- gay picnic defence
- Oct 5, 2009
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I'M CONCERNED ABOUT A NUMBER OF THINGS
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Xenophon's throwing a cat among the pigeons by demanding an emissions intensity scheme in exchange for his support of the full company tax cuts lol
As much as I dislike the prospect of those tax cuts getting through I am looking forward to the squawking from the LNP back bench over this
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Mar 27, 2017 21:18
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- Adbot
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ADBOT LOVES YOU
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May 10, 2024 02:07
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- aejix
- Sep 18, 2007
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It's about finding that next group of core players we can win with in the next 6, 8, 10 years. Let's face it, it's hard for 20-, 21-, 22-year-olds to lead an NHL team. Look at the playoffs.
That quote is from fucking 2018. Fuck you Jim
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Pillbug
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Xenophon will fold like he always does after he gets some pork thrown his way
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Mar 27, 2017 21:38
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- Blamestorm
- Aug 14, 2004
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We LOL at death! Watch us LOL. Love the LOL.
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This is such an odd time in Australian politics. Turnbull is both incapable and utterly wedged on all sides. His front bench is pathetic so has nobody talented jockeying to succeed him - even the most nutballs members of his backbench have to realise PM Dutton, Bishop or Morrison are not going to be able to turn this around barring a major terrorist incident or something. When they inevitably lose, this time their path back will be impeded by One Nation and divergent goals with the Nationals. Party funding has dried up - their largest donor is the PM himself (another reason he may be difficult to shift - did he or can he buy the role?).
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Mar 27, 2017 21:43
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- Kafka Syrup
- Apr 29, 2009
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From a couple of pages ago but the theory I've heard is that it's basically a PR thing to distract from the money/paying staff issues, and try to get "da yoof" onside.
Apparently it's his kid and their partner who do all the memes, and the genuinely off-kilter stuff is Clive either going through or feigning a breakdown.
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Mar 27, 2017 22:42
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- starkebn
- May 18, 2004
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"Oooh, got a little too serious. You okay there, little buddy?"
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paraphrasing what I heard on ABC Radio 20 minutes ago:
host: the business tax cuts aren't really popular with the broader public though are they? A recent IPSOS poll puts support at about 44%
president of the BCA: well, they're not 50% or more but there is clearly a majority who support the cuts
host: -did not challenge that verbal diarrhea at all-
.~forging a narrative~.
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Mar 27, 2017 23:33
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- Wrestlepig
- Feb 25, 2011
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my mum says im cool
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Toilet Rascal
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Slavery claims as seasonal workers from Vanuatu paid nothing for months' work
quote:Seasonal worker and father of six Silas Aru called it "slavery".
Federal Circuit Court Justice Michael Jarratt struggled to imagine a "more egregious" case of worker exploitation.
For six months, Aru, 53, picked fruit at farms dotted across Queensland as part of a federal government low-skilled Seasonal Worker Program. He was paid less than $150 in total.
Some days, he ate no food, save for some of the tomatoes he picked.
"I have never before experienced working a full day without even a cup of tea," Aru told investigators from the Fair Work Ombudsman.
But Aru was among the lucky ones. Thirteen of his fellow workers didn't receive a single dollar for their work in Australia.
The story of these 22 men from Vanuatu is compelling not only because of the sheer brazen nature of their exploitation, which was described by Justice Jarrett in a judgment as "appalling".
But, significantly, the exploitation occurred as part of the Australian government's own program to bring seasonal workers from Pacific islands. The scheme is supposed to fulfil the need for low-skilled labour in Australia's horticulture sector and to deliver aid in the form of employment to struggling Pacific nations. It's also supposed to be the nation's most exploitation proof.
But these men's treatment reinforces the fear that some had of the Seasonal Worker Program (SWP) that it would mimic the notorious practice of "blackbirding", in which up to 62,000 Pacific islander people were forced into slavery in 19th-century Queensland.
Aru and 21 other Vanuatu workers were recruited in May 2014. A Queensland businessman, Emmanuel Bani, had earlier travelled to Vanuatu to spruik participation in the scheme. He ran two labour hire companies in Queensland, including the benign-sounding Maroochy Sunshine, and had cultivated a network of farmers seeking workers.
Bani needed to pass muster to access the SWP. He was assessed as an "approved employer" by the Department of Employment, Education and Workplace Relations and the Immigration Department. It appears all this required of Bani was an acknowledgement that he understood Australian workplace laws. In return, he was able to sponsor workers on 416 business visas.
Meanwhile, in Vanuatu, Aru signed up to the SWP because "he would be able to earn good money to support his family and help pay school fees". His fellow workers, including Jacob Malsokle, had similar aspirations, with some taking loans out from the National Bank of Vanuatu to cover airfares and expenses.
Aru and Malsokle both paid an agent in Vanuatu a $1500 fee to ensure Bani sponsored them. It took Aru five months working in Vanuatu to save this fee.
Bani promised the 22 workers a briefing from Fair Work Australia and the Australian Workers Union upon arrival in Brisbane, but this never occurred. In late July 2014, the men were taking to Helidon, a tiny town in the Lockyer Valley and told to wait. Little food was supplied, with evidence later given in the Federal Court that what was provided "was never enough and did not last long".
It was worse when Aru and his fellow workers began labouring on a nearby farm. Sometimes they were given only one meal a day.
In August, the men were bused to the Bundaberg region, working sporadically on farms. Aru was staying at a backpackers' hostel called "Cellblock", and some days consumed only a piece of bread and some water. Sometimes his fellow workers slept on chairs or, if travelling to a farm several hours away, in a bus arranged by Bani.
When the workers began to query Bani about their abject conditions, he threatened to refer them to the police and have them deported.
Aru and his fellow workers were, in the words of Justice Jarrett, "rescued" in September by the South Sea Islander Association.
Thirteen of the 22 men had not received a dollar for their work, the others were paid a total of $1100 (between $50 to $150 each) by some of the farmers they worked for.
"Most received no wages and while in Australia they had to endure appalling treatment by Mr Bani, who had received payment for the labour undertaken by the employees and payment from the Australian government pursuant to [the SWP]," Justice Jarrett found.
"This case concerns the serious exploitation of vulnerable foreign workers lured to Australia by false promises ... Employees were at times deprived of the appropriate basic living standards expected in Australia."
The judge found it "difficult to imagine more egregious conduct" than that displayed by Bani, and warned of its potential to undermine confidence in the SWP.
Aru returned to Vanuatu in debt, having been exploited and threatened.
Justice Jarrett has ordered Bani and his firm pay Aru and his fellow workers almost $80,000 in outstanding wages, although it's unlikely they will ever see the money. The $227,300 fine issued to Bani by the Federal Court is also unlikely to ever be paid.
In his judgement, Justice Jarrett warned Bani would more than likely "continue to ignore industrial laws".
One of Bani's companies, Pacific Crop Harvesting, is still running a website which spruiks its ability to supply contract farm labour at "minimum costs, maximum rewards".
As the Fair Work Ombudman's three-year Harvest Trail Inquiry is likely to report when it delivers its landmark findings later this year, there is plenty of demand for such an offer.
Aru's story begs a major question for the government and the agencies and taskforces responsible for policing worker exploitation. If such an extreme example can occur as part of a supposedly regulated visa work program, what is happening to the nation's army of undocumented workers?
The case also throws into relief again the work of unscrupulous labour hire agencies who are linked to farms supplying major supermarkets and grocers across Australia.
In the past few months, Fairfax Media has revealed cases of serious worker exploitation at farms in Victoria, NSW and South Australia, with the latter case also involving the SWP.
The Fair Work Ombudsman, which prosecuted Bani after several workers complained, said the case revealed "harrowing" exploitation.
"The workers spent much of their time in remote and isolated transient accommodation, sometimes sleeping in a bus on the side of the road or on chairs in a bedroom," said acting Fair Work Ombudsman Michael Campbell.
http://www.smh.com.au/national/investigations/slavery-claims-as-seasonal-workers-from-vanuatu-paid-nothing-for-months-work-20170327-gv7k99
Holy gently caress
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Mar 27, 2017 23:56
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- ewe2
- Jul 1, 2009
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David Marr discusses his Quarterly Essay The White Queen: Pauline Hanson and the Politics Of Race on Monday's Late Night Live, with some interesting stuff about what Hansonism is not as much as what it is. It's not religious, it's extremely native-born and anti-intellectual, and it's run by a control freak racist who doesn't have the electoral pull that the media constantly assumes.
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Mar 28, 2017 00:01
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- I would blow Dane Cook
- Dec 26, 2008
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Can't post for 15 hours!
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quote:Here I was thinking I would nip down and grab a coffee and come back and talk about the China extradition treaty and while I was gone the Prime Minister withdrew it.
Well, it was a long-ish line.
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Mar 28, 2017 00:32
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- starkebn
- May 18, 2004
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"Oooh, got a little too serious. You okay there, little buddy?"
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what has the LNP actually got done since Tony Abbot became Prime Minister?
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Mar 28, 2017 00:38
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- Wheezle
- Aug 13, 2007
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420 stop boats erryday
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what has the LNP actually got done since Tony Abbot became Prime Minister?
Reduced their majority to the slimmest of the slim.
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Mar 28, 2017 00:46
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- DancingShade
- Jul 26, 2007
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by Fluffdaddy
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what has the LNP actually got done since Tony Abbot became Prime Minister?
Labor's Fault [tm]
Pork Barrelling
Extort fake debts from the poor
um
ok help me out here
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Mar 28, 2017 00:57
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- Bogan King
- Jan 21, 2013
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I'm not racist, I'm mates with Bangladesh, the guy who sells me kebabs. No, I don't know his real name.
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https://twitter.com/BenPhillips_ANU/status/846494902741446657
aka most vacant homes seem to be holiday homes.
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Mar 28, 2017 01:31
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- Periphery
- Jul 27, 2003
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...
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Except there'd be a lot higher number of dwellings in metro areas when compared to regional. The 4-9% in Melb metro could be a far greater total number of dwellings than the 18-23% found in some of the regional areas.
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Mar 28, 2017 01:44
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- Doctor Spaceman
- Jul 6, 2010
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"Everyone's entitled to their point of view, but that's seriously a weird one."
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what has the LNP actually got done since Tony Abbot became Prime Minister?
Axed the tax, stopped the boats, cracked down on union corruption.
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Mar 28, 2017 01:45
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- Box of Bunnies
- Apr 3, 2012
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by Pragmatica
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what has the LNP actually got done since Tony Abbot became Prime Minister?
Slashed Juliar's BIG NEW TAX which naturally saw power prices plummet just as promised.
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Mar 28, 2017 01:45
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- Bogan King
- Jan 21, 2013
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I'm not racist, I'm mates with Bangladesh, the guy who sells me kebabs. No, I don't know his real name.
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Police in Melbourne are appealing for witnesses after a basketball exploded on a beach at Black Rock, leaving a woman with serious burns.
The woman, 21, from Kerang, in northern Victoria, was walking along the beach at Half Moon Bay around 10:30pm on March 18 when she saw a basketball in the sand.
"As she went to pick it up, it exploded, leaving her with burns to her face, head and forearms," a police statement said.
"She then rushed to the water to try and cool down and was later transported to hospital by paramedics."
Police were told that a group of men may have rolled the ball towards the woman and then walked away, but police were not sure if the men intended for anyone to pick up the ball.
"At this time the reason for the explosion is unknown and police are not sure whether the group had intended for anyone to pick up the ball or why the group had it at the beach.
"It's believed the ball may have had sparklers or similar attached to it."
Victoria has basketball terrorists now. Unless white at which point they will be fun loving pranksters that went too far.
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Mar 28, 2017 02:06
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- goodog
- Nov 3, 2007
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The LNP will be saved by the next generation of savvy young politicos.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/yo...e023c793422e601
Herald Sun posted:
Young National Kurt Tucker declares ‘I would have been a Nazi’ in Facebook post
A COALITION official and political campaigner has been exposed expressing sympathies with Adolf Hitler’s Nazi regime.
Kurt Tucker, Young Nationals federal campaign director and a former political staffer for NSW federal MP Kevin Hogan, said he would have been a member of the Nazi Party, responsible for murdering six million Jews, had he been alive in 1930s Germany.
“I openly accept I would be a Nazi Party member if this was 30s Germany, despite obviously opposing a lot of their core ideology,” he wrote in a bizarre post on Facebook.
“I’m political, and to succeed in politics, public service, military, or even industry you had to be a NSDAP member. I also believe 90 per cent of ALP and LNP members would be the same.”
After The Daily Telegraph contacted Mr Tucker, president of the University of Queensland’s (UQ) Liberal National Club and an undergraduate representative on the university’s academic board, he apologised for his comments.
“On reflection of my comments, I realise I was totally wrong. I find the Nazi party to be totally morally abhorrent and I would never willingly engage with them,” he said.
“The comment made was in response to a statement by another person that all young political party members would have joined the Nazi Party in the 1930s due to the fact that it was the only way to get ahead in the public sphere at the time. While I initially agreed ... I now realise how incorrect I was.”
Mr Tucker said his remarks did not reflect the views of the UQ Liberal Club, its members or the wider LNP.
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Mar 28, 2017 02:44
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- Schneider Inside Her
- Aug 6, 2009
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Please bitches. If nothing else I am a gentleman
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I probably just wouldn't go into politics
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Mar 28, 2017 02:47
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- snoremac
- Jul 27, 2012
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I LOVE SEEING DEAD BABIES ON 𝕏, THE EVERYTHING APP. IT'S WORTH IT FOR THE FOLLOWING TAB.
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change from within
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Mar 28, 2017 03:00
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- Mr Chips
- Jun 27, 2007
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Whose arse do I have to blow smoke up to get rid of this baby?
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"I'm political, which means I'm completely cynical about joining a party whose policies I disagree with in order to further my career"
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Mar 28, 2017 03:01
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- ModernMajorGeneral
- Jun 25, 2010
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quote:I also believe 90 per cent of ALP and LNP members would be the same.”
....
“The comment made was in response to a statement by another person that all young political party members would have joined the Nazi Party in the 1930s
100% accurate tbh.
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Mar 28, 2017 03:05
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- Bogan King
- Jan 21, 2013
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I'm not racist, I'm mates with Bangladesh, the guy who sells me kebabs. No, I don't know his real name.
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https://twitter.com/7NewsQueensland/status/846203546999672832
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Mar 28, 2017 03:11
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- The Before Times
- Mar 8, 2014
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Once upon a time, I would have thrown you halfway to the moon for a crack like that.
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what an idiot.
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Mar 28, 2017 03:14
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- Zenithe
- Feb 25, 2013
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Ask not to whom the Anidavatar belongs; it belongs to thee.
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That is loving insane.
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Mar 28, 2017 03:19
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- goodog
- Nov 3, 2007
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That's the best part to me. He admitted that he'd be loyal to a political institution no matter how immoral it might be, and now an institution is punishing him for being honest.
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Mar 28, 2017 03:22
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- aejix
- Sep 18, 2007
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It's about finding that next group of core players we can win with in the next 6, 8, 10 years. Let's face it, it's hard for 20-, 21-, 22-year-olds to lead an NHL team. Look at the playoffs.
That quote is from fucking 2018. Fuck you Jim
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Pillbug
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Re cyclone kite surfer - Here's a preview of how that is probably going to end for that guy: https://youtu.be/4UCQFJg4JaQ
I know its probably one of many things that makes me a horrible human being but i am weeping tears of laughter at that video
aejix fucked around with this message at 03:32 on Mar 28, 2017
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Mar 28, 2017 03:29
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- Cartoon
- Jun 20, 2008
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poop
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Turns out wind farms are the great satan.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-03-28/wind-farm-settings-to-blame-for-sa-blackout-aemo-says/8389920
quote:AEMO releases final report into SA blackout, blames wind farm settings for state-wide power failure By political reporter Nick Harmsen Updated about an hour ago
Overly sensitive protection mechanisms in some South Australian wind farms have been blamed for a catastrophic statewide blackout in September last year by the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO).
Key points:
AEMO has released its fourth and final report into SA's September blackout
It said overly sensitive settings in some wind farms resulted in the statewide blackout
But it also found the intermittent nature of wind was not to blame
In its fourth and final report into the September 29 blackout, AEMO said it was the action of a control setting responding to multiple disturbances that led to the 'black system'.
The report said the unexpected operation of the control settings resulted in the sudden loss of generation from the wind farms. "Had the generation deficit not occurred, AEMO's modelling indicates SA would have remained connected to Victoria and the black system would have been avoided," the report said. "AEMO cannot rule out the possibility that later events could have caused a black system, but is not aware of any system damage that would have done this." AEMO has also contradicted its own early advice that the changing nature of South Australia's electricity generation mix played no role in the blackout. It said the generation mix now includes increased amounts of non-synchronous inverter-connected generators — in other words, wind and solar.
Big batteries, stabilisation urged for Australia's power system
South Australia's renewables-heavy power mix was a factor in the statewide blackout in September, a new report by the Australian Energy Market Operator confirms. "This generation has different characteristics to a conventional plant, and uses active control systems, or complex software, to ride through disturbances," the report said. "With less synchronous generation online, the system is experiencing more periods with low inertia and low available fault levels, so AEMO is working with industry on ways to use the capability of these new types of power generation to build resilience to extreme events." AEMO said as the generation mix continues to change, it may no longer be able to rely on coal and gas generators to provide a fast enough response to stabilise the grid. "Instead, additional means of procuring these services must be considered, from non-synchronous generators, where it is technically feasible, or from network or non-network services, such as demand response and synchronous condensers." The Australian Energy Market Commission is already taking steps in this regard.
How the weather event tripped the system
On Wednesday September 28, two tornadoes with wind speeds between 190 and 260 kilometres per hour tore through a single-circuit 275-kilovolts transmission line and a double-circuit 275kV transmission line, about 170km apart. The damage to these three transmission lines caused them to trip, and a sequence of faults in quick succession resulted in six voltage dips on the SA grid over a two-minute period at about 4:16pm. As the number of faults on the transmission network grew, nine wind farms in the mid-north of SA exhibited a sustained reduction in power as a protection feature activated. For most of them, the protection settings allowed the wind turbines to withstand a pre-set number of voltage dips within a two-minute period. When the protection feature kicked in, the output of those wind farms fell by 456 megawatts over a period of less than seven seconds. When the wind farms unexpectedly reduced their output, the Heywood Interconnector from Victoria tried to make up the shortfall. About 700 milliseconds after the last wind farm powered down, the flow in the interconnector reached such a level that it activated a special protection scheme that tripped it offline. The sudden loss of power flows across the interconnector sent the frequency in the SA grid plummeting.
South Australia has an automatic load-shedding system designed to kick-in in just such an event.
But the rate of change of the frequency was so rapid, the automatic load-shedding scheme did not work. Without it, the remaining generation was much less than the connected load, and as a result, the entire system collapsed. The SA power system then became separated from the rest of the national grid. AEMO said its "analysis shows that following system separation, frequency collapse and the consequent black system was inevitable".
Why hasn't the entire state blacked out before?
AEMO said unforeseen separation and complete loss of the Heywood Interconnector has occurred six times in the past 17 years. But in every other instance, the system stayed alive. "The key differentiator between the 28 September 2016 event and the other three events is that there was significantly lower inertia in SA in the most recent event, due to a lower number of on-line synchronous generators," the report said. "This resulted in a substantially faster rate of change of frequency compared to the other events, exceeding the ability of the under-frequency load-shedding scheme to arrest the frequency fall before it dropped below 47Hz." Synchronous generators include coal, gas and hydro. The state's last coal generator, at Port Augusta, closed last year. Some gas generators have been mothballed, or used sparingly, especially in circumstances when the state's wind and solar power output is high. Immediately before the blackout, wind had been producing almost half of South Australia's power needs, with much of the remainder being imported from Victoria. South Australia's thermal generators (gas and diesel) had only been outputting about 18 per cent of the state's power needs.
Are wind farms to blame?
It can be argued that the changing nature of the grid, which is seeing wind farms and solar energy replacing traditional thermal generation, did make South Australia more vulnerable to a statewide blackout. There is no doubt the protection settings on some wind farms also contributed to the chain of events which resulted in this blackout. But AEMO also makes it clear the intermittent nature of wind was not to blame. "The most well-known characteristic of wind power, variation of output with wind strength, often termed 'intermittency', was not a material factor in the events immediately prior to the black system." AEMO said changes made to turbine control settings shortly after the event has removed the risk of recurrence given the same number of disturbances.
Well not really but we'll choose to believe it despite any amount of facts. A factoid for long term players - The SA grid is privatised.
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Mar 28, 2017 03:33
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- Night Shade
- Jan 13, 2013
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Old School
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But AEMO also makes it clear the intermittent nature of wind was not to blame.
It certainly won't be intermittent once the LNP starts blowing hard about the report.
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Mar 28, 2017 04:01
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- starkebn
- May 18, 2004
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"Oooh, got a little too serious. You okay there, little buddy?"
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3x 275kW transmission lines destroyed by weather event, why blackout?
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Mar 28, 2017 04:07
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- Night Shade
- Jan 13, 2013
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Old School
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3x 275kW transmission lines destroyed by weather event, why blackout?
Actual answer for the curious: With the transmission loss, the load still connected to the grid caused the frequency to drop, because when the generators weren't able to keep up the bigass spinning magnets in them slowed down. Electric generators are also electric motors, and two connected generators running at different frequencies or phases will convert each other into motors while they're out of step and put mechanical force back through the turbine. Turbines aren't designed to be driven backwards, it has a tendency to break things, and so the generators disconnect from the grid instead.
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Mar 28, 2017 04:24
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- Mr Chips
- Jun 27, 2007
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Whose arse do I have to blow smoke up to get rid of this baby?
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Actual answer for the curious: With the transmission loss, the load still connected to the grid caused the frequency to drop, because when the generators weren't able to keep up the bigass spinning magnets in them slowed down. Electric generators are also electric motors, and two connected generators running at different frequencies or phases will convert each other into motors while they're out of step and put mechanical force back through the turbine. Turbines aren't designed to be driven backwards, it has a tendency to break things, and so the generators disconnect from the grid instead.
Further to all that, it seems like the report says that the SA wind generators could have ridden through the observed voltage disturbances, but it was just a software setting (since changed) that caused them to disconnect in September. Apparently AEMO didn't know about those settings, and they also didn't know the ride through settings that other generators had been running.
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Mar 28, 2017 05:26
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- Cartoon
- Jun 20, 2008
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poop
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Trampsballs trying to cash in on Cyclone Debbie already in Parliament:
quote:This morning, I spoke again, as I have over the last 24 hours, with Premier Palaszczuk, and at her request, with the Defence Minister, I have arranged for brigadier Chris Field to act as the recovery coordinator. He's a distinguished military officer. I note following the floods of 2011, he was the chief of the Queensland reconstruction authority. Our emergency services are the best of the world. There's 1,000 people deployed or on stand-by to assist, and we thank them for their courage, commitment and selfless service. We're working with the insurance and banking sectors to ensure that all factors are taken into consideration, and all consideration is given when claims are made by households and businesses as a result of this cyclone.
Planning included everything up to but not encompassing our main naval assets:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-03-28/largest-ships-unable-to-join-cyclone-debbie-emergency-response/8391574
So who goofed Marrisa? Was it actually you or a minion?
quote:Navy's largest ships unable to join Cyclone Debbie emergency response amid engine troubles
Exclusive by defence reporter Andrew Greene
Updated about 6 hours ago
HMAS Adelaide
PHOTO: HMAS Adelaide is currently docked at Sydney's Garden Island Naval base. (File Photo: CPL Kyle Genner)
RELATED STORY: Cyclone Debbie's eye reaches mainland, Bowen loses power
MAP: Garden Island 2011
Engineers are frantically working to solve engine problems on the Royal Australian Navy's two largest ships, with fears the Landing Helicopter Docks (LHDs) could be out of action for several weeks.
The Canberra Class Amphibious Assault Ships HMAS Canberra and HMAS Adelaide are currently docked at Sydney's Garden Island Naval Base where maintenance crews are trying to identify and resolve issues with the LHDs' cutting-edge Azipod propulsion system.
Defence sources have confirmed to the ABC they currently expect the problem will take between seven and 10 days to address, but if further complications are found, the 27,000-tonne ships could remain sidelined for even longer.
The Defence Force insists the inspections have "had no impact on Navy meeting its operational tasks".
In a statement to the ABC on Monday night the Defence Department confirmed a propulsion issue had been identified on board HMAS Canberra during recent trials with military helicopters.<SNIP>
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Mar 28, 2017 06:02
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- Bogan King
- Jan 21, 2013
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I'm not racist, I'm mates with Bangladesh, the guy who sells me kebabs. No, I don't know his real name.
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The Australia Institute has revealed that the mining industry enjoys a bigger tax break on its lobbying activities than the environmental organisations forced under the microscope of a parliamentary inquiry.
Lobbying organisations like the New South Wales Minerals Council kicked up a stink earlier this year, complaining that environmental groups have been engaging in ‘political’ lobbying at the same time as enjoying a tax-deductible status on donations.
The Chief Executive Officer of the NSW mining lobby, Stephen Galilee, argues “the fact that these groups can ask the public for money, promoting donations as being ‘tax deductible’ is an outrageous abuse of taxpayer dollars”.
“These protest organisations should not receive special tax treatment,” Galilee said in February.
By March, the Federal Environment Minister, Greg Hunt, had established a lower house inquiry into the tax-free status of donations made to green groups listed on the Register of Environmental Organisations.
In an ironic twist, the inquiry has now put the spotlight on the fact that mining companies are able to claim their expenses on lobbying activities as a business activity and reap deductions in company tax.
The Australia Institute report estimates that, of the roughly $484 million spent on lobby groups like the New South Wales Minerals Council and Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association, $145 million has been forgone in company tax.
Over the last five years, the Australia Institute report found, mining companies have avoided around $20 million of company tax each year. By the New South Wales Mineral Council’s own calculations, key environmental charities avoid just $18 million because of their privileged tax status.
This makes up just 0.005 per cent of Federal revenue, but in its submission to the inquiry the New South Wales Minerals Council expresses its concern that a “significant amount of tax [is]lost through professional activist groups like Lock the Gate receiving Deductible Gift Recipient status”.
In its report, the Australia Institute moves to allay the lobby group’s fears, arguing that because of the simplistic analysis the significance of the foregone tax from environmental charities is likely to be overstated.
The $20 million of tax lost to mining lobbying, however, “is likely to be just the tip of the lobbying iceberg” because it only takes into account the money paid out to big lobbying organisations, not third party companies or in-house lobbyists.
In fact, the mining sector employs 15 per cent of the third-party lobbyists on the Commonwealth Register of Lobbyists, but just two per cent of the broader workforce. The expenditure for that lobbying activity is not covered by the Australia Institute report.
In what some might consider a testament to their lobbying success, the Federal government has been supportive of the mining industry’s outrage at environmental organisations’ tax status, with some MPs backing calls for the not-for-profits’ work to be restricted to ‘on-ground’ activities if they want to continue to enjoy a tax-deductible status.
The Law Council of Australia, however, takes a very different view. “Advocacy activities [should]continue to be recognised as legitimate activities undertaken by environmental groups to protect the environment,” the Law Council said in its submission to the inquiry.
In fact, it recommends that the government “broaden the scope of legitimate charitable activities for environmental organisations” because “activities that can be characterised as seeking to protect the natural environment are not limited to those that involve physical on-ground works”.
“In particular, education activities, advocating for effective regulation of activities that may impact on the environment, and providing legal advice and representation in respect of environmental law matters can be activities directed to the achievement of protection of the natural environment.”
It’s a point the Australia Institute echoed in its report when it noted that “in contrast to the activities of environment groups, which often deliver clear public benefit, tax-deductible lobbying from the mining industry tends to work against the public interest”.
“These organisations provide a counterpoint to the hundreds of millions, perhaps billions, of dollars spent on lobbying by the mining industry in recent years”.
The inquiry continues.
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Mar 28, 2017 06:02
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- Adbot
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ADBOT LOVES YOU
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May 10, 2024 02:07
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- MysticalMachineGun
- Apr 5, 2005
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Isn't this like asking the fox to evaluate why henhouse security failed?
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Mar 28, 2017 06:10
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Mar 27, 2017 21:18
