Magistrate questions political agenda in CSG protest charges | Northern Star
Why else would police risk cost orders against them, drive a prosecutor up from Sydney to run the matters, arrange police witnesses to travel from Sydney, all for an innocuous minor traffic matter. It is in that context that the realistic suspicion of political interference arises
Sounds so familiar, we have our own set of vexatious politically motivated police here in WA. Came once and traumatised our whole community and what was really funny they thought they could come back a year later and do the same to us. We did'nt turn up and waited for them to return to Perth, than we had lots of fun stopping all kinds of progress, from communication towers, work sites, on the roads and at their places of accommodation and offices. So great to see a Magistrate who is just, who will not be brought and can clearly see the very scary militarisation of our public police force into corporate mercenaries. It is happening to so many Australian communities across this nation. People who are standing up for their community, country and culture are now starting to understand who really operates this country who is really driving the agenda. The corporations are and if you do not like what they are doing or you object then expect a visit from the state controlled lackeys of the cop orates.
Photo Damian Kelly
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Re Proctor whinging and dummy spitting
ReplyDelete"HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JOINT SELECT COMMITTEE ON NORTHERN AUSTRALIA
THE DEVELOPMENT OF NORTHERN AUSTRALIA
Submission by
Broome Chamber of Commerce & Industry Inc
Contact
Broome Chamber of Commerce
..................Page 4
For example, the following recent events, inter alia, are cited as having had a major impact on the
economy of Broome and the West Kimberley-
The global financial crisis and the high Australian Dollar have impacted the tourism and
hospitality industries with substantially decreased air traffic and accommodation demand although
clearly Broome is not alone here;
The ad hoc political decision of the former Commonwealth Government to suspend live
cattle exports to Indonesia has forced many pastoralists to the verge of bankruptcy and to
sell pastoral properties; and
**** The decision of WOODSIDE not to proceed with the LNG development at James Price Point
north of Broome.
That decision has caused many local businesses that had geared up to
supply goods and services to Woodside to contract, close or relocate businesses away from
Broome. It has also had a material impact on the demand for training and apprenticeships.
Each of these events coupled with the underlying permanent high cost of living in the region has a
flow on effect with the loss of business confidence, skilled workers and negativity towards the future
of the region****."
.....
"Broome is a natural location to host a Logistics Cluster (Hub) that will be a central tenet in driving
future economic growth for the region.
The three components of a successful Hub are-
A deep water port
o The Port of Broome is ideally located as it is the only deep water, largely sheltered,
port in the Kimberley. It can manage the larger vessels that include cruise ships,
livestock carriers, barging and various oil and gas supply vessels and fuel tankers.
o The availability of land controlled by the Port of Broome has encouraged oil and gas
companies to establish supply bases there and in recent months as the Shell Prelude
project develops other supply companies are seeking to establish operations in the
region.
o Notwithstanding the above, industry players note the need for further wharf
capacity at the Port, that on some estimates could be as high as $425 million, but
the State Government has NOT SHOWN SUPPORT for such development.
If this is the
case the Port of Broome could be a candidate for privatisation to facilitate such
investment.
International Airport.......................
Road Transport network........................
........
Going through the entire thing there was nothing about activists - it was all about lack of government support,cost of living,shortage of skilled labour,remoteness etc etc.
So what bought on the dummy spit all of a sudden?
And why activists?
????????????????
Another prediction by the activists that looks like being on the money is that grog would bring down Buswell and lies and corruption would be the end of Barnett.
ReplyDeleteThe two are now definitely connected.
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The Premier stands by his man
Date May 5, 2014
Larry Graham
Colin Barnett is doing a Tammy Wynette impersonation and standing by his man, Troy Buswell.
This is one of the dumber decisions of Barnett’s premiership and could well bring down his government. It appears that he learned nothing from his predecessor Richard Court’s handling of the Doug Shave affair.
Shave was the minister in the Court government who was responsible for the finance broker’s scandal. There were repeated calls for him to be sacked but the premier stood by his man.
.
The Buswell debacle is different only in that he is no longer a minister but he remains in parliament. There can be little doubt that his behaviour has transgressed even this state’s very fuzzy standards for elected office.
One wonders how these events, including pleading guilty to 11 traffic offences, allegations of failing to stop at a road crash, not giving statements to police and remaining silent for over a week, could ever be construed as acceptable standards for anyone, let alone someone holding public office
As leader of the opposition, Mark McGowan very accurately said “That’s the sort of stuff that drug dealers and bikies do.”
It is stating the obvious to say that no political hopeful with this record would ever be preselected by any party and any candidate behaving in like this in the lead-up to an election would be instantly disendorsed.
If such behaviour is indefensible at that low level, how is it defensible further up the public tree?
The other question that this raises, is why does Buswell want to remain in the public life that he is clearly not suited to?
His antics and poor behaviour have shredded his high-flying political career and the only possible answer could be that he imagines his career is going to be somehow resurrected.
If there is anyone who believes that is going to happen, please contact me because there is a nice bridge in Sydney they would be gullible enough to buy from me.
The fact of the matter is that this career is dead and the simple solution is for Buswell to accept that and resign his seat. But while the ongoing support of the Premier gives him hope, why would he go voluntarily?
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They smell political blood.
And the chance of a political kill has so galvanised the Labor opposition that it has temporarily stopped eating itself, moved on from dithering over whether their leader should or should not wear glasses on TV and they are circling like sharks.
Sacked minister and perennial whinger, Rob Johnson, provided the burley when he called for an inquiry, but he doesn’t have the ticker to move for one, so Labor will have to do his dirty work for him.
All of this will leave ex-fisheries minister Buswell needing political drum lines to cull the circling sharks and, sadly, his party is most likely to provide them.
If Labor moves for an enquiry, it is hard to see how government members could ignore the attitude of their Premier and vote for it. The only political interest will be to see if Rob Johnson grinds his axe further and votes with Labor, or maybe if anyone else feels strongly enough to absent themselves from the vote.
But even if government members make a courageous decision and roll their Premier, the body most likely to deal with any enquiry is the Legislative Assembly Procedures and Privileges Committee.
Usually headed up by Presiding Officers and with government majorities, these committees have long track records of partisan decision-making that have prompted many of us to call for the establishment of an Independent Parliamentary Standards Commission.
Free from political interference and of its own choice, such a body would have the power to examine all these matters and clearly report to the parliament on whether this behaviour should or should not be tolerated in public life.
Buswells pig out would just about pay for one more year of Kimberley Girl.
ReplyDelete"Kimberley Girl celebrated its 10th anniversary last year.
DAA has provided a total of $163,000 to Goolarri Media since 2011 to deliver a range of programs including Kimberley Girl through the Remote Service Delivery National Partnership Agreement.
However, a DAA spokesman confirmed RSD funding was scheduled to end this June and would be unable to continue to provide funding for the program."
...
Visit to France: Troy Buswell must tell
Nicolas Perpitch |
The Australian |
May 05, 2014
WEST Australian Premier Colin Barnett says it is up to former treasurer Troy Buswell to explain a $14,000 taxpayer-funded trip through France with his chief of staff but insists international travel for ministers is expensive.
The Sunday Times obtained credit card information under Freedom of Information laws that reportedly showed Mr Buswell and Rachael Turnseck’s expenses for the two-week light-rail fact-finding trip included a $781 dinner with Public Transport Authority director Mark Burgess in the northeast French town of Tinquex.
The records showed Mr Buswell and Ms Turnseck, who no longer works for government, at one point stayed in the town of Vrigny, in the Ardenne region, famous for its champagne.
They reportedly spent almost $14,000 in total on accommodation, meals, laundry and airport transfers during the August-September trip last year, which also included time in Asia. WA lost its AAA credit rating in September and Mr Buswell, as treasurer, had announced “short-term belt tightening” was necessary.
Mr Barnett said Mr Buswell would be required to table a report. “It is up to him to account for what he has done,” Mr Barnett said. “Can I say though that travel is expensive. I think anyone understands that. They can be demanding trips. But everyone, myself included, must provide a full report of any travel.”
Mr Buswell is due to return to parliament tomorrow following an extended break since he resigned from cabinet following revelations he had smashed into four cars in the Perth suburb of Subiaco while driving home from a wedding on February 23.
Last week he pleaded guilty to 11 traffic offences and was fined $3100 and disqualified from driving for 12 months.
Mr Barnett said he expected Mr Buswell to explain to his Liberal colleagues and the public what had happened.
Opposition Leader Mark McGowan called for Mr Buswell to resign from parliament or for Mr Barnett to expel him from the Liberal Party.
.........
Well definitely the damage from his wedding pig out + the French one and there would be more than enough !
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THE ONE PROMISE THAT ABBOTT AND HOCKEY WILL NEVER BREAK
ReplyDeleteThe mining companies and the diesel fuel rebate
"Treasurer Joe Hockey has moved to head off a damaging fight with Australia's mining industry, assuring them there will not be any cuts to the diesel fuel rebate in next Tuesday's budget."
"Recent speculation of a possible cut to the 38 per cent fuel tax credit in next week's budget has prompted emergency crisis meetings across the resources sector."
"Government sources have confirmed the budget razor gang has examined the diesel fuel rebate, now formerly known as the fuel tax credit.
According to the Parliamentary Budget Office, the rebate to the mining industry is expected to cost $2.4 billion over the next financial year.
AM has been told Mr Hockey gave an assurance late yesterday that the Government would not touch the rebate in its first budget."
..
NO OTHER GROUP HAS RECEIVED A SIMILAR ASSURANCE THAT THEY WILL NOT BE TOUCHED BY THE BUDGET.
OR if they have it turned out to be a LIE !
DeleteOne thing that repeats over and over.
ReplyDeleteWe have committees and commissions of men who earn an average of $5 million a year each with some billionaires thrown in.
They all pick on the same people to fix this "budget emergency".
They pick on the very young,the sick,the poor and the very old.
Why are we listening to them?
......
ABC Fact Check
Has the Government doubled the budget deficit?
Treasurer Joe Hockey is the "Masterchef of cooking the books" according to his Opposition counterpart Chris Bowen, who has repeatedly accused the Coalition of using "voodoo economics" to create a sense of crisis to justify dramatic spending cuts in the May 13 budget.
"Now what's happening here is that Joe Hockey has doubled the deficit, adding $68 billion to the deficit by changes to Government spending and changes to Government assumptions, and now he's asking the Australian people to pay for it", Mr Bowen told journalists in his electorate on April 27.
ABC Fact Check examines whether this statement is correct.
.
•The claim: Chris Bowen says Joe Hockey has doubled the deficit by changes to Government spending and changes to Government assumptions.
•The verdict: Since the election, the official forecast deficit has doubled. The economic assumptions are different from those used before the election, and spending decisions have been made that were not in the previous forecasts. Mr Bowen's claim checks out.
.
The verdict
Mr Bowen accurately quoted changes totalling $68 billion in the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook.
The MYEFO forecasts a budget deficit twice as large as it was in the PEFO. The economic assumptions in MYEFO are different from those used in the PEFO, and there is spending in the MYEFO that was not in the previous forecasts.
It remains to be seen how the two sets of forecasts stand the test of time, but as of today, Mr Bowen's claim checks out.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-05-06/has-the-government-doubled-the-budget-deficit/5423392
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Budget 2014: Andrew Forrest to recommend teens not in work or school should lose welfare
The Federal Government is being urged to strip welfare from teenagers if they are not in school, work or training in next week's budget, the ABC can reveal.
The idea will come from billionaire miner Andrew Forrest, who is finalising a government-commissioned review of Indigenous training and employment.
He will recommend people under 19 - whether they are Indigenous or not - lose their welfare benefits if they are not in school or work.
The Prime Minister's Parliamentary Secretary for Indigenous Affairs, Alan Tudge, says the proposal will be considered.
"There will always be an exemption for particular hardship, but the overall rule needs to be a hard one because we do no-one a service by making welfare an attraction for a person to leave school and go onto the dole," Mr Tudge said.
The budget will include tough earn or learn measures.
The ABC has confirmed school leavers will be forced to wait six months before they can apply for welfare.
Something else the Government is keen to see is more Aboriginal people chasing work further afield.
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Hockey's Commission of Audit anything but responsible
ReplyDeleteWho in their right mind would hit anyone with an effective marginal tax rate of 94 per cent?
Australia’s top personal income tax rate has never hit 80 per cent. Labor’s resource super profits tax amounted to 70 per cent - a 40 per cent surcharge on top of a 30 per cent tax rate. Labor feared that any more would take away the incentive to mine.
Yet the Commission of Audit wants to hit Australians moving from the dole back into the workforce with an effective marginal tax rate of 94 per cent on wages of $19,0000 to $32,000.
This would stall their reward from work at close to $19,000 even as they took second and third part-time jobs.
It’s not as if the commission is unaware of the concept of incentives. It mentioned them more than 70 times in its report released last week. It even mentioned “incentives to work”.
At the moment, financial incentives dive as earned income passes $18,000. That’s when the 19 per cent income tax rate comes into play as well as the 60 cents by which Newstart is withdrawn for each extra dollar earned. Where one member of an otherwise employed couple is on Newstart it can amount to an effective marginal tax rate of 79 per cent. It is a minimal return for extra work, but it is something.
At recommendation 27B the commission proposes boosting the withdrawal rate from 60 per cent to 75 per cent. It says it “represents a more appropriate targeting of safety net payments”. It would also represent an effective marginal tax rate of 94 per cent.
It would all but eliminate the immediate financial return for either person in that couple taking on extra work.
Whether the commission realises this is unclear. It certainly doesn’t mention it. Its chief concern is saving the government money. That's fine as far as it goes, but at times it goes in the opposite direction to what the government is trying to achieve.
The report begins with the commission’s 10 “Principles of Good Government”. There are exactly 10: Live within your means, protect the truly disadvantaged, respect personal responsibility; those sorts of things.
What there isn’t is an attempt to address the question of what government is for and what it is trying to achieve. It is trying to achieve a lot more than protecting the truly disadvantaged. Among other things to get people into work. And to keep them alive.
Which brings us to Medicare co-payments.
It proposes them as a cost-saving measure: “From an economic perspective health care is like any other good or service in that utilisation increases dramatically when the marginal cost approaches zero,” it says.
“There would be substantial benefit in addressing health costs if the community is more aware of the real costs of using the health care system.”
Doubtless true, in the short-term.
The Commission says it may “help to reduce demand for unnecessary or overused services”.
It would. But it would also cut demand for timely services that stop people becoming sick and save costs later on.
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It’s the same for the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. Pushing up co-payments would save the government money. But the commission’s own talk about price signals suggests it would also dissuade people from obtaining prescription drugs. That would be a good thing if we overused them. It would be a bad thing if we needed them. It’s a question worth considering.
The tragedy of the commission’s report is that virtually none of it could be adopted without more consideration. It’s a list of ideas without an assessment of their consequences.
Governments need to be responsible. It’s unfortunate that the commission subtitled its report “Towards Responsible Government”.
Peter Martin is economics editor of The Age.
THEN there are the huge cuts proposed for the MINIMUM WAGE
DeleteMr Abbott predicted that voters “will thank us” in the long run, his personal ratings slumped to their worst level since he won power in September.
ReplyDeleteSatisfaction in his performance is down five points to 35 per cent, with dissatisfaction leaping nine points to 56 per cent.
Mr Abbott’s net satisfaction rating has tripled from minus 7 to minus 21 in the past month.
The Newspoll conducted exclusively for The Australian at the weekend shows support for the Coalition dropped five points to 38 per cent — the largest single fall for a government since Julia Gillard’s carbon tax announcement in February 2011.
It is also the equal lowest Coalition primary vote since Mr Abbott replaced Malcolm Turnbull as leader in December 2009.
There was no gain for Labor, with its primary vote flat at 34 per cent, as voters shifted to the Greens, minor parties and independents. However, the combination of the fall in the Coalition vote and the rise for the Greens would still lift the ALP and put it ahead in two-party terms by a commanding 53 per cent to 47 per cent — an eight-point turnaround from the previous Newspoll a month ago.
Newspoll chief executive Martin O’Shannessy said further analysis showed a statistically significant drop in support for the Coalition among older voters. There was a 10-point plunge in primary support among voters aged over 65 and a six-point fall among those aged 50 to 64 years.
TABLE: Federal Newspoll
The poll comes amid messages of pain for Coalition supporters. Last week’s National Commission of Audit called for savage cuts to family benefits, harsh new charges for health and medicines and putting the family home in the pension test.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/budget-pain-hits-early-for-tony-abbott-newspoll/story-fn59niix-1226906679734#
Andrew Forrest jumps from steaks to $12m uranium stake
ReplyDeleteAndrew Forrest continues to range far and wide for investments - the mining billionaire has put millions into a uranium junior just days after buying a beef exporting company.
Mr Forrest, whose fortune was estimated to be $5.5 billion in November, pumped $12 million into Energy and Minerals Australia as part of a broader $36 million funds injection for the ASX-listed junior.
The investment is a reunion of sorts, as EMA is run by two men with prior links to Mr Forrest via his main company, Fortescue Metals Group, Julian Tapp and Mike Young.
Mr Tapp was government relations adviser for Fortescue until 2012, and Mr Young led iron ore exporter BC Iron into a highly successful joint venture with Fortescue in 2009.
EMA is focused on uranium at the Mulga Rock deposit north-east of Kalgoorlie.
Mr Forrest said his investment was ''a strong vote of confidence in the executive management team of Mike Young and Julian Tapp with whom I have had a long and successful working relationship''.
Mr Forrest's investment has been made through his holding company, Forrest Family Investments, and will give him a stake of just over 27 per cent in EMA.
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Australian coalmining is entering ‘structural decline’, reports says
Demand from India and China predicted to falter due to higher uptake of renewables and make huge projects commercially unattractive
Coalmining in Australia is entering a “structural decline”, with projects set to become unviable due to unrealistic expectations over the potential to export the fossil fuels to China and India, according to a new report.
The study, by the US-based Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, suggests that two huge coalmining projects in central Queensland, backed by Indian cash, “are likely to prove uncommercial” due to unfavourable market conditions.
The projects, backed by Adani and GVK, which bought its coal assets from Gina Rinehart in 2011, will attempt to open up vast deposits of coal buried in the Galilee Basin region. Clive Palmer’s China First mine is also slated for completion by 2017, removing a projected 40m tonnes of coal a year for export.
But the IEEFA analysis shows that the wholesale cost of electricity in India, a key export market, is half that of Galilee coal-fired power, making it financially unattractive for the Indian government.
That, coupled with a new focus on renewable energy such as solar and wind, and a falling coal price due to the flood of new resource from the Galilee Basin, will cause significant problems for Australian projects, the study found.
“Renewables are a lower cost, cleaner solution, particularly when the deflationary impact of wind and solar is incorporated,” the study states.
The price of coal has dropped sharply in the past three years. The mining industry has claimed this is part of a cyclical reverse in fortunes as the resources boom cools.
However, several high-profile projects have been cancelled recently, including the departure of BHP, Anglo American and Lend Lease from the vast mine, rail and port operation required to mine and ship coal from the Galilee Basin.
Tim Buckley, director of IEEFA, told Guardian Australia that India is likely to follow China in looking more to renewable energy than coal-fired power.
“People think India will just follow the same growth of China, but India’s economy has choked on coal energy and it doesn’t need more expensive coal imports,” he said.
“The solution for energy poverty in India isn’t coal, it’ll be a mix of energy sources, as China has started to move towards.”