HookShot posted:

kittens

quote:

More recently, Newman has called climate change a delusion, stating that the IPCC "progressively has applied mass psychology through a compliant media to spread the delusion that wicked Western industrialists are causing irreparable damage to the climate." Newman wants the current Australian target for electricity generated by renewable sources dumped because he does not accept climate change science and says renewable energy is pushing up prices.[3]

In August 2014, Newman was widely criticised by leading scientists and newspaper journalists for stating that the earth is undergoing "cooling" rather than warming.[10][11] Furthermore, he suggested that climate change is propaganda

quote:

The LNP has labelled Labor's planned inquiry into political donations a "witch hunt" that will put the integrity of the state's corruption watchdog at risk.
But Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said if the Opposition "had nothing to hide", then they had nothing to be concerned over.

Fairfax Media revealed on Tuesday Labor would be pushing ahead with its commitment to investigate donations to political parties and any links with awarded tenders, contracts and approvals, the same day the new permanent chair of the Crime and Corruption Commission, Alan MacSporran, officially stepped into the role.

It is understood the Parliamentary Crime and Corruption Committee, where Labor holds the majority and acting chair, can direct the CCC to launch the inquiry, which would have the same powers as a Royal Commission.
But shadow police minister and former attorney-general Jarrod Bleijie, who himself came under fire during the Newman government for politicising the CCC, said Labor was putting the watchdog's independence at risk.
"I think there has been relative stability in the CCC over the last few years without getting involved in politics and we are now seeing the new Labor Government, the first thing they want to do is involve the CCC in politics," he said.
"I think the CCC won't do that, because they know the risks associated with that. We'll see. The CCC is able to do whatever inquiry they want."

But Ms Palaszczuk has already had to fend off claims that the inquiry, which was floated during the election and included in the commitments Labor made to independent MP Peter Wellington to gain his support to govern earlier this year, is a political get-square, despite originally saying the she wanted to "find out, under the former government", whether there were any connections between donations and projects.

"People throughout Queensland have been stopping me for the last three years, concerned about allegations of whether or not decisions were made due to political donations," she said.
"We don't know because some of those donations have been hidden, because the LNP changed the goal post. The LNP, the former government changed those political donation thresholds from $1000 to $12,500. Now we have reverted back to the norm and now we will see whether or not there has been any conflict, or perceived conflict of interest between the awarding of tenders and contracts and political donations."

Ms Palaszczuk said "you only have to listen to radio stations" to hear people's concerns.
"So let's get to the bottom of it."

But she said it was different to the Abbott Government ordered Royal Commission into union corruption, which has been much maligned by Labor, because hers was "an election commitment".
"Governments, if there is an inquiry, governments, whether you are on one side or the other, you should, abide by that inquiry," she said.
"Now, that has happened in the past, if the federal government has an inquiry into trade unions, so be it, now if there is going to be a political donations, so be it."

The terms of reference are yet to be set, but Ms Palaszczuk said she would speak to Attorney-General Yvette D'Ath about what they should contain in the near future. She later conceded the inquiry could go further back than the previous government, to when Labor was in power.
"The Labor Party has nothing to hide and I hope the LNP has nothing to hide," she said.
An LNP spokesperson said the party had nothing to fear from an inquiry in to political donations.
"Any such inquiry would not be credible without also investigating the funding of political campaigns conducted by third parties, in particular those by unions," the spokesperson said.

V for Vegas posted:

quote:

Fifty-five million helpless Australian dollars will be given a new home in Cambodia, after a diplomatic arrangement was struck between the two countries.
Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said there was no place for the money in Australia and that the agreement was a chance for the currency to start afresh.

“We’ll also be providing additional funds and support to ensure the money settles into the country seamlessly,” he said.
A spokesperson for the Cambodian Government – known to be one of the most corrupt in the world – said the money would be warmly welcomed in the country.
The notes will be transferred to a secure bank account in Phnom Penh this week.

quote:

The battle for Barnaby Joyce's seat of New England is shaping as the most closely-watched contest of the next election, with rural independent Tony Windsor now more likely than not to mount a political comeback.
Mr Windsor told Fairfax Media on Wednesday he was a "better than 50 per cent" chance of declaring himself a candidate for his former seat.
Crucially, he is being "encouraged" to run by wife Lyn, and political associates confirmed it is "increasingly likely" he will attempt to unseat the Agriculture Minister and likely next leader of the National Party, Barnaby Joyce.

Mr Windsor, who has spent the best part of the past two months in the desert in Western Australia, is heading to Canberra next week and will discuss the idea of a comeback with former associates, including his friend and former balance of power independent Rob Oakeshott.

"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't thinking about it. I haven't made any decisions one way or the other but it's on the table. I'd say better than 50 per cent," he said.
Recent polling conducted in New England for the CFMEU found Mr Joyce would be under extreme pressure if Mr Windsor entered the race. The former MP would have pulled close to 38 per cent of the primary vote if an election had been called in August and favourable preferences could make it a knife-edge contest.

Mr Windsor will be back in the media spotlight next week, fronting two announcements in Canberra. One is believed to be a report into the reliance of rural and regional areas on the ABC.

He said Mr Joyce is beginning to be "found out" as the local member in the Tamworth-based electorate for "the things he is not doing".
Top of that list, according to Mr Windsor, is Mr Joyce's failure to ensure the full scientific examination of potential effects on groundwater of the Chinese-owned Shenhua Watermark coal mine on the Liverpool Plains, inside the New England electorate.
Mr Joyce broke ranks with his cabinet colleagues in July, saying the "world had gone mad" when his government approved the open-cut mine in the middle of one of Australia's richest agricultural regions.

Mr Windsor said: "He's getting away with it in some quarters but he's done nothing to ensure the scientific examination of the water effects other than to invite [Environment Minister] Greg Hunt to have a look at it."
But the Coalition has already flagged its intention to call out Mr Windsor as a hypocrite for selling his farm to Whitehaven Coal and for his integral role in keeping Julia Gillard in power and delivering the carbon tax.
Mr Joyce said he welcomed anyone putting their hand up for New England. "That's the wonderful thing about the country we live in, it's a democracy," he said.
"In regard to the mine, I do not support the mine; I've never supported the mine. I find it somewhat paradoxical that a person who is a multi-millionaire by virtue of selling their place to a coal mine is now an opponent of another coal mine."

Another potentially damaging issue for Mr Joyce in New England is the likely loss of a lucrative Defence contract with BAE Systems, the former British Aerospace, which operates a flight training college in Tamworth.
Air Force training is expected to be moved from Tamworth to Sale in Victoria at a cost of hundreds of direct and indirect jobs in the New England electorate. Sale is in the Gippsland electorate of Nationals MP Darren Chester, the parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Defence.
An announcement of a new contract, beginning 2016, has been delayed for the past nine months. Mr Joyce has told the local press that he is fighting for BAE but conceded he was already working on alternatives "if they do not win the contract".

quote:

The wife of a millionaire resources boss has been jailed for nine months after admitting claiming tens of thousands of dollars in Centrelink payments while he was earning up to $1.8 million a year during the mining boom.Julie Bohannan married the former chief executive of Bathurst Resources Hamish Bohannan in 2006, the year after he had made just over $1.8 million in taxable income.
But the Perth District Court was told that for years afterwards she claimed benefit payments under another name, consistently lying to Centrelink about where she was living, to whom she was married and what they were worth.

More than $65,000 was fraudulently claimed over eight years, until a tip off led to Centrelink investigation.
Mrs Bohannan also avoided Centrelink appointments while she was pregnant, and deliberately lied about property ownership and her marriage.

Her lawyers had asked Perth District Court for a merciful sentence, pointing out the debt had been paid more than four years before she was charged with the offences - and outlining her eldest daughter's severe intellectual disability.

But Judge Andrew Stavrianou said the frauds were planned and deliberate, and therefore an immediate prison term was required to punish and send a message to the community.
"You were not forthright, you were not truthful and you were deceitful," Judge Stavrianou said.
The court was told Mrs Bohannan claimed more than $65,000 in fraudulent payments up until 2009, despite her husband earning nearly $3.8 million in the preceding five years — a fraud Commonwealth prosecutors said was motivated by “greed not need”.

Prosecutor Sarah Oliver said Mrs Bohannan had begun falsely claiming before she had met Mr Bohannan. In 2004, when they moved in together to his luxury 20ha home, she continued to tell Centrelink she was a single mother, living with her parents with no other source of income.
This included falsifying forms and avoiding Centrelink appointments after she became pregnant again. After some payments were stopped, Mrs Bohannan began claiming family tax benefit for her new daughter Ella, despite her husband’s six-figure salary.

“This was motivated by greed, not need — this is a sustained, deliberate fraud motivated by greed with a high level of deception,” Ms Oliver said.
Defence lawyer David Edwardson pleaded with Judge Andrew Stavrianou to impose a “merciful” sentence on the 42-year-old, describing how she had suffered a chronic depressive illness having cared for her severely disabled daughter for many years.

Mr Edwardson said Mrs Bohannan’s first daughter Georgia was born with severe epilepsy, which at first was thought to have been caused by tuberous sclerosis, a rare multi-system genetic disease that causes benign tumours to grow in the brain and on other vital organs.
Now aged 17, she still needs constant care.
Mrs Bohannan's family was in court to hear the sentence.

Graic Gabtar posted:

As completely tragic as it is open borders won't save you if you die on the way.

quote:

New Zealand has suspended aid to Nauru's justice sector in a move that had been anticipated after its criticism of government actions seen as diminishing the rule of law.
Foreign minister Murray McCully told Radio New Zealand on Thursday that issues with the justice sector and human rights in Nauru had been discussed for a number of months.
"We've just not been able to successfully resolve the differences that exist on that matter," he said.

"To put the funding on hold for any justice sector support is something we do very reluctantly, but we are in a position where we think that support is going to be viewed as part of the problem, rather than part of the solution, if we allow things to go forward without any shift in approach."
Almost all of New Zealand's aid contribution to Nauru is provided to bolster the nation's justice sector, contributing $1.1 million per year, paid quarterly.
Mr McCully met with Nauru's president, Baron Waqa, at the Pacific Islands Forum foreign ministers meeting in July, as well as the justice minister David Adeang and other ministers in recent months, and said he had received assurances Nauru intended to address the issues raised.

"We agreed to go forward with our funding on that basis. Now I've reminded them of the obligation that they entered into with us at that time," Mr McCully said.
"I've made it clear that some of the actions that have taken place recently we regard as being incompatible with those assurances.
"I did talk to Mr Adeang a couple of days ago. We haven't managed to resolve things. For that reason we will leave things in a holding pattern until we can."
In July, New Zealand's parliament unanimously passed a motion expressing concern about the political situation in Nauru.

At the same time, Australia's Foreign Minister Julie Bishop also said she had sought assurance from Nauru's president that the country is adhering to the rule of law.
"I sought assurances from him that the rule of law would be upheld, that the judiciary system would have integrity in its processes, and that there would be fair dealing with the opposition members who had been either detained or charged," Ms Bishop said in July.
On Thursday, Mr McCully said he had not yet spoken to Ms Bishop, with Australia continuing to forfeit a harder line amid claims it is compromised by the asylum seeker centre it funds on Nauru.

"We were the unfortunate ones here who were funding the very justice system that has been the subject of international criticism," Mr McCully said, adding: "I believe Australia's situation is totally different."
NZ raises stranded MP as case in point
Mr McCully highlighted the case of Nauru opposition MP Roland Kun, who has been banned from taking his seat in parliament since mid-last year, had his passport stripped in June, and is unable to return to his family based in New Zealand.


"I pointed out that we in New Zealand have a system where judges can take passports off people if they're before the court and if they believe they're a flight risk," he said.
"But to have the action taken by a political opponent, and where there are no charges laid against the individual concerned, gets into territory we're not comfortable with."
Mr Kun told the ABC's Pacific Beat he welcomed the suspension of aid for the judicial sector, but found it "very disappointing it has come to this".

"I was hopeful that something would come out of those talks [with the New Zealand government]. Where we are now, I have no faith in the government acting in good faith from here on," he said.
"Clearly the Nauru government is refusing to acknowledge the deteriorating state of the justice sector," he said, adding that "obviously they are going to have difficulties addressing the deficiencies in the justice sector if they're not going to be acknowledging the issues at hand".
Mr Kun urged Australia to follow New Zealand's lead.

Australia's asylum seeker detention centre on Nauru is clearly the driver of relations. But Australia can't afford to be silent about Nauru rights abuses, writes Giff Johnson.
His suit against the government for the return of his visa is to be heard in court on September 23, but to utilise his Australia-based lawyer involves parting with $6,000 for a business visa as "we don't have lawyers here on Nauru, all the lawyers on Nauru work for the government".

In a statement, Nauru's government blamed Mr Kun for the decision to suspend aid and said New Zealand's move was "misguided".

"Their decision is misguided and is based on misinformation by Nauru opposition MP Roland Kun and his wife," the statement said.
"Any suggestion that the Nauru justice system is not independent or that the rule of law is not being upheld is completely wrong, and is furthermore offensive to the three highly respected judges of the Nauru Supreme Court.
"These independent judges were appointed following the much-needed reforms of the Waqa government to end the corruption and cronyism of the past."
The government went on to say it had a right to investigate Mr Kun for his alleged involvement in protests outside parliament in June.

"This riot was an attempt to overthrow a democratically elected government through a criminal act and should be condemned by all who value democracy."
The chair of the New Zealand Law Society's rule of law committee, Austin Forbes QC, told the ABC that New Zealand had to take action.
"Something had to be done because it's not just unsatisfactory, it is totally unsatisfactory," he said.
"MPs being held in prison, not allowed to leave the country, chief justice sacked, not allowed to have a lawyer come into the country to defend anyone charged with an offence — you have to do something."

quote:

The possibility of increasing the speed limit on parts of the Hume and Pacific highways in New South Wales is being researched by the State Government.
Minister for Roads Duncan Gay said there were no current plans to increase the speed limit, especially considering the high number of fatalities on the state's roads recently.
But he said he had been asked by a number of people to increase the speed limit on some of the state's roads to the same speed as some European motorways, so he is gathering the facts to start the discussion.
"I went to my department and said what is the situation? They said 'well Minister, the roads [in Europe] are a lot better than ours in NSW' and I said 'well, get a costing and then we'll make the appraisal'," he said.

The Minister said the research would consider whether the community believed it was right and whether it was an appropriate way to spend taxpayer money.
"I haven't indicated I want to increase the speed but I'm looking at getting some facts so there can be a proper community debate," Mr Gay said.
"I don't believe that the community is in the situation where they'd want to spend that extra money to change the roads to be able to have the extra speed.
"But people have asked for the debate and I was gathering the information for that debate."

Mr Gay said there were only two roads in NSW that were close to the grade separation of the European standard, the M1 between Sydney and Newcastle and the F5 between Sydney and Goulburn.
"The RMS (Roads and Maritime Services) said European-style roads involve grade separation on the intersections so we're doing a look to see what the cost was, so we can put that together for a grown-up discussion," the Minister said.
"My belief is, like me, the community wouldn't support it."
The chairman of the state's road safety committee said the Government should look at increasing the speed of the Hume Highway south of Goulburn, not north.

Albury MP, Greg Aplin who chairs the Staysafe Committee, said a recent inquiry heard it was feasible to increase speeds on some sections of NSW highways.
Though, he questioned why the newer section of the Hume in southern NSW was not being considered.
"Just south of Goulburn, where the road from Canberra joins, you find this incredible congestion all the way through, particularly around the Campbelltown area," he said.
"[It's] a very different scenario south of Goulburn, where it's a freer road and possibly built to a higher standard, certainly more modern."

Knorth posted:

Holy poo poo, an actual empathetic human response out of this government, it's been so long...


Jesus loving christ

Gorilla Salad posted:

Start every tweet with "STOP LYING" and be guaranteed that 99% of your audience will believe you and look no further.

Amethyst posted:

Au Revoir Shosanna posted:

I know some of the ad guys who worked on that coal spot and even they thought it was in poor taste.

I mean not enough to turn down those sweet, sweet mining boom dollary doos but still.

quote:

Lawyers working for the trade union royal commission personally gave union whistleblower-turned-fraudster Kathy Jackson detailed advance knowledge of the issues to be covered during her appearances at the inquiry, including tips on the topics to prepare and suggestions that she use her time on the stand to ­tackle media critics.

Evidence of the friendly ­approach to Ms Jackson will doubtless be used by Labor to argue that the commission is ­institutionally biased given the less-accommodating treatment given to others, including Bill Shorten.
The opposition is today ­expected to move a motion calling on the Governor-General to dismiss commissioner Dyson Heydon following revelations last month that he had agreed to ­address a Liberal Party event.

A document produced last year by commission legal officer Matthew Ashworth detailing a phone conversation between himself, junior counsel Fiona Roughley and Ms Jackson showed the extent of information provided to Ms Jackson for her own preparation, including narrowing the matters she needed to think about. The note of the conversation conveyed what seemed a cosy tone.
The file note of a phone call — on July 25, 2014 — shows that Ms Roughley and Mr Ashworth informed Ms Jackson that the commission planned to hold a hearing five days later, on July 30. They asked if she were available to attend to continue previous evidence from June 19.
According to Mr Ashworth’s records, Ms Roughley gave Ms Jackson a clear outline of what to prepare and the precise subject to expect counsel assisting, Jeremy Stoljar, to examine.

The file note, which appears on the royal commission website, reads: “Fiona … explained to Kathy that the commission ­intended to hold the hearing and the focus was to be the NHDA. Fiona also said Jeremy expected the hearing would take half the day.”
The conversation with Ms Jackson continued: “Fiona said this was being done for a number of reasons: the commission has since the last hearing obtained additional material relating to the NHDA; the commission intends to hold the hearing as there is a good chance the material will come out in the media shortly; to give Kathy the chance to ­respond to the evidence and to some of the claims being made in the media regarding the NHDA.”
Mr Ashworth’s file records continued: “Kathy indicated that she understood and agreed this was probably a good idea.”

The NHDA, or National Health Development Account, was a union-related fund that had been the subject of media reporting after another union whistleblower and factional foe of Ms Jackson alleged she had rorted the money.

Ms Jackson proceeded to lambaste journalists who had reported on her and singled out a story published in The Age that morning as an example. The file note records that the conversation continued, with Ms Roughley advising Ms Jackson of explicit “matters to prepare for and gave her advice on thinking of specific examples to use in her defence”.
“Fiona then asked Kathy if she recalled being asked after the last hearing (on June 19, 2014) to think about some of the payments made from the NHDA and then told Kathy that she should think about some of those transactions before the hearing on Wednesday. In particular, Fiona told Kathy that she should try and remember some examples of who the cash withdrawals from the NHDA were given to.”

Ms Roughley promised to email a new summons to Ms Jackson and asked Ms Jackson if it could be served at her address. Ms Jackson responded that she would come in to pick it up in person, possibly the following Monday.
In his interim report, Mr Heydon later made no references to Ms Jackson, nor to her role in withdrawing hundreds of thousands of dollars from the NHDA.

The astonishing accommo­dation accorded to Ms Jackson by commission lawyers as they prepared to question her on matters that went to her alleged misappropriation of $250,000 of union member’s money stands in sharp contrast to others in the union movement, and in particular to a prominent target, the Opposition Leader.
In Mr Shorten’s case, there was no personal guidance provided of any kind on how to handle his examination. Six days before the hearing, on Friday, July 3, the commission made available almost 2000 pages of documents to him.

An avalanche of further documents was added on the following Monday, and more over the next two days. On Wednesday, July 8, Mr Shorten took the stand. No ­information had been provided by commission lawyers regarding any particular subject to focus on, or telephone guidance on useful evidence to prepare.

Yesterday, a spokeswoman for the commission said Mr Shorten’s lawyers had received almost all of the documents in advance of his appearance, arranged by topic.

This had enabled him to prepare properly for his ­examination.

She said Ms Jackson had been given notice from June 6, 2014, that the NHDA was a topic of interest to the commission. “This is an example of the commission providing procedural fairness to an affected person,” she said. Ms Jackson later furiously claimed that things had not gone according to her expectations and she had been ambushed on July 30, 2014, when questions rotated around the NHDA. Yet she had been given a clear heads-up by commission staff in the weeks beforehand of what to expect, areas to study and prepare, as well as advice to come up with examples of cash transactions from the union ­account in question.

In a later submission made on her behalf on November 14, 2014, signed by her solicitor, Ms Jackson made it clear she believed a plan had always been in place for her evidence. “Counsel assisting initially foreshadowed a thematic approach to hearings involving Ms Jackson,” the statement said. “That initial plan however was not adhered to … this change in approach gave rise to a degree of unfairness in relation to Ms Jackson.”

On April 11, 2014, Ms Jackson and her partner, Fair Work vice-president Michael Lawler, had met with Mr Stoljar to outline the case against Ms Jackson’s foes at the HSU. On June 13, commission senior associate Amy Southwell emailed Ms Jackson to thank both her and Mr Lawler for their assistance that day. She wished them a “lovely weekend”.
After Ms Jackson had given evidence on June 19, Ms Southwell emailed on July 11, referring to a conversation with Mr Lawler regarding fresh preparations for evidence on the NHDA. “Hi Kathy,” she wrote, “I spoke with Michael a little while ago and he mentioned that he was going to send me further information (a table) in relation to NHDA. Please let me know if you would still like to send any further information.”

In another phone conversation on July 29, 2014, between commission legal officer Mr Ashworth and Mr Lawler, the two men displayed a familiarity as they discussed Ms Jackson’s forthcoming statement that Mr Lawler was working on ahead of her reappearance on the stand. Mr Ashworth’s subsequent file note related: “I told Michael that was fine and that if Jeremy and Fiona wanted to put the statement on as evidence, Kathy may be able to sign it on 30 July, 2014 — and that there was no need to rush and get it done on 29 July, 2014. Michael said that if Jeremy and Fiona did not want any of it, then they could just discard it, or they could cut parts out, or ask Kathy to elaborate on any other parts.”

On the witness stand the next day — July 30, 2014 — Ms Jackson was enraged by what she saw as an unexpected attack by Mr Stoljar that ran against her expectations after conversations with commission staff. “I just want to say to the commissioner that I had no notice that I was going to be attacked today by senior counsel.”
The commission spokeswoman yesterday defended the exceptional support given by the commission to Ms Jackson, saying the commission often identified in advance relevant topics or issues to prospective witnesses. She said giving advance notice of topics or issues might be fairer and more ­efficient in hearings.

quote:

Former Liberal premier Jeff Kennett has launched a blistering attack on the Federal Parliament saying the lack of national leadership is failing voters and the question of welcoming tens of thousands of refugees from Syria into Australia should not even be up for debate.

Hailing Australia as a great country built on successive waves of immigration since 1788, Mr Kennett called on the federal government to quit plans to bomb Syria and spend the money on processing refugees for resettlement in Australia instead.
"This country is a country that has always had its arms open wide. What I see this with this latest discussion, which is based on humanitarian grounds, is actually a wonderful opportunity for us to take over the next three years 50,000 people who are displaced of their freedoms," he said.
He said instead of constantly looking to raise taxes, state and federal leaders should seize the opportunity of boosting the population with traditionally hard-working migrants as a different way of expanding the economy.
"This shouldn't be requiring much debate," he said.

The former Victorian leader said it was up to political leaders to stare down bigots who oppose any mass migration because of their religious beliefs or claims they not fleeing persecution. Liberal Senator Cory Bernardi is being branded an "embarrassment" for saying the toddler Aylan Kurdi, pictured drowned on a Turkish beach, was not a legitimate refugee.
"There will be always be people who oppose, and there are always going to be some bigots, but leadership rises above it and the Australian public is desperately crying out for leadership," Mr Kennett said. "The Federal Parliament has failed, absolutely failed, the people of this country for a decade," a passionate Mr Kennett told Fairfax Media.

Mr Kennett urged opponents to "open their eyes": "I say to those Australians who are expressing 'anti' views, open your eyes, look around you. Look in hospitals, without our immigration programs many of these institutions could not operate."
The Syrian refugee crisis dominated debate in the Liberal and Coalition party room meetings on Tuesday, with 17 MPs speaking on the issue for about an hour.

Mr Abbott said the National Security Committee of cabinet would be briefed by Immigration Minister Peter Dutton, who is in Geneva and has now met with UNHCR officials.
A decision on whether to go ahead and raise the overall refugee intake is expected as early as Wednesday.

One Liberal MP said there had been a decisive shift in community sentiment, to the effect that Australia now needed to do more by accepting more refugees.
This view was backed by several colleagues, though one MP said it should be remembered that Australians didn't want to see the nation take too many refugees.
The Prime Minister said Australia would look to do more, consistent with the nation's interests.
Mr Abbott also pointed out that Australia only now had the capacity to act on the issue because his government had stopped the flow of asylum seeker boats.

He promised Australia would act with "strength and decency", and "judiciously" in the days ahead.

The National Security Committee's meeting on Tuesday is expected to finalise plans to authorise air strikes on Islamic State targets in Syria.
Mr Kennett said military action was not the right response for Australia.
"It's too far away, we haven't got a military force of substance," he said.
"So for goodness sake, spend that money on setting up the camps to process these people and bring back 50,000 who want a new life and new hope."

Mr Kennett dismissed suggestions that Australia lacks the infrastructure to house 50,000 refugees and said migrants traditionally worked harder than locally born Australians and pointed the effect the Vietnamese influx in the 1970s had in regenerating Sydney and Melbourne.
The federal opposition is calling for an emergency one-off 10,000 increase to the intake along with $100 million funding for the UNHCR.
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop is suggesting the Coalition could agree to offering refugees a mix of temporary and permanent protection visas. Mr Kennett is the third state Liberal voice to call for greater humanitarian action, in sharp contrast with Mr Abbott's response, which will be finalised when the Immigration Minister Peter Dutton returns from Geneva, where he has been holding talks with the UNHCR.

Mr Abbott backs accepting more Syrian refugees but only if they are contained within the current humanitarian intake of 13,750 that is scheduled to increase by 5000 in 2018.
New South Wales Premier Mike Baird also wants the federal government to do "more" and promised his state "remains ready and willing to do more than our fair share."
Victorian Liberal leader Matthew Guy has also called for Australia to accept refugees above the current intake and has suggested the Point Nepean barracks could be used to house Syrian refugees.

Mr Kennett said the Federal Parliament's failure over the past 10 years had made State Parliaments look good.
"Right now the state of Australian Parliament makes every State Parliament looks good and it has never been the case before," he said.

quote:

A Labor senate motion calling on the governor-general to dismiss unions royal commissioner Dyson Heydon has been voted down.
The motion was moved by Labor leader in the senate, Penny Wong, who said the government has failed to act on Mr Heydon.

There were 34 votes for the motion and 34 votes against it, meaning it was defeated.

The Labor motion was supported by the Greens and independent senators Jacqui Lambie and Glenn Lazarus and opposed by Nick Xenophon, Bob Day, John Madigan and Ricky Muir

quote:

The chair of the Abbott government's climate change advice agency, Bernie Fraser, has resigned without explanation.
It comes less than a month after Mr Fraser issued a strong rebuke to the Abbott government over its justifications of its post-2020 greenhouse emissions targets.
A statement issued by the Climate Change Authority late on Tuesday said Mr Fraser, a respected former Reserve Bank governor, had quit as chair.

No further explanation was provided. It is understood Mr Fraser had a difficult relationship with Environment Minister Greg Hunt.
Speaking to Fairfax Media on Wednesday, Mr Fraser would not comment on whether issues with the government contributed to his decision to resign, saying "I don't want to make matters worse than they might be otherwise".
"There have been a few problems but … I've gone now and that's the end of the story for me," he said.
"I've resigned and that's it ... its time to move on."

Mr Fraser said he was comforted by the fact the authority would continue its work, under a "first class" management team.
"It's got a lot of important work still to do. They will continue to do good work [and] the community will benefit from in one way or another," he said.
In a statement on Tuesday, the authority paid tribute to Mr Fraser.

"[We] thank Mr Fraser for his enormously valuable contribution to the authority's work in providing independent expert advice to the Australian government and Parliament on climate change," it said.
"Arrangements have been made to ensure the authority's work will continue uninterrupted."

Fairfax Media understands Mr Fraser announced his decision on Tuesday after an all-day meeting of the authority.
Many of his colleagues are believed to be deeply saddened by his departure. He is not believed to have quit due to personal problems such as a health issue.
The government sought to abolish the authority last year but was blocked in the Senate. The agency was set up by the former Labor government to provide independent climate change advice.

Mr Fraser's departure means five of the nine board positions are vacant. The authority's management will be led in the interim by Professor David Karoly, a climate expert at Melbourne University.
In a statement, Mr Hunt thanked Mr Fraser for his work.
"He has had an outstanding career in public service, which I deeply respect and acknowledge," he said.
"In particular, I thank Mr Fraser for his assistance with the crossbench in the passage of the Emissions Reduction Fund."

He said the vacant positions "will be filled in the near future".
The authority had urged the government to impose extra scrutiny on polluters to ensure that, under the Emissions Reduction Fund, billions of taxpayer dollars are not spent on emissions cuts that would have occurred anyway. The government rejected the call.
Mr Fraser was an outspoken advocate of climate change action. In a strongly worded statement last month he directly contradicted government claims about emissions targets it would take to global climate talks in Paris later this year.

In the statement, Mr Fraser said Prime Minister Tony Abbott's assertion that its emissions cuts were akin to the United States were incorrect, and in fact Australia's targets put the nation "at or near the bottom" of comparable countries.
He said on the basis of the government's current targets, Australia "would slip further behind the efforts being made by comparable countries and likely face large catch-up adjustments down the track".
Mr Fraser said Labor's proposed emissions trading scheme does not equate to a new carbon tax, contrary to the government's characterisation.
The government intends to reduce the amount of greenhouse gas released into the atmosphere by 26-28 per cent by 2030, based on 2005 levels.

On Wednesday Mr Fraser would not comment on whether he faced pressure from the government after his statements on the targets.
"They were relevant and I had responsibility for making those sort of comments. But I am no longer there, so it's old news from today," he said.
In September last year Mr Fraser said morale at his agency had been hit hard by the government's attempt to cull it.
"It's understandably having a pretty devastating effect," he said.

He said even with some staff departures, the authority retained a "core capacity" to help the government develop a policy to restore bipartisan support for renewable energy.
But Mr Fraser said despite this "we have not been invited" to assist the government on the issue.
In April this year the authority was critical of the government for "skipping over" the significance of climate change for future generations in its recent Intergenerational Report, which sets out government budget challenges over the next 40 years.

quote:

Name me one benefit, to me, of taking in these refugees. Why should I care what happens to them? Why should I pay to take them in - what's in it for me?

Frogmanv2 posted:

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/04/refugees-are-australias-most-entrepreneurial-migrants-says-research

Increased gdp, better food, more jobs, less threat from extremists.

quote:

A damning report tabled by the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights has drawn into focus the Government’s flawed healthy welfare card approach and its potential impingement on a basic right to a private life whilst highlighting some of the problems with the approach.

“The healthy welfare card trials will restrict 80% of income support to a debit card, leaving our most vulnerable with just 20% cash.
"We have repeatedly pointed out that paternalistically taking away someone’s autonomy can have detrimental outcomes, this has now been echoed by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights”, said Australian Greens Senator Rachel Siewert.

The report says:

Restricting how a person can access, and where they can spend, their social security benefits, interferes with the person's right to personal autonomy and therefore their right to a private life. In addition, being able to only access 20 per cent of welfare payments in cash could have serious restrictions on what a person is able to do in their private life.

“The report also echoes our concerns around the practicality of restricting 80% of income support to a debit card. People seeking income support deserve autonomy and should not be restricted when wanting to spend money at markets, on public transport, second hand goods, and at stores that have a minimum purchase requirement”, said Senator Siewert
“The Committee points out that for those on the single rate of Newstart, the healthy welfare card would mean just over $50 a week in cash. This is punishing people desperately seeking employment and single mothers. Those living with disability on the Disability Support Pension while able to access a little more cash (due to higher Pension rates) will also suffer the same hardships.

“What happens when someone only has $15 in their bank account and there is a higher limit on the EFTPOS facility they have been forced to use?
“This measure represents an unfair level of Government intervention into social security payments and unfairly targets those struggling to get by. It is income management on steroids – another similar measure that we know has failed in its objectives.
"The report also draws attention to equality and discrimination issues saying that it appears likely that the measures will disproportionally impact on Indigenous persons. This may be indirectly discriminatory unless this disproportionate effect is demonstrated to be justifiable. This has not been explored in the statement of compatibility.

“The report points to the fact that the trial sites are in regions with a high Aboriginal population. The measure also originates from Andrew Forrest's report on addressing Aboriginal disadvantage.
"Based on these points alone, it must be properly clarified whether this measure is indirectly discriminatory.
“I urge Minister Morrison to answer the questions posed in the report around whether there is evidence to indicate that restricting income support in this way is likely to be effective in achieving the stated aims of reducing hardship, deprivation, violence and harm.
“This measure must be abandoned”.

katlington posted:

If the boats have stopped, who are we giving envelopes of cash too?