Canberra Saving You Time for Six Years

Issue 68 22 October to 19 December, 2014 Letter from Canberra Saving you time for six years. The Christmas Edition

Australians all let us rejoice, for we are young and free; We’ve golden soil and wealth for toil; Our home is girt by sea; Our land abounds in nature’s gifts of beauty rich and rare; In history’s page, let every stage, Advance Australia Fair. In joyful strains then let us sing, Advance Australia Fair.

Inside End of a Big Year ♦ Start of Next Year ♦ G20 Plus Senate Leverage. Jacqui. Etc. ♦ Senator John Fawkner to be missed Union Focus ♦ The Murray Report ♦ Federal push further into state space Budget still in trouble ♦ Five Future Directions for our fine land Uranium to India ♦ Taxes: domestic and international ♦ Trade with China GP7 gone ♦ ANU investment fuss ♦ No to PPLS Some more refugee limitations ♦ Competitive education quality ♦ Tertiary education bill Contact us Affairs of State Letter from Canberra 14 Collins Street A monthly digest of news from around Australia. Melbourne, 3000 Saving you time; now in its sixth year. Victoria, Australia P 03 9654 1300 F 03 9654 1165 Contents Contents [email protected] 3 Editorial 13 Agriculture, cattle & water

Letter From Canberra is a monthly public affairs 3 Governance 13 Media bulletin, a simple précis, distilling and interpreting 5 Labor doings 14 Justice public policy and government decisions, which affect business opportunities in Victoria and 6 Industrial relations & employment 15 Broadband & IT Australia. 8 Business, economy, manufacturing 15 Transport & infrastructure Written for the regular traveller, or people with & finance meeting-filled days, it’s more about business 15 Health 9 Mining opportunities than politics. 16 Education 9 Trade Letter from Canberra is independent. It’s not party 17 Foreign affairs political or any other political. It does not have the 10 Refugees & immigration imprimatur of government at any level. 18 Defence 11 Tax The only communication tool of its type, Letter 19 Sports & arts from Canberra keeps subscribers abreast of recent 12 Tourism developments in the policy arena on a local, state 19 Society and federal level. 12 Climate change, environment & energy Published by A.B Urquhart & Company Pty Ltd trading as Affairs of State.

Disclaimer: Material in this publication is general comment and not intended as advice on any About the editor particular matter. Professional advice should to be sought before action is taken. Alistair Urquhart, BA LLB Alistair Urquhart graduated from the Australian National University Material is complied from various sources in Canberra, in Law, History and Politics. He may even hold the including newspaper articles, press releases, record for miles rowed on Lake Burley Griffin. government publications, Hansard, trade journals, etc. He was admitted as a barrister and solicitor to the Supreme Court of Victoria, and remains a (non-practicing) member of the Law Copyright: This newsletter is copyright. No part Institute of Victoria. Previously, he graduated from high school in may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by Bethesda, Maryland, and had many opportunities to become aware any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, of the workings of Washington D.C. recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission from the publisher. For 30 years, he listened every Sunday evening to the late Alistair Cooke and his Letter from America. Alistair’s early career was mostly in the coal industry, where he became Affairs of State respects your privacy. While we involved with energy, environmental and water issues, and later in the SME finance sector. do believe that the information contained in Letter from Melbourne will be useful to you, please advise us if you do not wish to receive any further He found time to be involved in a range of community activities where he came to understand some of the practical communications from us. aspects of dealing with government and meeting people across the political spectrum. He now chairs a large disability employment service, including its British operations. Edited words in this edition: 23,107 Cover: Australia House, London, by Ronnie Macdonald About the publisher Affairs of State Established in 1993, is an independent Australian public affairs firm with contemporary international connections. Staff Affairs of State provides a matrix of professional tools to multinational businesses, professional and industry Editor associations, government agencies, pressure groups, NGOs and community causes in Australia and abroad. Alistair Urquhart [email protected] The firm works with many engineering and information technology firms and other professional association and Sub Editor industry groups on a wide range of issues in Victoria, Canberra and overseas. Morgan Squires [email protected] The firm provides the following to clients: Design Cory Zanoni [email protected] - Two monthly publications

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Editorial Corporation to ‘build a canoe’ . This opened up Abbott’s office to take a seat in the Senate or a whole new front of Labor attack on ministe- House of Representatives. Your editor apologises for the distance between rial competence. this edition and the last one. Getting back from No rift London after his ‘public affairs holiday’ was Refresh According to a report in The Age, Foreign Min- quite distracting. Then catching up with sub- The federal government is poised to dump the ister Julie Bishop has strenuously denied there scribers and clients and zeroing in on just what $7 Medicare charge and water down its paid pa- is any friction between her and Prime Minister is possibly happening in Canberra, behind the rental leave scheme as it seeks to clear itself of Tony Abbott’s chief of staff Peta Credlin, de- scenes, let alone in the media (s). It has been a problems before Christmas and begin the new scribing their relationship as ‘very professional, big few months in Canberra year on the front foot. According to the Finan- close and very good.’ And at the same time watching the fabulous cial Review, other contentious budget meas- Comedy Media play out in Victoria along with ures, including the higher education deregula- Six of the best the help of a few folk who seemed to slow tion, still the subject of furious negotiation with In the Herald Sun, six Coalition up and com- down some more energetic folk in some elec- the Senate crossbench, are under a cloud be- ers were being spruiked to give portfolio du- torates and the converse in other electorates. cause the government is determined to rid itself ties. They included Kelly O’Dwyer, Dan Tehan, of damaging issues it feels it cannot resolve. Alan Tudge, Darren Chester, Josh Frydenberg So we have a dis/un/unified group of Victori- and Scott Ryan. ans running that state, and copying the narrow After taking the back down proposals to cabi- group (s) who are running (?) the wider Austral- net and the outer-ministry, Tony Abbott told Deserting ian scene. his MPs the past year had been difficult and, at times, tumultuous, but there was reason to be According to a Fairfax/Ipsos poll, Bill Shorten Overall, perhaps Australia’s Future is a bit of optimistic about the next 18 months. Eager to has leapt ahead of Tony Abbott as preferred a mess. start 2015 free of baggage, he told a meeting of prime minister and is now regarded by voters Liberal MPs, and then a subsequent joint meet- as stronger, more trustworthy and more compe- Am feeling a little patriotic and sad as I write ing of Liberal and Nationals MPs, there were tent. According to Michael Gordon in The Age: these words, hence The Cover. Australia House, ‘one or two barnacles on the ship but by Christ- ‘This constitutes the worst start to any govern- London. The present Australian High Commis- mas they will have been dealt with’. ment since 1972, which explains why we are sioner is former federal government minister starting to see signs of internal tensions.’ Alexander Downer. His father also held that Senior government sources said pragmatism position was now a key motive and there was no point Disgruntled persisting with measures that were hurting the The Coalition is ‘not a happy family’ and there A bit longer than usual. Merry Christmas and a government and which had no hope of passing is a ‘shitload of room for improvement’ say Happy New Year. the Senate. government MPs, who confess to being in the dark on the future of the government’s contro- Governance At the Beach versial GP co-payment and a mooted cabinet On the Home Front In The Age, Michael Gordon wrote: ‘The re-shuffle, because those decisions are central- Something has snapped in federal politics re- question for Tony Abbott to ponder over the ised in the Prime Minister’s office. According cently as the distractions of foreign policy Christmas break is why, if his government has to a report in The Age: ‘We are not all a happy ventures fade and the final week of parliamen- delivered so substantially on its election com- family ... you’re going to have to ask people tary sittings loomed with no end to the budget mitments, it is being rated so harshly by the outside the backbench what’s happening with impasse in sight. Prime Minister Tony Abbott electorate. Back in February, the Coalition had any of the policy decisions, because there is found himself defending the indefensible, or a two-party preferred lead of four points, Ab- very little inclusion,’ said one disgruntled back- the already mortally-wounded, on three differ- bott’s approval rating was only just in negative bencher. ‘We usually read about it in the papers. ent fronts, according to the Financial Review. territory (minus-two) and he had a 10-point Is there resentment? Of course there is.’ lead over Bill Shorten as preferred prime minis- First, the government’s budget strategy is dead, ter. The reason? Voters viewed the May budget Split decisions a seriously ex-parrot, and we are left just going as unfair and a breach of trust. To the extent that Treasurer Joe Hockey will fight a proposal to through the excruciating process of seeing how Abbott has given an explanation for the broken shelve the Medicare co-payment as it emerged it is brought to account in next month’s mid- promises, the electorate hasn’t bought it.’ he was among several members of cabinet year budget review. unaware of the move. Despite the decision to Musings shelve the unpopular $3.6 billion budget meas- Secondly, the prime minister’s credibility has In The Age, Tom Allard wrote: ‘After almost been shattered, not just by a series of broken ure as part of Tony Abbott’s strategy to rid his five years of doggedly defending his paid pa- government of ‘barnacles’ and start next year promises that have emerged through the year rental leave scheme, Tony Abbott’s backflip but by what one of his own backbenchers de- afresh, Hockey vowed to press ahead with the on the signature policy was as meek as it was policy. scribed as Abbott’s ‘verbal gymnastics’ in try- messy.’ ing to suggest that he had not broken any prom- Angry backbench ises. The cut to ABC funding has crystallised Musings voter disgust at such gymnastics. According to Janet Albrechtsen in The Austral- Frustrated backbench MPs have blocked an ian, ‘The PM has to stop his own side kicking attempt to fast-track the Abbott government’s Finally, the only thing that stopped an increas- own goals.’ $20 billion medical research future fund in a ingly confident attack by the Opposition on the show of strength amid growing despair at the collapsing edifice of the budget bottom line and Not ruled out way their leaders are communicating their eco- the Prime Minister’s trust deficit with voters The Prime Minister’s chief of staff appears to nomic strategy. According to The Australian, was the spontaneous combustion of Defence be keeping the option of a career in politics the Coalition’s economics committee refused to Minister David Johnston when he declared that alive, following speculation within the Liberal approve a draft bill to set up the controversial he would not trust the Australian Submarine Party that Peta Credlin will leave a role in Tony fund in a blunt signal to ministers that it would

3 Letter from Canberra not ‘rubber-stamp’ fresh ideas after seeing the Hockey revealing that the 2013-14 budget defi- Two crossbench senators, Bob Day and David government struggle to argue for its existing re- cit was $30 billion bigger than expected. Leyonhjelm – invited Senator Lambie to con- forms. The rare move came as government MPs sider forming a new balance of power alliance lashed out at the confusion surrounding some It means the Australian government has lost with them after Mr Palmer called her a ‘drama of the government’s budget reforms — such as $80 billion in potential tax revenue for the years queen’ and expelled her Chief of Staff from the the $7 GP co-payment — and admitted the mis- between 2004 and 2013, thanks to aggressive PUP. takes made in explaining an ambitious policy tax minimisation strategies used by Australia’s agenda. biggest companies. Go it alone Polling According to The Australian, Jaqui Lambie has Musings become so estranged from the PUP that she no In The Age, Mark Kenny wrote: ‘Tony Abbott’s The first Fairfax Ipsos nationwide poll shows longer plans on attending party room meetings. refusal to acknowledge his own pre-election Tony Abbott and Opposition Leader Bill Short- promise to insulate the ABC from funding cuts en are now tied as preferred prime minister, Lambie’s departure got the ball rolling. A partial retreat came even- but, worryingly for the government, three key According to The Age, Clive Palmer has wel- tually, where the original promise was conced- planks of its policy reform agenda are deeply comed Jacqui Lambie’s resignation from the ed but the obvious breach was re-badged as an unpopular with voters. According to The Age, Palmer United Party, describing it as a ‘good efficiency dividend (whatever nonsense that is). a whopping 64 per cent of voters opposed de- outcome’ and one which ‘pre-empted’ any regulating the setting of university fees, with move by the party to force her out. Meanwhile, the Defence Minister David John- just 28 per cent in favour. ston had stopped deliberately short of saying Forty per cent of voters supported Mr Abbott’s Leaving. On a jet plane. “sorry” after attacking Australian Submarine signature paid parental leave scheme and 54 Outspoken Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie is Corporation’s integrity and shipbuilding prow- per cent opposed it. And 41 per cent of voters set to make the government’s dealings with the ess - and yet the Prime Minister defended his backed a rise in the GST in exchange for in- Senate more complicated by quitting the Palmer minister’s statement of “regret”, as if the two come tax cuts – an idea that came into sharp United Party, stripping Clive Palmer of his role words are synonymous.’ focus last week as Mr Abbott called for a debate as kingmaker of government policy. According Off the Field about the federation and tax system – while 52 to the Financial Review, that could complicate per cent opposed the idea. the government’s legislative agenda, said Lib- According to The Age, Bronwyn Bishop is eral Democrat senator David Leyonhjelm, who more liberal with the standing order that sends November mostly votes with the government. MPs out for an hour than a sunbather with a In The Australian, editor-at-large Paul Kelly bucket of coconut oil on a summer’s day. Mad- wrote: ‘The focus on security comes at the ex- Senator Lambie has been part of a four-member am Speaker is well known of course for sending pense of budget repair. The Abbott government voting bloc aligned to PUP. It only takes three MPs - mostly Labor ones - from the chamber. is consumed with national security issues and minor party votes to defeat legislation if Labor She has kicked out more people in one year as laws, a new war in Iraq and daily prime min- and the Greens also oppose it. Senator Lam- speaker than old Harry Jenkins did in three. isterial messages on security – but it is lost for bie’s defection would splinter the crossbench, Recently however, Madam Speaker outdid her- any parallel narrative on the bigger issue of the forcing the government to negotiate with an self, booting 18 members of Team Shorten in economy and the budget.’ even more complex array of disparate parties 55 minutes. Her previous daily record was a and potential pairings. piddly 12. Costello’s Senate appearance Palmer in QLD G20 Former Liberal treasurer Peter Costello is set to make a return to federal parliament and appear According to The Australian, Clive Palmer According to The Age, the topic for discussion before a Senate hearing in his capacity as Chair has lost all political representation within the at the G20 summit were: Energy, finance regu- of the Future Fund. According to The Age, Queensland parliament after Carl Judge re- lation, anti-corruption, development, employ- Greens Senator Larissa Waters has requested signed from the party. ment, trade, tax, reforming global institutions, Mr Costello appear to explain a column he re- Palmer’s probe growth strategies and investment and infra- cently wrote for News Corp on which he criti- structure. cised the ANU’s decision to divest its share- The Greens have outmanoeuvred Clive Palmer holdings belonging to resources companies. and Labor will use the Palmer-initiated Senate Run down inquiry into the Queensland government to ex- According to The Australian, some key points Cattle Class amine the environmental impact of the federal from the summit include: 800 new commit- In The Australian, Phillip Hudson wrote: ‘Tony MP’s own coal holdings and polluting nickel ments from G20 nations designed to lift growth Abbott’s changes to the Life Gold Pass travel refinery. by 2.1 per cent by 2018; a global infrastructure scheme for retired MPs are far more dramatic Meanwhile, according to The Australian, hub will tackle a $70 trillion gap in infrastruc- than the public and many politicians realise. Campbell Newman plans to use the Senate in- ture needs by 2030; G20 nations have commit- In the May budget, the government axed the quiry into his government to revive attacks on ted to bring more than 100 million women into lifetime status of the Gold Pass, which imme- previous Labor governments, Opposition Lead- the workforce; reforms aim to force business to diately abolished free business class domestic er Annastacia Palaszczuk and Clive Palmer. pay fair share of tax in the country where it is air travel for 100 former MPs while other poli- earned. ticians who had qualified for the entitlement Pouring in the dollars would have their retirement jet setting severely Climate agenda Clive Palmer’s move into politics has been ex- curbed. Instead, former ministers, presiding of- pensive, with the businessman and politician’s Prime Minister Tony Abbott has insisted jobs ficers and opposition leaders will get ten return private companies pouring almost $26 million and economic growth, not ‘what might happen trips a year for six years while long serving into his fledgling party in the latest financial in 16 years’ time’ on climate change were in backbenchers will get five return trips for three year. But political donation records, supplied front and centre at the G20 summit in Brisbane, years.’ to the Electoral Commission Queensland by the even as senior US officials said climate change Palmer United Party and the federal MP’s web was an issue for the global economy. Fighting back of companies, are missing $6m that was handed According to the Herald Sun, a group of for- Post G20 review over to the party in the lead-up to last year’s mer MPs is fighting the removal of the lucra- federal election. Leaders from the world’s 20 largest economies tive Gold Card, which provides retired MPs and have committed to historic levels of coopera- their wives a lifetime of free travel. The Asso- The $6m was drawn by Palmer in August last tion and transparency in a bid to dramatically ciation of Former Members of the Parliament of year from the operating accounts of a West Aus- raise growth, lift millions of people out of pov- Australia has written a ten page submission to tralian port and funnelled to the PUP through erty, and propel up to 100 million women into a Senate inquiry. one of his companies, Cosmo Developments. the worldwide workforce for the first time. Another one gone Power Places Budget deadlock According to the Herald Sun, Victoria’s rookie According to The Australian, Labor’s victory in More than $20 billion of budget measures re- Motoring Enthusiast Party senator Ricky Muir, two NSW by-elections has given it the advan- main deadlocked in the Senate, more than has hit another speed bump, losing his second tage on incumbency in the general election next four weeks after the federal government tried chief of staff in three months. March, but the result showed it still has a way to reboot the national argument by declaring to go to retain the confidence of voters. Quens- the bulk of its budget measures locked-in. Ac- Calling out Jacqui land goes to the polls in about April. cording to The Age, the government is still ne- According to a report in The Australian, Clive gotiating with key cross-benchers on some of Palmer’s political party is in turmoil and his Barnett its most controversial policies – including the hold on the Senate power under threat after he After six years in the job, West Australian $14 billion social security bills and $2.2 billion called on rogue Senator Jacqui Lambie to chal- Premier Colin Barnett’s popularity is among fuel indexation changes – despite Treasurer Joe lenge him for the leadership. the lowest in Australia. According to The Aus-

4 22 October to 19 December, 2014 Letter from Canberra tralian, polls show Mr Barnett is jostling with munity tensions while debating the head wear. As time goes on Queensland’s Campbell Newman for the title of The woman who accused federal Labor leader Australia’s most unpopular political leader. Muslim women who wear the burqa into Fed- eral Parliament will be banned from watching Bill Shorten of raping her is considering making an official complaint to Victoria’s anti-cor- Our changing federation proceedings from regular public galleries and will be forced to sit in glass enclosures instead. ruption watchdog over the police investigation According to the Herald Sun, WA appears set of the case. Recently Herald Sun published an to get another seat in the federal parliament, Ethics in Government exclusive interview with Kathy, who claims Mr cementing its place as a Coalition stronghold. Shorten raped her at a young Labor conference Australia’s 150 lower house seats are based on Australia’s former top mandarin (public serv- in Portarlington in 1986. The 44-year-old said population, and WA’s strong population growth ant) Terry Moran has warned that political lead- the trauma of what she says happened to her had means it’s likely to gain a 16th seat when the ers should stop trying to manage their ministe- been exacerbated by what she sees as an inad- Australian Electoral Commission reviews the rial departments and get out and build support equate police probe. number of seats each state is entitled to in De- for reform within the community. cember. Labor doings Farewell Stephen Barber, of the Australian Parliamentary The state memorial service for former Prime Library, predicts WA’s new seat will come at the Senate Lion Minister Gough Whitlam, 98, was held Sydney expense of NSW, which would drop down to The Labor Party will lose one of its giants when Town Hall. just 47 seats. John Faulkner quits federal Parliament in the new year after a 25 year career. A minister in the Respect due all round Hmmm Keating, Rudd and Gillard governments, Sena- In The Age, Amanda Vanstone said: ‘Whitlam According to The Australian, the Australian tor Faulkner will step down after Australia Day, would not have booed Abbott and Howard. I Electoral Commission has referred to the federal announcing ‘It’s over and time to go.’ According was therefore surprised to read reports of some police allegations involving 27 voters enrolled to the Herald Sun, the party elder is celebrated sort of booing at the service, directed at John in the electorate of Indi before the September 7 for his tough and probing questions during Sen- Howard and Tony Abbott. One report described election who may have lived elsewhere. ate estimates committees and his guidance has ‘stony silence’ for Kevin Rudd and applause for been sought by many past leaders. Julia Gillard. New CSIRO chief Thomson What an inappropriate display of self-indulgent The country’s peak science and research body rudeness. Did these people think the service was will put more emphasis on work that meets the A judge has warned Craig Thomson she could about them and their views? Did they believe needs of local industry, its new chief executive, increase his prison sentence for theft and fraud the service for Gough was just a vehicle through technology entrepreneur and venture capitalist offences, at the start of the former Labor MP’s which they could let off a bit of pent-up politi- Larry Marshall, has said. According to the Fi- appeal. According to The Australian, Thomson cal hatred? Did they feel they were spectators at nancial Review, Dr Marshall said the Common- was convicted of 65 theft and dishonesty offenc- the Colosseum, invited to jeer and cheer accord- wealth Scientific and Industrial Research- Or es earlier this year relating to his use of Health ing to their passion of the moment? Were they ganisation will be more commercially focused Services Union credit cards to pay for escort thinking this was some sort of horrid reality TV under his leadership. services, personal travel and expenses such as show?’ firewood and cigarettes while he was national “If I wanted to be cute, I would say ‘we’re put- secretary. Magistrate Charlie Rozencwajg sen- At odds ting the ‘I’ back into CSIRO’,” he said after his tenced him to a year in prison with nine months appointment was announced. Former Labor ministers have dismissed the suspended, but Thomson has been on bail ahead thesis advanced by Paul Keating that Bob of his appeal to the Victorian County Court. Fi- Hawke dropped the ball as prime minister and Dysfunction nale Thomson will not go to jail, but will still be According to The Australian, dysfunctional failed to run the government for as long as five fined for overusing his work credit cards to pay years from 1984. Interviewed by the ABC for a government has created a crisis of faith with our for prostitutes. political leadership, with federal government Hawke biographical two-part Australian Story, now the least trusted tier of power and more Mr Keating’s claim that Mr Hawke was politi- ICAC inquiry cally immobilised from 1984 by the news his than one in four Australians convinced democ- Graham Richardson, one of the Labor Party’s racy is not working. daughter Rosslyn had a heroin problem, is re- most enduringly controversial figures, is - em jected by a group of senior ministers. Henderson’s History broiled in a potentially explosive investigation being conducted by the Independent Commis- Hawke’s mates According to Gerard Henderson in The Aus- sion Against Corruption. According to The Age, tralian: ‘Success as the saying goes, has many According to The Australian, Paul Keating dis- the man once known as Senator for Kneecaps missed remarks by former ministers Gareth Ev- fathers. But not always. It’s true that numerous is a “person of interest” to the anti-corruption people played a part in the formation of the ans, Ralph Willis and Kim Beazley in defence Labor Party in the late 19th century. However, body. of Bob Hawke, calling them ‘rusted on mates’. there is a strong case for arguing that the Liberal Slush fund Faceless men Party of Australia was Robert Menzies’ child. The 70th anniversary of the Liberal Party took According to the Herald Sun, the national audi- Labor Party elder John Faulkner has called for place in mid-October. It’s not easy to establish a tor has attacked Labor’s handling of a regional a radical rewrite of the party’s relationship with -national party out of political organisations in slush fund, finding almost half of funds went to the union movement as part of reforms he says various states and the process takes time. projects without a recommendation and money are crucial if the ALP is to lead the way in re- had been withheld from Coalition seats. storing Australia’s faith in politics. According In August 1944, Menzies (in his capacity as leader of the United Australia Party and leader of the opposition) wrote to the supporters of the UAP inviting them to attend a conference at the Masonic Hall in Canberra starting on Friday, October 13, 1944. The in-principle decision to establish the nationwide Liberal Party was made on this day. The conference continued on the Saturday and the Monday (delegates observed the Christian Sabbath) and there was an additional gathering in Albury in December 1944. In February 1945, Menzies formally advised the House of Repre- sentatives that he and his colleagues desired “to be known in future as members of the Liberal Party”. The full details of the new party’s structure were not approved formally until the second half of 1945.’ Evidently Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s most senior adviser, Peta Credlin, has told Liberal National MP George Christensen she is sympathetic to a burqa ban in Parliament House on security grounds, but warned him not to inflame com-

5 Letter from Canberra to the Financial Review, in changes that would ousted the former Napthine government in Vic- CFMEU and its Victorian state secretary, John radically dilute the direct power of union ma- toria — spearheaded by fire fighters, nurses and Setka, to court over its attempts to boycott Boral chines, he called for the practice of factions, paramedics doorknocking in replica uniforms concrete. The Australian Competition and Con- affiliates or interest groups binding parliamen- — and which will now be repeated in a bid to sumer Commission lodged proceedings in the tarians in caucus votes or ballots to be banned. make Tony Abbott a one-term prime minister. Federal Court claiming Mr Setka and the union Luke Hilakari, the secretary of the peak union harassed the concrete supplier and had breached The former Keating and Rudd government min- body in Victoria, Trades Hall, told The Austral- the Competition and Consumer Act. ister said the ‘consensus of trust’ that is crucial ian the strategy would ‘now go nationwide’ and to allowing governments to operate had been be bigger than the Your Rights at Work union Trading hours broken in recent years. campaign that played a role in the defeat of the According to The Australian, the nation’s big- Howard government in 2007. gest union has launched a rearguard action Julia’s musings against plans to abolish bans on shop trading According to Andrew Bolt in the Herald Sun, Legal action hours, setting the scene for a showdown with ‘Julia Gillard would never have become prime According to the Financial Review, the Austral- retail giants. minister had we known then what the royal ian Consumer and Competition Commission commission into union corruption showed us has launched legal action against the construc- Push out unions last week. But even now, Gillard can count on tion union over an alleged black ban on Boral BHP Billiton has urged the Senate to pass the some in the media to go soft on what most of that cost the company $10 million and became government’s proposed restrictions on unions the Canberra press gallery for so long refused a symbol of the legal system’s apparent power- entering workplaces, warning that union con- to even cover. ‘Trade union royal commission lessness over the industry. duct is diverting resources from production and clears Julia Gillard of any crime,’ announced hampering the mining giant’s ability to improve the ABC. Backing down its key coal operations. Well, not quite. Counsel assisting the commis- According to The Age, in a major backdown, sion, Jeremy Stoljar, simply asked royal com- Tony Abbott said he would cut costs from the Seekers scheme missioner Dyson Heydon not to recommend paid parental leave scheme so there is more Business groups and job providers warned the Gillard face charges.’ money to invest in childcare. government its now-dumped plan to make job seekers apply for 40 jobs a month would lead Rudd musings Diggers and pollies to ‘spam applications’, ‘burden employers’ According to Denis Shanahan in The Austral- The defence boss earned $370,320 in 2005 and and end the relationship between companies ian: ‘If Rudd was bonkers, why did Labor stick he now rakes in $764,000 a year or $14,692-a- and job connection agencies. According to The with him for so long? The former prime min- week compared with a Warrant Officer Class Age, a jobs provider also predicted an added ister’s erratic behaviour was evident to party 1 who was on $58,674 in 2005 and who now abandoned plan to make front-line staff decide insiders in the late 1980’s. The argument also earns $85,753 a year or $1649-a-week. Service whether to punish job seekers who failed to contradicts what many said at the time and what chiefs are paid $512,000-a-year or $9846-a- front for appointments could increase the risk of many believe now.’ week. A backbench politician earned $111,150 ‘aggressive behaviour’ towards staff. The fierce in 2005 and is paid $195,130-a-year or $3752-a- backlash prompted a government retreat on the Israel split week today. This included a massive one-off 31 proposal. per cent increase to $185,000 in March 2012. According to Graham Richardson in The Aus- According to The Australian, the federal gov- tralian: ‘A call to recognise Palestinians has ernment has revealed its final plan for the $5.1 split Labor’s Right.’ Ditch Fair Work Employment laws needs to be rewritten to dra- billion job placement system that will be rolled matically reduce the number of officials making out next year, after receiving 60 submissions in Expecting response to its contentious draft. According to the Herald Sun, Labor MP Kate decisions about workplace disputes, the peak Ellis is expecting a child with her husband, jour- body for human resources professionals says. Tender nalist David Penberthy. According to the Financial Review, in comments designed to put pressure on the govern- The federal government recently released the Request for Tender for Employment Services Palmer popular ment, Australian Human Resources Institute president Peter Wilson said the Fair Work Act for 2015-20, and invited bid from organisations According to Andrew Bolt in the Herald Sun: and the Fair Work Commission were outdated. that have the capacity and determination to help ‘Clive Palmer has already used his Palmer Unit- more job seekers find and keep a job. ed Party senators to help repeal the carbon tax, He said the number of commissioners should be saving his businesses up to $6 million a year. He cut from 60 to no more than a dozen. A smaller Learn or earn has used his senators to vote against the min- number of decision makers would help limit in- A bipartisan parliamentary committee has found ing tax, making his coal interests more valuable. consistencies, he said. the federal government’s proposed ‘learn or One of Palmer’s top executives even warned his earn’ budget measure would breach Australia’s Chinese partner, Citic Pacific, to back off its le- Inquiries human rights obligations if implemented. But a gal case accusing Palmer of dishonestly taking The Transport Workers Union has launched government senator has blasted the approach of $12 million, reminding them they were taking an assault on the legitimacy of the royal com- applying human rights to budget measures and on “Australia (sic) fourth largest political party mission into union corruption, branding it an says it is a corruption of the very term ‘human of which our chairman is leader”. (Palmer de- ‘unhealthy conservative political polemic’ to rights’. nies dishonesty.) satisfy a predetermined outcome sought by the federal government. According to The Austral- No place for unions Palmer, in his furious court battle with Citic Industry superannuation funds should have ma- over disputed port and royalty payments, also ian, James Glissan QC, the TWU’s legal counsel, told royal commissioner Dyson Heydon QC jority independent boards and the $300 billion exploited his new status as a political leader to sector should be ‘de-unionised’, leading com- attack “Chinese mongrels” who “shoot their that the inquiry had uncovered no evidence of systematic corruption by his client or the union pany director Mark Johnson has said. A former own people” and “want to take over our ports Macquarie Bank deputy chairman and Westfield and get our resources for free”.’ movement generally that required ‘legislative interference’. director, Mr Johnson said he agreed with a pro- Industrial relations & employment posal the financial system inquiry is considering Massive fines that would recommend majority independent Employment rate Australia’s competition watchdog has launched boards for industry funds. According to the Herald Sun, Australia’s un- a major lawsuit against the construction union Too ill employment rate has hit a 12 year high as the and its senior officials over an alleged $10-mil- The national leadership of the Heath Services cracks in the nation’s economy spread. lion boycott of concrete company Boral. Ac- Union has warned it will seek a legal guardian cording to The Age, the embattled Construction, Real cost to handle Kathy Jackson’s affairs after her treat- Forestry, Mining and Energy Union is alleged ing psychiatrist testified she was incapacitated According to The Age, Australians are feeling to have masterminded a secondary boycott of due to mental health issues. According to The the effects of a sluggish national economy with Boral’s products that froze the company out Australian, Ms Jackson had been due to face new figures revealing a sharp rise in the social of most high-rise work in Melbourne. Senior a civil trial next month on allegations she mis- and economic cost of unemployment. union officials, including state secretary John appropriated hundreds of thousands of dollars Setka and assistant secretary Shaun Reardon, from the union in her role as national secretary. Volunteer army are named in the lawsuit as alleged leaders of The ACTU has vowed to use its two million the boycott. Lied about expenses members to build an ‘army of volunteers con- According to the Financial Review, Kathy Jack- cerned about the Coalition’s attack on our living War on unions son, the union official who blew the whistle on standards’. According to a report in The Aus- According to a report in the Herald Sun, Aus- former MP Craig Thomson, could potentially be tralian, the unprecedented union campaign that tralia’s competition watchdog will take the charged with fraud herself for tricking a cancer

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27 28 29 30 31 Letter from Canberra hospital in a pay claim settlement. hold items, electronics, clothing and footwear in cial system architecture that worked: a special- October, although the rate of growth across all ist bank and insurance regulator, APRA, a spe- Card misuse retail categories slowed to 0.4 per cent from an cialist companies and markets regulator, ASIC, Controversial unionist Kathy Jackson allegedly unusually high 1.3 per cent in September. and a central bank that acted as the gatekeeper used union credit cards to misappropriate more of the financial system and the economy. Wallis than $660,000 for her own expenses including Taking on the banks wasn’t the only thing Australia had going for it airline tickets, boutique hotel rooms and upmar- Treasurer Joe Hockey says he is prepared to during the 2007-09 global crisis. ket dinners while on a series of lavish overseas take on powerful interests in the financial ser- holidays. vices industry to boost Australians’ retirement The Murray Inquiry’s final report is expected to incomes and increase competition in the bank- be released by the government on December 7, Wrong figures and the big banks expect it to recommend that ing sector following the release of the govern- they underpin their home lending books with The Australian Bureau of Statistics has dumped ment’s financial systems inquiry. According to more balance-sheet capital, to reflect the grow- the way in which it reports jobs figures after The Age, the inquiry recommended a series of ing share of home loans on their lending books, conceding its most recent figures were wrong. changes to strengthen bank balance sheets that the growing share of loans to investors in their According to The Australian, from October the the finance industry has claimed could push up home loan portfolios, and the risks they face if bureau will report unadjusted labour market the costs of home loans. housing prices turn down sharply. statistics because the seasonal behaviour usually seen from July to September was no longer Post sliding Lambie’s spanner discernable. Australia Post says the challenges confronting The about-face by maverick senator Jacqui the government-owned business remain “real Gillard’s comments Lambie in deciding to vote down the -Coali- and imminent” and has signalled profit growth tion’s proposed Future of Financial Advice According to The Age, Julia Gillard’s legal team in parcels may have offset spiralling losses in amendments was greeted with joy by consumer says derogatory comments about her conduct its letter business for the last time after posting advocates but has thrown the financial advisory as a young lawyer ‘lack of substance’ and her a steep fall in full-year profit. According to The industry into confusion and disarray. testimony should be believed about that of other Ausrtalian, in the year to June 30, Australia Post witnesses. delivered a net profit after tax of $116.2 million, Mark Rantall, chief executive of the Financial a 34.5 per cent slide on the $177.4m in 2013. Planning Association of Australia, said the re- According to The Australian, Julia Gillard has versal of Coalition regulations that have been in formally asked the union corruption inquiry to How many steps tooo far place since June 30 would ‘have a catastrophic ‘give significant weight to (her) good character effect across the entirety of the financial servic- and reputation’ and urged it to reject evidence The growth of private label products on the supermarket shelves is impacting on supplies industry, which is one of the largest employ- she received wads of cash from a corrupt union ers of people in Australia’. boss boyfriend. ers, who are suffering as Coles and Woolworths push into new markets. According to The Age, He said the disallowance motion that was tabled Musings more than 30 per cent of the bread and bakery yesterday to unwind the regulations ‘has the po- In The Australian, Brad Norrington wrote: items now sold in Australian supermarkets are tential to put the entire financial services indus- ‘The inquiry into union corruption has saved private label products. try immediately into breach of the law’. its blowtorch for small fry. Will an extension A confidential IRI-Aztec report on Australian net the big fish? Exactly who asked whom for grocery sales for the 2013-14 financial year re- Toyota sites a 12-month extension of the Abbott govern- veals that growth of private label products has Toyota has announced a major shake up of its ment’s royal commission – more than doubling affected a number of large suppliers of Austral- Australian operations at 4.30pm tomorrow as its originally allotted time – is likely to remain ia’s supermarkets. the company prepares for life after manufactur- a matter of debate. It hasn’t escaped observers ing. According to the Herald Sun, the future of that the reporting time of an inquiry so obvi- Treasury musings the manufacturing plant in Altona and the com- ously politically tined because of its potential to In The Age, Ross Gittins wrote: ‘One of Tony pany’s Port Melbourne head office are under a harm the Labor Party has suddenly been pushed Abbott’s first acts on becoming Prime Minister cloud. back to the 2016 federal election campaign. For was to sack the secretary to the Treasury, Dr all the rich material, the royal commission has Martin Parkinson. Parkinson’s crime was to be- Start ups often fallen flat.’ lieve, as did the government he had been serv- According to The Australian, start-up compa- ing, that we need to take effective action against nies will be able to offer discounted shares and Business, economy, manufacturing climate change. Abbott also sacked Parkinson’s options to their employees without them incur- & finance obvious successor at Treasury, Blair Comley, ring an immediate tax hit as the government re- Murray musings for the same crime. verses a crackdown implemented by Labor four years ago. In The Age, Elizabeth Knight wrote: ‘The Fi- It was a disgraceful, vindictive way to treat nancial Services Inquiry is truly far reaching. loyal and proficient public servants. But Parko’s Global hit The new model former banker David Murray departure from Treasury was delayed, first so he Global economic woes will force the federal puts forward will affect every Australian. If you could help the new government prepare its first government to cut its budget outlook as Joe own a credit card, have a loan, a bank deposit, budget and then because his experience was Hockey insists on making ‘realistic’ forecasts in superannuation, an insurance policy or own sorely needed to help Abbott and Joe Hockey response to factors out of his control. Accord- shares in a bank, the tentacles will touch your prepare to chair the G20 meeting. But the time ing to a report in The Australian, the mid-year financial position. for his departure has finally arrived and recently budget update will take a hit from slowing world The massive overhaul of the Australian finan- he gave one of the last of many speeches during growth and falling commodity prices in another cial system is aimed to act as a bulwark to se- his distinguished career.’ sign of the government’s budget challenge amid cure the system in the event of a future shock a stand-off in the Senate over its reforms. The such as the global financial crisis. It seeks to Deficit Treasurer said the government would have to iron out many of the competitive inequities in The federal government’s budget deficit could rewrite the forecasts to account for lower prices the system that disadvantage smaller regional blow out by billions of dollars more than al- for iron ore and coal. banks and acknowledge that the digital revolu- ready expected, according to an analysis by G20 thoughts tion is changing the financial landscape, usher- the Parliamentary Budget Office. According In the Financial Review, David Thodey and ing in new entrants that need to be accommo- to The Age, the PBO has released an analysis Andrew Mackenzie, CEOs of Telstra and BHP dated within the regulatory framework. of the ‘sensitivity’ of three main drivers of the Billiton respectively, wrote: ‘Infrastructure hub The inquiry has also exposed a structurally de- Australian economy that are key to the govern- will boost projects’ and ‘trade reforms will cre- ficient superannuation system that is expensive ment’s medium-term budget projections. Those ate jobs.’ for the consumer and lacks competition.’ key drivers are labour productivity growth, the labour force participation rate, and the terms of Growth risks Kicking Joe trade. According to the Financial Review, the Austral- In The Age, former Howard government min- ian government says it has restored purpose to ister Amanda Vanstone said: ‘It’s wrong to Rainy day fund the Group of 20 with the five-year economic suggest Treasurer Joe Hockey is the problem. According to Malcolm Maiden in The Age: ‘a growth agenda which, if implemented in full, Why won’t lazy journalists tell the real story? year ago when Joe Hockey appointed David would boost global growth beyond the original Hockey’s critics don’t have an alternative pro- Murray to lead a “root and branch” review of the target of a 2 per cent increase over five years. posal. They are either vacuous empty policy financial system for the first time in 16 years, he However, the government conceded Australia vessels or they are still in love with Mary Pop- raised the risk that governments always take on may not meet its own part of the bargain if pins.’ when they launch an inquiry without knowing budget and other measures fail. Defying the gloom where it will lead. Westpac changes Australians continued to spend more on house- The Wallis Report in 1996 had resulted in finan- Recently Gail Kelly resigned as CEO of West-

8 22 October to 19 December, 2014 Letter from Canberra pac Bank. New Westpac CEO Brian Hartzer is constructed about 600 gas wells north of Roma came from contributors in 2013. aged 47 and was born in America. in southern Queensland. The company now owns 42,000 hectares of rural land; its main $1 stamps? Murray plea stations are Spring Water and Waddy Brae. The price of stamps could hit as much as $1 According to The Australian, the major banks a letter under a radical plan by Australia Post have stepped up their lobbying against more Investing to arrest $328 million in losses on letters, as onerous capital rules amid mounting fears that In the Financial Review, David Knox wrote: the community stops sending mail. According the Murray financial system inquiry and G20 ‘Boycotting energy sector makes little sense to the Financial Review, Australia Post chief meeting will ignore the industry’s pleas for a for today’s investors. Companies like Santos executive Ahmed Fahour has asked Communi- halt to more regulation. are part of the climate change solution. cations Minister Malcolm Turnbull to present a rescue package to Cabinet before Christmas, AS noted just above People about Town including a two-tiered system for mail and flex- According to The Australian, ANZ chief Mike According to The Australian, the Myer family ible pricing for delivery services. Smith has confirmed banks may raise the cost is restructuring its multi-billion-dollar invest- of loans to homeowners and businesses should ment empire, including rebranding its prestig- FIRB regulators follow through with mooted strict ious family office and appointing an external According to the Financial Review, a sweep- new capital rules, upping the regulation ten- chairman and board for the first time in its ing overhaul of enforcement and penalties to sion surrounding the Murray Inquiry and G20 history as part of a fresh assault on the private halt illegal offshore property buyers, and an ap- meeting. wealth market. plication fee and a national register for foreign purchases will be among the key recommen- Financial Services Council change House prices dations of a parliamentary review of foreign High-profile lobby group the Financial Servic- Australia and New Zealand Banking Group investment. es Council, which represents the big retail su- chief executive Mike Smith says home buyers per funds and life insurers, has hired corporate should heed warnings that house prices can fall Councils are soo good affairs executive Sally Loane as its new chief and has unexpectedly said he is not worried Supermarkets could face fines of thousands of executive. According to the Financial Review, about the prospect of central bank intervention dollars for failing to keep control of their shop- Ms Loane, a former broadcaster and journalist, to curb lending. ping trolleys. According to the Herald Sun, is currently director of media and public affairs by-laws proposed by a southeastern Melbourne at Coca-Cola Amatil, one of Australia’s top Five sectors suburban council would compel retailers own- 50 companies. She will replace outgoing FSC The federal government has pegged Australia’s ing more than 25 trolleys to have coin-deposit boss John Brogden, who is due to take the helm economic future to what it believes are the or wheel-lock systems to prevent theft. at the Australian Institute of Company Direc- five strongest sectors of the economy, closing tors in January. the door on the era of industry protection. Ac- Mining cording to the Financial Review, The Industry Hi-tech Hockey after help Innovation and Competitiveness Agenda con- According to The Australian, banks and big tained 17 measures worth about $400 million. The mining industry needs to adopt more au- investors are being asked to help finance a gov- tomation to be competitive, even if it means ernment plan to unleash trillions of dollars of They range from the reintroduction of em- fewer jobs, and the resource sector is not in- infrastructure spending as Joe Hockey seeks ployee share schemes to enable ‘clever people vesting enough in cutting-edge technology, ac- firms commitments from chief executives for a to get involved in start-up businesses’ to the cording to a survey of leading industry execu- deal to be done at the G20 summit. establishment of five ‘Industry Growth - Cen tives. According to The Australian, the survey tres’ to support each high-priority sector. The conducted by Hall & Partners Open Mind of Rated poor growth centres will support food and agribusi- 105 senior managers in industries related to the The federal government’s rating has taken a ness; mining technology and services; oil, gas resources sector found more than half of those dive among company directors who have as- and energy resources; medical technology and surveyed believed the mining industry needed sessed the Coalition’s performance in its first pharmaceuticals; and advanced manufacturing, more automation, despite the associated impact year in office. According to the Financial Re- by linking them with research sector. upon employment. view, an Australian Institute of Company Di- rectors survey said that confidence in the Coali- Crowdfunding Ore slump tion had slumped to its lowest since its election Small Business Minister Bruce Billson is the According to the Financial Review, the Aus- in September 2013. latest cabinet minister to publicly back the need tralian public will become painfully aware of for crowdsourced equity funding, declaring just what (iron ore price shocks) mean when Women on the agenda himself an advocate for the investment model. Joe Hockey releases the mid-year economic According to The Australian, world leaders are According to The Australian, crowdfunding and fiscal outlook in December. negotiating a major pledge to be unveiled with- has proved to be a success overseas as a means in weeks to break down barriers facing millions for technology and other start-ups to raise Graft probe of women as Tony Abbott puts the social and funds from a large pool of retail investors. The Australia’s biggest company, BHP Billiton, has economic reform on The Agenda at the G20 government is looking at ways to legalise the indicated it is close to settling a long-running summit in Brisbane. practise in Australia and is expected to give it corruption probe by US regulators. BHP has the green light in a highly anticipated paper on been under investigation by the United States Deficit to soar industry innovation and competitiveness. Securities and Exchange Commission since Joe Hockey has conceded that his budget is 2009 over claims it breached anti-corruption in trouble, with revenue again failing to meet Cochlear rules by providing corporate hospitality to Treasury forecasts but he says he is not going According to The Australian, the boss of one government officials at the Beijing Olympic to try to plug the blowout in the deficit with of Australia’s most lauded innovations – the Games. cochlear, or bionic, ear – has backed the Coali- fresh spending cuts for fear of damaging busi- According to The Age, there have been sepa- ness and consumer confidence. tion’s industry agenda, saying it will encourage a ‘smart Australia’. Chris Roberts said it was rate claims surrounding BHP’s handling of an According to The Australian, the Treasurer a ‘huge win’ that the government would allow exploration permit, which is believed to be a said the midyear budget update, to be released products to be accepted in Australia without bauxite project in Cambodia that is no longer next month, would show the impact of iron ore having to repeat a costly regulatory approvals under development by the company. prices falling much further than his department process already done overseas. had forecast, but that further action to close the Trade deficit would have to wait until the economy Sydney Institute Industry cuts key was stronger. ‘We are not going to turn our Accounts for the Sydney Institute lodged with Joe Hockey has linked the government’s tough mid-year budget into a mini-budget,’ he said. the corporate regulator provide an intriguing line on industry assistance to its success in ‘We are not going to go down the path of trying glimpse inside Gerard Henderson’s tax-exempt signing free-trade agreements with China, to make up lost ground immediately.’ dining club. According to The Age, Henderson, South Korea and Japan. According to The Aus- who strongly pursues allegation of conflicts of tralian, when Holden and Toyota announced Santos interest in the media, has closely guarded the they would cease manufacturing in Australia, Listed oil and gas company Santos plans to in- identity of the institute’s backers. the government argued its election commit- crease its agricultural land and cattle company ment to cut $500 million in industry assistance Doce over the next few years in line with its The accounts though drop two very big names was not the main reason for the decisions. rapidly progressing $18.5 billion GLNG pro- – Qantas Airways and Telstra Corporation. ject. According to the Financial Review, Doce The pair are described as contributors rather The exit of Holden and Toyota, along with has built up at least 3000 head of cattle, 2100 than members. According to the accounts con- Ford, which will cease manufacturing in 2016, hectares of irrigated crops and 1.3 million tributors provide the bulk of the Institute’s total allowed the government to offer tariff reduc- Chinchilla White Gums at the same time it has revenue of about $1.3 million. Some $902,000 tions as part of the FTAs.

9 Letter from Canberra

Uranium exports nesses will be able to invest in Australia with at sea; introducing fast-tracking refugee status The treaty to sell uranium to India will face much less scrutiny under the terms of the free determinations, a step Amnesty International tough scrutiny after the former chief atomic trade agreement. The Foreign Investment Re- says will see some returned to places where watchdog warned the deal lacked safeguards view Board will now only examine Chinese they face persecution and torture; blocking to ensure Australia did not inadvertently fuel private company investments worth more than asylum seekers’ right to claim protection on India’s nuclear bombs. $1 billion, up from the existing $248 million. national interest or character grounds without further explanation. The treaties committee of Parliament must en- Musings dorse the deal, signed by Prime Minister Tony In the Financial Review, Jennifer Hewett Asylum seekers will no longer have access to Abbott in September, before uranium exports wrote: ‘Robb nets a goal for the team. Increas- the Refugee Review Tribunal, which has had can start. But John Carlson, the former chief ing Australian familiarity with China and its the power to correct processing mistakes by the of Australia’s nuclear safeguards organisation, leaders is providing much greater substance to immigration department. Instead, they can ap- has told the committee India’s nuclear weapons the concept of a mutually beneficial partner- ply for a desktop review by a new Immigration program is expanding and has complex links to ship.’ Assessment Authority, though some groups civilian reactors. won’t have access to that either. Address Joko’s warning Ukraine Later, Chinese Premier Xi Jinping said in a According to the Herald Sun, Australia is dis- speech to the federal parliament that the rela- Indonesia’s incoming president has promised cussing selling our uranium to Ukraine to help tionship between the two countries is ready to a tough approach to issues of sovereignty and the eastern European nation secure its nuclear go to another level. issued a blunt warning to Tony Abbott, stating energy industry. President Petro Poroshenko it is unacceptable for the Australian navy to en- revealed the talks during a visit to Melbourne, Refugees & immigration ter Indonesian waters uninvited while turning as part of the first trip to Australia by a Ukrain- back asylum seeker boats. According to The ian leader. Indians in the front Age, with Mr Abbott set to arrive in Jakarta Indian citizens are flocking to Australia to for Joko Widodo’s inauguration, the president- China FTA deal work, beating the once-dominant British ex- elect used his first Australian media interview Australia is preparing to sign a staged trade pats, while the granting of Australian citizen- to demonstrate that the two neighbours have agreement with China to enable Prime Minister ship is at a six-year high, according to migra- closely overlapping strategic interests. Tony Abbott to meet his self-imposed deadline tion figures released this week. According to while leaving more time to resolve disputed is- The Age, the statistics from the Organisation Door shut sues. According to the Financial Review, while for Economic Co-operation and Development Australia has taken its stand against boat arriv- the deal, to be signed in Canberra, would be show there has been 46.6 per cent increase in als to a new level, saying it will no longer reset- ‘comprehensive’ and ‘landmark’, it would be the number of people becoming Australian citi- tle asylum seekers found to be refugees by the structured so as to enable additions over the zens. United Nation’s refugee agency in Indonesia who registered after July 1. According to The years ‘as our relationship and our economies During 2012-13,123,400 pledged to become evolve’. Age, the decision could be wider than this, and citizens of Australia, the highest number since may be applied to all asylum seekers found to According to the Herald Sun, beef and dairy 2011-12, the International Migration Outlook be genuine refugees recommended by UNHCR farmers, wool growers, orchardists and wine report said. in transit countries such as Syria, Iran, Malay- makers are the big winners in the deal, which sia and Iraq. could triple the produce being exported to Chi- Cut down na each year. Australian shoppers are likely to According to The Age, Immigration Minister Although a spokeswoman for Immigration see discounts on Chinese made clothing, shoes, Scott Morrison announced in November that Minister Scott Morrison denied this, Mr Morri- carpets, cars, car parts and tinned fruit. It will Australia would cut its annual intake from In- son has made plain that virtually all of Austral- drive at least $18 billion in extra revenue into donesia from 600 people to 450, and that any- ia’s humanitarian program for people overseas Australia’s economy in the next decade and one arriving after July 1 would not be eligible this financial year will be selected by Australia open a new era in economic co-operation. to apply. The intention, he said, was to ‘drain from countries of first asylum. the pool’ of asylum seekers and refugees in In- But… donesia. For sale According to the Herald Sun, Victoria has seen According to The Australian, Australia’s strug- The policy switch threw asylum seekers into gling coal sector faces further pain after China the greatest influx of wealthy Chinese -inves consternation. Since the boats have stopped, tors looking to fast-track residential visas by announced it would re-introduce import tariffs the vast majority have been waiting on those on the bulk commodity. spending more than $2.1 billion on property few resettlement places. Some now see little investment, business and shares in the past hope but to continue waiting, though they have two years. At least 436 high-wealth Chinese, Optimism broadened their hopes to include settlement in An historic free trade agreement between Aus- and a sprinkling of Hong Kong, South African, countries such as New Zealand, Canada and Japanese and Malay individuals promising to tralia and China looks set to be signed with Germany. Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop more invest at least $5 million each in the Australian ‘optimistic’ than ever that the long sought deal 457 concerns economy have secured residential visas under the new Significant Investment Visa program. will materialise. It comes as security relations According to The Age, more than one in five in the world’s most dynamic and populous re- foreign workers in Australia on a 457 visa are More than half — 221 — now call Victoria gion appeared to warm as the two great north not being paid properly or doing the job they home and the Victorian Government has issued Asian rivals, China and Japan, took the first were brought here to do, according to the latest invitations to another 825 rich individuals to tentative steps towards lowering tensions over audit by the Fair Work Ombudsman. Inspec- invest here. disputed islands in the East China Sea. tions by the Fair Work Ombudsman for July, Saving millions August and September show concerns about New wave of migration salary and occupation at 107 out of 504 work- A second wave of migrants escaping the Greek The Australian dairy industry and Chinese im- places employing such visa holders covered by economic crisis has brought much-needed porters of Australian dairy goods could save the audit. skills to Melbourne and inspired a cultural re- more than $630 million in tariff duties over a newal in the third-largest Greek speaking city, decade, if Australia gets a free trade agreement New powers Melbourne. According to The Age, Greek mi- with China that matches New Zealand’s deal, According to The Age, the government got the gration to Australia had been negligible since according to industry analysis. final vote it needed for the controversial Migra- the post-war wave ended, indeed most traffic Services the winner tion and Maritime Powers Legislation Amend- had been the other way. But since 2010, there ment bill to pass the Senate, 34 votes to 32. The has been a significant surge in the number peo- Australia will secure greater access to Chi- amended legislation was then rushed through ple arriving in Australia from Greece on tem- na’s service sector than any other country has the House of Representatives, which was due porary and permanent visas, including a seven- achieved under a free-trade deal with Beijing, to have its final sitting day of the year, but re- fold increase in people on student visas and a according to Trade Minister Andrew Robb. Ac- turned to pass it into law in just 12 minutes. four-fold rise in family migration. cording to the Financial Review, as the final Along with other recent changes, the bill gives details of the deal are negotiated ahead of an Immigration Minister Scott Morrison unprec- An estimated 8000 people have arrived in Vic- expected signing ceremony in Canberra, the edented powers over Australia’s response to toria since 2010 according to a report released service sector has emerged as a surprise win- asylum seekers. by the Australian Greek Welfare Society. The ner. largest stream – about 60 per cent – has been The changes include: removing any duty for returning Greek Australian expatriates and Green light the government to comply with international their families, including many who left as chil- According to the Herald Sun, Chinese busi- law or act fairly when detaining asylum seekers dren or are Australian citizens by descent.

10 22 October to 19 December, 2014 Letter from Canberra

Migration bill musings ment to cut the corporate tax rate and increase Starving the states According to Malcolm Fraser and Barry Jones the GST, saying ‘a lot of what this debate is Tax reform will be essential if Australia wants in The Age: ‘The government’s proposed leg- about is people saying of government, ‘take to improve health and education and halt a islation on the treatment of refugees and asy- money from the citizenry at large and give it dangerous erosion in state services, according lum seekers is cruel, insidious and unnecessary. to me’.’ to a bipartisan reform plan that throws power- The bill narrows the definition of a refugee. ful support behind Tony Abbott’s call to fix the This makes it easier to send more people back Not up to the job federation. According to The Australian, the to harm, rather than offering them protection. The federal government was warned that the Committee for the Economic Development of This is a particularly insidious step which will Australian Tax Office was ill-equipped to tackle Australia recently stepped up the debate by re- render obsolete decades of legal precedent and a potential multibillion-dollar international tax leasing reform options to give the states a share stack the odds against refugees.’ dodge as it prepared to cut 3000 ATO staff. of income tax revenue, a higher GST or greater land taxes to fund their needs. Under fire New agenda During an often-fiery inquiry into proposed The world’s twenty richest nations have agreed Exposed changes to the Migration Act, Immigration of- to boost their economies by more than $US2 Tax Commissioner Chris Jordan is pursuing a ficials told Labor Senator Jacinta Collins that trillion ($2.3 trillion) over the next five years global investigation of international and Aus- they were working ‘very hard to stand up’ the and to clamp down on tax evasion by forcing tralian companies exposed by one of the biggest Safe Haven Enterprise Visas (SHEVs). Accord- multi-nationals to pay tax to the country in leaks of tax information ever for using Luxem- ing to The Age, there are scant details are about which they earn their profits. bourg to shift profits and avoid tax. According the new five-year visa which will be offered to Tax crackdown to the Financial Review, Jennifer Westacott some of the 30,000 asylum seekers who arrived from the Business Council of Australia said under the Labor government where they will Australia risks losing billions in tax revenues any international tax changes must be weighed be resettled in a rural area and given working from resources sales to Asia if global efforts to against the effect on competition. rights. stop multinational tax avoidance backfire, Wes- farmers chief executive Richard Goyder said. Secret deals Scott Morrison said in September that the gov- The Organisation for Economic Co-operation Directors of the Australian government’s Fu- ernment would introduce SHEVs, which would and Development proposes to change the basis ture Fund as well as PricewaterhouseCoopers, allow asylum seekers to eventually apply for on which profits are taxed, as part of its global anti-avoidance campaign, which will be dis- Macquarie and AMP could be forced to face other onshore visas. At the time, it was under- a Senate inquiry into tax avoidance following stood asylum seekers could eventually be given cussed at next week’s G20 summit. ‘If we sell coal to Japan, is the profit derived in Australia a global investigation into secret tax deals in permanent residency if they fulfil the require- Luxembourg. According to The Age, thousands ments of the other onshore visas. or is the profit derived in Japan?’ said Mr Goy- der, whose company owns some of Australia’s of leaked documents published by the Interna- PM intervenes largest coalmines. tional Consortium of Investigative Journalists on Thursday revealed how Australian and mul- Prime Minister Tony Abbott has sought to hose tinational companies used accounting firm PwC down growing tension in his ranks about who Wages weakness According to a report in The Australian, wage to strike deals in Luxembourg to shift profits controls national security issues, saying they and avoid tax. are ultimately his responsibility. According to growth is the latest headache to trouble the the Financial Review, government ministers budget forecasts, with individual tax payments Corrupt culture have been increasingly exercised in recent unlikely to deliver the $50 billion revenue boost Industry superannuation funds have shrugged weeks by attempts by Immigration Minister Joe Hockey was counting on. The budget is al- off submissions by the counsel assisting the Scott Morrison to build his cabinet responsibili- ready expected to suffer a shortfall on company royal commission into trade union corruption ties at the cost of some of his colleagues. tax as a result of falling mining profits, but the that Cbus’s cosy relationship with the militant softening wage growth will present a second construction union had fostered a ‘cultural fail- Tax threat to the government’s economic plans. ure’ in the $28 billion retirement fund. Accord- ATO nets billions In favour of GST rise ing to the Financial Review, the relationship between industry fund Cbus and the Construc- Thousands of rich Australians have come for- According to the Financial Review, Australia ward to declare billions of dollars in untaxed tion, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union was should raise more revenue from the goods and ‘symbiotic’ and had given rise to serious con- assets and income stashed in bank accounts in services tax and diversify its industries to ride Switzerland and in other countries. According flict-of-interest risks, royal commission lawyer out the end of the mining boom and fragile Jeremy Stoljar, SC, said. to The Age, the rush comes as what the Austral- world economic recovery, managing director ian Taxation office says is the last tax amnesty of the International Monetary Fund Christine Disliked policies it will ever offer comes to an end. Lagarde says. Three unresolved policy proposals – an increased GST, the deregulation of university Costello cautious GST overhaul fees and a more generous paid parental leave According to the Financial Review, Future Tony Abbott’s push for a mature debate on rais- scheme – all face majority opposition among Fund chairman and former federal treasurer Pe- ing the GST to fix the problems of federation voters, the inaugural Fairfax/Ipsos poll has ter Costello warned Australia’s tax base could has stumbled at the first hurdle, after the states found. suffer if it chases foreign multi-nationals for tax rejected any ownership of the proposal and too aggressively, putting him at odds with the federal Labor slammed it as a broken promise Bitcoin hardline message of successor Joe Hockey. that will hit families. According to the Finan- A Senate inquiry will report on a regulatory cial Review, economists backed the call on the framework for bitcoin and other digital cur- Big business slammed grounds it made good policy sense but warned rencies by March. According to the Financial Treasury Secretary Dr Martin Parkinson has the Prime Minister’s pledge to compensate low Review, the inquiry will evaluate the appropri- slammed sections of the business community and middle income earners with tax cuts would ate definition of cryptocurrencies under local for repeatedly calling for the federal govern- hit an already deficit-ravaged budget. tax laws, as well as how Australia will build a

11 Letter from Canberra regulatory framework that balances the needs price and climate change as a future risk, comes to a group of senior British Conservatives. The of a growing digital currency industry and the as Foreign Minister Julie Bishop attends inter- group, including Prime Minister David Camer- broader financial services sector and the econ- national climate talks in Peru. on’s Minister for Energy and a former Thatcher omy. The Senate’s Economic References Com- Minister and chairman of the Conservative Par- mittee, chaired by Labor’s Sam Dastyari, suc- The meeting is designed to narrow down what ty, says Mr Abbot’s position on climate change cessfully moved to start the inquiry. information countries must include in their represents a betrayal of the fundamental ideals plans for post 2020 emission reductions ahead of Conservatism and those of his political hero- Tourism of next year’s Paris summit. ine, Margaret Thatcher. More detail needed Gas hopes G20 speech Australia is withdrawing its membership from According to The Australian, the Queensland the World Tourism Organisation, the United According to The Age, climate change will government will offer a $500 million fund to now be specifically mentioned in the final G20 Nations agency responsible for promoting the develop and commercialise clean fuel alterna- globe’s $7 trillion travel industry, citing the en- communique, including a reference to the re- tives as part of its plan to sell or lease its coal- sponsibility of member nations to take material tity’s high membership costs. The decision to fired power stations and electricity assets. leave the UNWTO, taken by Federal Trade and action. That represents a substantial win for Investment Minister Andrew Robb, provoked An option Barack Obama, who has succeeded in making outrage from the Australian tourism industry. the G20 summit address the issue irrespective Foreign Minister Julie Bishop says nuclear en- of the reluctance of the host. In his speech, Mr With 156 member countries, the UNWTO is the ergy remains an option for Australia – ‘an obvi- Obama said all nations had a responsibility to UN agency responsible for promoting a respon- ous direction’ as the country considers how to act on climate change, and that Australia, in sible, sustainable and universally accessible cut carbon emissions after 2020. particular, faced more aggressive weather in- tourism industry. Australia has been a member Holding hands cluding longer droughts and more wildfires as since 2004 along with China, France, Germany, the planet warmed. Brazil, India and Indonesia. According to The Age, Tony Abbott must already rue the decision to send Trade and Invest- Bleak future Greek or Australian?? ment Minister Andrew Robb to Lima to hold According to a report in the Herald Sun, cli- The Greeks consider themselves the founders Julie Bishop’s hand in international climate mate change is happening, it’s almost entirely of democracy and mathematics. Now they’ve change talks. man’s fault and limiting its impacts may require taken credit for one of Australia’s most recog- Moscow pipeline reducing greenhouse gas emissions to zero this nisable landmarks, the Twelve Apostles. Ac- century, the United Nations’ panel on climate cording to The Age, Greece’s national tourism President Vladimir Putin says Moscow will science has found. The fourth and final volume agency has been caught out using the pictur- stop pursuing a gas pipeline to Europe amid op- of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate esque rock formation to depict the Greek coast- position from the EU and instead build a new Change’s giant climate assessment offered no line in its new international tourism campaign. link to Turkey. surprises, nor was it expected to since it combined the findings of three reports released in The embarrassing blunder has been com- High and dry the past thirteen months. pounded by ‘preposterous’ claims by the Greek According to a report in The Age, Australia’s tourism ministry that the use of the images are new $126 million marine science flagship, RV Grim future too justified because constellations seen in the sky Investigator, has been officially put to work but According to The Age, the UN Intergovernmen- above the apostles on the video ‘carry Greek a funding shortfall means it will be in service tal Panel on Climate Change has produced its names’. for only part of the year. The CSIRO ship is final report before next year’s summit in Par- said to offer Australian scientists a global-level is. The 45 page ‘summary for policy makers’ The controversy erupted after Australian astro- research platform but has been funded by the photographer Alex Cherney discovered that 15 found that: evidence of global warming is ‘un- federal government for only 180 of its 300 days equivocal, and many of the observed changes seconds of footage from his award-winning a year capacity. time-lapse film Ocean Sky had been spliced are unprecedented (in recent history); human without permission into an official Visit Greece Historic deal influence on the climate is clear, and ‘extreme- tourism campaign video. ly likely’ to be the cause of warming since the According to The Australian, the US and China mid-20th century. Canberra have struck a historic pact to reduce carbon pol- lution levels on the eve of the G20, in a break- Musings According to the Herald Sun, Canberra has through that intensifies pressure on world lead- been named as the world’s best city. An OECD In The Australian, Paul Kelly wrote: ‘The or- ers including Tony Abbott to commit to deeper thodoxy has been demolished again in the top- report looked a nine measures of ‘wellbeing’, emissions cuts. and Canberra came out on top. sy-turvy world of climate change politics, with the Abbott government defying a year of predic- Climate change, environment G20 too tions and legislating its incentive-based Direct & energy After much wrangling, the final leaders’ com- Action policy — the task now being to make its muniqué includes a recommendation for na- scheme work. This is a decisive political vic- Lima tions to commit funds to the UN’s Green Cli- tory for Tony Abbott and his Environment Min- The author of the ground-breaking 2006 Stern mate Fund that Tony Abbott opposes. ister, Greg Hunt. The vast policy and political Report into the economics of global warming, investment in the Labor-Greens emissions trad- is backing a push by the United States to ensure Climate and coal ing scheme-carbon tax model has been eclipsed a new global climate agreement is not legally Federal Coalition members are also angry at the for the Abbott-Hunt alternative long ridiculed binding. The legal status of the agreement, set US President’s public intervention in the Aus- by progressive politics as a fraud. to be reached in Paris next year, was one of a tralian climate change debate at the G20, when number of issues that arose in the first week of most of his remarks in the summit’s closed ses- The latest reversal by Clive Palmer and his par- talks at the United Nations climate change con- sion on energy, where the issue was discussed, ty has delighted the Prime Minister, dismayed ference in Lima, Peru. were devoted to US gas supplies and produc- Labor and sent the Greens into paroxysms of tion that have been boosted by coal-seam rage. The wheel of history has turned in two According to The Age, In 2006, Lord Stern gas and shale oil. According to The Austral- stages — the recent repeal of Julia Gillard’s authored The Economics of Climate Change: ian, Tony Abbott told the G20 session that the ETS policy and this week’s kiss of life to Direct The Stern Review that claimed the overall costs “four-fifths” of the developed world that had Action. of climate change would be equivalent to los- used fossil fuels for economic growth could not ing at least 5 per cent of global gross domestic now deny “the other fifth” access to coal to gen- Musings product each year. Launching a new report by erate electricity for the hundred million people In the Financial Review, Laura Tingle wrote: the Grantham Research Institute on Climate who were without it. ‘The US and China have done a climate deal Change and the Environment - of which he is with not mention of an ETS. Instead, it is criti- chairman, Lord Stern said it would be a serious No time cal mass in renewable energy that is doing the mistake to believe that commitments that are According to The Australian, business leaders job. With the ground shifting so quickly, there not legally binding may lack credibility. have warned Group of 20 leaders that there is is scope for the fleet of foot to redraw the cli- ‘no time to waste’ in implementing a new wave mate debate in Australia.’ Not popular of ambitious reforms to add 2.1 per cent to eco- Six out of 10 of Australians think Tony Abbott’s nomic growth. Renewables windfall Direct Action plan in place of the carbon price Australia’s access to relatively cheap wind and is an inadequate policy to address global warm- Flat earther solar energy will eventually give it an advan- ing, according to the latest Fairfax Ipsos poll. The attitude of Prime Minister Tony Abbott to tage in the global competition to process metals The finding, which shows voters distinguish the global challenges of climate change is ‘ec- and manufacture chemicals, according to top between the politically charged former carbon centric’, ‘baffling’ and ‘flat earther’, according economist and prolific forecaster Ross Garnaut.

12 22 October to 19 December, 2014 Letter from Canberra

According to the Financial Review, Professor pendent, transparent’ process for setting its post from one side of Australia to the other. Garnaut will tell the Melbbourne Economic Fo- 2020 targets. The government’s policy, Direct rum that this surprise future will likely emerge Action, will aim to reduce Australia’s emis- Food bowl in the next decade, but only after a long and sions by a target of five per cent over the next According to The Australian, the grand vision painful adjustment and a shift to widespread five years. of northern Australia being rapidly developed use of renewable energy in Australia and with dams and irrigation projects to grow crops around the world. Snowy Hydro to feed Asia has been debunked by a new report The Australian Competition and Consumer from the ANZ Bank. Effects minimal on Aussie coal? Commission has thrown its weight behind the The historic climate deal between the US and privatisation of Snowy Hydro, which it argues Media China may impact Australian coal exports less could create a viable competitor to tackle the than feared, but will put pressure on Australia dominance of the big three energy groups na- Science coverage to toughen its emissions reduction targets do- tionally. The future of science and religious broadcast- mestically. According to the Financial Review, ing at the ABC has been thrown into doubt, China’s announcement that it will cap its total Asbestos following evidence to a Senate committee by carbon emissions by 2030, and introduce its According to the Herald Sun, Bill Shorten has former ABC board member Quentin Dempster. own renewable energy target, could also result demanded an independent analysis of asbestos Dempster, a veteran journalist who has taken in increased consumption of low-emission liq- levels in all home around a deadly factory in redundancy from the broadcaster, told Senate uid natural gas from Australia. Sunshine North in Melbourne’s suburbs. Mr hearings on Friday that a $4 million shortfall Shorten issued his call as the Environmental had emerged in the ABC’s television budget. Blast Protection Agency revealed it didn’t act to or- Direct Action is a “Mickey Mouse” scheme that der the site be cleaned up 15 years after the fac- Content protection falls short of the “real leadership” needed to tory closed. According to a report in The Australian, the tackle climate change, a former adviser to John ABC and SBS could cut $100 million a year Howard says. Australian Conservation Foun- Modi backing through efficiencies, without any programming dation president Geoff Cousins has hit out at According to a report in The Age, Indian Prime changes, significantly more than the cuts to the the federal government’s Direct Action policy, Minister Narendra Modi will invite Australia to broadcasters’ budgets. which was approved by the Senate following play a key role in supplying India’s immense a deal between the Coalition and the Palmer appetite for energy as its economy rapidly de- No broadcast United Party. The program will set up a $2.55 velops, using a landmark speech to Parliament According to The Australian, the ABC has billion Emissions Reduction Fund designed to to express support for coal and natural gas, but snubbed the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards, help Australia meet its emissions reduction tar- also renewable energy. with organisers having to approach SBS and get of 5 per cent below 2000 levels by 2020. Sky News to broadcast them instead. Victoria the worst RET deal Victoria has the worst policy environment for Cuts Hopes for an imminent deal on the future of the renewable energy in Australia, a study has According to The Age, the ABC and SBS are Renewable Energy Target have been dashed found less than two weeks from the state elec- facing combined job losses as high as 400 to with Labor announcing it will walk away from tion. The Climate Council released a compari- 500 people, while the payout figure from the talks, blaming the government for inflexibil- son of each state’s renewable energy sector, expected cuts will run into the tens of millions ity in its negotiating position. The decision by which has found Victoria the worst performing of dollars. shadow environment minister Mark Butler is a state. blow to the $20 billion renewable energy indus- Backing regional views try which was banking on a bipartisan agree- Warburton advice Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull ment to restart investment flows which it says According to a report in the Financial Review, has backed criticism from regional Coalition have frozen since the beginning of the year. federal cabinet has formally rejected the rec- MPs of ABC managing director Mark Scott. ommendations of the Warburton review into According to the Financial Review, Mr Turn- NT pipeline the renewable energy target, paving the way for bull had previously been a supporter of Mr A plan by the Northern Territory and NSW negotiations with Labor which should see the Scott, praising his management skills at the governments for a pipeline they say could help industry-subsidised sector continue to grow. ABC, but recently he launched a stinging attack plug NSW’s critical gas shortage won’t do the in the coalition party room. job, and wouldn’t be viable without huge public Shorebirds subsidies anyway, according to energy experts. The epic migration of shorebirds from Australia Going digital According to the Financial Review, Grattan In- to their Arctic breeding grounds is said to be in The ABC is set to dramatically overhaul its stitute energy program director Tony Wood said imminent danger of collapse. According to The online and mobile reach, as staff brace for the agreement to examine the plan was such an Age, birds are disappearing by the tens of thou- significant staff and programming cuts to be ill-formed idea it looked like a ‘Post-it note sands on their globe-spanning flights, mainly from school’. announced. According to The Age, the public because of the loss of all-important ‘refuelling’ broadcaster will reinvest in a digital division, habitat, scientists warn. Once-familiar summer which will re-focus core ABC programs to- IPCC and coal patrollers of Australian tidal flats such as the Burning coal for electricity must be eliminated stately eastern curlew, and its smaller cousin, wards online, mobile and tablet audiences, a by 2100 unless carbon dioxide emissions are the curlew sandpiper, are now plummeting to- move that could create up to 100 new jobs. captured and stored, according to a key report wards local extinction. Blame game by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. According to The Australian, the IPCC ‘I have been working on threatened species for The ABC must accept full responsibility for any Synthesis Report brings together the findings of more than 30 years and have never heard such a controversial program cuts rather than blaming three major documents produced by thousands tale of woe,’ said Stephen Garnett, chair of the the federal government, Communications Min- of scientists, which found human influence on Australasian Shorebird Conference, where the ister Malcolm Turnbull has warned. the Earth’s climate system was clear and grow- crisis was detailed. Around 36 Australian bird ing but could still be kept within a manageable species use the East Asian-Australasian Flyway Ten Network range. for the mass migration which sends them north The beauty parade has begun for the Ten Net- to food-rich Arctic summer nesting habitat, work, with executives from US media giant Reforms needed then south to capitalise on the austral summer. Discovery Communications meeting with the According to The Australian, business is warn- Agriculture, cattle & water struggling free-to-air broadcaster. Talks began ing that Australia’s push to become an afford- recently, after The Age revealed that Discovery able energy superpower is at risk as resource Too backward was considering a joint bid for Ten with local projects face growing competition from North Plans to make Australia the food bowl of Asia pay TV monopoly Foxtel. The third-ranked America, Brazil and East Africa and rising will fail unless governments take hard deci- metropolitan commercial network will also costs damage local industries. In a landmark sions to address trade protectionism, decrepit brief US hedge fund Anchorage Capital and blueprint for energy policy, the Business Coun- transport infrastructure and declining invest- private equity firm Hellman & Friedman. cil of Australia warns that the nation could lose ment in research, agribusiness leader Donald market share on multi-billion dollar resources McGauchie has warned. According to The Aus- Bolt’s ABC musings project to cheaper overseas rivals because of tralian, in a blistering speech to the F20 Global In the Herald Sun, columnist Andrew Bolt the increasing cost of developing them here. Food Security conference in Sydney yesterday, wrote: ‘How much longer will the Abbott gov- Mr McGauchie also criticised the coastal ship- ernment endure the ABC’s insults and abuse of New report ping industry as being a sheltered workshop of power?’ It included a photo of the ABC logo, A study by the Climate Institute calls on the archaic industrial protection, making it often within which the heads of three former Labor Australian government to announce an ‘inde- cheaper to ship product to the US or China than PMs were.

13 Letter from Canberra

Appointee Commission Against Corruption, Geoffrey Wat- years in prison. This is one of the worst moves According to The Age, the federal government son SC. against media freedom that I have seen.’ has appointed Peter Lewis – the man it chose to lead an efficiency review of the ABC – to the The final detail Musings ABC board. According to The Australian, after staring down According to Tom Blackburn SC in the Herald seven corruption investigations, former NSW Sun: ‘There’s a recent change to the Austral- Q&A musings Labor minister Eddie Obeid will finally face ian Security Intelligence Organisation Act that In The Australian: ‘a time of public disenchant- court – and the possibility of jail – after he was is deeply flawed and potentially dangerous. It ment with politics, ABC TV’s Q&A is meant to charged with misconduct in public office over makes it a crime for all time for anyone, includ- give Australians a forum to re-engage with their his family’s secret ownership of café leases at ing the media, to expose conduct that may be politicians and ask direct and often confronting Sydney’s Circular Quay. highly illegal, entrenched and corrupt if the in- questions. Discussion is also aided by expert formation revealed relates to a “special intelli- panellists, and sometimes the show succeeds Data retention gence operation”. brilliantly. But last Monday it plumbed new According to The Age, Australia’s corporate regulators warn that the federal government’s Anyone who exposes such activities could face lows when dealing with the sensitive topic of up to 10 years’ jail. Last year, the Parliamentary police raids and terrorism. new data retention regime could hamper their ability to investigate white-collar crime. The Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security A big part of the problem with this show was the Australian Securities and Investments Com- recommended reforms to Australia’s national panel the ABC selected, but there’s also an in- mission and the Australian Tax Office said the security legislation. One of the issues addressed herent bias towards encouraging activists rather proposed laws could prevent them from gather- was the need for protection for ASIO officers than citizens to participate. A third problem is ing personal telecommunications data for use in and sources who, in the course of secret opera- the way Tony Jones works the panel and the investigations. tions, might be forced to engage in unlawful questions.’ conduct.’ Plan on ice Take the pets Open market According to a report in The Australian, Julie Laws will be revised to create an ‘open market’ Bishop has pushed back strongly against the Women’s refuges are being encouraged to allow for wireless spectrum as the federal government idea that Australia create a huge, US-style de- clients to bring their animals with them as new overhauls the way mobile phone companies, partment of homeland security – absorbing research reveals women are more likely to stay television networks and others use public as- the roles of ASIO, federal police, customs and in an abusive relationship if they own a pet. Ac- sets worth billions of dollars. According to The border protection – to handle the current terror cording to The Age, University of Queensland Australian, Communications Minister Malcolm threat. School of Social Work and Human Services Turnbull has cleared the release of plans to free lecturer Deborah Walsh said one in four women up wireless capacity for services that consum- Backfiring were victims of domestic violence in their life- ers want — such as faster broadband on their time and 63 per cent of Australian households A disendorsed Family First candidate’s attempts had at least one pet. mobile phones. to sue columnist Andrew Bolt over an email Not funny sent to two people has backfired with a judge Research published this year in The Veterinary ordering him to pay $500,000 in legal costs. Journal said dogs were the most common vic- Malcolm Turnbull has attacked the ABC’s ‘baf- tims of animal cruelty in violent households, fling and disappointing’ decision to broadcast a Bolt’s musings on jihadis with some dogs kicked, punched, poisoned or five-minute skit ridiculing Tony Abbott’s effort Andrew Bolt in the Herald Sun on the Q&A even decapitated. to press Vladimir Putin over the killing of 298 episode with Attorney-General George Brandis: people by Russian backed separatists. ‘last Monday’s Q&A backfired spectacularly. Quiz delayed Top dog It simply confirmed concerns that too many An investigation by the NSW corruption watch- According to The Australian, Sydney business- Muslims have a group loyalty and inflamed dog into state prosecutor Margaret Cunnee SC man Nihal Gupta emerged from relative obscu- sense of victimhood. One reason it backfired has been delayed after the barrister appealed rity to beat former Ethnic Affairs Commission was that Brandis was brilliant in defending the a ruling by the state’s Supreme Court that had chairman Stephen Kerkyasharian and former government’s anti-terrorism strategy. But what looked set to allow the inquiry to take place. NSW premier Nick Grenier to become SBS really undid the exercise was the audience that The court found that the Independent Com- chairman. grabbed the ABC’s microphone.’ mission Against Corruption was acting within its powers to investigate Ms Cunneen over al- Telstra line price Vanstone too legations she advised her son’s then girlfriend Millions of Australian homes and businesses In The Age, Amanda Vanstone wrote: ‘Muslims to feign chest pains to avoid a police breath test. could be hit with bigger phone and internet bills are not our enemy – fanatics are. Australian under a proposed Telstra price rise that the com- Muslims and all other Australians should stand ICAC Musings pany says the NBN is forcing it to introduce. together against these crazy people. Islam holds In The Australian, columnist Janet Albrechtsen According to The Age, Telstra has asked the no monopoly on the production of radical fanat- wrote: ‘it makes no difference if you haven’t Australian Competition and Consumer Com- ics. Hitler is a good example.’ heard of Margaret Cunneen and her stellar role mission for permission to raise charges for ac- as one of the toughest, most dedicated crown cess to its wholesale fixed-line phone and inter- Values important prosecutors in NSW. Cunneen has been accused net services by 7.2 per cent from 2015, partly as In The Age, Tim Soutphommasane wrote: ‘Our of perverting the course of justice by advising compensation for the rise of the NBN. values define us, not our race or religion. As her son’s girlfriend, Sophia Tilley, to ‘pretend to hate attacks on Muslims rise, politicians have have chest pains’ at the scene of a car accident NBN split a responsibility to adopt the right tone for de- in May to prevent police obtaining a blood-al- Competition boss Rod Sims says the federal bate. No one benefits from ignorant rabble- cohol test. Cunneen has denied the charge. government must rip up the rules that give na- rousing. Social cohesions mustn’t be sacrificed tional broadband network operator NBN Co for soundbites. The tone of leadership matters.’ ICAC has dragged Cunneen’s son and his girl- monopoly protection before splitting up its di- friend into a public inquiry that may taint their visions and selling them off. According to the Sheridan on press laws reputations and job prospects, no matter the out- Financial Review, Mr Sims is set to make the According to Greg Sheridan in The Australian: come of the public hearing. ICAC has shown recommendations during a wide-ranging speech ‘Section 35P of the National Security Legisla- complete disregard for the act, which requires to The NBN: Rebooted event in Sydney. it to consider the seriousness of the allegations tion Amendment Bill is a terrible piece of leg- and the public interest before calling a public Phone booths islation that fundamentally alters the balance of inquiry.’ Telstra’s forgotten pay phone booths will be power between the media and the government. repurposed as wi-fi hotspots as part of a plan In doing this, it seriously weakens our democ- Jihad flow racy and will ultimately weaken, in quite practi- to blanket public spaces with internet. Accord- According to The Australian, the flow of Aus- ing to the Herald Sun, Telstra unveiled in May cal ways, our security. It addresses a problem that doesn’t exist. The Abbott government was tralians joining the jihad in Syria and Iraq is con- a $100 million project to establish an estimated tinuing apace, the federal police counter-terror two million wi-fi hotspots across the country wrong to propose it and the Shorten opposition wrong to support it. chief has warned, despite a security crackdown over five years. that has yielded a record 73 cancelled passports. Justice George Brandis and Mark Dreyfus should hang their heads in shame. But section 35P is a des- Rushing off New broom..?? perately misguided overreaction with potential- According to the Herald Sun, a group of Aus- According to a report in The Age, federal poli- ly sinister consequences. It provides that anyone tralian foreign fighters slipped unnoticed out ticians may be corrupt and a national commis- who knowingly or recklessly discloses informa- of the country just days ago to join the bloody sion is needed to clean out Canberra, according tion about a special intelligence operation could Islamic State battlefields in Syria and Iraq. The to the counsel assisting the NSW Independent face, depending on the circumstances, five or 10 Australian Federal Police’s counter-terrorism

14 22 October to 19 December, 2014 Letter from Canberra chief told a parliamentary committee late yes- Cole criticised plans by any government to ernment’s proposed GP co-payment, doctors terday that police had been unaware of the abolish state or federal building codes - the pol- have predicted. Under proposals announced by group until after it had left. The security breach icy of Victorian Labor Leader Daniel Andrews Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Health Minis- has occurred days before the G20 world leaders’ - saying it would entrench bad behaviour in the ter Peter Dutton, the Medicare rebates for stand- summit in Brisbane, and despite the deployment industry. According to the Financial Review, it ard GP visits will be cut by $5 for non-conces- of Counter-Terrorism Units at all international means that unions have long opposed both fed- sional patients, and doctors will be allowed to airports. eral state building codes. ‘Only a political party charge the patient a fee of up to $5. in thrall to the building unions would contem- Commission plate abolishing a state’s building code,’ he said. In addition, the fees paid by Medicare for all According to a report in the Herald Sun, union other services will be frozen until July 2018. officials’ links with crime figures will be put -un Parking costs Australian Medical Association president Brian der the microscope of a royal commission for an According to the Herald Sun, Sydney start up Owler predicted the changes would lead to a additional 12 months, Attorney-General George Divvy Parking aims to make unused spaces shift away from bulk-billing, where a doctor Brandis has confirmed. The federal government available to anyone at a reasonable cost. Divvy bills Medicare directly for the service, to private signed off on a year long deadline extension for CEO Nick Austin said there were thousands of billing, where the doctor charges the patient the the commission into trade union corruption, and vacant carparking spaces hidden throughout full cost of the visit in advance, and the patient provided $23.6 million of extra funding. Melbourne. ‘Divvy uses smart technology to claims a rebate for part of this cost from Medi- open up those spaces, helping commuters find care. Broadband & IT safe, secure and affordable parking in conveni- ent locations,’ he said. Disability referees NBN deal According to the Herald Sun, Disability Sup- A revamped deal between the NBN Co, Telstra Petrol help port Pension applicants will be sent to Com- and Optus covering the roll-out of the govern- Motorists consumer watchdog believes it can monwealth-appointed doctors before they can ment’s hybrid broadband network is a milepost be approved for the welfare scheme under a in a long journey, but an important one. The save motorists 10c a litre on fuel with a new tool that advises drivers on when to fill up. People sweeping overhaul aimed at ending a ‘doctor Australian Competition and Consumer Com- shopping’ rort. The federal Government will mission will take months more to review the in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth will be able to use the Australian Com- announce GPs will no longer be allowed to ap- contacts, but agreement on co-operation and prove new DSP applications for the $16 billion terms is a breakthrough. petition and Consumer Commission website to work out whether it is a good time to refuel. taxpayer-funded scheme. NBN rev up Under pressure from the federal government to lift its game on petrol, this is the first time the Food rating NBN Co has named the next 460 suburbs and ACCC has provided buying advice. According to The Age, Assistant Minister for towns to get the new-look National Broadband Health Fiona Nash has launched a system for Network, in a move set to reignite controversy. Better strategy rating the healthiness of foods, just ten months About 1.9 million homes and businesses across A broader system of road pricing would be a after shutting down a website to promote the all states and territories are set to be connected scheme on the grounds that it was not ready. by June 2016, the company says. According to useful measure to introduce in major cities such as Melbourne and Sydney. Not because it is too The Australian, but the detail on what technol- Medibank private board ogy these premises should receive is almost cer- cheap to drive on our roads, but because it is too expensive to drive on many of them. According The board is led by chairman Elizabeth Alexan- tain to spark a political stoush as it could show der and has four other female directors. Three where, in the same area, people are getting dif- to The Age, the rate at which economists like ferent broadband technologies. to propose systems of road charging (basically, males, including managing director George tolls on more roads than are currently tolled) is Savvides, make up the group of eight direc- While Labor promised fibre-to-the-premises to almost directly matched by the tendency of poli- tors. Alongside Ms Alexander, the female di- 93 per cent of the nation, the Coalition has over- ticians to ignore them. rectors are former Queensland Premier Anna hauled the NBN to use a mix of technologies, Bligh, CSL and Transurban director Christine saying this will cost less and will upgrade the Metal coming back O’Reilly, Japara Healthcare chairman Linda nation’s broadband sooner. Thirteen years after the September 11 terrorist Bardo Nicholls and biotechnology director attacks in the US, Australian aviation regulators Cherrell Hirst. The Age so often writes its arti- NBN sell off? are considering allowing passengers to carry cles with its (Independent!) perspective, and did According to The Australian, federal cabinet is small scissors and tools on board and eat with not include the other two male directors; who considering plans to carve up and sell off the metal cutlery. Sachi Wimmer, the head of the are David Fagan Peter Hodgett least profitable parts of the National Broadband Office of Transport Security, said the - govern Network to shift its risks from taxpayers to the ment was focused on putting in place sensible GP fee private sector and promote competition for the security measures specific to airports that pre- According to the Herald Sun, the $7 GP fee $41 billion project. The regulatory and competi- sent more or less of a risk rather than the “one could be implemented without parliamentary tion analysis by former Victorian Treasury of- size fits all” approach of the past, despite having approval have been heightened with the govern- ficial Michael Vertigan warns that the model put lifted the terror alert to high. ment telling medical software companies to in- in place by the previous Labor government in- corporate the fee in their products. Health Min- hibits competition, is difficult to regulate effec- ‘Government budgets are declining or static and ister Peter Dutton has previously refused to rule tively and is an unacceptable risk to taxpayers. we have a growing industry,’ she told the Aus- out bringing in the charge via regulation, by- tralian Airports Association national conference passing parliament in the same way the govern- Deadline on the Gold Coast. ment reintroduced indexation of petrol excise. Telstra chief executive David Thodey says the Small airports renegotiation of its vital $11.2 billion deal with Backing down NBN Co and the federal government to help Australia’s suburban airports, such as Sydney’s Prime Minister Tony Abbott has privately con- build the national broadband network is set to Bankstown, Melbourne’s Essendon and Perth’s ceded defeat on his controversial budget pro- stretch out into 2015, despite the Coalition’s Jandakot, should be exempt from expensive posal to introduce a new $7 co-payment on pledge to have it finalised by the middle of this federal laws governing the much larger main bulk-billed GP visits and will formally shelve year. city airports, says the Australian Airports As- the policy before the end of the year. The deci- sociation. sion is a recognition of the reality that it had no Musings Health chance of progressing through a hostile Senate In the Financial Review, Jennifer Hewett wrote: in the face of trenchant opposition from Labor, ‘Turnbull’s committee has pointed out the GP charge the Greens, and a majority of the crossbench. technological and commercial flaws that were The government will stick, however, with its always going to tear holes in Labor’s dream plan to reduce the Medicare rebate GPs receive Grieving of delivering high-speed broadband. Turnbull for common consultations by $5 for adults who According to The Australian, the suicide of an told parliament the Vertigan Report had made are non-concession card holders from July 1 11 year old Aboriginal boy in the West Austral- the obvious point that a really big telecom mo- next year. Under the new plan, children under ian port of Geraldton has plunged the local in- nopoly was not naturally conducive to competi- 16, pensioners, veterans and people in aged care digenous community deep into grief, six months tion. But he insisted cleaning up Labor’s mess and nursing homes will be exempt. Doctors can after the state’s Mental Health Commissioner was such a ‘formidable task’ for NBN Co’s new either absorb the extra $5 cost per patient within warned suicide victims were getting younger – management that restructuring issues were a bulk-billing, or charge a $5 “discretionary” fee. and prevention strategies were not working. matter for a later time. Transport & infrastructure AMA weighs in Ebola fight Many medical practices will shift from bulk- Private frustration in the Obama administration Building code billing to charging patients the full cost of their about the federal government’s tardy response Former building royal commissioner Terence visit in advance in response to the federal Gov- to the Ebola crisis in West Africa has spilled into

15 Letter from Canberra the open, after the US President’s top security allow universities to set their own fees - failed Parents do not want to be told yet another thing adviser said Australia must ‘frankly’ do more in the Senate. According to The Age, the higher they are “doing wrong”, especially when what to help. According to the Financial Review, education reforms were voted down in the Sen- most of us are doing is letting children choose United States national security adviser Susan ate 33-31 - a major blow to its reform agenda, their own toys, not trying to force anything on Rice also said Australia’s travel restrictions to and to its budget repair task, blowing a $5 bil- them.’ and from West Africa were ‘counterproductive’. lion hole in its already deficit-laden balance sheet. Full page Off they go Universities Australia took out a full page ad- The federal government is set to outsource an Shambles vertisement imploring the Senate to amend Australian medical mission to an Ebola hot spot According to Chris Kenny in The Age: ‘By and pass a fair package that will leave a lasting in West Africa, after agreeing to join the interna- failing to publicly establish the initial problem legacy. tional effort to contain the deadly disease. – that being a structural and worsening funding outlook for universities – the government Quitting Licence had once again embarked on the fool’s errand Former federal education minister John Dawk- According to The Age, it seemed fitting that eu- of expecting voters to embrace a solution to a ins has resigned as chairman of troubled educa- thanasia campaigner Philip Nitschke should be problem they were unaware they had. But the tion business Vocation in the wake of a massive fighting for his medical licence and his profes- government cannot have it both ways. share price plunge over the past few weeks. He sional reputation in the town where he first shot If the policy was so fundamentally sound, it has been replaced by fellow director Doug Hal- to international fame. InDarwin, Mr Nitschke’s ley. appeal against the decision by the Medical must have been botched in the sales stage pub- Board of Australia to suspend his registration licly and in the negotiation phase privately. Eco- Phonetics and the West nomically, this is a genuine blow to Tony Ab- after he admitted supporting a 45-year-old Perth Children should learn to read by sounding man’s decision to commit suicide began in the bott having punched a big $5 billion hole in an Northern Territory Civil and Administrative Tri- already beleaguered balance sheet. It has also out words, and history should be taught with bunal. helped fray his government’s reform record – a greater focus on the impact of Western and a fact it will lament bitterly given the Senate’s Judaeo-Christian civilisation, the final report on Tobacco money belligerence.’ the review of the Australian curriculum recom- mends. According to The Australian, the report Liberal Democratic senator David Leyonhjelm has stood up for the rights of smokers, describ- App development advocates a number of key changes to address ing increases in tobacco excise as ‘flagrant theft’ In The Age: ‘A hushed din of engagement is gaps in what children learn at school, to update from ‘havers of good times’. In a speech to the prevailing in the University of Melbourne’s teaching methods across the country, and to Senate, the libertarian senator, who has pledged engineering design studio 2. Twenty-two stu- concentrate on literacy and numeracy for stu- never to vote for an increase in taxes, thanked dents from four Victorian high schools are gath- dents until Year 2. smokers for lighting up and described their ered in teams around computer desks, having The report says the subject of English should ‘generosity’ to the nation’s coffers as stagger- converged for Hack IT, a day-long workshop examine more texts from the canon of Western ing. presented by NICTA and Digital Careers that literature and Australian classics as well as more challenges students to design themed travel tour poetry from the likes of Milton and Tennyson. Plain packaging apps for the City of Melbourne.’ The two biggest tobacco companies in Aus- Premiers Priests tralia have begun a campaign to undermine the State governments hailed the ‘back to basics’ nation’s plain-packaging laws before a Health Taxpayers would subsidise the training of curriculum review but teachers’ unions and La- Department review of the effectiveness of the priests and other religious workers at private bor dismissed it as a “distraction’’ from federal regulations. According to The Age, Philip Mor- colleges for the first time under the Abbott gov- funding cuts. Former Victorian Premier Denis ris and British American Tobacco have briefed ernment’s proposed higher education reforms. Napthine said he supported greater focus on the research and data to media outlets as “proof” According to The Age, as well as deregulating ‘three Rs’ in primary school. ‘There is no doubt plain-packaging laws have failed, on the eve of university fees and cutting university funding … parents and children would benefit from an their second anniversary on December 1. by 20 per cent, the government’s proposed high- increased focus on the basics of education,’ he er education package extends federal funding to said. Cannabis students at private universities, TAFES and as- According to The Age, Liberal National Party sociate degree programs. Funds plan senator Ian Macdonald will co-sponsor a bill to legalise the medicinal use of cannabis nation- Religious teaching, training and vocational in- Australian schools will become more socially ally. stitutes would be eligible for a share of $820 segregated because schools receive more mon- million in new Commonwealth funding over ey if they have a concentration of disadvantaged Education three years. students, according to the body that represents independent schools in Victoria. According to Downgrade G20 opening remarks The Age, Independent Schools Victoria has rec- According to The Australian, the fast growth of Tony Abbott has used his opening comments to ommended the increased funding for concen- the private education sector has ‘outpaced’ the the world’s top leaders gathered for the G20 in tration of disadvantage be replaced with a flat ability of regulators to monitor the quality of Brisbane to lament the ‘massively difficult’ task amount per needy student, in its submission to provision, -according to the former chairman of of bringing in higher university costs and an up- a review of school funding. The federal Educa- struggling training company Vocation Limited. front GP fee in Australia. tion Department is conducting a review of the ‘With the introduction of contestable funding, extra money, known as a “loading”, allocated to state governments have offered funding con- Boys be boys students with low socioeconomic status (SES). tracts which have produced an additional over- A Greens senator who wants parents to boy- lay of regulation, and through these contracts cott gender-specific Christmas gifts because it Indoctrination governments have attempted to ensure high- could lead to domestic violence, has revealed First-year media students at some of the nation’s quality provision,’ said John Dawkins, a former her daughter plays with dinosaurs. According most prestigious universities are being taught Keating-era treasurer and Hawke-government to the Herald Sun, Senator Larissa Waters stood the federal government’s media policy process education minister who resigned as company by a push to block young girls from receiving is ‘corrupt’, according to The Australian. Lec- chairman recently. ‘However, questions of qual- dolls and boys from getting trucks for Christ- turer Dr Penny O’Donnell teaches students that ity often become matters for judgment, which mas, which was slammed by Prime Minister News Corp newspapers’ 2013 election coverage means that compliance is not entirely straight- Tony Abbott, who said parents should let ‘boys was driven by a corporate fear of the NBN — a forward.’ be boys’ and ‘girls be girls’. claim that has no factual basis and is incorrect. She also tells students, studying to become jour- Plan B Musings nalists, that the federal government’s media pol- Vowing to push ahead with ‘good reform’, Edu- According to Wendy Tuohy in the Herald Sun, icy process is “corrupted” because it sacrifices cation Minister Christopher Pyne will introduce ‘a call to parents to avoid buying gender-based public interest objectives in favour of corporate a new tertiary education bill into the House of toys for Christmas has its heart in the right place interests. Representatives, and will spend the summer — but reaction on websites, social media, tel- break trying to win support from the Senate evision and talkback would suggest it has mis- Economy course crossbench. fired to the point where it may risk doing more The national economics curriculum is unsal- harm than good, by turning parents off. The vageable, with errors in key definitions and Reform plans Greens’ push to stop parents buying dolls for omissions of fundamental concepts that make The federal government’s hopes of ending the girls and trucks for boys has produced such a it ‘misleading, unbalanced, too imprecise to be parliamentary year with a budget win have been negative reaction that you’d have to conclude it useful and …beyond redrafting’, experts have dashed after one of its centrepieces - the plan to has incited more anger than empathy. concluded.

16 22 October to 19 December, 2014 Letter from Canberra

ANU investing respond to allegations of misconduct against provided a reminder that we can finally claim to Australian National University vice-chancellor her and ‘was absent from the university at her be part of Asia.’ Ian Young and an academic staff-elected mem- request’. ber of the university’s council excused them- Confronting Putin selves from discussion of a controversial re- Childcare colleges With 38 Australians dead, the federal govern- sources blacklist at a meeting in July because Dozens of childcare training colleges have ment had led the global outrage at the down- they had an unspecified ‘interest’ in the propos- been caught churning out graduates who can- ing of the Malaysia Airlines flight over Ukraine al, minutes show. not change nappies, supervise children or write by Russian-backed separatists using what was English. According to a report in The Austral- thought to be Russian-supplied weaponry. But Prime Minister Tony Abbott and four other ian, the Australian Skills Quality Authority has as the G20 loomed, Tony Abbott apparently government ministers have slammed ANU over in the past three months audited one in four of thought better of having his own event over- the proposal and suggested Professor Young Australia’s 289 training colleges offering child- whelmed by attention on the Russian confron- unfairly maligned companies that took their care, and judged 80 per cent to be substandard. tation and sought an earlier meeting on the environmental and social responsibilities very The audit of 77 colleges was triggered by com- sidelines of APEC. It was the Russians who seriously. Mr Abbott weighed into the debate plaints to the Productivity Commission’s child- confirmed the APEC meeting would go ahead. dramatically at the opening of a BHP Billiton/ care inquiry about ‘poorly trained’ staff with Mitsubishi coalmine, accusing the university of ‘fast and cheap’ qualifications. Falling in line ‘posturing’, and declaring that coal will be the According to The Australian, Tony Abbott’s world’s principal energy source for many dec- TAFEs threat to ‘shirtfront’ Vladimir Putin at the G20 ades to come. Public TAFE colleges have called for an urgent meeting has been overtaken by a global geopo- federal government inquiry into the ‘extraor- litical imperative from the White House, Japan History too dinary revenue and profitability claims’ made and the EU. In The Age, Tony Taylor adjunct professor at by some listed private education providers and UTS wrote: ‘What is much more interesting is others expected to float soon. According to the MH17 Christopher Pyne’s guarded reference to a forth- Financial Review, Martin Riordan, chief ex- According to The Australian, Tony Abbott coming review of the Australian Curriculum, ecutive of TAFE Directors Australia, which and his Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte, have Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACA- represents TAFEs nationwide, has written to renewed their pledge to bring to justice those RA). His rationale is that ACARA is in the grip Education Minister Christopher Pyne urging he responsible for the destruction of Malaysia Air- of the educational establishment as represented investigate the ‘marketing practices and infor- lines Flight MH17 over Ukraine. by various state and territory education minis- mation provided to students’ at education com- ters and public servants. Pyne has no direct con- panies issuing government-funded VET FEE- Abbott and Cameron trol over the national curriculum which is dealt HELP loans. Tony Abbott and Britain’s David Cameron have with by ACARA and ACARA reports to the joined forces to attack growing Russian milita- newly-constituted Education Council a standing NAPLAN rism and authoritarianism, with the Australian council of COAG. Pyne seems to be suggest- Australia’s national literacy and numeracy tests leader accusing the Kremlin of pursuing ‘the ing that ACARA, a statutory agency needs to be will become more sophisticated to provide par- lost glories of tsarism or the old Soviet Union’. moved out of the Education Council’s orbit and ents and teachers with more detailed results, become more directly accountable to the Com- says one of its ICT developers. According to Showing some muscle monwealth.’ the Herald Sun, this work is taking place as According to a report in The Age, a fleet of Rus- the body which runs the tests prepares to offer sian warships continued to steam south closer to Full page them online in coming years, however, the sys- the G20 hot city of Brisbane as experts stressed There was a full page ad, highlighting over tem will not be ready for next year as Education the show of force was aimed at the world as a 8,000 signatures in an open letter in support of Minister Christopher Pyne has flagged. whole, not just Australia. the Australian National University’s right to invest in, or divest from, any companies on envi- National Schools Interoperability Program pro- China bank ronmental, social or ethical grounds. gramme leader Daniel Ingvarson, who is part of the team developing NAPLAN online tests, Australia is pressing ahead with talks to join a Chinese-led regional infrastructure bank in an ANU musings said to get the best value for money out of any online testing system more time was needed to effort to persuade Beijing to accept govern- According to John Hewson in the Financial Re- create it. ance standards that would preclude corrupt or view, ‘ANU has reduced the climate risk in its strategically provocative projects, such as dual- investment portfolio. Isn’t that what any sensi- Many hats purpose South Pacific ports that could host Chi- ble fund manager should be doing?’ nese naval vessels. According to The Age, Prime Malcolm Grant, former vice-chancellor of the Minister Tony Abbott rejected reports that Aus- Student disability Bloomsbury-based University College London, tralia has shut the door to the proposed Asia In- According to The Australian, one in five school yet as a visiting professor on UCL’s Adelaide frastructure Investment Bank following heaving students requires support at school for a dis- campus, which he dreamed up with former pressure from the US. ability or learning difficulty, which is almost South Australian premier Mike Rann, Grant is straddling two roles: advocate for the university Washington events three times as many students who are receiving and chairman of Britain’s mammoth National funding for special needs, a report prepared for Health Service. According to The Australian, conflict between education ministers says. Funding arrangements Barack Obama and the congress has entered a for students with disabilities have resembled Good job new phase. Republican leaders say they hope to Australia’s approach to different railway gauges build on their landslide win in the US mid-term in every state, with definitions of disability, the The Independent Schools of Australia is look- elections by regaining the full trust of American level of disability that attracts funding and the ing for an Executive Director, admin@execin- voters before the 2016 presidential showdown. level of funding provided differing from state tell.com.au. to state. Foreign affairs Passports According to the Herald Sun, a quarter of ba- Teaching Aid fears bies under two, and more than half of Austral- According to The Australian, universities will Aid groups are voicing growing fears that the ians under seventeen, have their own passport, have to prove their teaching graduates improve federal government is eyeing further cuts to according to the inaugural State of the Nation student learning under tough accreditation foreign aid as it searches desperately for budget report by travel site Expedia. standards for university degrees envisaged by savings ahead of its mid-year budget update. the new chairman of the national teachers in- Corruption treaty deal stitute. John Hattie, chairman of the Australian India relationship The federal government is considering an extra- Institute of Teaching and School Leadership, According to the Financial Review, Prime Min- dition treaty with China to help Beijing repatri- said the accreditation process for the nation’s ister Tony Abbott set an ambitious one-year ate corrupt officials and confiscate their assets. 400 teaching courses, offered in 48 institutions, deadline to seal a trade deal with India as both According to the Financial Review, Foreign should be harder. nations pledged to escalate military ties. Indian Affairs Minister Julie Bishop said the treaty Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressing Par- would be part of the Beijing declaration on anti- Investigation liament: ‘There are few countries in the world corruption that Australia and other nations in In a sensational development, Perth’s Murdoch where we see so much synergy as we do in Aus- the region will sign at this week’s Asia-Pacific University says its second most senior execu- tralia.’ Economic Co-operation meeting. tive, Ann Capling, is under investigation following the resignation of its vice-chancellor Musings Heading off recently. According to the Financial Review, In the Financial Review: ‘the speeches to fed- Australians are heading overseas at almost the university said on Sunday that Professor eral Parliament by Indian Prime Minister Nar- twice the rate foreigners are travelling down un- Capling, its provost, was being given time to endra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping der, in the clearest sign yet the weaker currency

17 Letter from Canberra is yet to have any impact. According to the Her- Fraser resigned the job 44 years ago. Of those, According to the paper, Defence Parliamentary ald Sun, every day in September, an average of only one – Kim Beazley – has gone on to take Secretary Darren Chester has written to the De- 30,000 people left the country, compared with another cabinet position. For all the others, defence Honours and Awards Appeals Tribunal 17,000 short-term arrivals. fence was the end of their ministerial career.’ to ask if the six-month time frame could be reduced to two months. Run Julie Run Pay offer According to The Age, super keen runner Julie The federal government has backed down on Destroyer blowout Bishop caught her Chinese local security off its controversial Australian Defence Force pay According to The Australian, the costs are still guard, unaware how seriously she takes her deal, agreeing to give soldiers all previously mounting up despite changes at the top. Despite running. On parliamentary sitting days, she can existing entitlements, as Tony Abbott conceded the budget blowout, delivery dates for the three be seen running through the Canberra streets on the Coalition had experienced a ‘ragged week’. 6350 tonne AWDs remain unchanged. her way to Capital Hill. But the Prime Minister is refusing to budge on the 1.5 per cent pay increase for defence mem- War planes Switching it up bers, following intense lobbying by independ- According to the Herald Sun, the federal gov- Mrs Menna Frances Rawlings CMG has been ent senator Jacqui Lambie, the Labor Party and ernment has cleared the way to spend $500 mil- appointed British High Commissioner to Aus- military groups. lion on two additional Boeing C-17 Globemas- tralia, succeeding Mr Paul Madden CMG. Mrs ter transport jets for the Air Force. Rawlings will commence her appointment in Eclipsing the US April 2015. China will never become the dominant power in Suing Asia and its strategic rise should not determine One of Australia’s largest defence contractors Working in London the future structure of the Australian Defence is being sued for negligence after supplying London Mayor Boris Johnson said recently that Force, according to a major Kokoda Foundation thousands of allegedly defective flares that are Australians should be able to live and work in report. According to The Australian, the stra- used as self-defence countermeasures by the Britain. tegic think tank’s report, to be released today, country’s fighter aircraft. According toThe Age, is likely to ease fears of an expansionist China Chemring won a $160 million, 10-year contract Speaking of Boris, he recently launched his new following President Xi Jinping’s pledge in Can- in 2008 to supply aerial countermeasures for book – The Churchill Factor: How One Man berra that China would never inflict war upon the Royal Australian Air Force’s fleet of fighter Made History. nations in the region. and transport aircraft. But Defence now alleges there were serious quality control problems Palestine envoy Sir John Monash with 19 shipments received between 2008 and The chief Palestinian envoy to Australia has 2011, totalling more than 180,000 flares. called on federal MPs who accept sponsored According to the Financial Review, when Tim Fischer’s biography-polemic – Maestro John Nuclear subs trips to Israel to also spend ‘fair and equitable’ Monash: Australia’s Greatest Citizen General – time in the occupied territories. According to US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel told a The Age, Izzat Abdulhadi, the head of the Pal- is launched at Melbourne’s Scotch College, he will stir a debate that has rippled for the better closed-doors defence briefing in Sydney during estinian delegation to Australia, has written to annual bilateral security talks in August, that all federal politicians asking for a ‘balanced and part of a century. Should Monash, Australia’s World War I commander, be elevated posthu- technical difficulties associated with Australia even-handed position towards the Israeli-Pales- acquiring nuclear submarines would be difficult tinian conflict’. mously to the rank of field marshal? to overcome. A Vietnam veteran, former deputy prime minis- Ukraine visit ter and leader of the National Party, Fischer has Foreign built According to the Herald Sun, Ukrainian Presi- no doubt Monash deserves this recognition. He According to the Financial Review, an interna- dent Petro Poroshenko will make a formal visit advances two main reasons: first, that Monash’s tional competition will be staged to built Aus- to Australia at the invitation of the federal gov- elevation would be ‘a salute’ to those who tralia’s $20 billion submarine fleet but the bulk ernment. served in World War I, including the 61,000 of the work will be sent offshore, delivering a who perished; and second, it would represent blow to South Australian jobs. The main reason Defence an acknowledgment ‘Monash was our greatest for the federal government opting for overseas Subs decision general to date’. construction of up to 12 new submarines is the fear that starting from scratch with a local The federal government has ramped up the pres- build will delay delivery of the new subs, leav- sure on Australia’s naval shipbuilders, giving Doubling soldiers Up to 400 additional Australian troops could ing Australia dangerously exposed in an Asia- them seven months to fix the troubled project Pacific arms race. to build Australia’s most powerful ever war- be sent to Iraq to train local forces but will re- ships. According to The Age, without significant main ‘behind the wire’ on bases where the chief Infighting the problem progress on the Air Warfare Destroyer program, danger would be insider attacks. According to which is now up to three years behind sched- The Age, following a request from Washington The confidential plan to rescue the nation’s larg- ule, local shipbuilding may be doomed, with the for Australia to ‘supplement’ its contribution of est defence project, the $8.5 billion construction government warning that the project’s remedia- forces to help battle the Islamic State, the feder- of Air Warfare Destroyers, has been sabotaged tion will serve as a test case. al government is considering sending troops to by bitter infighting, risking a fresh blowout in carry out a more traditional and possibly longer- costs and casting a pall over the future of naval Canoe problems term training mission. shipbuilding in Australia. Almost eight months later, the key recommendations of the plan — According to The Age, Defence Minister David Ready written by former US Navy secretary Don Win- Johnston says he wouldn’t trust the govern- ter and the former Australian shipbuilder John ment’s shipbuilding firm to ‘build a canoe’, se- According to a report in The Age, the federal White — have not been implemented because riously denting hopes that the next fleet of government has committed Australian mili- of infighting between government departments, tary forces to a dangerous and potentially open defence contractors and the ship’s Spanish de- Ample time ended war against Islamic State militants in Iraq signer. According to The Australian, a key industry or- with RAAF air strikes authorised immediately ganisation has urged the federal government to and special forces set to enter in an advisory ca- Mystery seek tenders from international and local ship- pacity soon after. Submarine operations are traditionally shrouded builders to provide the navy’s new submarine NZ out in secrecy, but hardly more so than the govern- fleet. ment’s process of finding a new undersea fleet According to The Australian, New Zealand has for the navy. According to The Australian, the Office problems ruled out sending combat troops to Iraq to di- first of the Royal Australian Navy’s six Collins Defence Minister David Johnston’s office is in rectly fight the Islamic State group but it could Class submarines needs to be replaced by 2026 chaos, with two staff members shown the door send military personnel to help train Iraqi forces unless those boats undergo a complex and ex- as the Defence Department launched an inves- behind front lines. tigation into a damaging leak of the minister’s tensive upgrade. expense receipts. The departure of the two staff Vietnam vets battle With the strong public perception that the op- members came on the morning that leaked re- Vietnam veterans may be close to winning a tions for what the navy calls the Future Sub- ceipts revealing restaurant bills racked up by decades-long fight against a bureaucratic rule marine have narrowed down to a one (Japa- Senator Johnston and his chief-of-staff Sean that’s denied them recognition for their service. nese) horse race, pressure is now growing on Costello were published in the media. According to the Herald Sun, young men sent to the government to launch an open selection fight in the unpopular war were denied the Re- process. Sweden, France and Germany have Musings public of Vietnam Campaign Medal when they all, uninvited, joined or signalled their interest In The Age, Hugh White wrote: ‘ eighteen peo- returned home if their service there had been in a competition that has officially not started ple have been defence minister since Malcolm shorter than six months, even by just a day. yet. Australian Strategic Policy Institute analyst

18 22 October to 19 December, 2014 Letter from Canberra

Mark Thomson says it’s time the government MCG lights bor (needs) to wake up and smell the threat. Im- declared a formal selection process for the new Ladder-wielding workers have been replac- port people and you import a culture. You also submarines. ing thousands of light globes at the Melbourne import voters, and Muslims now outnumber Cricket Ground in recent months, as part of an Jews by five to one’. Johnston’s problems $8 million energy efficiency upgrade. The year- By declaring he would not trust ASC to build a long overhaul will see Australia’s largest sta- Die in dignity canoe, let alone presumably, the next generation dium cut its carbon dioxide emissions by almost The Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs of submarines, Defence Minister David John- 20 per cent and save enough energy a year to Committee, whose six members included three ston was actively diminishing public confidence power 835 homes. coalition Senators, recommended a conscience that hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars vote following an inquiry on the first propos- already committed for Air-Warfare Destroyers Jockey deaths als for national euthanasia laws, put forward by and more for maintenance of the problematic The racing industry is reeling following the Greens senator Richard di Natale. Collins Class subs fleet, are not being wasted. death of a second female jockey in two days. Johnston’s frustration can be viewed against a According to the Herald Sun, Caitlin Forrest, Musings calamitous history of cost-overruns, late and 19, died in an Adelaide hospital following a hor- unfulfilled contracts, and acquisition disasters In The Age, Paul Monk wrote: ‘Three stories ror four horse fall in a race at Murray Bridge in show there is a civilised way to bring about a besetting Australia over decades. South Australia. A day earlier the life support of 26-year-old Carly-Mae Pye was switched off dignified death through voluntary euthanasia.’ Some of these are nothing to do with ASC, but after she fell in a jumpout at Rockhampton. there have been problems with the beleaguered The Age also ran a double page spread, asking Collins subs and there is a blow-out with the Society ‘More people, terminally ill or not, are deciding three AWDs - he says by as much as $600 mil- how and when they want to die. Should this be lion. That’s worth being angry about. Bolt’s musings a crime?’ In the Herald Sun, Andrew Bolt wrote that ‘La- Fire sale bor (needs) to wake up and smell the threat. Im- Adoption According to The Australian, Australia is qui- port people and you import a culture. You also According to a report in The Australian, Tony etly exporting dozens of missiles to other coun- import voters, and Muslims now outnumber Abbott will be asked to commit to doubling the tries to try to recoup some of the $200 million Jews by five to one’. number of overseas adoptions and halving their it has wasted on them in botched military pur- processing times. chases. Welfare A subclass of millions of Australians will be Families test 80 years on created if the government goes ahead with a Social Services Minister Kevin Andrews has November 11, 1934, brought 317,500 people “demeaning” proposal to restrict how welfare backed a British government move to ensure all to the Domain to witness the dedication of recipients spend their benefits, community sec- its policies support stable family life, even jok- the Shrine by Prince Henry, Duke of Glouces- tor and indigenous organisations say. According ing that its Work and Pensions Secretary got the ter. The immense crowd represented one third to The Age, more than 35 groups, including the idea from his book 2012 book Maybe ‘I do’.. of the entire population of Melbourne, and all St Vincent de Paul Society, Relationships Aus- According to The Age, David Cameron’s con- those people had come to remember the end, 16 tralia and Mission Australia have signed a joint servative government has recently introduced years previously, of the Great War, not know- statement to the Abbott government, demand- a ‘families test’ to make sure all new laws and ing then that it would become known as World ing that it does not roll out the “Healthy Welfare policies support ‘strong and stable’ families. War I, for another world war was then only five Card” recommended by businessman Andrew This involves five questions that must be ad- years away. Forrest in his review of indigenous employment dressed before ministers can agree on a new and training. policy. Mr Andrews said the British families test In space The groups, which also include the National was a ‘useful tool’, adding he had been thinking British academics have opened the world’s Congress of Australia’s First Peoples and Na- about something similar. first space detective agency, using drones and tional Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander satellites to uncover insurance fraud, search Legal Services, say the card would be “demean- Burqa twist for freshly dug graves or to monitor how for- ing, invasive, unworkable” and create “an entire According to the Herald Sun, Prime Minister eign aid money is spent. Founder Ray Purdy, subclass of millions of people in the Australian Tony Abbott intervened in a decision to segre- a lawyer who specialised in satellite law at the community”. gate women wearing burqas behind a glass par- University College London, has teamed up with tition in the federal parliament. Mr Abbott made geographer colleague Professor Ray Harris in a Close the Gap it known he did not support the surprise meas- private firm that will use before and after aerial According to The Age, the key findings of the ure announced as part of a security crackdown. imagery in criminal and civil cases. report, called Overcoming Indigenous Disad- vantage, Key Indicators 2014 and spanning Into the pulpit Royal Commission more than 600 pages, include: Hospitalisations According to The Australian, new Sydney A landmark report into assault and abuse in the for intentional self-harm increased by 48 per Archbishop Anthony Fisher started recently. military has found that more than 1100 alleged cent between 2004-05 and 2012-2013, with the abusers are still serving in the ranks. The federal proportion of adults reporting high levels of Charities government will meanwhile ‘seriously’ exam- psychological stress increasing by 27 per cent After revoking the charity status of 388 or- ine the independent abuse taskforce’s call for a in the same period; ganisations recently, the Australian Charities royal commission into sexual assault and abuse at the Australian Defence Force Academy, gov- The adult imprisonment rate for indigenous and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) has ernment sources have said. The Defence Abuse Australians increasing by 57 per cent between published a list of another 400 charities it in- Response Taskforce has called for a royal com- 2000 and 2013, with juvenile detention rates tends to revoke because it believes they are no mission into sexual abuse and assault at the fluctuating at around 24 times the rate for non- longer operating. These charities have not been academy and, crucially, Defence’s failure to indigenous youth; A narrowing of the life ex- in contact with the ACNC in almost two years properly deal with abuse claims. pectancy gap from 11.4 years to 10.6 years for and have not responded to multiple letters and males and from 9.6 years to 9.5 years for fe- calls. If the charities do not get in contact with Sports & arts males – but not enough progress to suggest the the ACNC by 24 November 2014, their charity gap can be closed within a generation. status will be revoked. The ACNC might not be New boss around for much longer... Former National Gallery of Victoria director Musings Gerard Vaughan is now director of the National According to Michael Gordon in The Age: ‘In- Can’t cope Gallery of Australia. dian Prime Minister Narendra Modi became the Charities are pessimistic they will be able to first foreign leader to begin an address to the meet an expected growth in demand over the NICA Australian Parliament by paying his respects to next 12 months, a new report reveals. Pricewa- The National Institute of Circus Arts Australia the traditional owners of the land on which he terhouseCoopers found 84 per cent of more than is celebrating its 15th year. stood, and their elders past and present. If this 300 chief executives it surveyed in the not-for- was a modest, but welcome, sign of progress, profit sector doubted they would have the nec- Heat policy the landmark Overcoming Indigenous Disad- essary resources. A new extreme heat policy will be introduced vantage report released is a sobering reality at January’s Australian Open to protect tennis check on a bipartisan project that began more PwC partner Mark Reading said despite a 60 stars and fans. A ‘traffic light’ warning system than a decade ago.’ per cent increase in government funding over to gauge dangerous temperatures will be served the past six years to $41 billion a year, 40 per up at the two-week tournament, which has been Bolt’s musings cent of the sector believes social outcomes have hit by heatwaves in recent years. In the Herald Sun, Andrew Bolt wrote that ‘La- deteriorated.

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