1 Deadly Nation: "Indigenous life expectancy is at third world levels and Mr Abbott is racking up huge bills to do nothing about it while claiming credit for work he simply doesn't do!"

Cross posted with permission from 1 Deadly Nation: Unity in Diversity 13 August 2013:

 Abbott, the Truth and Cost of his Indigenous Volunteering

By now we’ve all heard it, as soon as criticism of the LNP’s policies on Indigenous Affairs (or lack thereof ) are raised the default position of LNP members, journalists and the apologists of in action is rolled out. Tony Abbott volunteers in Indigenous communities we are told, he goes for a week a year and these statements of “fact” are usually then followed by a barrage of holier than thou tripe about how much Mr Abbott could teach the rest of us….

So sure of this position, so much has it become the accepted reality, that statements from the LNP and journalists come to us on this subject with gay abandon. Take last night on the ABC’s Q and A program:-

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: We know that Tony Abbott works in Indigenous communities at least a week or two a year, and he has said that if he is elected Prime Minister that he will continue to do that and that he will take senior bureaucrats with him. He has done that in Cape York…

We know this do we? This just goes completely unchallenged and is gospel truth is it? Well here is what I know.

In August of 2012 Tony Abbott did indeed go to Cape York, but it wasn’t for a week or two as Mr Pyne suggests. It was for 2 days! It was a working bee of sorts and some of Australia’s business leaders were taken along to volunteer as well. Photos of Abbott with tools in hand were taken and the myth of Abbott the saviour of the Black man had a wonderful photo op. No problem so far until you examine the  Expenditure on Entitlements paid by the Department of Finance and Deregulation to Mr Abbott for this trip of “Volunteering”. And what do we find on page 12? An amount of $9,636.36, tax payer dollars, to fund the hire of a private charter flight for the 2 days. I don’t know about you, but when I volunteer to hammer in a few nails for a day or two I don’t ask the people of Australia to cough up 10k. That isn’t volunteering, that is the most expensive labourer in the history of Australia. I wonder what the sandwiches cost….(http://www.finance.gov.au/publications/parliamentarians-reporting/docs/P31/ABBOTT_Tony.pdf page 12.)

So was this a once off? Not on your life!

On another one of his trips to an Indigenous Community Mr Abbott was off to sell his version of the Wild Rivers Legislation to the traditional owners it would impact. Not quite volunteering as such, but policy is good and spending time in Indigenous communities is to be encouraged if it results in consultation that means that locals get their message across and this results in positive policy changes. So just how much did Mr Abbott listen to the local people of the Indigenous community he visited? How much was this reflected in his policy? Because hey, we know (or are told) he has the ear of the Black man…

”We do not support his shonky Bill,” said activist Murrando Yanner of the Carpentaria Land Council. ”We think it is badly drafted and legally unenforceable.” ”He will leave unhappy,” said Mr Yanner, who supports the existing Wild River legislation. ”His new Bill is a dogs breakfast.’

Well, that didn’t go to plan. It was neither volunteering nor listening to the locals. No harm in trying I suppose and if you spent the week out in the community helping it has some purpose, but little use if the status quo is maintained and you ignore the wishes of the people you supposedly assist. Well there is some harm and it wasn’t for a week. The harm comes in the form of another private charter flight, cost to the tax payer, $32,545.00. Because nothing says I volunteer to help those in need like a 30k ride in a jet. Oh and that week or two Pyne talks about? That trip that cost we the tax payer $32,545.00 in flights alone, was for just one night! (http://www.finance.gov.au/publications/parliamentarians-reporting/docs/T28/ABBOTT_Tony.pdf p29)

So when weeks are days and days cost tens of thousands of dollars and volunteering is photo ops and not listening to the traditional owners of the land you have to rename these volunteering trips. Tony Abbott’s very expensive, tax payer funded, private jet flown, not listening tours of outback Australia.

Next time an LNP member or journalist drops the “Abbott volunteers for weeks in Indigenous communities” line, call bullshit and then refer them to the figures. Three days and nearly $45000 in flights alone…, if that’s volunteering the rest of us are really doing it all wrong. Many of us, some one million odd Australians, do volunteer every year for community organisations, they slog their guts out, donate large amounts of money and never even ask for a thank you. The audacity of this public lie should be even more shocking when we remember that Indigenous life expectancy is at third world levels and Mr Abbott is racking up huge bills to do nothing about it while claiming credit for work he simply doesn’t do!

The writings on the wall for all Australian print newspapers

Even front page pics of royal babies, crocodiles, UFOs or politicians caught with their pants down doesn’t stop the rot anymore.

Click on list to make it grow

List first posted over at Loon Pond

Liberal Party candidate for Charlton Kevin Baker, who withdrew from Abbott's Army this afternoon, has been on the nose for years

ABC News 20 August 2013:

Kevin Baker, who is contesting former minister Greg Combet's NSW seat of Charlton, was forced to shut down the personal website after it was revealed he had "posted hundreds of lewd jokes about women and had links to pornography", the Daily Telegraph has reported.

"Some of that banter, it has now been discovered, included jokes about the Pope being a paedophile, women having sex on pool tables and what Mr Baker himself calls 'Tit-banter',"…..

The Daily Telegraph quoted Mr Baker as saying in a statement last night:

"I set up an online forum for Mini Cooper enthusiasts several years ago.

"On the site I made comments that were inappropriate, which I deeply regret and for which I apologise unreservedly.

"In the last few years I have also failed to moderate the site properly.

"A number of statements have been made by participants that are also completely inappropriate.

"I have now shut the offending site down."

Kevin Baker states that in the last few years he has failed to properly moderate the website he created and registered.

In fact one can see that Mr. Baker has been failing to stop offensive comment since at least 2006 if one has a peek at forums.mini-mods.com using the Wayback Machine:

With the writing on the wall Kevin Baker issued this statement:

Metgasco CSG well "shot broken drill rods, methane and liquids skyward in the process of dying"

Echonetdaily 14 August 2013:

The recent dismantling of a coal seam gas (CSG) well adjacent to Casino airport could have been lethal after the explosive ejection of broken drill rods and methane into the air, it was claimed this week.

Mining company Metgasco says no-one was hurt during the well’s decommissioning late on Sunday, July 14, as safety equipment installed on the well to cope with such events had worked.

But Nimbin Environment Centre secretary Alan Roberts said the ‘explosion’ and loud noise as gas burst out under high pressure had alarmed surrounding residents, including those staying at a nearby motor-home park.

Mr Roberts, who is part of a group monitoring the decommissioning of 19 Metgasco CSG wells in the northern rivers, said that during the decommissioning of the well, ‘200 metres of drill rod and milling tool were ejected explosively’.

He said that a Metgasco official, when asked about the incident at the time, told him it was ‘normal to circulate some gas to the mud degasser in the process of killing the well’ and that he could ‘rest assured the well is now dead’ and workmen would ‘soon be running in to commence the abandonment operations’.

But Mr Roberts said, ‘Metgasco may consider it normal, but the well certainly did not, as it shot broken drill rods, methane and liquids skyward in the process of dying’…..

Hartsuyker lets the cat out of the bag on higher mobile phone costs if the Coalition wins on 7 September 2013

On 13 August 2013 Opposition Leader Tony Abbott announced that: If elected, a Coalition government will partner with local communities, state governments and telecommunications companies to ensure that the total new investment in black spots is far greater than our $100 million commitment.

This policy will provide $80 million for a Mobile Network Expansion Programme that will improve mobile phone coverage along major transport routes, in small communities and in locations prone to experiencing natural disasters. 

The Mobile Network Expansion Programme is expected to generate at least an additional $80 million investment from the major mobile phone carriers. 

The Coalition will also provide $20 million for a Mobile Black Spot Programme to address unique mobile coverage problems – such as locations with high seasonal demand – and deliver a targeted response.

The next day the Australian Financial Review reported that the Shadow Minister for Regional Communications and Nationals Member for Cowper here on the NSW North Coast, Luke Hartsuyker, stated that he expects major mobile phone carriers and regional communities to stump up over $100 million to build the towers.

Which would inevitably translate into higher mobile phone costs across regional and rural Australia, as state/local governments and telcos passed these costs on to consumers.

Something Opposition Leader Tony Abbott neglected to mention in his media announcement.

Australian Opposition Leader Tony Abbott suffers a bout of dangerous stupidity

This was Opposition Leader Tony Abbott during the 11 August 2013 televised and transcribed Leaders Debate:

Well, I accept that it was quite a detailed set of changes and it was largely based on a report by the Productivity Commission. I thought that the Productivity Commission report was a good report, as did my Shadow Minister, Senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells. On this issue there isn't an enormous difference between the Coalition and the Government but we do need to try to ensure that the providers, that the nurses, that the other workers in these aged care centres who do such a terrific job, such a terrific job, and are so helpful to very vulnerable Australians, don't have to spend as much time on paperwork as they currently do under a paper-based accountability system. [my red bolding]

Perhaps Mr. Abbott might like to explain what paperwork he would eliminate?

Would it be daily observation charts, case notes, individual treatment plans, outcomes of multidisciplinary case management conferences, filling in accident/incident registers, or more simple tasks like placing patients/residents on lists for podiatry treatment and filling in weekly menus for those who can no longer do such tasks for themselves etc?

Or would it be paperwork proving staffing levels, that all staff were suitably qualified for the positions they hold and that emergency medical equipment is tested/serviced regularly?

A paper based accountability system is there for a reason – to protect the wellbeing and rights of older Australians living their final years in nursing home care.

Tony Abbott’s slick promise to cut-the-red-tape, which he frequently throws into press conferences on all manner of subjects, is dangerously stupid.