The Australian Government doesn't only wreck asylum seeker lives on Manus and Nauru - it tosses away billions of taxpayer dollars in the process

The Turnbull Government (like the Abbott government before it) once again demonstrates why it is unfit to govern……

ABC News, 17 January 2017:

The Department of Immigration and Border Protection has been accused of mismanaging offshore detention centre contracts, with an independent audit alleging more than $1 billion was spent over the last four years without proper authorisation.

A report from Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) detailed "significant shortcomings" in the management of contracts for security and welfare services on Manus Island and Nauru.

It cited $2.3 billion in payments made between September 2012 and April 2016, which it stated were not authorised or recorded correctly.

"$1.1 billion was approved by DIBP officers who did not have the required authorisation and for the remaining $1.1 billion there was no departmental record of who authorised the payments," it stated.

The report further stated that contract variations totalling more than $1 billion were made without a documented assessment of value for money.

The Immigration Department disagreed with the claim that some payments were not appropriately authorised.

However, a response from Jenet Connell, the department's chief operating officer, acknowledged the lack of documentary evidence around the payments and cited plans to "further embed improvements".

"It is important to recognise the complex environment in which these contracts were established and continue to operate," she said.

"The garrison support and welfare services contracts were originally established during great uncertainty and over the last four years, the department has worked very hard to establish sustainable contract arrangements."

The report comes four months after an earlier audit that stated that the department was unable to demonstrate it had secured valued for money in three of the four hiring processes for centres on Nauru and Manus Island.

Australian National Audit Office, excerpt from Audit Report No. 32 2016-17:

Conclusion

8. The Department of Immigration and Border Protection’s management of the garrison support and welfare services contracts at the offshore processing centres in Nauru and Papua New Guinea (Manus Island) has fallen well short of effective contract management practice.

9. The garrison support and welfare contracts were established in circumstances of great haste to give effect to government policy decisions and the department did not have a detailed view of what it wanted to purchase or the standards to apply. These are key considerations in achieving value for money. While the department took between 20 to 43 weeks (depending on the contract) to enter into final 2013 contracts, there remained significant shortcomings in the contractual framework. Many of the shortcomings persisted in the 2014 contracts, indicating that the 2014 contract consolidation process was not informed by lessons learned from the department’s management and operation of the 2013 contracts.

10. The department did not put in place effective mechanisms to manage the contracts. Other than the contracts, there was no documentation of the means by which the contract objectives would be achieved. In the absence of a plan, assurance processes such as the inspection and audit of services delivered, has not occurred in a systematic way and risks were not effectively managed. In addition, the department has not maintained appropriate records of decisions and actions taken in the course of its contract management. As a consequence, the department has not been well placed to assess whether its service strategies were adequate or fully met government objectives.

11. The department developed a comprehensive and risk based performance framework for the contracts to help it assess provider performance. However, development of the framework was delayed and in applying the framework the department was not consistent in its treatment of different providers. Performance measurement under the framework relied heavily on self-assessments by providers and the department performed limited independent checks. Delays in the department’s review of self-assessments and the provision of feedback on contractor performance eroded the link between actual performance and contract payments. Risk assessment was a key component of the performance reporting processes and while risk assessments were conducted, DIBP did not review risk ratings or determine if controls and mitigations were in place and working. Risks materialised in both the 2013 and 2014 contracts.

12. An appropriate framework of controls was in place for payments under the contracts, including the authorisation of actual payments by a delegate. This control was intended to provide additional assurance over payments under the contracts but did not always operate as intended. In respect to $2.3 billion in payments made between September 2012 and April 2016, delegate authorisations were not always secured or recorded: an appropriate delegate provided an authorisation for payments totalling $80 million; $1.1 billion was approved by DIBP officers who did not have the required authorisation; and for the remaining $1.1 billion there was no departmental record of who authorised the payments.

13. In addition, this audit highlighted further weaknesses in the department’s management of procurement. Substantial contract variations totalling over $1 billion were made without a documented assessment of value for money.

14. Contract management is core business for Australian Government entities, and the department has managed detention contracts since 1997. Previous ANAO audits of the department’s contract management have found that: its contracting framework had not established clear expectations of the level and quality of services to be delivered; and its ability to monitor the performance of contractors was compromised by a lack of clarity in standards and performance measures and reliance on incident reporting to determine when standards were not being met. This audit has identified a recurrence of these (and other) deficiencies, which have resulted in higher than necessary expense for taxpayers and significant reputational risks for the Australian Government and the department. The audit recommendations are intended to address the significant weaknesses observed in DIBP’s contract management practices.

Australian Dept. Immigration and Border Protection - Auditor General's Report No. 32 2016-17 by clarencegirl on Scribd

https://www.scribd.com/document/336776634/Australian-Dept-Immigration-and-Border-Protection-Auditor-General-s-Report-No-32-2016-17

Lessons That The NSW Government Never Learns: these marine deaths were entirely predictable and avoidable

Green Sea Turtle

ABC News, 17 January 2017:

The latest report on the New South Wales shark netting program revealed 133 target sharks [27 found dead] were caught along with 615 non-target marine animals off beaches between Wollongong and Newcastle.

Almost half of the animals caught perished in the netting.

The report revealed 90 threatened or protected species were caught in the nets during the 2015-16 season.

The Sydney Morning Herald, 17 January 2017:

The Shark Meshing (Bather Protection) Program Annual Performance Report, covering 51 beaches off Sydney, Newcastle and Wollongong, says there were 748 "marine life interactions" with the nets during the period.

This is significantly higher than the 189 recorded during the 2014-15 season.

Echo NetDaily, 17 January 2017:

A Bottlenose Dolphin and a Green Sea Turtle were among 12 animals killed by newly installed shark nets along the north coast in the first month of their operation.

Of the 43 animals caught in the nets, just one white shark and a bull shark were caught, with the bull shark among 12 animals that died.

The net at Lennox Head killed a Australian Cownose Ray, a Longtail Tuna, two Hammerhead Sharks and a Bottlenose Dolphin.

No deaths were recorded at Sharpes and Shelley beaches in Ballina, although Lighthouse Beach accounted for two dead Hammerhead sharks, an Australian Cownose Ray and a Bull Shark.

At Evans Head the net killed two Australian Cownose Rays and a Green Turtle.

The North Coast Shark Net Trial report covers the period 8 December 2016 to 7 January 2017

NSW Dept. of Primary Industries, NSW North Coast Shark Meshing Trial Report: 8 Dec2016 – 7 Jan 2017

The basic relationship between wealth, power, economic growth - globally and in Australia

It is no secret that the world is an unequal place when it comes to the distribution of wealth and the free exercise of political power.

This month Oxfam International released its Oxfam Briefing Paper January 2017, AN ECONOMY FOR THE 99%: It‟s time to build a human economy that benefits everyone, not just the privileged few.

This paper pointed out that new estimates show that just eight men own the same wealth as the poorest half of the world.

That’s eight men in a global population of over 7 billion people.

The briefing paper went on to say:

By any measure, we are living in the age of the super-rich, a second "gilded age" in which a glittering surface masks social problems and corruption. Oxfam's analysis of the super-rich includes all those individuals with a net worth of at least $1bn. The 1,810 dollar billionaires on the 2016 Forbes list, 89% of whom are men, own $6.5 trillion – as much wealth as the bottom 70% of humanity. While some billionaires owe their fortunes predominantly to hard work and talent, Oxfam's analysis of this group finds that one-third of the world’s billionaire wealth is derived from inherited wealth, while 43% can be linked to cronyism.

On 16 January 2017 BizNews reported that:

The world’s 8 richest people are, in order of net worth:

1.    Bill Gates: America founder of Microsoft (net worth $75 billion)

2.    Amancio Ortega: Spanish founder of Inditex which owns the Zara fashion chain (net worth $67 billion)

3.    Warren Buffett: American CEO and largest shareholder in Berkshire Hathaway (net worth $60.8 billion)

4.    Carlos Slim Helu: Mexican owner of Grupo Carso (net worth: $50 billion)

5.    Jeff Bezos: American founder, chairman and chief executive of Amazon (net worth: $45.2 billion)

6.    Mark Zuckerberg: American chairman, chief executive officer, and co-founder of Facebook (net worth $44.6 billion)

7.    Larry Ellison: American co-founder and CEO of Oracle  (net worth $43.6 billion)

8.    Michael Bloomberg: American founder, owner and CEO of Bloomberg LP (net worth: $40 billion)

Oxfam’s calculations are based on global wealth distribution data provided by the Credit Suisse Global Wealth Data book 2016.

The wealth of the world’s richest people was calculated using Forbes’ billionaires list last published in March 2016.

According to the Credit Suisse Research Institute in November 2016:

For financial wealth at least, direct estimates for the first quarter of 2016 were available for 27 countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States. These countries account for 76% of global wealth in 2016.

Australia’s percentage share of global wealth was 2.5% in First quarter 2016, with 1.06 million individuals in a population of almost 23 million holding most of that wealth.

The wealth spread in Australia last year was calculated as:

§  20 individuals holding over US$1 billion each

§  39 individuals holding US$500 million-1 billion each

§  685 individuals holding US$100-500 million each

§  1,476 individuals holding US$50-100 million each

§  25,924 individuals holding US$10-50 million each

§  55,812 individuals holding US$5-10 million each

§  976,193 individuals holding US$1-5 million each

In Australia household gross wealth was estimated to be composed of 60.6% non-financial wealth and 39.4% financial wealth.

Forbes Media listed Australia's top eight richest people in 2016 as:

Blair Parry-Oakden - heiress to Cox Enterprises fortune ($8.8 billion)
Gina Rinehart - mining magnate ($8.5 billion)
Harry Triguboff - property developer ($6.9 billion)
Frank Lowy - co-founder Westfield Group ($5 billion)
Anthony Pratt - CEO Pratt Industries & global chair Visy Industries ($3.6 billion)
James Packer - media mogul ($3.5 billion)
John Gandel - property developer ($3.2 billion)
Lindsay Fox - trucking magnate ($2.8 billion)

On 20 August 2015 The Washington Post reported a new study (based on Does Wealth Inequality Matter for Growth? The Effect of Billionaire Wealth, Income Distribution, and Poverty, IZA DP No. 7733 November 2013 and later reworked as Billionaires and Growth by Sutirtha Bagchi and Jan Svejnar).

This study reportedly found that 65% of all billionaire wealth in Australia is based on political connections rather than on business innovation and, In sum, wealth inequality that comes from political connections is responsible for nearly all the negative effect on economic growth that we had observed from wealth inequality overall.

Or to put it another way, wealth amassed by certain billionaires world-wide, through the giving of political donations, public and private lobbying of politicians and/or the exchange of political favours, was responsible for nearly all declining economic growth this century. 

The Twilight Zone 2017

sunday herald‏ @newsundayherald

The hypocrisy of Australian politicians is mind boggling

In March 2016, in the wake of a string of abuse of parliamentary entitlement scandals during the mercifully short Abbott Government term in office, the Turnbull Government was handed An Independent Parliamentary Entitlements System Review (February 2016) by a government appointed, five-member committee.

The review made thirty-six recommendations of which three were reportedly implemented, including recommendations that members of parliament in physically large electorates be allowed a third electorate office at Commonwealth expense, the $10 additional travelling allowance payment for travelling Ministers and office holders accompanied by their spouses be abolished.

Since then the federal government appears to have conveniently forgotten the other thirty-three recommendations – although the fact that a handful of these may not have been implemented might in part be due to decision making processes of the Remuneration Tribunal.

Although cynical voters could take the view that the lack of timely implementation is more likely due to the fact that these recommendations included clearly separating parliamentary entitlements into “remuneration” (salary package) and “work expenses” such as “travel expenses, travel allowances, vehicle allowances and electorate allowances”, as well as MP expenditure reporting to be changed to every 30 days and a clearer definition of “parliamentary business” applied.

Now in light of further alleged rorting of the entitlement system by his ministers, Malcolm Turnbull has announced the government will implement the remaining review recommendations by the end of June 2017.

Given there have been two previous reviews of parliamentary entitlements - in 2009 and 2011 - which have not even made a dent in the sense of personal entitlement which exists within the corridors of the Australian Parliament, I won’t be holding my breath in anticipation.

Especially as the Prime Minister in his press conference on 13 January 2017 was careful not to mention establishing stiff financial penalties for such blatant rorting but did mention creating an independent parliamentary expenses authority which would in effect distance government and parliament from any poor decisions made concerning implementation of the 'new' rules.

The thought of the type of person who is likely to end up on the board of this authority makes one shudder - political cronies of the government in power, MPs & senators who lost their seats or were forced by scandal to resign, former political staffers in need of an income and the worthless scions of big political donors .

The hypocrisy of Coalition Government MPs and senators (who since 2013 have consistently signed off on budget measures and legislative/regulation rule changes which border on thinly disguised class warfare) continuing to line up at the overflowing entitlement trough is quite frankly mind blowing.

While the thought of these same politicians attempting what may possibly end up being a legislative change charade, leaving them still able to use taxpayers as personal cash cows, is more than a little depressing.

* Image found on Twitter

Socking it to Donald Trump

Charlotte Church Wikipedia biography

Off the air

Clarencegirl wishes to inform NCV readers that due to the tardiness of her internet provider in supplying her with replacement internet equipment she is unable to publish her regular posts. Please keep an eye on our site as it will be back in action asap.