Tony's Mandate

Tony Abbott ~~John Howard~~ has won government and now has the right and duty to present to Parliament the program on which he was elected ~~re-elected~~. Anyone who challenges that ... should go sit in a corner and not annoy the rest of the country. (Daily Telegraph (Sydney), 5 October 2013 ~~1998~~, p. 12) citation needed

September 2013[]

October 2013[]

November 2013[]

December 2013[]

The Australian Centre for Health Research (who made the submission to the Commission of Audit was established by several health funds and private hospitals Already it seems that the paper that put forward this proposal, published in October by the Australian Centre for Health Research, has disappeared from the centre's website. The head of the Australian Centre for Health Research hit back at claims from doctors and welfare groups that mandatory "co-payments" would prompt a stampede to public hospital emergency wards where the states are not able to charge fees. The head of the ACHR hits back at claims that mandatory 'co-payments' would prompt a stampede to public hospital emergency wards where the states are not able to charge fees The RAND Health Insurance Experiment found that cost sharing reduced 'inappropriate' medical care but also 'appropriate' medical care The report: A proposal for affordable cost sharing for GP services funded by Medicare (Oct 2013)

January 2014[]

February 2014[]

The Federal Opposition has attacked the Government for spending $2,000 a day for a communications adviser to help with the Coalition's plan to sell Medibank Private.

[http://www.itnews.com.au/News/372078,nbn-co-loses-construction-boss.aspx

NBN Co’s head of construction will depart the company after a year in the job, marking the latest of three construction bosses to leave NBN Co in under three years.]

MYEFO documents reveal the Government will rip away $15 million from the Neonatal Unit at Flinders Medical Centre in Adelaide. This funding was committed in the Budget by Labor so Flinders Medical Centre could expand their overstretched facilities.]

The scrutiny of Twitter, Facebook and blogs is part of $4.3 million worth of research contracts commissioned by the federal government in its first five months of office.]

The New York Times says the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) offered to share with the US National Security Agency (NSA) its surveillance of an American law firm that was representing Indonesia in trade disputes with the US.] Guardian article

"I'm very confident that we can acquire access, ownership if you like, of the last mile copper for no additional payment,"]

March 2014[]

While authorities have resisted calls for an evacuation, the elderly and children have been urged on Friday to leave the Morwell South community.] As the poisonous smog clears from the Morwell blaze, government plans to amp up the state's reliance on dirty but cheap brown coal are becoming clearer.

The Government is considering changes to the laws, which currently prevent common ownership of radio, television stations and newspapers in the same market, rules designed to encourage media ownership diversity.]

"This new form of user-charging, I suspect, is unlikely to ever be adopted by any government."]

The legislation, which will be separate to the red-tape bills, will remove the catch-all requirement for financial advisers to act in clients' "best interests". It will also re-allow sales commissions and other forms of conflicted remuneration where advice is general in nature.]

"It's a false economy because if you don't give people assistance in order to fill in these complex legal documents, they will wind up being reviewed and reviewed and they will wind up in the courts,"]

April 2014[]

He pointed to a number of guiding principles, which included reduced protection and handouts for business, increased co-payments for government services for higher-income earners, and more targeting of the welfare system to boost the participation rate. The treasurer argued that government should not be active when the private sector could fulfil adequately the need or the function.]

May 2014[]

for crises. The fuel tanks were capped to prevent any refuelling.]

Australian Apprenticeships Incentives Programme — Tools For Your Trade, Displaced Persons Programme]

co-payments. They also say that doctors that do not charge the co-payment will face a financial disincentive.]

World Heritage Committee’s concerns about the Great Barrier Reef] It said it would not finance an expansion without the assurance of both the Government and UNESCO that it would not damage the Great Barrier Reef.

royal commission into child abuse. Another $2.7 million was redirected from funding provided to the department that was not required for witnesses to commission.]

June 2014[]

Health officials confirmed at a Senate estimates hearing that the department had not prepared modelling on those two potential consequences of the government's planned health changes.]

Greg Barker has put an end to Prime Minister Tony Abbott's dream that a group of five countries could be formed to undermine global moves to install carbon pricing and challenge a push by US President Barack Obama for stronger international regulation of climate change.]

At a Senate inquiry into the unrest on Manus detention centre, a review into the unrest was released in May and found no single party could be blamed. It was revealed that the report had not investigated the circumstances of the early incorrect comments by the immigration minister Scott Morrison, that the violence occurred outside the centre.]

“They will not be published,” "because [the submissions] were invited on the explicit terms that they were submissions to government that would be treated in confidence,” The Attorney-General Department’s website appears to back Wright up on this, with a note on the submissions page implying that once consent was given, submissions could be made public.]

July 2014[]

Senators have signalled they will block the removal of regulations aimed at loosening controls on financial advisers. The finance minister, Mathias Cormann, removed certain regulations from the Future of Financial Advice (Fofa). The government has touted the removal of the regulations as cutting red tape, but consumer groups have criticised it as benefiting the big banks at the expense of customers.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott is "gutted and dismayed" at the news of Rolf Harris's guilt on sexual abuse charges: "I feel gutted and dismayed but it's very important that we do everything we humanly can to protect vulnerable young people,"
[http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/tamil-asylum-seekers-handed-over-to-sri-lankan-navy-according-to-reports-20140701-zssnn.html The Tamil asylum seekers, who have not communicated with civilians since Saturday morning, were on a boat allegedly intercepted by the Australian navy near Christmas Island, president of the Shire of Christmas Island Gordon Thomson said. They were then handed over to Sri Lanka’s military. A spokesman for Immigration Minister Scott Morrison said the government’s policy was that it did not confirm nor otherwise comment on reports of on-water activities in relation to Operation Sovereign Borders.

A spokesman for the Sri Lankan military late on Tuesday denied the reports. ‘‘We are not aware of any arrangements of the Australian Navy handing over refugees, to Sri Lankan Navy,’’]

The Abbott government plans to send every taxpayer a one-page tax document each year to show them where their tax dollars are spent. Treasurer Joe Hockey says the document will improve tax transparency by showing how tax collections are redistributed and spent on each budget area.
[http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/social-services-minister-kevin-andrews-tells-job-seekers-to-work-for-free-20140701-zsrpi.html Young people struggling to find paid work should consider volunteering their time in the workforce as a foot in the door to employment, according to Social Services Minister Kevin Andrews.

Mr Andrews has previously suggested young people facing the prospect of no dole for six months should take a job they don’t really want or do a course: “I worked part-time in school and through university, but then I actually worked on a voluntary basis for a month. I was looking for a job and I wasn’t able to get one,” “By the end of that month the people I was working with said, ‘oh, well we’ve got a job, would you like to take it’. So I’ve always believed in taking a job, whatever it is.”]

Employment Minister Eric Abetz has been forced to defend the Abbott government against allegations it ‘disappears people’ during questioning over Australia’s forcible return of asylum seekers to Sri Lanka.]

As part of Australia's Winning Edge policy, funding is directed to sports which have a higher chance of winning a medal at the Olympics or Paralympics.]

"Anyone who thinks there aren't people in the West, including in Australia, who are committed to this course of action I'm afraid is delusional,"]

August 2014[]

"I think the studies, and I think they date back from the 1950s, assert that there is a link between abortion and breast cancer,"]

"As an oncologist, I feel frustrated on behalf of patients who harbour the fear that they somehow brought the cancer upon themselves by having an abortion"]

Queensland Cotton was one of Australia’s leading wool export companies, selling on about 150,000 bales annually, but parent company Olam International is shutting the division down.]

Malcolm Turnbull Speed Tests Fibre To The Node: “Seeing is believing,” Turnbull tweeted earlier, producing a speed test of 94Mbps down and 36Mbps up. What’s curious about this is the ping speed: 32ms seems high compared to fibre-to-the-premise which produces around the same speed. One would assume with speeds like that you’d be getting sub-10ms.]

Qantas blamed writedowns, weak demand in Australia, subdued consumer and business confidence and higher fuel prices for the company's financial woes.]

$257m of the $307m fund went to Coalition electorates, including 230 projects in the 15 most marginal seats at the centre of last year’s election battle. Only $30m went to Labor-held seats.]

September 2014[]

The IPA has slammed ideas raised in the government's discussion paper and warned there is a "real risk" Attorney General George Brandis will push ahead with the proposals "in defiance of Liberal values".]

That's the opinion of independent senator Nick Xenophon, who's accused the government of "sneaking up on people with quite radical changes" over the past 12 months.]

The man, a Rohingya Muslim from Myanmar, arrived on Christmas Island in 2011 and tried to seek asylum in Australia. For two years the man, who was found to be a genuine refugee, was kept in detention as the Immigration Department assessed his eligibility for a permanent visa.]

Terrorism alert level raised to high, but Tony Abbott says no attack is imminent. Prime minister says the change should make no difference to normal activity, but people might notice more security]

"A participant in a special intelligence operation is not subject to any civil or criminal liability for or in relation to conduct if … the conduct does not involve the participant engaging in any conduct that: (i) causes the death of, or serious injury to, any person; or (ii) involves the commission of a sexual offence against any person; or (iii) causes significant loss of, or serious damage to, property;"] Liberal Democratic Party Senator David Leyonhjelm said the laws, which are due to come before Parliament soon, allow for barbaric interrogation techniques: "I mean torture and I am not kidding," "So there is a provision in this act which says ASIO agents, and those authorised by ASIO, can do anything except murder, serious assault or sexual offence.

The trip included taxpayers being billed $1352 for Mr Pyne to "day let" a room at a swish London hotel before he and his wife, Carolyn, flew back to Australia later that day, and more than $2000 for VIP services at Heathrow Airport.]

The verdict: India has an absolutely impeccable record when it comes to preventing the horizontal spread of nuclear weapons to other states. However, it has increased its nuclear weapons stockpile, conducted nuclear testing and refused to sign the NPT. There are also question marks over its safety procedures.]

For starters, the law will “fast track” asylum claims. Asylum seekers dealing with the shame, stigma, and secrecy associated with their sexuality or gender identity will now essentially be required to “come out” to immigration officials. Previous decisions reveal that asylum seekers are conscripted into answering questions about their sexual activities, their tastes in popular culture, and even their knowledge of gay bars in the countries from which they came.]

October 2014[]

"This is a government which believes in lower taxes, not higher taxes,"]

accused Prime Minister Tony Abbott of "scaring" the public into supporting Australia's role in Iraq and is predicting the combat mission will end in "frustration" instead of victory.]

The Tamils were given no chance to claim asylum or “any opportunity to be heard on any matter concerning [their] detention or movement”, the high court papers show, and were not put through even the basic so-called “enhanced screening” process.]

obtained by Fairfax Media, reveals the names of 1800 visa holders and the companies that employ them – or in many cases, the companies that used to employ them. The audit, which involves less than 1 per cent of the 200,000 foreign workers in Australia, raises concerns over 40 per cent of 457 visa holders, including evidence that many are no longer working for their nominated employer or are not being paid at the rate at which they were promised.]

“I hope our performance has at least passed muster over the past 12 months,” the prime minister said, to a smattering of applause at the Parliament House awards ceremony. “That was desultory applause, but at least it was some,” Abbott said,]

November 2014[]

Labor has highlighted a message from the health department to medical practice software companies telling them to prepare to incorporate changes to accommodate the $7 payment.]