"All of them disgraced. The stench from Labor is matched by the stink from the spivs at the big end of town."

Mike Carlton in today's Sydney Morning Herald has very neatly summed up what most rational people are thinking about recent events at the NSW ICAC.

Labor richly deserves the savaging it is getting over the Eddie Obeid and Ian Macdonald scandals. It tolerated these scoundrels in its ranks far too long. A conga line of NSW ALP grandees and apparatchiks turned a cynical blind eye to their sordid intrigues.

...

But there is another point worth making. Of the eight other men fingered as corrupt by the ICAC on Wednesday, you would bet that most have never voted Labor. They include the corporate titans Travers Duncan, a mining baron; John Kinghorn, the founder of RAMS home loans; and Richard Poole, a merchant banker and company director. And there were the two legal lions John "What's the shortest distance to a pot of money?" McGuigan and John Atkinson, heavies from the global law firm Baker and McKenzie.

All of them disgraced. The stench from Labor is matched by the stink from the spivs at the big end of town.

Source: SMH, 3/8/13

The Australian Productivity Commission looks at deep and persistent disadvantage

Excerpt from the Australian Productivity Commission’s report Deep and Persistent Disadvantage in Australia 11 July 2013:

Key points

• Australia has experienced two decades of economic growth and rising average

incomes, but some in the community continue to be ‘left behind’.

• Disadvantage is a multi-dimensional concept. It is about ‘impoverished lives’

(including a lack of opportunities), not just low income. Poverty, deprivation,

capabilities and social exclusion are different lenses to view and measure

disadvantage.

• A number of researchers produce estimates of the extent of disadvantage in

Australia. Each relies on contestable assumptions and thresholds.

• Around 5 per cent of Australians aged 15 plus are estimated to have experienced deep social exclusion in 2010, fewer than in 2001 (7 per cent). The rate of very deep exclusion was stable at around 1 per cent (Social Exclusion Monitor).

• Fewer people experience ongoing disadvantage — 3 per cent of Australians

experienced deep social exclusion for five or more years (between 2001 and 2010)

and just under 1 per cent for seven or more years.

• People who are more likely to experience deep and persistent disadvantage include: lone parents; Indigenous Australians; people with a long-term health condition or disability; and people with low educational attainment. Many are public housing tenants and are weakly attached to the labour market.

• Disadvantage has its roots in a complex interplay of factors. Many of these factors, when combined, can have a compounding effect. The probability that any one person will experience disadvantage is influenced by: their personal capabilities and family circumstances; the support they receive; the community where they live (and the opportunities it offers); life events; and the broader economic and social

environment.

• A child’s earliest years fundamentally shape their life chances. Gaps in capabilities between children from socioeconomically disadvantaged families and their more advantaged peers appear early in life. Starting school ‘behind the eight ball’ can begin a cycle of disadvantage that sets a trajectory for poorer outcomes later in life.

• Education is a foundation capability. It improves a person’s employment prospects and earning capacity, and the evidence points to a relationship between education and better health and raised civic and social engagement.

• Employment is the route out of disadvantage for most people of working age.

• Disadvantage imposes costs on people and families who experience it and on the broader community. Only avoidable costs (reductions in disadvantage that are

realistically possible) should be included when estimating the costs of disadvantage.

• Longitudinal data is critical to understanding the dynamics of disadvantage. But

people who are most disadvantaged are often not well represented in such studies.

Administrative data has the potential to provide new knowledge to inform

researchers and policy makers about deep and persistent disadvantage.

Full report here.

Northern Rivers 'weed' needs to carry a health warning

Ballina Shire Advocate 27 July 2013:

Cannabis from the Northern Rivers is among the most potent in the world, sparking fears users could be at risk of developing mental health problems and dependency.

As Australia has one of the highest per-capita rates of cannabis use worldwide, a National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre study, the first of its kind in Australia, analysed levels of THC.

THC, the main psychoactive component of the drug that gets users "stoned", is linked to mental health problems and anxiety.

Researchers examined 232 samples of cannabis seized by NSW police from recreational users and in large outdoor and indoor cultivations.

Study leader Dr Wendy Swift said samples seized from users at Lismore, Byron Bay and Tweed Heads were found to have some of the highest levels of THC.

Cannabis tested also had extremely low levels of cannabidiol, which is thought to counteract some negative effects of THC…….

Australian Government Economic Statement August 2013

Full Economic Statement here.

Desmond John Thomas Euen wants a sea port

Readers may have noticed that rumours have resurfaced about the Port of Yamba being targeted as a coal terminal at the end of a west-east rail line linking north-western NSW with the coast.

This plan was first mooted by some of the people involved in unsuccessful lobbying to dam and divert water from the Clarence River catchment system for the benefit of irrigators and mining corporations in the Murray Darling Basin and, at the time was estimated to cost at least $3.5 billion to achieve.

Though the latest manifestation of these rumours owes little to Mal Peters & Co and more to an ‘entrepreneur’ from Booval in Queensland.

According to ASIC documents Desmond John Thomas Euen is the only director, shareholder and company secretary in a $1-1 share company registered in New South Wales on 31 August 2012, Australian Infrastructure Developments Pty Ltd, and elsewhere he has variously described himself as the company’s Managing Director and Executive Director.

Mr. Euen also has a website which appears to be locked or parked:

Whois http://whois.domaintools.com/australianinfrastructuredevelopments.com.au

Domain Name:                     australianinfrastructuredevelopments.com.au
Registrar ID:                    WAR
Registrar Name:                  Web Address Registration
Status:                          ok

Registrant:                      LYNX BUSINESS SERVICES PTY LTD
Registrant ID:                   ABN 56146166574
Eligibility Type:                Company

Registrant Contact ID:           R-006499331-SN
Registrant Contact Name:         Des Euen
Registrant Contact Email:        Visit whois.ausregistry.com.au for Web based WhoIs

Tech Contact ID:                 C-001573771-SN
Tech Contact Name:               Des Euen
Tech Contact Email:              Visit whois.ausregistry.com.au for Web based WhoIs

Name Server:                     ns1.designandhost.net
Name Server:                     ns2.designandhost.net

On doing a Google search of the second company which appears to be associated with Desmond Euen, I found this:

As well as this as yet unexplained and possibly unrelated notice.

It appears to be Mr. Euen’s current goal in life to turn a small working port, on which the local fishing and tourism industries also heavily rely, into a generic freight hub at the end of a phantom west-east rail line and, in the process destroy a significant Yaegl cultural and spiritual site, Dirrangun reef.

He rather arrogantly asserted to one journalist that; the local indigenous population would be handsomely compensated and provided with jobs.

Dirrungun reef and the Clarence River below Harwood Bridge fall within two registered native title claims by the Yaegl people of the Clarence Valley.

Desmond Euen has created a power point presentation to support his grandiose plan but has not yet submitted a proposal to the O’Farrell Government.

He appears to be having trouble getting a hearing from relevant federal and state ministers. Indeed, to date the only ‘meeting’ he seems to have achieved has been a very short one with a senior staffer from the NSW Roads and Ports Minister’s office and it resulted in this statement:

“A proposal of this nature is highly unlikely in the current market environment and the government has no plans for the Port of Yamba”

The ever hopeful Mr. Euen has approached at least one local newspaper and, The Daily Examiner reported on 1 August 2013:

In the wake of a recent story on speculation the Port of Yamba was to be converted into a coal freight hub, the managing director of ADI, Desmond J T Euen contacted the paper.

Mr Euen said he was upset rumours were circulating a coal hub was on the agenda and said in fact his organisation had been speaking to the State Government about converting the Port of Yamba into a freight hub.

He said the development would bring billions of dollars worth of investment and thousands of jobs to the area.

Mr Euen also said a funding deal, from the private sector, was in advanced stages.

By 2 August Mr. Euen had reportedly become insistent "I'll tell you this; the Yamba Port is going to be developed in exactly the way I'm saying it will," Mr Euen said. "And it's got nothing to do with coal" and Clarence Valley Mayor Richie Williamson was showing his usual fence sitting skills when it comes to Lower Clarence issues "We would welcome responsible and sustainable development and jobs in the Clarence Valley….And any proposal that reflects that should be given due consideration on its merit."

If Clarence Valley Council management or its executive has given Mr. Euen any form of encouragement they have seriously misjudged the aspirations and priorities of the Yamba community.

Premier O'Farrell sacks NSW Finance Minister

Under cover of the noise created by the corruption findings against former Labor minister Ian McDonald and Labor MP Eddie Obeid, Barry O'Farrell gets on with the business of sacking his own Finance Minister.

The Illawarra Mercury 1 August 2013:

NSW Finance Minister and Minister for the Illawarra Greg Pearce has been sacked for breaching the ministerial code of conduct just weeks after he returned to the job from stress leave.

NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell said he told Mr Pearce of his decision over the phone at 1.45pm today….

After previously standing by Mr Pearce, Premier Barry O’Farrell today said the finance minister had failed to declare a conflict of interest in appointing lawyer Richard Fisher to the board of Sydney Water…

Mr Pearce had been under fire in recent months following allegations that he was drunk in Parliament and that he had rorted the ministerial travel guidelines over a trip to Canberra.

A report by the Department of Premier and Cabinet in June found that Mr Pearce had breached the state government’s ministerial travel guidelines when he booked a private trip to Canberra through the government’s travel agency.

Mr Pearce paid for the bill upon his return, but saved himself $188 by using the contractor.

Mr Pearce apologised for his actions before announcing that he was taking a month off to recover from ‘‘stress and exhaustion’’…..