But never for politicians (ODT)
Category: LNP Government
If a whistleblower you can be charged in secret if you defend that whistleblower you too can be charged in secret. Now if you defend a victim of a public servant robustly you can be charged for causing that Public Servant distress. (ODT)
The Commonwealth has been extremely cruel to Centrelink recipients but there’s no suggestion that those who designed and implemented Robodebt will face any punishment. Yet lawyers who unwittingly cause distress to public officials when defending clients could face criminal charges. Ian Cunliffe investigates.
Every effort is being made by Scott Morrison to avoid facing this issue head on. Yet from Abbott to Morrison Aged-Care has always been ignored. If it were given any attention it only been to make it a cheaper rather than a better service. (ODT)
Numerous inquiries, reviews and consultations over the years have provided mounds of evidence of negligence, neglect and abuse in residential aged care homes. Yet the recommendations have mostly been ignored. Now we watch in horror as the number of elderly residents who die from Covid-19 continues to climb. The government is eventually going to have to explain to the nation how this entirely predictable tragedy occurred on its watch, writes Dr Sarah Russell.
via Covid-19 tragedy in aged care: whose side is the Coalition government on? – Michael West
However, we believe all politicians and powerful people should be held up to the same scrutiny. But when it comes to the coronavirus – and many other issues – it’s pretty plain this simply doesn’t happen with respect to the Morrison Government.Scrut
via Mainstream media holds politicians to account — some of them, sometimes
NSW point’s to Morrison’s involvement in COVID-19’s spread (ODT)
From Abbott to Morrison we have seen the rise of Australia’s most Secretive non tranparent Government (ODT)
The National Parks Association of NSW and ex-Energy Australia chair Ted Woodley are considering a legal challenge to the $10 billion Snowy 2.0, which they say will push back the transition to renewable energy and destroy thousands of hectares of national park, in light of the fact that the whole project hinges on a 30-year-old report which is being kept secret writes Callum Foote.
via Snow Job: why the cover-up over Snowy Hydro 2.0? – Michael West
We might best understand our current predicament via recourse to what the institutional economist James Galbraith terms a “predator state”. In such circumstances, one group feasts on what is on offer in a decaying system that once served broader interests. The predatory class may be opposed by others who also possess wealth, power and influence. However, a carefully constructed network built on political donations, ideological affinity and personal relationships produces an influence over the government that results in the interests of the predatory class prevailing.
via Morrison’s COVID-19 Commission: Industry policy in reverse
Creating the framework for monopolisation in a predator State(ODT)
Ultimately, a long term plan for sustainable economic growth and broader prosperity for the Australian public is required. Not a continued push for the Coalition to fulfil its ideological wish list as the economy continues to sink beneath the icy waves.
Tim Wilson LNP/IPA federal MP couldn’t give a running fuck about COVID-19 neither the cases nor the deaths concern him rather than how it all seems in the eyes of the public. Now that it’s obvious that the Immigration and the Aged-Care sectors both a responsibility of the Federal LNP were the epicenter of the spread and deaths of the virus due to their total mismanagement from Abbott to Morrison. Wilson’s complaint is that the process was and is political and somehow has gone easy on Dan Andrews. Wilson’s problem however the opposite would seem to be the case if one simply looked at the MSM media. (ODT)
Victorian Liberal MP Tim Wilson has waded into the fight over Daniel Andrews’ handling of the coronavirus pandemic, saying the state government has not been scrutinised enough over its response to COVID-19.
Mr Wilson said the federal coronavirus committee had met many more times than its Victorian equivalent and was chaired by an opposition politician whereas the Victorian inquiry is headed by a member of the governing party.
via Federal Liberal MP swipes Andrews government over pandemic response
Earlier this month, there were media reports that Liberal backbencher Craig Kelly had posted to Facebook advocating the anti-malarial drug, hydroxychloroquine, as a treatment for COVID-19.
Kelly went so far as to suggest Victorian Labor Premier Daniel Andrews might have to do some solid prison time after blocking its use. It might be recalled that Kelly’s preselection for the federal seat of Hughes had been in some difficulty before the last election, until he was reputedly saved by his leader, Scott Morrison.
via Australia’s politicians have learned that in the era of coronavirus, the future comes at you fast
Tik Tok is nothing compared to our own government’s data farming. Peter Dutton is looking to advance it even more. (ODT)
Practically everything TikTok critics and China hawks say about the country’s data collection applies to the United States and its tech firms, too. We should be finding ways to protect privacy and free speech from governments and corporations everywhere — including our own.
via Silicon Valley’s Vast Data Collection Should Worry You More Than TikTok
But it seems there’s still room for ideology
Education and Music and the Arts all export industries have been left to go it alone during COVID. Is it because of their tendancy not to be LNP voters but more critically thinkng Australians. The 1 million temorary visa holders certainly aren’t voters and they are trapped here without support and the government simply doesn’t care. 450 applicant foe a job no Australians applied for shows theis governments compassion.(ODT)
At a pragmatic level, the Government will also not view universities as the powerhouse of one of our most successful export industries, that therefore might be worth supporting, let alone investing in through some sort of strategy to bring them back from the abyss?
And it will not do anything serious about another major export earner, contemporary music.
Kylie Moore-Gilbert is a case that should concern us all. It is not only a matter of an Australian citizen, young and vulnerable, locked up in deplorable circumstances overseas. It is also how this connects to other issues of freedom of expression here and internationally. We must continue to defend the right to responsible speech, to create the conditions in which divergent views are heard with respect and continue to think about how information supports our most vulnerable at a time like this.
Our immediate goal must be Kylie’s unconditional release and that is the responsibility of Minister Payne, even if she has been missing in action on this issue. As part of a wider campaign, we need to become more active in ensuring our world is far safer to consider different ideas without the hostility that is becoming commonplace.
via Kylie Moore-Gilbert’s imprisonment a reminder of the need for free speech
Our QED database includes dozens of examples of dubious travel claims made by politicians. But what is more concerning than the apparent inappropriate use of public funds is the MPs’ lack of accountability and their arrogant treatment of the fourth estate – the journalists holding power to account. Elizabeth Minter reports.
via QED travel rorts: it’s not just the misuse of money. We have a right to answers. – Michael West
The LNP Government pays the ABC less that’s why they don’t need more, But Murdoch gets the $40 mill bonus prize.Seems to me if the ABC isn’t included big tech will just publish the ABC won’t they? (ODT)
FOI Secrecy and News Corp’s Sensationalism. LNP and Scott Morrison’s “On the Water Matters Multiply” (ODT)
“The idea that the state department would say it’s going to take them three years to look at a few pages is completely extraordinary,” Behm said.
AdvertisementHe said it defied the purpose of FoI laws, which was to inform the public and ensure governments were transparent
Document behind News Corp’s ‘bombshell dossier’ on China coronavirus may be released … in 2023 | Australia news | The Guardian
and
The Morrison government’s “take the credit/deflect blame’ shtick is wearing thin. After all, the Commonwealth has ultimate responsibility for Australia’s border security – spelt out in the constitution, Quarantine Act (1908) and Biosecurity Act (2015).
RUBY PRINCESS -PETER DUTTON
A global pandemic ought to have demanded hyper-stringent oversight of returning citizens – especially once COVID became a ‘known event’ – and a far lengthier period of quarantine. Divisive rhetoric aside, Morrison’s political hero, John Howard, was right to assert in 2001 that “we decide who comes to this country and the circumstances in which they come”. It begs the question, however: why didn’t this rule apply to infected returnees or stopping that one, all-important boat?
COMMONWEALTH AGED-CARE RESPONSIBILITY
Then there is private aged care – unquestionably the regulatory domain of the Commonwealth. The crisis playing out in the sector is the direct result of operators prioritising profits ahead of health and safety – of elderly residents and staff. Here and across our economy the chickens of insecure employment have come home to roost. Possibly contagious casual workers are going to work because, in the absence of sick leave, they believe there is no other choice for their families. COVID is many things, yet with workplace transmissions accounting for 80 per cent of all cases, this pandemic is a workplace virus, hurting the poor, especially migrants.
WORK PLACE DEREGULATION
Again, this is a Commonwealth responsibility. It is jarring to hear Frydenberg talk up workplace deregulation as “first cab off the rank”, while the health and economic imperative of paid pandemic leave for isolating workers sits in the too hard basket. By contrast, the Victorian government is providing payments to insecurely employed workers forced to self-quarantine after testing positive for COVID or close contacts of a confirmed case, and workers awaiting results without access to paid leave.
via Scott Morrison’s ‘deflect blame, take the credit’ shtick is wearing thin
If Australia is leading the world in export growth, then where is all this wealth ending up? As shown in multiple publications, the large foreign mining companies and other big exporters seldom pay anywhere near the tax they should. There are no other mechanisms for retaining the vast wealth in Australia. So most of the wealth gets shunted straight offshore into tax havens or to make mega-rich foreigners richer still.
via Australia the big winner from Trump’s disastrous trade wars
Dutton is turning out to be Australia’s worst Minister this Century Boomgate, Oper’s Health Minister, Immigration and more (ODT)
Is AI Group just a front for big business and foreign weapons manufacturers? Michael West reports on the rise of government and business propaganda outfits who are suddenly mute when the subject turns to the delicate matter of who funds them.
Nobody would begrudge Willox and other lobbyists the right to their opinions. Again, the questions are, why are taxpayers subsidising AI’s profitable businesses and why are these things never disclosed in their prolific media appearances?
The left of politics too has its think tanks which tend to be faithful to the political creeds of either the Greens or Labor. Again, unlike some of the Coalition’s flag-wavers such as AI, ASPI and the NSW Business Chamber they don’t tend to enjoy lavish Government contracts, which are clear conflicts of interest.
The final point of disclosure is that in recent years, AI has increasingly represented Defence contractors. This is a further area for public disclosure as Defence spending has gone through the roof under the present government.
via AI Unveiled: another propaganda service for Defence, big business and the Coalition – Michael West
Morrison Government kowtows to the Murdoch global Dynasty (ODT)
Opposition communications ministers have called out the Morrison government’s continued hypocrisy in its funding of its broadcast interests – granting $10 million of public to Fox Sports, weeks after revelations of continued cutting millions of dollars in funding to the ABC.
“The ABC has suffered from repeated budget cuts under the Coalition Government, some $783 million since 2014, and is now cutting jobs and news services to stay afloat. If there is money to go around for broadcasting, it should go to the ABC and SBS.
“The PM needs to reverse the funding cuts to the ABC. He can easily find the first $10 million by taking it back from Murdoch and putting it where it will be the most benefit to broadcasting and promoting women’s sport and where fans can actually watch it without forking out more money,” Hanson-Young said.
The Morrison Government have been do-nothing -followers since Morrison became PM.
Days after the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) hit out at the Morrison government for not having a vision to reinvigorate the nation’s economy through a jobs-creation strategy, they unveiled one of their own on Monday.
No LNP Transperancy. Another Morrison On the Water Matter
A landmark review into Australia’s national environment laws has called for a major overhaul, including establishing an “independent cop” to oversee them.
Key points:
- The 124-page interim report comes 20 years after the laws were first implemented by the Howard government
- The report’s author has called for a “strong, independent cop” on the environment beat
- The Federal Government has accepted some recommendations, but rejected the report’s call for an independent regulator
“The foundation of the report was that there is too much focus on process and not enough focus on outcomes and that should be changed entirely,” Graeme Samuel, the review’s independent author, said.
He concluded that Australia’s environment was getting worse under the laws designed to protect it.
Morrison takes the credit for growing Small Business Debt and calling it a Stimulus (ODT)
via Tottering small businesses need more than another loan guarantee scheme
While some people are mocking this focus on jobs, it’s worth remembering that the government promised that they’d be all about jobs and growth when they first came to power back in 2013… I know that it’s confusing because we have had three Prime Ministers, three Deputy PMs, three Treasurers and the occasional Science minister jumbled in with another portfolio such as Trade or the Arts, but it is all the same government. And yes, it does seem reminiscent of people who keeps changing their name in the hope that the lawsuits won’t catch up with them, but let’s give credit where credit is due… Of course, demand cash upfront from those shops who keep putting up the “Under New Management” sign every few weeks.
What’s the difference between JobMaker and JobTrainer, you ask? Is this another example of the government re-announcing something and acting like it’s new when there’s no substantial difference and no extra funding?
via Jobs, Jobs, Jobs or “More Miracles For Morrison!” – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Dumb but legal clears Taylor but blames Joyce (ODT)
The most controversial buybacks were in 2017, in the so-called “watergate” deals worth $80 million with Eastern Australia Agriculture, in Queensland’s Condamine Balonne Catchment.
The buybacks were executed under then-water minister Barnaby Joyce, who faced criticism because the parent company Eastern Australia Irrigation was domiciled in the Cayman Islands, a known tax haven, and recorded a $52 million profit from the sale.
The watergate scandal featured during last year’s federal election campaign, with speculation over Energy Minister Angus Taylor’s role in the deal with Eastern Australia, where he was co-director until 2013 when he was elected to Parliament.
via Auditor-General ‘watergate’ report finds buyback scheme didn’t ensure value
Following in the steps of Tony Abbott a Billion will have been spent on the mythologising ou boys own wars. Add to that the subs and othey toys deemed essential and the cuts to welfare who is this LNP government working for?
Stokes may have a point. War, packed with its uniforms and lethal toys, is vulgar. This project, should it be envisaged in the form Nelson intended it, promises to be the most vulgar of all. Commemorative solemnity has its role, but Australia’s ruling classes have little intention to pause and reflect about the losses the country has either endured or inflicted over the short existence of the Commonwealth. With money being poured into a delusionary defence budget to fight fictional enemies, the distasteful cinematic joke of healing veterans by reminding them of their weapons of death and destruction seems aptly grotesque.
Whereas future clarifications of definitions around casual workers and the “better off overall test” may be required, the ACTU takes a long-range view that whatever the State of Victoria may engineer – as was recently the case with its anti-wage theft law – the federal government should consider adopting.
“The Commonwealth is responsible for Australia’s national system of workplace laws. It was the universal view of those participating in the Inquiry that any change should be led nationally. Reforms confined to a single state risk creating yet more complexity and inconsistency and could impose an unnecessary regulatory burden on national businesses,” the text added.
The Government and its Covid Commission are pushing a $6 billion gas pipeline while new energy regulator, Clare Savage, calls into question the future of the gas networks. Meanwhile Australians still pay more for gas than customers overseas pay for Australian gas. Michael West reports on the momentous upheaval in energy.
It is one short sentence but a sentence with remarkable implications for the nation:
“If not, the economic life of the assets could be limited.”
The new chair of the Australian Energy Regulator, Clare Savage, is saying that if the gas transmission networks do not convert to hydrogen, these assets may be stranded; that’s many billions of dollars in gas pipelines stranded.
“She is calling time on a multi-billion dollar industry,” says energy analyst Bruce Robertson.
The candid assessment from Clare Savage is even more remarkable considering the Government, with the connivance of its Covid-19 Commission, is pushing plans to build a $6 billion gas pipeline from Western Australia to the East Coast.
via A Savage Call: energy tsar calls time on Australia’s gas cartel – Michael West
ACT remote weapons systems manufacturer, Electro Optic Systems Holdings, which has hitched its wagon to countries known to be engaged in gross violations of human rights and likely war crimes, wins big from the Coalition’s weapons announcement on eve of by-election, writes Michelle Fahy.
The Coalition Government’s announcement of the purchase of 251 more remote weapons systems manufactured by the Canberra and Queanbeyan-based Electro Optic Systems (EOS) Pty Ltd was a nice “announceable” on the eve of the crucial Eden-Monaro by-election and gave welcome media coverage to EOS.
EOS was in the headlines last year for a very different reason: it supplies the same weapon systems to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, two countries that are waging war in Yemen, and in the process creating the world’s worst humanitarian catastrophe, including the mass starvation of children.
The company has justified its exports (it exports 90-95% of its weapons systems) saying,
“Foreign sales significantly reduce the cost of development, acquisition and support for Australia for defence technology. This is the principal reason why Australian industry participates in international sales.”
via Pork Missile: Government fires cash at weapons-maker EOS in Battle for Eden-Monaro – Michael West
Funded by the Department of Defence, the Australia Strategic Policy Institute collects millions more as it drives the “China threat” narrative. As Marcus Reubenstein reports, while ASPI is the media’s go-to experts for public comment, ASPI is remarkably coy about revealing all its funding sources.
Fears of China buying up the country run deep, with opportunistic politicians and commentators long showing a willingness to not let “facts” get in the way of the truth. And the facts are that: China’s land interests are predominantly leasehold, it owns just 2% of foreign investment stock and is subject to a much lower threshold test. With the Australia-China relationship at a low ebb, it is time to call out this destructive tactic, writes James Laurenceson.
via Wilful ignorance of facts on Chinese investment is cheap politics – Michael West
But Morrison went further. He presented his disdain for summitry not only as a personal foible but also as a reflection of his worldview – his belief that international bodies and gatherings should be mistrusted and that they threaten to undercut the nation’s independence and interests. Morrison rejected what he labelled “negative globalism” and warned that Australia must tread warily to avoid being dictated to by an “unaccountable internationalist bureaucracy”.
AdvertisementBut this was before the Covid-19 pandemic. Never mind Climate Change
After an initial $60 billion bungle, the JobKeeper figures still don’t seem to be adding up. Tarric Brooker reports.
AS THE CLOCK ticks down toward the conclusion of the Morrison Government’s JobKeeper program – now less than three months away – figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) have raised further questions about how many workers are actually being covered by the policy.
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