That Lismore City has flooded a second time in 31 days is a surprise to no-one except perhaps the Perrottet and Morrison governments

 

Lismore Levee
IMAGE: ABC News 30 March 2022

The Wilsons River at Lismore began flooding again at 4.43am on Tuesday 29 March 2022. This is the second flood in thirty-one days - the first setting a flood record on 28 February 2022 when it peaked at 14.4m causing widespread devastation from which Lismore City Local Government Area is yet to recover. 

This should have come as no surprise to federal and state government cabinet ministers ensconced in Canberra and Sydney, as Lismore has a history of two floods in a year dating back almost as far as records have been kept.

However, the unfolding official response to this second flood event is almost as fractured and leaderless as the first. Once more communities are coping with just the assistance of local emergency services already stretched thin by the first flood's aftermath.

According to the Australian Bureau of Meteorology at 2:10 am EDT on Thursday, 31 March 2022:

River level peaks were observed along the Wilsons River at Woodlawn around 3pm Wednesday and along Leycester Creek at Tuncester around 8pm Wednesday. 

A major flood peak of 11.40 metres was observed at Lismore around 5pm Wednesday. 

River levels along the Wilsons River at Lismore are likely to remain above the height of the levee during Thursday morning with major flooding, before easing further during the afternoon. 

Flood waters along the Richmond River combined with inflows from the Wilsons River have resulted in major flooding along the Richmond River at Coraki and Bungawalbin. Moderate flooding is occurring at Woodburn with major flooding possible. The main flood peak at 13.81m passed through Kyogle Wednesday night and is now approaching Casino where minor flooding is possible. 

 At 2:11am on Thursday 31 March 2022 the Wilsons River water level was recorded at 11.12m and rising and at 3am the Richmond River at 13.27m (Kyogle) and 11.70m (Casino). 

This could not be happening at a worse time in the history of Lismore City with a manifestly incompetent mayor at the helm of a new council and, state and federal governments more focussed on politics surrounding the forthcoming federal general election than they are on climate change-induced adverse weather events causing widespread regional flooding or the plight of the thousands of flood victims. 

NSW Floods February-March 2022: as Northern NSW prepares itself for another night of rain and flooding

Australian Bureau of Meteorology, 6:45pm Wednesday 30 March 2022

Tweed, Wilsons, Richmond, Orara and Clarence rivers currently 

experiencing minor to major flooding.

Click on images to enlarge for clarity

 

Statement of retiring Liberal Party Senator for NSW since 2005 Concetta Anna Fierravanti-Wells in the Senate Chamber on the evening of 29 March 2022

Offered without comment. The Hansard record may be found at:

https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Hansard

Coverage of 2022-23 Federal Budget Night commences at 7.30pm tonight Tuesday, 29 March 2022 . Following of this a cash splash announcement....

David Rowe, 28 March 2022

The Australian Treasurer & Liberal MP for the Kooyong electorate in Victoria Josh Frydenberg will deliver the 2022-23 Federal Budget at approximately 7.30 pm (AEDT) on Tuesday 29 March 2022. 

Budget Papers will be posted on https://budget.gov.au/ on the night. 

The Treasurer's Speech will be shown on ABC TV Live at 7.30pm and a Budget Night 2022 News Special, Analysis & Reaction will be aired from 8 to 10pm.

Budget Night lockup of select journalists will begin at 1.30pm on Tuesday afternoon. Access to embargoed Budget Papers will be further restricted again this year using the pandemic as an excuse. This in turn will limit the degree to which initial analysis of this election year national budget can escape the ideological control of the Murdoch-Costello-Stokes media triumvirate. 

To ensure that most journalists would use Morrison Government budget talking points over the next news cycle rather than in-depth analysis, the following promises contained in tonight's budget papers were released yesterday in a joint media release (with suitable quotes) by the Treasurer, Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister & Minister for Communications, Urban Infrastructure, Cities and the Arts:

Infrastructure promises made in that media release with no timeframe context

• $3.1 billion in new commitments to deliver the $3.6 billion Melbourne Intermodal Terminal Package (VIC), including:
• $1.2 billion for the Beveridge Interstate Freight Terminal in Beveridge, taking the total investment to $1.62 billion;
• $280 million for Road Connections, including Camerons Lane Interchange, to the Beveridge Interstate Freight Terminal;
• $740 million for the Western Interstate Freight Terminal in Truganina;
• $920 million for the Outer Metropolitan Ring - South Rail connection to the Western Interstate Freight Terminal.
• $1.6 billion for the Brisbane to the Sunshine Coast (Beerwah-Maroochydore) rail extension (QLD)
• $1.121 billion for the Brisbane to the Gold Coast (Kuraby – Beenleigh) faster rail upgrade (QLD)
• $1 billion for the Sydney to Newcastle – (Tuggerah to Wyong) faster rail upgrade (NSW)
• $678 million for Outback Way (NT, WA, QLD)
• $336 million for the Pacific Highway - Wyong Town Centre (NSW)
• $336 million for the Tasmanian Roads Package – Northern Roads Package – Stage 2 (TAS)
• $200 million for the Marion Road – Anzac Highway to Cross Road (SA)
• $145 million for the Thomas Road – Dual Carriageway – South Western Highway to Tonkin Highway and interchange at Tonkin Highway (WA)
• $140 million for Regional Road Safety upgrades (WA)
• $132 million for Central Australian Tourism Roads (NT)
• $120 million for the Adelaide Hills Productivity and Road Safety Package (SA)
• $46.7 million towards the Athllon Drive Duplication (ACT)

Additional promises for existing projects

• $2.264 billion for the North South Corridor - Torrens to Darlington (SA)
• $352 million for the Milton Ulladulla Bypass (NSW)
• $320 million for the Bunbury Outer Ring Road (Stages 2 and 3) (WA)
• $200 million for the Tonkin Highway Stage 3 Extension (WA)
• $45 million for the Ballarat to Ouyen – Future Priorities (VIC)
• $68.5 million for the Cooktown to Weipa Corridor Upgrade

  

First rule for any 2022 federal election candidate - don't mislead voters before the election campaign has even begun

This was how National Party candidate for the federal seat of Richmond, Kimberly Hone, presented herself to the media and electorate on 24 March 2022 in Echo online:

Nationals Party

Nationals candidate, Kimberly Hone.

On the Nationals Party ticket is Kingscliff resident Kimberly Hone, who has no online presence, apart from Facebook.

Her earliest video post is from November 2, 2021.

She says on a video that, with her husband, she has been running a fitness coaching practice for 12 years.

‘I stand for families and small businesses’, she says in another video. Ms Hone replaces Tweed Heads’ Hungry Jacks owner, Matthew Fraser, who previously ran multiple times on the Nationals Party ticket.

Intrigued by the very specific claim presumably made by Ms. Hone or the National Party on her behalf - that she only had one social media presence, a Facebook account, with her earliest video post being from November 2021 - I decided to look.

First thing I noticed is that she has an active Instagram account with videos dating back to at least 2019. On this account in October 2021 she announced her official candidature at the next federal election.

Retrieved 27 March 2022

A second look showed she still had one, possibly two, accessible Twitter accounts.

Retrieved 27 March 2022

https://twitter.com/kimberlyhone

Retrieved 27 March 2022

https://mobile.twitter.com/kimberly_hone

Both Twitter accounts contain political comment.

In addition to these social media accounts, the Nationals candidate for Richmond also has an old YouTube video account in her name with one video going back to 2019.

Retrieved 27 March 2022

Then I looked for news reports about the candidate and this article immediately popped up, which might go some way to explaining her reluctance to admit the range of her social media accounts.

Gold Coast Bulletin online, 25 March 2021:

Richmond resident Kimberly Hone is the fresh face on the Nationals ticket in the race to beat Labor MP Justine Elliot who has held the seat since 2004.

Her political rivals have also labelled her a “risk to the community” over her support for radical alternatives to fight Covid including Ivermectin.

The deworming medicine for horses has been touted as a Covid “wonder drug” by ex-US President Donald Trump and billionaire Clive Palmer.

Ms Hone wrote, “China treats their citizens with intravenous Vitamin C” in a thread in which she also endorsed Ivermectin.

In a series of tweets, since deleted, Ms Hone tweeted with links:

* “One way to avoid domestic violence is to marry well. Abusers are exceptional at manipulating …”

* “Imagine if your child’s school secretly started feeding your child transgender hormone tablets.”

* “Ten religious reasons against climate change.”

* “Global thackery: Earth has not warmed for the past 19 years – new study.”

* “Debunked: Hurricanes harvey and Irma were NOT (sic) caused by climate change.”

Video of Ms Hone speaking at a community church in October 2021 also shows her encouraging supporters’ anti-vaccination views.

At one point she states she is “so glad” audience members “no longer trust medical science”.

Richmond MP Justine Elliot has since slammed Ms Hone for her comments, labelling them “repulsive”, “dangerous” and “deeply offensive”.

“Concerned locals alerted me about these extreme views,” she said.

“It’s about transparency. (Her comments) are all extreme and quite disturbing, particularly about domestic violence.

“Victims are never to blame for domestic violence. I was personally offended when those were brought to my attention.

“This is appalling.”

“Voters deserve to know who she is.”

Ms Hone said making her past statements public was “bullying behaviour” and she refused to be “dragged down to a schoolyard cat fight”……

Ms. Hone made a rookie’s mistake when she apparently attempted to direct people towards just one social media source of information about her, without first sometime earlier either closing those Twitter accounts or removing them from public view.

As for that innocuous Instagram account, she would be better off making that a locked account for family & friends until the federal election is over and she has returned to private life once more.

It is hard to see how it could be otherwise for this novice candidate. Because she failed to take the very first fence in the political steeple chase – she was not open and transparent.

As for that risible "bullying" claim.......

BACKGROUND

 

In October 2021 Ms. Hone clearly stated that “the ultimate goal for me, just like my husband and I have done with business, I want to bring God’s kingdom to the political arena and I want God’s kingdom to penetrate the political mountain”. It appears that in this video (commencing at 29:48) she is asserting that all legislation must reflect a Christian worldview and values. 

Ms. Hone has a "business slash ministry" with her husband, Kingdom Business. This appears to be a business networking vehicle for Christian business owners.

Ahead of the week's Budget 2022-23 announcements, a brief look at how the federal government remains afloat

Budget Papers 2022-23 are expected to be presented to the Australian Parliament this sitting week.

This budget - like all other Morrison budgets since 2016 - comes with a background of increasing public debt. This fourth Morrison-Frydenberg budget can be no different, whatever clever accounting tricks are employed.

Financial Review, excerpt, 9 February 2022:

Commonwealth budgets and mid-year reviews have been ramping up spending, right up to the last mid-year review in December. As a result, spending in 2023/24 is estimated to be $41 billion higher than when it was first estimated in 2020. This increase has little to do with the pandemic.

The fiscal outlook is further clouded by the approach of a federal election. In recent weeks, the Prime Minister has been out and about sprinkling more fiscal largesse, which sits uneasily with his Treasurer’s “lines in the sand”.

Australian Office of Financial Management, Annual Report 2020-21 Financial Statements excerpt, 25 October 2021:

The cost and risk of the debt portfolio is managed through debt issuance and (where appropriate) investment activities. Since early 2009, budget deficits have required debt issuance volumes that have exceeded those necessary to maintain liquidity in Treasury Bond and Treasury Bond futures markets, affording the AOFM with a greater level of flexibility in setting its issuance program. In recent years the AOFM has lengthened the duration of its Treasury Bond portfolio through longer term issuance as a means of reducing refinancing risk and the variability of debt servicing costs over time.

Australian Office of Financial Management, 2021-22 Issuance Program, 7 January 2022:

This notice provides updated details of planned issuance of Australian Government Securities by the Australian Office of Financial Management (AOFM) for the remainder of 2021-22.

At MYEFO the AOFM indicated planned Treasury Bond issuance of around $105 billion (of which $44.3 billion has been completed). Two tenders will be conducted most weeks. A new November 2033 Treasury Bond will be issued by syndication in the final quarter of 2021-22 (subject to market conditions).

Planned issuance of Treasury Indexed Bonds is $5-5.5 billion (of which $4.1 billion has been completed). Two tenders will be held most months.

Regular issuance of Treasury Notes will continue. Weekly issuance volumes will depend on the timing and size of government receipts and outlays and the AOFM’s assessment of its cash portfolio requirements.

Details of weekly transactions will be announced at midday on the preceding Friday.

As at 28 February 2022 the total of Commonwealth borrowings liability was $859,702,529,974 (calculated in Australian dollars). That is an eyewatering amount of billions in anyone's language.

Two Treasury Bond tenders and a Treasury Note tender with a combined value of $2.8 billion were announced on Friday, 25 March 2022.

The next tender for the issue of Treasury Indexed Bonds is planned to be held on Tuesday, 12 April 2022.

Commonwealth gross debt has been rising since the Global Financial Crisis, but in the last three and a half years as the country lurched though mega bushfires, pandemic, catastrophic flooding and a significant loss of export market share in China, the Morrison Government budget papers have been exercises in hopeful fiction. Next Tuesday night's budget papers might possibly be accompanied by glittering unicorns.

Cartoons of the Week

Cathy Wilcox

Alan Moir

John Shakespeare