Australia a solid supporter of Israel over East Jerusalem

The Abbott government has pointedly refused to call East Jerusalem occupied, sparking Palestinian accusations Australia is taking a radical pro-Israel stance.

In a statement to a Senate estimates hearing on Thursday morning, Attorney-General George Brandis said it was unhelpful to the Middle East peace process to bring up historical events.

The carefully drafted statement followed a heated hearing late on Wednesday night in which, under questioning from opposition and crossbench senators, Senator Brandis repeatedly refused to say whether East Jerusalem was occupied by Israel.

East Jerusalem is a lightning rod in the Israeli-Palestinian dispute. The UN deems it an occupied territory and says Israel's unification of Jerusalem in 1980 is illegal under international law.

Senator Brandis said that Australia supported a peaceful resolution in the Middle East, but added: The description of areas which are subject to negotiations in the course of the peace process by reference to historical events is unhelpful.

The description of East Jerusalem as 'Occupied East Jerusalem' is a term freighted with pejorative implications, which is neither appropriate nor useful.

East Jerusalem has been under Israeli control since the 1967 war. Recent Middle East peace talks broke down at the end of April.

In November, the Abbott government quietly registered Australia's opposition to a UN resolution ordering an end to all Israeli settlement activities in all of the occupied territories.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop subsequently questioned in an interview with an Israeli newspaper whether the construction of Israeli settlements in the West Bank was illegal.

Izzat Abdulhadi, chairman of the General Delegation of Palestine, which provides Palestinian diplomatic representation in Australia, said the statement was part of a trend favouring Israel since the Abbott government took office.

This statement is really outrageous, he said. East Jerusalem is an integral part of the occupied territories and that has been recognised by the UN and under international law.

Independent Senator Nick Xenophon, who led the questioning of Senator Brandis, pointed to statements from Coalition ministers going back to the late 1970s and 1980s in which they call East Jerusalem and the Palestinian territories occupied.

It's an extraordinary and reckless departure from the bipartisan approach of the last 47 years, he said.

SOURCE





ICAC finds Eddie Obeid and Joe Tripodi corrupt over retail leases at Sydney's Circular Quay

Part of the corrupt NSW ALP has had a bright light shone on it

The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) has found former NSW Labor ministers Eddie Obeid and Joe Tripodi acted corruptly over retail leases at Sydney's Circular Quay.

As part of a long-running inquiry, ICAC investigated allegations that Mr Obeid lobbied to have the leases at Circular Quay renewed without a competitive tender. It also investigated if his family had a secret financial stake in the leases.

In a report released today, ICAC found Mr Obeid "misused his position as an MP" to make representations to ministers and to former senior public servant Steve Dunn on various occasions in relation to the retail leases.

Mr Obeid has also been found corrupt for misusing his position as an MP to benefit his family's financial interests in Direct Health Solutions and generous water licences over their Bylong Valley farm.

It has recommended the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) consider charging Mr Obeid with misconduct in public office.

ICAC also found Mr Dunn, the former chief executive of NSW Maritime, acted corruptly over the leases, though it has not recommended charges be laid against him or Mr Tripodi.

During the inquiry in October 2013 dramatic vision was shown of ICAC officers finding cash totalling over $31,000 during a raid on Mr Obeid's offices at Birkenhead Point.

SOURCE





Melbourne University to cut 540 administrative jobs

The University of Melbourne plans to cut 540 administrative jobs as part of a $70 million savings program.

Staff members were told the news at a meeting earlier today.  The job cuts do not include academic staff.

The university's vice chancellor, Professor Glyn Davis, issued a statement after the meeting.

It was not an easy message to deliver, or receive, that the university has to undertake this reduction in the total number of professional staff

"We are hopeful we can minimise the impact on staff through natural attrition as the university had a turnover of 635 professional staff last year, and 580 the previous year.

"We will focus on reducing the total number of casual and fixed term staff where we can and offer minimal redundancies."

The structural changes are a part of the university's Business Improvement Program.  As part of the cuts some academic support services will be either centralised or automated.  The university wants to make the cuts by January 1, 2016.

National Tertiary Education Union's Victorian secretary Colin Long said the cuts mean students will be paying more and getting less.

"We think about 50 per cent of student support services will be put online," he said.  "So students won't be able to speak to someone directly during enrolment processes very often."

Mr Long said the University of Melbourne was not the first to introduce these type of cuts.  "It's had a devastating effect on those universities and after a few years we can almost guarantee it will be reversed."

SOURCE




GREENIE ROUNDUP

Three current reports below

Blackout on green projects if target for renewables is axed

Peter Keatley is a sheep farmer. But the 59-year-old, whose property sits in NSW on the outskirts of Canberra, is also in the business of harvesting wind.

What federal treasurer of a country says he would like to stop the investment of Australian public companies?

The Keatley farm hosts five giant wind turbines, which are set to generate an inflation-adjusted $50,000 a year for at least 25 years.

This income will allow Keatley to pass his farm on to his son rather than selling out when he retires. "I love them," the 59 year-old says. "They've turned my life around."

Their very construction, with huge cranes and machines, "was the best period of my life," Keatley enthuses. "I was like a kid in a lolly shop."

The turbines on his farm are, Keatley points out, "the very first ones you see" across Lake George on the approach to Canberra from Sydney.

So it may have been these very turbines that Treasurer Joe Hockey was referring to when, in a radio interview last month, he spoke of the "utterly offensive" towers he has seen on his drive into Canberra.

In the interview, with Sydney radio presenter Alan Jones, Hockey added that, in the case of existing wind farms, "We can't knock those ones off because they're into locked-in schemes and there is a certain contractual obligation I'm told associated with those things."

It was a comment that alarmed Miles George, the managing director of Infigen Energy - the Australian Securities Exchange-listed company that operates the Keatley farm turbines and hundreds more across Australia.

"What federal treasurer of a country says he would like to stop the investment of Australian public companies?" Mr George said. "I still can't believe he said that."

This week saw US President Barack Obama unveil the most ambitious policy in US history to cut greenhouse gas emissions - a requirement for 1600 power plants to cut emissions 30 per cent on 2005 levels by 2030 - and news that China was also working on a cap for its greenhouse gas emissions.

Last week, South Korea announced plans to cap carbon emissions as part of a carbon trading scheme kicking off at the start of next year.

In Australia, however, the clean energy sector - which by its own count employs 24,000 people and has generated $20 billion in investment - feels under siege, amid government plans to dismantle climate agencies and uncertainty about the future of the nation's Renewable Energy Target.

The price of Large-Scale Generation Certificates (LGC) has plummeted, to the point where new renewable energy developments will not be viable and will struggle to get finance, according to industry figures.

Electricity retailers must buy these certificates - which are generated by renewable energy projects like wind farms - to meet their requirements under the Renewable Energy Target, creating a constant demand for the certificates.

Scrapping the target, or reducing it, means less demand for the certificates and less demand for renewable energy projects - and a reduced willingness for investment in the sector.

Since the start of the year, shares in renewable-focused companies have dived as the wider market has rallied.

SOURCE

G20 not a place to discuss climate change, says BHP chief

The chief executive of the world's largest miner, BHP Billiton, has backed Prime Minister Tony Abbott's decision to keep climate change off this year's G20 agenda, despite concerns Australia is increasingly viewed as being disengaged from the international climate debate.

In the same week that United States president Barack Obama pledged to slash carbon emissions from power plants by 30 per cent on 2005 levels, and China flagged an unprecedented absolute cap on emissions, Mr Abbott signalled he would pass on the opportunity to use Australia's leadership role as host of the G20 to focus on climate change – arguing the November summit in Brisbane was primarily an "economic meeting" to discuss matters of finance and trade.

"I don't think that's a backward step," BHP chief executive Andrew Mackenzie told reporters in Beijing, where he was attending meetings as part of a trade and business advisory panel advising the G20. "I agree with the Australian government with this. If you try and use [the G20] to solve all the problems of the world, you'll solve none. It's better to concentrate on a few things and do them really well."

Mr Mackenzie said he accepted there was a "long-term need" to have a pricing mechanism for carbon to drive the innovation that would "ultimately decarbonise the creation of energy around the world" – but insisted Labor's tax would have done more harm to the economy than good.

"That's kind of a mixed message, I accept," he said.

The BHP chief, who was also on the tail-end of a 10-day tour of China, Japan, Korea and India, which included meetings with some of the miner's largest customers, also insisted the mining giant remained an attractive long-term investment prospect for shareholders despite sharp falls in the iron ore price and persistent concerns over China's economic outlook.

Key to its Asian strategy remains the "creeping" increase of metallurgical coal and iron ore exports, but Mr Mackenzie said the miner was "much more likely to make major investments in what we feel is the next phase of China's growth in energy and food", including copper and potash – an ingredient for fertiliser.

But Mr Mackenzie was lukewarm on the prospects of uranium, despite a state-backed push to invest in nuclear energy in China.

He also downplayed the role of India as a key export market for BHP, citing its ability to fall back on its own abundant resources.

Global miners including Australia's Rio Tinto and Fortescue have banked on a sustained increase in iron ore demand from China, ramping up capacity to unprecedented levels.

But a slowdown in China's economic growth, and increasing fears of a sharp correction in its residential property market, has contributed to over-supply and concerns current depressed iron ore prices will persist.

China's top economic planning agency, the National Development and Reform Commission, warned last month that it didn't expect iron ore prices to pick up from its current two-year lows for at least another quarter.

"I don't see any reason why the price is going to turn around and shoot back up," Tim Murray of J Capital Research said. "This is not August 2012 when there was massive stimulus, sentiment turned around and everyone bought as much iron ore as they could."

Mr Mackenzie said he did not comment on "short-term trends" and said China's long-term urbanisation trend would see steel production reach 1.1 billion tonnes within the next decade.

He downplayed a recent redundancy round in Western Australia, where a reported 100 jobs were lost, saying the company constantly sought efficiencies.

SOURCE

Solar users the champagne and latte sipping set: Tim Nicholls

Treasurer Tim Nicholls has described Queenslanders who took part in Labor's solar bonus scheme as "champagne sippers and the latte set", while labelling the program "middle class welfare".

In an attack on the opposition during parliamentary question time on Thursday, Mr Nicholls took a question from LNP MP Kerry Millard on "how the government is building on its strong plan for a brighter future".

He used the question to criticise Labor's economic track record and - encouraged by an interjection from the Premier who has solar panels on his home, but does not receive the 44-cent feed-in-tariff - turned into an attack on those who do.

"The only idea he [Curtis Pitt] has put forward in terms of dealing with anything of economic sense was to reintroduce the solar bonus scheme...how did that work? It worked by adding $3 billion to the cost of power bills for Queenslanders to 2027-28," he said.

"Disgracefully, it worked to penalise those people who could least afford to install solar power.

"So those people who were paying for the middle class welfare that Labor was putting out there - for the champagne sippers and the latte set - with whom they hang around all the time in terms of making themselves feel good, but making the rest of Queenslanders pay for it."

Just under 285,000 households signed up to Labor's 44 cent feed-in-tariff scheme. Another 40,000 households received the 8 cent feed-in tariff until a recent legislation change, which means they will now have to negotiate directly with energy retailers. 

Lindsay Soutar, the National Director of Solar Citizens, a solar power lobby group, said the Queensland government was "demonising" solar users.

"We know that most households that installed solar have in fact been households on lower and middle incomes," she said. "That is because these folks are more sensitive to rises in power prices and solar is one of the best ways to take back control over power bills.

"So typically, it is the outer suburbs and people in regional areas, not the inner-city chardonnay set."

The Queensland Competition Authority recently announced the average home annual power bill would increase by another $200 in the next financial year.

Ms Soutar addressed a Queensland solar users forum in Brisbane overnight, discussing options to "go off the grid".

"The price of solar has just plummeted in the last five years, which is why it has become an affordable choice and that is something that continues to be attractive," she said.

"Which is why the big power companies and the Queensland government are so against solar, because essentially they can see why people are finding it so attractive, and looking for other options away from the big power companies."

SOURCE

ZEG

In his latest offering, conservative Australian cartoonist ZEG thinks Malcolm Turnbull is in the wrong party

Team full of Leftist hate at public broadcaster

THE Chaser team has defied the ABC managing director Mark Scott by declaring it will never apologise to The Australian columnist Chris Kenny for its offensive skit, thus flouting the terms of a defamation settlement.

Nine months after the skit depict­ing Kenny as a “dog f. ker’’ first aired on the election-night edition of The Hamster Decides, Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull said the ABC had mishandled the affair and former ABC chairman Maurice Newman said the Chaser team was defying management.

Hours before the ABC broadcast an on-air apology last night to Kenny, the Chaser presenter named in the defamation suit, ­Andrew Hansen, appeared to defy the terms of the settlement in a tweet: “ABC’s apologising to Chris Kenny, again. The Chaser isn’t, again. But we’ve agreed not to make more pictures of ABC execs shagging hamsters.”

The Chaser’s Chris Taylor posted on Facebook: “Just to be clear. The Chaser team is not apologising, and will never apologise to Chris Kenny. Tonight’s on-air apology is from the ABC, not us.”

Both statements appeared to breach the terms of the ABC’s settlement with Kenny that specified members of the Chaser team would not make public statements that “detract” from the apology.

This clause in the settlement, which also included the ABC paying Kenny’s legal fees and some damages, was intended to prevent a repeat of the way The Chaser’s Julian Morrow undermined Mr Scott’s personal apology to Kenny in April. Mr Scott refused to respond to questions yesterday about whether statements made by the Chaser presenters breached the terms of the settlement. A source close to the ABC said, “If management is not able to insist that its instructions be followed then what you have is anarchy.”

Mr Turnbull welcomed the apology but said the entire affair had been mishandled by the ABC. “My only regret is that immed­iately following the tasteless skit the ABC did not apologise to Mr Kenny,’’ he said. “I have no doubt that would have settled the matter. As it is, the only winner out of this mishandled episode has been the legal profession.”

Mr Newman said the “arrogant” Chaser team clearly thought it was “above and beyond the authority” of ABC management. “The Chaser team’s arrogance knows no bounds,’’ he said. “I think it shows defiance for whatever authority the ABC management has.

“If the terms of the settlement are correct, they are disregarding the authority of the ABC management. I don’t know what other conclusion you can reach.”

Last night, Morrow said he did not think the comments by Taylor and Hansen were in breach of the settlement. “They are consistent in every respect,’’ he said. “I don’t think anything I’ve done today detracts from the settlement or the apology and I don’t think any of us have. I think the idea that we allow or don’t allow people to comment on Facebook is a little misguided.’’

Kenny said he was disappointed. “Like most taxpayers, I have high expectations of the ABC, not of the so-called Chaser boys,’’ he said. “If Mark Scott is encountering resistance to his obedience training, that is his problem.”

SOURCE





Dead koalas and possums found in refugees' car blamed on cultural misunderstanding

Four Burmese refugees have avoided convictions after being caught with three dead koalas and 14 dead possums in their car in South Australia.

Cho Win Aung, Htay Aung, Eh Nay Moo and Mwee Say Htoo faced the Magistrates Court at Mount Gambier in the south-east of South Australia charged with possessing carcasses.

The court heard police pulled over a utility last February and officers noticed a strong smell of burnt flesh.

In the rear of the vehicle they found two dead adult koalas and a baby koala, along with 14 dead ringtail possums.

The animals had no fur and were charred.

The group's lawyer told the court the four were unaware they were committing an offence, as in refugee camps in Thailand the hunting of animals to supplement the diet was commonplace.

The magistrate expressed confidence the offence arose from a cultural misunderstanding and that the group would not reoffend.

SOURCE





Retailers warn of job cuts after Fair Work Commission lifts minimum wage by $18.70 per week

Roughly double the U.S. figure.  Compare with the SeaTac experience

Retailers have warned that staff will have to be sacked in the wake of a decision to raise the minimum wage by $18.70 a week.

Unions, however, say the increase of 3 per cent from July 1 - a rise to $640.90 per week - will not be enough to help workers cope with extra costs stemming from the federal budget.

The decision by the nation's industrial umpire, the Fair Work Commission (FWC), will directly affect around 1.5 million Australians on award wages.

FWC president Justice Iain Ross said there had recently been almost no growth in the real value of award wages while other employees had enjoyed substantial pay increases.

"The deterioration in the relative living standards of award-reliant workers, the needs of the low-paid, the recent widespread improvement in labor productivity growth, the historically low levels of real unit labor costs, and the absence, in aggregate, of cost pressures from the labour market, are all factors favouring a real increase in minimum wages," he said.

One moderating factor was the 0.25 per cent increase to the superannuation rate to apply from July 1.

The ACTU had been pushing for a weekly rise of $27, but employers said they would not be able to afford an increase of anything more than $8.50 a week.

Business groups have criticised the decision, with the Australian Industry Group saying it will put more pressure on "struggling" employers, particularly in the manufacturing, retail and tourism sectors.

"Many industry sectors and particularly those exposed to import competition are experiencing very tough business conditions," AiGroup chief executive Innes Willox said in a statement.

And the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) said it would "destroy" job opportunities.

"There is no generosity in raising wages to the point where people can't find work when they need it," ACCI chief executive Kate Carnell said in a statement.

Unions warn of class of 'working poor'

Retailers have warned that it will "stress" and "damage" businesses already dealing with sluggish retail figures and lower consumer confidence.

Australian Retailers Association executive director Russell Zimmerman says the decision will prompt many businesses to sack staff.

"The retail industry is more reliant on pay scales than any other industry, and also suffers a highly disproportionate effect in minimum wage increases ... due to deregulated hours and penalties across all retail awards," he said in a statement.

But unions are worried the widening gap between the minimum wage and average earnings means Australia could go down the same path as the US and create a class of "working poor".

ACTU secretary Dave Oliver said the decision was "particularly unfair" given today's National Accounts figures showed stronger-than-expected economic growth.

"Hardworking Australians are not benefiting from the strong economy and they don't stand to benefit from the federal budget," he said.

Rise 'barely keeps pace with inflation'

The United Voice union, which represents many low-wage workers, says the rise announced today is not enough.

Acting national secretary David O'Byrne says with new costs like GP co-payments and an increase in fuel prices, the poorest paid workers will suffer.

"Every time they go to a doctor, every time they put petrol in their car they are being hit by this Federal Government with increased cost of living," he said.

"This minimum wage decision does not only not deal with that, it barely keeps pace with inflation."

Opposition employment spokesman Brendan O'Connor says the warnings of job losses is "always" put forward by employer groups.

He has welcomed the decision but says it does not take into account extra cost-of-living pressures associated with the federal budget.

"It won't be able to mitigate the impact of the measures of the budget on these low-paid workers - the tax on visiting a doctor ... the tax you have to pay when you pick up your medicine when you visit a pharmacy means the pressure on low-income families is going to be very, very difficult indeed," he said.

"The budget measures will soak up the increase and will in many cases exceed the increase."

The Federal Government had urged the commission to consider that Australians would be netting an extra $550 a year when the carbon tax was abolished - though its repeal is yet to pass the Senate.

Employment Minister Eric Abetz has put out a statement saying the Government "recognises" the decision.

Last year the minimum wage rose by $15.80 a week.

SOURCE






Large-scale "multicultural" crime

Police claim to have cracked a major methamphetamine trafficking syndicate after a four-month probe netted more than $8 million of the drug.

Detectives from the Organised Crime Squad led the protracted sting with a series of raids on properties in Kewdale, Munster and Bibra Lake and say they have seized four kilograms of methamphetamine.

Five men and a woman have been charged, including the president of the WA Islamic Council Dr Rateb Jneid, 43, who faces a firearms charge. Two of his brothers, Ziad and Rabih Jneid, have pleaded not guilty to drugs charges.

Detective Inspector Chris Adams said police had effectively cracked the back of a national drug smuggling racket and the methamphetamine seizure was one of the "most significant" in recent times.

"This is a sophisticated and complex organised crime syndicate... To be able to distribute large quantities requires detailed planning, co-ordination and a tight-knit syndicate," Detective Inspector Adams said on Thursday.

"When you are caught in possession of up to four kilograms [of methamphetamine]...you are significant importer of crystal methamphetamine."

Police said the operation began in January when a vehicle stop in Kewdale allegedly uncovered two kilograms of methamphetamine. Further investigations allegedly led police to another two kilograms of the drug several weeks later.

Police believe both methamphetamine hauls were produced by the same criminal syndicate, and in April launched a series of six raids in Kewdale and Bibra Lake, leading to the alleged seizure of more than $380,000 cash, two firearms, ammunition, steroids and pepper spray canisters.

Detective Inspector Adams said the scourge of methamphetamines had a grave impact on the WA community and stressed that police would continue to target traffickers.

"I think it's important for the community to understand that kids and adults of all ages are injecting this drug into their arms and/or smoking it and consuming it, which is not good,” he said.

“It has an impact on our health, an impact on the community. The Organised Crime Squad will continue to fight organised crime syndicates that operate in Perth, Western Australia.”

Detective Inspector Adams said police were also reviewing intelligence holdings to determine links between the accused and gangs in WA, including Lebanese crime gang, the Sword Boys.

He made no apologies about the raids and refuted claims by the Jneid brothers that they had been the target of corrupt police. He said further charges may be laid.

Three men - 38-year-old Kewdale man Ziad Jneid, a 40-year-old from Kewdale and a 40-year-old man from Bibra Lake -  face a raft of charges, including conspiracy to sell or supply prohibited drugs, and are scheduled to appear in Perth Magistrates Court on July 24.

A 33-year-old Munster man has been charged with supplying a prohibited drug and possessing a firearm or ammunition without a license and is scheduled to appear at Perth Magistrates Court on August 15.

Two other people, including Dr Jneid, 43, have been charged by summons with firearm and weapon offences in relation to licensed firearms that were allegedly not adequately stored.

SOURCE

Student teachers to be tested on literacy, numeracy in final year of university study

They should be tested BEFORE they enter tertiary study

Education students at New South Wales universities will need to pass a literacy and numeracy test before they will be approved to start their final-year practicum.

Education Minister Adrian Piccoli said the program would be trialled in August and rolled out from mid-2015 across the state.

Mr Piccoli said it was part of a push to improve the level of teaching in NSW schools, amid concerns some new teachers struggle to explain maths and grammar concepts to their students.

"We have great teachers in NSW and now we are taking further steps to improve the quality of teaching for the next generation of teachers," he said in a statement on Wednesday.

The Minister said it was a recommendation that came out of a review into the sector last year.

The test will be quite difficult and complex, but students would be able to sit it as many times as necessary, he said.

"Other professions set their own standards externally from what the university does," he told the ABC.

"Lawyers do it, accountants do it, doctors do it, and we're doing a similar thing in education.

"To be registered and accredited to teach in NSW, you'll need to have passed this literacy and numeracy test."

The online tests, which may include a writing exercise along with fundamental literacy and numeracy skills, are being developed by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER).

NSW will be be the first state to trial the test.

SOURCE





Business groups step up campaign to cut Sunday penalties

Australia's biggest companies are stepping up their campaign against weekend penalty rates.

The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry says scaling back penalty rates would encourage more businesses to open on weekends and help stimulate the economy.

The rise of the 24/7 economy has seen an increase in so-called flexibility among employees: whichever way you look at it, there's no doubt that how and when Australians work has been changing rapidly over the past few decades.

That means that practically every industry in Australia pays penalty rates to people who do not work nine-to-five hours.

Nurses are a prime example of an occupation where non-standard hours are the norm.

Megan has asked us not to use her surname, because the Melbourne hospital she works for did not approve her interview with The World Today.

"If I wasn't offered penalty rates, I would certainly have reconsidered the job I'm doing now," she said.

Whether people should be paid more to work late nights, early mornings or weekends is back on the agenda.

So far, the attention of the debate has been on hospitality, retail and other service industries, but Megan says any talk of changes to penalties makes her nervous.

"I would certainly look at re-requesting hours based on that, because why should I sacrifice my life, my time with my family or my friends to get the same pay as someone working Monday to Friday?" she argued.

That is the key question raised by today's call from the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) for a reduction in Sunday penalty rates: does working so-called "unsociable hours" still constitute a sacrifice?

"The ultimate goal is to have Sunday penalty rates similar to those on Saturdays," explained Kate Carnell, ACCI's chief executive.

"Different awards are different, but fundamentally we need to free up the predominantly family businesses in Australia - the small to medium businesses that are opening their shops, their restaurants, their retail outlets on Sundays - to be able to employ people."

Ms Carnell says many business owners currently give up their Sundays because they cannot afford to employ staff on those shifts, and expectations have changed around the working week.

"We are expecting businesses to be open and who runs those businesses? Mum and dad. They're required to be at work because we want them to be, because we want those establishments to be open," she argued.

"I think we have to accept that the train's left the station on this. We don't look at Sundays the way we used to."

Penalty rate test cases

Last month a hospitality industry group successfully argued before the Fair Work Commission that some of its casual employees should earn lower penalty rates on Sundays.

Now David Quilty from the Pharmacy Guild is preparing for Fair Work's review of the pharmacy industry award.

"Pharmacies are employing professional pharmacists - they get paid probably more and significantly more than your normal hospitality worker," he observed.

"So a 200 per cent penalty rate requirement is quite expensive for a pharmacy and, in many cases, pharmacies already pay most of their pharmacist staff well above the awards."

Mr Quilty says he is confident that pharmacies can find people to work Sunday shifts even if the penalty rates for doing so are lowered.

"We understand that there should be some financial recognition of the fact that people are working what are called unsociable hours, but the world has changed significantly since penalty rates were introduced," he responded.

"We all live in a 24/7 world and, for many workers, they'd actually prefer to work hours that are outside normal nine-to-five Monday-to-Friday business hours for various reasons - for family reasons, or because they're students and these hours suit them better."

However, David O'Byrne from the hospitality union United Voice says an appeal of last month's Fair Work decision is possible.

He believes businesses want workplace changes beyond Sunday penalties.

"Weekend rates have been supported by Australians over many generations. It's about fair and decent wages and to have the big business community come out and attack low-paid workers is obscene, particularly in industries that the kind of profits that are being made," he said.

"We believe that it won't just stop at hospitality workers or workers in marginalised industries, it will continue to other workers that receive weekend rates, such as fire fighters, police officers and nurses."

SOURCE






Leftist ACT government goes on a borrowing and spending  spree

They never learn.  They like the praise thery get in the present and damn the furure

The ACT Government is borrowing money, selling assets and embarking on a massive spending spree in a bid to grow Canberra's economy and offset Commonwealth cuts.

In handing down his third budget, Treasurer Andrew Barr unveiled a record infrastructure fund of $2.5 billion to be partly funded through borrowing an extra $1.27 billion over the forward estimates.

But general household rates will rise 10 per cent, traffic and parking fines will jump 6 per cent, and ACTION bus fares for concession holders will increase.

The Government will also look to sell surplus land and office buildings as well as streetlights.

Mr Barr says the budget takes a confident and bold approach to growing the economy and supporting jobs.

"We are not choosing the austerity path taken by conservative governments around Australia who cut services and harm their community," he said.

"We will not add to pain caused by the Commonwealth. We will not sacrifice essential services for the sake of the budget bottom line."

Mr Barr says cuts outlined in the federal budget last month will cost the ACT bottom line $375 million over four years.

He says the loss of about 6,500 Commonwealth public service jobs over four years will also impact on the local economy.

The budget is now set to finish $265.3 million in the red this financial year, with a deficit of $332.8 million in 2014-2015 and a deficit of $117.8 million in 2015-2016.

The debt is forecast to drop to $26.3 million in 2016-2017 returning to a predicted surplus of $77.5 million the following year.

The ACT's economic outlook is weak, with Gross State Product forecast to grow just 1.75 per cent next financial year, and employment predicted to rise a mere 0.5 per cent.

Mr Barr says before the federal budget was handed down, he had been set to deliver only a modest deficit this year, a balanced budget next year and surpluses thereafter.

Now the ACT will delve deeper into debt to east the pain of the Commonwealth cuts.

"It's not a two-fingered salute to the Federal Government but it is a recognition of the importance of new infrastructure to this community and this economy. It's jobs, jobs jobs," he said.

Mr Barr says the ACT can afford the extra borrowing and he does not believe it will impact the Territory's AAA credit rating.

The Government is spending a record $2.5 billion on infrastructure over the next four years.  To do so, the Government will borrow an extra $1.27 billion over the forward estimates.

SOURCE






Qld budget 2014: Treasurer Tim Nicholls announces 'cautious' budget with billions in asset sales

The Queensland Government has announced billions of dollars in asset sales, a new infrastructure fund, and cuts to seniors' concessions, as part of its 2014-15 budget.

The budget shows a $2.27 billion deficit and state debt rising to almost $80 billion.

Treasurer Tim Nicholls says it is a cautious budget that will stabilise the state's debt.

"We know the decisions we made are not going to be popular but Queenslanders can be assured that we do have a plan," Mr Nicholls said.  "We know what we're doing and there is funding assured to deliver that plan and that's the plan that's going to deliver a brighter future for Queensland."

The State Government has confirmed plans to privatise $33.6 billion worth of assets, with $25 billion of that to be used to pay down debt.

The Government has stressed it will not proceed with asset sales until it goes to the state election in March.

The State Government will issue long-term leases on Gladstone Port, Townsville Port and the Mount Isa rail line.

It will also sell power generating companies Stanwell and CS Energy along with water distribution company SunWater Industrial Pipelines.

Private investors will also be sought to fund electricity distribution and transmission businesses Powerlink, Energex and Ergon, in return for a share of revenue.

Mr Nicholls says the alternatives were to double state taxes or cut 30,000 public service jobs and reduce services.

"We are very excited by this budget, we are delivering on our promises, we are continuing to fund services," he said.

"There are no new taxes, no increases in taxes and we are providing a pathway to the future by outlining our strong plan."

SOURCE

Asylum seekers injured as Christmas Island staff shut down protest over Reza Berati's death, dozens of detainees moved to 'red block'

Immigration Minister Scott Morrison has confirmed several asylum seekers were injured when staff shut down a week-long protest at the Christmas Island detention centre yesterday.

The ABC understands around 70 male detainees, who had been protesting to mark 100 days since the death of Iranian asylum seeker Reza Berati on Manus Island, were removed by specially trained staff and taken to a high-security facility known as 'Red Block'.

Mr Morrison has told Parliament some detainees became aggressive and had to be restrained after detention centre operator Serco called in an emergency response team (ERT) and asked all asylum seekers to return to their compound.

"The majority of detainees were compliant however I am advised a small number exhibited non-compliant behaviour," he said.

"The Serco ERT continued negotiations with those detainees who were refusing to comply. Reports to me suggest some detainees became aggressive and were subsequently restrained and moved [from the area].

"I'm advised that two detainees suffered minor injuries arising from non-compliant behaviour and were treated onsite," he said.

"A further four were taken to hospital for a range of injuries including suspected sprains or broken bones.

"One detainee has suffered an injury to his wrist. No staff were injured. I'm advised the facility remains calm."

Witness says most protesters walked away peacefully

The ABC has been contacted by a Christmas Island resident who witnessed yesterday’s events.

The person, who wanted to remain anonymous, said the protests had been peaceful and specially-trained staff removed some asylum seekers yesterday.

"One-by-one the protesters were removed from the group," the resident said.

"Most got up and walked away voluntarily but some didn't.

"They were then forcefully removed and in the process several asylum seekers sustained minor injuries."

The resident said a nurse on the island had reported "several cases of self-harm among the protesters, mainly cuts to arms and chest".

SOURCE






Judging by the telling silence from the Left, sexism must be all right

IF a high-powered woman is ­described as the “top dog’’ and her deeply personal struggle to fall pregnant dragged into the public domain to score cheap parliamentary points, is it sexism?

For some feminists, the answer sadly seems to depend on their politics.

Former Rudd and Gillard government staffer Jamila Rizvi, now the editor-in-chief of the Mamamia website, described the outrage that followed Clive Palmer’s personal assault on Tony Abbott’s chief of staff Peta Credlin as a “still and telling silence’’.

Here was Mr Palmer dragging Ms Credlin, who has publicly opened up about her struggles with IVF, into the paid parental leave debate, claiming working women were being discriminated against so Ms Credlin could ­“receive a massive benefit when she gets pregnant’’. Yet, there was hardly an avalanche of outrage on Twitter to condemn the gender-based attack.

Labor backbencher Terri Butler was less than sympathetic. “She’s got a pretty fierce reputation. I think she can speak out on her own behalf,’’ the Queensland MP said.

One of the nation’s most influential feminists, Eva Cox — who described Mr Palmer’s comments as “right out of line’’ — sounded a note of caution at the public ­response to the attack on Ms Credlin. “I am concerned if people are not defending her because she’s seen as Tony Abbott’s staffer. I think that would be very unfair,’’ Ms Cox said.

Less than two years after Julia Gillard urged zero tolerance to sexism and misogyny, some progressive women were slow off the mark. Others were just missing in action. As Crikey’s Bernard Keane noted on Twitter: “I see lots of progressive thinks (sic) sexist attacks on Peta Credlin are OK because Gillard copped same/worse. Charming.’’

At midday the Destroy the Joint group posted on its Facebook site, hitting out at the Palmer ­attack on Ms Credlin, about 20 hours after he launched his personal broadside.

Anne Summers, one of Ms Gillard’s staunchest backers and a formidable feminist, said she had no idea what Mr Palmer had said and no wish to comment.

The attack on Ms Credlin was largely met with white noise.

“What’s that you hear?” Ms Rizvi wrote on Mamamia. “A buoyant defence of the Prime Minister’s chief of staff? Outraged cries for bringing the personal into politics, for making a leader’s staff member the story, and for using someone’s gender against them in policy debate? No. What you actually heard was silence. A still and telling ­silence.’’

Ms Credlin, she wrote, deserved better and feminists shouldn’t be fence sitting, mute.

“We do ourselves a disservice on the Left if we aren’t consistent in calling out sexism, and only calling it out when it suits us,’’ Ms Rizvi told The Australian.

Destroy the Joint’s Jenna Price said Mr Palmer had exposed himself as a “terrible sexist’’ and his attack on Ms Credlin, who had aired her struggles with IVF, was “heartless’’.

“I think this is the third time we’ve had to stick up for Peta Credlin, and I think that’s a good thing,’’ she said, adding the group was about getting rid of sexism and misogyny and not all its members were from the progressive side of politics.

“It can be difficult because a lot of women on the Right say that feminism isn’t important but that shouldn’t stop us from saying if you are being attacked because you are a woman, that’s wrong,’’ Ms Price said.

During a parliamentary debate on Monday, Mr Palmer claimed that under Mr Abbott’s signature $5.5 billion PPL scheme, working women were being discriminated so Ms Credlin could receive a “massive benefit’’.

Instead of contrition yesterday, Mr Palmer refused to apologise because “that’s my position’’ and seemed to further inflame the situation, suggesting Ms Credlin was behind the policy, even though Mr Abbott had championed it years before she joined his office.

“She’s the top enchilada. She’s the top dog, oh, I shouldn’t say that … She’s the boss,’’ he said.

He claimed he was unaware of Ms Credlin’s IVF struggles.

He later tweeted: “I’ve not intended to personally attack Peta Credlin in my PPL criticisms. However, no key position in government should escape scrutiny.’’

Deputy Liberal leader Julie Bishop and Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull last night pulled out of a charity auction organised by the federal parliamentary press gallery in which they were to have dinner with Mr Palmer at the Wild Duck restaurant in the Canberra suburb of Kingston. They said they had cancelled the event because of Mr Palmer’s “offensive and inappropriate’’ comments in relation to Ms Credlin.

Earlier, Ms Bishop demanded Mr Palmer apologise. “I hope Mr Palmer reflects on what he’s done. It’s particularly hurtful thing to focus on the Prime Minister’s female chief of staff, whom it is well known is seeking IVF treatment,’’ the Foreign Minister said. “And for him to accuse the Prime Minister of putting in place a policy to benefit her is particularly hurtful in these circumstances, and I hope he reflects on what he’s said.’’

Bill Shorten said the comments were unwarranted and wrong, and senior Labor MP Jenny Macklin said the attack was inappropriate. Nationals MP Darren Chester said all Labor MPs needed to get behind Ms Credlin.

SOURCE





No "consensus" among Australian Earth scientists about "climate change"

AUSTRALIA’S peak body of earth scientists has declared itself unable to publish a position statement on climate change due to the deep divisions within its membership on the issue.

After more than five years of debate and two false starts, Geological Society of Australia president Laurie Hutton said a statement on climate change was too difficult to achieve.

Mr Hutton said the issue “had the potential to be too divisive and would not serve the best interests of the society as a whole.”

The backdown, published in the GSA quarterly newsletter, is the culmination of two rejected position statements and years of furious correspondence among members. Some members believe the failure to make a strong statement on climate change is an embarrassment that puts Australian earth scientists at odds with their international peers.

It undermines the often cited stance that there is near unanimity among climate scientists on the issue.

GSA represents more than 2000 Australian earth scientists from academe, industry, government and research organisations.

A position statement published in 2009 said the society was concerned about the potentially harmful effects of carbon dioxide emissions and favoured “strong action to substantially reduce current levels’’.

“Of particular concern are the well-documented loading of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, which has been linked unequivocally to burning of fossil fuels, and the corresponding increase in average global temperature,’’ it said.

“Risks associated with these large-scale perturbations of the Earth’s fundamental life-support systems include rising sea level, harmful shifts in the acid balance of the oceans and long-term changes in local and regional climate and extreme weather events.”

Publication of the position statement caused an uproar among members and led to a revised statement, after wide consultation. The revised statement said: “Geological evidence clearly demonstrates that Earth’s climate system is inherently and naturally variable over timescales from decades to millions of years.

“Regardless of whether climate change is from natural or anthropogenic causes, or a combination of both, human societies would benefit from knowing what to expect in the future and to plan how best to respond.

“The GSA makes no predictions or public policy recommendations for action on climate beyond the generally agreed need for prudent preparations in response to potential hazards, including climate change.”

The revised statement was criticised as being too vague.

In a short statement published in the latest edition of the society newsletter, Mr Hutton says: “After a long and extensive and extended consultation with society members, the GSC executive committee has decided not to proceed with a climate change position statement.’’

“As evidenced by recent letters to the editor … society members have diverse opinions on the human impact on climate change. However, diversity of opinion can also be divisive, especially when such views are strongly held.

“The executive committee has therefore concluded that a climate change position statement has the potential to be far too divisive and would not serve the best interests of the society as a whole ,” the statement says.

SOURCE






Apology finally squeezed out of public broadcaster that broadcast Leftist hate speech

NINE months after broadcasting an offensive skit featuring The Australian’s columnist Chris Kenny by The Chaser team, the ABC will tonight issue a comprehensive on-air apology as part of a formal defamation settlement that includes paying all legal costs and some damages.

Despite the ABC and The Chaser team vowing to contest the matter in court, backed by an internal review that found the skit met editorial standards for satire, the apology will tonight be broadcast on ABC1 at about 9pm, before the Jonah From Tonga show.

The Chaser team will not be permitted to republish the mat­erial or make public statements that detract from the settlement, to prevent a repeat of the way presenter Julian Morrow undermined managing director Mark Scott’s personal apology to Kenny in April.

Hours after that apology, Morrow tweeted a picture of Mr Scott in a compromising position and rejected his public statements, stating: “We are not taking any steps to settle the legal action. If the ABC wants to then that’s a matter for it.”

Mr Scott’s failure to act decisively in the Kenny matter has cast doubt on his tenure as the ABC’s boss and editor-in-chief.

The action stems from a skit on the Chaser’s election campaign show, Hamster Decides, that ­depicted Kenny in a carnal act and called him a “dog f. .ker”.

Kenny said it was clear if he had not commenced legal proceedings, he would not have won an on-air apology and said it had been “worthwhile” to pursue the case. The details and costs of the settlement will remain confidential.

“It shouldn’t be this hard to get the taxpayer-funded national broadcaster to behave decently, but at least it’s finally happened,” Kenny said.

It is understood the ABC board is meeting today and had been pressing Mr Scott to finalise the matter.

Kenny said he decided to sue the ABC, production company Giant Dwarf and its presenter ­Andrew Hansen for defamation because of the offensive nature of the skit, and its subsequent damage to his reputation, but also ­because he considered it an ­attempt to silence him.

“I was singled out because I’ve been a critic of the ABC and it was an attempt to silence me,’’ he said.

“People have suggested to me it’s anti-free speech to launch a defamation action, well I think it’s quite the opposite in this case. I was singled out because I dared to criticise the ABC and it (the skit) was an attempt to intimidate people out of criticising the ABC.”

Responding to criticism that journalists should not pursue law suits and commentary that satire should be exempt from defamation, Kenny said he did not “take legal action lightly but in the end you have to draw a line”.

“They can mock me, they can tease me, they can find examples to ridicule me with all they like but somewhere there has to be a line,’’ he said.

“I accept that the line is grey, but I think this case was so ­obviously beyond the pale that nobody would disagree.”

Kenny was at a birthday dinner for his pregnant wife Sunita when the skit aired and he was instantly inundated with messages from friends and colleagues who had seen it.

He said the offensive nature of the skit “really wasn’t very pleasant for my wife or young children”.

The defamation proceedings that followed were unpleasant as well, he said, with the ABC employing bullying tactics, which included publicly releasing a legal letter in an attempt to force him to drop the case.

Kenny said he was grateful he was in a position to take his fight up to the ABC — an option not available to others who had been wronged by the taxpayer-funded organisation. “They do use these intimidatory tactics,’’ he said.

“I was able to take the ABC on and make this stand and get an apology on air, and that’s very important, but I do worry about people, individuals in society who might think they’re wronged by the ABC, it’s a very difficult, large, well-funded beast to take on.

“I think really when they’ve done wrong, they should look at it immediately themselves, come to a reasonable judgment and if they’re wrong apologise quickly.”

Kenny said many of his supporters, angry at the offensive nature of the skit, encouraged him to persist with the defamation proceedings and take the ABC to trial.

His primary aim, he said, was not to win compensation, but to achieve an apology and for the ABC to concede that the skit had “crossed the line”.

“Many people didn’t want me to settle — they wanted to see a court ruling against the ABC — I can understand their point but I think the ABC has been made to see sense, and having forced apologies in court and on air, as well as appropriate costs and damages, it would be intemperate to push on,’’ he said.

It was not the first controversy for the Chaser team, which has been in hot water on multiple occasions over insensitive and distasteful skits.

Kenny said he wondered “if and when” the Chaser boys were “going to grow up but that’s Mark Scott’s problem if he’s going to keep employing them.”

When the case is formally discontinued in court, the ABC will read an apology and a statement will be read on Kenny’s behalf.

SOURCE

Senator Cory Bernardi asserts conservative values

Liberal Senator Cory Bernardi gave a small but vocal group of student protesters the slip in Brisbane on Saturday, opting for back-door entry to the Broncos Leagues Club for a speaking engagement.

The ultra-conservative South Australian MP was in town to address the party faithful and spruik his book, The Conservative Revolution, at the invitation of soon-to-retire Queensland Nationals Senator Ron Boswell.

Senator Boswell introduced his controversial colleague as a "conviction politician", in one of his last official functions before his retirement at the end of June.

Simultaneously, outside the club, students and academics protested the deregulation of university fees announced in the federal budget.

Though the group was almost outnumbered by a strong show of force by police, National Union of Students (Queensland) spokesman Duncan Hart said they were determined to let Senator Bernardi know how the budget measures would impact on the children of the families he claims to represent - even if the politician's evasive entry to the venue did not give them the opportunity to do so in person.

"Cory Bernardi has said the budget needs to be tougher, which is just a repugnant statement," said Mr Hart, a student.

"He claims he stands for family values, but working-class families will be priced out of university. Working-class young people will be priced out of education."

In measures announced in the budget, university students look set to be slugged with debts of tens of thousands of dollars for their degrees, along with higher interest rates for repayments.

Senator Bernardi said he did not believe some budget measures were tough enough.

Griffith University lecturer Kaye Broadbent told the small crowd the "conservative future" plan of Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Treasurer Joe Hockey was unwanted.

"These young people are trying, in your words, to be lifters," she said.

"But students are going to be in debt for a very long time."

Inside, Senator Bernardi did not touch upon cuts to tertiary education in his 45-minute address to the largely mature crowd that packed the auditorium of the club.

His address canvassed his usual topics, though in a somewhat more measured delivery than what he has become renowned for. Political correctness, abortion, euthanasia, the Greens and welfare recipients were all in Senator Bernardi's line of fire.

As was the ABC, the public broadcaster for which he has campaigned strongly to be the recipient of funding cuts. However, it was the conservative Christian's lament over the increasing societal move away from the nuclear family and his opposition to de facto and same-sex marriage that dominated his speech. "Marriage once held a unique place in our society," he said, before adding to enthusiastic audience applause the need to stand firm against the further degradation of the time-honoured institution.

"The traditional idea of family has also taken a battering,'' he said. "Political correctness dictates we can't even talk about the best environment for raising children for fear of causing offence, even if the evidence overwhelmingly supports it."

SOURCE






Manus Island conflict was inevitable

Iranian Muslim values and New Guinean values don't have a lot in common

Only Kevin Rudd would put an angry Islamist and an angry New Guinean in the one room and expect both to walk out alive. But Labor was leaving Abbott another landmine, this time in P-NG.

The Pickering Post reported at the time that P-NG should never ever be considered as a holding, processing or settlement site for illegal arrivals. The only surprise is that Scott Morrison decided to continue with it.

The Post was told early this year that Morrison had asked Foreign Affairs Minister, Julie Bishop to broach the subject of processing and resettlement in the Solomons.

Julie Bishop travelled there and did so, but Prime Minister Gordon Darcy Lilo knew the extra millions offered could never justify such a volatile mix of cultures on his shores.

Vanuatu’s Prime Minister Carcasses also rejected the proposal. And it takes a very good reason for those two corrupt monkeys to knock back money!

Morrison was left with little choice but to persist with Rudd’s deal with P-NG’s Peter O’Neill.

O’Neill was the only one prepared to accept a fistful of dollars while being fully aware of the explosive nature of what lay ahead.

So the Cornall report on the death of Reza Berati is no more than a resumé of a predictable disaster that Kevin Rudd started and Scott Morrison is continuing with. He really shouldn’t.
Stand by for many more deaths when processed detainees are sent from Manus Island to Port Moresby, as planned.

The ABC and Fairfax in July last year heralded Rudd’s P-NG solution as an "election masterstroke".

The Post reported the next day: "The truth is that it's a time bomb that will not explode until after the election, it will again be Abbott’s problem. P-NG is a nation of murderous head-shrinking savages whose religion is black magic and voodoo with a sprinkling of bastardised Christianity. It has a currency in pigs. Pigs are an indicator of wealth. As nearly all boat people are Muslim, settlement there is an inconceivable proposition. P-NG’s cities are known as the most dangerous in the world and anyone even considering building a mosque there would find themselves on the menu at the next kukim long paia."

Security company G4S had hired locals with bush knives who react poorly to the term, "fucking ape!" The discredited Salvation Army also employed locals who aren’t used to turning the other cheek.
If you had to choose a place on the planet an Islamist would rather not be, it would be P-NG.
Perhaps that’s the idea

SOURCE






Federal Government continues campaign to delist part of Tasmania's wilderness with state government's help

The Federal Government remains outwardly confident it can convince the World Heritage Committee to delist part of Tasmania's World Heritage wilderness.

It is giving committee members more information about past logging but conservation groups doubt it will be enough.

The Parliamentary Secretary for Forestry, Richard Colbeck, is leading the campaign to have 74,000 hectares excised from the World Heritage listing.

He argues it has been degraded by past logging.

The Senator says the World Heritage Committee will be given new information, after concerns the Federal Government's submission had no detailed justifications or explanations.

"Up until the state election in March we didn't have a co-operative State Government and there was certainly some information around previous harvesting that we didn't have access to the information for," Senator Colbeck said.

Vica Bayley from the Wilderness Society says the Government is clutching at straws.

"It's last ditch attempt to try to convince the World Heritage Committee that they are right, when all the facts say that they are wrong," he said.

Senator Colbeck is not saying how much of the World Heritage area will be logged if it is delisted.

"That number I think needs to be determined by the management process that's put in place," Senator Colbeck said.

He has ruled out logging if the areas are not delisted.

"I suppose potentially you could but I think you really need to consider what the broader community would understand in that respect, I don't think that would be acceptable to the broader community," he said.

The World Heritage Committee meets in Doha, Qatar, in two weeks.

SOURCE





More than 500 Afghans resettled in Australia after helping Defence Force

More than 500 Afghan nationals who helped Australia's mission in Afghanistan have been resettled in Australia under a "discreet" relocation program, the Government says.

Defence Minister David Johnston said the employees and their families, including interpreters, were assessed to be at risk of harm after providing critical support to the Australian Defence Force and Australian Government agencies in Afghanistan.

"Many of these employees were placed at significant risk of harm by insurgents in Afghanistan, due to the highly visible and dangerous nature of their employment," Mr Johnston said in a statement.

The majority of those already settled in Australia arrived over the latter part of 2013 and early 2014.

The statement said the Government had wanted to conduct the process "with a high level of discretion, given the sensitivities and risks involved for the applicants and their families".

It is understood the Afghan employees and their families were keen to settle in Australia and said they were eager to start new lives and establish themselves as soon as possible.

The families were provided with accommodation, health services and household assistance.

"Many have already commenced employment or vocational training opportunities and their children are enrolled in school," Social Services Minister Kevin Andrews said in the joint statement.

Following the completion of Australia's mission in Uruzgan and the departure of Australian Defence Force personnel from the province, Australia will continue to provide training and advisory support to the Afghan National Security Forces.

SOURCE





What does he see in her?

His previous girlfriend, Liz Hurley, was once said to have the best tits in England



THE Potbelleez muso Jonny Sonic has warned spin king Shane Warne to steer clear of new girlfriend Emily Scott.  “Oh god SHANE don’t do it!!!!,” Sonic wrote on Instagram, with a photo of Confidential’s story on the couple last week.

Sonic also posted the story on his personal Facebook page.

One friend commented: “Haha Jonny” to which he replied, “She is NOT a nice person!!!!”  Later he wrote, “Shane’s in for a treat with Emily I tell ya ... Not in a good way!”

Scott previously dated Sonic’s deejay mate, Bass Kleph.

Sonic, who next month releases a new single with The Potbellleez called Here On Earth, is currently dating fashion designer Camilla Franks.

Warne, who recently ended his engagement to Liz Hurley, has been linked to Scott after attending the 50th birthday bash of Jeff Fenech last week. She also attended a Full Moon Party in Melbourne with Warne recently and the pair have known each other for eight years.

Scott, a celebrity DJ, is 14 years younger than the 44-year-old Warne.

SOURCE

George Brandis says Holocaust denier Frederick Toben is 'a nutcase'

Attorney-General George Brandis has dismissed a supporter of the government's proposed changes to the Racial Discrimination Act as a nutcase.  To make this completely clear, he spelled out nutcase "N-U-T-C-A-S-E".

That supporter is Holocaust denier Fredrick Toben who has backed the government's moves to water down race hate laws as a welcome challenge to "Jewish supremacism".

Greens senator Penny Wright said people such as Mr Toben and others with repellent views were lining up to celebrate the proposed change.

"Given that there is a great deal of concern expressed by well-meaning people that this will actually be a red flag to racism, are you concerned about those potential risks," she asked during a Senate estimates committee hearing.

Senator Brandis said he was not.  "I have more confidence in the Australian people than obviously you do," he said.

Senator Brandis said Mr Toben was a nutcase.  "He is a nutcase, N-U-T-C-A-S-E, nutcase. He has nothing to do with this debate," he said.

Senator Brandis said Senator Wright had sat in the Greens party room with a colleague Senator Lee Rhiannon who was an active and prominent member of the Communist Party of Australia for much of her adult life.

"Her views are repellent. There are lots and lots of repellent views. The fact that a person may have repellent views doesn't mean that they infect everybody else in the community," he said.

SOURCE





Follow the French: Charge patients for public hospital accommodation

My colleague Dr Jennifer Buckingham has exposed the myth about the Abbott government's first budget cutting $80 billion from health and education: federal spending in both these areas will continue to increase. Revising the unaffordable and unfunded 'Gonski' and health promises of the Gillard government cannot properly therefore be defined as a cut.

Under the terms of the health funding agreement with the states in 2011, the federal share of hospital funding was to rise by 185% - from $14 billion in 2013-14 to $40 billion in 2024-25. This would have meant that federal funding alone in ten years' time would have totalled more than the combined federal and state expenditure on public hospitals today.

Under the new arrangements announced in the budget, federal funding will still grow to $25 billion in 2024-25. Naturally, state premiers are complaining about the so-called 'missing' funding. However, the other major health announcement - the $7 GP co-payment - creates an opportunity for the states to access an untapped source of non-taxpayer funded revenue. Health Minister Peter Dutton will allow states to charge people who attend emergency departments to try to avoid the new Medicare co-payments. This is a major policy change. Since Medicare's inception in 1984, federal government funding for state health services has been conditional upon all Australians receiving treatment in public hospitals without user charges.

If the Senate passes the Medicare co-payment, 'free' treatment will no longer need to apply to outpatient public hospital services. The Abbott government should seize this opportunity to also remove the obligation not to charge for inpatient public hospital services.

This would permit state governments to levy a daily accommodation fee. The fee would not cover the cost of medical care, but rather the cost of the 'hotel services' component of a hospital stay - meals, cleaning, etc.

When a person enters hospital, they are relieved of their normal living expenses, which are transferred to the hospital. An accommodation fee is standard practice in European social democracies, such as France, for example, where the forfait hospitalier is currently €18 per day, or approximately $27.

In 2012-13, there were over 5.5 million public hospital admissions in Australia, which equated to over 18.8 million bed days. If each day patient had been charged say, a $30 daily accommodation fee, approximately $565 million would have been raised.

This revenue would have defrayed a small, but not insubstantial portion of the $23 billion state funding to public hospitals. It would also have been a more honest way of charging for hospital care than the standard practice of imposing exorbitant parking fees.

Hospital accommodation charges might help draw attention to the irrationality and unsustainability of the health system. Like GP co-payments, an accommodation fee would signal that public health services were not 'free', and might encourage more informed debate about individuals directly contributing to hospital and other health service costs.

SOURCE






Gen Y to Vilma: Age pensioners are going to be just fine

There has been a considerable amount of hyperbole surrounding the alleged cuts to the age pension contained in Budget 2014.

Vilma Ward, a pensioner from Norman Park in Queensland, was on Channel 10 last week castigating the PM for his fiscal belt-tightening, asking him 'Why do you pick at the pensioners?', and exclaiming '...if we pull the belt any tighter we'll choke to death.'

It is not entirely clear from the budget papers exactly how age pensioners are being picked at. None of the proposed changes happen until 2017 - after the next federal election. To call these reforms cuts would be putting it strongly. They could more accurately be described as measures to slow the growth of the age pension which has been forecast by the Commission of Audit to reach $72.3 billion in 2023-24.

The means test thresholds for the age pension will be frozen for three years from 2017-18. As incomes increase, some pensioners will find that their incomes rise above the income threshold beyond which the maximum rate of pension begins to taper. Others will find that their pension payments fade-out altogether. However, this will only occur where pensioners have significant private incomes.

There will also be changes to the way that income from assets are included in the means test. Assets are 'deemed' to earn income, regardless of what income they actually earn, and this is included in the income test. From September 2017, the government proposes to change the thresholds used in the calculation of this deemed income thereby increasing the amount deemed to have been earned. This is projected to save $32.7 million in 2017-18 - little more than rounding error on the $50 billion age pension forward estimate for that year.

The age pension is currently indexed to increases in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) or the Pensioner and Beneficiary Living Cost Index, depending on which increase is greater. If the result is less than 25% of Male Total Average Weekly Earnings (MTAWE), the pension is topped up to that amount. With MTAWE outpacing CPI in recent times the pension has increased in real terms. This reform will put age pension increases in line with growth in prices; one of the recommendations made in the Emergency Budget Repair Kit.

It is certainly true that measures such as the Medicare co-payment that go some way to aligning the cost of healthcare with those who benefit from it will impact the elderly more than the young. However, to suggest that age pensioners have been unfairly singled out in the budget is difficult to reconcile with the content of the document.

 SOURCE





Minor parties causing a major stir

In the 2013 Senate election, fully one in every four votes was cast for a party outside the main three. This resulted in the election of three senators for the Palmer United Party, and senators from each of the Democratic Labour Party, Family First, the Liberal Democratic Party, the Australian Motoring Enthusiasts Party and the Australian Sports Party (who lost out in the WA recount).

While the share of the vote for minor parties has been increasing over the last forty years, there has been a significant spike since 2007. The minor parties now hold the balance of power in the Senate. It seemed like the time of the minor parties had arrived.

Yet the 2013 results appear unlikely to be repeated, as the major parties are set to change senate voting rules that either give minor parties a chance or have been exploited (depending on your point of view).

Lost in the chaos of the lead-up to the budget was the report of the joint standing committee on electoral matters that said the system was being gamed and recommended introducing optional preferential voting in the Senate both above and below the line. The response to this from the minor parties has been predictably negative.

A couple of points should be noted. First, there is marked difference in terms of support and policy awareness between minor parties (such as Family First, the Liberal Democrats or now Palmer United Party) and micro parties such as the Motoring Enthusiasts and Australian Sports Party.

David Leyonhjelm, Liberal Democratic Senator-elect for NSW, received 9.5% of the vote, while Family First's Bob Day received 3.8% of the vote. This is many multiples of first preference votes higher than Wayne Dropulich of the Sports Party (0.23%) or Ricky Muir of the Motoring Enthusiasts (0.5%).

Second, while most of the cross bench senators needed preferences to get over the line, the elected micro parties only occurred because they harvested a large number of preferences from diverse groups. It is hard to imagine that all of the 5,000 people who voted for the Bullet Train for Australia Party or the 1,800 who voted for the Bank Reform Party would have supported the goals of the Motoring Enthusiasts Party, ahead of say the Greens, who have a platform on those issues.

The challenge is how to reform the system to stop the gaming of the preferences system without eliminating the voices of the minor parties altogether or completely entrenching the power of the major parties.

The circus of the budget should not distract from the importance of the joint committee's reforms.

SOURCE

Christopher Pyne's pledge sparks fears public schools will be ignored

Education Minister Christopher Pyne has told Christian school leaders that his government has an "emotional commitment" to private schools, prompting fears the Abbott government will abandon public schools.

Speaking at a Christian Schools Australia national policy dinner in Canberra this week, Mr Pyne assured the school leaders he did not want to sever long-held ties with Christian and independent schools.

"I want to have a direct relationship with the non-government sector, as I believe we have had since 1963," Mr Pyne said. "Having talked to the Prime Minister about this matter many times, it is his view that we have a particular responsibility for non-government schooling that we don't have for [state] government schooling."

Mr Pyne assured the Christian schools he could not "see those circumstances changing".

Mr Pyne made the comments after fears were raised by the National Commission of Audit, which recommended funding and control of the non-government school sector should be handed to the states.

Commonwealth funding for state and independent schools will be provided under the Gonski formula designed to give funding to schools most in need. The government has committed to four years of "Gonski" funding, but there are fears independent schools would be favoured over state schools in a new deal for 2018 onwards.

Mr Pyne's comments follow his statements - quickly quashed by the Prime Minister - that higher education fees for university students would still need to be paid even if the student died.

"The emotional commitment within the federal government is to continue to have a direct relationship with the non-government schools sector. I think the states and territories would prefer that as well," Mr Pyne said.

The president of the NSW Secondary Principals' Council, Lila Mularczyk, warned that Mr Pyne's comments signalled a commitment to directly fund non-government schools at the expense of public schools.

"Students most in need of additional learning support have seen Minister Pyne turn his back on them again," Ms Mularczyk said.

"We cannot rest easy when the educational gaps between schools, and often schooling systems, are entrenched and will grow because of a dismissive, dangerous budget and an Education Minister who openly claims to be emotionally driven in maintaining a relationship with the non-government sector."

The Australian Education Union deputy federal president, Correna Haythorpe, said Mr Pyne's "divisive view of schools" was contrary to the needs-based principles of the Gonski funding model. Ms Haythorpe said federal funding of government schools was crucial to the quality and equity of the schools system.

"Federal governments have funded government schools for over 40 years, recognising the need to support state governments who do not have the same revenue base," Ms Haythorpe said.

SOURCE






Abbott prepares for major shake-up of public service

The Prime Minister is planning sweeping changes to the highest ranks of the public service to make it more responsive to the Coalition government.

With his first budget behind him, Prime Minister Tony Abbott is determined to turn around what he believes has been a significant brain drain of the best and brightest from Canberra in the past decade.

The retirement of Finance Department Secretary David Tune on Friday is just the first step in what will be a one- to two-year reform of the service.

Among a significant shake-up, high-profile Treasury Secretary Martin Parkinson will leave at the end of the year after being granted an extension of his contract, and will almost certainly be replaced by someone working outside the department.

By the end of the first term of the Abbott government, change is expected in many key agencies including the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.

The search for a new treasury secretary will involve the government scouring the private sector, including the upper echelons of Australia's major banks.

Mr Abbott has told colleagues he wants to change the culture of the public service and has formed the view the bureaucracy needs to "own" outcomes, retain its brightest graduates, and be less passive in its dealings with the senior ranks of the government.

He wants to see the federal bureaucracy move away from implementing programs, a job he believes is best left to the states, and is determined to end the tradition of Treasury secretaries effectively anointing their successor.

Health Department secretary Jane Halton is the strong favourite to replace Mr Tune.

Professor Halton has served as the head of health since 2002.

Mr Tune will be the fourth department head to leave the government, which sacked three secretaries shortly after it won office.

Mike Callaghan, a former Treasury official who also served as chief of staff to Peter Costello and now works at the Lowy Institute, is considered a possibility for the Treasury role. Former Treasury official and Finance Department chief Peter Boxall, a member of the government's commission of audit panel, is also in the running. The Business Council of Australia's chief economist Peter Crone, who also worked on the audit, could also be considered.

And in what would be a surprise move, there have been suggestions Prime Minister and Cabinet chief Ian Watt could move to Treasury.

Such a move would be unusual as Dr Watt took up his five-year role only in September 2011, but prime ministers typically like to appoint their own department head.

Among other agency chiefs Attorney-General's department chief Roger Wilkins, who has served since 2008, will eventually be replaced by someone with national security expertise.

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade chief Peter Varghese is said to have disappointed some in the cabinet with his management of the integration of AusAid and DFAT.

One Coalition insider said he needed to focus on running his department and "not being the junior foreign minister".

SOURCE






Adverse implications of the Eastman inquiry

Inquiry boss acting Justice Brian Martin has recommended that David Eastman's conviction for murder be quashed

His findings reflect ill on the most expensive and one of the most lengthy murder investigations in Australian history, on police competence and good conduct, on the competence of an expensive and well-resourced prosecution, the capacity of the ACT justice system to provide a fair trial, and on public confidence in the capacity of that system to detect legal and forensic error.

Right to the end, counsel for the ACT DPP and the AFP were attempting to prevent the inquiry, and complacently denying extensive public concerns about the safety of the verdict.

As one of many who has agitated those concerns for nearly 25 years, I can say that little of the material which so disturbed Acting Justice Martin was new. It has been about for a long time – simply not adequately investigated by the justice system, and by a very antiquated and inadequate system of external review. A good many of the doubts were not, of themselves, focused on whether Eastman was guilty or not. It was, instead whether the material produced by the Crown at trial, and the way that the trial was conducted, proved Eastman’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

Acting Justice Martin, like many other judges who have looked at the case, has rejected many of the concerns which have been expressed. He is not worried about Eastman’s fitness to plead at trial, and apparently thinks, as the trial judge and prosecuting counsel thought, that Eastman’s forensic antics during the trial were a clever stunt intended to abort the trial, not the product of mental illness. I have, over the years, spent a good deal more time knowing, observing and listening to Eastman than any lawyers or policeman, or even psychiatrists, but, even allowing a lack of psychiatric training, I wish I was more convinced that this was always so. Martin found that key forensic evidence was faulty.

Given that the case occurred in the aftermath of forensic disasters in the Chamberlain and Splatt cases, it seems amazing that the defects in the evidence, and genuine doubts about the calibre, competence and good conduct of the major forensic witness was not discovered, and that what Martin thought to be police failures to communicate with prosecution lawyers meant that the prosecutions were unaware of adverse information about the bona fides of the witness. Nor were Eastman or the defence team made aware of doubts by other scientific witnesses about the evidence of the major witness.

The judge did not hold prosecution lawyers individually responsible for such shortcomings; rather, he decided reasonably, that discussion about the prosecution’s duty to disclose all the evidence – helpful or unhelpful – extends to police investigators.

The judge was also critical of police harassment that was obvious from the start, even if it was blandly denied by police, and complacently ignored by the legal and administrative system, including the Ombudsman’s office.

It incidentally established the police under investigation lie to investigators without any sanctions. But the system did not show that the failure of police to bring a convincing case flowed from efforts to frame Eastman. Rather it flowed from tunnel vision, probably a want of experience, an insufficient attention to detail, and, most probably, investigators who were far too close, emotionally and intellectually, to the victim.

The investigation lacked detachment. The ACT, and Colin Winchester, deserved a lot better.

The Martin inquiry was quite constrained by its legalistic format, and by the reluctance of the Attorney-General, Simon Corbell, to order an open-ended inquiry.

That did not reduce expenditure; indeed it probably increased it, as did the cost of efforts, at public expense, by police and prosecutors to frustrate an inquiry that has now declared a plain miscarriage of justice.

What is needed now is a further inquiry  – not one focused on guilt, but on whether ACT policing, the prosecution system and the executive justice system is in good hands.

Given the doggedness with which everything done before has been defended, and the complete failure of police and prosecutors to hold any sort of frank review of efforts made a generation ago, with investigators now retired, it would be simply too easy to declare that it all happened in another time, and another place.

Given that this was the biggest thing AFP detectives have done since establishment in 1978, it is hard to be sure they would do any better today.

SOURCE





The tentacles of welfare

JOE Hockey has recently been in correspondence with a single unemployed mother of two who has taken him to task over the apparent cruelty of his Budget.

I will not name her, out of respect for her privacy, but this young woman has made no secret of how angry she is about the welfare entitlements she claims she now stands to lose, having posted her complaints on social media.

Her major beef was she was about to lose an education supplement as, to her credit, she was studying to improve her chances of getting a job.

The loss of this entitlement, she claimed, had convinced her to switch her vote. She would no longer be supporting the Coalition.

I’ll admit, I didn’t even know such a supplement existed. Nor, it seems, did Treasury. In fact it is fair to say that Treasury, while in command of the total numbers of expenditure, couldn’t tell the Treasurer the full list of entitlements, income payments, supplements, bonuses and concessions any particular individual might be entitled to.

That is because such a person is drawing income from so many different sources within government that no one in government could say just who was getting what and how much.

If this is not an illustration of just how complex and out of control this country’s welfare system has become then try the following numbers.

A government-wide analysis of the welfare system has discovered this: a single person in a similar situation to the one who has been sparring with Hockey of late can earn a grand total of $54,417 a year in payments from the government — as in the taxpayer — without working. That’s net. Not gross.

In other words, such a person is effectively earning as much as a worker on a gross salary of more than $70,000 a year.

For starters, this person receives a parenting payment of $18,192 a year. This is supported by a further $8979 payment under Family Tax Benefit A and a further $3818 under Family Tax Benefit B. There are FTB-A and FTB-B supplements as well, worth $1807.

To help with accommodation this person is also entitled to rent assistance of $3798 a year as well as subsidised telephone calls through a $157 telephone allowance.

To ensure they are doing their bit to tackle climate change, their electricity is also subsidised with a $305 single-parent Clean Energy Supplement, which is itself supplemented with an extra $244. A trip to the chemist is also subsidised with a pharmaceutical allowance of $161 a year.

There are also bonuses, a term which usually refers to a reward of some kind, such as the income support bonus of $214. To top it off, as an encouragement to further their education, they are entitled to a Pensioner Education Supplement worth $1622.

If I’ve done my maths right, this all adds up to a grand total of $39,297 in tax free payments to this person.

But it doesn’t end there. If this person is studying, which of course is something that should be encouraged if work is unavailable, they can access the Jobs, Education and Training Child Care Fee Assistance (JETCCFA). This helps with the cost of childcare during the hours the parent is studying.

Assuming the average long day care hourly rate is $7.50, the parent only pays 50c an hour.

If this person studied for example, 27 hours a week, the subsidy for child care comes to $15,120, assuming it is accessed 40 weeks of the year.

Adding this brings the total net payments to this person to $54,417 which, using the normal tax scales, would be the equivalent of a $70,000 gross wage — roughly the average wage.

And who pays this person’s income? The taxpayer. Or more correctly in the case of this person, 3.2 taxpayers.

To fund this welfare payment for one person, the government must take the tax paid by three single workers with no kids and receiving no benefits earning an about average wage of $75,000 a year.

No one would quibble with how tough a single parent has it. But one could fairly ask what incentives are there to work, if you can get paid more to stay at home?

This is but one example, when you drill down into the pension and veterans payments, concessions and supplements it becomes a quagmire of complexity.

The discovery of a vehicle assistance scheme which subsidies the running costs of some pensioners’ cars to the tune of $2144.40 a year surprised some members of the expenditure review committee, to say the least.

No one can seriously argue that our welfare system isn’t already very, indeed overly, generous and not in need of dramatic reform.

What this Budget is about is taking money at the top end, from those who worked and earned their money, where at the lower end they are freezing the rise in payments from the taxes to those who don’t work.

SOURCE