced into the Australian Senate on 13 March 2013:

A Bill for an Act to prohibit Commonwealth agreements from restricting or preventing not-for-profit entities from commenting on, advocating support for or opposing changes to Commonwealth law, policy or practice, and for related purposes.

The Bill engages and promotes the right of freedom of expression as set out in Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Right (ICCPR). The Bill will prevent the Commonwealth from including clauses in agreements that prevent or restrict NFP entities from advocating on Commonwealth policy issues.

What will the Australian Press Council do about this?

The Daily Telegraph's blatantly false Page One headline of 18 March 2013

Mr Denmore ‏@MrDenmore

Oh, the author of The Tele's carbon collapse fiction is our friend Steve Lewis, he of Ozcar and Ashby fame.

Mr Denmore ‏@MrDenmore

The Tele's source for the 'carbon collapse' are unnamed 'experts'. Odd as the share market is at a 4-year high and business confidence is up

Yesterday morning I happened on these two tweets and this snapshot on Twitter. Given New Limited's involvement in the current hysteria surrounding the Federal Government's response to the 2011 and 2012 independent media reviews, I went to that day's issue of The Daily Telegraph and this is what I found. The Daily Telegraph's Steve Lewis and Phil Jacob are asserting that: New data from the corporate regulator reveals insolvencies have hit a record high over the past 12 months, led by widespread failures in manufacturing and construction, which accounted for almost one-fifth of collapses. The Australian Securities & Investments Commission reports there were 10,632 company collapses for the 12 months to March 1 - averaging 886 a month - with the number of firms being placed in administration more than 12 per cent higher than during the global financial crisis. While the high Australian dollar is seen as the main factor behind manufacturing closures, experts say the carbon tax is adding to increasing cost burdens for many firms struggling to stay afloat. The first problem with this statement is that it is plain wrong. The "10,632" figure does not come from a twelve month period ending on 1 March this year - this total is for the 2012 calendar year. A clue for these two journalists might have been found in the fact that the data set was released on 18 February 2013. What The Daily Telegraph journalists also do not say is that in the total figure quoted almost half of these external administration/insolvencies occurred before the introduction of the 'cabon tax' and, that prior to the tax, in February-March 2012 there were 2,137 insolvencies which made this the highest combined figure for two consecutive months in a data set which begins in 1996. As for the more than one business is going the wall every hour in Australia found in text in the snapshot above - I suggest that The Daily Telegraph invest in new batteries for the office calculator as that Page One assertion is wrong on so many levels. So what else in that Lewis-Jacob article is open to question? Well, let me start with Grain Products Australia the country’s only manufacturer of caramel and dextrin and one of only two wheat starch and gluten manufacturers. A company in liquidation since 11 March this year and one the journalists try hard to mold into a carbon tax victim. Over six months before the introduction of the carbon price, this company went into voluntary administration citing the high cost of wheat and what were then solely state electricity charges. That leaves Penrice Soda Holdings the only Australian soda ash manufacturer. It was quoted by the Lewis-Jacob team as saying that the reason it was ceasing local raw material quarrying and importing its soda ash was that the carbon tax was effectively the straw that broke the camel's back. However, a little basic fact checking would have shown that last February it told its shareholders and the Australian Stock Exchange that the factory closure was reflecting deteriorating demand conditions in soda ash and quarry material markets as well as impacts from a high Australian dollar. There was not one word about the carbon tax. Finally, the biggest whopper these two journalists told about the business sector in 2012 which is this line; with the number of firms being placed in administration more than 12 per cent higher than during the global financial crisis. The Global Financial Crisis began in 2007-08 and did not lose momentum until 2009-10. Even the most mathematically challenged News Limited employee would realise that the business external administration/insolvency totals for those years far exceed the 2012 total which The Daily Telegraph is currently treating as an end of days event. So what will the Australian Press Council do about a newspaper which so distorts the facts and journalists whom I'm told now know that they have based their 10,632 company collapses on a dodgy premise? Why its twenty-three members will pretend that they never saw or heard of this article - unless a member of the public makes a formal complaint. UPDATE: The Leader of the Opposition makes the mistake of relying on the Lewis-Jacob article during the House of Representatives Question Time on 18 March 2013. A reliance the Minister for Industry and Innovation and Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, Greg Combet, notes during that same Question Time: ...over the last couple of days the Leader of the Opposition, the New South Wales government and the Daily Telegraph have been misleading the public yet again about the impact of carbon pricing. Yesterday it was a false claim about electricity prices in New South Wales. Today the Daily Telegraph is back with ridiculous claims about economic catastrophe, repeated here today in the very first question by the Leader of the Opposition—there seems to be some commonality of approach that we are witnessing. The Telegraph story today takes the misuse of statistics, hysterical headlines and distortion of facts to levels that would have done Pravda proud during the height of the Cold War.

One young regional journalist is man enough to eat humble pie

Unlike many of his big city counterparts, The Daily Examiner  journalist Lachlan Thompson is prepared to admit that he misread the political runes when it came to concerns about coal seam:

It is time for me to eat some humble pie.

After attacking Member for Page Janelle Saffin for speaking out about CSG for the sole purpose of gaining votes, it appears the Federal Government is united on this issue.

It is now set to take action and I owe Ms Saffin an apology.

The company holding petroleum exploration licences in the Valley, Metgasco, has decided to suspend its activities on the North Coast.

Metgasco said it is because of changes in state, not federal regulations.

Frankly, when I saw the NSW Government's regulatory changes, I thought they had as much sturdiness as a soaked toilet roll.

The reason was they did not seem to prevent companies from putting CSG wells in rural residential areas like Glenugie.

The federal legislation, on the other hand, could mean no wells go ahead unless the science on this issue is completely clear. I hope the Gillard government can move this legislation through before the election.

Lachlan’s willingness to re-evaluate his previous opinions is refreshing and well done.

As the softer, gentler Tony campaign is clearly not working.....

By now the Liberal Party must realize there is a disconnect for many voters between the Australian Leader of the Opposition’s true nature and the top to toe makeover he has been given for the 2013 federal election campaign.

Might I suggest another way of making a politician even his wife admits is difficult to live with seem less threatening and perhaps even cuddly?

Get his media team to change the fonts on all those press releases churned out each day, so that Tony Abbott reads as…..

Remember, that around one quarter of all Australian households have a cat!

Meet The Kindergarten Team

Clarence Valley Mayor Richie Williamson, Minister for Regional Australia Simon Crean, architect Dayne Mearns, Federal MP for Page Janelle Saffin, Kevin Plummer and Ben O’Donnell must have been surprised to find that The Daily Examiner online had sent them all back to pre-school on 8 February 2013.

Is Gina Rinehart after evidence that one or more of her children may have breached a court suppression order?

Finally, a clue to why Gina The Great is intent on trashing the journalist’s right to protect sources.

Steve Pennells ‏@pennells

All of us now being subpoenaed by Gina Rinehart are being asked to hand over documents stretching back to the exact same date 18 months ago.

Steve Pennells ‏@pennells

The date - Sep 5, 2011 - is significant. It's the day three of Gina Rinehart's children launched action against her in the NSW Supreme Court.

In Rinehart v Welker [2011] NSWCA 425 (21 December 2011):

4. On 5 September 2011, an application was made, ex parte , in the Supreme Court, Equity Division, seeking relief in relation to the affairs of a family trust of which Ms Gina Rinehart  is the trustee (the Trustee proceedings). The other party in the Trustee interests, Ms Ginia Rinehart, is a beneficiary under the Trust, but has joined with Ms  Gina Rinehart  in the dispute with the other beneficiaries. The ex parte application was made without any prior resort to the confidential alternate dispute mechanisms for which the Deed made provision.

5. Ms  Gina Rinehart  made an application for a stay of the application brought by the Beneficiary interests as well as an application for a suppression order made under the Court Suppression and Non-Publication Orders Act (the Act). On 13 September 2011, Brereton J made an order under s 7 of the Act, prohibiting the disclosure, by publication or otherwise, of any information as to the relief claimed, or any pleading, evidence or argument filed, read or given in, the proceedings. Pursuant to s 9(4), the order did not prohibit disclosure or publication of his Honour's judgment, or of orders made in the proceedings.

The West Australian 5th April 2012:

Hancock Prospecting's lawyers also raised concerns about the newspaper's in-house counsel gaining access to confidential documents concerning the case, because of the nature of the newspaper business.

Or could it be this?

Rinehart children in secret settlement pact

Litigation reportedly returned to the courts on 12th March 2013.

What set everyone wondering:

Rinehart subpoenas Fairfax journalist in trust feud

West Australian journalists score small victory against Gina Rinehart