Re: Aus Federal Politics thread (III)

[Big Dog]

Yep, it's a black mark on both sides of politics AT STATE LEVEL that they haven't done the requisite work, and in some cases sold off theinfrastructure so as to avoid responsibility for the upgrades not happening.

Very true although the Tas state Labor party has to accept almost all the blame down here. The rot started when the Greens, with the backing of Hawke, stopped the Gordon below Franklin power scheme. After three years of drought in Tassie, we are now forced to buy expensive coal generated power from the mainland. Labor also split the Hydro corp into three seperate entities, all with CEO's & bureaucrats on big money, all doing what was once done by one entity. The state Govt rubberstamps every spurious claim for price rises by these corporations with the result that people on fixed & low incomes are now having to choose between putting food on the table or heating their homes.

[embee]

If by some miracle the DD trigger is pulled then the Libs would campaign that you dont want to vote for the Indies or the Greens or the minors in the Senate because you'll get more of the "problem" we have at the moment

...and the ALP would campaign that the last time the Libs had the control of the Senate we got WORKCHOICES

the Greens would campaign as normal as they think they are doing a good job

[skully]

I'd be confident that if the Libs campaigned with a regular shot of the smirking smarmy Bob Brown out the front of Parliament House, the Greens would be farked. 99.9% of commonsense Aussies know this qunt is a fraud. Just give us a chance to prove it.

[embee]

FINANCIAL records for the period of Craig Thomson's reign over the beleaguered Health Services Union are missing, a major impediment to investigations by authorities into the credit card scandal threatening Julia Gillard's government.
Well-placed health union sources told The Saturday Age yesterday that industrial umpire Fair Work Australia and an external auditor of the union in 2008 had found in separate investigations that records for the period 2002 to 2007 had ''disappeared''.
Fair Work has been probing the financial management of the national office of the union under Mr Thomson since April 2009 when a request was lodged with its predecessor, the Australian Industrial Registry.
Advertisement: Story continues below
Craig Thomson Photo: Nic Walker
New South Wales police are also investigating following a referral this week by the current national secretary, Kathy Jackson.
Last night Ms Jackson said there were ''a lot of records missing from the organisation''.
Mr Thomson, Labor member for the federal seat of Dobell, is accused of having misused his union credit card while an HSU official, with spending on escort services and unexplained cash withdrawals worth more than $100,000.
A health union insider said yesterday that Fair Work Australia had blamed missing records when asked about the delays in completing its investigation.
It remains unclear why the records are missing or who is responsible for this.
HSU insiders with long-standing concerns about its management yesterday confirmed that the union's bookkeeping was poor, with one describing financial reports to the executive and wider union as a ''joke''.
However, a copy of a 2008 audit of the union by Melbourne chartered accountants Dick and Smith reveals that:
■ Mr Thomson continued to use his union mobile phone and credit card after he was elected to Federal Parliament in November 2007, spending $5480 on his credit card and $2095 on his mobile after November 24, 2007.
■ HSU funds were also used in 2007 to donate $10,000 to Dads in Education, a charity of which Mr Thomson became a director in 2009.
■ A promise of $39,000 in union funds was made to the Central Coast Rugby League club, located in Mr Thomson's Dobell electorate. It is unclear if the money was actually paid.
The audit found that a ''lack of documentation'' for many transactions made it ''impossible for us to definitively state what many of these expenditures were''.
Prime Minister Gillard was yesterday forced to defend reports that her chief of staff, Ben Hubbard, had asked questions of Fair Work Australia about its investigation of the HSU before the allegations against Mr Thomson became public.
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott jumped on the report. But the government produced evidence that the Industrial Registrar had contacted Mr Hubbard only after the allegations about Mr Thomson were made public, on April 8, 2009.
However, it remains unclear when Mr Hubbard first telephoned the then registrar, Doug Williams. Ms Gillard said yesterday neither she or Mr Hubbard, had any ''active recollection'' of when contact first occurred on the Thomson case.
Mr Williams was quoted as saying: ''I recall receiving a phone call [from Mr Hubbard] in early 2009 concerning inquiries that I had initiated into the Health Services Union.''
Last night Mr Williams told The Saturday Age he had nothing further to add.
On Thursday angry powerbrokers were canvassing the union's exclusion from the party's state conference.
But the ALP's powerful administrative committee last night failed to act against the union.
With KATHARINE MURPHY

[Big Dog]

...and Gillard & Swan are still supporting this muppet which only highlights the moral vacuum that exists at the top of Labor since Gillard took over.

[CT]

and abbott wants to sell his A***e wonder if bb will buy it?

[CT]

The Thomson affair was in 2002-2007 well before gillard was pm. lot of this is an internal union squabble these allegations where raised in 2007/8 and the liberal party was aware of them seeing how Sen Ronaldson inquired to the same industrial registrar as the staffer. why did they NOT pursue this before, or have they got something to hide.

Put the blame where it should be not where you want it to be. If Thomson is found guilty then he faces the consequences no probs. with that, but a star chamber by the opposition and the media is a dangerous precedent.

Why did the libs sit on the fisher case two months before it came out in the press, why didn't they say something about the lib members who where being investigated before the last election. both sides of parties have cases to answer and no one of them are free from allegations of rorting, travel and expenses.
Slipper the lib dep speaker has a allowance allegation rort to answer to, why no coverage?.

[embee]

"why no coverage?"

The order for maximum blood is

1 Get Thomson

2 Get Gillard

3 Get Abbott

Once the media have Thomson ....they'll have Gillard ...then when Abbott takes over they'll do him

If they take Abbott out now they might miss out on taking Gillard

[lardbucket]

'At Home With Julia' looks like an amusing spoof.

[Zat]

I don't know why they are targeting Thomson.

He's living proof that at least one politician can organise a root in a brothel.

[horace]

apparently the MM made a mudge type offer to Windsor to get his support after the election...good old catholic church

[Bradman]

I would have thought a rider to that would be "and get away with it". WTF didn't the stupid git pay cash?

[embee]

There's supposedly $100K+ unreceipted cash withdrawals on the card as well so he probably did

[skully]

And this scuzzbag was Chair of a key parliamentary economic committee. Scum.

[bodyline]

Wasn't it magnificient to see the great man back on the 7.30 report last night. Stella performance!

[JGK]

Kerry O'Brien made a guest appearance did he?

[skully]

Kerry Who?

[embee]

At least this will stop the whinging about Thomson for a few days ...


THE Federal Government's Malaysian people swap deal has been ruled unlawful by the High Court.

Chief Justice Robert French said the court ordered Immigration Minister Chris Bowen and his Department be restrained from sending asylum seekers to Malaysia.

"The declaration made ... was made without power and is invalid," Justice French said.

The Government had wanted to send 800 asylum seekers to Malaysia in exchange for 4000 already processed refugees.

The decision effectively stymies the Government's so-called Malaysia Solution.

Refugee lawyers asked the High Court to strike down the deal, arguing that the Immigration Minister did not have the power to send asylum seekers to a country that has no legal obligations to protect them.

They also argued that sending unaccompanied minors to Malaysia would breach the minister's duty of care as their legal guardian to act in their best interests.

But Commonwealth Solicitor-General Stephen Gageler had argued the Government could lawfully declare Malaysia a safe third country even though it had no domestic or international legal obligations to protect asylum seekers.

more to come ...

[bodyline]

Another fark up by Jules




THE High Court has vetoed the Malaysian asylum seeker swap in a ruling that has smashed the Government's entire strategy to halt people smugglers.
It also could spell the end of its plans to set up any off-shore processing of refugee applications.

The Full Bench, in an expedited judgment, found by five to two that Malaysia was not bound to look after the human rights of the 400 asylum seekers now under Australian care.

It found Immigration Minister Chris Bowen could not declare Malaysia to be a country where people could be sent to be processed as refugees.

The court ruled that no country could receive asylum seekers from Australia unless it was legally bound by international law or its own domestic law to provide access for asylum seekers to protection pending processing of their applications for refugee status.


..
Malaysia is not a signatory of the United Nations conventions on refugees.

“Today the High Court held invalid the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship's declaration of Malaysia as a country to which asylum seekers who entered Australia at Christmas Island can be taken for processing of their asylum claims,'' said a statement from the court.

“After an expedited hearing before the Full Bench, the court by majority made permanent the injunctions that had been granted earlier and restrained the minister from taking to Malaysia two asylum seekers who arrived at Christmas Island, as part of a larger group, less than four weeks ago.''

The matter came before the nation's superior court after an application made on behalf of a 16-year-old boy and a 24-year-old Afghan man who, their lawyer said, were petrified with fear about being sent to Malaysia.

The High Court spent a day-and-a-half considering the issue before reserving its ruling until today.

One issue raised by the legal team for the detainees on Christmas Island was the ability of Australia to guarantee the human rights of the 800 asylum seekers sent to Malaysia.

Commonwealth Solicitor-General Steven Gagler told the court the agreement and declaration of Malaysia as a suitable destination was legal and met the obligations Australia has under the UN refugee convention.

Liberal immigration spokesman Scott Morrison said before the ruling was handed down that a victory for the Government would not mean endorsement of the merits of the swap deal.

“If the Government is successful today in the High Court then that would basically just be an acknowledgment by the court that the minister has the power to make this decision,'' Mr Morrison told ABC Radio.

“It won't be any reflection of whether it's a good policy or a bad policy or whether it's a policy that provides protection to refugees. It will simply be a decision by the court about the minister's powers under the act."

Mr Morrison later called the ruling “a devastating blow for a grossly incompetent government’’.

“This is part of a continuing pattern of failure from a Government that just can’t get anything right,’’ Mr Morrison said.

Legal experts said the Government’s only option might be to change legislation, but it would be unlikely to get the backing of the Greens and Liberals to pass legal changes.

“It’s difficult to see how this situation could be rectified,’’ ANU law professor Penny Matthews told SkyNews.

“Malaysia would have to become party to relevant treaties in an awful hurry and they are not necessarily going to do that.

“So I think this means it’s the end of the Malaysian swap.’’

Prof Matthews said the Government might be able to continue with plans to set up a processing centre on Papua-New Guinea’s Manus Island if it can overcome the country’s approach to human rights.

“With Papua-New Guinea it is a party to the refugee convention although it does have significant reservations,’’ she said.

“When countries become party to a treaty they can say there are certain provisions they will not abide by.

“So Papua-New Guinea for example has significant reservations about the right to liberty in the refugee convention.’’



Read more: http://www.news.com.au/national/high-court-rules-malaysian-swap-deal-unlawful/story-e6frfkvr-1226126528979#ixzz1WaCWmqXv

[embee]

Nice Tits Red

[skully]

Have a mentioned "WORST GOVT SINCE WHITLAM"? FMD. Didn't even do their Constitutional Due Diligence. What a garquen head case of a govt they are. Wait for the Malaysian Govt to sue for the money they were promised for the deal.

Make more room in Tassie, BD. The Vulture's gonna need it.

[bodyline]

Classic!

Malvern man Andrew Scott pleaded innocent but was found to have broken the law after presiding over the loss of $5 billion in Centro Properties' share value, or other people’s money. Scott has been fined $30,000 – in a court case that cost taxpayers and shareholders more than $3 million.

Warrnambool man Tyrone Lynch pleaded guilty to causing $5900 damage after he ran out of grog at his mum’s house, broke into the local Terang Mortlake Football Netball Club and took 30 cans of grog then went back to his mum’s and kept drinking. Lynch was sentenced earlier this year to 18 months in jail.

There is an important distinction here: the Centro trial was a civil proceeding and the Warrnambool a criminal matter.

Advertisement: Story continues below Nonetheless, the Warrnambool man might have done a little better in court, perhaps even as well as the Malvern man, had he had shareholders to fund his QCs.

The fine handed out to Scott, the former chief executive of the Centro Properties empire, is equivalent to 1.05 per cent of his cash pay for 2007, the year when Centro blew up.

The independent directors of Centro, who were also found to have breached the Corporations Act, got off scot-free. The shame was enough, found the Federal Court’s Justice John Middleton.

Further to the relativities, let’s say Andrew Scott worked 48 weeks in 2007 - that's 240 days – the fine was worth 2.52 days’ labour.

Or even better, 20 hours’ work on his hourly rate of $1489 per hour. Scott received $2.86 million in his final year including 100 per cent of his performance bonus.

Meanwhile, the non-executive directors were all paid fees of $1.1 million in 2007. That was the year they overlooked the billion dollar liability in the Centro accounts, an oversight for which they were found guilty.

They get to keep those fees, not to mention the $2.85 million in fees in aggregate over the three years prior to the c*ck-up.

The Warrnambool man, Tyrone Lynch, would surely jump at the chance to trade in his jail term for a spot of shame.

As for Andrew Scott, as one property analyst noted of the sentencing today, “That’s pathetic, just pathetic”. He said Andrew Scott would probably have bottles of wine in his cellar worth $30,000.

So it’s all smiles at the Melbourne Club once more. The judgement was kind to the unfortunate Centro directors. And the price of negligence in corporate Australia, and destroying a lot of financial assets, is … wait for it … embarrassment.

mwest@smh.com.au

[G.Wood]

How garquen embarrassment for the government



Where's Sir John Kerr when you need him?

[skully]

Where's Sir John Kerr when you need him?

This.

Dear God, can it get any worse? Oh yeah, introduce a carbon tax with the help of that smarmy, smirking, posionous Green farker and completely fark the Aus Manufacturing Industry as their goods get completely priced out of the market by energy cost rises.

[horace]

skully] extolling the wonders of seeing ljh on the telly[skully

hehehehe....had a big laugh myself...the ABC should have guested Maxine to grill the lying little oxygen thief

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