Ora Tzo posted:

quote:

In good news for insolvency firms but not much else, insolvencies are rising and the number of retailers appointing external administrators is also up.

Electronics chain Dick Smith, home furnishings company Laura Ashley Australia and clothing retailer Man To Man are among retailers to have gone under recently.

John Winter, chief executive of the industry body Australian Restructuring Insolvency & Turnaround Association, said after a quiet collapse of years, insolvency firms are now hiring staff as the end of the resources boom starts to bite.

"The economy has been powering along really nicely, and there's no better indicator for that than the fact that insolvency firms have been quiet and been putting off staff," Mr Winter said.

"But things started picking up about two and a half months ago."

Official figures show 159 retailers entered external administration in the first three months of 2016, up from 149 in the first quarter of 2015.

Since 2013, retailers have accounted for about 7.5 per cent of overall collapses, Australian Securities and Investments Commission figures show.

Mr Winter says it's not a disproportionately large figure, given retail's low barriers to entry and an increase in capital from different sources such as private equity.

Retail collapses seemed to attract more attention because regular punters tended to know the companies, he said.

It's understood that bankers appointed receivers to Dick Smith in the expectation a trade buyer would emerge.

But Mr Winter said the lack of a white knight for Dick Smith did not suggest it was harder to find buyers for collapsed retail assets these days – but rather reflected the quality of the business.

"The bigger question is around is there an endemic failure that's occurring the sector?" he said. "We've seen structural changes and there's long been talk about eBay and [online marketplace] Alibaba."

NTRabbit posted:

Here's one for this thread, according to Newspoll across April-May in SA, the Greens bled 50% of their primary vote to NXT, who also gained 7 points from the Liberals and 2 from Labor. At this rate, Penny Wright will be joining the fifth Liberal in losing her Senate seat to them.

NTRabbit posted:

Here's one for this thread, according to Newspoll across April-May in SA, the Greens bled 50% of their primary vote to NXT, who also gained 7 points from the Liberals and 2 from Labor. At this rate, Penny Wright will be joining the fifth Liberal in losing her Senate seat to them.

Ranter posted:

Is there somewhere I can watch the debate online in its entirety?

The Australia Institute posted:

Hole in company tax modelling exposed
New research from Canberra based think tank The Australia Institute has exposed a serious funding hole in the Government’s company tax cut modelling.

Our research has uncovered that the Treasury commissioned modelling finds a $3.9B gain in government revenue because multinationals suddenly and voluntarily begin to pay more tax because the company tax rate drops 5 percentage points. It is preposterous,” Chief Economist of The Australia Institute, Richard Denniss said.

“The economic modelling commissioned by Treasury and released on budget night estimates that 55 per cent of the $8.2 billion per year cost of the tax cuts could be 'self-funded'. However almost all of this 'self-funding' flows from the assumption that multinational tax minimisation will dramatically drop because the company tax rate is cut by a sixth from 30 per cent to 25 per cent

“If this assumption does not materialise, the revenue would have to be found from increased taxes.

"Despite its $48 billion cost, there has been no cost benefit analysis of the company tax cuts. What modelling exists shows that the tax cuts will cost billions in lost revenue up front and then deliver tiny benefits are decades away. If this was a freeway it would never be built.

“The economic case for large company tax cuts has already proven to be poor, with supposed growth dividends within the margin of error and between 10 and 30 years away. The big banks would secure a multi-billion windfall and that the USA IRS would benefit at the expense of the Australian ATO. Now we know that key assumptions to boost the revenue case for the tax cut are completely flawed

"The Prime Minister and Treasurer need to clarify if they believe that cutting the company tax rate will lead multinational companies to voluntarily start paying additional tax in Australia, or if they plan to fund the company tax cuts through spending cuts and personal income tax increases,” Dr Denniss said.

Amoeba102 posted:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-05-30/climate-change-risks-threaten-home-values/7458144

Climate change to threaten home values. Maybe now there'll be a shift in climate position.

hooman posted:

SMH posted:

The Australian Medical Association's new president has vowed to repair the group's relationship with government, which he says has been partly damaged by speaking out on asylum seekers.

Western Australian obstetrician and gynaecologist Dr Michael Gannon - who counts Coalition MPs among his friends - pledged to work "constructively" with whichever party formed government, shortly after he won the association's election at its national conference in Canberra on Sunday.

The doctors' union has lobbied against a range of Coalition policies under outgoing president Associate Professor Brian Owler, including its failed $7 GP co-payment and abandoned hospital funding formula. It recently launched a public campaign against the Turnbull government's extended freeze on Medicare rebates to 2020, warning patients this could lead to GPs charging a co-payment of up to $20.

Dr Gannon, formerly the president of the association's Western Australian branch, told Fairfax Media that its relationship with the government had been problematic, partly because the group had taken too many "risks" in criticising it on politically contentious issues such as asylum seekers.

Professor Owler has criticised the medical treatment offered to asylum seekers in detention, and intervened amid concerns a child known as Baby Asha could be forcibly removed from hospital and taken to detention. The child was ultimately released into community detention.

He has also called for an end to the detention of child asylum seekers, and accused the Department of Immigration of intimidating their doctors to prevent them speaking out publicly.

"I think there might have been a view formed in government that we weren't partners, that we weren't prepared to listen," Dr Gannon, who has named assistant health minister Ken Wyatt and Finance Minister Mathias Cormann among his friends, said. "That is not the case. We want to work constructively across the whole of the system and get back to talking about [health] issues."

Dr Gannon said: "It's not the AMA's job to talk more generally about asylum seeker policy. But it is their job to defend clear ethical principles regarding the health of asylum seekers [and] appropriate scrutiny of that care."

While he was prepared to speak out against policies "in an inconvenient way for government ... the AMA is strongest when talking about health issues using our expertise. Our moral arguments are stronger when we're talking about established principles of medical ethics and medical scientific evidence."

He hoped to offer "constructive solutions" whenever he criticised the government, saying that "everything should be on the table" when negotiating on the future of Medicare rebates.

The association's relationship with the government, regardless of the party in power, was more important than ever because the health system was at a "crossroads", he said, with a number of ongoing government reviews into the Medical Benefits Schedule, private insurance and primary care.

"If the government does not talk to the AMA, and vice versa, we are both poorer, and it is our patients who suffer most."
Victorian GP and former president of the Association's Victorian branch, Dr Tony Bartone, was voted vice-president. Dr Gannon and Dr Bartone will each serve two-year terms.

Meanwhile, the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners' ad campaign against the extended Medicare rebate freeze will begin airing on Sunday night, in time for Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten's second leaders' debate at the National Press Club. The 45-second ads, which depict scenes of ill women who are unable to afford doctor appointments, will run throughout the election campaign.

Labor, which introduced its own eight-month pause on the indexation of rebates in 2013, has vowed to lift the extended freeze if elected.

SynthOrange posted:

Polls are turniiiiing

SynthOrange posted:

I also put in my Citizenship application

SynthOrange posted:

Probably a turd?

SynthOrange posted:

I also put in my Citizenship application

quote:

The Victorian government has called for masks to be banned at protests after a series of violent clashes between far-left and far-right groups marred a planned peaceful anti-racism rally in the Melbourne suburb of Coburg on Saturday.

Speaking on ABC radio on Monday, the state’s police minister, Lisa Neville, said masked groups at protests were “a really disturbing trend that we’ve seen over the last few rallies” and “says to me, people not there to peacefully protest but to incite hatred”.

It also prevented police from being able to identify people from video footage of the protests, which hampered further investigations.

Neville said she would discuss potentially banning masks and flagpoles from protests in a meeting with the chief commissioner of Victoria police, Graham Ashton.

...

The Police Association of Victoria has said police need greater powers to control protests and called for a strengthening of the move-on laws, which were repealed by the Andrews government in 2015.

The association’s president, Rod Iddles, told AAP it wanted to restore the power for police to proactively move on people at protests who were causing a breach of the peace, as well as “a new law that if you attend a demonstration wearing an article of disguise that’s an offence”.

But the attorney general, Martin Pakula, said the current move-on powers were “sufficient when it relates to activity that is likely to cause any endangerment to anyone”.

MaliciousOnion posted:

Condolences

quote:

Was Joe Hockey taken for a ride? The taxi driver, Cabcharge dockets and secret investigation May 30, 2016 - 5:00AM Sean Nicholls Sydney Morning Herald State Political Editor

Joe Hockey's last speech - 'I believe I have made a contribution to the future of this nation' says former treasurer Joe Hockey. - April 17, 2012 was a red letter day for Joe Hockey. Fronting the prestigious Institute of Economic Affairs in London, the future Australian treasurer delivered his landmark "Age of Entitlement" speech. In the address that would become his best known, Hockey criticised governments' tendency for "reckless spending" and boldly declared: "The age of entitlement is over". Less well known – and concealed from the public until now – was that on the same day back in Sydney, Mr Hockey was sent a letter that threatened to derail his ambition to secure the second most powerful job in Australian politics at the forthcoming election. The two-page letter advised Hockey of an "apparent fraud" against his taxpayer funded Cabcharge card involving alleged "phantom journeys" amounting to thousands of dollars. "We intend to refer this apparent fraud against your card to the federal police," the letter from Cabcharge company secretary Andrew Skelton advised. Mr Skelton told Mr Hockey that Cabcharge was undertaking a "full investigation of the circumstances" at the request of the then Department of Finance and Deregulation.

Documents obtained by Fairfax Media after a two year freedom of information process show in relation to Mr Hockey's account the rules for MPs using privately chauffeured hire cars were repeatedly broken. Drivers from a favoured hire car company had filled out and signed on Hockey's behalf Cabcharge dockets worth at least $10,000, dating back to as early as 2009. Several Cabcharge dockets from 2010 obtained by Fairfax Media state they are an "emergency docket ... to be used only in the event of failure of terminals". Many of the dockets – for amounts as high as $760 each at $95 an hour - do not contain destination or time details, but simply state the driver transported Hockey "as directed" for up to eight hours at a time. Some show Mr Hockey's Cabcharge account, details of which were hand written by the driver on the docket instead of being "embossed" with card details, had expired before the date of the trip. The Senators and Members Handbook states that "the passenger should sign the contractor's travel docket, detailing the location, kilometres, time and cost of the trip and ensure these details are forwarded to Ministerial and Parliamentary Services".

In his letter, Mr Skelton invited Mr Hockey to speak directly to Cabcharge founder Reg Kermode about the matter, supplying his direct line. Documents show Mr Kermode's mobile phone number was hand written on the letter received by Mr Hockey's office. Mr Skelton, now chief executive of Cabcharge, told Fairfax Media that the matter was "resolved with the Department of Finance and Deregulation". "To the best of our knowledge the parties involved were satisfied with the outcome and police involvement was not pursued," he said in a statement. Mr Hockey says he has "no recollection of speaking with Reg Kermode or Cabcharge as I believed such action would be inappropriate". "To ensure absolute probity, I insisted that all correspondence with Cabcharge should be through the Department of Finance," he said from Washington, where he is serving as Australia's ambassador to the United States.

Mr Kermode died in 2014.

The documents released under freedom of information laws reveal Mr Hockey was already well apprised of the "apparent fraud" against his card at the time of the 2012 Cabcharge letter. Discussions between the department and his office as part of an audit of the Cabcharge dockets had been ongoing on for a year. At the time, the opposition led by Tony Abbott was on the attack over the latest scandal in federal politics: allegations that then Speaker of the House of Representatives, Peter Slipper, had misused his Cabcharge entitlements by handing over blank but signed Cabcharge dockets for drivers to fill out. The Sydney hire car company favoured by Mr Hockey, Ecotaxi, was owned and run by Russell Howarth, a self-described former British riot policeman who would later become the face of the campaign seeking to outlaw the Uber ride sharing service in NSW. On April 26, nine days after the Cabcharge letter, Mr Howarth – who was in the middle of unrelated court action that would lead to his bankruptcy - signed a statutory declaration that was forwarded to the Finance Department by Mr Hockey's office. In it Mr Howarth declares the trips under investigation were "undertaken when Mr Hockey was in the vehicle" and that Mr Hockey "was not aware of the invoicing arrangements, nor did he sign/authorise the Cabcharge dockets". "I acknowledge I had been advised by Mr Hockey's office on previous occasions for the necessity to submit invoices in the manner as required," he declared. However, Mr Howarth told Fairfax Media that there was an arrangement with Hockey's office, which – along with Cabcharge - was fully aware he was filling out the dockets and signing them on Mr Hockey's behalf. "We had a copy of his card on file and we would just write the details in. We actually did offer to invoice them and not charge them on Cabcharge," he said.

"But politicians have to use Cabcharge."

Mr Howarth insisted that Hockey's trips "were all above board" and for official functions. In early 2012, Mr Hockey did not give any hint of the investigation unfolding in the background before the September 2013 federal election. In fact, days after his London speech Mr Hockey was in Sydney demanding Mr Slipper be stood down as Speaker. Mr Hockey was reported on April 27 to have told Channel Seven that the "commonsense view" was that Slipper should stand down from "the most significant position in the Parliament" until he was cleared of allegations against him. "I'm a member of Parliament, I have standards, this is not up to my standards," he said. Emails released to Fairfax Media reveal the concerns first raised by the department in May 2011 about a cancelled Cabcharge card being used for trips charged to Mr Hockey's account. "It is the same driver for all transactions," the email says. "I'm not sure how long this has been going on but I have seen dockets, from the same driver, dating back to February 2010. There are also dockets for 2009, but with a different driver".

Mr Hockey was first approached over the misuse of Cabcharge dockets linked to his account on June 9, 2011.

An email to Mr Hockey from the entitlements manager at ministerial and parliamentary services advises his office has been included in a regular audit and "post-payment check" of Cabcharge costs incurred by MPs. It says his office had been contacted to confirm the validity of fares charged against a cancelled Cabcharge card. One Cabcharge docket appears to be dated April 18, 2011. It specifies the trip taken was from "residence" to "Ch 7 [Channel 7]" return and charges $190 at the rate of $95 per hour, including waiting time. But official travel records suggest Mr Hockey was not in Sydney on the day in question but in the United Arab Emirates on shadow treasurer business between April 17 – 23. Fairfax Media was unable to contact Mr Howarth about this discrepancy on Sunday. A follow up letter on August 25 advises the finance department has received more unsigned dockets and counsels Mr Hockey that this is contrary to Cabcharge conditions of use.

"As the manual dockets are neither embossed with your Cabcharge details nor signed by you, there is a concern that your card details have been fraudulently used," it says.

Mr Hockey is asked to advise if the trips were in fact taken. In September, records show Mr Hockey's office was queried about the dockets. "I've just spoken to [redacted] in Mr Hockey's office, as he wasn't available," a record of the transcript says. "She assured me that these trips have all been taken by Mr Hockey, who usually just doesn't have his wallet on him, so he jumps out of the cab and rushes off". The caller records that she again asked for a formal response to the letters sent to Hockey. Finally, in October, Mr Hockey responds. Apologising for the lateness of his reply, Mr Hockey explains: "There are many occasions when I do not carry my Cabcharge card on my person." "There are also some occasions where equipment failure and my hectic schedule prevent the normal issue/authorisation of travel dockets".

He adds that the dockets "are valid and payment may be processed. These trips are taken under entitlements".

The next month a further eight non-compliant dockets were received. In November Mr Hockey is advised that Mr Howarth has been paid $3650.90 following invoices sent to the department. On April 27, 2012, 10 days after Cabcharge wrote to Mr Hockey advising it was planning to refer the matter to the AFP, his office sent Mr Howarth's statutory declaration to the Finance Department's entitlements branch. In June, Mr Hockey advises the department they should pay an invoice submitted by Mr Howarth for trips to the value of $3816.45 during 2011. Mr Hockey said in a statement to Fairfax Media that he used taxis and hire cars in Sydney as they were cheaper than Commonwealth cars and can travel in bus lanes. He said the dispute was between Cabcharge, the Department of Finance and Mr Howarth. "There has been a long history of dispute between Cabcharge and hire car companies, including Mr Howarth's Ecotaxi," he said. "Knowing that I used taxis and hire cars at various times, the parties sought to embroil me in their dispute."

Mr Hockey said he ceased using Mr Howarth's services after the matter was resolved.

"Every paid receipt was matched with appropriate travel," he said.

trunkh posted:

Completely unfounded but I feel it's partly from them getting page space in the press here while being seen as preferable to the two majors. There definitely a sense of being thrown under a bus by the major parties and he has seemingly captured a Dems 2.0 feel of keeping bastards honest so to speak because of it.

Eventually he will pull a meg lees or who ever hosed the Dems previously with penalty rates and the cycle will begin a new.

SynthOrange posted:

I also put in my Citizenship application

Scylo posted:

I hope you don't have the misfortune of having peter Duttons name on your citizenship certificate like I do

SMILLENNIALSMILLEN posted:

Coburg clashes: police minister calls for mask ban at protests desperately seeking more power

http://gu.com/p/4jq6j


You will be recorded and monitored

E: holy poo poo a writer at the guardian named gay alcorn

quote:

It was, in the words of the defence counsel for alleged insider trader Oliver Curtis, akin to robbing a bank and "waving" at the security cameras.

As the criminal trial of Mr Curtis, husband of Sydney public relations queen Roxy Jacenko, draws to a close in the historic St James Supreme Court in Sydney, his barrister has urged the jury to reject the Crown case on the basis it just doesn't "make sense".

Mr Curtis, 30, has pleaded not guilty to striking an illegal deal in 2007 with his then best friend John Hartman to use confidential information to cash in on the share market.

The St Ignatius' College, Riverview, old boys were then in their early 20s and there is no dispute the pair made $1.43 million betting on shifts in share prices between mid-2007 and 2008.

But the Crown alleges the duo used confidential information acquired by Mr Hartman in the course of his job as an equities dealer at Orion Asset Management, a boutique investment firm near Circular Quay, to rake in those profits.

In his closing address to the jury of 12 men and women, Murugan Thangaraj, SC, for Mr Curtis, said his client's behaviour was consistent with that of an innocent man.

Mr Hartman, the star witness in the prosecution case, has given evidence Mr Curtis assured him the pair could communicate in secret using a technique known as "PIN-to-PIN messaging" on their BlackBerry mobile phones.

The court has heard the content of such messages are not stored by telecommunications providers, although basic information such as the time of the message and the identity of the sender and recipient may be able to be retrieved.

Mr Thangaraj said Mr Curtis bought a BlackBerry for Mr Hartman on his own credit card rather than using cash, and the transaction was linked to his work address. Later, Mr Hartman sent an email asking what Mr Curtis' new PIN was.

"It's like someone robbing a bank, going up to a CCTV [camera], waving and leaving their address behind," Mr Thangaraj said.

"That suggests there's nothing sinister about it. Mr Curtis behaved as someone who was not involved in this alleged serious criminal conspiracy."

Mr Hartman served 15 months behind bars after pleading guilty to a string of insider trading offences, most of which were unrelated to trades at the centre of this case. He received a discounted sentence for agreeing to give evidence against Mr Curtis.

Mr Thangaraj has urged the jury to consider if Mr Hartman acted in "self interest" and struck a "breathtaking deal" with authorities at the expense of his friend.

"You need to work out: is he making a clean breast of it?" Mr Thangaraj said.

He noted Mr Hartman did not plead guilty to conspiring with Mr Curtis, which is the offence at the centre of this case. Instead, he had pleaded guilty to tipping offences relating to information he passed onto Mr Curtis.

"The person who receives the [tip] isn't automatically guilty. That depends," Mr Thangaraj told the jury.

He likened it to a person who inadvertently received stolen cash from a wallet.

"The person who received the money hasn't done anything wrong if they didn't know where the money came from," Mr Thangaraj said.

The trial continues before Justice Lucy McCallum, who will deliver a summing up before the jury retires to consider its verdict.

Anidav posted:

Bill Shorten says David Leyonhjelm is a “stone-age man” after he criticised a Labor pledge to fund the broadcast of more women’s sport.

Libertarian Leyonhjelm said if women’s sport was more interesting it wouldn’t need other people’s money.

Shorten hit back, saying “Back to the cave, stone-age man”.

Lid posted:

Lionhelm is also getting done because someone leaked e-mails about him paying people working on his campaign in cash to dodge tax.

Cartoon posted:

Haven't seen this linked yet:

http://www.smh.com.au/federal-polit...529-gp6ki1.html


The git that keeps on giving.

HockeyRugbyDeadcatBounce.gif

Freudian Slip posted:

So Brian Owler, the departing head of the AMA has been a fairly vocal critic of our treatment of asylum seekers.

The new head is a piece of poo poo

quote:

Dr Gannon is led into a darkened room. The only furniture is an ancient leather top desk and behind it, a large throne-like chair made from the bones of drowned asylum seekers. On the desk lie two manila folders. One marked "AMA protests over the sensible and reasonable torture and rape of asylum seeker children" and the other "Medicare Rebate Freeze"

Health Minister Ley leans forwards out of the darkness of the memento mori chair. "Good morning doctor. I'll make this simple. There are two folders, you get to chose one. One will benefit your members for years to come and ensure you a nice comfortable tenure. The other? Well, I direct your attention to the corner of the room."

Gannon looks to the side and jumps back in horror as he notices the previously hidden Andrew Bolt crouching in the corner, naked and smearing himself with his own faeces and muttering, "I'm a good boy, cardinal, I'm a good boy." Behind him Miranda Devine lies on the floor, fully dressed and slowly twitching in time with unheard music while a thin stream of bile trickles from the corner of her mouth.

Ley steepels her fingers before her silhouetted face, "I'm sure you're aware of what my dark master's pets are capable of doing should he see fit to unleash them? Now choose."

Gannon takes the folder marked "Medicare Rebate Freeze" and slowly backs out of the room. Only once he is safely outside the parliamentary dungeon does he dare to breathe easy and open the folder. Inside it is empty but for a single scrap of paper. On it is written, "Maybe we'll increase the rebate slightly. Maybe"