Guardian AU posted:

Coalition considers plan to merge climate bodies and fund them with loans
Exclusive: Cabinet committee to review plan to combine Clean Energy Finance Corporation and Arena – agencies that Abbott government had sought to abolish

The Turnbull government is considering a plan to combine two major climate bodies – the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) and the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (Arena) – with both to be financed by borrowings rather than from federal budget allocations.

The option – to be considered by the expenditure review committee of cabinet as soon as Tuesday – would provide some certainty to the organisations after the Abbott government sought to abolish them, and then to ban the CEFC from wind farm investments and to cut Arena’s funding and make no new appointments to its board.

Soon after his election in 2013 Abbott said: “The Coalition does not support the CEFC nor its expenditure of $10bn of borrowed money on projects that the private sector deems too risky to invest in” and former treasurer Joe Hockey labelled the CEFC a “giant $10bn slush fund”.

The legislation to abolish the CEFC has been twice rejected by the Senate and is, technically, a double dissolution trigger, but Malcolm Turnbull said on Monday he would not use the bill as a trigger and the government has indicated it will keep the CEFC in some form.

After Turnbull became prime minister the anti-wind farm directive was softened to a request that the CEFC focus on “offshore wind technologies” as well as cities and the built environment. The environment minister, Greg Hunt, has said abolishing the investment bank is still the government’s “long-term” policy but was not likely to pass the Senate.

The CEFC was always been “off balance sheet” – set up as part of the former Labor government’s carbon pricing package effectively as a bank to finance, at commercial rates, proven clean energy projects that the major banks were not funding.

Arena has been funded by the budget and provides grants to emerging renewable technologies.

In its first budget, the Abbott government announced it would axe Arena, but in a deal with the Palmer United party to get its Direct Action climate policy through the Senate, announced it would keep the agency, but cut or defer almost $1bn of its funding.

The terms of all appointed board members of Arena have now expired and they have not been replaced, leaving it governed by the secretary of the Department of the Environment.

Hunt has said the new Office of Climate Change and Renewables Innovation, inside the Department of the Environment, “will bring a fresh focus to the role of innovation in supporting emerging renewable and low emissions technologies that will drive down emissions”.

Orkin Mang posted:

i wish u guys were dead

Anidav posted:

Bill Shorten might be good at the televised debates though because Turdball suffers from Ruddism of using big words with no meaning.

He had a presser this morning and kept using the catch phrase "continuity and change"; the gently caress does that mean Turdball. Were your focus groups high?

Anidav posted:

He had a presser this morning and kept using the catch phrase "continuity and change" the gently caress does that mean Turdball. Were your focus groups high?

Negligent posted:

Australia has too many elections we should have 5 year parliaments like the UK.

Negligent posted:

Australia has too many elections we should have 5 year parliaments like the UK.

quote:

Porkgate II: council staff grilled over pork to halal sausage ratios


Despite being in the middle of an illegal asbestos dumping scandal and losing their CEO last night (Monday), Liverpool City councillors still found time at recent meetings to quarrel over the number of pork and halal sausages bought for a community barbecue and why the halal sausages were cooked first.

Liberal Councillor Peter Ristevski raised the burning issues in questions at an ordinary council meeting last month, grilling council staff on why the halal snags were barbecued first and asking for a breakdown of the type and volume of each sausage purchased.

The council’s shopping list for the free Kurrajong Road Community Barbecue in December last year was: 300 vegetarian patties, 650 halal beef sausage and 50 pork sausages and the food was cooked on three barbecues.

Mr Ristevski complained that too many halal sausages had been ordered and too few pork.

He told Government News that although the issue might appear trivial, he had been contacted by many of his constituents who felt that their Orthodox Christian religion had been sidelined in favour of Islam.

He said that Mayor Ned Mannoun, a fellow Liberal party councillor, had “disrespected other religions” and that he was attempting “a complete Islamisation of the city.”

“The mayor disrespected the entire Orthodox Christian community. He monopolised the barbecue. Heaps of people complained. Not everyone likes to eat halal sausages. They have a different taste.”

Mr Ristevski said he had been accused of being a racist just for asking questions about the food cooked at the barbecue.

When council staff addressed the councillor’s inquiries they replied that the standard order for council barbecue events had always been beef sausages and vegetable patties because the area had a high proportion of Arabic and Indian families and beef sausages were cheaper than pork.

“The fact that we have never previously had a request for pork sausage at a free BBQ indicating that pork eaters will eat beef (and therefore again, keeping our costs to the ratepayer lower),” said the response.

“To ensure that pork was available to anyone who requested it, they were held aside to be cooked on request. As the event was such a success all sausages and patties of all varieties were cooked and consumed.”

But Mr Ristevski said the Liverpool area had a higher proportion of Orthodox Christians than Muslims and halal sausages did not need to be cooked on each of the three barbecues.

Asked how many halal sausages were left over and how many pork sausages were left over council staff said: “all sausages were happily and gratefully consumed by members of the public.”

The sausage stoush has made the council a target of ridicule on Facebook. Comments on the Facebook page, ‘Boycott Halal in Australia? No way’ include: “Don’t let Cory Bernardi get a whiff of this. He’ll order another enquiry (sic).”

Another commented: “If he wanted them (sic) pork sausages by platefuls he should have done the shopping himself. Why are council money and work time wasted for this? Liverpool streets are shonky and they need to look at fixing potholes and broken curbs (sic) for what they are paid for.”

Making full use of three letter acronyms (TLA’s) one wag said: “Lol … OMG! It’s a bloody sausage! Halal or pork. No one should eat them!”

It is not the first time that Liverpool Council has made headlines over the volume of pork on ratepayers’ forks.

A Christian Orthodox interfaith lunch held at Liverpool Catholic Club in August last year managed to offend both the Christian Orthodox community and Hindus. The Christians were aggrieved because a traditional Macedonian pork dish was left off the menu and Hindus were upset because beef was left on.

The upshot was that pork went back on the menu, the beef went back in the fridge and chicken and vegetarian were last minute menu additions.

The lunch also caused controversy because it cost ratepayers $47,000 to feed almost 600 guests at the Christian Orthodox lunch, triple the food bill of the council’s If tar Interfaith dinner the month before.

Pork was added to the council’s standard order following a council resolution in August last year.

Cleretic posted:

For what it's worth, they both took it really well.

open24hours posted:

Pork sausages are gross anyway.

Term limits only matter because politicians can do whatever they want with virtually no accountability until the next election. We could have 100 year terms and it wouldn't matter if there was a mechanism whereby you could tell them to gently caress off.

MysticalMachineGun posted:

5 year parliaments? Wow, I can't wait to have five different Prime Ministers in that time!

Nibbles! posted:

Not everyone likes to eat halal sausages. They have a different taste

Anidav posted:

Nibbles! posted:

Not everyone likes to eat halal sausages. They have a different taste

Jintor posted:

apparently bernadi is just abusing people who email him now

Jintor posted:

apparently bernadi is just abusing people who email him now

quote:

This kind of format is ripe for abuse, and I'd actually like to see it done with politicians just to see if they think the comparison is fair in any way. First thing to note is that ALL of these links are under links for local organisations that support them, not as direct resources. All of the resources are on their separate page, and appear to be self contained within Safe Schools.

Firstly top right, family planning NSW (seriously?). Of course it has some sexual content, but all is presented in a factual manner, and feature many questions that teenagers may want answers to. Most laughably though, is the "features oral sex information for youth". This actually does exist, although specifically it is the results of a survey regarding what young people know about oral sex, and doesn't even contain advice. It's just a survey with such revelations as, the most common query regarding it was about health and safety regarding STDs. Almost like they could have benefited from a better sex ed program.

Going clockwise, Twenty10, and the claim that they "hosted" an S&M workshop. No idea what that means, but I found no evidence of their involvement in any such thing.

Next is Seahorse Victoria, a transgender support organisation, and the claim that a sex club is a "recommended venue". Firstly, it isn't a recommended venue, it is on a list of trans friendly venues, a list which also contains things like cafes and bars. Secondly, its a fetish club, not a sex club, and I'm no expert but I believe those are not the same thing. The other one on the list is clearly marked as an 18+ website, and you may see, has no even tenuous contact with Safe Schools. It's the same street address as a venue that is trans friendly.

Moving along to Minus18, an LGBT youth group that was behind that ball that got supported by homophobes and everyone lold. Firstly their link to a "gay bar". It isn't a gay bar for starters, it's a hotel that hosts all kinds of LGBT events, called the GH hotel. Also, the "event partner" part of the claim I assume is referring to the fact that one of Minus18's events was there. What was it? An under 21s dance party. Apparently there is a direct link to a sex toy site? I couldn't find it, although the site seems to be pretty massive, it might be there. Lastly is Scarletteen, which appears to pretty much be sex ed aimed at teens, and fairly innocuous.

Oh yeah, and apparently there is an explicit video on youtube (you can report these btw) linked to by workingitout. I couldn't find it. I can't help but feel if this is the extent of the controversy, we're in for a thoroughly uninteresting inquiry.

Ironically, the image posted on twitter is far more explicit than anything I came across.

Negligent posted:

You can probably find gay porn 2 or 3 clicks from the Australian Christian lobby website or whatever.

quote:

State government gives NSW police right to ban people from public places
Police will be able to ban people from public places and events without a judge's approval as part of a raft of anti-organised crime legislation proposed by the state government.

A bill unveiled by the state government on Tuesday aims to "cripple" organised crime groups by clamping down on their movements, associations and business dealings.

But critics warn the laws could lead to an overreach of police powers.
Deputy Premier and Justice Minister Troy Grant says the changes will make it "quicker and easier" for law enforcement to ...

Deputy Premier and Justice Minister Troy Grant says the changes will make it "quicker and easier" for law enforcement to take action against gangs, including "bikies". Photo: Dallas Kilponen

Under the legislation police will be able to apply to judges for "crime prevention orders" that would stop people involved in serious criminal activity from activities such as using a phone or a computer.

The legislation would introduce "public safety orders" which will give senior police officers the power to ban a person deemed a risk to public safety from a public place or event for 72 hours, a right usually reserved for judges. Breaches of the orders will carry a maximum penalty of five years' imprisonment.

Deputy Premier and Justice Minister Troy Grant said the changes will make it "quicker and easier" for law enforcement to take action against gangs, including "bikies".

"My concern is in relation to the public safety, and not in relation to the sensibility of civil libertarians," Mr Grant said. "[This is a] significant step forward".

The bill introduces other measures including stricter penalties for laundering money or property, with increased sentences of between three and five years in prison if the crime is below or above $100,000. The current sentence is two years in prison.

Substitution orders would force criminals who use someone else's property to commit their crime, such as a car, to pay for damages to that property out of their own pocket.

NSW Greens MLC Jeremy Buckingham said the Greens were concerned that increased police powers may focus on legitimate activities.

"The Greens are very concerned Public Safety Orders can be easily misused by police to stop certain people from attending or taking part in protest activity, such as against coal seam gas or coal mining," Mr Buckingham told Fairfax Media.

The bill comes a week after controversial anti-mining protest laws were passed, putting some protesters at risk of massive fines and seven years' imprisonment for "interfering" with equipment on a mine site. Fines for trespassing were also increased significantly.

NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione said the legislation would enhance police powers to fight organised crime.

"The reality of this legislation means we'll be able to be flexible, we'll be able to be nimble in the way we go about those organised crime groups we target and we continue to target today," he said on Tuesday.

Last year Premier Mike Baird introduced similar legislation which allowed police officers, with the aid of the courts, to forbid people from "attending places they may commit a crime".

The NSW Police Association supported the announcement, saying gangs had a devastating impact on individuals, families, businesses and local communities.

"They are deceitful and unscrupulous in their pursuit of money, power or personal gratification through the harm of others – through dealing in drugs, money laundering, aggression and violence," President Scott Weber said.

"Hitting them where it hurts, namely their hip pocket means police can maximise opportunities to restrict and target serious crime. Taking away the assets of criminals also takes away their sense of power."

Solemn Sloth posted:

Becoming more and more obvious that Daniel Andrews has federal aspirations imo.