AgentF posted:

Anthony Mundine without the white man

Cons:

• No boxing career
  

Pros:

• No decimation and dispossession of his people
  

quote:

Federal parliament complicit in property money laundering

By Leith van Onselen

Last week we got confirmation that dodgy Chinese money continues to pile into Australian property:

Australian financial intelligence officials last year investigated more than $3.3 billion of suspect transfers by Chinese investors — including $1bn invested in property…

The figures lay bare the scale of Chinese investment in the Australian property market as well as the concerns of officials in Beijing and Australia about investors rorting foreign ownership regulations…

Austrac’s own reporting… found that the most property-­related fund transfers from China reported to the agency were linked to Victoria, followed by NSW …sources say rorting is rife, with foreign buyers using a variety of scams to get their money out of China…

At their most basic, the scams involve using a network of friends and family members to transfer multiples of $US50,000 into Australia, where it is collected and used by a trusted agent to buy property.

More sophisticated scams ­involve buying homes through a web of incorporated companies or through Chinese permanent residents. Neither entity is ­restricted by conditions on property purchases.

Today there’s more confirmation, with reports emerging that there has been a huge surge in foreign buyers paying cash for off-the-plan apartments. From The AFR:

The proportion of foreign investors paying cash to settle new Melbourne apartment acquisitions has surged to more than 35 per cent…

Nick Holuigue, a partner in law firm Maddocks’s development practice, said there had been an “unusually high percentage of cash buyers”…

Evan Cathcart, a director at Three Sixty Property Group, which sells apartments and townhouses off-the-plan into China (including Ikebana) said there had been a “huge surge in cash buyers in the past 12 months or so”…

A Melbourne-based Chinese estate agent who asked not to be named said it was quite possible that Chinese buyers were paying 100 per cent cash for new apartments.

“While there are capital controls, there are tons of ways to get around it. My partners having used these channels to transfer cash across for Melbourne purchases. If these buyers have enough connections on the Chinese side, it can be done,” he said.

Under Australia’s existing Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regime [the first tranche implemented in 2006], only financial institutions are required to report suspicious transactions to Austrac.

The Turnbull Government recently deferred indefinitely the promised second tranche implementation of AML rules for real estate gate-keepers, which have been in limbo since the federal government first promised to bring them into the regulatory in 2003. This deferral came despite explicit criticism from the global regulator, the Paris-based Financial Action Taskforce, that Australian homes are a haven for laundered funds, particularly from China, as well as similar warnings from Austrac.

The end result is that realtors, lawyers, accountants and other real estate gate keepers are currently exempted from AML requirements. And this exemption has provided an easy avenue for foreign buyers to launder funds through Australian property.

Perversely, if somebody wants to set up an account to place a $100 bet at Sportsbet, or invest $1,000 into a managed fund, then they must provide sufficient identification under the AML Act. But if they want to launder millions of dollars through an Australian home, few questions are asked. It makes no sense.

Clearly, the Australian Government is tacitly complicit with the dirty foreign money flooding into Australian property. The Coalition has already shown its hand in deferring the implementation of the second tranche. But where are Labor and The Greens on this issue? Why won’t they lobby to end a decade of neglect and bring Australia’s real estate gatekeepers into the AML net – as demanded by FATF and Austrac, promised by the federal government in 2003, and intended when the AML legislation was first drafted in 2006?

Will our politicians please stand up?

TF2 HAT MINING RIG posted:

Watching Turnbull lose his cool live on tv is great.

quote:

Senator Bernardi dismissed as “gossip” renewed suggestions that he was poised to quit the Liberal Party, but close allies of the ­conservative said his long-time flirtation with the idea of a new conservative party had now ­advanced to “active dating”.

Paingod556 posted:

Billboard van and a bunch of Lib supporters down the road from me advertising for Peter Abetz. On a side road, not even the main drag. WA election is go I guess

How does he compare to his totally-not-a-nazi brother?

quote:

Historic phone call between Trump and Turnbull cut short by Telstra outage – The Betoota Advocate

A number of news outlets around the world have reported that the historic phone call between US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull ended when the American sanctimoniously hung up on the Member for Wentworth.

That’s simply untrue, according to the PM’s Office – who was quick to blame the nationwide Telstra outage for the call’s premature end.

“When the call dropped out, Mr Turnbull threw the phone across his office Russel Crowe-style,” said one of the prime ministerial aids.

“He tried to flip his desk over but ultimately settled for throwing his chair into a bookshelf.”

Echoing the aid’s sentiments, Deputy PM Barnaby Joyce was in the PM’s foyer waiting for an appointment with Mr Turnbull when the commotion began.

Speaking to The Advocate in great detail, the Member for New England agreed that Telstra had dropped the ball.

“Mate, I couldn’t even load my Snapchats up while I was waiting for the bastard,” said Joyce. “Couldn’t even look at Instagram either. I just had to scroll through old photos and play a bit of Buck Hunter. I might as well have been waiting in my top paddock.”

The Advocate reached out to Telecom for comment, but have yet to receive a reply.

More to come.

quote:

WA One Nation candidate under fire over 'sexually explicit interests'

Another One Nation candidate has come under fire after the contents of his Facebook page revealed interests in a number of sexually explicit pages and lewd groups.

Cameron Bartkowski is running for One Nation in the Upper House in the South West region.

Radio 6PR uncovered some of his Facebook likes which show pages such as 'hot booty ebony', 'world class babes', 'hot girls worldwide', 'I cuckhold all my boyfriends and 'f**k my ex'.

He has liked dozens of bawdy and lewd Facebook pages.

Following calls to Mr Bartkowski, his Facebook page was deleted on Thursday afternoon.

Radio 6PR Perth Live presenter Oliver Peterson spoke to Mr Bartkowski who said it shouldn't matter what's on his Facebook page.

He also revealed he hadn't even paid for his One Nation candidacy yet.

One Nation leader and founder Pauline Hanson has previously said she was personally involved in vetting the candidates for the upcoming March election.

BBJoey posted:

i love the weekly one nation candidate expulsions, they're all that keep me going

quote:

Rodney Culleton was never elected to Senate, High Court rules


After a protracted legal battle that began almost as soon as he was elected, Rod Culleton's election has been ruled ineligible by the High Court.

The unanimous full bench decision, sitting as the Court of Disputed Returns, puts an end to the former One Nation senator's battle to stay in the upper house, regardless of the outcome of any of his other court battles, which includes challenging a federal court bankruptcy ruling.

Mr Culleton was not in court when the judgment was handed down.

But the Parliament will not know who takes his place until after a recount, with the electoral commission now to consider the ballots as if Mr Culleton's name did not exist on the ticket.

His brother-in-law, Peter Georgiou, placed as the number two candidate for One Nation, is considered most likely to fill the vacancy, with Mr Culleton having previously vowed to serve as his chief-of-staff.

Mr Culleton quit One Nation in early December, amid reports of a growing rift between himself, and party leader, Pauline Hanson, which emerged after Senator Hanson gave her party's support to the government motion referring Mr Culleton's election to the High Court, Under section 44 of the constitution.

He accused the party of "un-Australian behaviour" and having betrayed their election promises.

Senator Hanson described her former senator as a "pain in my backside" and said she was happy to see him leave the party.

The court ordered the Commonwealth to pay Mr Culleton's legal costs.

More to come

You Am I posted:

It's great because even the Liberal's usual cheerleaders, like business councils, are against it, saying that it's too expensive to implement and no bank will touch it

Lid posted:

A STAFFER in the Prime Minister’s office has been suspended after posting anti-Trump propaganda to her social media page.

Yvette Kerr, executive assistant to the Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s chief of staff Drew Clarke, has been suspended today over “inappropriate” posts on her Facebook page, 2GB radio reports.

Ms Kerr posted a photo and link to a website named ‘Tuck Frump’ in November, before the President was elected.

She deleted the post today after the radio station alerted the Prime Minister’s office to the link.

Give her a raise

Natuonalise 2gb

quote:

Royal commission into sexual abuse: Every Catholic archbishop to give evidence next week

Every Catholic archbishop in the country is to be called to give evidence at next week's royal commission hearings in Sydney into child sexual abuse.

The three-week public hearing will focus on the extent of child sexual abuse over almost seven decades and what church leaders are doing to protect children.

The church's most senior leaders will face the full panel of royal commissioners, and include the archbishops of Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane, Perth and Canberra Goulburn.

The bishops of Darwin, Broome, Parramatta and the Maronite diocese of Australia are also on the witness list.

This is the 50th public hearing of the four-year-long royal commission and it is the 16th dealing with abuse in the Catholic Church.

The opening address by the counsel assisting the royal commission, Gail Furness SC, is expected to include some grim statistics — an overview of the number of reports of child sexual abuse relating to the Catholic Church since 1950.

The ABC has been told the data runs into hundreds of pages and includes details of the complaint, age of the victim, which diocese or religious order the offender came from and how claims were dealt with and whether compensation was paid.

The CEO of the Catholic Church's Truth Justice and Healing Council, Francis Sullivan, has told the ABC "it's the first time in the western world the Catholic Church has been so open about its data and its records".

"This is very confronting, it's a miserable tale, you can't put a coating on it, it speaks of so much damage, it's heartbreaking," Mr Sullivan said.

quote:

Australian Catholic Church warns congregation ahead of final 'grim' royal commission hearing

Catholic Church leaders throughout Australia are warning church-goers and school parents about the release of data on Monday at the child sex abuse royal commission, describing it as an "horrific portrait of appalling abuse".

Archbishop of Brisbane Mark Coleridge was so concerned about the impact of the statistics relating to the extent of reported abuse within the Catholic Church, he emailed a video message to tens of thousands of Catholic school parents.

"The royal commission is about to hold its final hearing into the Catholic Church which will be a very challenging time," he said in the video.

"My sincere hope is that all the blood, sweat and tears will produce justice and healing and ensure that the future is much safer for the young than the past has been."

Archbishop Coleridge's video message will be played in more than 200 churches in the Brisbane diocese throughout the weekend.

The Townsville diocese will also play the message in each of its parishes for this weekend's masses.

The 68-year-old archbishop said in his message there would be some "grim moments and some shocks" in the royal commission's final hearing into the Catholic Church.

"We have to shift the culture and that's a far more difficult thing to do," Archbishop Coleridge sa

underage at the vape shop posted:

I didn't think qps could top removing all the bins as a cure to terrorism

http://mypolice.qld.gov.au/blog/2017/02/02/launch-report-drug-dealer-online-tool/

Literally, a busybody hotline. Like, this is the image used in their article.


I honestly can't tell if it's serious or just a way to free up policelink from the busybodies.

Brown Paper Bag posted:

No discussion about Mundine v Green II - This Time, It's For Money ?

BCR posted:

quote:

Government MPs working to bring same-sex marriage policy to a head over next fortnight


Liberal Party MPs who support same-sex marriage will push to abandon the government's plebiscite policy over the next fortnight in favour of a free vote on the floor of Parliament, in a move that could divide the Coalition and create a fresh political headache for Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

Fairfax Media understands Liberal MPs including Dean Smith, Warren Entsch, Tim Wilson, Trent Zimmerman, Trevor Evans and Melissa Price are among those leading discussions on how to advance the issue.

The push to allow a free vote is being driven by the backbench, though some cabinet ministers are aware the discussions are underway.

The majority of the Turnbull cabinet, including Mr Turnbull, personally support same-sex marriage, but the issue has been dormant since late last year.

The argument in favour of a free vote is that Liberal MPs have historically had a conscience vote on such issues and that the position adopted under Tony Abbott, which bound MPs to support a plebiscite, was an aberration.

In November last year, Mr Wilson said in a speech that he had "discharged" his responsibility to vote for the proposed February 11 plebiscite – a vote that was defeated – and that he believed a vote could be held before the next election. Supporters believe Mr Wilson's argument is correct and they are now entitled to a free vote.

They argue that once the plebiscite date passes, and a Senate inquiry into the bill proposed by Attorney-General George Brandis is handed down in mid-February, the Liberal party room should debate the issue in the second week of the new parliamentary year, commencing February 13.

Significantly, they hope to bring the issue to a vote this year – possibly as soon as the end of March – to deal with the issue and get it off the political agenda ahead of the next election.
"No one wants this issue to go in into the May budget session, so lets deal with this quickly and relatively painlessly," one supporter of the move said.

"This could be world's biggest pain between now and the next poll."

Another MP said compromises that allow religious exemptions would be necessary and that "the feeling is that this issue won't go away, it is obstructing the government's agenda and there is now a willingness to revisit this".

"No one can have everything they want. But if the Parliament can agree on a compromise, that is a good thing."

As the backbench group agitates for change, same-sex marriage campaigners Australians for Equality will on Sunday launch a new advertising campaign across TV, newspapers and on billboards in strategic locations such as Canberra Airport, to greet MPs when they arrive on Monday for the resumption of Parliament.

Australians for Equality director Tiernan Brady said the campaign would be the biggest, most expensive one of its kind launched in Australia and focus on "changing the law to reflect Australian values".

Mr Brady said the push to legalise same-sex marriage would not go away and the ad campaign would focus on the idea that "politicians should do their jobs" and vote on the issue.

"Australians are for marriage equality," he said. "They are not unsure, they are not a little in favour, it's 65 per cent-plus in favour. Australia is in the top 10 countries in the world in favour of marriage equality."

Some Liberal Party MPs Fairfax Media has spoken to who oppose legalising same-sex marriage believe the law change is inevitable and that it may be time for the change to happen via a free vote given the issue sucks up oxygen and distracts from the Coalition's core agenda.

If a free vote was allowed for Liberal Party MPs, it is likely the laws would be passed with the support of Labor, the Greens and crossbench MPs. It would see Australia join other anglophone countries including the United States, Britain, New Zealand, Canada and Ireland in allowing the unions.

But other more conservative MPs would fight tooth and nail to stop any fresh push and warned a civil war could erupt if Mr Turnbull did not stop the push.

Another complication is the Coalition agreement between the Liberal Party and Nationals specifies that a plebiscite be held, suggesting any attempt to engineer a free vote could set off a brawl between the two governing parties.

As recently as December, Mr Turnbull said the plebiscite remained Coalition policy and insisted it was the mechanism by which same-sex marriage could become reality.

quote:

Here’s How Two Spin Doctors Let Slip About Bernardi’s Trump-Style Party

The bizarre story of Cory Bernardi’s imminent split from the Liberal party was quite literally delivered to our door last week.

On Wednesday, a senior BuzzFeed employee went to lunch and during a stroll outside bumped into the heads of a new recruitment agency for political spin doctors that shares a building with BuzzFeed Australia in Sydney.

During an offhand chat, Peter McConnell and Luke Achterstraat from Commtract, both former Liberal staffers, said that Bernardi was ready to make an announcement in the coming days that he’d split from the Liberals and form his own conservative populist political party inspired by Donald Trump.

McConnell and Achterstraat said their recruitment firm was hiring a communications professional for Bernardi, who was planning his long-awaited party split in the first week of the parliamentary year. Parliament resumes tomorrow.

McConnell is a former chief of staff to NSW Liberal premier Barry O’Farrell and corporate affairs manager at supermarket giant Woolworths, while Achterstraat has worked for both former federal tourism minister Richard Colbeck and former federal trade minister Andrew Robb.

When I confronted McConnell and Achterstraat about the news last week, both men repeatedly told me that they were joking with the BuzzFeed employee and strenuously denied they were working with Bernardi.

But that changed on Monday.

This morning the ABC’s political editor Chris Uhlmann and Herald Sun columnist Andrew Bolt both reported that the conservative’s announcement about a split from the party was imminent.

So I followed up with Commtract. This time, there was no mention of jokes.

McConnell sent me a statement saying the firm would not comment “on our individual clients”.

“We are an apolitical organisation that supports hundreds of talented professionals from a diverse range of backgrounds. We work for organisations right across the political spectrum. We do not provide comment on our individual clients.”

Bernardi’s future in the Liberal party has been under a cloud since last year. The South Australian conservative, who currently occupies the privileged number one position on the Liberal party’s state Senate ticket, has long been considering setting up a breakaway party, inspired by the election of US president Donald Trump.

Last year, Bernardi did a stint at the United Nations in New York, and posted pictures of himself partying with US President Donald Trump’s team, including campaign manager Kellyanne Conway.

In December, Bernardi set up a website for an organisation called “Australian Majority”, using the popular political campaigning tool NationBuilder. The logo appears to be inspired by those of US presidential candidate Ted Cruz and French populist leader Marine Le Pen.

Bernardi has not spoken publicly in recent weeks and did not return BuzzFeed News’ multiple requests for comment.

quote:

Child sex abuse royal commission: Catholic Church at centre of damning report

More than 20 per cent of the members of some Catholic religious orders — including Marist Brothers and Christian Brothers — were allegedly involved in child sexual abuse, a royal commission hearing in Sydney has been told.

The hearing, part of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, is examining the current policies and procedures of the Catholic Church's authorities in Australia relating to child protection and child safety standards, as well as their response to allegations of abuse.

In her opening address, Gail Furness SC said a survey revealed 4,444 alleged incidents of abuse between January 1980 and February 2015.

Ms Furness said 60 per cent of survivors attending private royal commission sessions reported sexual abuse at faith-based institutions.
A sign that says: Suffer the little children and suffer we did in your orphanages and childrens homes
Photo: A protester's sign outside the royal commission in Sydney. (ABC News: Philippa McDonald)

Of those, almost two-thirds reported abuse in Catholic institutions.

Ms Furness described the victims' accounts as "depressingly similar".

"Children were ignored or worse, punished," she said.

"Allegations were not investigated. Priests and religious [figures] were moved. The parishes or communities to which they were moved knew nothing of their past.

"Documents were not kept, or they were destroyed. Secrecy prevailed as did cover-ups."

The average age of the victims at the time they were allegedly abused was 10 for girls and 11 for boys.

Religious orders were in the firing line with the data suggesting that between 1950 and 2010, more than 20 per cent of Marist Brothers, Salesians of the Don Bosco and Christian Brothers had allegations of child sexual abuse against them.

For the St John of God Brothers, that number was 40.4 per cent.

It is the first time the data has been released.
Archbishops to be grilled in Sydney

The Archbishops of Sydney, Perth, Brisbane, Adelaide, Melbourne and Canberra-Goulburn have congregated in Sydney to give evidence as part of the three-week public hearing.

Questions are expected to focus on the extent of child abuse over almost seven decades and what church leaders are doing to protect children.

This is the 50th public hearing of the four-year-long royal commission and it is the 16th dealing with abuse in the Catholic Church.

The royal commission has investigated how institutions across the country, including schools, churches, sports clubs and government organisations, have responded to allegations and instances of abuse.

Nibbles! posted:

Cory believes there's a worldwide surge to the far-right off the back of Trump and Britex.

Pretty sure there was a story not long ago about Gina being ready to throw boatloads of cash at his new party too.

I didn't think he'd do it though, figured he was too attached to the safety blanket of safe seats.

tithin posted:

https://twitter.com/ANSETT_AU/status/828471017920016385