Quote of the Week

Black people are constantly divided, chained to an ideology and sacrificed by others in the pursuit of their idea of the greater good. I’ve worked in the interface between black and white for long enough to be exploited most often as the proof of life.

I am in the ubiquitous photos of participants rounded up to pose and confirm the community engagement objective of a workshop was met. I am the counterweight that provides balanced reportage to a site, once I have been edited and strategically placed. I am the polarizing link that provides the dark to their light. I am what sustains their precedence over my self determination.

Is it any wonder that it is so difficult to find an Indigenous person willing to express an opinion?

[Siv Parker, On Dusk, 22 November 2014]

George Brandis: I will decide who has a right to access my metadata and the manner in which they access it

Personal information contained in metadata is 'owned' by you if you just happen to be Australian Attorney-General George Brandis (left) or one of his political or personal acquaintances, but not if you are unfortunate enough to be Bazza Citizen…..

The Sydney Morning Herald 27 November 2014:

Attorney-General George Brandis wants your private phone and internet metadata to be accessible by law-enforcement agencies without a warrant but won't let you see his.

As the Abbott government moves to make it a requirement for internet and phone providers to store every Australian citizens' metadata for two years, Mr Brandis has refused to divulge the metadata of his mobile phone bill.

Instead, a redacted version not even showing the cost of his bill has been released. It shows his Telstra bill for July is 17 pages long - 13 pages longer than this author's bill for the same month.

According to Mr Brandis' chief of staff, the decision to entirely censor the bill was due to it containing "personal information about a number of individuals' telephone numbers", as well as the time and origin of calls, reports technology publication ZDNet.

"Disclosure of the personal information in the document is unreasonable," Mr Brandis' chief of staff Paul O'Sullivan said, adding that who the minister called was not relevant…..

Meanwhile, the author of this article is seeking his own metadata from Telstra.

Telstra is refusing to hand it over and the case is currently before the Privacy Commissioner, who is set to decide on the matter before the end of the year.

Snapshot from reply to FOI request for Brandis metadata dated 27 November 2014:

* Photograph from news.com.au, May 2014

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott's on again, off again, support for White Ribbon Day 2014

White Ribbon Day helps raise awareness and funds to stop men's violence against women in Australia.

This was Prime Minister and self-appointed Minister for Women Tony Abbott sporting the official white ribbon at one of the main Canberra events on 25 November 2014:

This was the Prime Minister a few hours later minus ribbon during Question Time:

Apparently, unlike many of his parliamentary colleagues, he did not consider it worth the effort to wear this ribbon for the day instead of just for a morning media opportunity.

Bill Shorten on the other hand was wearing his ribbon during the afternoon as this second screen shot shows:

Vale Phillip Hughes

Best Question Time Exchange - Part 1

It took some doing but Opposition Leader Bill Shorten finally made Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott admit without qualification that he had uttered that now infamous statement and, this exchange was recorded by Hansard at 14:01 on 25 November 2014:

Mr SHORTEN (Maribyrnong—Leader of the Opposition) (14:01): My question is to the Prime Minister. On the night before the election, 'somebody' was interviewed on SBS and made the following statement: 'No cuts to education. No cuts to health. No change to pensions. No change to the GST, and no cuts to the ABC or SBS.'
Prime Minister, no-one will now own up to making that statement. Does the Prime Minister have any idea who said this?....
Mr ABBOTT (Warringah—Prime Minister) (14:02): Of course I made that statement.

Fans of Lower Clarence Community Radio TLC 100.3 FM all their lives!

Here are two members of the Lower Clarence community who have been listening to TLC 100.3 FM on the radio dial since they were ten weeks old.

They enjoy the eclectic mix of easy listening, light jazz, nostalgia and presenters' personal favourites, but what they really croon along to is country and western classics.

If you haven't listened to the little radio station beaming out from Pilot Hill, Yamba, before - give it a try today.

Coal seam/tight gas miner Metgasco Limited's major shareholder makes the news again as Australian Senate inquiry into Queensland Government continues

Metgasco Limited's major shareholder ERM Power gets a mention in the Brisbane Times on 24 November 2014:

State Energy Minister Mark McArdle held a Liberal National Party fundraiser at the offices of one of the nation's largest energy companies, but did not declare it in his ministerial diary.

The 2013 event was held in the boardroom of ERM Power, one of many meetings between the minister, the energy company and lobbying firm SAS Group, according to documents seen by Fairfax Media.

A spokesman for Mr McArdle said the minister always complied with the reporting obligations set down by Premier Campbell Newman's demand for the most transparent and accountable administraton in Queensland's history, but the boardroom fundraiser did not fall into the category of a reportable event.

"Fundraising is carried out by the party organisation in strict compliance with state and federal laws," the statement says.

A spokesman for ERM Power said political fundraising was a "legitimate exercise of the freedom of political association and expression".

"ERM Power complies with the regulatory framework in Queensland for such activities, making the required disclosures under the Electoral Act," he said.

The documents, which the Electrical Trades Union is expected to submit to the Senate Inquiry in to the Queensland Government, show meetings and meals between the government, ERM executives and their lobbyists stretch back to 2012, soon after the LNP took office.

Locations included Minister McArdle's office, the LNP state conference and the Queensland Club.

Mr McArdle's spokesman said the minister regularly met with a wide range of stakeholders in the energy and water sectors.

So far this year:

* Mr McArdle met ERM Power representatives at The Queensland Club on February 5 to discuss "renewable energy" on February 5;

* The state government announced on March 6 it was axing the 8 cent solar feed-in-tariff paid to 40,000 Queenslanders in favour of a system where customers negotiated directly with retailers; and

* On March 11 Mr McArdle was the guest at a lunch hosted by SAS Group in the lobbying company's boardroom. 

SAS Group did not declare the event on the contact register maintained by the state's Integrity Commissioner but Mr McArdle did, listing its purpose in his diary as "boardroom lunch" and naming the lobbyists as the organiser......

Fairfax Media last year revealed that ERM, which had previously predominately donated to the Labor Party, had donated more than $25,000 to the LNP since 2010, with $1500 going to the Labor Party in the same period. 

The government appointed the company's non-executive chair, Tony Bellas, as head of its Independent Review Panel into the electricity sector in May 2012.

An ERM Power spokesman said the company, whose Brisbane office was opened by Premier Campbell Newman in April 2013, was a major Queensland employer and ASX listed entity and as a matter of good business practice maintained appropriate relationships with all of its stakeholders, including the government and opposition.

The Senate Inquiry into the Queensland government will hold its next public hearing on November 28.

The question a number of voters on the NSW North Coast are asking is: How much is ERM Power donating to the NSW Liberal and Nationals election campaigns ahead of the March 2015 state election?

Because unless the current Liberal-Nationals Coalition Government headed by Premier Baird wins re-election Metgasco Limited will lose all its North Coast coal seam gas tenements and ERM Power the value of its investment.

BACKGROUND

Details of the Senate Select Committee inquiry into Certain Aspects of Queensland Government Administration related to Commonwealth Government Affairs can be found here.