Saturday 20 July 2019
Quote of the Week
“High
rents are a major contributor to household insecurity, personal
stress and the risk of people, including children, slipping into real
poverty and even homelessness. The North Coast rental market
disadvantages many people because the competition for decent and
affordable housing greatly outstrips supply. The reasons for this
crisis are varied, including a general lack of rental stock, many
houses in coastal towns becoming holiday rentals and the need to
accommodate workers on the road projects, which results in inflated
rents that stay that way after the workers move on.” [St
Vincent de Paul regional executive officer Michael Timbrell quoted
in The Daily Examiner,
18 July 2019]
Labels:
cost of living,
housing,
rent
Cartoons of the Week
Labels:
racism,
right wing politics,
right wing rat bags
Friday 19 July 2019
In the Kalang River forests of New South Wales......
According to the NSW Office of Environment & Heritage the Milky Silkpod is found only within NSW, with scattered populations in the north coast region between Kendall and Woolgoolga.
This plant is currently listed as Vulnerable in NSW and has a Commonwealth conservation status of Endangered. Little is known of its reproductive biology.
However, this means little to the Forestry Corporation of NSW, its board of directors and workers or the Berejiklian Coalition Government.
The Belligen Shire Courier, 16 July 2019:
OEH-Milky Silkpod profile. Photo Shane Ruming |
A volunteer survey team that trekked
through the Upper Kalang forests on the weekend found dozens of
endangered plants damaged by Forestry Corporation's logging
preparations.
The
Milky Silkpod (Parsonia dorrigoensis) is listed as 'vulnerable' in
NSW and is a nationally endangered plant.
As
the name suggests, the forests of the Mid North Coast are a
stronghold for it, with most records found between Kendall and
Woolgoolga.
In
1999 it was estimated that there were less than 2000 individual
plants and the main threat to the survival of this species is low
numbers.
Official
government advice on how to manage the plant says that "searches
for the species should be conducted prior to any logging operations"
and known habitat should be "protect[ed] from clearing, high
levels of disturbance and development".
"Yet
once again Forestry Corporation has shown its disregard for the the
environment," survey team member Jonas Bellchambers said.
"Of
the 110 confirmed new records identified on the weekend, 39 specimens
were found that had already been damaged and are unlikely to recover.
"With
more logging and roading imminent it is highly likely to wipe out a
good part of this population.
"Like
for most species, it's a death of 1000 cuts, and before we know it
another plant has blinked out and has gone from our planet
completely. We are in the midst of a major extinction event. Here we
have a clear example of why. Because government and industry just
don't care....
Exodus of senior NDIS officials over the last fifteen months
When
well-paid
senior management
– some
in the top percentile of Australia’s income earners –
begins to abandon ship it’s time to consider if the
Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison
Government
has finally sunk the National
Disability Insurance Scheme.
The
Australian,
5 July 2019:
...The
NDIA has confirmed deputy chief executive Michael Francis has
resigned and will leave in September to take a role “closer to
home”.
A
spokeswoman also confirmed chief risk officer Anthony Vella has
recently departed, along with Antonia Albanese, who was head of
markets, provider and market relations.
Ms
Albanese and Mr Vella both directly reported to the chief executive.
The
Australian has also been told the general manager of critical
services issue response, Stephanie Gunn, has quit.
Mr
Shorten told The Australian Mr Robert was “either oblivious or
delusional” for telling parliament the scheme was being run well.
“It
is alarming that this group of senior executives lack such confidence
in the way the NDIA is being run that they are choosing to leave,”
he said. “This scheme is so important for the vulnerable but is
being chaotically
implemented.
“Yet
the minister in parliament has told the nation it’s all going
swimmingly. He must be either oblivious or delusional.”
The
NDIA spokeswoman said: “The NDIA is grateful to our departing
senior executives, who have made significant contributions to the
NDIS.
“The
NDIA has a strong and experienced leadership team, focused
on continuing to guide the agency to deliver improved outcomes for
NDIS participants. Interim arrangements with - experienced personnel
have been put in place.”
The
confirmation of executive departures came after Mr Shorten tweeted he
was “hearing” that four senior staff resigned
in the past seven days.
Former
chief executive Robert De Luca suddenly
resigned
in May and is yet to be replaced. Former communications head Vicki
Rundle is acting chief executive.
Mr
Robert — a key numbers man for the Prime Minister in last August’s
leadership contest — yesterday used question time to declare the
NDIS was available to “all Australians on the continent”….. [my
yellow highlighting]
Elwyn is spittin’ chips
Took a call from my mate Elwyn and he was, to put it super mildly, seething, red-hot furious.
Elwyn, who is a something of a quiz champion, leaves others at the Table of Knowledge at our local watering hole for dead. He watches any and all quiz shows on TV.
Elwyn credits his interest in quizzes to his mother who participated, with some success, on the radio program The Quiz Kids hosted by John Dease.
And why is Elwyn so stroppy? NBN TV has been showing repeats of Millionaire Hot Seat.
Elwyn does have a good sense of humour. He was in stitches when he told me a contestant on Hot Seat this week said they hoped to go to France in June-July for FIFA’s Women’s World Cup of Football in France.
Elwyn took no comfort when I told him ABC TV did an “NBN” on Wednesday night and repeated last week's Shaun Micallef's Mad as Hell.
Footnote: The contestant didn’t win and go to France for the WWC of Football despite having a second “attempt”.
Thursday 18 July 2019
Local conspiracy theorist is at it again
Age has not dimmed Fred 'The Red Herring' Perring......
The
Daily Examiner, Letter to the Editor, 16 July 2019, p.15:
Plotters
signed Australia up to new world order
EX-PM
Turnbull and his acolyte Julie Bishop were in cahoots with many
others to bring down Tony Abbott long before Turnbull finally wielded
the knife.
Both
Turnbull and Bishop were part of the far left of the Liberal party.
Both were disciples of the principles of the United Nations, which
encompassed a Sustainable Development Agenda 2030.
During
a speech Bishop made at the United Nations she actually signed
Australia on to become part of the new world order global government.
The
Australian people were never consulted.
The
Paris Agreement is a case in point – a United Nations piggy bank
into which subservient, signed-up countries must tip a billion or so
each and every year, ostensibly to help poorer countries.
It
is the UN that is getting fatter, although for how long is the
question – more and more European countries are wanting out.
In
relation to the UN and its hold over various bodies controlling areas
of the environment under heritage orders, the NSW Government proposes
to raise the wall on Warragamba Dam to increase water storage and to
alleviate flooding on the lower reaches.
This
vital work cannot go ahead without the authority of the United
Nations puppet on World Heritage, which recently held a meeting in
Azerbaijan to discuss the proposal.
A
report is out soon with UN members to come to Australia to view the
effects on the Blue Mountains heritage area.
No
thanks to Bishop and Turnbull.
Bob
“World Government” Brown would be oh so pleased.
Fred
Perring,
Halfway
Creek
Labels:
environment,
United Nations,
water
Yet more opinions that the 46th Australian Government - the Morrison Government - will not end well for the nation
The Australian: Morrison Government Ministry 2019 |
The
Monthly,
9
July 2019:
As
Australia’s economy falters, the government’s fiscal heart is
hardening, not softening. Treasurer Josh Frydenberg’s determination
to deliver his much-vaunted budget surplus for 2019–20 and retain
Australia’s AAA credit rating – which is hardly in danger – is
of a piece with junior minister Luke Howarth telling the homeless to look on the bright side. In
prospect is more of the same punishing austerity towards anyone doing
it tough; it’s the flipside of celebrating those who aspire and get
ahead, and who are rewarded with taxpayer largesse through subsidies
and tax loopholes. Last week’s $158 billion tax-cut package is
going to accelerate the trend to an increasingly unequal Australia,
which has resulted from the Coalition’s agenda since it was elected
in 2013. As former treasurer Joe Hockey said when defending his first
budget, the worst-received in living memory: “Governments have
never been able to achieve equality of outcomes … It is not the
role of government to use the taxation and welfare system as a tool
to ‘level the playing field’”.
Flanked
by his assistant minister, Michael Sukkar, and the tax commissioner,
Chris Jordan, Frydenberg today announced [$]
that more than 810,000 Australians had already filed their 2018–19
tax returns and could be receiving their rebates of up to $1080 by
the weekend. But, resisting calls from the Reserve Bank governor,
Philip Lowe, he stressed that there would be no further stimulus,
citing the “non-negotiable” imperative of reaching a budget
surplus this year, and saying that the government would be focused on
reducing debt….
Doing
the same thing over and over while hoping for a different result is
clearly not working. Today’s NAB business confidence survey showed that
the post-election bounce has been short-lived, and the first of the
RBA’s two recent rate cuts has failed to improve conditions. A
small uptick in employment growth is positive, but NAB’s chief
economist, Alan Oster, says the overall decrease in business
conditions has been “relatively broad-based across states and
industries – suggesting that there has been sector-wide loss of
momentum over the past year”. The share market is jumpy, selling
off sharply today as APRA, in a sign of nervousness, lowered its
capital requirements for banks, and bond markets are reportedly
“screaming
economic downturn”…..
And
so it passes, the greatest assault on the safety net from which
Australian life is built. Scott Morrison’s tax cuts are through and
the revenue base that provides for health and education and social
welfare is shredded. The legacy of the 46th parliament is there in
its very first week: the destruction of the social compact that made
this country stable.
On
analysis by the Grattan Institute, to pay for these cuts at least $40
billion a year will need to be trimmed from government spending by
2030. The Coalition argues it will not cut services. It says jobs
growth will reduce spending on welfare. A surplus will mean less
interest paid on debt.
The
assumptions are heroic and unsustainable. They show an extraordinary
indifference to reality. More than that, they are indifferent to
need. People will be worse off under these cuts. They will face
greater hardship, have less access to health and to quality
education. The people worst affected did not vote for Scott Morrison.
Half the country didn’t. The damage done is near irreversible. It
is infinitely easier to cut taxes than to raise them. This is a
triumph of greed and political cowardice. The Labor Party waved it
through.
The
principles of this policy were first written on a paper napkin in
1974, when the conservative economist Arthur Laffer sketched out his
famous tax curve for Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld. That serviette
is one of the most pernicious documents in modern politics. It made
the case for what became trickle-down economics. It became the lie
through which governments gave money to the rich and pretended they
were helping the poor.
The
year Scott Morrison became treasurer, the Australian Chamber of
Commerce and Industry brought Laffer to Australia for a speaking
tour. He met with Josh Frydenberg. His doctrine has its most explicit
contemporary expression in the cuts passed this week…...
In
his first major speech as prime minister, Morrison said he didn’t
believe people should be taxed more to improve the lives of others.
He said people had to work for it: they had to have a go. “I think
that’s what fairness means in this country,” he said. “It’s
not about everybody getting the same thing. If you put in, you get to
take out, and you get to keep more of what you earn.”
This
is a fundamental misunderstanding of the purpose of taxation. You
don’t pay tax in exchange for services. You pay tax for a society.
Under Morrison, you pay less tax and you have less society. The
obliterating self-interest of this week will be felt for generations.
Morrison’s victory is a huge, huge loss.
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