Sunday, October 29, 2006
Activities that encourage increased greenhouse gas emissions will receive 28 times the amount of Federal Government funding this financial year than programs to reduce emissions.
This year's federal budget papers reveal that programs for activities that increase greenhouse gas emissions will attract total funding of about $8 billion in the 2006-07 financial year.
Over the same period the Howard Government will spend only $280 million on activities to directly reduce emissions.
Funding for subsidies and incentives for road users adds up to about $5 billion. This includes the energy grants credits scheme, which provides subsidies for the use of diesel or alternative fuels, and the excise exemption, for fuels such as LPG and biodiesel.
Other big budget items that receive massive Government sponsorship include the "formula method" for calculating fringe benefits tax on employer-provided cars, with concessions worth nearly $1.2 billion to be claimed this year.
The formula assumes that the greater the distance travelled by a car, the lower the proportion of private use and hence the lower the fringe benefit to the employee, thus acting as a clear incentive to drive further and consume more fuel. This method for calculating FBT accounts for more than 90 per cent of total FBT paid on motor vehicles.
Direct assistance to Australia's car makers is another expensive item for taxpayers, with about $570 million going into their coffers this year.
Other funding includes electricity subsidies paid to the aluminium smelting industry - which alone accounts for 15 per cent of all electricity consumed in Australia and about 5.9 per cent of Australia's total greenhouse gas emissions. Airlines also get lower excise rates for fuel compared to motorists' fuel.
(Source: The Age)
This year's federal budget papers reveal that programs for activities that increase greenhouse gas emissions will attract total funding of about $8 billion in the 2006-07 financial year.
Over the same period the Howard Government will spend only $280 million on activities to directly reduce emissions.
Funding for subsidies and incentives for road users adds up to about $5 billion. This includes the energy grants credits scheme, which provides subsidies for the use of diesel or alternative fuels, and the excise exemption, for fuels such as LPG and biodiesel.
Other big budget items that receive massive Government sponsorship include the "formula method" for calculating fringe benefits tax on employer-provided cars, with concessions worth nearly $1.2 billion to be claimed this year.
The formula assumes that the greater the distance travelled by a car, the lower the proportion of private use and hence the lower the fringe benefit to the employee, thus acting as a clear incentive to drive further and consume more fuel. This method for calculating FBT accounts for more than 90 per cent of total FBT paid on motor vehicles.
Direct assistance to Australia's car makers is another expensive item for taxpayers, with about $570 million going into their coffers this year.
Other funding includes electricity subsidies paid to the aluminium smelting industry - which alone accounts for 15 per cent of all electricity consumed in Australia and about 5.9 per cent of Australia's total greenhouse gas emissions. Airlines also get lower excise rates for fuel compared to motorists' fuel.
(Source: The Age)
Private consultants are benefiting from the sale of Telstra, with contracts worth $77 million of public money awarded by the Government to help the controversial sale.
Finance Department figures tabled in Parliament under compulsory reporting rules reveal that 21 consulting bodies are sharing in $77,377,598 to prop and promote the sale.
Link Market Services Limited will receive $13.5 million to process share applications. A consortium of ABN Amro Rothschild, Goldman Sachs JBWere and UBS is being paid $12.7 million for providing project management services.
Other bodies include the Commonwealth Bank ($5 million), law firm Freehills ($5.4 million), Stellar Call Centres ($12 million), and Salmat Document Management Solutions ($8.5 million).
Finance Minister Nick Minchin also announced this month the Government would spend $20 million on an electronic and print advertising blitz.
(Source: The Age)
Finance Department figures tabled in Parliament under compulsory reporting rules reveal that 21 consulting bodies are sharing in $77,377,598 to prop and promote the sale.
Link Market Services Limited will receive $13.5 million to process share applications. A consortium of ABN Amro Rothschild, Goldman Sachs JBWere and UBS is being paid $12.7 million for providing project management services.
Other bodies include the Commonwealth Bank ($5 million), law firm Freehills ($5.4 million), Stellar Call Centres ($12 million), and Salmat Document Management Solutions ($8.5 million).
Finance Minister Nick Minchin also announced this month the Government would spend $20 million on an electronic and print advertising blitz.
(Source: The Age)
Saturday, October 28, 2006
Climate change could push the world into the worst recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s, with many countries facing economic ruin, according to a new report on the effects of global warming.
The report, written by former World Bank chief economist Sir Nicholas Stern and commissioned by the British Treasury, seeks to overturn conventional wisdom by insisting that fighting climate change will save, not cost, governments money.
The report's contents have been kept secret, but Sir Nicholas briefed environment and energy ministers from the world's top 20 greenhouse gas-emitting nations, including Industry, Tourism and Resources Minister Ian McFarlane, in Mexico this month.
Britain's chief scientist, Sir David King, said the report indicated "that if we don't take global action...we will be faced with the kind of downturn that has not been seen since the Great Depression and the two world wars.
"If you look at sea level rises alone and the impact that will have on global economies where cities are becoming inundated by flooding...this will cause the displacement of hundreds of millions of people."
Sir David described the Stern report as the most detailed economic analysis yet conducted and said it would "surprise many people in terms of the relatively small cost of action".
However, he told a climate change conference in Birmingham that achieving global consensus would be very hard.
"In my view this is the biggest challenge our global political system has ever been faced with. We've never been faced with a decision where collective decision making is required by all major countries … around risks to their populations that are well outside the time period of any electoral process."
The United States and Australia have refused to join the Kyoto Protocol - the international agreement on greenhouse gas emissions - because US President George Bush and Prime Minister John Howard have argued that it would harm their countries' economies.
The Stern report comes as the Howard Government is signalling a shift in its attitude to climate change. Environment Minister Ian Campbell said that governments needed to invest more in emission reduction technologies such as carbon capture and storage.
"Some of these technologies do need to be fast-tracked and there needs to be higher levels of public sector investment to achieve that," he said.
Treasurer Peter Costello moved to guarantee that Canberra would continue to offer Australian households a rebate if they installed solar power panels, after concerns the program would be discontinued.
He said the Government was also examining ways to make solar power less expensive.
"We can make solar power; the problem is the price at which we can make it is too high for households generally at the moment, and it is a question of bringing that price down."
But the chief economist of the British Government-backed Carbon Trust, Michael Grubb, yesterday slammed Canberra's policy response on climate change as "unrealistic" and "hard to understand, because it is so clearly not a position which can lead to any credible solutions".
Professor Grubb questioned the Federal Government's continuing opposition to carbon pricing and trading schemes, which would reward businesses that switched to lower carbon-emission operations.
"I must say, coming to Australia, in terms of (inaction)...at the federal level, it feels like going back in time because so little generally seems to have been done on the ground here," he said.
(Source: The Age)
The report, written by former World Bank chief economist Sir Nicholas Stern and commissioned by the British Treasury, seeks to overturn conventional wisdom by insisting that fighting climate change will save, not cost, governments money.
The report's contents have been kept secret, but Sir Nicholas briefed environment and energy ministers from the world's top 20 greenhouse gas-emitting nations, including Industry, Tourism and Resources Minister Ian McFarlane, in Mexico this month.
Britain's chief scientist, Sir David King, said the report indicated "that if we don't take global action...we will be faced with the kind of downturn that has not been seen since the Great Depression and the two world wars.
"If you look at sea level rises alone and the impact that will have on global economies where cities are becoming inundated by flooding...this will cause the displacement of hundreds of millions of people."
Sir David described the Stern report as the most detailed economic analysis yet conducted and said it would "surprise many people in terms of the relatively small cost of action".
However, he told a climate change conference in Birmingham that achieving global consensus would be very hard.
"In my view this is the biggest challenge our global political system has ever been faced with. We've never been faced with a decision where collective decision making is required by all major countries … around risks to their populations that are well outside the time period of any electoral process."
The United States and Australia have refused to join the Kyoto Protocol - the international agreement on greenhouse gas emissions - because US President George Bush and Prime Minister John Howard have argued that it would harm their countries' economies.
The Stern report comes as the Howard Government is signalling a shift in its attitude to climate change. Environment Minister Ian Campbell said that governments needed to invest more in emission reduction technologies such as carbon capture and storage.
"Some of these technologies do need to be fast-tracked and there needs to be higher levels of public sector investment to achieve that," he said.
Treasurer Peter Costello moved to guarantee that Canberra would continue to offer Australian households a rebate if they installed solar power panels, after concerns the program would be discontinued.
He said the Government was also examining ways to make solar power less expensive.
"We can make solar power; the problem is the price at which we can make it is too high for households generally at the moment, and it is a question of bringing that price down."
But the chief economist of the British Government-backed Carbon Trust, Michael Grubb, yesterday slammed Canberra's policy response on climate change as "unrealistic" and "hard to understand, because it is so clearly not a position which can lead to any credible solutions".
Professor Grubb questioned the Federal Government's continuing opposition to carbon pricing and trading schemes, which would reward businesses that switched to lower carbon-emission operations.
"I must say, coming to Australia, in terms of (inaction)...at the federal level, it feels like going back in time because so little generally seems to have been done on the ground here," he said.
(Source: The Age)
Saturday, October 21, 2006
Disability advocates say that the Federal minister responsible for administering the Disability Services Act told them that he would get rid of a disabled child if he had one.
Community Services minister John Cobb is said to commented during a meeting to discuss a review of the National Disability Advocacy Program, that if he had a disabled child he would send it to live in an institution.
David Craig, executive officer for the Victorian disability advocacy group Action for Community Living, said a number of people at the meeting had disabled children, or were disabled themselves.
Mr Craig added that "I think he was fairly aggressive in the way he approached the group in the sense that he saw us as really representing interests that weren't the same as the ones he was concerned about and he was making it clear basically he was more concerned about careers than families."
(Source: The Age)
Community Services minister John Cobb is said to commented during a meeting to discuss a review of the National Disability Advocacy Program, that if he had a disabled child he would send it to live in an institution.
David Craig, executive officer for the Victorian disability advocacy group Action for Community Living, said a number of people at the meeting had disabled children, or were disabled themselves.
Mr Craig added that "I think he was fairly aggressive in the way he approached the group in the sense that he saw us as really representing interests that weren't the same as the ones he was concerned about and he was making it clear basically he was more concerned about careers than families."
(Source: The Age)
Up to two dozen Victorian police, including senior managers, who were involved in corruption or turned a blind eye to it remain in the force, according to an original member of the Ceja anti-corruption taskforce.
Detective Sergeant Bill Patten told The Age newspaper that corruption had not been thoroughly dealt with in Victoria, despite revelations this week that five drug squad detectives have been convicted for drug trafficking as a result of Ceja's work.
He said the disciplining of police suspected of corruption was "pathetic", and that Ceja taskforce members were "hung out to dry" by force command after the difficult work of investigating fellow police.
Sergeant Patten, a police officer for 28 years and a member of Ceja for almost four years, is considering resigning from the force because of his disillusionment with the way the taskforce's work was handled and because of his own treatment since leaving Ceja late last year.
Sergeant Patten alleges that commissioned officers who presided over corrupt police were protected from appropriate sanctions or moved sideways.
He also said that several Ceja investigators and their families had been "sucked dry, spat out the other end and left to fend for ourselves" because of the force's failure to offer support while working at the taskforce and upon re-deployment.
Despite two interim Ombudsman reports on Ceja, Sergeant Patten said, there had been no public accounting of all the drug trafficking, evidence planting, and drug use that the taskforce uncovered.
"There are probably a dozen to two dozen policeman in the Victoria Police who haven't been charged who I say are crooks or who turned a blind eye to corruption. Some are commissioned officers (above the rank of senior sergeant) and senior detectives."
He said that links between members of the underworld and corrupt police were indisputable during Melbourne's gangland wars.
Other members of Ceja have privately backed Sergeant Patten's central claims.
Conduct never examined included the leaking of operational information, taking bribes, criminal associations and failing to report corruption, he said.
"It has been five years now. Some of it (the corruption) is very significant and some of it has just gone out into the ocean. It is long lost," he said. "Corruption investigations like Ceja should not have been done by state police."
"Anybody at Ceja will tell you if they are being totally honest that internal sanctions have been totally disappointing and inappropriate as far as sending a message about corruption and being involved in corruption."
Sergeant Patten said many Ceja investigators and their families were frustrated about a lack of support following their work with Ceja, including several who have taken stress leave or left the force.
Several members of Ceja had received death threats.
"They have been ostracised, they have been harassed, they have been criticised up until now in their current workplaces. We have not been supported in our introduction back into the workplace," he said.
Ceja investigators were granted direct transfers to new jobs to aid their redeployment.
But Sergeant Patten's move to a regional detective unit was appealed in the Supreme Court by two officers who argued it was unfair.
The case is unresolved, but Sergeant Patten said it was driven by an anti-Ceja mentality that force command had failed to tackle.
The Age has confirmed that several police officers singled out by Ceja to command remain on active duty and in managerial positions.
"There were certainly some managers at the drug squad who should have been brought to account for things, but they weren't."
(Source: The Age)
Detective Sergeant Bill Patten told The Age newspaper that corruption had not been thoroughly dealt with in Victoria, despite revelations this week that five drug squad detectives have been convicted for drug trafficking as a result of Ceja's work.
He said the disciplining of police suspected of corruption was "pathetic", and that Ceja taskforce members were "hung out to dry" by force command after the difficult work of investigating fellow police.
Sergeant Patten, a police officer for 28 years and a member of Ceja for almost four years, is considering resigning from the force because of his disillusionment with the way the taskforce's work was handled and because of his own treatment since leaving Ceja late last year.
Sergeant Patten alleges that commissioned officers who presided over corrupt police were protected from appropriate sanctions or moved sideways.
He also said that several Ceja investigators and their families had been "sucked dry, spat out the other end and left to fend for ourselves" because of the force's failure to offer support while working at the taskforce and upon re-deployment.
Despite two interim Ombudsman reports on Ceja, Sergeant Patten said, there had been no public accounting of all the drug trafficking, evidence planting, and drug use that the taskforce uncovered.
"There are probably a dozen to two dozen policeman in the Victoria Police who haven't been charged who I say are crooks or who turned a blind eye to corruption. Some are commissioned officers (above the rank of senior sergeant) and senior detectives."
He said that links between members of the underworld and corrupt police were indisputable during Melbourne's gangland wars.
Other members of Ceja have privately backed Sergeant Patten's central claims.
Conduct never examined included the leaking of operational information, taking bribes, criminal associations and failing to report corruption, he said.
"It has been five years now. Some of it (the corruption) is very significant and some of it has just gone out into the ocean. It is long lost," he said. "Corruption investigations like Ceja should not have been done by state police."
"Anybody at Ceja will tell you if they are being totally honest that internal sanctions have been totally disappointing and inappropriate as far as sending a message about corruption and being involved in corruption."
Sergeant Patten said many Ceja investigators and their families were frustrated about a lack of support following their work with Ceja, including several who have taken stress leave or left the force.
Several members of Ceja had received death threats.
"They have been ostracised, they have been harassed, they have been criticised up until now in their current workplaces. We have not been supported in our introduction back into the workplace," he said.
Ceja investigators were granted direct transfers to new jobs to aid their redeployment.
But Sergeant Patten's move to a regional detective unit was appealed in the Supreme Court by two officers who argued it was unfair.
The case is unresolved, but Sergeant Patten said it was driven by an anti-Ceja mentality that force command had failed to tackle.
The Age has confirmed that several police officers singled out by Ceja to command remain on active duty and in managerial positions.
"There were certainly some managers at the drug squad who should have been brought to account for things, but they weren't."
(Source: The Age)
Friday, October 20, 2006
Wealthy Melbourne home-owners are being given cut-price and even free renovations, under a publically funded heritage scheme.
Under the fund, residents can apply for handouts, or low or zero-interest loans for external renovations.
Homes in East Melbourne and Parkville, where properties regularly sell for more than $1 million, are among the most likely to benefit from the scheme.
The renovations can add substantially to the value of the homes.
The fund has assets of $2.4 million, and has handed out more than $6 million in grants and loans since 1988, the Heritage Council said.
(Source: Herald-Sun)
Under the fund, residents can apply for handouts, or low or zero-interest loans for external renovations.
Homes in East Melbourne and Parkville, where properties regularly sell for more than $1 million, are among the most likely to benefit from the scheme.
The renovations can add substantially to the value of the homes.
The fund has assets of $2.4 million, and has handed out more than $6 million in grants and loans since 1988, the Heritage Council said.
(Source: Herald-Sun)
George Bush has accepted that the war in Iraq could be compared to the Vietnam War.
The President was asked what he thought of a newspaper columnist's comparison of escalating violence in Iraq, to the Tet Offensive, a military operation during the Vietnam War which is regarded as the 'beginning of the end' for the American presence in Vietnam.
Mr Bush replied that "he could be right...there's certainly a stepped-up level of violence."
69 American serviceman are estimated to have died this month in Iraq.
(Source: Herald-Sun)
The President was asked what he thought of a newspaper columnist's comparison of escalating violence in Iraq, to the Tet Offensive, a military operation during the Vietnam War which is regarded as the 'beginning of the end' for the American presence in Vietnam.
Mr Bush replied that "he could be right...there's certainly a stepped-up level of violence."
69 American serviceman are estimated to have died this month in Iraq.
(Source: Herald-Sun)
More than two-thirds of city workers have been unable to significantly reduce their personal debt in the past three months, according to a new survey.
A Newspoll survey for debt relief company Fox Symes also found 14 percent of respondents saying their debt had gotten worse.
Twenty percent said their ability to pay had worsened.
The Reserve Bank recently revealed that Australia's total debt on credit cards alone stands at $37 billion - an average of $2821 per card.
Debt relief expert Deborah Southon said that "the fact that Australians are listing cost-of-living items, like groceries, as a reason for falling into debt should sound alarm bells in households across the country."
(Source: MX)
A Newspoll survey for debt relief company Fox Symes also found 14 percent of respondents saying their debt had gotten worse.
Twenty percent said their ability to pay had worsened.
The Reserve Bank recently revealed that Australia's total debt on credit cards alone stands at $37 billion - an average of $2821 per card.
Debt relief expert Deborah Southon said that "the fact that Australians are listing cost-of-living items, like groceries, as a reason for falling into debt should sound alarm bells in households across the country."
(Source: MX)
An off-duty policeman was the driver of a bus which drove away after its passengers insulted and attacked a Jewish family.
Members of the Ocean Grove Football Club shouted 'go Nazis' at Melbourne man Menachem Vorcheimer and his children as their bus drove by. They mimed machine-gunning him and his two children, aged three and six.
After the players stole his skullcap and hat, Mr Vorcheimer pleaded for them to be returned. One of the players then punched him in the eye.
The bus was driven by an off-duty senior constable from Melbourne's west.
(Source: ABC News website, MX)
Members of the Ocean Grove Football Club shouted 'go Nazis' at Melbourne man Menachem Vorcheimer and his children as their bus drove by. They mimed machine-gunning him and his two children, aged three and six.
After the players stole his skullcap and hat, Mr Vorcheimer pleaded for them to be returned. One of the players then punched him in the eye.
The bus was driven by an off-duty senior constable from Melbourne's west.
(Source: ABC News website, MX)
650,000 Iraqis have died as a result of the invasion of Iraq, according to a new study.
A team from Johns Hopkins University worked with Iraqi doctors to visit over 1,800 homes in Iraq, selected randomly to make sure that no bias could creep in to their calculations.
The figure of 650,000 deaths due to the invasion represents 2.5% of the total Iraqi population. It is far higher than estimates by websites such as Iraq Body Count, because such sites only tally reported deaths rather than actively researching them.
In each year since the invasion in March 2003, mortality rates by violence have increased.
(Source: The Guardian [UK])
A team from Johns Hopkins University worked with Iraqi doctors to visit over 1,800 homes in Iraq, selected randomly to make sure that no bias could creep in to their calculations.
The figure of 650,000 deaths due to the invasion represents 2.5% of the total Iraqi population. It is far higher than estimates by websites such as Iraq Body Count, because such sites only tally reported deaths rather than actively researching them.
In each year since the invasion in March 2003, mortality rates by violence have increased.
(Source: The Guardian [UK])
A strong majority of Iraqis want U.S.-led military forces to immediately withdraw from the country, saying their swift departure would make Iraq more secure and decrease sectarian violence, according to new polls by the State Department and independent researchers.
In Baghdad, for example, nearly three-quarters of residents polled said they would feel safer if U.S. and other foreign forces left Iraq, with 65 percent of those asked favoring an immediate pullout, according to State Department polling results obtained by The Washington Post.
Another new poll, scheduled to be released on Wednesday by the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland, found that 71 percent of Iraqis questioned want the Iraqi government to ask foreign forces to depart within a year. By large margins, though, Iraqis believed that the U.S. government would refuse the request, with 77 percent of those polled saying the United States intends keep permanent military bases in the country.
Interviews with Baghdad residents suggest that many believe the U.S. government has deliberately created a civil war to create an excuse to keep its forces here.
(Source: Washington Post [US])
In Baghdad, for example, nearly three-quarters of residents polled said they would feel safer if U.S. and other foreign forces left Iraq, with 65 percent of those asked favoring an immediate pullout, according to State Department polling results obtained by The Washington Post.
Another new poll, scheduled to be released on Wednesday by the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland, found that 71 percent of Iraqis questioned want the Iraqi government to ask foreign forces to depart within a year. By large margins, though, Iraqis believed that the U.S. government would refuse the request, with 77 percent of those polled saying the United States intends keep permanent military bases in the country.
Interviews with Baghdad residents suggest that many believe the U.S. government has deliberately created a civil war to create an excuse to keep its forces here.
(Source: Washington Post [US])
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Workers coming to Australia under the controversial 457 visa program are being required to sign illegal contracts forbidding them from joining unions, engaging in politics and even religious activity.
One contract obtained by the Herald and signed by a Filipino worker cites as grounds for dismissal "engaging in trade union activities."
The ACTU secretary, Greg Combet, said it was possible thousands of workers on 457 visas were being excluded from exercising their legal right to join unions. "The Government is allowing the Chinese Communist Party to dictate terms in the Australian labour market," Mr Combet said.
One sacked packaging worker, Zhihong Fu, signed his contract in Shanghai last November with a Chinese-government licensed agent, the Shanghai Overseas Employment Service.
One clause states: "Under no circumstances shall the employee participate in riots, strikes, political, union or radical religious activities."
After Mr Fu broke both wrists while working at a Melbourne factory and was sacked while on sick leave, he contacted the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union for help.
Bruce Taylor, an associate at the law firm Turner Freeman, said a worker sacked under such a contract would be forced to bring an unlawful dismissal suit and in most cases they would be sent home before the case came to court.
"Adding insult to injury, they would probably have to pay their own air fares," Mr Taylor said.
Phil Toner, a University of Western Sydney academic, said many workers were unaware the contracts were illegal. "There is no procedure in place to explain to these people what rights they have when they come to Australia," Dr Toner said.
He said workers from countries such as China and the Philippines were vulnerable because the system had been originally designed to help major companies shift well-educated senior management to Australia.
(Source: Sydney Morning Herald)
One contract obtained by the Herald and signed by a Filipino worker cites as grounds for dismissal "engaging in trade union activities."
The ACTU secretary, Greg Combet, said it was possible thousands of workers on 457 visas were being excluded from exercising their legal right to join unions. "The Government is allowing the Chinese Communist Party to dictate terms in the Australian labour market," Mr Combet said.
One sacked packaging worker, Zhihong Fu, signed his contract in Shanghai last November with a Chinese-government licensed agent, the Shanghai Overseas Employment Service.
One clause states: "Under no circumstances shall the employee participate in riots, strikes, political, union or radical religious activities."
After Mr Fu broke both wrists while working at a Melbourne factory and was sacked while on sick leave, he contacted the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union for help.
Bruce Taylor, an associate at the law firm Turner Freeman, said a worker sacked under such a contract would be forced to bring an unlawful dismissal suit and in most cases they would be sent home before the case came to court.
"Adding insult to injury, they would probably have to pay their own air fares," Mr Taylor said.
Phil Toner, a University of Western Sydney academic, said many workers were unaware the contracts were illegal. "There is no procedure in place to explain to these people what rights they have when they come to Australia," Dr Toner said.
He said workers from countries such as China and the Philippines were vulnerable because the system had been originally designed to help major companies shift well-educated senior management to Australia.
(Source: Sydney Morning Herald)
A preliminary report by the United Nations on housing availability in Australia has accused governments of failing to address homelessness and of breaching human rights.
The UN's Special Rapporteur on Housing, Miloon Kathari, toured Australia in August at the request of the Commonwealth.
The UN's initial findings call the lack of housing for poor or vulnerable people a 'national crisis'.
Executive director of Shelter South Australia, Gary Wilson, said that "for people on the bottom 40 per cent of incomes, there's a lack of affordable, adequate, appropriate, safe and secure housing."
(Source: ABC News website)
The UN's Special Rapporteur on Housing, Miloon Kathari, toured Australia in August at the request of the Commonwealth.
The UN's initial findings call the lack of housing for poor or vulnerable people a 'national crisis'.
Executive director of Shelter South Australia, Gary Wilson, said that "for people on the bottom 40 per cent of incomes, there's a lack of affordable, adequate, appropriate, safe and secure housing."
(Source: ABC News website)
A Labor Party spokesman has admitted that the government's policy on refugees, which Labor supported at the time, was at least partly responsible for the deaths of 353 refugees.
Labor immigration spokesman Tony Burke said that "it's difficult to get past the concept of (the deaths of) 146 children, 142 women and 65 men, all with names, all with hopes, all with aspirations, all sharing the common dream they hoped one day to be Australians". Mr Burke was referring to the refugees who drowned when their boat, now generally referred to by the codename SIEV-X, sank in the Java Sea in 2001.
Mr Burke said that the overwhelming majority of children on the SIEV-X had fathers who had been granted temporary protection in Australia. Under the policy, temporary protection visa holders are unable to sponsor their families or visit overseas.
"The reason (the women and children) went to a people smuggler and found themselves on SIEV-X was that dad wasn't able to be reunited with them" Mr Burke said.
"On a temporary visa he was not allowed to leave to see them. We ended up with a situation of people giving their life savings to evil operators to then put their lives at risk and in this case many did drown."
The Labor Party supported the government's 'tough' stance on immigration at the time, but is now likely to change its policy.
(Source: The Age)
Labor immigration spokesman Tony Burke said that "it's difficult to get past the concept of (the deaths of) 146 children, 142 women and 65 men, all with names, all with hopes, all with aspirations, all sharing the common dream they hoped one day to be Australians". Mr Burke was referring to the refugees who drowned when their boat, now generally referred to by the codename SIEV-X, sank in the Java Sea in 2001.
Mr Burke said that the overwhelming majority of children on the SIEV-X had fathers who had been granted temporary protection in Australia. Under the policy, temporary protection visa holders are unable to sponsor their families or visit overseas.
"The reason (the women and children) went to a people smuggler and found themselves on SIEV-X was that dad wasn't able to be reunited with them" Mr Burke said.
"On a temporary visa he was not allowed to leave to see them. We ended up with a situation of people giving their life savings to evil operators to then put their lives at risk and in this case many did drown."
The Labor Party supported the government's 'tough' stance on immigration at the time, but is now likely to change its policy.
(Source: The Age)
Monday, October 09, 2006
Pharmacists would be given hundreds of millions of dollars of public money, to 'compensate' them for no longer receiving secret kickbacks from drug companies, under the scheme being considered by the federal government.
The Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme sets the price the Government pays for a prescription drug, allowing pharmacists $10.74 in mark-ups and dispensing fees for a standard prescription.
However drug companies offer under-the-counter discounts of up to 70 per cent to persuade chemists to dispense their brand.
These discounts can quadruple profit margins approved under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.
The federal Minister for Health, Tony Abbott, is believed to be considering a plan whereby pharmacists would be compensated with public money for no longer receiving the discounts.
(Source: The Age)
The Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme sets the price the Government pays for a prescription drug, allowing pharmacists $10.74 in mark-ups and dispensing fees for a standard prescription.
However drug companies offer under-the-counter discounts of up to 70 per cent to persuade chemists to dispense their brand.
These discounts can quadruple profit margins approved under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.
The federal Minister for Health, Tony Abbott, is believed to be considering a plan whereby pharmacists would be compensated with public money for no longer receiving the discounts.
(Source: The Age)
The Australian Government relied on speaking notes provided by US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's office to deny claims that David Hicks was moved into solitary confinement seven months ago, rather than checking his condition themselves.
The Australian and US governments dispute that Mr Hicks is being held in solitary confinement: saying that he is instead in a "single-occupancy cell".
The government did not send an Australian official to check his condition for three months.
Hicks, 31, was moved into his 'single-occupancy cell' in March, a day after an Australian official visited him at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp in Cuba.
According to his US military lawyer, Major Michael Mori, Hicks is in a cement cell with a steel door for 23 hours a day and is in poor physical and mental health. Hicks has been at Guantanamo Bay since his 2001 capture in Afghanistan.
The Australian Government was not told by US authorities of Hicks' relocation and remained unaware of it for weeks. It relied on a media release from the Joint Task Force at Guantanamo Bay and "talking points" from the Pentagon to dispute claims Hicks was in solitary confinement and was being mistreated. It was not until June that an Australian official was sent to check his condition.
Major Mori said the documents showed the Australian Government was seeking guidance from the US for what it could say about Hicks with a vested interest in seeing him prosecuted.
"My God, American people would not accept this. The American Government would not accept this for one of its own citizens," he told The Age newspaper.
(Source: The Age)
The Australian and US governments dispute that Mr Hicks is being held in solitary confinement: saying that he is instead in a "single-occupancy cell".
The government did not send an Australian official to check his condition for three months.
Hicks, 31, was moved into his 'single-occupancy cell' in March, a day after an Australian official visited him at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp in Cuba.
According to his US military lawyer, Major Michael Mori, Hicks is in a cement cell with a steel door for 23 hours a day and is in poor physical and mental health. Hicks has been at Guantanamo Bay since his 2001 capture in Afghanistan.
The Australian Government was not told by US authorities of Hicks' relocation and remained unaware of it for weeks. It relied on a media release from the Joint Task Force at Guantanamo Bay and "talking points" from the Pentagon to dispute claims Hicks was in solitary confinement and was being mistreated. It was not until June that an Australian official was sent to check his condition.
Major Mori said the documents showed the Australian Government was seeking guidance from the US for what it could say about Hicks with a vested interest in seeing him prosecuted.
"My God, American people would not accept this. The American Government would not accept this for one of its own citizens," he told The Age newspaper.
(Source: The Age)
Nearly six in 10 people say Australia should withdraw troops from Iraq, according to a new poll.
The the ACNielsen/Age poll found 59 percent of Australians believe Australian troops should leave Iraq. 36 percent believe they should stay.
In March last year, after an extra 450 troops were committed to Iraq, an Age poll found 55 per cent opposed the commitment of additional troops and 67 per cent believed that no more troops should be sent to Iraq in the future.
(Source: The Age)
The the ACNielsen/Age poll found 59 percent of Australians believe Australian troops should leave Iraq. 36 percent believe they should stay.
In March last year, after an extra 450 troops were committed to Iraq, an Age poll found 55 per cent opposed the commitment of additional troops and 67 per cent believed that no more troops should be sent to Iraq in the future.
(Source: The Age)
The Labor Party's environment policy committee was dominated in the 1990s by spies working for loggers.
The ABC's 'Four Corners' program found that multinational packaging company Amcor set up a group it called the 'A-Team', led by then-state Labor MP Derek Amos.
The team infiltrated branches of the Labor Party. Former Labor MP Keith Hamilton said "it gave them contact with the heavies within the Labor Party. It got them the opportunity, and they were successful, in being elected to the environment policy committee. And so they then had a fair deal of influence on determining what the Government, or the Labor policy, was going to be in terms of forestry and environmental issues." The A-team was was partly responsible for convincing the Keating Government to institute a pro-logging policy in 1995.
It also spied on and disrupted green groups, and Amcor's competitors.
The group was partly funded by the Pulp and Paper Union, now part of the CFMEU.
A Labor source said that it was well-known within the party that the majority of the environment committee was 'bought and paid for' by Amcor.
(Source: ABC News website)
The ABC's 'Four Corners' program found that multinational packaging company Amcor set up a group it called the 'A-Team', led by then-state Labor MP Derek Amos.
The team infiltrated branches of the Labor Party. Former Labor MP Keith Hamilton said "it gave them contact with the heavies within the Labor Party. It got them the opportunity, and they were successful, in being elected to the environment policy committee. And so they then had a fair deal of influence on determining what the Government, or the Labor policy, was going to be in terms of forestry and environmental issues." The A-team was was partly responsible for convincing the Keating Government to institute a pro-logging policy in 1995.
It also spied on and disrupted green groups, and Amcor's competitors.
The group was partly funded by the Pulp and Paper Union, now part of the CFMEU.
A Labor source said that it was well-known within the party that the majority of the environment committee was 'bought and paid for' by Amcor.
(Source: ABC News website)
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
The report into the death of an Aboriginal man has effectively found that he was beaten to death by a police officer.
The man, Mulrunji, died in a police watch-house. Queensland's Deputy Coroner, Christine Clements, has ruled that Mulrunji died after being punched and kicked by a policeman.
The Coroner found the officer punched Mulrunju so hard he cleaved his liver in two.
(Source: ABC News website)
The man, Mulrunji, died in a police watch-house. Queensland's Deputy Coroner, Christine Clements, has ruled that Mulrunji died after being punched and kicked by a policeman.
The Coroner found the officer punched Mulrunju so hard he cleaved his liver in two.
(Source: ABC News website)
Australian Wheat Board executives joked about the millions of dollars they were sending Saddam Hussein, and the fact that the money may have been intended to kill his political opponents.
An email by executive Daryl Borlase said Iraq wanted to build 2000 concrete bunkers, ostensibly to store grain, but "the bunkers will have cement walls and floors so they are actually designed for burying the Kurds - under the cement?"
"They intend to build them with fumigation capability so the mind boggles as to whether they are fumigating insects or any other pest that pisses them off."
It continued: "On a serious note, they will have cement flooring ..."
(Source: news.com.au)
An email by executive Daryl Borlase said Iraq wanted to build 2000 concrete bunkers, ostensibly to store grain, but "the bunkers will have cement walls and floors so they are actually designed for burying the Kurds - under the cement?"
"They intend to build them with fumigation capability so the mind boggles as to whether they are fumigating insects or any other pest that pisses them off."
It continued: "On a serious note, they will have cement flooring ..."
(Source: news.com.au)
The Pope played a leading role in covering up child abuse by Catholic priests, according to a new documentry.
The BBC's 'Panorama' program claimed that in 2001, then-cardinal Joseph Ratzinger issued a secret order to bishops around the world, effectively instructing them to put the church's interests before child safety.
The document recommended that sexual abuse should not be reported, and that the victims, witnesses and perpetrators should be encouraged not to talk about it.
The program also accused the church of knowingly harbouring paedophile clergymen. It said that priests accused of child abuse were generally merely moved to another parish, often to reoffend.
(Source: MX)
The BBC's 'Panorama' program claimed that in 2001, then-cardinal Joseph Ratzinger issued a secret order to bishops around the world, effectively instructing them to put the church's interests before child safety.
The document recommended that sexual abuse should not be reported, and that the victims, witnesses and perpetrators should be encouraged not to talk about it.
The program also accused the church of knowingly harbouring paedophile clergymen. It said that priests accused of child abuse were generally merely moved to another parish, often to reoffend.
(Source: MX)
