Job losses on NSW North Coast signals Essential Energy privatisation move by Baird Government?

Even though Essential Energy was not included in Baird Government plans to privatize state electricity supply assets, the company's decision to cut its workforce and enter into an enterprise agreement which pares down its wages bill is looking less like a response to changed financial circumstances and more like an effort to make this business a more attractive privatization prize should the NSW government change its mind.

The Daily Examiner 15 February 2016:

ELECTRICITY provider Essential Energy wants to cut 800 jobs from regional New South Wales by 2018 under a draft workplace agreement.

The attempt, which also calls for unlimited job cuts after June 2018, predictably failed to inspire union delegates to sign on the dotted line.

The proposal comes after Essential Energy had announced in September there would be 60 job cuts on the North Coast, including 15 in Grafton and nine each in Lismore and Coffs Harbour.

That followed the Australian Energy Regulator's decision to cut the company's revenue by 30%.

Electrical Trades Union secretary Steve Butler said more than 1000 Essential Energy jobs had been slashed since 2013.

"Enterprise bargaining generally means that if you give something up you get something in return but it seems Essential Energy management think it's a one-way street," he said.

"Not only is Essential Energy wanting to sack people but they want to slash working conditions for remaining staff as well as implement a two-year wage freeze."

Other conditions included a ban on re-employing redundant workers within two years except for casual or temporary positions, and halving the amount workers are paid when called in for emergencies, from a minimum four hours' pay to two.

The need for outsourced contractors to be afforded the appropriate wages and conditions would also be removed, Mr Butler said.

"The NSW Government seems intent on slashing regional jobs at Essential Energy, which threatens service standards while maximising the profits they take from rural and regional customers," he said…….

Wauchope Gazette, 7 January 2016:

ESSENTIAL Energy's troubled year wrapped up with fresh questions raised about the amount of money paid to executives.

The company released its annual report in November for the 2014-2015 financial year.

Of particular public interest was the almost $4 million paid in salaries and bonuses to executives.

It stands in stark contrast to the 700 jobs the company said it would have to cut because of restrictions imposed on it by the Australian Energy Regulator in 2015.

The report shows the company delivered an operating profit before tax of $381.2 million, which was significantly higher than the target of $108.5 million......

As Malcolm Turnbull faces his first national budget as prime minister the right-wing nutters start to crawl out of the woodwork

First cab off the rank is the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry with a Let’s Make Aged Pensions Repayable Loans! statement on 14 February 2016:

The Federal Government must use May’s Budget to demonstrate it remains committed to reducing government spending as a share of the economy or else we risk consigning future generations to the painful readjustments that have taken place in southern Europe, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry said today.

The Australian Chamber has released its Pre-Budget Submission, which outlines a series of reforms that can curb runaway spending in areas including the age pension, family tax benefits and childcare.

Kate Carnell AO, CEO of the Australian Chamber, said: “Unless public spending is brought under control, the Australian economy will gradually be crippled by increasing taxes and growing public debt, both of which are unsustainable.

“Given welfare and social services will account for 60 per cent of total government sector spending this year, they provide numerous changes worth considering.

“Changes to the Age Pension could foster innovative financing solutions that guarantee that pensioners can remain in their homes and still save billions of dollars from spending.

“The Government should consider transforming pension payments to owner-occupiers into a loan that is recoverable against their property when it is sold, potentially with a residual value that would allow pensioners to access equity for other purposes, such as aged care. While retirees should be able to maintain a minimum residual value, at present very little of the equity in owner-occupied housing is being drawn down for other purposes.

“In addition, abolishing Family Tax Benefit Part B could save $13.9 billion over four years and means testing the Child Care Rebate could save $250 million per year.

“Public spending growth cannot exceed economic growth indefinitely. If spending continues to grow faster than the economy, we will need to continuously raise the tax burden. If Australia waits until the system breaks we will consign the next generation to readjustments like those implemented recently in Greece and Spain……

Australian Chamber Pre-Budget Submission 2016-17

Twitter owned Liberal MP Dennis Jensen over climate change stance

This tweet exchange made me smile:

To be fair the Liberal Member for Tangney (WA), Dennis Geoffrey Jensen, left university with a credible BAppSc (RMIT) MSc (Melb) PhD (Monash) which qualified him in the field of biology/biotechnology, physics and material science and he did work as a research scientist for the CSIRO between 1995 to 1999.

He was on the Advisory Board of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Anti Matter/Matter Research however his register of members’ interests declarations do not make clear exactly when he began and when he vacated this non-paying position.

However, as he was employed as an air traffic controller for around three years before he managed to find science-related employment, in 140 characters or less this rabid climate change denier and wannabee science minister was momentarily owned on Twitter.

Jensen appears to have never done research in the field of climate science or published any peer-reviewed papers on this subject.

Jensen entered the Australian Parliament in 2004, has spoken against climate change science on numerous occasions in the House of Representatives as well as in mainstream/social media and, in pursuit of a denialist agenda called for audits of the Bureau of Meteorology and the CSIRO in 2014, an audit of the Bureau of Meteorology in 2017 and an inquiry into the evidence of human influence on climate change in 2015.

He also speaks in favourable terms about that notorious climate change denier Christopher Monckton, 3rd Viscount Monckton of Brenchley.

In 2008 Jensen boycotted a sitting of federal parliament on the day that the formal apology to the Stolen Generations was made by the then Labor Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.

In September 2015 he reportedly voted to sack Tony Abbott and install Malcolm Turnbull as Australian prime minister.

Next problem for Australian Prime Minister Turnbull - his pick as Treasurer

There is such a lack of talent on the government benches in Canberra that Malcolm Turnbull would have had few ministers to choose from, even if he didn’t owe Scott Morrison the treasury portfolio as exchange for his ‘support’ in the leadership challenge which saw Turnbull gain the prime ministership.

Even after three changes of portfolio, Morrison continues implementing his far-right Christian ideology which delights in screwing over the poor and vulnerable while rewarding god’s chosen - the rich.

As this report in The Sydney Morning Herald on 12 February 2016 indicates:

The most shocking thing in the Treasury analysis delivered to Scott Morrison on January 25 isn't the finding that a cut in income tax funded by a lift in the goods and services tax wouldn't boost the economy at all.

It's what Morrison asked the Treasury to model.

He asked it to model a lift in GST from 10 to 15 per cent and then the handing back of every possible cent in income tax cuts. Because boosting the GST automatically results in extra spending on benefits such as Newstart, family allowances and pensions as prices climb it isn't possible to give all of it back.

But it is possible to hand back $30 billion of the $35 billion as tax cuts, and that's what Morrison asked the Treasury to model in the first instance, not legislated increases in benefits of the kind delivered by his predecessor Peter Costello when introducing the GST.

The impact is horrific.

High earning households do very well. In the top fifth, 81 per cent are better off. In the fifth below that, 80 per cent are better off.

In the bottom fifth, only 9 per cent are better off. Put another way, the change makes 91 per cent of the lowest-earning households worse off.

It makes 79 per cent of the next lowest earning households worse off, and 60 per cent of middle earning households better off.

Morrison had asked the Treasury to model a change that enriched middle and high earners at the expense of the least-well off.

And the results tell us something about the nature of the change. It appears to have been one that cut tax rates or adjusted thresholds at the top more than the bottom. All of the Prime Minister's talk about how any change must be fair appears to not have sunk in.

At his request Treasury and its consultants Econtech and KPMG also did sensitivity analysis. What would happen if, say, $6 billion of the tax cuts were diverted to low earners in extra benefits? They found that the more the tax cuts were diverted to benefits, the worse the economic payoff. Econtech found the payoff turned negative. KPMG found it was positive but got weaker the more low earners were compensated.

Morrison will make much of the finding in a later Treasury brief that doing nothing and allowing bracket creep to push people into ever higher tax brackets is set to take 0.35 per cent from GDP over four years. But tax cuts funded by a hike in the GST wouldn't have halted bracket creep, they would have postponed it. And during the time they postponed it, the projected budget deficit would have swelled……

Nationals MP for Cowper Luke Hartsuyker dumped as Minister for Vocational Education and Skills

Luke Hartsuyker (left) at the beginning of his brief 4.5 month stint as a full minister

Image from Coffs Coast Advocate

Lost his bid to become Deputy-Leader of the Nationals to Fiona Nash and now swiftly given the boot from the front bench by his own prime minister – Luke Hartsuyker must either have fought an unforgivably bloody leadership battle behind the scenes, been a spectacularly underperforming Minister for Vocational Education and Skills or it was discovered that he blotted his copybook when overseas like so many Turnbull Government ministers and MPs before him.

Perhaps a case of what goes on in Turkey stays in Turkey?

Clarrie Rivers will be pleased with the demotion.

What has happened in Malcolm Bligh Turnbull's first 154 days as Australia's Prime Minister?

On 14 September 2015 Liberal MP for Wentworth and former Communications Minister Malcolm Bligh Turnbull became the 29th Prime Minister of Australia, after defeating then sitting prime minister Tony Abbott in a party room poll by 55 to 44 votes.

By 21 September Turnbull had announced his new "21st Century" ministry, removing Joe Hockey, Eric Abetz, Ian Macfarlane, Kevin Andrews and Bruce Billson from the ministry in the process.

Just 154 days later and we find that his handpicked…….

Minister for Defence Materiel and Science & Special Minister of State Mal Brough had to first stand aside in December 2015, due to an Australian Federal Police investigation into allegations that he has urged a member of the staff of the House of Representative Speaker to unlawfully obtain a copy of part of the Speaker’s diary in 2012 and, then on 13 February 2016 was forced to resign as minister

Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science & Leader of the House Christopher Pyne is assisting the Australian Federal Police with inquiries in relation to those same allegations as is the Assistant Minister for Innovation Wyatt Roy

Minister for Cities and the Built Environment Jamie Briggs had to resign in December 2015 after admitting he had behaved inappropriately towards a young female member of the Australian diplomatic corps whilst in Hong Kong bar in November 2015

Minister for Human Services & Minister for Veterans’ Affairs Stuart Robert had to resign in February 2016 after it was revealed that he had breached ministerial standards in 2014 by allegedly lobbying the Chinese Government on behalf of the mutual business interests of himself and a major Liberal Party donor

Minister for Vocational Education and Skills Luke Hartsuyker was involuntarily demoted to the backbench without explanation in 2016.

Then Liberal MP for Groome Ian Macfarlane, who lost the portfolio for industry and science when Turnbull ousted Abbott, finally saw the writing on the wall after a failed attempt to cross to the Nationals and, subsequently being tarred with the Stuart Robert scandal, decided to retire at the general election this year.

After his Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss and Minister for Trade and Investment Andrew Robb also decided to bail (voluntarily) out of politics, this left him seven ministers short since taking charge in September 2015.

In Turnbull’s emergency ministerial reshuffle there are fourteen Coalition MPs and Senators who have assumed new portfolio responsibilities – some for the very first time:

New Minister for Northern Australia, Qld Nationals Senator Matt Canavan – has been in parliament less than nineteen months sitting on a slew of parliamentary committees but doing little else;

New Assistant Minister for Immigration, Qld Liberal Senator James McGrath, retaining Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister – has been in parliament less than nineteen months sitting on a dozen parliamentary committees and becoming Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister in September 2015;

New Assistant Cabinet Secretary and Assistant Minister for Finance, NSW Liberal MP for Eden-Monaro Peter Hendy – has been in parliament a little over two years sitting on two parliamentary committees before becoming Assistant Minister for Productivity in September 2015;

New Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister for Cities and Digital Transformation, NSW Liberal MP for Hume Angus Taylor – been in parliament for a little over two years sitting on five committees but with no other obvious experience;

New Assistant Minister to the Deputy Prime Minister,  Nationals MP for Hinkler Keith Pitt – has been in parliament for a little over two years sitting on six parliamentary committess but with no other obvious experience.

New Assistant Minister for Multicultural Affairs, NSW Liberal MP for Reid Craig Laundy – has been in parliament for a little over two years sitting on four parliamentary committees but with no other obvious experience;

New Minister for Veterans’ Affairs and Minister for Defence Material, Liberal MP for Wannon Dan Tehan – been in parliament for less than six years and sitting on a handful of parliamentary committees;

New Assistant Minister for Disability Services Qld Liberal MP for Ryan Jane Prentice – has been in parliament less than six years holding a number of parliamentary appointments, positions and sitting on a number of committees;

New Minister for Human Services, Liberal MP for Aston Alan Tudge – has been in parliament less than six years with two years as a parliamentary secretary and one committee membership under his belt  before becoming Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister and Assistant Minister for Social Services in September 2015;

New Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Liberal MP for Gippsland Darren Chester – has been in parliament for less than eight years with a two-year stint as a parliamentary secretary before becoming Assistant Minister for Defence in September 2015;

New Minister for Vocational Education and Skills, Vic Liberal Senator Scott Ryan – has been in parliament less than eight years only having served as a parliamentary secretary or shadow secretary in two portfolios and as an assistant cabinet secretary since September 2015.

New Minister for International Development and the Pacific, NSW Liberal Senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells – has been in parliament less than eight years, served on various committees and as parliamentary secretary before becoming Assistant Minister for Multicultural Affairs in September 2015.

New Minister for Infrastructure & Regional Development and Minister for Regional Communications, Deputy Leader of the Nationals & NSW Nationals Senator Fiona Nash, retaining Minister for Rural Health – has been in parliament for about twelve years mostly spent on various committees and as shadow parliamentary secretary until becoming Assistant Minister for Health and Minister for Rural Health in September 2015; and

New Minister for Trade and Investment, Liberal MP for Moncrieff Steve Ciobo – who has been in parliament for about 15 years but only became Minister for International Development and the Pacific in September 2015 after serving as a parliamentary secretary in three portfolios.

By this stage of Turnbull's prime ministership Australia has also slipped from ranking 11 to ranking 13 on the Corruption Perceptions Index which judges 168 countries and territories based on how corrupt their public sector is perceived to be and, had come third last in the December 2015 annual assessment of 58 nations’ climate policies and carbon emission levels, with only Saudi Arabia and Kazakhstan ranking worse.

Likewise the federal government budget deficit forecast has changed and not for the better – it currently stands at est. $37.4 billion.

Additionally the Turnbull Government appears to still have four reports outstanding which should have been submitted to UN committees by now - Elimination of Racial Discrimination report overdue since 2012, Human Rights report overdue since 2013, Economic Social & Cultural Rights report overdue since 2014 and, Elimination of Discrimination against Women report overdue since 2014.

While despite the government being faced with a est. $9 million renovation bill for The Lodge, Turnbull’s wife Lucy happily shopped for sofas, curtains and other soft furnishings for the official residence.

Not exactly a glowing report card for Truffles.