The NSW Government domestic violence program rolled out between September 2014 and July 2015......
Sunday 13 May 2018
Safer Pathway program becomes third government-led domestic violence initiative to be found ineffective by BOCSAR
The NSW Government domestic violence program rolled out between September 2014 and July 2015......
The safety and
protection of victims and their children lies at the heart of It Stops
Here: Standing Together to End Domestic and Family Violence, the NSW
Government’s Domestic and Family Violence Framework for Reform.
Safer Pathway proposes a
fundamental change in how agencies and organisations support victim’s safety in
NSW. Through Safer Pathway, the right services are provided to victims when
they need them, in a coordinated way.
The key components of
Safer Pathway build on the existing service response. These are:
* a Domestic Violence
Safety Assessment Tool (DVSAT) to better and consistently identify the level of
domestic violence threat to victims
* a Central Referral
Point to electronically manage and monitor referrals
* a state-wide network
of Local Coordination Points that facilitate local responses and provide
victims with case coordination and support. By the end of March 2018, Safer
Pathway will be operational at the following 43 sites: Albury, Armidale,
Ashfield/Burwood, Bankstown, Bathurst, Blacktown, Blue Mounatins, Bourke,
Broken Hill, Campbelltown, Coffs Harbour, Deniliquin, Dubbo, Far South Coast,
Goulburn, Gosford, Griffith, Hunter Valley, Illawarra, Lismore, Liverpool,
Moree, Mt Druitt, Newcastle, Newtown, Northern Beaches, Nowra, Orange,
Parramatta, Penrith, Port Macquarie, Queanbeyan, St George, Sutherland,
Tamworth, Taree, Toronto, Tweed Heads, Wagga Wagga, Walgett, Waverley,
Wollongong and Wyong.
* Safety Action Meetings
in which members develop plans for victims at serious threat of death,
disability or injury as a result of domestic and family violence
* information sharing
legislation that allows service providers to share information about victims
and perpetrators so that victims do not have to retell their story multiple
times, to hold perpetrators accountable and promote an integrated response for
victims at serious threat.
The outcome at Year 4 of the program......
Clare Ringland, The
Domestic Violence Safety Assessment Tool (DVSAT) and intimate partner repeat
victimisation, April 2018
Wai-Yin Wan, Hamish Thorburn, Suzanne Poynton and Lily Trimboli, Assessing
the impact of NSW’s Safer Pathway Program on recorded crime outcomes – an
aggregate-level analysis, February 2018
The
Sydney Morning Herald,
2 May 2018:
A signature NSW
government program to reduce domestic violence rates is failing to protect
women from further harm, a new report reveals, casting doubt over the
Premier’s target of reducing reoffending by 25 per cent by 2021.
The Safer Pathway
program, a key feature of state government's 2014 domestic violence reforms,
"has only had a limited effect on the incidence of domestic
violence", according to two reports released today by the NSW Bureau of
Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR).
It is the third
government-led domestic violence initiative to be found ineffective by
BOCSAR in recent months.
Dr Don Weatherburn,
BOCSAR's director, said the Premier's goal of reducing the number of
perpetrators who reoffend within 12 months to 10.7 per cent by 2021 was
now out of reach.
"Judging from what
we've seen there's no way we are going to have a 25 per cent reduction in
domestic violence reoffending by 2021," he said.
Under the Safer Pathway
program, police are required to assess all victims who report domestic violence
using a questionnaire known as the Domestic Violence Safety Assessment Tool.
Victims assessed as
having a "serious risk" are then referred to a Safety Action
Meeting (SAM), where a team of experts develop an "action plan"
for the victim.
BOCSAR tracked more than
24,000 cases of domestic violence between January 1, 2016, and June 30, 2016,
and found that the questionnaire was a "very poor instrument for
measuring the risk of repeat domestic violence victimisation, often performing
little better than chance".
As part of the
questionnaire, victims are required to answer 25 questions designed to assess
their risk-level. A police officer then performs a further assessment,
including whether there are children at risk of harm. Victims are considered at
"serious risk" if they respond "yes" to at least 12
questions, and if the officer's assessment also concludes there is a legitimate
threat.
However, BOCSAR's report
found that 90 per cent of those who experienced repeat victimisation had
responded ‘'yes'’ to fewer than 12 items in the questionnaire.
“Large numbers of women
who are at serious risk aren't being identified as such and aren't being
given the support of a safety action meeting,” Dr Weatherburn said.
He said the questionnaire also
failed to ask critical questions, such as whether the victim intended to live
with the perpetrator.
"We were shocked to
discover how bad that instrument was. You might as well guess who is at
serious risk,” Dr Weatherburn said…..
Dr Weatherburn said the
program's ineffectiveness was partly a byproduct of the inadequacies of the
screening process, which he said resulted in women who were not at serious risk
being referred to the safe action meetings.
A spokeswoman for Pru
Goward, the minister for the prevention of domestic violence, said the NSW
government was currently working with BOCSAR to develop "a revised and
improved risk assessment tool for domestic violence victims."
Saturday 12 May 2018
Time to show support for the ABC
The situation in 2018.......
The
Guardian, 8
May 2018:
Dear
colleagues,
The
government has tonight announced it will freeze the ABC’s annual funding
indexation for three years from July 2019, which will cost the organisation
$84m. This will be compounded by the decision to cease a further $43m in
funding to support quality news and current affairs services and follows the
cumulative $254m in cuts imposed since 2014.
This
decision comes at a critical time for us. As you are all aware from our
conversations following this year’s annual public meeting, we are at a
watershed moment as a public broadcaster as we continue to strive to deliver
the high standards of programming Australian audiences expect, despite
escalating global competition and rising production costs.
Let
me be frank with you: I am very disappointed and concerned that after the
measures we have introduced in recent years to deliver better and more efficient
services, the government has now seen fit to deliver what amounts to a further
substantial budget cut. This decision will make it very difficult for the ABC
to meet its charter requirements and audience expectations.
However,
we will continue to pursue our strategy during triennial funding negotiations
with the government this year to achieve the proper levels of funding we
require to meet the expectations of not only our current audiences but those of
the next generation.
Our
priorities have and always will be to our audiences and the programming we
create for them. Our success in this is a tribute to the talent, dedication and
high-quality work of our teams right across the country and the world.
Our
public interest journalism, breaking news coverage and independent analysis are
highly valued by the community, including across regional Australia. The drama,
comedy and children’s content we deliver every hour are likewise important to
the cultural life of the country. And services like triple j, RN and ABC Local
remain crucial channels for audiences everywhere to join the national
conversation.
Unfortunately,
the government has overlooked this contribution and the trust and value more
than 80% of Australians place in us as an independent national broadcaster.
In
a statement in response I have made clear this decision
will have an impact on our audiences.
We
will continue to oppose the decision and seek every opportunity to reverse the
cuts in the coming months before they take effect.
Michelle
Guthrie
Abc.net.au, Statement, 8 May 2018:
The
Government’s decision to freeze the ABC’s indexation from July 2019 will cost
the broadcaster $84 million over three years and will be compounded by the
decision to cease a further $43 million in funding to support quality news and
current affairs services.
This
decision comes at a critical time for the ABC as it commences triennial funding
negotiations with the Government and comes on top of a cumulative $254 million
in cuts imposed since 2014.
The
ABC’s independence and its commitment to in-depth analysis and commentary has
never been more valued or trusted by Australian audiences, nor so critical to
the challenges facing the nation.
ABC
Managing Director Michelle Guthrie said the impact of the decision could not be
absorbed by efficiency measures alone, as the ABC had already achieved
significant productivity gains in response to past budget cuts.
“The
ABC is now more important than ever given the impact of overseas players in the
local media industry and the critical role the ABC plays as Australia’s most
trusted source of news, analysis and investigative journalism,” Ms Guthrie
said.
“Our
talented and dedicated content makers consistently deliver award winning public
interest journalism, regional services and critically acclaimed original
Australian programs and content.
“Stable,
adequate funding is essential if we are to continue to deliver for Australian
audiences.”
The
ABC’s long-term strategy published at an Annual Public Meeting in February 2018
outlines the broadcaster’s plan to respond to changing audience expectations,
and to remain as relevant in the future as it always has been in the past.
The
ABC will continue to negotiate its funding requirements with the Government to
ensure it can deliver on this commitment to a future which ensures the ABC
remains relevant in the digital age.
Ms
Guthrie also rejected as unnecessary the proposed efficiency review given
efficiency programs introduced by the ABC in recent years.
Time to pick up that pen and object to this funding freeze........
Prime Minister Hon. Malcolm Bligh Turnbull MP
Parliament House
Canberra, ACT 2600
PH: (02) 6277 7700
FAX: (02) 6273 4100
Online email at https://www.pm.gov.au/contact-your-pm
Deputy Prime Minister Hon. Michael McCormack MP
PO Box 6022
House of Representatives
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
House of Representatives
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
PH: 02) 6277 7520
Minister for Communications and Minister for the Arts Senator Hon. Mitch Fifield
Parliament House
Canberra, ACT 2600
PH: (02) 6277 7480
EMAIL: Minister@communications.gov.au
PH: (02) 6277 7480
EMAIL: Minister@communications.gov.au
Minister for Regional Communications Senator Hon. Bridget McKenzie
PO Box 6100
Senate
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
Senate
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
PH: (02) 6277 3200
FAX: (02) 6277 5755
Local MPs by Electorate contact details here.
Quotes of the Week
“Meeting the narrow test of legality is not a licence to be a bastard” [Journalist Peter Hartcher writing about corporations in The
Canberra Times, 5 May 2018]
“budget's forecasts and projections, prepared by that well-known Italian
economist, Rosie Scenario”
[Economics editor Ross Gittens writing in The
Sydney Morning Herald about Federal Budget 2018-19, 8 May 2018]
Friday 11 May 2018
Entrenching inequality in the Australian way of life
There are no
real winners in this 2018-19 federal budget – everyone loses something because funding/staffing cuts include services which affect the smooth running of the country, such as regulatory
oversight, law, policing and communication.
Partial winners in the longterm are those in the two highest income/asset deciles. The Anthony Pratts, Gina Rineharts, 'Twiggy' Forrests, Bruce Mathiesons, Malcolm Turnbulls and Peter Duttons of this world.
Those losing the most are low income households, especially those dependent on welfare payments and those with an annual salary/wage between $41,000 to $87,000 because they will be assessed under the same tax rate as now but with less of the tax benefit pie on their plates in the future.
Federal Budget 2018 Facts of Life - a non-exhaustive list
* Funding in
this budget does not fully compensate for funding cuts and tax increases in the
last three federal budgets.
* Cuts from
previous budgets are still impacting on health services; education funding for schools and vocational studies have been reduced by a combined total of $17.27 billion, funds for the public broadcaster are
frozen representing a loss of $84 million on top of $254 million in budget cuts since 2014.1
* Cuts are
also occurring in:
Australian
Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) with permanent
funding cut from $346 million to $320
million over two years and staff numbers reduced by 30 investigators in the next
year.
Office
of the Director of Public Prosecutions with funding cut from $77.4
million to $73.75 million in two years.
The
Australian Federal Police funding cut from $1.03 billion to $926
million within four years.2
* Although the
federal government is contributing $43 billion, to fund what it calls its “share”
of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) from 2018–19 to 2021–22, there is
still no dedicated funding stream for NDIS.
* Rural, regional
and remote area health is only receiving 16.66 million a year for five years to
improve health outcomes in those areas across Australia – none of which appears to go directly to treatment of patients or additional services.
* Personal
income tax cuts aren’t being offered to those on taxable incomes below $20,548
per annum. Those workers
with a taxable income of $20,548 will receive $1 a year in income tax relief. It is reported that the full range of personal income tax relief (which provides the most benefit to the highest earners) will eventually cost est. $17.8 billion annually in lost government revenue if scheme continues until 2027. 3
* Individuals earning $100,000 to $125,330 per annum now receive a low and middle income income tax offset despite being in high wage/salary deciles.
* There are estimated 101,508 older Australians on the waiting list for appropriate home care packages.4 At least 60,000 of these do not have even the initial lowest level of home care package and, all the federal government is offering is funding for an extra 14,000 high level packages still leaving 46,000 elder people with no hope of receiving assistance in the foreseeable future to keep living at home.
* Individuals earning $100,000 to $125,330 per annum now receive a low and middle income income tax offset despite being in high wage/salary deciles.
* There are estimated 101,508 older Australians on the waiting list for appropriate home care packages.4 At least 60,000 of these do not have even the initial lowest level of home care package and, all the federal government is offering is funding for an extra 14,000 high level packages still leaving 46,000 elder people with no hope of receiving assistance in the foreseeable future to keep living at home.
* There is a
proposal to change the progressive tax system from 2018-19 so there are only
four income tax brackets and people with incomes from $41,000 to $200,000 per
annum will pay the same tax rate. This means that est. 62 per cent of future
benefits would go to the highest salary/wage earners with only 7 per cent going
to those on the lowest wage.5
According
to Budget Strategy and Outlook Budget
Paper No. 1 2018-19; When completed,
the plan ensures that about 94 per cent of taxpayers are projected to face a
marginal tax rate of 32.5 per cent or less in 2024–25.
* People over retirement age receiving the Age Pension are being
urged to consider funding part of their retirement through the Pension Loans Scheme which will be expanded on
1 July 2019, with the available fortnightly loan plus pension amount increasing
to 150 per cent of the maximum rate of fortnightly Age Pension. The current
maximum fortnightly pension amount is $907.60. This loan will normally be repaid
when the secured real estate asset (usually the principal home) is sold or from
the pensioner’s deceased estate.6
* This budget continues the funding model which skews federal primary and highschool funding towards private schools via the Quality Schools scheme with funding for government schools set at $7.6 billion and non-government schools at $11.8 billion in 2018-19 increasing to $9.6 billion and 13.8 billion in 2021-22 .7
* The Northern Territory remote area Aboriginal children and schooling component has been cut by over $47 million across the next four financial years.
*TAFE further technical education funding has been cut by $270 million on top of previous budget cuts.
* This budget continues the funding model which skews federal primary and highschool funding towards private schools via the Quality Schools scheme with funding for government schools set at $7.6 billion and non-government schools at $11.8 billion in 2018-19 increasing to $9.6 billion and 13.8 billion in 2021-22 .7
* The Northern Territory remote area Aboriginal children and schooling component has been cut by over $47 million across the next four financial years.
*TAFE further technical education funding has been cut by $270 million on top of previous budget cuts.
* The Goods
and Services Tax has been extended to cover online hotel bookings made via
offshore websites. This is expected to raise $5 million in the 2019-20
financial year.
* Mobile blackspot
program funding ceases in 2019.8
* The cashless
debit card trial in Ceduna (South Australia) and East Kimberley (Western
Australia) will be extended for another year to 30 June 2019. The federal government
refuses to make the costs of this measure public.
* Part or all
of a welfare payment will be withheld to clear a welfare recipients court fines or address arrest
warrants.
* There has
been no increase in unemployment benefits.
* Women &
girls necessary sanitary products are still subject to a consumption tax
payable at the supermarket/chemist checkout.
* Finally,
the Turnbull Government cracked a joke in the budget papers – a new National
Energy Guarantee is expected to reduce annual residential power bills by $400
at some unspecified date in the future. 9
Footnotes:
2. http://www.afr.com/news/policy/budget/federal-budget-2018-asics-shock-26m-budget-cut-20180509-h0zud4
File this under "Yet Another National Database" cross referenced wih "What Could Possibly Go Wrong?"
The
Sydney Morning Herald,
6 May 2018:
A massive breach of
Commonweath Bank data exposed last week has raised security fears around a new
national database of Australian bank customers, as Labor pushes for a
delay to part of the scheme's scheduled introduction in less than two months.
The database - set to go
live on July 1 - will include the details of every person who has taken
out a loan or a credit card, along with their repayment history.
The Mandatory
Comprehensive Credit Reporting scheme was a recommendation of the 2014
financial system inquiry and is designed to give lenders access to a
deeper, richer set of data to ensure loans are only being approved for
people who can afford to repay them.
The new requirements
will first apply to the Commonwealth Bank, ANZ Bank, Westpac and National
Australia Bank, given they account for up to 80 per cent of lending to
households.
But the collection of
sensitive data by private companies has raised concerns in the wake of several
high-profile data breaches, including the disappearance of 20 million
customers records from the Commonwealth Bank.
The Financial Rights
Legal Centre and the Consumer Action Law Centre claim the financial
details of millions of Australians will be vulnerable under the new scheme -
which includes positive and negative credit histories.
Financial Rights Legal
Centre policy officer Julia Davis said the development "was a major
intrusion into our financial privacy".
"I don’t think
Australians realise this is about to happen," she said.
The legislation states
all credit reporting bodies must store the information on a cloud service that
has been assessed by the Australian Signals Directorate. It also contains a
provision allowing banks to stop supplying customer data to credit providers
should there be a major security breach.
Ms Davis said the
oversight was welcome but the internal systems of credit reporting bodies
remained "completely opaque."
"Once that data
goes live in the one place you can't put the toothpaste back in the tube,"
she said.
Equifax, one of the
companies which will have access to the data, had its systems in the US hacked
last year, exposing the personal information of 143 million Americans and
triggering to the resignation of its chief executive.
It is also being sued by
consumer watchdog the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission over
allegations it misrepresented its product to consumers by asking them to pay
for their own credit histories which are usually available online for free.
The company's general
manager of external relations, Matthew Strassberg, said Equifax had "only
been a marquee above the door for six months," after the US giant took
over the Australian operation formerly known as Veda.
He said the credit
reporting business would provide "a 360 degree picture."
"A bank will have a
very deep insight into what they know of you," he told Fairfax Media.
Mr Strassberg said he
recognised that Australians were concerned about data security…..
Thursday 10 May 2018
Before everyone gets too excited about those personal tax cuts in Budget 2018-19
According to
the Turnbull Government Budget 2018-19 papers,
eligibility for the Low and Middle
Income Tax Offset (aka
personal income tax cut) will
assist over 10 million Australians, with about 4.4 million taxpayers with
incomes between $48,000 and $90,000 receiving the full $530 benefit for 2018–19.
The non-refundable offset is
calculated on “taxable
income” which is “equal to an
individual’s assessable income (such as salary and wages and interest from bank
accounts) minus their allowable deductions”.
The announced ‘tax cut’ has a life of four financial years and technically ceases after 2021-22.
It will not see actual tax rates change and will not see the dollar amount in wages paid on a weekly, fortnightly or monthly basis alter.
It will not see actual tax rates change and will not see the dollar amount in wages paid on a weekly, fortnightly or monthly basis alter.
The 'tax cut' will be applied by the Australian Taxation Office and form part of any tax refund due after tax returns are lodged in 2019.
The bottom line is that any person with a taxable income of less than $20,548 will not receive the announced personal tax cut according to the Budget 2018-19 website income tax calculator.
The bottom line is that any person with a taxable income of less than $20,548 will not receive the announced personal tax cut according to the Budget 2018-19 website income tax calculator.
Those with a taxable income of est. $20,548 on 30 June 2019 will receive exactly one dollar a year as a ‘tax cut’ for the next four years.
One would have a taxable income of est. $21,600 to get a ‘tax cut’ of $200 a year for the next four years.
However the first $18,200 of any individual’s personal income is currently exempt from taxation.
Hopefully for the purposes of calculating any tax refund the budget measure includes in "taxable income" the first $18,200 on which no tax is payable.
Otherwise this
budget measure means that anyone with an annual wage of $38,747 ($18,200 tax
exempt + $20,547 taxable income) will not receive the announced ‘tax cut’ for
low and middle income earners.
There is
nothing found in Budget
Measures Budget Paper No. 2 2018-19 or on the Budget 2018-19 website which clarifies the situation.
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