quote:

Federal politics and diary allegations

In mid-2012, following the defection of Peter Slipper from the Liberals to become an Independent MP and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Brough announced that he was seeking LNP preselection for the seat of Fisher for the next federal election. On 29 July 2012, it was announced that had won the preselection for the seat, despite criticism over his contact with James Ashby. Ashby had been an adviser to Slipper who had made accusation of sexual harassment. Justice Steve Rares found that Mr Brough had acted with Mr Ashby and another Slipper staffer Karen Doane in abusing the judicial process for the "purpose of causing significant public, reputational and political damage to Mr Slipper". On 9 October 2012, Slipper resigned as Speaker following revelations of mobile phone text messages he had sent to Ashby, and was replaced by Anna Burke. In an early 2014 appeal ruling the full bench of the Federal Court found that Justice Rares had 'no basis to conclude that Brough was part of any combination with anyone in respect to the commencement of these proceedings with the predominant purpose of damaging Slipper in the way alleged or at all,' and that there was 'nothing untoward about those matters'.

Brough stood down from the Turnbull ministry and moved to the backbench on 29 December 2015 pending the completion of an investigation by the Australian Federal Police over the alleged copying of the diary of former speaker Peter Slipper. Jamie Briggs also resigned on the same day. Questions were raised over the holiday timing.

Graic Gabtar posted:

bumpunisher69

Recoome posted:

So my understanding is that it is okay for backbencher a to sexually harrass public servants, but not frontbenchers

open24hours posted:

Did the Sex Party write their own blurb or something?

Why are they even on the list? There are other parties of fringe idiots like Family First, the Fred Nile Group, Shooters and Fishers etc. that have more influence and they don't get a mention.

open24hours posted:

Did the Sex Party write their own blurb or something?

Why are they even on the list? There are other parties of fringe idiots like Family First, the Fred Nile Group, Shooters and Fishers etc. that have more influence and they don't get a mention.

quote:

The new laws that come into effect in 2016 around Australia

JANUARY 2, 20165:29AM

THE new year brings new laws from today, which will affect Australians every day. From passports to medicine, here are some of the changes ahead in 2016.

FAMILIES

Immunisation changes to access childcare payments

Immunisation requirements for childcare payments and Family Tax Benefit Part A supplement changed today. The No Jab, No Play rules were supported by both sides of the federal Parliament. To meet the immunisation requirements for Family Tax Benefit Part A supplement and Child Care Benefit, your child needs to be up to date with their immunisations according to the early childhood vaccination schedule appropriate for your child’s age, or have a medical exemption.

Nanny subsidy program begins

The two-year Nanny Pilot Programme, which starts from January 2016, will provide an hourly subsidy for about 10,000 children to help families meet the cost of using a nanny. It will support families who find it difficult to access child care services because they work non-standard hours, or live in remote areas or away from existing child care. For each child, successful families will receive a percentage of the $7 hourly subsidy. Families earning up to $60,000 are eligible for $5.95 per hour per child, and families earning between $165,000 and $250,000 are eligible for $3.50 per hour per child. The program is not intended to fully subsidise the cost of a nanny.

SUPERANNUATION AND TAXES

New caps on superannuation income

From today, the deductible amount for you and your partner’s defined benefit income streams will be capped. The deductible amount of a defined benefit income stream is also known as the tax free component. A defined benefit income stream is a pension paid from a public sector or other corporate defined benefit superannuation fund where the pension generally reflects years of service and final salary. The government uses the income you receive to assess your eligibility for payments and other entitlements. The income they assess from defined benefit income streams may be reduced by the tax free component. This change will impact income support payments, Low Income Health Care Card, and aged care fees.

Residential, rental care changes

Rental income will be included in the aged care means test for all new Residential Care recipients and some existing Residential Care recipients from today. Currently, rental income from a Residential Care recipient’s former principal home is included in the aged care means test if they make lump sum accommodation payments. It is not included if they make periodic accommodation payments or a combination of periodic and lump sum accommodation payments. Residential Care recipients, entering care after January 1, 2016, will have rental income from their former principal home included in the aged care means test. See the Human Services website for more information.

HEALTH

Cost of Panadol Osteo to rise

The makers of the popular painkiller Panadol Osteo are lifting its price 50 per cent today.

GlaxoSmithKline said the price hike was due to changes to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme under which the government is stopping subsidising medications that can be bought cheaply over the counter.

Pensioners with arthritis, who use the slow release pain reliever, currently pay just $6.10 for 192 tablets each month. This will rise to $12 from January 1 when the pills are no longer subsidised.

17 medications to come off the PBS

Panadol Osteo is one of 17 types of medication that will be removed from the subsidy scheme in 2016 to save taxpayers $87 million a year. Other medications include aspirin, medication for reflux, skin allergies, antacids, chloramphenicol eye products, iron/folic acid supplements, electrolytes, urine test strips, laxatives and Vitamin B12 injections. Unlike slow release paracetamol most of these other medications will be cheaper to buy off the PBS.

$1 discount option on prescription medicines

From today, chemists will be allowed for the first time to discount the price the patient pays for prescription medicines subsidised by the government. The price a pensioner pays for prescriptions will rise to $6.20 in line with inflation in January 1 but chemists will be able to sell the medicine for just $5.20 per script. The price of a subsidised script will rise to $38.30 for general consumers but chemists will be able to sell them the medicine for just $37.30.

In the past government rules have prevented pharmacists discounting the patient copayment that applied to subsidised prescription medicine. But that changed under a new five year pharmacy agreement signed earlier this year, aimed at increasing competition in the industry.

Mega discount chain Chemist Warehouse has already pledged to pass on the discount to all its customers from January 1.

POSTAL COSTS TO RISE

Stamps will rise from 70 cents to $1 on January 4 after Australia Post got approval to increase the price of regular postage stampsfrom the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

The price hike comes as the nationa’s postal service faces less need for delivering mail and decreasing revenues.

YOUTH

Incentives to find work

From today, school leavers 15 to 21 years of age will be given greater incentives to study or work. This will include requiring early school leavers to meet their activity test requirements of 25 hours per week until they get a Year 12 or Certificate III qualification or turn 22, or requiring early school leavers to look for work if they are not in fulltime study, or are not in a combination of study and part-time work for 25 hours per week.

Student loan payments change

From today, people who have benefited from Australian student loans and now live overseas will pay for them the same way as they would if they lived in Australia.

PASSPORTS

From January 2016, child applicants aged 16 or 17 will be issued with 10-year passports instead of five-year passports, which will cost $254, the same cost as an adult passport.

BY THE STATES:

South Australia

*Households can earn spare cash by selling solar power back to the network, by getting 6.8 cents per kilowatt hour, up from 5.3 cents per kW/h.

*Gamblers will be able to able to access EFTPOS facilities inside hotel and club pokie lounges.

*It will be cheaper to enact a will. The tiered probate fee structure means fees will range from $750 to $3000 based on estate value against previous $1088 flat fee.

*New courses will be added to a subsidised training list for TAFE students and trainees. Courses include building design drafting, sustainable operations and electrical machine repair.

* There will be a 24-hour limit on time mental health patients should wait in an emergency department before being admitted to an acute hospital bed

NSW

*Property buyers in New South Wales face less frustration with new underquoting laws coming into effect from today. New law reforms mean real estate agents who underquote face losing their commissions and fines of up to $22,000. Under the changes to the legislation, agents must quote price ranges within 10% of the lowest figure (i.e. $500,000 — $550,000).

*From March 1 2016, cyclists over 18 must carry photo ID and if they don’t have a driver’s licence, or they can get a $51 NSW photo card. The changes are part of the government’s “Go Together” safety program, which will expect motorists to maintain a one metre distance from a cyclist when passing at speeds of 60km/h or less, and 1.5 metres at speeds over 60km/h.

Failure to keep the minimum distance when passing a bicycle rider is a $319 fine and a two demerit points penalty. Under the new rules, bicycle riders should also keep a metre’s distance from pedestrians on shared paths, where possible.

*Opal Card ticket changes come into force. Paper tickets purchased before January 1, 2016 can still be used for travel but for a limited time. The only paper tickets available will be single Adult and Concession tickets (trains, buses, ferries and light rail) and return Adult and Concession tickets (trains, ferries and light rail).

VICTORIA AND QUEENSLAND

The No Jab, No Play policies will be introduced in Victoria and Queensland.

In Victoria, children must be up-to-date with immunisations before being enrolled, while Queensland centres will have the power to legally exclude unvaccinated children.

WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Solarium ban on its way

A ban on commercial solariums will be introduced. The WA ban will not require new legislation. It can be implemented through a change to existing regulations. All other Australian states have banned commercial tanning beds.

Uber to be made legal

Uber will be legalised in WA in sweeping reforms of the taxi industry.

NORTHERN TERRITORY

The new year will bring savings for Northern Territory residents with a five per cent reduction in power bills.

You Am I posted:

They have a member in the Upper House of the Victoria Parliament, so I think they have a good enough reason to be included.

quote:

The young woman at the centre of Jamie Briggs’s downfall sent a text message to his chief of staff on the morning after the late Friday night drinks session, saying she was glad the minister had ­“enjoyed the program” in Hong Kong.

It was three days after the now notorious night out that the 26-year-old contacted chief of staff Stuart Eaton again, saying: “When you get a spare second could you please call me … It’s just about Friday night.”

The Weekend Australian has obtained the texts, along with a photograph of the woman with Mr Eaton taken after midnight at the bar, called Stormies, where the ­minister allegedly acted ­inappropriately.

Although Mr Briggs this week accepted his behaviour did not meet ministerial standards, several sources have told The Weekend Australian his forced resignation has left several government ministers concerned that the bar for acceptable conduct has been raised impossibly high.

The woman, whose name The Weekend Australian has not published to protect her privacy, told colleagues in the days after the incident that she did not want to make a formal complaint.

She did, however, make a note of Mr Briggs’s alleged behaviour at the crowded bar, which led to Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade secretary Peter Varghese and Foreign Minister Julie Bishop being made aware and an investigator appointed to report on the incident.

Mr Briggs, the then cities minister, Mr Eaton and the woman, a vice-consul at the Australian consulate-general in Hong Kong, are believed to have spent about three hours at Stormies after dining together in the popular Lan Kwai Fong entertainment district on November 27.

At one point, the staffer, a legal graduate on her first overseas posting, complained to Mr Eaton that Mr Briggs was standing too close to her. Mr Eaton suggested she stand next to him, which the staffer did until the night out wrapped up about 2am.

The following morning, Mr Eaton realised he had lost his work phone and texted the consular staffer, using his personal phone, to ask if she had seen it. “Good morning Stuart, I am so sorry to hear you lost your phone!’’ the staffer texted back. “Alas I don’t have it.”

She also thanked Mr Eaton for complimenting the consulate team in his text on its assistance during business meetings with Mr Briggs in Hong Kong the previous day. “I’m glad you and the minister enjoyed the program. I will pass on your message (and phone no!) to the others,’’ she wrote. “Good luck with your phone, have a good day and a safe flight!”

Mr Eaton, who travelled on to London with Mr Briggs, did not hear from the consular staffer again until November 30, when she was at work. After the staffer texted him, saying she wanted to talk “about Friday night”, he called her immediately.

She told him that Mr Briggs had made an “inappropriate” comment to her while at the bar. “She said that she didn’t want to make a complaint but she wanted him to talk to the minister so he didn’t say it again,’’ a source said.

It is understood the investigator’s report said the consular staffer did not want the matter to go further. Mr Eaton, who declined to comment when contacted yesterday, is believed to have informed the investigator of the substance of the texts but was not asked to provide them for examination.

The consular staffer told the investigator Mr Briggs had told her she had “piercing” eyes and had placed his arm around her and kissed her on the neck.

Mr Briggs, a South Australian conservative, has told colleagues he told another person in the bar the staffer had “beautiful eyes”, had only placed his arm around her when posing for a photograph and gave her a goodnight kiss on the cheek. There was no independent witness to the incident.

Mr Briggs had first met the woman that afternoon, as he worked his way through a day of meetings with Hong Kong transport and city officials.

The Australian consul-general to Hong Kong, Paul Tighe, had accompanied the minister to meetings with rail operator MTR general manager Victor Chan, environment undersecretary Christine Loh and transport undersecretary Yau Shing-mu.

The staffer stood in for Mr Tighe at the last meetings of the day with banker HSBC and a government-appointed property group called Energising Kowloon East. When the alleged incident came to light, Mr Varghese had referred it to the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, which engaged an independent official to investigate.

Malcolm Turnbull, who this week described Mr Briggs’s behaviour as a “serious matter”, expanded the cabinet’s governance subcommittee last month to consider the investigator’s report.

The committee, chaired by the Prime Minister, includes Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss, Attorney-General George Brandis and Ms Bishop. Because of the gravity of the matter and concerns that any action taken against Mr Briggs might be seen as vindictive towards a supporter of Tony Abbott, the decision was taken in Mr Turnbull’s office to co-opt more ministers on to the committee.

They included Peter Dutton, Scott Morrison, Michaelia Cash and Arthur Sinodinos. After reading the report, the expanded committee decided that Mr Briggs had to go.

Sources have said the process and outcome have deeply worried some ministers on the committee. Senior government sources have confirmed cabinet governance committee members were concerned about the precedent that would be set by a sacking or resignation over such a borderline incident.

The claim against Mr Briggs did not contain any specific allegation of sexual harassment but rather “inappropriate” attention, but the committee members also recognised there were no sanctions available other than a sacking or resignation.

The process was seen by some to direct the outcome because once the committee was presented with a declaration that ministerial guidelines had been breached, it had little option but to endorse it.

quote:

More training is needed to make DFAT staff aware of different traditions and symbolisms.

Kissing is just one of those symbolic gestures that DFAT staff need to be able to cope with, however much they may be sensitive to it.

Some countries kiss cheeks once, sometimes twice, sometimes three times, and the rarest occasions it is four times. Some countries kiss on the lips with lips closed. Some even rub noses.

A DFAT vice consul, male or female, should be able to deal with this whether within Australia or abroad.

quote:

We don't know the full story but on the face of it she seems to be playing the precious victim. She could have left or not been there in the first place. Surely she is not a helpless creature. She was surrounded by people from whom she could have sort help had she been frightened or felt intimidated. People are hugging and kissing all the time when they greet and say goodbye to people. It is the fashionable thing to do one minute and cause for someone's resignation the next.


Perhaps Briggs is too realistic about the cure for climate change and sustainable cities so dear to the Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister.

quote:

There are some very thin skinned people around today especially the staffer who sees a compliment as an insult and an expression of friendship as sexual harassment. So how does it work today? Should Jamie Briggs have asked her if she minded him making a comment about her and should he have asked he if he could kiss her cheek. Is that how you establish consent. Is that what Political Correctness has descended to?

open24hours posted:

open24hours posted:

Comments are good too.

quote:

There's another factor, however: the public servant should not have been placed in that situation, not only by Briggs and his chief of staff, but by her own managers and supervisors. From Briggs's explanation, it appears that she was a locally-based officer: her bosses should have ensured that she was not put into a position that risked compromising her. They failed her.

quote:

Like many revellers, the Turnbull government starts the new year wobbly on its feet, with a 2015 hangover making it hard to focus on the bright lights of the 2016 election year.

Malcolm Turnbull has forced South Australian minister Jamie Briggs to resign in a silly and unfair move, inflaming internal friction and raising standards of ministerial accountability to ridiculous levels.

Photos of the night in question — which I have seen — show Briggs happily posing, and the young diplomat who sparked the inquiry in familiar and informal pose with Briggs’s chief of staff, Stuart Eaton. Yet Briggs has lost his ministerial position for similar informality.

This is not a matter of excusing sexual harassment; no such allegation has been made here. The episode is supposedly about inappropriate behaviour.

More: Minister, texts and Stormies night

Perhaps we should now expect any minister seen in a bar after midnight paying someone a compliment (even in the company of others) or offering a goodbye kiss on the cheek to hand in their commission.

The folly is exposed by what the Prime Minister had to do about Mal Brough. Brough’s role in the so-called Ashbygate affair should have precluded him from the ministry, but as a numbers man for the Turnbull leadership coup his baggage was overlooked.

Once details of the police investigation elevated the issue two months ago it was clear Brough should stand aside, but Brough and Turnbull resisted. So when Turnbull — with input from his deputy, Julie Bishop — decided Briggs had to go, it would have been unsustainable to keep defending Brough.

On the one hand Turnbull tested the limits of ministerial standards by allowing Brough to stay despite a police investigation. On the other, Turnbull has deemed one complaint from a public servant that (even at face value) amounted to no more than a social indiscretion could bring Briggs undone.

No one in the Coalition partyroom misses how Turnbull’s tolerance was extended to a key supporter while a Tony Abbott loyalist was told to walk the plank. Combined with pressure from the Nationals for more ministerial places, the convenience factors for Turnbull worked against Briggs.

Tension between Bishop and Briggs that goes back at least seven years was also a factor ensuring the unintended consequences are unpredictable. To this point Bishop (and others) are privy to details of the claim that Briggs is not.

The cabinet governance committee that ruled on the matter was deeply troubled by the implications of imposing such a hair-trigger standard of accountability and there was a sense the process dictated the outcome. Presented with an independent opinion that guidelines were breached it would be a brave committee that overturned it.

Yet Briggs was not accused or harassing, intimidating or “hitting on” the public servant — just that amorphous “inappropriate” claim.

In matters such as this the process often appears to lean towards guilt unless innocence can be proved. The standard set will be impossible for ministers to live up to. The internal tensions will simmer down or fester — more likely the latter.

It all comes after the disastrous attempted defection of dumped minister Ian Macfarlane. While “Macca” was the architect of his own humiliation, his secretive plot saw Nationals leader Warren Truss conspire against the interests of Turnbull and the Liberals. Truss is expected to retire at the election and so could be replaced soon by his deputy, Barnaby Joyce. If Turnbull and Truss were The Odd Couple, Turnbull and Joyce will be like Blackadder and Baldrick.

A further complication is the imminent release of a NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption report bound to mention cabinet secretary Arthur Sinodinos. As a witness rather than a target, Sinodinos should survive, but given the evidence he’s unlikely to escape criticism, sparking attacks from Labor.

So Turnbull starts the year popular with voters; confronted by internal tension and issues of ministerial standards; challenged by flexing from the Nationals; considering tough policy decisions; requiring a ministerial reshuffle; and needing decisions on election timing and strategy.

If he has made a resolution or two, there is no doubt what they should be: commitments to unity, stability and economic reform. If governments are competent and make the right calls in the national interest — even unpalatable ones — the public generally will reward them. And because that sort of leadership can be unpopular and difficult in the short term, maintaining unity through tough times is paramount.

Turnbull exploited Abbott’s political mistakes and inattention on unity to seize the top job and now must create stability. He is yet to start repairing the budget and reforming the economy. Happily for him the solutions are complementary: the necessary reform tasks — cutting costs, tackling unions and minimising taxes — are the battles that will unify his team.

The big question for 2016 is whether Turnbull will adopt this approach or risk disharmony by taking his party to the Left to please journalists and massage polls. Still, surely while ever the alternative is Bill Shorten and an ALP promising to fix nothing, Turnbull can expect to see in 2017 from the Lodge (where, no doubt, the bar will close as the clock strikes midnight).

quote:

Pregnant Somali asylum seeker Abyan had not ruled out abortion, FOI documents reveal

A Somali asylum seeker allegedly raped on Nauru had not ruled out terminating her pregnancy, documents obtained under Freedom of Information laws have revealed.

In October, the 23-year-old woman, known as Abyan, was transferred to Australia for an abortion, an illegal procedure on Nauru, after the Federal Government's healthcare provider advised senior departmental staff "there are risks of deteriorating mental health and psychological distress".

But five days later, Immigration Minister Peter Dutton publicly stated Abyan decided not to proceed with the abortion and she was sent back to Nauru, still pregnant.

Mr Dutton also accused refugee advocates of lying about the situation.

Correspondence between senior staff at the Department of Immigration and Border Protection has now revealed why Abyan was removed from Australia.

A minute from Australian Border Force warned: "There is a risk that once in Australia [Abyan] will seek to join legal action which would prevent her return."

Lawyer and human rights activist Kellie Tranter received the documents.

"I was particularly concerned that his woman, or indeed any woman, who had been through such traumatic circumstances was portrayed as somebody who was deliberately and in some calculated fashion trying to engineer a way into the country," Ms Tranter said.

Abyan 'made it clear she had not changed her mind'

The documents also showed Abyan told a medical professional she felt "too mentally unwell" to undergo the termination procedure immediately, but "she did make it clear that she hasn't completely changed her mind and understands that she can access the procedure in New South Wales for up to 20 weeks".

Abyan's position was immediately conveyed to the department.

Ms Tranter said Abyan's wishes were clear and they were misrepresented.

"The documents certainly suggest that in the case of Abyan that the department, at least two senior bureaucrats within the Department of Immigration and Border Protection were certainly aware that Abyan had not refused to have a termination," she said.

"She obviously was not keen to have a termination of pregnancy at that point in time, but it was not ruled out on her part. And certainly the medical advice the department received was to that effect."

Abyan's lawyer David Manne told AM she never declined a termination of her pregnancy outright.

Ms Tranter has called for a Royal Commission into the Immigration Department's handling of asylum seekers and refugees.

She wanted to know how much Mr Dutton knew.

"The documents that have been produced under FOI do not implicate the Minister directly," she said.

"Either the minister was misinformed by his department about the actual circumstances around Abyan's case, in which case he'd have a serious problem, or he did know and again he would have a serious problem.

"And that stretches right up to the Prime Minister, because let's not forget Prime Minister Turnbull has backed that version of events."

"As the Minister has clearly stated previously this is a private medical matter and we do not intend to comment on an individual's medical issues," a spokesman for Mr Dutton told the ABC.

"Appropriate health support, information and counselling was provided at all times and decisions were made based on medical advice."

Abyan was eventually flown back to Australia for a second time several weeks later.

She remains detained in Brisbane, where she is receiving medical treatment.

Jumpingmanjim posted:

Thread favourite Chris Kenny is here to explain why it is not a big deal:

Recoome posted:

i cannot believe that Chris "dogfucker" Kenny, known fucker of dogs, has carnal knowledge of an animal of the canine variety

gay picnic defence posted:

How does the government plan to get student loans back from people living overseas? Can they force you to declare your income, do they have any means of verifying it, and can they do anything about it if you give them a fake number?

Graic Gabtar posted:

Jerk detected! This user is on your ignore list, click to view post anyway

Jumpingmanjim posted:

Thread favourite Chris Kenny is here to explain why it is not a big deal:

gay picnic defence posted:

How does the government plan to get student loans back from people living overseas? Can they force you to declare your income, do they have any means of verifying it, and can they do anything about it if you give them a fake number?

Jumpingmanjim posted:

Thread favourite Chris Kenny is here to explain why it is not a big deal:

SynthOrange posted:

A Brisbane bicycle rider has recorded a blood alcohol content (BAC) reading more than six times the legal limit.