Issue 79 28 January 201 6 to 08 March 201 6

Saving you time for nine years.

The Yellow Submarine Edition

In the town where I was born Lived a man who sailed to sea And he told us of his life In the land of submarines

So we sailed up to the sun Till we found the sea of green And we lived beneath the waves In our yellow submarine

We all live in a yellow submarine Yellow submarine, yellow submarine We all live in a yellow submarine Yellow submarine, yellow submarine…

IN THIS ISSUE:

New Deputy Prime Minister  Election date 2 July…  Sex Education IPA’s Senate seat  Niki Savva’s The Road to Ruin Our Economic Plan/Future sill in survey mode  MP’s retiring. Pre Selection GST  CSIRO cuts  Heydon Report  ABCC return…  New Union model… Coal the Goal  Nuclear Power  Brexit/Green support to change Senate vote The Infrastructure White Paper  The Defence White Paper, and spending The American Election  Equal sex plebiscite  No Republic yet

Contact Us Affairs of State Letter from Canberra 14 Collins Street Melbourne, 3000 A monthly digest of news from around . Victoria, Australia P 03 9654 1300 Saving you time; now in its eighth year.

F 03 9654 1165 Contents [email protected] www.affairs.com.au 3 Editorial 15 Climate Change, Environment, Energy Letter From Canberra is a monthly public affairs 3 Feature Item 17 Agriculture, Cattle & Water bulletin, a simple précis, distilling and interpreting 3 Governance 18 Media public policy and government decisions, which 7 Party Happenings 18 Justice affect business opportunities in Victoria and Australia. 8 Industrial Relations and Employment 19 Broadband & IT 10 Business, Economy, Manufacturing, Finance 19 Welfare Written for the regular traveller, or people with 11 Economy 19 Education meeting-filled days, it’s more about business 12 Mining 19 Foreign Affairs opportunities than politics. 13 Trade 21 Defence

Letter from Canberra is independent. It’s not party 13 Refugees & Immigration 21 Health political or any other political. It does not have the 14 Tax 22 Sports, Arts imprimatur of government at any level. 15 Tourism 22 Society 15 Gaming The only communication tool of its type, Letter from Canberra keeps subscribers abreast of recent About the editor developments in the policy arena on a local, state Alistair Urquhart, BA LLB and federal level. Alistair Urquhart graduated from National Published by A.B Urquhart & Company Pty Ltd University in Canberra, in Law, History and Politics. He may even hold the record for miles rowed on Lake Burley Griffin. trading as Affairs of State. He was admitted as a barrister and solicitor to the Supreme Disclaimer: Material in this publication is general Court of Victoria, and remains a (non-practicing) member of the Law Institute of Victoria. Previously, he graduated from comment and not intended as advice on any high school in Bethesda, Maryland, and had many particular matter. Professional advice should to be opportunities to become aware of the workings of sought before action is taken. Washington D.C.

Material is complied from various sources For 30 years, he listened every Sunday evening to the late Alistair Cooke and his Letter from America . Alistair’s early including newspaper articles, press releases, career was mostly in the coal industry, where he became government publications, Hansard, trade journals, involved with energy, environmental and water issues, and The Editor walked a good friend Fred Cullen, from etc. later in the SME finance sector. the steep steps up from the Parliament Station, and past the Excello Cafe on Spring Street, to

He found time to be involved in a range of community Copyright: This newsletter is copyright. No part may catch the Bourke Street tram, just near another activities where he came to understand some of the good coffee place, the European. Fred was on his be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a practical aspects of dealing with government and meeting way to an Artillery Lunch, to catch up with old retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by people across the political spectrum. He now chairs a large Mates. As we walked and talked, we reflected disability employment service, including its British any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, upon thinking and planning ahead, as Fred did operations. during the Second World War with his artillery. recording or otherwise), without the prior written

permission from the publisher. About the publisher Affairs of State Affairs of State respects your privacy. While we do Established in 1993, is an independent Australian public affairs firm with contemporary international connections. believe that the information contained in Letter from Affairs of State provides a matrix of professional tools to multinational businesses, professional and industry Canberra will be useful to you, please advise us if associations, government agencies, pressure groups, NGOs and community causes in Australia and abroad. you do not wish to receive any further communications from us. The firm works with many engineering and information technology firms and other professional association and industry groups on a wide range of issues in Victoria, Canberra and overseas.

Edited words in this edition: 27,419 The firm provides the following to clients: - Two monthly publications - Events at our offices and elsewhere - Charts and specialist directories Staff - Facilitation with business and legal skills - Training courses Editor - Mentoring of senior executives Alistair Urquhart [email protected]

Sub Editor (since Edition 199) Josh Davis [email protected]

Design Cory Zanoni [email protected] This issue designed by Mab Rahman

Copy Editor Robert Stove [email protected]

Subscriptions & advertising Katie Rigg [email protected]

28 January 2016 to 08 March 2016 Letter From Canberra

EDITORIAL The Cover. A Yellow submarine. And the Song! secretary . Our borders and Theirs The Beatles must have started singing this in about 1966, when your Editor spent a year on Almost undetected, Turnbull has ushered in a Your editor is watching closely the American the killing floor of a large abattoirs in Brooklyn, generational change at the top, transferring and British politics. Melbourne. He would sing the song along with political dominance from baby boomers to Back in 1964, as a young Australian boy living the hundreds of others as they butchered sheep generations X and Y. Even new Deputy Prime with an American family in/the outskirts of and cattle carcasses. Minister was born in 1967. Washington DC, by some serendipitous movement, I was in the polling booth in Best wishes with some reflective Reading. Turnbull has totally reversed the age balance of Potomac, Maryland with my American mother Abbott’s last cabinet. When Abbott fell last for that year, and I knew what my Mom wanted FEATURE ITEM September, 12 of 19 cabinet ministers were as I pressed the buttons and pulled the lever Infrastructure Australia is an independent aged 50 or older, with the then Treasurer squashed beside her, to register her vote for statutory body with a mandate to prioritise and Hockey having just turned 50. Since then Barry Goldwater. Times move on and much of progress nationally significant infrastructure. It however, no fewer than seven over-50 ministers what Goldwater promised was in fact enacted provides research and advice to governments have left the government, voluntarily or by the guy who beat him, Lyndon Johnson, and the community on the projects and reforms otherwise as reported in The Australian . including massively increasing the American Australia needs to fill the infrastructure gap involvement in the Vietnam War. The Australia Infrastructure Plan was published on 17 February this year. An Australia A Good Budget Commentary Sorry to see Jeb go, as the Editor’s money was Infrastructure Audit was published 22 May 2015. The PM and Treasurer must take risks if they on him. We will know the American Republican want to rescue our economy. result at the Republican Convention in Chairman Mark Birrell Former Victorian Cleveland on 21 July. The Democratic National government minister, Chairman of Port of The Turnbull/Morrison aspiration was initially Convention will be in Philadelphia the following Melbourne Corporation. apparent, to run on a major tax reform package week. CEO Philip Davies that includes a higher GST, reforms to Board members superannuation concessions, significant On the other side of the Atlantic, the Editor Julieanne Alroe CEO and managing director of personal income tax cuts, lower company tax guesses that if the Prime Minister can carefully Airport Corporation, and before that 25 and compensation for welfare and low income get out his message to the people of Britain, as years at Sydney Airport. workers. to his negotiations last week with the European Gerard Blood . Engineer in major infrastructure, Whether they take the high road of courage and Community where he got some Freedoms (less and much elsewhere around risk depends, above all, on the government’s bureaucracy) and other Extras for his people, Michael Carapiet. Superannuation, salary standing over the next few months and the then they will vote in July to stay within the packaging, novated leasing authority of the Prime Minister in the country European Community. There are some pretty Peter Corish Formerly managing director and against ALP leader Shorten . powerful arguments for and against. The CEO of PrimeAG and a member of the Council Refugee Issue at the very time of the of Australian Governments Reform Council. The changing tax debate has unnerved some plebiscite/Brexit vote might concentrate voters’ Colin Duffield Associate professor in civil government back benchers. But if the early thinking. The blond-haired chap, Boris Johnson, engineering project management at the 2016 polling reveals Turnbull’s lead sitting at has chosen the Brexit view, which will lead to University of Melbourne 53-54 per cent of the two-party preferred vote, further confusion in the Conservative John Ellice-Flint Petroleum geologist formerly the greater risk will be damage to his authority government, and people who might yet be CEO and managing director of Santos. by retreat to a ‘safety first’ agenda. deciding which way to vote. Nicole Lockwood Lawyer, director of Horizon On a random poll in Barwon Heads on 13 Power a shire president That would leave a re-elected Turnbull March, the British will vote to stay within the Daniel Norton AO Chairman of Tasmanian government devoid of any meaningful mandate Community. Ports Corporation to confront the immense challenges facing Kerry Schott AO Formerly CEO of Sydney Australia, a recipe for post election weakness Have to say that Abbot might have been a bit Water and misery. sharp but he did have that decisiveness towards Gabrielle Trainor Lawyer, newspaper the whole Australian people that his successor journalist, public and private sector boards ‘Changes to the GST are certainly part of the tax does not. In particular with taxes, Abbot just Peter Watson Former CEO of Transfield debate and certainly were being actively about went down fighting whereas Turnbull Services. considered by the government as it should be,’ might negotiate forever. Vitally, the prime Each of the above have many other Turnbull said. He said the argument for a minister has a sufficient team to vote qualifications. change to the GST was a tax system that better successfully for a referendum to change the boosted growth and jobs. It is also the Senate voting system. Its immediate purpose is GOVERNANCE Treasurer’s mantra. to pass some industrial relations legislation. Quiet Power Shift Generational watershed means our golden Uphill Battle For GST Much closer to home, sadly, we almost have a years are receding into the mists of history, Turnbull has faced a significant challenge to stop/start button of some according to columnist Terry Barnes . In convince voters to accept a higher GST as a decisions/projects/programmes that should be Turnbull’s snatching of the Prime Ministership central plank of any tax reform plan, with taken more seriously. Including a submarine from Abbott and his Italian-style making of two Newspoll revealing that a majority of voters building programme, which is an appropriate new ministries in the past six months, much has oppose increasing the rate, even if it came with type of armoured vehicle for us guys down here been made of the increased representation of across-the-board-tax cuts and compensation for in the Pacific and plenty of other player sharing women and of young up-and-comers, low-income earners and welfare recipients, as the same Ocean. What shocked your editor personified by 25-year-old parliamentary reported in The Australian . most was reading an article on Defence about the length of the decision-making line for deciding what to do and some of the (non) people who are in it. And that the Sub process Chasing the Facts might b delayed. Political distraction is not slowing down the three This year Letter from Melbourne will have a regular feature on an area of submarine tenderers from working hard towards public policy, focusing on the particular facts of an issue or circumstance. their goal. Fortunately. For example, South Australian Energy sources. Victoria’s water resources. The submarines are a part of the newly released Public servant numbers in Victoria, where are they all. All details that Defence White Paper, which covers much more Professor Google and others can provide. However, we write this magazine than just submarines though subs are the for very busy people, who have particular professional or business or biggest expenditure/programme within it. Moving away from submarines for a moment, personal or community interests so that is just a Quik Flick Through for The Australian Infrastructure Plan has just been these people, perhaps a little bit more. released (the same week as the Victorian Infrastructure Plan).

3 28 January 2016 to 08 March 2016 Letter From Canberra

GST Appetite Dampened Pointless Plebiscite which – as reported by The Age on February 26 The realisation that about half the extra revenue Same-sex marriage reform advocates within the – have invoked memories of what happened from a GST rate increase would have to be have reacted angrily to (2004-07) when a government last spent on compensation is fuelling misgivings in the plans of some hardline conservatives to vote controlled the Senate. During those years Prime the government over whether the tax change is ‘no change’ in parliament even if a future minister Howard insisted on the electorally worth it. plebiscite votes yes. unpopular WorkChoices reforms.

With the government contemplating increasing The move represents two direct challenges to At the 2007 election, Howard paid the price by the rate from 10 per cent to 15 per cent and the authority of Prime Minister Malcolm losing not merely office but his own solid spending the proceeds on income tax cuts and Turnbull , who has publicly stated that the Sydney seat. Mindful of this, ACTU secretary compensation as part of its tax package to take decision of voters, in a yet to be finalised A site, Dave Oliver has written to Richard Di Natale – to the election, sources have told The Australian would be reflected absolutely by the government the Greens’ Senate leader – pointing out that Financial Review that even Treasury is and Parliament, according to The Age. the current government had hopes of calling an lukewarm on the idea, given so much of the Arrangements for the plebiscite are still being early election and that it was planning Senate revenue would have to be churned back as worked through. changes through its desire to facilitate such an welfare and transfer payments. election. Marriage Reform Now Early Election Possible Voters in Prime Minister Malcolm Turbull’s own The last time the Coalition had control of both The federal government is considering quickly electorate overwhelmingly want same sex houses of parliament,’ Oliver warned in his changing voting rules to stop micro parties marriage legalised and the vast majority would letter, ‘Australia went backwards in a whole gaming the preference system to win senate prefer a free vote in parliament to an expensive range of areas of common interest.’ seats, opening the option of an early election. plebiscite, according to The Age. Republic Push On Backburner Prime Minister canvassed Malcolm Turnbull reflects the public mood by voting changes directly with Labor, which is split PM Determined For Plebiscite putting the republic issue aside for now. We on the issue, according to The Australian The campaign against the same sex marriage need to thrash out the various models in an Financial Review . plebiscite waged by the Labor party, the Greens ongoing debate, according to Chris Kenny , Turnbull and Morrison both have said they and the same sex marriage lobby has not Associate Editor for The Weekend Australian . prefer a full-term, say a September/October deflected Malcolm Turnbull and his cabinet election. Only senate irresponsibility on the from commitment to the plebiscite and the Zip industrial bills might force them to rethink for a calculation it is a bonus for the government, 28 year old Deputy Director of the Institute of winter poll (the real early election option). according to The Australian . Public Affairs, James Paterson , based in Collins Street, has been pre selected for the The major/final tax package is more likely to be Plebiscite Not Popular Senate place vacated by . unveiled closer to the election. A poll of three Nationals’ heartland seats shows He taked his position imminently. fewer than one third of voters support Malcolm With and liquidated Turnbull’s plan to hold a (costly) public vote on Ruddock Passes Baton because their courage was not matched by their the fate of same sex marriage, according to The When the 30-year-old entered political skill, Morrison knows he must finds a Age . the Federal Parliament at a 1973 by-election, path that unites policy and strength and political Victorian Nationals’ senator Bridgette Gough Whitlam had lately become Prime success. McKenzie would vote down any move to Minister, almost nobody had heard of John legalise same sex marriage, regardless of the Howard , and several of today’s cabinet The Opposition election View outcome of a national plebiscite, as reported in ministers were not even born. Ruddock’s recent The Opposition has warned that the election is the Herald Sun . decision to leave the House of Representatives only question times away, and has set out the at this year’s election brings to a close a issues it wants to talk about: the GST, health, Don’t Damage Marriage legislative career longer than that of any other education and unease with the Coalition, Tony Abbott has urged policy makers to pass MHR in Australian history except the according to The Age . on undamaged the institution of traditional nonagenarian Billy Hughes , who clocked up marriage to future generations. half a century from Federation in 1901 till his Treasurer said ‘Labor’s plan is own death in 1952. to spend more and to tax more. This is a Senate Alliance reckless position given these uncertain global The Greens’ de facto Senate alliance with Until he formally retires, Ruddock – Immigration economic times’. According to Paul Kelly , for Malcolm Turnbull against minor parties has Minister form 1996 to 2003 and Attorney- The Weekend Australian . aroused the ire of the ALP, prominent figures in General from 2003 to 2007 – will serve as

4 28 January 2016 to 08 March 2016 Letter From Canberra

Australia’s Special Envoy for Human Rights. Voters Say No Turnbull’s less combative, more engaging, Clearly political achievement has been a family Seven out of 10 voters do not want an early everything-is-on-the-table attitude to public trait; his father, Max Ruddock , had held various election and believe Malcolm Turnbull should discourse, according to Michael Gordon , in The portfolios in New South Wales Liberal wait until later in the year to send the nation to Age. governments during the 1970s. the polls, but Australians are divided about whether Tony Abbott should remain in Robb Rejects World Bank Study WA MPs Exit parliament or retire from politics, according to (Former) Trade Minister has Retiring veteran MP is pessimistic The Australian. questioned a World Bank study showing only about Labor’s election chances. Melissa Parke modest benefits for Australia from the Trans and Alannah MacTiernan are quitting too, What is secret Pacific Partnership trade deal as some according to the Financial Review . The Turnbull government has refused to give member countries embarked on a new effort to Labor access to ‘secret volumes’ of the Heydon get the agreement ratified this year, according to Let’s Separate Royal Commission report on trade unions, The Australian Financial Review. Bob Hawke has called on the Labor Party and declaring it would not be in the public interest. the Australian Council of Trade Unions to Employment Minister raised No Fist-Full-Of-Dollars Campaign consider cutting ties with the scandal-plagued concerns yesterday that information about The government has placed tax reform ahead of Construction Forestry Mining and Energy several witnesses could be leaked and budget repair as an economic priority in this Union , while Paul Keating has warned that investigations compromised if it granted Labor’s election year, with Turnbull declaring that the trade union influence inside the party must be request to provide all sides of the parliament senate remains an obstacle to tackling a reduced as reported in The Australian . and other interested parties with the documents. persistent and structural deficit.

The two former Labor prime ministers, who The rejection will outrage opposition Making his first public comments on the forged a historic partnership with unions to employment spokesman Brendan O’Connor , economy for the year, ahead of parliament transform the economy a generation ago, have brother of Construction Forestry Mining and resuming mid-February, Turnbull told The Australian they were appalled by the Energy Union national secretary Michael acknowledged that the budget deficit was evidence of systemic union corruption, and O’Connor , as Senate crossbenchers prepare to structural, meaning it would not be fixed by a lift urged union leaders to refocus on the national view the chapters in full under strict in economic growth. What we’ve got at the economic interest. confidentiality provisions once parliament moment is, frankly, a structural deficit and we do returns next week, according to The Weekend need to address spending and we are seeking Australian . to do that but obviously we can only legislate Hawke , who as prime minister deregistered the with the concurrence of the Senate, he said, as rogue Builders Laborers Federation in 1986, Malcolm’s Pitch Won’t Fix Budget reported in The Weekend Australian . said Labor and the ACTU must embrace The government’s narrative is too good to be reforms to improve governance and true, according to Judith Sloan , Contributing Ley’s Budget contribution transparency. The CFMEU, a union with a Economics Editor at The Australian . The unpopular health insurance industry is an criminal record and that has been fined for easy target in an election year. Health Minister multiple breaches of the law, had 12 present In From The Cold has written to every insurer, even and former officials referred to authorities for The big chill is over. Its end was sealed over a though 2016 premium announcements are possible corruption, intimidation, breaching cup of tea, poured by Malcolm Turnbull from imminent. While writing that she will allow official duties and knowingly giving false his bright red teapot in his Parliament House premium increases ‘unless I am satisfied that it information. office, for Gillian Triggs , the woman his would be contrary to the public interest’, Ley predecessor had vilified, tried to remove and requests insurers to rework their applications to Goldstein finally banished. propose a premium increase lower than Human Rights Commissioner Tim Wilson was previously submitted. going to gi’ve up his $400,000 salary to seek Hostilities began in January 2014 when Triggs’ pre-selection for retiring trade minister Andrew Human Rights Commission produced a report It’s a generic request. Insurers haven’t been Robb’s safe Liberal seat of Goldstein. Wilson that condemned the detention of asylum seeker given a critique of their premium bids. Publicly, was unsuccessful. children under the policies of the Abbott and the minister is positioning herself as the Rudd– Gillard–Rudd governments as a clear consumer’s champion, according to Terry violation of international law. Barnes , in The Australian. Now You See Them, Now You Don’t Those gone to the backbench recently include: After sitting on the Forgotten Children report ABCC On Shaky Ground Tony Abbott, , Ian Macfarlane, until the last possible moment, senior Abbott The Coalition is struggling to secure Kevin Andrews, David Johnston, Jamie government ministers dismissed the evidence parliamentary support for the Australian Briggs and ., and Tony Robert. gathered during eight months as out-of-date and Building and Construction Commission bill, Those already gone include Joe Hockey and partisan, and they turned on the messenger. with Senate crossbenchers criticising the , while those going include Warren government’s tactics and calling for a broader Truss, Andrew Robb, and But the end of Triggs’ period as outcast is anti-corruption body to be set up. Turnbull says Michael Ronaldson according to The significant, not least because it reflects the end if the bill does not pass, a double dissolution is Australian . of the ascendancy of ideology over civility and an option. Crossbenchers criticised the PM’s

5 28 January 2016 to 08 March 2016 Letter From Canberra

threats and ‘bullying’, according to The China’s capital, Mr Robert met Liberal donor concerned about its impact on election Australian Financial Review. Paul Marks , who was securing a business deal. fundraising and the party’s image as it prepares Mr Robert has owned shares in two of Mr to go to the polls, according to The Age . Public Debt Bomb Marks’s firms. Debt is building to explosive levels, and the Truss has resigned/retired from parliament as government cannot control world interest rates Robert’s Rules Of Order? Hardly from the next election, and was replaced as which may trigger the blast, according to John Columnist Alistair Nicholas told readers of The Nationals leader and therefore deputy prime Stone in The Australian . Australian on February 9 that ‘The issue of minister by Barnaby Joyce . As we go to press, Human Services Minister ’s Barnaby Joyce is being challenged in his seat of The explosion will depend on two factors private visit to Beijing is instructive. Every New England by its previous incumbent Tony whether the volume of Commonwealth debt federal and state minister should take note of it. Windsor. being created by our budget deficits and how They need to be wary of the cultural differences rapidly world interest rates return to normal. The between Australia and China to ensure Poll Gap Narrows government only has control over the latter. The engagements with the Middle Kingdom do not The favorable opinion poll ratings that the only guarantee is that it will happen. become scandalous entanglements … Coalition was scoring in Turnbull ’s first month as Prime Minister have largely been dissipated After Hours Activity ‘Take the 2008 scandal that engulfed Kevin by subsequent events. On February 15, The resigned as minister for Cities Rudd, Wayne Swan and , all of Age cited an IPSOS survey which found that and the Built Environment on December 29, whom had travelled to China while in opposition although the Prime Minister’s personal after Malcolm Turnbull agreed that his late on the tab of businessman Ian Tang ’s popularity remains (at 64 per cent) substantially night antics during an official visit to Hong Kong AustChina Technology. Should they have been greater than that of Shorten , the Coalition’s a month earlier were inappropriate. A consular surprised when Tang came calling after Labor approval rating had sunk four points to 52 per staffer alleged Briggs , a married father of three, won government? What did they think Tang cent – well below what Abbott achieved with his acted inappropriately towards her at Stormies wanted them for when they were in opposition? 2013 victory – and that Labor’s approval rating Bar, giving the staffer a kiss on the cheek or had climbed by the same amount to 48 per cent. neck, according to The Australian. ‘As with the case of Robert, there was nothing illegal or unethical about their trip when they sat Exactly a week later, The Australian had still Scales can balance badly on the opposition benches. Like Robert, they worse news for the government, citing a Federal minister Stuart Robert has admitted were all guilty of extreme naivety.’ Newspoll finding that the Coalition and the ALP to having accepted two designer watches from a were neck-and-neck at 50-50. This poll, too, Chinese billionaire firm, but then he returned Other Awkward Moments found Turnbull to be more personally popular them. So reported the Herald Sun on February As Former Liberal minister Stuart Robert among voters than Shorten, but more narrowly 9. The Human Services Minister received the organised a dinner in his Parliament House so than IPSOS had done: 55 per cent as gifts while the was still in office with Tony Abbott and a Chinese opposed to IPSOS’s 64 per cent. opposition, and gave them back after the business mogul at the request of his donor, Liberals had won government in 2013. Paul Marks . Robert hosted the dinner three Coalition ministers can draw some comfort over months out from the federal election in 2013 so the electoral problems that have faced the ALP Foreign Minister sounded laid- businessman Li Ruipeng could meet Senior since Mr Shorten took over, and that The back on the subject. The same Herald Sun Liberals including shadow resources minister Sunday Age emphasised on February 14. Of the issue quoted her as saying: ‘[The trip was] Ian Macfarlane as revealed in the Herald Sun . 55 House of Representatives seats the ALP perfectly acceptable … I don’t know how you holds, it retains 11 with margins of less than 3 can make a secret visit to China anyway.’ The Prime Minister sacked his besieged Human per cent. Treasurer Scott Morrison described the Services Minister, Stuart Robert , for breaching controversy over Mr Robert as ‘a massive over- ministerial rules relating to conflict of interest. First-Class Travel reach and it’s a shocking beat-up.’ He was found to have behaved in a way that Ministers in the Federal Government have now way ‘inconsistent’ with the ministerial standards been granted permission to fly first class when Labor bosses remained unconvinced. Shorten by accompanying his friend Paul Marks , a they make overseas trips, according to The said that ‘These are very serious matters. millionaire businessman Liberal Party donor, to Australian on February 22. But they are Turnbull ’s judgment is under question now.’ a contract-signing ceremony and related forbidden to do so at the taxpayer’s expense. ‘There is a prima facie case,’ stated Opposition functions in China in 2014. Dennis Shanahan reported: ‘The new defence spokesman Stephen Conroy , ‘of a conditions for travel follow the dumping of breach of the ministerial code of conduct … If all His departure, which follows the resignation of restrictions imposed by Tony Abbott that banned of the facts are that Stuart Robert has used his Cities Minister Jamie Briggs and the standing all first-class travel and in most cases limited the position as a minister to promote a company down of special minister of state entourage to one or two staff members.’ that has made major donations to the Liberal was accompanied by the own choice Party, and that he’s a personal investor in, then resignations of Warren Truss and Andrew Renovations costly he has to go.’ Robb . The Lodge renovation was supposed to cost $3.2 million and ended up costing $9.4 million. In the meantime, the Prime Minister ordered New Deputy Prime Minister But bureaucrats insisted there was no blowout. Martin Parkinson , secretary of the Department Frustration had been growing at continuing The work was completed within budget, the of Prime Minister and Cabinet, to begin an uncertainty over Nationals leader Warren original work, but then we increased the scope investigation of Robert’s Beijing trip. When in Truss’s retirement plans, with party figures of the project’ says the Department of Prime

6 28 January 2016 to 08 March 2016 Letter From Canberra

Minister and Cabinet’s deputy secretary, The views of the moderate Greens leader, who as he scrambles to find a safe seat and retain Elizabeth Kelly , as reported in The Age . is trying to broaden community support for his his position in parliament, as the fallout from the left wing party, contradict longstanding Greens’ NSW intellectual redistribution continues to rock No republic yet party policy that calls for a moratorium on both sides of politics, according to The Prime Minister Turnbull has warned that he has growing any crops and organisms that have Australian . no interest in leading the Republican cause to been genetically modified. It states that another heroic defeat after Australian of the ‘genetically modified organisms (GMOs) have Union Greenshift Year David Morrison helped thrust the issue not been proven safe for human health’, Unions are moving to widen their political back onto the national agenda, as reported in according to The Australian . influence before this year’s federal election by The Age. pouring cash into the Greens, a strategy that is Although not a signatory, Prime Minister The National’s member for Gippsland Darren infuriating Labor and sparking accusations of Malcolm Turnbull , a founding member of the Chester was elevated to Cabinet as Minister for disloyalty against union officials who are ARM, told the Herald Sun ‘my commitment to Transport and Infrastructure, replacing Warren formerly aligned with the ALP. Australia having an Australian as head of state Truss . Liberal Senator Scott Ryan was sworn is undiminished.’ But Turnbull is conscious of in as Minister for Vocational Education and The unions have already given the Greens more not further inflaming relations with his Skills and MP was promoted from than $600,000 and are tipped to go further this Conservatives colleagues. He reflects the public the backbench to Minister for Defence Materiel year, just as the minor party tries to defeat mood by putting the republic issue aside for and Veteran’s Affairs. Labor candidates in marginal electorates that now. We need to thrash out the various models will be crucial to ’s campaign, in an ongoing debate, according to Chris , who represents the seat of Aston according to The Australian . Kenny , Associate Editor for The Weekend in Melbourne’s outer east, was sworn in as Australian . Human Services Minister. There are now eight The Rudd Trap Victorians in the ministry, where there were only The ambition of to be United Turnbull Quashes Hopes two under the Abbott ministry. Nations Secretary-General is fanning angst in Turnbull has quashed hope of a new political the Liberal Party, with sharp differences consensus for an Australian republic, warning Palmer MP emerging between the former Abbott that the timing for change is wrong and attempts Galaxy Poll reveals Clive Palmer’s primary government and the view of the Turnbull by Labor to force the issue risk a second support in the seat has government, according to The Australian. referendum defeat, according to The Australian. haemorrhaged to just 2 per cent, down from the 26.5 per cent that saw him narrowly win on Integrity anywhere Abbott has countered Turnbull’s view that a preferences in 2013, according to the Herald The resignation of the head of the New South republic should be pursued at the end of the Sun. Wales ALP has thrown the party into turmoil and Queen’s reign, saying that support is growing for is likely to disrupt its preparations for a the monarchy because of interest in the young Bob Brown Arrested possible/probable early federal poll. NSW ALP royals, according to The Australian. Former Greens parliamentary leader Bob general secretary Jamie Clements was blasted All but one state and territory leader has Brown has been released on bail after being out of the position after senior Labor figures, led declared support for an Australian head of state. arrested during a community protest over by Bill Shorten , called for him to go. Insiders All but West Australian Premier Colin Barnett . logging in north-west Tasmania, as reported in have likened the multiple scandals engulfing the The Age . boss of the Labor Party in the nation’s largest Young Fogies state to a slow moving train crash, as reported The republic has become the poor child of G’day USA in The Australian. progressive politics. Newspoll tells the story and Joe Hockey has had a chilly reception in the bell rigs of a tale of woe. Young people are Washington DC as he starts his new job as Liberals Play Game Of Thrones old fogies on the republic. Perhaps they like the Australia’s ambassador to the United States. The New South Wales Liberal Party tussle is new royals. Maybe they only care about same Hockey has arrived in the US capital to take up more complex than moderates vs conservatives. sex marriage. But they are less republican than the desired diplomatic job, as reported in The At first glance, the internal party tensions in the baby boomers. Anybody who thinks the Age...... NSW threatening stability within the Liberal republic is inevitable needs a dose of reality. Party appear to be a simple showdown between Turnbull Being Undermined moderates and conservatives: between one Republicans might rejoice that Newspoll taken As at 20 January, Turnbull’s authority over the time supporters of former prime minister Tony in late January shows overall support for the Liberal Party is being undermined by factional Abbott and those backing his replacement, republic running at 51-37 per cent over the power brokers, who are defying the Prime Malcolm Turnbull . monarchy. Such rejoicing is unjustified. This Minister’s call for stability and pushing ahead figure is almost identical with the 51-35 per cent with plans to remove sitting members. But the situation is more complicated than that, recorded before the defeated referendum in and the differences between the warring parties 1999, according to The Australian. As the Liberal Party opened nominations for 22 are as much driven by personality clashes and government held seats in NSW, MPs warned deals under pressure as they are by differing Currency Getting a Makeover that attempts to oust incumbent members risked ideological outlooks. In fact, power sharing is at The Reserve Bank has chosen the 50th an internal ‘civil war’, stoking factional divisions the heart of the looming pre selection anniversary of decimal currency in Australia this within the party still raw from the change of showdowns across the state, but not year to start replacing Australia’s 20 year old leadership from Tony Abbott to Turnbull , everywhere. colorful polymer banknotes with new versions according to The Australian. that are even harder to counterfeit. Mixed in with the fractional clashes between Mansplaining fiefdoms within the NSW division of the Liberal A different species of wattle will feature on each New Labor senator Katy Gallagher used the Party are genuine pre selection contests that of the new notes, so the RBA has chosen Senate estimates hearing to accuse senator Liberal members should philosophically September 1, National Wattle Day , to start of ‘mansplaining’ when her line of welcome. But this is not a simple struggle that distributing the new $5 bills. Other questioning hit dead-end. Since Turnbull rolled picks moderates against conservatives. There denominations will follow next year according to Abbott , the ALP has taken to accusing him of are three fractional groupings within the NSW The Australian . ‘malsplaining’ during question time. division of the liberal party: the moderates, the centre right and the hard right, according to PARTY HAPPENINGS ‘Sitting here and saying to a male senator you’re Peter Van Onselen in The Australian. Questioning GM mansplaining. If I said to a female senator that Greens leader Richard Di Natale, a medical you are ‘womansplaining’ there would be an Fine balance elsewhere practitioner risks a split in the party’s ranks by uproar. Stop being a hypocrite’ senator Up Queensland way, Premier Palaszczuk’s moving to soften the Greens’ hard line Gallagher declared as reported in The vulnerabilities stand exposed. There is a widely opposition to genetically modified food and Australian. circulating rumour that one of her crops. Di Natale told The Australian he did not parliamentarians Rob Pyne was threatening to have an ideological or philosophical objection to Coalition ‘Defector’ To Go Independent quit Labor. At the January 31 2015 boil over the use of the technology and did not believe Liberal MP Bob Baldwin is considering election, Labor secured 44 seats to the LNP’s eating foods produced from genetically modified defecting from the coalition to run as an 42 in the 80 seat unicameral parliament, and crops posed a risk to human health. independent in the nationals-held-seat of Lyne, was able to form minority government with the

7 28 January 2016 to 08 March 2016 Letter From Canberra support of independent Peter Wellington , who Abbott Set To Run Again the 1870s, but has yet to determine the fate of was rewarded with his appointment as Speaker. Tony Abbot has confirmed he intends to re- the statue. Billy Gordon now sits as a Labor-supporting contest the next election and remain in independent. According to Michael McKenna in parliament in a move designed to fend off a After a 72 tonne statue of Rhodes on a horse at The Weekend Australian . purge of the conservative base of the Liberal the University of Cape Town became central party. Ministers , Josh to South Africa’s debate about the lack of Labor Seats In Lib Sights Frydenberg , and Christian educational progress in the post apartheid era, it The Liberal Party has set it sites on the federal Porter are all believed to be backing Abbott’s was removed earlier this year, around the time Labor seats of Chisholm and Bruce, claiming decision, as reported in The Herald Sun. as protests about ‘feesmustfall’ was politically Shorten is now weighing on Labor’s Victorian successful. Turnbull has declined to comment. vote almost as heavily as Abbott did for the Abbott’s Demise - Feature But Abbott now finds himself in the midst of a Coalition, according to The Age. Aaron Patrick is deputy editor (print) of The heated verbal exchange over issues of race, Australian Financial Review and author of privilege and historical interpretation, along with & Co., How The former South African President FW de Klerk . Election Battle lines Emerge Destroyed Itself. Niki Savva has burst into the The federal election has begun as a race headlines with her new book on the But the future of the statue raises complex between the big spending social policy and a tax Abbott/Credlin relationship, The Road to Ruin. issues that cannot be resolved quickly, the overhaul, after federal Labor put education on Andrew Bolt and many other columnists and college believes, and instead it has launched a the agenda with a promise of an extra $4.5 politicians and others are having a feast. six-month listening exercise, as reported in the billion for schools by the end of the decade, as Perhaps Credlin comes out in front on this one. Inquirer . reported in the Australian Financial Review . Savva is after sales. INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS & EMPLOYMENT Crossing Rhodes Push For Penalty Cuts Fraser Review Former Australian PMs Tony Abbott and Bob Business groups are pushing for Fair Work The superannuation fund lobby has indicated it Hawke were among the nine Australians who Commission president Iain Ross to take into may shy away from full disclosure of any have been selected for a Rhodes scholarship account the Productivity Commission’s call to findings from former Reserve Bank governor each year, so too current Prime Minister cut Sunday penalty rates as part of his election- Bernie Fraser’s review of governance in the Malcolm Turnbull , and other political alumni year review of penalties across key industries, sector, as reported in The Australian Financial Kim Beazley and Geoff Gallop . Since Rhodes according to The Australian Financial Review . Review. (after whom Rhodesia, now in Zimbabwe, was named) died in 1902 there have been 7,688 Inside the Civil War The former PM told UN diplomats and officials in recipients of the scholarship setup from his For evidence of why Australian unions are New York that policy makers should not be estate, much of its wealth was accumulated losing members, look no further than the judgmental and there should be more respect in from his De Beers diamond company. Finance Sector Union , a dysfunctional dealing with same-sex marriage but the erosion organisation purporting to represent the of the traditional family could not be ignored, Ntokozo Qwabe , from KwaZulu-Natal province interests of thousands of workers across the according to The Australian. in South Africa, is a one of those Rhodes banking, finance and insurance sectors. scholars studying civil law at Oxford. Qwabe Fundraising On Ice has led a campaign for the statue’s removal, Insiders describe the environment at the union’s The Free Enterprise Foundation , the Liberal Rhodes MustFall, insisting Rhodes was a racist Melbourne headquarters as ‘poisonous’ as Party fundraising body accused by the genocidal maniac akin to Hitler , and that the revealed in the Financial Review. Independent Commission Against statue at Oxford glorifies an international Corruption of washing illegal property criminal through its uncritical, deeply violent, CFMEU Spared Delisting developer donations for the party’s NSW iconography. The looming merger of the Construction division, has been put in deep freeze. Forestry Mining and Energy Union with the Donations records released by the Australian Worth more than $100,000 a year, and insisting Maritime Union of Australia , creating what Electoral Commission show the Foundation he was simply ‘the beneficiary of the resources MUA national secretary Paddy Crumlin boasts raised just $845 in 2014/15. and labour of my people which Rhodes pillaged will be ‘the most powerful’ union in the nation, and enslaved’, he added ‘we can never be has frustrated any push from within the Coalition The previous year it had been one of the biggest hypocrites for taking back crumbs of the colonial to deregister the scandal plagued construction contributors to the Liberal coffers, raising $1.4 loot of Rhodes and his colonial cronies’. Racism union. million, comparable to a small union. The is a dreadful evil, but we all know that now. It’s decline of The Free Enterprise Foundation hardly virtuous to be against racism today. Real The Australian has learned that the government came as Liberal fundraising in general plunged virtue would have been to oppose racism when will not move to deregister the CFMEU despite during the troubled reign of Tony Abbott as it was difficult to do so. evidence of widespread corruption and Prime Minister. The party took $75 million in criminality but will instead seek to transform the donations across all divisions, state and federal, Oriel College , steeped in history since King perverse culture and mindset across the a marked decrease from $125 million in the Edward II established it in 1325, is now seeking construction industry, as reported in The 2013/14 financial year. opinion as to whether the statute should remain. Australian . It has already sought to remove a clock near the It is normal for donations to fall away outside an college entrance at 6 High Street Law Firms Lead the Way election year and Labor also recorded a fall in commemorating Rhodes’ time at the college in Mid-sized law firms have emerged as the receipts from $78 million the previous year to $66 million in 2014/15, as reported in The Age .

Deep Pockets Benefit Party Almost $10 million from Clive Palmer’s struggling business empire was channeled into the Palmer United party in 2014–15, including donations of nearly $6 million from Queensland Nickel , which sacked 237 workers before falling into administration, as reported in The Age .

Labor Boss Quits Over Sex Claims Labour leader Shorten has interrupted a major campaign and pressured the general secretary of the largest branch of his party, Jamie Clements , to resign over sexual harassment allegations. Clements resigned saying he had done nothing wrong but had stood beside in the interests of the party and his family, according to The Australian Financial Review.

8 28 January 2016 to 08 March 2016 Letter From Canberra

leading providers of part-time work opportunities more strikes are planned, according to the company paid for a campaign worker in his for lawyers, outstripping efforts by the large and Australian Financial Review. office. But no findings of wrong doing against international firms to foster flexible work, the Opposition Leader. according to The Australian’s partnership The Australian Chamber of Commerce and survey. Law firm Madgwicks topped the league Industry told a Senate inquiry it did not support The AWU , of which Shorten was national table, with 25.6 per cent of all fee earners expanding long service leave beyond current secretary from 2001 to 2007, was an institution working part time. terms. ‘If the entitlement…is no longer more concerned with gathering members than dependent on long service with an employer, its servicing them. It’ll Leave Us Bust character will fundamentally change because no A union-backed plan to allow the transfer of long longer will employers be guaranteed the benefit Bring Back The ABCC service leave between employers has angered of long, faithful and productive service of Terrence Cole , whose royal commission under business groups. Businesses claimed a experienced employees in return for the long the paved the way for the proposed national portable long service leave service leave payments they make’ it said. Australian Building and Construction scheme would be a $10 billion a year burden. Commission , has warned opponents of its Australia is one of only a few countries to offer revival that they risk entrenching unlawful union Boss Back Heydon Reforms long service leave, which typically consists of 2 conduct and inflicting billions of dollars of extra The head of Western Australia’s biggest union months paid leave for every 10 years of service costs on the economy. The rare intervention has backed the findings of the Heydon royal to the same company, according to The Herald from Cole , who says the ABCC saved the commission and called on Malcolm Turnbull to Sun. economy up to $6.3 billion a year by reducing go even further by revoking barriers that stop unlawful union action before it was axed by workers from joining the union of their choice. Labor in 2012, comes as the government uses Gov Takes IR Chill Pill the resumption of parliament to reintroduce its Mark Olson , state secretary of the Australian Eight years on from the Work Choices election, legislation to restore the controversial industry Nursing Federation , which has more than the politics of industrial relations is slowly watchdog, according to The Australian. 28,000 members in Western Australia, said emerging from the realms of being an absolute competition between unions would be an no-go area for political debate, but it is very slow effective tool in killing off corruption in the awakening. In the first flush of election victory, Business Blasts IR Blueprint movement, as reported in The Australian . the then Abbott government commissioned the Business has blasted the Productivity Productivity Commission to have a look at the Commission’s proposed blueprint for the Chamber In IR Push industrial relations system at a time when it was nation’s workplace system as an opportunity The president of the Australian Chamber of under intense pressure from the business lost, with BHP Billiton leading the charge to urge Commerce and Industry has vowed to put community to more aggressively embrace Malcolm Turnbull to seek a mandate for more industrial relations reform high on the lobby workplace reform. ambitious policy changes at the next federal group’s list of election year demands as it looks election. to replace Chief Executive Kate Carnell. Things have moved on considerably since then. The commission’s final report is refreshingly But as unions promised a multimillion dollar Ms Carnell , a former Australian Capital Territory pragmatic, rather than rabidly ideological as the marginal seats campaign on workplace work Chief Minister, and pharmacist, will stay at the coalition may once had anticipated, in its place relations, the coalition refused to commit small business group until March, before taking assessment of the state of the system. Set to supporting any of the recommendations in the up the five year appointment as the inaugural against that background, Australia’s workplace commission’s final report into the workplace Small Business and Family Enterprise relations system is not dysfunctional, it’s needs relations framework, saying it will consult further Ombudsman, according to The Australian. repair not replacement. Nevertheless, several before considering whether to seek voter major deficiencies need addressing. backing for sensible and fair industrial relations changes. MUA Strikers Bullied Employment Minister Michaelia Cash refused A new crisis has deepened the Turnbull to endorse the push for a reduction in penalties, The Australian Financial Review understand the government’s election year battle with the union instead outlining a process of consultation with government is proposing a two-pronged movement after five crew were pulled from the peak bodies, and deference to the Fair Work workplace policy to take to next year’s election. MV Portland in an after dark raid, in February, Commission , before the government comes up The first component were drawn from the trade ending a 60 day industrial standoff over coastal with a policy to take the election. union royal commission findings and advocate shipping rules. tougher union governance rules and a renewed The penalty rates issue is a tricky one for any push to reinstate the Australian Building and It was past midnight when aluminium giant government, according to Laura Tingle , Construction Commission. Alcoa moved to bust the strike, with up 230 political editor at the Australian Financial security personnel removing the Maritime Review . The second component is likely to propose what Union of Australia crew members and business will regard as incremental change replacing them with foreign crew, an action that Shorten In Crosshairs picking up some changes proposed in a recent freed the vessel to sail to Singapore after being Bill Shorten will face the political blowtorch for report including changes on what can be held hostage in the Port of Portland for two his former leadership of the scandal plagued contained in workplace agreements, rules for months. Australian workers union after Malcolm new projects, alterations to the operation of Turnbull vowed to use the damning signs of the individual flexibility arrangements and adverse The MUA’s conduct has been slammed as Haydon royal commission to make union action. illegal after it appeared to openly defy orders corruption a frontline election issue. from both the Federal Court and the Fair Work But the government is believed at this stage not Commission to cease its industrial action and The cover of The Australian lists 14 key points to favour other contentious proposals in the allow the vessel to sail, as reported in The and recommendations, five are mentioned here: report such as the stripping of key Australian . Criminal or civil action recommended against 37 responsibilities from the Fair Work individuals including former AWU Victorian Commission. Further Shipping Strikes secretary and current Victorian Labor MP Cesar The Maritime Union increased pressure on Melhem , former HSU National secretary Kathy Shorten Targets Dodgy Bosses stevedore Patrick , announcing further strikes in Jackson, former NUW and NSW secretary Federal Labor leader Bill Shorten has unveiled late February. Patrick employees nationally Derek Belan , former CFMEU Queensland a suite of new policy measures designed to walked off the job for 24 hours, forcing the secretary David Hanna and Cbus chief David protect Australian workers from being ripped off company to divert ships to other competing Atkin. by dodgy bosses. Those measures are strong stevedores and change shipping schedules. it penalties for employers who underpay workers, was the first national stoppage since the 1998 Criminal or civil action recommended against stronger legal protection for workers waterfront dispute and is estimated to have cost the AWU and the CFMEU . Criminal or civil entitlements and increased penalties for sham the company millions of dollars. action recommended against John Holland , contracting, greater powers for the Fair Work Chiquita Mushrooms and Winslow Ombudsman to pursue companies that go into In another blow to the stevedore company, Constructors , plus 11 individuals including the liquidation and do not pay out entitlements, and which is looking at selling its operations, the current executive at Downer EDI. Shorten greater protection for overseas workers to stop Maritime Union of Australia announced that obtained an advantage when a construction them being underpaid, according to The Age .

9 28 January 2016 to 08 March 2016 Letter From Canberra

Judgement to planning, human services and road pricing. Grover is a 30 year retail veteran, as reported in Turnbull is happy to campaign against Bill Used car dealers and pharmacies breathe a The Australian Financial Review. Shorten on union corruption. Turnbull has sigh of relief after the Turnbull government taken a hammer to Bill Shorten’s political decided not to go ahead with plans to reduce Grants Up For Grabs future. That comes in the form of Dyson parallel import restrictions on second-hand cars About $30 million of grants for businesses Heyden’s incendiary report into union and called for an independent review into affected by the closure of Australia’s car corruption. Turnbull was laying a political trap pharmacy location rules, not due until March manufacturing industry will be opened for to wedge shortened over his trade union links, 2017. companies to invest in manufacturing projects according to the Inquirer . by technological innovation, advanced But small business groups, unions and the processes and skilled workforce. Industry, New Model To Cut Unions Down To Size Greens criticised the announcement by Innovation and Science Minister Christopher Reading the final report of the trade union royal Treasurer Scott Morrison to embark on a Pyne said the Turnbull government was commission, Shorten must consider himself a further round of consultation over the so-called committed to a strong and sustainable lucky man. His successor at the Australian fracture test, which Ian Harper recommended manufacturing industry that would lead to job Workers Union , Cesar Melhem , is singled out should provide the competition regulator with growth, as reported in The Herald Sun. on many occasions. It is recommended that he greater powers to take on big companies that be referred for prosecution for various civil and misuse their market power. Price Sharing Resolved criminal offences. The Australian Competition and Consumer A discussion paper is due by February 12 and Commission has resolved Federal Court But here’s the rub. The misconduct and the response is not due until the end of March. proceedings against Informed Sources potentially illegal behaviour of Melhem is ‘ The big business groups should hang their (Australia) Pty Ltd (Informed Sources) and for connected with the number of deals that heads in shame that lobbying by the petrol retailers in relation to the petrol price Shorten had initiated. Shorten may not have supermarkets and a powerful few have derailed information exchange service, including: BP been responsible for the final details but he such an important reform for the broader Australia Pty Ltd (BP), Caltex Australia Pty knew the broad parameters of the arrangements business community’, chief executive of the Ltd (Caltex), Woolworths Ltd (Woolworths), that involved secretly dudding the workers but Council of Small Business Peter Strong said and 7-Eleven Stores Pty Ltd (7-Eleven). benefiting the union. in The Australian Financial Review. Alphabet Ousts Apple But the real story of the commission’s final A Holiday Sickie Rash Alphabet , formerly known as Google , report is the combined impact of the Calls for workers to take the day off on Monday surpassed Apple as the most valuable company recommendations on destroying the current 21 January to turn the Australia Day holiday into in the US. Apple surged past Microsoft in business model of the trade unions and, with it, a long weekend getaway angered employers. market value in 2010. Microsoft in turn eclipsed the steady and substantial flow of funds to the The Tourism and Transport Forum has urged IBM two decades ago, as reported in The Age. , as reported in The Australians to dip into their annual leave to weekend Australian . create a four day weekend and recharge their KPMG Top Donor In Big Four batteries for the year ahead, according to The Political donations from the nation’s four largest Ex ACTU boss backs cuts Herald Sun. accounting firms plateaued at more than Former ACTU president and Labor minister $500,000 in the 2014-15 financial year, with Martin Ferguson has backed the Productivity BUSINESS, ECONOMY, most of them made to the Liberal Party, as Commission’s call to cut ‘excessive’ Sunday MANUFACTURING & FINANCE reported in The Australian Financial Review. penalty rates, describing it’s stand as a ‘victory Dick Smith Kept Quiet for common sense.’ The full scale of Dick Smith’s problems only Got A Problem became public on January 5, when it informed Hundreds of aggrieved Slater & Gordon Ferguson , chair of Tourism Accommodation the Australian Securities Exchange that it had shareholders have signed up to a class action Australia , renewed hostilities with former union gone into voluntary administration under organised by rival law firm Maurice Blackburn , colleagues, expressing hope that the proposed McGrathNicol . Bankers appointed receivers to according to the Herald Sun . cut to penalties would be embraced by the Fair the group on the same day.Customers who Work Commission as reported in The bought gift cards or paid deposit on goods have Dick Smith Looks To Asia Australian . joined the list of unsecured creditors owed $250 Receivers of collapsed consumer electronics million out of total debt pile of about $390 retailer Dick Smith are hoping to attract interest Small Business Loses In Fallout million. The retail also owes its 3300 employees from cashed up Asian buyers in an attempt to Small businesses, unions, book sellers and taxis about $50 million, covering entitlements such as maximise returns to creditors owed $400 million, are among the losers from the federal annual leave, as reported in The Herald Sun . according to The Age. government’s response to the Harper Dick Smith has replaced its chief executive, competition review after the coalition accepted strengthening speculation that a buyer for the Defends Private Equity 44 of the report’s 56 recommendations, chain can be found. Former Retail Fusion Woolworths Chairman and corporate director including deregulating retail hours and reforms Brands boss Don Grover as interim CEO. Gordon Cairns has come out swinging in

10 28 January 2016 to 08 March 2016 Letter From Canberra

defence of the private equity industry following Power Push In Trouble Now that the government has backed off mounting anger over the demise of retail chain Former competition leader Graeme Samuel increases in GST and super taxes, business Dick Smith so soon after it was flipped by says consumers could miss out on cheap milk, leaders feel disappointed. Fifteen days earlier private equity group Anchorage in its ill-fated bread and other deals if his successor, Rod the same newspaper had reported that the $520 million share market float, as reported in Sims , is allowed to sue big business for taking government ‘is considering phasing in a large The Australian . any action that might reduce competition. corporate income tax over a decade after the Samuel , who led the Australian Competition decision to dump changes to the GST left it with Shine Shares Plunge and Consumer Commission from 2003 to less revenue to pay for bigger reductions up Shares in ASX-listed law firm Shine Corporate 2011, said adopting Sims’ plan to abolish the front.’ have plunged by 78 per cent after the company ‘take advantage’ test would give an unfair cut its earnings guidance in half following a advantage to start-ups and small businesses at On February 15 Andrew Bolt devoted his review of its accounting policies, according to the expense of regular Australians, as reported Herald Sun column to deploring the The Age. in The Australian Financial Review. government’s apparent stasis, under the headline ‘A timid Turnbull hits reset button.’ ‘The Big Secret Of Online Economy big picture for voters is this: the government has Internet Behemoths Our New Masters Technology is delivering a considerable lost five months while Turnbull fossicks for the Global power is shifting from a society of nation economic dividend that is yet to appear in GDP economic plan he promised.’ states towards a society of global online report. They call it the Uberisation of the way we companies. Many of the traditional roles of live. It’s having a drastic impact on the economy The same day, yet another Financial Review government, such as the redistribution of only no one knows what’s really going on, report, this time from columnist Tony Walker , wealth, the creation of public infrastructure, and according to Jacob Greber , in the Australian contemplated Turnbull ’s tax back-down. Mr competition regulation, are being tested by a Financial Review . Walker asked: ‘[G]iven Turnbull’s foray into growing constellation of planetary sized online north Queensland: is the man all hat and no businesses including Apple, Facebook, Vale Ditch Div cattle? In other words, are we observing Alibaba, Tencent, Google, and Amazon , Investors fretting over the future of BHP someone who is all talk and little action? … By according to The Australian Financial Review . Billiton’s dividend have been given fresh any reasonable judgment, the Turnbull reminder of the challenges facing big miners, government has mishandled the tax debate by with BHPs joint venture partner Vale indicating allowing it to continue unstructured to the point DIY Disaster its dividend will be cut to zero this year, where confusion prevails.’ Woolworths will either shut down or cell it’s according to The Age . struggling hardware chain Masters , putting an No more complimentary about the Prime end to the supermarket giant’s disastrous foray Industry Captains Sports Skippers Minister was John Roskam of the Institute of into the home improvement market, according to Take a quick look at the governance driving Public Affairs. ‘Voters,’ he wrote, in his February The Age . Australian sport and at almost every turn your 26 Financial Review column, ‘are not dumb. see the growing influence of business leaders. They can sense when a politicians is talking Burger Wars Sailing Australia, Basketball Australia, Netball about something they believe in and when A US fast food chain noted for its raunchy ads Australia and Rowing Australia, according to they’re not. … There’s usually trouble when a and unconventional culinary combinations has The Weekend Australian. Malcolm Turnbull-led Liberal Party has a policy entered Australia’s burger wars, opening the indistinguishable from Labor’s.’ first of 300 planned local stores, according to The Age. New Business Watchdog On Tax Businesswoman Kate Carnell will head a new Herald Sun columnist Terry McCrann Economic Outlook Bleak national independent watchdog for small concentrated, in his February 9 article, on Treasurer Scott Morrison faces a bleak businesses. Ms Carnell , a former chief Turnbull ’s tax manoeuvres. ‘After spending economic outlook framing his first budget with executive of beyondblue and current head of nearly six months soothingly telling us that the leading economists warning of weakening the Australian Chamber of Commerce and “everything’s on the table,’ refusing to rule growth and stagnant wages through the rest of Industry , will be named as the inaugural anything on tax “in or out,” the PM has now all 2016. More than two dozen economists from Australian Small Business and Family and but ruled out the one “elephant in the (tax leading the banks and universities have warned Enterprise Ombudsman according to the Herald reform) room”: increasing the GST … that Australia will face below trend economic Sun . growth this year, further collapse in mining ‘There really is no way back to making a bigger investment, and a lacklustre 12 months on the Keen For Big Build In North GST the centrepiece of the government’s share market, according to The Age . As the country looks to the far north for a new election campaign.’ But Bill Shorten and Julia wave of economic prosperity, business leaders Gillard didn’t emerge unscathed from Mr at the frontier of development say the McCrann’s column either. CBA Exec Exits government has much work to do. More people One of the Commonwealth Bank’s most senior and foreign investment, greater land and water ‘Now he and assorted ideological operatives in executives, chief risk officer, Alden Toevs , is security, and less than red tape are among the the media are going to try to claim that what stepping down from the role to be succeeded by developer demands, with high hopes the federal Shorten wants to impose is not a carbon tax but Head of Corporate Affairs, David Cohen , government’s focus on the north will spur some an “Emissions Trading Scheme, or ETS.” Up to according to The Age. long overdue action. a rather pointless point, they are right: it wouldn’t be like a “normal” tax … Elliott Driving ANZ Forward As revealed in The Australian , the federal New ANZ chief Shayne Elliott has opened the government has widened the scope of its $5 ‘As I’ve pointed out before, a carbon tax is a door to cutting the bank’s dividend and flagged billion northern Australia plan, pushing ahead form of GST. But instead of being at a flat rate a greater overhaul of its financial targets, as he with new federal loan guarantees it hopes will on everything that’s taxed, it’s a flat rate on the firmed up his senior team in preparation for the supercharge investment in economic energy embedded in everything. more challenging environment, according to The infrastructure. Meetings in January discussed Australian Financial Review . projects that need funding. ‘Gillard’s carbon tax was in fact worse than the GST as it really was A Great Big New Tax on Swipe At Review Integrity Everything – including things like health and An industry sponsored review of boards in the ECONOMY education which escape the GST net. An ETS non-profit super sector, led by former Reserve Tax Débâcle Saps Business would be itself even worse than a carbon tax for Bank boss Bernie Fraser , arguing it lacks A Financial Review article on February 26 two reasons. independence, transparency and proper announced that the Federal Government’s tax process. The Australian Institute of Company débâcle has drained the ‘glass half full’ optimism ‘At least with Gillard’s carbon tax the billions of Directors prefaced a formal submission to the which Australia’s business community had dollars raised from ordinary Australians flowed review by taking a swipe at its integrity. AICD before the summer holiday period. Peter Nash , to Canberra. With an ETS, much of the money chief executive officer John Brogden said the chairman of KPMG Australia, said that this you would pay would flow to Nigerian-style process was neither independent nor its terms result had sapped business confidence and scammers – it’ll be “Open Sesame” for them – of reference appropriately broad, according to cruelled the pitch for growth-boosting tax reform and even when paid legitimately (sic), will flow The Age . for another parliamentary term. overseas.

11 28 January 2016 to 08 March 2016 Letter From Canberra

‘Further, unlike money flowing overseas to buy called Westacott’s tenure ‘smart, firm and $50 billion for health and $30 billion for schools real things, all we will get back for billions of resilient.’ – across the decade beginning 2017-18 and the dollars each year will be pieces of paper saying: need for the Federal Government to “do you have permission to run your coal-fired Super Cap Could Produce $16b In Savings something”.’ power stations. The second critical thing is that If Scott Morrison were to impose drastic limits that upper price of these ETS permits will be upon the amount of pre-tax earnings that Further: ‘Both Malcolm Turnbull and the completely out of our control and potentially Australians can pump into superannuation Treasurer have pointed out, correctly, that open-ended.’ annually, he could save $16 billion over four running hospitals and schools is the years. This is the finding voiced by the Financial responsibility of the states. Moreover, the states Other pundits unimpressed by the government’s Review on February 9, and derived form a have plenty of scope to raise more of their own recent actions have been David Crowe and Grattan Institute research project. tax revenue, including by increasing several Maurice Newman , both at The Australian. Mr very efficient taxes, most notably land tax and Crowe said on February 26: ‘Having gained the ‘By reducing the annual contributions limit to (reformed) payroll tax. The states remain job at Joe Hockey ’s expense, Scott Morrison $15,000, the Treasurer could save more than unenthusiastic about wearing the political now finds that establishing an economic $10 billion over the forward estimates. The $16 consequences of raising state taxes … narrative is harder than it looked.’ For Mr billion saving would require the annual Paperwork is ill-directed and out of control in too Newman (also on February 26), ‘When Malcolm contributions cap to be lowered to $11,000 from many hospitals.’ Turnbull goes to the polls this year he will the current $30,000 that applies to most campaign largely on the Abbott government’s Australians, according to modelling by the Somewhat similar views had already emerged achievements. There will be little else.’ Grattan Institute. Restricting annual pre-tax from Laura Tingle ’s Financial Review column of contributions to $20,000 a year would result in February 8. ‘Malcolm Turnbull’s move away A similar admonition had come from The $6 billion of savings over four years.’ from a 15 per cent GST might resolve one Australian ’s Dennis Shanahan on February 9. political problem, but it has created a host of Mr Shanahan counseled: ‘Malcolm Turnbull has Tax Commissioner Slams Multinationals new ones … The Prime Minister is telling the to be careful he doesn’t become the other On February 11 the Financial Review described states that, if they have a funding shortfall, they Malcolm. , that is, with a Chris Jordan , the federal Tax Commissioner, should raise their own taxes to meet it. reputation as a do-nothing leader who as lashing out at foreign-owned multinationals, squandered reform opportunities when the including tech giants, for deliberately thwarting Take Your Pick Coalition had big majorities and control of the Australia’s tax collection efforts. ‘Their clear Richard Denniss , chief economist for the Senate. tactic,’ he told a Senate committee meeting, ‘is Australia Institute, has recently released a book to delay and obstruct. They game the system. entitled Econobabble, published by Redback ‘In 1975, Fraser took the biggest risk of his life Enough is enough.’ Quarterly. In an Age column on February 15, and expended enormous political capital in entitled ‘Econobabble: how the “experts” set out becoming Prime Minister. but after becoming Big Job Losses at South32 to fool us,’ Mr Denniss argued that ‘Politicians the nation’s leader, Fraser became cautious, The Australian on February 26 revealed that use economics as a tool to exclude us from the conscious of his unpopularity and spooked by South32, the Perth-based mining company, will conversation … through cryptic nonsense and Labor’s improved political support once Gough be slashing more than 750 jobs around belittling elitist language. I call that Whitlam had left the scene.’ Australia, and its coal operations in the Illawarra “econobabble”. region of New South Wales are at risk of closure. This follows the commodity price slump ‘Unfortunately,’ he goes on, ‘the primary role of Negative Gearing Still Considered Positive that has pushed the miner to a $US1.7 billion economics in Australian political debate has According to the Herald Su n on February 25, first-half loss. become the narrowing of the choices we face the role of negative gearing in Australia’s tax and scaring the public into doing things we don’t system ‘is again dividing the Federal Bad Times At BHP want to do … It’s up to you if you want to call Government as Malcolm Turnbull faces calls to A Herald Sun report on February 24 quoted bullsh*t, or “econobabble”, when you hear it.’ kill off any planned changes. The Prime Minister BHP Billiton chief Andrew Mackenzie as having faced warnings from conservative elements said that ‘the miner has ammunition to go on the MINING within his own ranks against any reform hunt for acquisitions after dropping its Projects Shelved, Business Slows yesterday as he ponders his options ahead of commitment to never let dividends fall. The With Woodside Petroleum officially going cold an election-year Budget.’ mining titan yesterday cut its dividend for the on another Australian mega-project, Browse first time in 15 years and dropped its payout LNG , recent global oil and gas project deferrals Those parliamentarians whom the Herald Sun policy after posting the biggest loss in its history. have now gone past the $US400 billion mark. identified as wanting to keep the present … Intuitively that should be good for the long-term negative gearing system included Michael oil price. But the fact that the oil super majors Sukkar, Senator Cory Bernardi , and Senator ‘BHP reported a net loss of $US5.7 billion are changing course is a sign for some that the Zed Seselja . Two days before the Herald Sun ’s ($AUS7.8 billion) for the six months to big players think there is a good chance prices article, the Financial Review devoted a front- December as the rout in commodity prices may not come back to previous levels according page story to the subject: ‘Malcolm Turnbull has dented revenue and the group took an immense to The Australian. whittled back the Coalition’s tax reform options write-down on the value of its US on-shore oil by slamming the door on adopting Labor’s and gas assets. The miner declared an interim Santos also capped off a horrid season for big proposed crackdown on capital gains tax breaks dividend of US16c – will down on the US62c it oil and gas producers, reporting a $2.7 billion and hinting strongly the government may leave paid for the same period a year ago.’ loss to follow Origin Energy’s $254 million loss negative gearing untouched altogether.’ and Woodside Petroleum’s meagre $US26m Ideas Boom Boomed profit. Kroger Condemns BCA Leader ‘Welcome to the Ideas Boom.’ This is the Between them, the results of the three big local Jennifer Westacott , chief executive of the phrase, in huge upper-case lettering, which LNG players included about $5.7 billion of Business Council of Australia, found herself dominates an advertisement in The Age on mainly non-cash losses, predominantly asset recently on the receiving end of an attack by the February 9 from the National Innovation and impairments, with Santos writing down the Liberal Party’s Victorian president, Michael Science Agenda ( www.innovation.gov.au , value of its assets by a whopping $3.9 billion. Kroger . He urged the BCA to dismiss her, and – #ideasboom). It is part of a more general the Financial Review reported on February 9 – campaign that has included advertising at For Santos and Origin , the big influence on the asserted that the peak business group had ‘no railway stations and other public places. extent of the red ink flowing through their idea’ how to influence public opinion in the GST finances was the timing of the developments of debate. State Governments Accused Of Insufficient their massive debt-funded export-LNG projects Tax Initiative in Queensland, which have come on stream in Various prominent business figures condemned The Australian ’s contributing economics editor the context of plunging oil prices. Mr Kroger’s words. Graham Kraehe , former Judith Sloan complained on February 20 that board member at the Reserve Bank of Australia, ‘one of the reasons the tax reform debate has BP to Start a Fight called the attack ‘way out of line.’ Others who been so damned confusing is the absence of an Oil giant BP’s planned deepwater drilling in the came to Westacott’s defence included the agreed list of objectives that must be met to Great Australian Bight is building as a major BCA’s former president Tony Shepherd , who, justify changing various taxes … The states environmental confrontation, with a Senate as noted in The Australian on February 10, continue to mention the $80 billion funding gap - inquiry set to probe the potential risks and

12 28 January 2016 to 08 March 2016 Letter From Canberra

quality of federal oversight according to The Nickel Injection Needed consistently wrong, as have scores of analysts, Australian . Clive Palmer’s Queensland Nickel will require economists and commodity forecasters a capital injection of tens of millions of dollars to according to The Australian Financial Review . The petroleum industry welcomed the inquiry as avoid liquidation unless there is a rapid an opportunity to highlight the economic benefits improvement in the price of nickel, a joint TRADE of oil and the long track record of administrator of the company said, as reported Relief from Import Squeeze environmentally safe operations in Australia. But in The Age . The days of cheap tinned tomatoes are over, environment groups want to highlight BP’s lack It went into administration, and might be being with the federal government backing a decision of thorough risk assessment so far, and its bailed out as we go to press. to impose duties on two Italian giants that disastrous Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the The cost of shutting down and rehabilitating the account for half of imported tinned tomatoes in Gulf of Mexico. toxic lands and ponds of Clive Palmer’s strife- Australia. torn nickel refinery was estimated by its Battle For Minerals Council previous owner BHP Billiton at $1.4billion. The Anti-Dumping Commission found La Doria Gender diversity and the future of coal have and Feger di Gerardo Ferraioli guilty of merged as key determinants on who will take Should the money not be raised, and the ‘dumping’ and causing ‘material damage’ to the over the chairmanship of the mining industry company collapses, Queensland taxpayers local industry. Industry Minister Christopher powerful lobby group, the Minerals Council of could be left with an unprecedented Pyne said the two face dumping duties: 8.4 per Australia. The MCA’s current chairman environmental clean-up bill. The federal cent on Feger tomato products and 4.5 per cent Andrew Michelmore is due to step down in government would also be landed with a $30 on La Doria imports. ‘This ruling will ensure that June. Michelmore , chief executive of the million bill in workers’ entitlements, and creditors Australia’s only canned tomato producer, SPC Chinese state-controlled base metals producer most likely would lose their money, according to Ardmona , can now compete equally in MMG , will have served three years in the The Weekend Australian . Australian stores and supermarkets” he said. position. The decision means all 105 canned tomato Clive Palmer’s cash strapped companies exporters from Italy will now be affected by It has been assumed that the MCA’s senior Mineralogy and Queensland Nickel donated dumping duties according to The Age . vice-chairman, Glencore’s head of coal Peter nearly $10 million to his political party in Freyberg , would rotate into the position, and hundreds of instalments, according to The Sweet for Wheat that the MCA’s vice-chair, uranium developer Australian. Indonesia remains king of Australia’s wheat Toro Energy’s chief executive Vanessa customers, buying more than the next three big Guthrie , would become vice-chairman. Taxpayers Left With Clean-Up buyers put together. Glencore is Australia’s biggest thermal coal A cash injection of ‘tens of millions of dollars’, producer and the ginger group is worried that most likely from Clive Palmer’s bank accounts, Indonesia imported 4.14 million tonnes of the MCA , which has previously absorbed the will be needed to stop his Queensland Nickel Australian wheat for the 12 months ending Australian Coal Association , could be seen to refinery going into liquidation as soon as April. September 30 2015, according to the be more of a coal lobby than anything else, Australian Bureau of Statistics , as reported in according to The Australian Business Review . Coal In Trouble The Weekly Times . Australia’s embattled coal exporters are in deep Coal Mine Cleared……. trouble because of their reliance on foreign REFUGEES & IMMIGRATION The has granted the markets, political activism and environmental Love Not Visa Essential final environmental authority for Adani’s regulation, a study funded by the Norwegian Love is not essential for a de-facto relationship controversial $16.5 billion Carmichael mine. But sovereign wealth fund shows. A report by and fundamentally flawed couples should still be final approvals, including the mining lease, could Oxford University’s Smith School of Enterprise eligible for partner visas, according to two court be held up for months after a legal challenge by and the Environment says the coal industry is cases undermining the traditional concept of an indigenous group and another appeal by an exposed to uncertainty, according to the romance. Two courts this week broadened the environmental group over the mega mine in the Australian Financial Review . definition of relationships for partner visas, with Galilee Basin, , according to The Australian the Federal Court ruling romantic love is not Financial Review. Insurers Next Battlefront necessary for a de-facto relationship and the Insurance companies are shaping as the next Circuit Court ruling deeply dysfunctional Environment Rules Eased On Coal battlefront in the local fossil fuels divestment relationships can be genuine. Numerous large Australian coal mines have had fight. their environmental regulations relaxed, in Singh told the Migration Review Tribunal that changes the federal government hopes will AGL To Abandon Coal-Seam Gas his sponsor had been violent towards him and make life easier for the struggling industry. The NSW government hopes a pipeline from the he obtained an intervention order against her. Certain coal mines owned by Glencore , BHP Northern Territory will fill any gaps in the supply The tribunal found his evidence indicated the Billiton and Whitehaven Coal have received of gas following the decision of AGL to abandon couple’s relationship was characterised by favourable changes to their approval conditions coal-seam gas and stop production at Camden, conflicting expectations, demands and mutual within the past month, which in some cases outside Sydney, by 2013, according to The distress. But the Federal Circuit Court sent the reduce the environment ministers ability to Australian. case back to the tribunal, saying it was mistaken demand changes and reduce public oversight of in the view that a fundamentally flawed miners compliance with approval conditions, Outback Rail On Track relationship cannot be a relationship in which according to The Age . When a 300 km section of the Northern the parties have a mutual commitment to a Territory’s Stuart Highway was closed by shared life to the exclusion of all other. AGL Abandons Gas Venture floodwaters from Christmas and into the New AGL Energy has ditched divisive plans for a $1 Year, Australia’s newest transcontinental railway There is clearly a significant percentage of billion coal seam gas production venture in the line remained open and was able to continue marriages in which the parties have an appalling Gloucester region of NSW in a decision that shipping supplies into Darwin. The 2200 km line relationship, Judge Heather Riley found. These delighted green activists but sharpened worries could be used to manage waste, according to marriages are nevertheless genuine, according in business about high prices and shrinking The Weekend Australian . to The Australian . supplies. The biggest electricity and gas retailer will also close down its operational Camden coal Expensive Iron Ore Mistake Remove Barriers For Foreign Students seam gas project south of Sydney in 2023, 12 West Australian Treasurer Mike Nahan Cheaper housing, transport and health care, years early, as part of a broader decision to summed up the perils of managing the state’s plus a better path to a post-graduation job for shut down its gas exploration into production finances by lamenting that it was hard to run a international students, would help grow Victorias business. government when ‘you get pushed into replying $5.74 billion international education industry, on iron ore royalties.’ according to VECCI chief executive Mark The decision means AGL has turned its back on Stone , as reported in The Herald Sun . aspirations to produce at least some of the gas A perfect storm of falling iron or prices, a softer it sells to its 1.5 million customers for fuel. Coal economy and lower GST income was blamed 456 Misinformation seen activists are now redoubling pressure on for Nahan said was the biggest cut to revenue Business is reigniting its campaign for reform of Santos to abandon its NSW coal seam gas any government had seen since the Great 457 visas, declaring it time to dispel project at Narrabri in the state’, s central north Depression. One of Nahan’s biggest problems misinformation about the scheme for skilled according to the Australian Financial Review . is forecasting. The government has got it foreign workers. In an move likely to inflame

13 28 January 2016 to 08 March 2016 Letter From Canberra

tensions with unions over the 457 visa for Migrant ‘Slave Labour” TAX temporary skilled migrants, business groups are Our cheap Italian tomatoes come at a cost, The Good, Bad And Ugly lining up to say the government should abolish according to Paola Torato , in The Weekend Short of a ‘Back to the Future’ visit from future Labor-era labour market testing arrangements in Australian . The labour camps and work gangs generations of tax payers, Australians could not the scheme, as reported in The Australian. strip workers of their very last traces of have received a better warning about our humanity, said Yvan Sagnet , activist and labour budgetary circumstances than the one delivered Babies Face Deportation advocate. by Treasury Secretary John Fraser in late Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has vowed January. ‘Why should the living standards of the government’s hard-line border stance is Double Refugee Intake future generations be compromised’ he asked in unshakeable after the High Court ruled offshore Tony Shepherd and a cohort of leading a Sydney Institute speech, ‘just because we detention was unlawful, but moral questions business figures have called on the federal are not willing to make sacrifices to address the remain over the suffering of asylum seekers government to more than double the intake of unsustainable growth of government under Australia’s care. In a 6-1 verdict, the court 12,000 Syrian refugees, claiming an intake of expenditure?’ ruled that federal government has the power 25,000 represents our fair share as the under the Constitution to detain people in other humanitarian crisis unfolds, according to The Fraser’s sobering message sought to draw the countries, clearing the way for the return of Australian Financial Review . public’s attention, and the focus of politicians, to more than 220 asylum seekers to Nauru, as well our unsustainable levels of government as 37 babies born in Australia. Baby Asha Can Stay spending and the downside risks of not getting The asylum seeker baby who inspired on top of the debt and deficit situations. Even Immigration Minister Peter Dutton had signaled protesters to stage a hospital vigil to stop her with interest rates at record lows (keeping debt the government’s intention to move quickly, from being sent back to Nauru will be released servicing costs relatively low) the return of net declaring last month that the transfer would into community detention in Australia as debt close to the post World War II highs of the leave only seven children in mainland detention, reported in The Age. early 1990s recession could see the Triple A but Turnbull is under pressure from church and Immigration Minister Peter Dutton confirmed credit rating at risk. advocacy groups and some Liberal MPs to be that once the baby girl and her family’s refugee cautious. claims were finalised, they would be sent back This rating is dependent on credible fiscal Victorian backbencher Russell Broadbent to Nauru, their home country or to a third consolidation and a smooth transition to a more appealed to the Prime Minister to gradually country such as Cambodia. diverse economy, Fraser said, in The Weekend transfer those on Nauru and Manas Island to Australian . Australia, while continuing with the policies that $9bn Budget For Refugees have stopped the boats: boat turn-backs and the Australia is poised to join Europe in a $9 billion Beware the State Tax policy of processing any future arrivals on Nauru humanitarian effort to support Syria and its Now that a GST rise is off the table, expect state and Manus Island, according to The Age. refugee filled neighbours, at a time when public governments to do the tax reform that the empathy for non-Syrian migrants has federal government won’t. By denying the rise, Sanctuary for Deportees nosedived. the Commonwealth has taken away $80 billion The Anglican Dean of Brisbane, Peter Catt , has Britain, Germany, Kuwait, Norway and the UN out of state budgets over the next 10 years as proclaimed Queensland’s most prestigious are co-hosting a conference in London to help reported in The Age . cathedral sanctuary for about 270 men, women fill the UN 2016 budget of $7.7bn for Syria and a and children facing deportation to Nauru, after further $1.2bn for countries neighbouring Syria, Keating Slams GST the High Court entrenched the legal basis for according to The Weekend Australian . Paul Keating has weighed into the politically offshore processing, as reported in The incendiary argument over the GST, slamming a Australian . possible 15 per cent increase to 15 cents in the Asylum Policy Abusive dollar as fiscal folly and tax penury, which would A leading international human rights group has only feed the bad spending habits of a political Anglicans Can’t Help blasted Australia’s asylum seeker policy as system that cannot be trusted as reported in Melbourne’s Anglican churches say they cannot abusive and says a serious rethink is needed to The Age . offer sanctuary to asylum seekers facing restore the country’s standing globally. immediate deportation to Nauru because they Watch Out are not equipped to provide accommodation. It Human Rights Watch , one of the world’s most Tax Commissioner Chris Jordan has vowed puts the Melbourne Anglican diocese at odds prominent rights campaign organisations, has that the Australian Taxation Office is prepared with their counterparts around the country, who said in its yearly report that Australia, while to take more companies to court in the coming are willing to face police raids and possible having a solid record on civil and political rights, year, rather than settling cases with the top end charges to shield asylum seekers. was failing to respect international standard for of town. The tax office struck deals worth asylum seekers and this was taking a heavy almost $3 billion with 81 large businesses rather Anglican and Uniting churches and cathedrals in human toll, according to The Age . than heading for court last financial year. But Brisbane and Sydney have taken the Jordan said they are changing their strategy. extraordinary step of offering sanctuary to 267 Firm Position The ATO would now move fast to claw back asylum seekers. ‘Where the state is causing The Age devoted most of its February 9 front revenue, emboldened by recent wins against grievous harm, churches can provide sanctuary page to the news that some of the 267 asylum- Chevron (now under appeal) and Orica as and immunity from arrest by authorities’ said Dr seekers waiting to be flown back to Nauru are reported in The Age . Peter Catt , Anglican Dean of Brisbane, as suffering from cancer and terminal illnesses. reported in The Age . This news came from Michael Pezzullo , chief War On Tax of the Immigration Department. The push for cuts to company tax is politically fraught. Scott Morrison has stressed the Churches Could Face Criminal Sanctions Pezzullo warned against ‘moral lecturing’ by government wants to maintain an open dialogue Australian church officials offering sanctuary to those who fail to comprehend the consequences on tax and would put proposed changes before asylum seekers have no legal basis for their of softening Australia’s tough border protection the next election without a formal white or green actions and could face criminal sanctions. Ten regime. But the government’s top medical paper on the issue, according to The Australian. Anglican churches and cathedrals have invoked advisor on immigration detention has admitted the ancient Christian tradition to offer protection that keeping children behind wire has a GST Hike Riskier Prospect to the 267 people, including 37 babies, facing ‘deleterious’ effect on their mental health. A GST hike will be a riskier prospect this time imminent transfer to Nauru, according to The Pezzullo himself conceded that prolonged around. Unlike 1998, consumer confidence is Age . detention ‘is in no-one’s interest.’ lower and a rise will have more impact on voters, according to David Uren , Economics $100 Million Welfare Bill At present the government faces intense Editor at The Australian . The Turnbull government is considering pressure to allow the group of asylum-seekers boosting English, education and employment and refugees, including 37 babies, to remain in Super Choice Back On Agenda services for refugees amid new research Australia. Two state premiers, Victoria’s Daniel A new clash is looming over rules that can ban showing only 7 per cent of a group of 2013 Andrews and NSW’s Mike Baird , have offered millions of workers from choosing their own arrivals have jobs and budget estimates that to take in the group, whose members face being retirement fund as the government tries to welfare payments for new arrivals will exceed sent back to Nauru after a recent High Court increase choice in the $2 trillion superannuation $100 million a year, according to The Age . ruling. industry. Despite fears it will be accused of

14 28 January 2016 to 08 March 2016 Letter From Canberra running an ideological campaign against funds Hard Choices on GST unscathed, while others faced significant that are backed by unions, the Coalition will Boosting consumption taxes would conflict with additional costs. move to scrap a key part of the industrial encouraging consumers to spend more, relations regime that gives unions and according to David Uren , Economics Editor at Fresh Push For GST Billions employers the right to limit fund choice for up to The Australian . NSW Premiere Mike Baird has rebooted his 4.7 million workers, according to The Australian . pitch for an increase in GST with a consensus Super Breaks Cost Less plan that aims to plug billions of dollars in Revocation.. paperwork.. etc. Treasury has sliced nearly $30 billion from the immediate health and education funding gaps The Australian Charities and Not For Profits estimated cost to government of providing for the states and satisfy commonwealth calls Commission is warning thousands of charities superannuation tax concessions over the four for tax cuts to fuel economic growth. yet to compete that 2015 annual information year period to 2017-18. statement that there are serious consequences Baird said he was still proposing no change to for not meeting this core obligation. This group The adjustment ostensibly improves the budget the goods and services to which GST is applied, includes around 30,000 registered charities, bottom line. But it also suggests the government but believed an increase in the rate to 15 per however 19,000 had yet to submit with less than will have less money to play with if it decides to cent before reassessment in 2020 would satisfy three weeks to go, according to an email media pare back super tax concessions to fund it’s tax the needs of the states and Commonwealth, release by the ACNC . reform package, according to The Australian according to The Age . Financial Review . TOURISM Non Profit Funds Under Threat Time for Bold Tax Reform Backpacker Tax Bad For Jobs, Tourism Health Minister Sussan Ley’s crackdown on Remember several facts: Corporate taxation Taxing backpackers will hurt regional jobs and health insurance premiums threatens the provides 22 per cent of federal revenue; tourism, according to Australia’s main farming viability of smaller non-profit funds and may Personal taxation provides 50 per cent; Of this, industry lobby, the National Farmer’s force industry consolidation that favours big the top 2.3 per cent of income earners pay 26.1 Federation , which will launch a national players such as Medibank and Bupa , according per cent of all personal income paid. The top campaign urging the federal government to to The Age. 16.8 per cent of tax payers paid 63.5 per cent of dump its proposed ‘backpacker tax.’ tax paid by individuals. The bottom and 27.3 per Australia’s big four banks were the main targets cent of income earners pay 3.7 per cent of all In a bid to raise $540 million over four years, the last year, but activist groups say insurance personal income taxes paid. The GST collects federal government wants to hit backpackers companies are as important as banks in 15 per cent of federal revenues, but this is paid and people on working holidays in Australia with divestment, and fossil fuel companies cannot out in full to the states. higher income tax bills. operate without them, according to The Age. Indirect taxes excluding GST provide the New rules announced In last year’s federal Commonwealth with 13 per cent of its budget, which will take hold from July, will scrap Tariff Reform revenue.Further, any increase in taxation the tax-free threshold for people on 417 visas, An overlooked decision by the Victorian removes from federal or state governments the as reported in The Age. government has made smart meters a waste of pressure to adjust their own levels of money and is increasing consumer power bills. spending.For Australia to avoid the abyss we’re GAMING quickly approaching, we need a combination of Partnership Angers Government Australia has national energy markets and reviewing and reducing government expenditure The government is fuming over a Tennis cooperative federalism should mean that and also instigating a taxation system that, while Australia partnership with a bookmaker that governments implement agreed reforms in the providing incentives, is fair and provides the offers in play betting on matches, which is illegal national interest. revenues to governments to meet the country’s online. The organiser of the Australian Open is or states’ most basic needs. facing a barrage of criticism over its multi million Our politicians need to be brave and explain the dollar William Hill deal. The Australian Federal benefits of reform commitment to consumers Because of my past political life I have some Police is examining a complaint about the and businesses, according to Tony Wood , understanding about the need urgent reform. Is bookmakers in play betting service. energy program director at the Grattan this is why I strongly believe a broader taxation Institute , in The Australian . base that reflects the personal choices we as Placing in-play bets online is illegal in Australia, individuals make on the things we buy is one of but William Hill has found a loophole, with a the necessary and fair ingredients of reform. mobile phone app that places bets using Don’t Waste Budget Crisis Maybe on many items the greater the value of VoiceOver IP calls, similar to FaceTime or Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison won’t the product the greater the percentage of GST Skype . The Government is furious at seeing get a better chance to fix the budget than in applied, if that is not too difficult to administer. Melbourne’s logo next to William Hill signage 2016. Written by Jeff Kennett , a former Victorian on worldwide TV coverage of the Open, Turnbull’s great challenge is whether he has Premier, as published in The Herald Sun . according to the Herald Sun. the guts to confront a budgetary shortfall that is deeply structural. In simple terms, the country is CLIMATE CHANGE, not generating enough revenue to meet Labor Cigs Tax Plan Risky ENVIRONMENT & ENERGY obligations baked into the system, and no Leading budget experts say Labor’s plan to use Nuclear Options Abound amount of wishful thinking can suggest higher tobacco taxes to pay for fast growing Momentum is growing for the construction of a otherwise. social programs is misguided and potentially nuclear waste facility in Australia to store and unsustainable, according to the Australian dispose of spent nuclear fuel rods and other What is clear is there will be no return any time Financial Review . waste from around the world a project which soon to the fool’s paradise of the commodities would deliver $275 billion in revenue with signs boom. And perhaps more concerning, rather Do It Myself of a bipartisan approach from the major federal than talking about a boom, we might be The Federal government has rejected Labor’s political parties on the issue. contemplating a bust. Don’t forgo a moment in policy to restrict negative gearing to new our history when people are ready for some properties and will move ahead with its own Kevin Scarce , a former South Australian straight talk in an election. In other words, don’t plans to target high-end investors by either governor who spent almost 12 months taking waste a crisis. capping the number of properties that can be evidence from 128 witnesses, handed down his geared or limiting the annual tax deductions that preliminary report from the Nuclear Fuel Cycle Tony Walker is The Australian Financial can be claimed as reported in the Financial Royal Commission which examined if South Review’s International Editor. Review . Australia should expand from being a uranium miner into enrichment, waste storage and power Vow To Change Tax Now the Small business community is generation. Treasurer Scott Morrison has vowed to pursue concerned about the impact of potential strong changes to the tax system and changes. Peter Strong, chief executive of the The Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission in emphasised the importance of cutting company Business Council of Australia, said there had South Australia debunks the rainbow warrior tax in some of his first comments on the subject been little consultation on the proposal and and Midnight Oil mythologies of the hard left in election year, as reported in The Australian compared the potential outcomes to those of the about anything nuclear. It sets the scene for Financial Review. carbon tax, where some businesses escaped Australia to become involved in all aspects of

15 28 January 2016 to 08 March 2016 Letter From Canberra

the nuclear industry according to the Financial Queensland Nationals senator Barry The results of the symposium, held last year, Review . O’Sullivan said the bureaucratic bungling has been turned into a series of 10 measures undermined the Turnbull government’s policy that scientists say should be taken to lessen the Fight Spreads To Wider Environment for developing northern Australia, however, climate blow on nature, which will be released Environmental groups have a new plan to Environment Minister blames online under the title VicNature 2050. challenge key developments. Queensland authorities. Landholders with properties as small as 10ha who have been They include ramping up many traditional For the people in Canberra who like to pretend granted land clearance permits by the state conservation efforts, such as eradicating pest that the environment doesn’t matter, they government received letters in December from threats, ban on habitat clearing, and the underplay how central public policy on the federal Environment Department warning protection of reserves. But there are limits, and environment is to the economy, according to the them that their activities may still have the another recommendation says we will have no Inquirer . potential to impact on matters of national choice but to accept more changes in natural environmental significance, according to The areas that we are accustomed to. Don’t Miss Nuclear Opportunity Australian. Only political dysfunction can prevent us from There is no simple answer but excepting that profitably processing uranium, according to US Gas Industry Squeezed some things are going to change is something Foreign Editor Greg Sheridan in The Weekend Houston | Plummeting oil and natural gas prices that has not quite got across to a lot of people Australian . have whipsawed the energy industry, forcing yet, Professor Ary Hoffmann from the Bio21 cancellations of billions of dollars of projects, Institute at the University of Melbourne said, Debt Spirals late payments on loans and more than a quarter according to The Age . The former boom state of Western Australia is of a million layoffs worldwide. set to record a $3.1 billion operating deficit this financial year, and decline to unprecedented net With domestic gas prices hitting their lowest Gases To Keep Rising debt levels, rising to $39 billion in three years. level since 2001, Cubic Energy , a company Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions are set to that produces natural gas and oil, became the keep rising well beyond 2020 on current trends, The dramatic fall in the iron ore spot price has latest of several dozen US producers to file for with the projected growth rate on of the worst in caused havoc with the state government’s bankruptcy protection this year. Even a the developed world, an analysis has found. An anticipated mineral royalty income stream, said company the size of Chesapeake Energy , one assessment of recent government emissions it’s mid-year budget review, and it’s AA+ rating of the nation’s biggest producers, is struggling to data by carbon consultancy firm RepuTex says will come under pressure, according to The reduce its $US11.6 billion ($16 billion) debt load, that in the 2014-15 financial year Australia’s Australian Financial Review . according to the Australian Financial Review . carbon pollution rose for the first time in almost a decade when compared with the year before. Snowy Hydro Saved Carbon Abatement Snowy Hydro chief executive Paul Broad says New Australian Chief scientist Alan Finkel has the company’s $800 million dollar-plus of backed the federal government’s $2.5 billion RepuTex said this trajectory would make acquisitions over the last financial year are now Direct Action scheme to buy carbon abatement Australia’s absolute emissions growth among proving their worth, but further M&A is off the saying that it is ‘economically effective.’ The the highest for developed nations. Only Finland, agenda for now as the focus has shifted to Direct Action buy-back plan is often criticised as Sweden and Estonia are forecast to do worse achieving targets and embracing the new too costly and economically inefficient compared between 2000 and 2020, with emissions falling technology. with a carbon pricing scheme. in countries such as the US, Germany and Britain, according to The Age . The Colongra gas-fired plant bought from the ‘The end result is for $20 for $30 or spent, do NSW government for $234 million saved you get a tonne of carbon monoxide emissions Snowy’s retail business from a squeeze in the removed from our emissions accounting? The World’s Best Minister market after a transmission outage, while Direct Action plan can do that.’ Dr Finkel , an Greg Hunt , federal Environment Minister, has savings from integrating the Luno Energy retail electrical engineer, neuroscientist and been singled out at ‘the Best Minister in the business are running ahead of forecast, he said, entrepreneur who took over from former chief World’ by the World Government Summit, which according to The Age. scientist Ian Chubb , is a strong campaigner for met recently in Dubai and which The Age ’s a carbon free economy, according to The Age. February 10 issue reported on. It is understood Climate Change Needs Practical Action that Hunt’s work on Great Barrier Reef policy The national science agency has been accused was part of the reason he received the of walking away from climate science after it Rise Raises Doubts accolade. announced it would refocus from trying to Australia’s annual greenhouse gas emissions understand it to practical measures to deal with have increased for the first time in 10 years and it. are not expected to peak until after 2030, Unlocking Gas Reserves according to a new report. As speculation The Australian Pipeline and Gas Association CSIRO chief executive Larry Marshall said mounts on whether the Turnbull government recently revealed to The Australian its desire for climate change had been well modeled and it will top up its $2.4 billion emissions reduction state governments to unlock existing gas was time to start doing something about it, fund, a report by Melbourne consultancy reserves. It has endorsed to this end a report according to The Australian. RepuTex said Australia’s annual emissions that emphasises the importance of the energy were forecast to increase by 6 per cent through industry to the national economy. Fishy Business to 2020 despite the government’s Direct Action Carp is such a pest in Australian waterways that policies. Ultimately, according to this report, gas supplies its opponents want to wage biological warfare to almost twice the amount of energy that eradicate the species forever. An unlikely Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt has electricity supplies to the nation’s manufacturing coalition of anglers, farmers and said Australia was on track to reach its 2020 sector. ‘With such a valuable commodity,’ as the conservationists have declared that the emission reduction targets early, but this has association’s chief executive Cheryl Cartwright destructive feral fish must go. Some of the been mostly due to slow economic activity and put it, ‘it is disappointing that some state nation’s biggest fishing, farming and green the closure of some big industrial plants, governments are delaying or blocking the groups say government has a once in a according to The Age. development of gas reserves.’ generation opportunity to eradicate the fish, and should connect the funds, as reported in The Climate Change To Hit Bush ‘Although the main focus on the value of Age . There will be no choice but to accept permanent Australia’s gas, has been on the tremendous changes to Victoria’s beloved bushland as opportunities for LNG exports, its critical role in A Lot of Green Tape climate change worsens, some of the states providing energy to Australia’s manufacturing, Queensland farmers are being threatened by leading environmental scientists say. commercial and domestic users deserves more the federal government with fines of up to attention.’ The report itself is by the Industry $900,000 for clearing land under permits Excepting those changes could force a re-think Department’s Office of the Chief Economist, and granted by the state government. The threat of of how some areas are protected and restored it found that the production of renewable energy the fines has sparked anger within the Coalition in order to give Victoria’s threatened wildlife continues to grow, with 17 per cent of as Nationals accuse the federal Environment species the best chances of survival in warmer households having solar panels installed by Department of overreach. conditions. October 2015.

16 28 January 2016 to 08 March 2016 Letter From Canberra

CSIRO Research Cuts Paris said that this excitement is now spilling over into impending start of free trade agreements If the CSIRO goes ahead with its existing plan to the junior resources sector, with numerous negotiations between Europe and Australia if cut back its research programs, it will involve players joining the hunt for lithium. Australia moved to impose higher import taxes Australia breaking a commitment which its in a bid to protect local producers. government made at last year’s Paris climate Lithium is the key ingredient in the new- summit. That’s the verdict of a leading CSIRO generation batteries that are changing the way Executive officer of the Australian Processing scientist, John Church , in The Age on February in which the world looks at energy. But it isn’t Tomato Growers Association , says farmers 6. cheap. Lithium carbonate prices have more than are happy to compete with their Italian doubled in the past few months, climbing from counterparts but insist on a level playing field to Church is an international expert on sea levels $US7,700 per tonne to more than $US16,000 do so, according to The Australian . and one of the organisation’s most decorated per tonne. researchers. He said that CSIRO chief Larry Vision Lacking Marshall had misled the public by his allegation Whilst this price increase is a recent thing, it’s When the Single Vision report was released 11 that there was now less need for climate part of a wider trend. For some time, according years ago. It was lauded by then Grains research than there had been because the to The Australian , ‘momentum has been building Council of Australia president Keith Perrett as problem had been ‘proven.’ Nine days in the lithium space … amid the hype around ambitious but achievable. The Grains afterwards, the same newspaper ran another Tesla, electric vehicles and other emerging Research and Development Corporation CSIRO-related story. This time it reported that lithium-ion battery applications.’ backed the single Vision plan, agreeing to fund executives within the organisation are being it for 2 years. The aim was to simply lift growers’ accused of claiming credit for achievements of a Queensland’s Solar Blowout share of the grain dollar from 19 cents to 25 science unit which had been recently axed, and According to the February 8 Financial Review cents through industry efficiencies. of possibly misleading senators over plans for a edition, Queensland’s electricity users will key climate monitoring site of global renown. continue to cross-subsidise households with The Single Vision report predicted Australia rooftop solar systems to the tune of $3 billion would need 74.8 million tonnes of cereal for The organisation last week trumpeted its over the next decade. This is a figure $1 billion emergent uses in 2015. In reality, Australia’s contribution to the discovery of gravitational higher than previously predicted, and it comes 2015-16 cereal crop is estimated to be less than waves – predicted a century ago by Albert from the refusal of the government led by half that, at 36.5 million tonnes, according to Einstein and now detected for the first time. In a Premier to scrap the The Weekly Times. media release hailing “Aussie innovation” on generous solar benefits scheme put in place by Friday, CSIRO cited its key role – while omitting an earlier ALP Premier, Anna Bligh . Dollar Draws Manufacturing Back the fact [that] it had made the researches Manufacturing is rebounding as a low Australian involved redundant last year. The government has refused to close down the dollar makes locally made goods more scheme, notwithstanding a scathing report competitive with their overseas rivals. The The coatings [on the mirrors], which were issued early in February by the Queensland Australian Industry Group says some developed and applied at CSIRO, are among Productivity Commission. As a consequence, companies that had sent operations offshore as the most uniform and precise ever made, Cathy more than 200,000 households will be paying the Australian dollar soared above parity with Foley , science director of CSIRO next to nothing for electricity until 2028. the US dollar are considering returning Manufacturing, said. “We really are world manufacturing to Australia, as reported in The leaders in this area.’ AGRICULTURE, CATTLE & WATER Australian. Good job The Costs Of Nuclear Power Forestry Tasmania is a Tasmanian Say Cheese A column by Angela Macdonald-Smith in the Government Business Enterprise with the BEGA Cheese investors have been left with a Financial Review ’s February 16 edition principal purpose to manage and control the sour taste after the group was dumped by Coles discussed nuclear costs. It noted that ‘South approximately 800,000 hectares of permanent as its house-brand supplier.The new Australia’s nuclear royal commission has timber production on land in Tasmania and to arrangement will see cooperative Murray exposed the high cost of nuclear power for the undertake forest operations on this land for the Goulburn supply a range of Coles branded state but has delivered fresh ammunition for sole purpose of selling forest products. Its forest cheeses including tasty, Colby, mild and light those arguing it should be kept on the table as a management activities are independently cheese from next January as reported in The valuable future option for low-emissions certified under international systems for Age . electricity supply.’ sustainable forest management. You can contact Linda Dewar on 9828 6545 Tour UK ‘Numerous factors stack up against nuclear Learn about the latest in agriculture innovation power in South Australia, including flat demand Beekeepers Hit Back and visit industry-leading farms as part of a for grid-based power, rising use of solar and Australian beekeepers have reacted strongly to Weekly Times Travel Club tour of the UK in July wind power, and its relatively limited availability international research claiming local honey was 2016. Weekly Times editor James Wagstaff will to ship power to and from other states, the contaminated with high concentrations of natural accompany the 28-day tour through England, commission’s interim report found. Combined poisons linked to disease. The Australian Scotland, Ireland and Wales, with the high costs of nuclear reactors, that Honey Bee Industry Council says the results theweeklytimes.com.au/country-living/travel. means nuclear is uneconomic for the state for of the Irish research were based on out-dated “the foreseeable future.’ information about the amount of honey Inquiry Into Marine Fisheries and produced from the Paterson’s curse plant, Aquaculture Nevertheless, the report did not altogether rule according to The Age. The Australian government has asked the out change down the track on this matter. ‘[A]t Australian honeys are the most contaminated in Productivity Commission to undertake a public the same time, the commission argued that the the world with natural poisons linked to chronic inquiry into the regulation of the Australian controversial technology should be kept as an disease including cancer, according to Marine Fisheries and Aquaculture Sectors within option to help meet the challenge of reducing international research published in the Food 12 months, according to a regular e-letter from carbon emissions from energy generation to Additives and Contaminants Scientific the Productivity Commission . zero by 2050.’ Journal . The research said The Australian Food Code Morrison Defends Dairy Sale To Chinese Radioactive Waste bans the use of poisonous weeds such as Treasurer Scott Morrison , according to a The Federal Government’s Department of Paterson’s Curse (also known as Salvation Financial Review article from February 26, has Industry, Innovation and Science placed an Jane) and Fireweed in human food, according to sharply condemned critics of his decision to advertisement in The Australian ’s February 26 The Age. permit the same of a Tasmanian dairy to edition for its National Radioactive Waste privately-owned Chinese firm Moon Lake Management Project. It seeks to carry out a Tomato Wars Investments. He argues that if he had blocked survey of sentiment and to extend an invitation Growers concede that competitive tension has the transaction, it would not only have smashed to comment. long run high between Australian and Italian investor confidence at a critical time for tomato growers as Italian tomato prices pushed Australia, but have bordered on outright Battery Revolution down those paid to local growers. However, the corruption. An article in The Australian ’s February 10 issue level of friction between the two nations has discussed the growing excitement around ramped up significantly since December when Critics of his decision have included electric vehicles and home power storage. It Italy threatened to block or disrupt the independent Tasmanian parliamentarian

17 28 January 2016 to 08 March 2016 Letter From Canberra

Andrew Wilkie and various newspapers. The Australian’s total paid sales grew 2.5 per cent to previous ministerial post in March 2014 amid an dairy farm is of 17,800 hectares and has in fact 168,678. Digital sales jumped 14 per cent over investigation into whether funds from Sydney been foreign-owned for almost two centuries. the period to 75,014. Water were fraudulently donated to the Liberal Party by Australian Water Holdings , has been MEDIA Rival metropolitan newspapers The Sydney advised that no corruption findings have been Regional Media Shakeup Morning Herald saw net paid sales fall by a made against him. The news comes almost 2 (New) Communications Minister Mitch Fifield is more severe 9.1 per cent to 104,155, while the years after Senator Sinodinos’s political career close to achieving a breakthrough with the Saturday edition slipped by 7.6 per cent to was derailed when he was a witness to the Nationals on local content in regional television 194,207 sales. New’s Herald Sun in Victoria ICAC investigation, despite the fact no direct that relies on a ‘point system’ to guarantee held the biggest Monday to Friday circulation allegations of impropriety were made against production of authentic local stories, paving the with 338,384 average paidd print sales, which him. way for long delayed changes to media was down 6.7 per cent year on year. ownership rules. Net The Big Fish To Curb Corruption Netflix A Threat Without Reforms The Coalition should go after the employers who The proposed content points system would see Netflix , which competes with Stan , a joint bribe unions. The reality is that businesses fund regional television operators required to produce venture between Nine and Fairfax Media , did the union via dodgy deals that rip off workers of, 900 points of local content every six weeks, not have the same regulatory burden as local then the unions fund the Labor Party, and then equating to around 30 minutes a day. players, including tax liabilities, content quotas the business sector complains about both of and advertising restrictions. In less than a year, them and looks to the Coalition for help. Because of concern that regional television Netflix had hit 8 per cent of Australian homes, It is an absurd pantomime and the Coalition already centralises supposed regional coverage reaching 1.89 million people aged over 14. needs to cut the income off at the source by in one centre, and provides so-called ‘rip and acting against the businesses that make the read’ coverage of press releases, there would Nine chief executive Hugh Marks said the payments. This action will be politically palatable be different points weightings for different forms regulations limited and constrained Australian and strike at Labor from the left of news, with locally produced television gaining free-to-air networks while Netflix and three points compared to one point for reading advertising giants such as Google and The policy recommendations in the report have out a ‘rip and read’ press release as per the Facebook operated more freely, using the the potential to provide widespread and Financial Review . Internet to broadcast to the entire population. enduring public benefit. The report contains 79 recommendations, but three jumped out as Media laws presently limit deals between print, JUSTICE crucial. radio and TV companies, while stopping Coalition On Charm Offensive metropolitan TV networks broadcasting to more The federal government has started a charm To criminalise the giving or receiving of than 75 per cent of the population, according to offensive on key senators to pass industrial corrupting benefits in relation to officers of The Australian . relations changes for a third time, hoping the registered organisations (unions), with a findings of the Royal Commission into Trade maximum term of imprisonment of 10 years. ABC Hits the Spot Union Governance and Corruption will sway A mini series rejected by the ABC has become the handful of votes it needs, according to The To make it a criminal offence for an employer to the highest-rating Australian TV drama in two Australian Financial Review. provide, offer, or promise to provide any years. Molly , about Molly Meldrum , the host of payment or benefit to an employee organisation the seminal ABC series Countdown , averaged Following on or its officials. Certain legitimate categories of 1.793 million viewers in the five capitals, 2.636 The present Royal Commission into Trade payment should be permitted, subject to strict million viewers nationally on 9 February 2016 as Union Governance and Corruption has safeguards. An equivalent criminal offence reported in The Age . recommended the Australian Securities & should apply to and person soliciting, receiving Investments Commission consider whether or agreeing to receive a prohibited payment or Push To Reform ABC David Atkin , the chief executive of one of benefit, punishable by a two year maximum The ABC board would have to include two Australia’s largest industry superannuation term of imprisonment. members living outside the major cities and the funds, Cbus , breached the Corporations Act. It broadcaster’s charter would be amended to recommends ASIC review the conduct of Atkin To require an organisation that is a bargaining include a commitment to regional Australia, and two former employees as reported in The representative to disclose all financial benefits, under sweeping changes being pushed by Age. direct or indirect, that would be expected to be National Party MPs. The ABC would also be derived by the organisation, an officer or a required to broadcast at least five radio bulletins CBA Fraud related entity as a consequence of an enterprise a day consisting mostly of local news, according Commonwealth Bank staff were allegedly agreement. to The Age . complicit in a $76 million Ponzi scheme and receive secret commissions for their role in the A short, simple and clear disclosure document Cleo Losses Revealed alleged fraud, which was ignored by the bank’s should be provided to all employees before they The boss of German publisher Bauer Media management for almost 5 years, until police vote for an enterprise agreement. has broken his silence over his controversial were alerted. The alleged architects of the decision to close Cleo to reveal the celebrated scam, professional poker player Bill Jordanou The royal commission has recognised that young women’s magazine’s had been racking and accountant Robert Zaia , will face court in where workplace corruption occurs, union up huge losses for years, according to The February 2017 and have indicated they will officials and employers are together complicit in Australian. plead not guilty to almost 100 fraud and it, to the detriment of workers and consumers. deception offences. Packer Loses Right Hand The report says ‘it is inherently very hard to Jacquie Murray had served as Packer’s Jordanou and Zaia are accused of using forged identify most types of misconduct by union indispensible jack-of-all trades executive documents to borrow millions of dollars for officials. So far as it is typified by hard-core assistant for more than two decades, but is several property developments that never got off corruption, there is no ‘victim’ to complain, and believed to have left the Consolidated Press the ground. Funds were allegedly siphoned from the parties to the corruption have a strong Holding empire last month. Ms Murray was clients’ accounts without their consent, incentive to keep it secret.’ also assistant to Packer’s father, Kerry , who according to The Age . died in 2005, as reported in The Australian. Although the report notes that many unions Anti Corruption Allegations Dropped employ people who act as ‘louts, thugs, bullies, The Australian Two of the top targets of the NSW Independent thieves, perjurers, those who threaten violence, The Australian has lifted its total paid sales, Commission Against Corruption , a senior errant fiduciaries and organisers of boycotts’, it showing resilience in a tough operating market federal minister and a businessman who played concedes there are two parties to every to be the country’s best performing major a key role in the downfall of the then NSW transaction, according to Grace Collier in The newspaper for the December quarter. Audit premier Barry Farrell, have had major Australian. Bureau of Circulation figures reveal the News allegations against them dropped by the Corporation publication shed just 2.6 per cent anticorruption body. Royal Commission A Witch Hunt of its Monday to Friday print circulation to Dismissing the Royall Commission as a 102,068 compared to the same time in 2014. The Australian can reveal Secretary Arthur politically motivated witch-hunt, Australian But with strong growth in digital sales, The Sinodinos , who stepped aside from his Council of Trade Unions secretary Oliver hit out

18 28 January 2016 to 08 March 2016 Letter From Canberra

at the characterisation of union officials as Pharmacists Fight Codeine Plan based on need. This second tier of support, “louts, thugs, bullies, thieves, perjurers” by Pharmacists are rolling out a new reporting which the Productivity Commission forecast commissioner Dyson Heydon in his final report. system for codeine based painkillers such as would affect 4 million people with disabilities, ‘Extreme language’, said Oliver . And it Panadeine and Nurofen Plus in a fresh bid to was imagined as a sort of clearing house for highlights to us the political nature of this royal convince drug regulators there is no need to everyone who isn’t eligible for an individual commission, as reported in The Australian. make them prescription only. support package, as reported in The Australian.

Police Handed Confidential Reports The Therapeutic Goods Administration made Work For The Dole Following a two year inquiry, including 46 days an interim decision last year to make about 150 A revamped, more flexible work for the dole of private hearings, the commission’s six volume codeine products available only to people with a scheme has the capacity to transform remote final report referred 45 individuals and prescription, amid concerns the drugs are being Indigenous communities by tackling the major organisations to police. misused and abused, according to The Sunday driver of social dysfunction, according to Age. Indigenous Affairs Minister . One confidential volume will not be made public over concern for witnesses’ safety. Lets Get a Review Going Activities that meet the work test will be Outgoing Medibank Private chief George expanded to include volunteering at school A police task force set up to investigate matters Savvides has put medical procedures that have canteens, delivering meals on wheels and arising from the commission is expected to use no clinical benefit firmly in his sights, after learning to drive, but non compliance breaches findings in the secret volume to investigate more leading the debate on overhauling the will be immediate under new legislation, union officials over alleged criminal activity. Prostheses List. Savvides , who delivered a 58 according to The Age . per cent half-year profit jump to $227.6 million, Outspoken Senator Jacqui Lambie has called is confident there are more levers to pull to Indigenous Drive At ‘Dead End’ on the Federal government to provide senators address affordability concerns, which he says Decades of failure to deliver substantial with the secret volume, saying that there was no will lead to lower premium rises. improvements in the wellbeing of indigenous legitimate reason to keep it a secret. ‘If all state Australians have left two of the nation’s senior premiers have the ability to read all of the royal With six government reviews under way into the Aboriginal leaders calling for radical new commission volumes, including those marked healthcare system, including one into the private approaches of the type not seen since the confidential, then all senators should have the health insurance sector, Savvides said there Northern Territory intervention. Turnbull is same rights,’ Senator Lambie said, according to was momentum to improve transparency and understood to be urgently seeking novel ideas the Herald Sun. remove waste. ‘A constructive reform agenda to break the deadlock ahead of what is expected can support improved quality and affordability to be another damning Closing the Gap report, BROADBAND & IT and take pressure off future rate changes’.. due to be released after parliament resumes in Nationalisation By Stealth January, according to The Australian. Private sector rivals to the National Broadband Billion Dollar Blowout Network have warned of nationalisation by The bipartisan goodwill behind the National EDUCATION stealth through proposed rules for superfast Disability Insurance Scheme is souring after The End Of TAFE? internet infrastructure in new housing estates. revelations of a billion dollar cost blowout during The federal government would take over TAFE the trial period. The problems could have been funding from the states under a radical plan to While the government’s policy is to foster averted if the Gillard government had placed be presented to the states and territories at a competition among network providers in newly greater emphasis on governance and outcomes high-level meeting. Under the Turnbull built estates, the group says that government in its design, according to The Australian . government proposal, obtained by Fairfax officials have never abandoned the monopolist Media , TAFE fees will being deregulated and model for the national broadband policy Safety Net Changes Postponed TAFE’s would receive the same levels of promoted by the Rudd and Gillard The Turnbull government is putting off plans to funding as a private colleges in a bid to increase governments, according to The Australian. change the Medicare safety net until after next competition in the sector, according to The Age. year, after failing to attract enough support on NBN Worth $29b Less Than It Costs, the Senate crossbench. The plan was to lower Labor Promises Gonski Funding PricewaterhouseCoopers maintains that when the threshold needed to access benefits for out Labor has set up an election year school the National Broadband Network – devised by of hospital services, while capping the amount funding battle by promising to pump $4.5 billion the 2007-13 ALP government – is complete, it payable for individual services once these have into the nation’s schools by for the funding the will be worth $27 billion, less than half of what it been reached. Gonski funding agreements it struck when last will cost to put it into place, the Financial in office, according to The Age . It’s a real plan Review . Psychiatric, oncology and IVF groups have for our schools: it means that every child in fiercely opposed them because of concerns they every school, no matter their background, will be The same article also quoted Infrastructure will make services unaffordable for some able to get access to the tools they need for a Australia as having called the previous day for patients, according to The Age . quality education now, so they can drive our the NBN to be sold off. This agency hired PwC economy into the future, according to Julia to model its recommendations. Health System Going Digital Gillard in an Australian Labor email. Imagine a health system where hospitals could WELFARE liaise with each other to maximise space, FOREIGN AFFAIRS Crackdown On Fee Hikes patients could receive their results on the go Hello cousin Private health funds have been ordered to open and long wait times would be a thing of the past. Almost half of the 140,000 New Zealand-born their books and justify their bid to increase There is every chance this is what the sector will Kiwis who have been living in limbo in Australia premiums, in what the insurance industry last look like thanks to mobile devices, and since 2001 could be eligible for citizenship after night described as an unprecedented departure Australian company Chamonix is helping leaders on both sides agreed to defrost some of from regulatory process. In an effort to secure a hospitals make the transition. This shift towards the visa rules according to The Australian . better deal for members, Health Minister mobility has been kick started by new legislation Sussan Ley yesterday wrote to insurers which digitise Australians’ health records. The Malcolm Turnbull and his New Zealand formally requesting they either seek a lesser industry will be worth an estimated $21 billion by counterpart John Key announced that Kiwis premium increase or provide the financial 2018, as reported in The Australian Financial who arrived after February 26, 2001, holding statements to prove it was necessary to pass on Review. special category visas would be able to become higher costs, according to The Weekend citizens if they earned enough and had lived Australian . Millions To Fall Through Net here longer than five years. The massive national disability insurance Kick ‘em Out scheme may have trouble providing one of the Coalition Hits Clinton Medicare and other health benefits would be most crucial parts of its service within budget On his first day as Trade Minister, outsourced to the private sector under an because it is still being built, sources say. accused the frontrunner for the US Democratic ambitious cost-cutting plan by the Federal Party Presidential nomination, Hillary Clinton, of Government. The move, understood to be an Last month, the agency running the $22 billion conducting a union-backed misinformation option ahead of May’s Budget, would see office scheme released a second tier of support for the campaign against the Trans-Pacific Partnership, work now done by bureaucrats transferred to NDIS to help millions who miss out on the trade bloc championed by Australia. Despite the private sector according to the Herald Sun . 460,000 places that will receive uncapped help calling it the ‘gold standard’ in Australia four

19 28 January 2016 to 08 March 2016 Letter From Canberra

years ago, Clinton broke with the Obama attacks will have significant consequences for Would the Brexit Work? administration and opposed the deal after she Indonesia and for Australia, according to The In terms of trade, Britain can have a free trade decided to run for president again. She argued it Australian. deal with the EU and bilateral trade deals with would harm American workers and hit wages, a growing export markets in the EU, or lose its position that threatens its passage through the Every Aye To Be Dry main trading partner with about 50 per cent of US Congress if she is elected President this MPs and peers were told that they are likely to trade worth $1 trillion a year if it opts out. In year. have to move our of the Palace of Westminster regard to the economy, being out of the EU for at least six years to allow the £4 billion would save billions a year in the New British Economics Will Stop Conflict ($8bn) overhaul of the crumbling neo-Gothic contribution to the EU, while being in the EU has Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said China’s pile. Along with waving farewell to the mice and increased exports by 55 per cent. integration into the global economy paired with asbestos, parliamentarians will leave behind at strong American involvement in the Asia-Pacific least 10 licensed bars and restaurants, each In regard to jobs, there would be less regulation will reduce the risk of military conflict between well stocked with competitively priced drinks. outside of the EU, and membership will be the US and China, according to The Australian adverse to British industry. Also, with regard to Financial Review. Their proposed new home is on 79 Whitehall. immigration, outside of the EU Britain can use The Richmond House complex, just north of the visa restrictions on EU migrants to exert less Shortage of Guards In Iraq existing parliamentary estate, can easily be pressure on public infrastructure, while The private security company in charge of taken within a security cordon and could membership allows access to cheaper labour protecting Australia’s embassy in Iraq admits it comfortably accommodate a temporary debating and EU regulated work visas. has so far failed to recruit enough staff to fill the chamber. elite protection detail guarding the compound in However, the Whitehall building was quietly On the global stage, membership of the EU will Baghdad, according to The Australian . transferred to finance an Islamic bond scheme only serve to diminish Britain’s global voice as a two years ago, and a condition of its lease is nuclear power, member of NATO and on the UN US Still Leader that it cannot be used for purposes not Security Council . In terms of the law, an exit Barrack Obama has used his final State of the sanctioned by Sharia. would allow the British parliament to regain Union address (given yearly in January) to sovereignty, while losing protection from EU remind his critics at home and abroad that the A Whitehall official said that, under the terms of laws and protection as reported in The US remains the world’s most powerful nation, the deal agreed with the Treasury, the sale of Australian . leading to fight against the ‘killers and fanatics’ alcohol was among activities explicitly forbidden, of Islamic State and setting ‘the rules’ in the according to the Weekend Australian . Push To Swap Failed Asylum Seekers Asia-Pacific region. Obama took issue with the Every migrant entering Greece across the Republicans portrayal of the US as a nation in Cautious US Gives Japan Edge Aegean Sea would be returned to Turkey, under decline, according to The Australian . Serious doubt that Washington will be willing to plans being drawn up by European countries. In provide the US Navy’s most advanced combat exchange, the EU would accept up to 250,000 He tried to reconcile an optimistic assessment of systems to Australian submarines if they are documented asylum seekers a year from the nation’s progress with the anxieties he built by Germany or France is emerging as a Turkish camps to be resettles in their territories, conceded have gripped Americans during his trump card for Japan in the three-way battle to according to The Weekend Australian . If the tenure, to try to burnish his record and frame the construct the new boats. Australian officials at German-led resettlement program can be campaign to succeed him. But he acknowledged the most senior level believe Canberra could agreed upon, ferries will begin returning all that many Americans feel frightened and experience significant difficulty getting the most migrants, including refugees, from the Greek shutout of the political and economic system advanced US combat systems for between eight islands of Lesbos, Chios or Kos to Turkey. A they view as rigged against their interests, even and 12 new submarines unless Japan wins the coalition of countries supporting the plans, as he offered an implicit rebuke of Republicans lead role in the project, which is expected to include Austria, Belgium, France, Finland, who are playing on those insecurities in the cost more than $50 billion. Germany, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, The presidential race, according to The Australian Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Sweden. Financial Review. The German manufacturers have counted this view by pointing out that Germany is a member H-Bomb Test Fury Abbott’s Pushed To Stop Rudd of NATO in good standing, and that numerous The UN Security Council held an emergency Tony Abbott sought an exchange of letters with German built subs have elements of American summit after North Korea claimed to have tested John Key to support former New Zealand Prime weapons systems, as reported in The its first hydrogen bomb just weeks after it Minister Helen Clark for the top job at the UN to Australian . promised to work more peacefully with its head off Kevin Rudd’s push to get Australia’s regional rivals and neighbours, in The backing for the post. Both the then Australian Cameron Will Respect Brexit Australian . Prime Minister and the New Zealand Prime It would not be the right answer for Britons to Minister agreed that Clark , the former New vote to leave the European Union , but the Keeping Venice Afloat Zealand Labour leader and No 3 at the UN, government would have to make it work if they Mayor of Venice Luigi Brugnaro initiated what would be a better candidate to replace outgoing do, British Prime Minister David Cameron said. he dubbed Operation Truth, a mission aimed at UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. An opinion poll published in January showed confronting the shaky state of this canal riven that the majority of Britons who have made up city’s finances. Venice is all-out broke. It maybe Revelation of the agreement has highlighted their mind would back leaving the EU in a a dream for tourists, but keeping up the policy and personal differences between Abbott referendum due by the end of 2017. centuries-old floating masterpiece is a and Julie Bishop , and revealed Abbott’s nightmare for its government. refusal to back Rudd while the Foreign Minister Cameron said that he hoped voters would back had been prepared to consider supporting him, staying in the EU if he achieves his planned For years, a special law required the national according to The Australian. reforms to Britain’s relationship with the bloc. government to cover Venice’s extra costs, and ‘The British public will make their decision’, in Rome duly handed about €143 million a year to Warming Up The Age. Venice between 1993 and 2004. Meanwhile, the Malcolm Turnbull and Barack Obama had two popularity of online gambling has contributed to hours together over lunch in the White House. No Brexit In A Crisis a plunge of more than 80 per cent in proceeds Observers said both sides felt their personal David Cameron should hurry up and hold that from Venice’s city owned casino since 2008. chemistry had improved since a November referendum on British membership of the EU. If meeting in the Philippines when they were yet to the UK Prime Minister does not get a move on So the cash-strapped city is scrimping on quite figure each other out, according to the there might not be an EU left to leave. Anuel essential services. For instance, water erosion Australian Financial Review. Valls , the French Prime Minister, said recently means Venice must restore its buildings as that unless Europe gets a grip on the migration often as every decade compared with at least Terrorism Here To Stay crisis, ‘the European project can die, not in 50 years to normal cities. 10 years ago, the city The bombings and suicide murders in Jakarta decades or years but very fast.’ spent €150 million annually to restore its own are exactly what every counter-terrorism official Even allowing for a degree of hyperbole in that buildings and revamp privately owned ones. in South East Asia, and in Canberra, has been statement, there is no doubt that Cameron is fearing for months, if not years. They are also, negotiating with an organisation that is in grave The most contentious is Brugnaro’s idea to sell very likely, the shape of things to come, in South trouble, according to The Australian Financial some of the art treasures in its museums’ East Asia and perhaps in Australia. These Review . collections, such as the Klimt painting Judith II,

20 28 January 2016 to 08 March 2016 Letter From Canberra

that he says don’t belong to the city’s history almost $50 billion in the next decade to fund the State, saying it is the role of backbenchers to and tradition, as reported in The Australian biggest expansion of the naval power since speak their mind, as reported in The Age. Financial Review. World War II. Apart from doubling the submarine fleet to 12, the White Paper foreshadows a Over Dinner substantially more powerful surface fleet, HEALTH Tony Abbott has met US president Obama in including much larger anti-submarine warfare Can’t Afford A Doctor Washington in a move bound to further frustrate frigates and large multi-role offshore patrol Struggling to get into GP when you need one? Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull . Sources at vessels.’ Data shows you’re not alone. Last year, one in the function, perhaps a larger dinner, said the five Australians waited longer than they thought two had a very warm and intimate discussion. It A third newspaper, The Age , supplied further was acceptable to get into a GP and one in 20 was obvious Obama was pleased to see him, details (again on February 26) of what said they delayed or did not go to a GP in the one said. A day earlier Abbott met US Director expenditures are involved. It described the previous year because of cost. of National Intelligence James Clapper .The relevant White Paper as ‘outlin[ing] Australia’s meetings came just two weeks after Turnbull’s plans to defend itself for the next 20 years. On While the data published by the Productivity visit to Washington, where he also met Obama , submarines, the White Paper commits to a Commission shows 85 per cent of GP visits Clapper and other intelligence officials “rolling acquisition” which means that by the were bulk billed last year (meaning patients according to the Herald Sun . time the final boat is built the first one will be faced no cost), the College of General ready to retire, creating a continuous build Practitioners has warned that more Australians indefinitely.’ will face private GP fees this year because of DEFENCE the federal freeze on Medicare payments for Abbott’s Secret Subs Nor is cyberspace neglected. The Age says: GP services as reported in The Age . Many industry insiders are convinced that Tony ‘Concern about future threats of cyber-attacks Abbott when he was Prime Minister was has been dramatically underscored by the White Blitz On Prosthetics extremely close to signing a secret deal in late Paper’s announcement that there will be 800 The Age announced on February 9 that doctors, 2014 with the Japanese Government and Prime new personnel committed to cyber-defence and insurers, and medical device companies have Minister Shinzo Abe where 12 submarines a further $300 million to cyber-hardware. And been asked to overhaul the way in which the would have been built in Japan, with only a the regional instability sparked by China’s rise government sets the price of prosthetics, such routine amount of maintenance carried out in features strongly in the government’s thinking, as pacemakers, and guarantee consumer Australia to service them. with the White Paper noting that “as China benefit from the changes. This review of the grows, it will continue to seek greater influence prostheses list will be led by health That plan was overturned after internal Liberal within the region.” administration veteran Lloyd Sansom , Party functions and a volley of protests, with a University of South Australia emeritus professor, ‘competitive evaluation’ process subsequently Similarly, the aforementioned issue of The in a process that federal Health Minister Sussan put in place in which bids from the three Australian commented that ‘threats ranging from Ley has fast-tracked. countries are being assessed against a shifting terrorism and an escalating risk of cyber-attack political backdrop where the pressure is on to to the uncertainties posed by China’s increasing NDIS Plan Slammed ensure construction happens in Australia. All assertiveness in the South China Sea have ‘After years of behind-the-scenes work, angst three bidders lodged their proposals late in 2015 driven the new $195 billion blueprint for the from early intervention advocates and concerns under the timetable set by the federal defence of Australia.’ Uniformed personnel are about cost blowouts and fudging of support for government, with a decision expected by mid- to increase by 4,900 to 62,400, and the White vulnerable children, the agency running the $22 2016 according to the Financial Review . Paper envisages an extra 1,200 civilian jobs, billion National Disability Insurance Scheme has mostly in cyber-security and intelligence. To released a six-page plan slammed as “a Exercising Freedom quote from the same front-page Australian watered-down, softly-softly approach”.’ This is Australia is likely to conduct a freedom of article: how The Australian on February 26 reported the navigation exercise in the South China Sea in latest development in the NDIS. the coming months after the US revealed that it ‘The ADP will gain much greater reach through has carried out a similar operation, in The the region, and much further abroad, through The agency’s ‘Early Childhood Intervention Australian. new manned and unmanned aircraft, the P-8 Approach’ contains no detail about how many Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft and the hours of therapy it believes is required for Costly Combat massive Triton unmanned surveillance aircraft, children with autism or other developmental The Department of Defence is pressing on with which can patrol for a day or more without delays. Also, it describes no mechanism by the detailed specifications for what will be by far refuelling. As information becomes an which children will be separated in the ‘two- the largest single defence acquisition for land increasingly crucial weapon, the more speed’ system, and it contains no figures on warfare that Australia has ever seen, of sophisticated submarines, surface warships and funding either. advanced combat vehicles costed at $10 billion- surveillance aircraft, as well as the addition of plus, according to the Australian Financial 900 uniformed ADF personnel and 800 defence A much longer document, the agency’s 90-page Review . civilians to work in the intelligence processing research report, does recommend a gold and broader cyber-protection areas, will greatly standard of 20 hours per week early intervention Defence spending boost increase Australia’s ability to gather for children who have been diagnosed with According to a Financial Review report of intelligence.’ autism. According to Centrelink data, there are February 26, expectations – already battered – currently more than 73,000 children in the for a return to budget surpluses by the next Connections>>> country, aged up to 15, who have that decade were all but obliterated by a $30 billion David Morrison , former chief of the Australian diagnosis. boost in future defence spending. The Defence army who was recently awarded the title of White Paper called this development ‘a sign that Australian of the Year, now has a $200,000-a- Autism Awareness Australia chief executive Treasury has essentially lost the fight within the year job as a diversity advisor to a major officer Nicole Rogerson declared herself to be government to keep a lid on military spending defence contractor, Deloitte Australia. According ‘absolutely appalled’ by the report. She over the next decade to help reduce debt and to the Herald Sun on February 9, his duties will maintains that it ‘cherry-picks research, glosses deficits.’ be light: only 25 days’ work per annum. Bruce over what is widely considered as international Relph , NSW president of the Australian best practice, and lands in a wishy-washy world Writing in the same Financial Review edition, Peacekeeper and Peacemaker Veterans’ of watered-down options for families of children Jennifer Hewett was more complimentary. Association, expressed scorn towards the move. with autism.’ ‘Turnbull can’t say it often enough. The ‘It’s jobs for the boys. It’s disgusting that he can government’s approach to defence will create land a job like that when ex-servicemen and $5bn Hit As Fund Dwindles jobs, growth and innovation.’ According to women are left on the scrap heap.’ Scott Morrison is under pressure to find Laura Tingle in the same newspaper: ‘Torrid savings of at least $5 billion a year in this year’s debates over Senate voting rules and tax Fight IS budget to pay for the National Disability dominate Canberra this week. But the Defence Former cabinet Minister Eric Abetz has joined Insurance Scheme, as a fund set up by the White Paper proved a success.’ former defence Minister Kevin Andrew s in former Labor government to finance the scheme challenging the Turnbull government’s decision will start running down from next year and be Meanwhile The Australian announced, likewise to refuse a United States request for increased depleted by 2019-20, according to The on February 26, that the government ‘will spend military efforts in the campaign against Islamic Australian.

21 28 January 2016 to 08 March 2016 Letter From Canberra

Praise For Nation’s Health System system is legal. The other two British operators Next. Under the headline ‘Trimming fat to save have never commented publicly on these Former supermodel Jerry Hall , 59 and her new billions’ in The Age on February 13, Jessica matters. boyfriend, 84 year old media mogul Rupert Irvine reported that overall, ‘Australia’s health Murdoch , are set to make things permanent, system is cheap and effective when compared Drugs Punishment Unfair according to The Age . Hello Magazine has internationally.’ She quoted health analyst Calls for the AFL to break away from the World Rupert wearing a smart dark suit, and brown Stephen Duckett as having said that ‘By and Anti-Doping Agency and establish its own drug shoes, at the Wedding! large, Australia has a great health system.’ code have reignited over the suspension of 34 current and former Essendon players. One problem identified with the system is the Thrust Into Unexpected Fight taxpayer-funded rebate for private health Greens leader Richard Di Natale , a medical Australian of the Year David Morrison’s insurance. Even with that rebate, only 47 per doctor and former elite level footballer, hit out at famous YouTube video of 2013, in which he cent of Australians have private health cover, an the current system for disproportionately warned that the treatment of women in the extraordinarily low figure by American punishing the players, calling on the Federal armed services needed to change, catapulted standards. Economist Saul Eslake is convinced government to launch an independent inquiry in him to international attention, according to The that the rebate should be junked. So is the light of the long running scandal. The fact that Weekend Australian . Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS). an outcome had taken three years pointed to a substantial problem with the current anti-doping Australian of the Year finalist and transgender ‘Subsidising people to do something they would framework, Senator Di Natale said, as reported military officer Catherine McGregor has swiftly do anyway,’ according to Dr Eslake, ‘is a waste in The Australian . apologised on Twitter after branding the of taxpayers’ money. The rebate reduces the appointment of her former boss David Morrison discipline on health insurance funds to keep to the position as a ‘weak and conventional’ their premiums under control. And it’s a form of Foundation Crumbles choice. She also told the Star Observer that middle-class welfare that the country can no The Shane Warne Foundation will cease to Morrison still had a lot to learn about lesbian, longer afford.’ operate as of March 18, but Consumer Affairs gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) Victoria’s audit of its books will continue issues. according to the Herald Sun . Excessive SPORTS & ARTS spending on non-charitable activities! Group Captain McGregor previously worked as Tickets Rile Fans General Morrison’s speech writer and wrote Footy fans say the Australian Football Doping Bombshell much of the famous 2013 video address in League’s restructure of ticket prices for this The greatest scandal in Australian sport will which he told sexist soldiers to ‘get out’ of the season is about maximising revenue and risks wreak traffic across the AFL ads the Season army after sex scandal revelations, according to taking the game away from supporters soon starts, with Essendon scrambling to field a The Age. The 2013 speech went viral on according to the Herald Sun . team. YouTube, with over 1,675,924 views at the time The dynamic ticketing scheme grants clubs of reporting. more freedom to set their own ticket prices, allowing them to increase the cost by $1-$3 a SOCIETY Morrison is the son of one of Australia’s most time, up to four times (an effective $12 price-rise Old-Fashioned Anti-Catholic Sectarianism distinguished generals, Alan ‘Alby’ Morrison , cap). In a column for The Australian on February 20, as reported in The Weekend Australian . Gerard Henderson, executive director of the Shock Departures In Tennis Sydney Institute, has compared the recent Over there Tennis Australia has denied that the sudden attacks on Cardinal George Pell to the London | Lynton Crosby has been named resignations of one third of its board, including ‘rampant anti-Catholic sectarianism’ that Australian of the Year in Britain for steering it’s only two female directors, are connected to dominated Australian politics between 1917 and David Cameron to an unexpected and the match fixing controversy or has any whiff of 1921. This sectarianism came about through the emphatic victory in May 2015. Crosby , who was gender bias, while declining to explain the debate over conscription during World War I. given a knighthood in the Queen’s New Year’s reasons behind the shock multiple departures, The Cardinal, Dr Henderson maintained, Honours list, was named Britain’s Australian of according to The Age . Tennis Australia will ‘appears to be carrying the burden for child the Year during a dinner at Australia House in begin interviews for new board members as sexual abuse in other institutions.’ London. controversy continues over a series of board resignations on governance issues in the past The same newspaper on the same day quoted The award was presented by High six weeks, as reported in The Australian the 74-year-old Cardinal Pell himself as having Commissioner and the Financial Review. called for a public inquiry into the Victoria Police. winner was chosen by the Australia Day He has accused the force of undermining the Foundation , a body that promotes Australia in work of the royal commission by leaking Britain, according to the Australian Financial Racing Wants Live Betting Ban ‘spurious’ and ‘false’ allegations of involvement Review . The horse racing industry has called for a on his part in child sexual abuse. For medical complete ban on in-play betting, both telephone reasons, he has been given permission to and online, warning that live wagering fosters supply his evidence via video-link, rather than Choirs Striking A Chord corruption and will hurt the sport’s share of the face the health risks of a long-haul flight all the Christmas means many things for people, but gambling dollar. Racing Australia chief way from Rome. for Australia’s thousands of choristers, it is likely executive Peter McGauran , in an interview with to mean Handel’s Messiah and quite a lot of The Australian likened in-play batting to Ex-bishop Ronald Mulkearns of Ballarat, now Christmas carols. Choirs have become big in mindless poker machine gambling and said it aged 85, presided for a quarter of a century over Australia in recent years, the Australian should be banned for all sports, including a diocese where, as The Australian put it on National Choral Association alone lists more horseracing. February 26, ‘paedophile priests were moved than 1000 choirs, ranging from small community from parish to parish, enabling them to abuse choirs, from the relaxed sing-along to the At last year’s Melbourne Cup carnival, hundreds of children.’ Like Cardinal Pell, he ambitious semi-professional performance. bookmaker William Hill heavily promoted live supplied his evidence to the royal commission betting on races. William Hill , Ladbrokes and via video: in his case from Nazareth House, a But it is the opening up of opportunities for Bet365 are also offering online live betting on nursing home where he has been confined people who don’t normally sing, or who don’t sports through a system they say complies with through poor health during recent years. think they have time to commit to regular the act, apparently by emulating a telephone call rehearsals. ‘It nourishes the soul. It is a privilege using a voice over-internet protocol or similar Neglect: Clergy Culpable? to feel the response from the audience’ says technology. On February 23 The Australian devoted a front- Phil Crenigan , according to The Australian page story to investigations that Victoria Police Financial Review . The Racing Australia submission to the has been carrying out against certain senior O’Farrell review takes aim at these companies Catholic Church figures, with the idea of Quiet Streets In Nanny State betting systems, urging the government to charging them with child neglect or Freelance chief executive Matt Barrie has eliminate loopholes currently being exploited by endangerment. Task Force Sano is the Victoria posted a scathing article on Sydney’s lockout certain Australian based operators to circumvent Police subdivision that deals specifically with laws, taking to task the state government, and the existing prohibition. William Hill insists it’s child abuse matters. labeling New South Wales the nanny state.

22 28 January 2016 to 08 March 2016 Letter From Canberra

The post on social networking site LinkedIn divisions in the Coalition but clearly it is having comes just hours after a new report into the the opposite effect.’ lockout laws by the City of Sydney found that foot traffic in King’s Cross and Oxford Street at We call on Malcolm Turnbull to allow marriage 11pm on a Friday night, before the 1:30am equality legislation to be debated in parliament lockout and 3am last drinks, was down 58 per as soon as possible so reform can pass and cent. By 4am foot traffic had fallen 80 per cent Australia can move on.’ Croome went on to say on 2012 figures. that he is appalled by reports that the Australian Christian Lobby chief, Lyle Barrie’s article, titled ‘would the last person in Shelton , has boasted that a plebiscite would Sydney please turn the lights out’ said New succeed in ‘kicking the issue into the long grass’ South Wales Premier Mike Baird had turned and ‘blunting’ momentum for reform according Sydney into Detroit, as reported in The to a media release from the Australian Marriage appear before the state Anti-Discrimination Australian Financial Review. Equality Coalition . Commissioner because the Church distributed a brochure supporting the traditional view of Out of Puff Political Family Feud marriage, has the potential to silence one side Government efforts to stamp out smoking have Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott has told a of the debate in an upcoming plebiscite on the become so successful Treasury has been conservative Christian group in the US that issue. forced to downgrade its estimates for future allowing same-sex couples to wed will tobacco excise revenue, raising doubts about contribute to the erosion of family, a stance that It’s Orwellian to think that if the complaint whether planned Labor hikes will deliver all of a drew a swift rebuke from his gay sister, against the Catholic Church succeeds, it will be hoped for tax boost. Christine Forster , as reported in The Age . illegal to advocate in favour of the current legal definition of marriage. That is why as the very Round after round of excise hikes since 2010, Push To Suspend Anti-Hate-Speech Laws real threats to freedom of speech have emerged plain packaging laws in 2012, and a flood of anti The Australian Christian Lobby, the leading in recent years I have ensured that the defence smoking advertising campaigns show signs of advocate for a ‘no’ vote in any referendum on of freedom of speech is at the forefront of both accelerating the number of smokers who are the topic of same-sex marriage, is calling upon the IPA’s public voice and the IPA’s research giving up or switching to the black market, the Federal Government to override existing and analysis, according to an end of year letter according to The Australian Financial Review . anti-discrimination laws during the pre-vote from the desk of John Roskam , Executive campaign. According to The Age on February Director of the Institute of Public Affairs . More on the Marriage Bill 16, the ACL wants this in order to ensure that A marriage equality bill would pass if it were representatives of the ‘no’ camp can speak Women Lagging In Nominations presented in federal parliament this week, freely during the relevant debate. Women were lagging in nominations in some opposition leader Bill Shorten said. Unlike the categories in the 2016 Australia Day Honors. In Coalition which wants a plebiscite (referendum) Those denouncing the ACL’s call have included the Community category, there were 164 males on which every voter votes, not just the Gillian Triggs, president of the Australian nominated and only 88 females. In Medicine, 37 parliamentarians Human Rights Commission, who described it as males and 12 females, according to The Age . ‘outrageous’ and ‘based on a failure to Speaking at Melbourne’s annual Midsummer understand the way the law works.’ She told You Are One in 24 Million Gay pride march, the Labor leader called on the The Age on February 17 that ‘the right to Based on current Australian Bureau of Prime Minister to go back to being the old freedom of religious views was one of the best- Statistics birth and death rates, little Aussie No. Malcolm Turnbull who believed in marriage protected rights in Australia because it was 24,000,000 was tipped to arrive in the early equality. entrenched in the Constitution, adding [that] hours of 16 February. The most recent data there was no federal law against vilification on from June 30, 2015 suggests there is a baby Shorten said about 95 per cent of Labour MPs, the basis of sexuality; and only Queensland, born in Australia every one minute and 44 a sizeable number of Liberal MPs, as well as the NSW and the ACT made it unlawful to incite seconds, one death every three minutes and 24 Greens and non aligned MPs would all vote for hatred on the basis of sexual orientation.’ seconds and a net gain of one international gay marriage. He said marriage equality could migrant every two minutes and 39 seconds. happen under a Labor government without Freedom Doesn’t Defend Itself wasting $160 million on a plebiscite according to The principles some people take for granted, Sometimes Yes the Herald Sun . like freedom of speech and freedom of religion, Jeremy Sammut , a research fellow at the seem every day to be challenged at home and Centre for Independent Studies in Sydney, told Plebiscite Collapse as Coalition Splits abroad. Freedom of speech is not just a readers of The Australian on 20 February that Advocates have responded to a growing philosophical principle. Without freedom of too often social workers are ‘turning a blind eye number of Coalition MPs declaring they won’t speech it’s impossible to participate in public to neglect of indigenous children.’ Dr Sammut abide by the outcome of a plebiscite on debate. argues that in an over-reaction against the marriage equality. Australian Marriage Stolen Generation controversies of yore, Equality National Director, Rodney Croome What’s happening in Tasmania at the moment, genuine threats to child welfare are now being said ‘A plebiscite was meant to smooth over whereby the Catholic Church has been forced to minimised through a ‘culturally aware’ approach.

(03) 9654 1300 [email protected]

23