Stuart Robert, Paul Marks and buying influence

30 Comments

1. Ssiigghh…business as usual.

2. Or we could, in our executive role as Voters, just have him dragged off and thrown into the south china sea, and let the people feuding over it sort him out.

3. Another outstanding and well researched article. Should The Federal Police be informed?

4. He’s a member of the LieNP …
   Would the AFP do anything anyway ?
   When it comes to this govt and associated organisations, I can only say … “No confidence”

5. We have a new premium investor visa which allows someone who invests $15 million for twelve months to become a permanent resident. Countless authorities have warned it is being exploited by criminals to launder money and move here to evade prosecution at home….but the Liberal Party just look at the bucks.

   James Packer lobbied for the new visa so he could bring Chinese gamblers here, which is apparently illegal as his staff who have been arrested in China have discovered the hard way. It beggars belief that Crown did not know this or thought themselves so above the law as to not have to worry about it. (One could forgive them considering laws are no impediment to Packers in Australia).

   These investment visas are/were also playing a significant role in driving up house prices in Sydney and Melbourne – when the government said they would place a cap on residential real estate investment and force people to invest in riskier assets such as venture capital and emerging companies to qualify for visas, demand for investment visas fell.

   The AFP is renowned for not pursuing corruption cases. They are too busy with Craig Thomson and Peter Slipper and other such earth shattering cases. Will Kathy Jackson EVER be held accountable? The legal system in Australia seems disturbingly subjective to me.

6. I don’t know why I torture myself reading Bolt and Akerman at the Telelaugh, then I post comments only to be savaged by the right wing nutters, I usually hold my own although vastly outnumbered, wouldn’t be hard to work out my other name as there only about three of us keeping up the good fight against the right wing lunatics posting there. Maybe people here should start posting their comments at the Telelaugh , the moderators seem to be pretty lenient these days.

   Anyway, thanks to the AIMN Kaye Lee and contributors for facts and real news helping me retain my sanity somewhat.

7. Kaye Lee, Thank you for you research and information.
   The dark money being passed around to political parties is frightening . Yet they try to tell us that it does not have strings attached???? RIGHT pull the other leg.
   Corruption , how can it be stopped?
   Can’t wait for the next election.

8. Nimrod made a $1.9 million loss in 2014 at the same time as it donated $500,000 to the Liberal Party and increased its directors’ fees from $60,000 to $785,000 in a year mainly taken as shares.

   Marks received 1.3 million shares and $20,000 in cash in 2014, while co-directors James Macaulay and Robert Kingdon each received 1.25 million shares as a settlement.

   Nimrod’s main asset is a proposed mine in the back of Bourke, NSW. Even if a significant holding is found (no guarantee because they hadn’t even drilled test holes yet), the approval processes and red tape would hold up development of an open-cut mine for years.

   One wonders why the government is giving implied backing to Marks? (well we kinda know already)

   Also….

   In 2015 Marks sold a Centrelink office building in Moreland St, Brunswick, for $21 million that was owned by his company, Brunswick Property. He also sold another office tenanted by Centrelink in Box Hill for $14 million.

   He apparently now lives in Israel.

   http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/how-a-chinese-mine-deal-put-the-spotlight-back-on-a-mysterious-golfobsessed-millionaire/news-story/56b84cdc8caddc449b45d845dfbdfcdf

9. So he now lives in Israel – as does James Packer. I wonder why?

   Israel been a tax shelter since around 2003, a role that dramatically expanded in 2008 with Amendment 168 to the Income Tax Ordinance. The amendment made new immigrants and returning Israelis exempt from taxes on foreign assets for 10 years.

   new immigrants and returning residents were also exempted from reporting foreign assets to Israel’s tax authorities. Where their money came from was no longer the business of Israel’s tax man. … After the change, they could move to a country where they are exempt from reporting or paying taxes on much of their assets.

   Still wondering why? Perhaps it’s the ‘hats? Kosher food? Or maybe it’s the weather?

   http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/business/.premium-1.557655

10. kaye you are amazing everyday but today is great.

    ps beauty matters not but your weather typo? You left the i out and the t should have been an l

11. Ella Miller…..

    I’m waiting with baited breath for an election ( LNP…trumbull are poisonous )…….BUT WHO…….but who ??. We have nothing but “career” candidates throughout, all couldn’t run a mowing franchise.
    Folks are likely to vote ON, or significantly, independents, This outcome would be sheer lunacy.

12. In training?

13. 245179
    I don’t think we have many options, Labor, Greens?
    The frightening thing here in Tasmania is that support for One Nation has risen to 6% and they don’t even have a candidate.
    God I hope people wake up before it is too late. I no longer trust too many independents ….they are bought and sold very easily.

    Kaye Lee, interesting that there was no outcry about head gear … there would have been had it been Arabic?????
    I guess money talks….

14. Smell that? Smells like rotten meat and fresh shit? That’s the LNP!

15. @Max – what is the real difference between the LieNP and the Alternative Liarberal Party led by Bill Shortening?

16. Sir ScotchMistery
    I know you posed the question to Max but I’ll answer
    A government led by Bill Shorten will do what Labor Governments do such as {thanks Redned for the list}

    The Labor Party introduced carbon pricing. They set up the Clean Energy Finance Corporation to help fund renewable energy projects. They put insulation in roofs and gave rebates for solar panels. They set up the independent Climate Council to review the Renewable Energy Target not with the view to scrapping it but possibly increasing it. They introduced the water trigger legislationto keep the States from running riot

    Australia’s wind capacity trebled and Labor supported the installation of more than 1 million solar panels,instigated the Australian Renewable Energy Agency and Clean Energy Finance Corporation which are already hard at work developing, commercialising and investing in new renewable energy technologies.”

    • NBN (the real one) – total cost $37.4b (Government contribution: $30.4b);

    • BER 7,920 schools: 10,475 projects. (completed at less than 3% dissatisfaction rate);

    • Gonski education funding reform;

    • NDIS – DisabilityCare;

    • MRRT & aligned PRRT;

    • Won seat at the UN;

    • Signed Kyoto;

    • Signatory to Bali Process & Regional Framework;

    • Eradicated WorkChoices;

    • Established Fair Work Australia;

    • Established Carbon Pricing/ETS (7% reduction in emissions since July last year);

    • Established National Network of Reserves and Parks;

    • Created world’s largest Marine Park Network;

    • Introduced Reef Rescue Program;

    • National Apology;

    • Sorry to the Stolen Generation;

    • Increased Superannuation from 9 to 12%;

    • Changed 85 laws to remove discrimination against same sex couples;

    • Introduced National Plan to reduce violence against women and children;

    • Improvements to Sex Discrimination Act;

    • Introduced plain packaging of cigarettes;

    • Legislated Equal pay (social & community workers up to 45% pay increases);

    • Legislated Australia’s first Paid Parental Leave scheme;

    • Achieved 1:1 ratio of computers for year 9-12 students;

    • Established $10b Clean Energy Bank;

    • Legislated Murray/Darling Basin plan (the first in a hundred years of trying);

    • Increased Education funding by 50%;

    • Established direct electoral enrollment;

    • Created 190,000 more University places;

    • Established My School;

    • Established National Curriculum;

    • Established NAPLAN;

    • Increased Health funding by 50%;

    • Legislated Aged care package;

    • Legislated Mental health package;

    • Legislated Dental Care package;

    • Created 90 Headspace sites;

    • Created Medicare Locals Program;

    • Created Aussie Jobs package;

    • Created Kick-Start Initiative (apprentices);

    • Funded New Car Plan (industry support);

    • Created Infrastructure Australia;

    • Established Nation Building Program (350 major projects);

    • Doubled Federal Roads budget ($36b) (7,000kms of roads);

    • Rebuilding 1/3 of interstate rail freight network;

    • Committed more to urban passenger rail than any government since Federation;

    • Developed National Ports Strategy;

    • Developed National Land Freight Strategy;

    • Created the nations first ever Aviation White Paper;

    • Revitalized Australian Shipping;

    • Reduced transport regulators from 23 to 3 (saving $30b over 20years);

    • Introduced NICS – infrastructure schedule;

    • Australia moved from 20th in 2007 to 2nd on OECD infrastructure ranking;

    • International Infrastructure Minister of the Year (2012) awarded to Mr Anthony Albanese;

    • International Treasurer of the Year (2011) awarded to Mr Wayne Swan;

    • Introduced anti-dumping and countervailing system reforms;

    • Legislated Household Assistance Package;

    • Introduced School Kids Bonus;

    • Increased Childcare rebate (to 50%);

    • Allocated $6b to Social Housing (20,000 homes);

    • Provided $5b to Support for Homelessness;

    • Established National Rental Affordability Scheme ($4.5b);

    • Introduced Closing the Gap;

    • Supports Act of Recognition for constitutional change;

    • Provided the highest pension increase in 100 years;

    • Created 900,000 new jobs;

    • Established National Jobs Board;

    • Allocated $9b for skills and training over 5 years;

    • Established Enterprise Connect (small business);

    • Appointed Australia’s first Small Business Commissioner;

    • Introduced immediate write-off of assets costing less than $6,500 for Small Business;

    • Introduced $5,000 immediate write-off for Small Business vehicles over $6,500;

    • Introduced a national levy to assist Queensland with reconstruction;

    • Standardized national definition of flood for Insurance purposes;

    • Created Tourism 2020;

    • Completed Australia’s first feasibility study on high speed rail;

    • Established ESCAS (traceability and accountability in live animal exports);

    • Established Royal Commission into Institutional Sexual Abuse;

    • Established National Crime Prevention Fund;

    • Lowered personal income taxes (average family now pays $3,500 less pa than 2007)

    • Raised the tax-free threshold from $6,000 to $18,200;

    • Raised Australia to the richest per capita nation on earth;

    • First time ever Australia has three triple A credit ratings from all three credit agencies;

    • Low inflation;

    • Lowest interest rates in 60 years (average mortgagee paying $5,000 less p.a. than 2007);

    • Low unemployment;

    • Lowest debt to GDP in OECD;

    • Australian dollar is now fifth most traded in the world and IMF Reserve Currency;

    • One of the world’s best performing economies during and since the GFC;

    • AAA+ Credit Rating;

    • Australia now highest ranked for low Sovereign Risk;

    • Overseen the largest fiscal tightening in nations history (4.4%);

    • 21 years of continuous economic growth (trend running at around 3% pa);

    • 11 years of continuous wages growth exceeding CPI;

    • Increasing Productivity;

    • Increasing Consumer Confidence;

    • Record foreign investment;

    • Historic levels of Chinese/Australian bilateral relations;

    • First female Prime Minister;

    • First female Governor General;

    • First female Attorney General;

    • Introduced Small business $1m loss carryback for tax rebate from previous year;

    • Legislated Australian Consumer law.

17. An impressive list nurses.

    Always remind yourself, Labor introduced medicare, paid parental leave, the superannuation guarantee and the price on carbon that everyone agrees we have to have (very short list). The Liberals fought tooth and nail against all these social advances.

    The Liberals introduced the regressive GST, tax concessions for the wealthy, fossil fuel subsidies, and Direct Inaction payments to potential polluters. Don’t clear that patch of land and I will give you money (even if you had no intention of clearing it). Don’t restock your cattle farm in the middle of this drought and I will give you money. Here you are Clive, have some money for an expensive new coal powered generator to create power for the new coal mines that no-one will finance. Here Adani, have some money to build a railway to nowhere and to expand your port on the reef because we need more tankers on the reef. Who wants to buy profitable government businesses? Who needs a development approved and pesky regulations done away with? (Though I must admit both parties are guilty of the last two questions.)

    Whilst there will always be things I disagree with and am disappointed by with Labor (and everyone else – as you have gathered – I am yet to find anyone I agree with all the time) there is no comparison with the Liberal Party.

18. Nurses, there’s another one you can add to the list: didn’t trash our international reputation.

19. The world recognised Abbott as a buffoon as they do Trump. Ignorance, anger, even deprivation, are no excuse for electing hateful people, or others who are downright loony. We need smart people who can understand and act on what the experts are telling them rather than take-away food shop owners who suggest we go online to find the real truth. Hanson’s admiration of people like Trump, Putin and Ashby helps me understand why her relationships never seem to work out well.

20. Roswell
    I didn’t compile the list.A friend Redned on IA sent it to me and he can’t remember the origins either
    As Kaye Lee points out longer term there are far more significant policies that could be added and surely this puts an end to this Lib’Lab rubbish you see so often.
    Another recent one that could be added also is Daniel Andrews and the Victorian governments encouragement to clean energy users
    “More than 130,000 solar households in Victoria will benefit from a steep increase in their solar feed-in tariff in 2017/18, and will receive a minimum 11.3c/kWh for their exports back to the grid, up from 5c/kWh currently.”

21. Both Liberal and Labor are dedicated to depriving terminally ill patients of access to medical cannabis.

    http://amcsignpost.net/violation-government-cannabis-and-the-abuse-of-australias-most-vulnerable/

22. silkworm
    When Did Labor change its position?
    Bill Shorten just a couple of weeks ago {17/02/2017}

    “Labor leader Bill Shorten has called on the government to speed up the rollout of medical marijuana products to Australian patients,

    A Shorten Labor Government will ensure patients who are suffering from a terminal illness or other serious medical conditions will be allowed access to safe, reliable and legal medicinal cannabis if prescribed by their Doctor.

    http://www.billshorten.com.au/labor-will-ensure-safe-and-legal-access-to-medicinal-cannabis

    Australia Should Import Medical Cannabis From Overseas, Bill Shorten Says
    Medical cannabis process needs to speed up, Labor leader tells Turnbull.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/2017/02/16/australia-should-import-medical-cannabis-from-overseas-bill-sho/

23. Nurses thank you for your list. I will find some way of using it.

    Pointing that out, can I suggest also looking at the number of ALP pollies who leave office and take up jobs in the mining sector.

    Now I understand and accept there are less of them than there are LNP objects doing the same, but at the end of the day, they still do it.

    For me, that is a game changer. I still believe we need a lot more independents in the house and the senate, to do what Mr Chipp wanted to do all those years ago – keep the bastards honest, because at the moment, they certainly aren’t all that transparent.

24. On 23 March, Senator di Natale will move to disallow the recent changes to the Therapeutic Goods and Other Legislation Amendment (Narcotic Drugs) Regulation 2016 which makes it difficult for terminally ill patients to access medicinal cannabis products, forcing them to endure greater waiting times and red tape.

    Thanks to Bill Shorten, Labor will not be supporting Senator di Natale’s motion, and will instead kowtow to the Government.

    http://amcsignpost.net/violation-government-cannabis-and-the-abuse-of-australias-most-vulnerable/

25. silkworm
    you just parroted what you already posted
    Hasn’t this Bill already passed?
    Doesn’t Di Natale just want
    items 1 and 4 in his disallowance motion?
    What are they?

    http://greens.org.au/sites/greens.org.au/files/Disallowance%20motion%20TGA.pdf

    Labor supported the Bill in 2016

    Narcotic Drugs Legislation Amendment Bill 2016, Narcotic Drugs (Licence Charges) Bill 2016; Second Reading

    Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party)

    Labor will not be opposing these bills, but the bills are only necessary because of problems and issues with the government’s handling of the legislation surrounding the national scheme.

    In February this year, parliament passed the Narcotic Drugs Amendment Bill 2016, which allowed for the establishment of a national scheme for access to medicinal cannabis. Labor did support that legislation at the time. We had been very much at the forefront of a push for a national scheme so that we could ensure that access to medicinal cannabis was equal regardless of where you lived across this vast country. But here we are now, some six months later, and we learn through this legislation of existing loopholes and errors that these bills have been drafted to fix. When you look at what those errors or loopholes are, it is very clear that these issues should have been looked at earlier, and should have been identified through the earlier phases of the work that was done on the bill passed back in February this year. These are things such as the need to protect sensitive law enforcement information that is available to determine whether an applicant for a cannabis licence is a fit and proper person—that should have been foreseen; the need to guard against cannabis licences transferring from one person to another, for example, when a business changes hands—again, this could have been foreseen in earlier phases of the work; and the fact that enabling laws were required to recover the cost of regulating the new medicinal cannabis industry. All of these things should have been part of earlier phases of policy work prior to the original legislation coming into force.

    We know that these issues—as identified and as covered off in this amending bill—could have real consequences. The Minister for Health herself has said:

    It is important that the government is able to communicate on the full regulatory costs of this scheme as soon as possible in order to allow potential applicants to plan their businesses and complete their applications.

    But here we are, some time after—in fact, 12 days after—the start of the national scheme on 30 October.

    We will support these bills because they address some of those problems that have been identified, and because Labor supports the need for a national scheme. That is why we supported the original legislation in February. For some, that decision could have been controversial, but Labor was driven by the science and the compassion, particularly of those individuals have been lobbying hard for these laws to be put in place. We firmly believe the time has come for a national scheme.

    This proposed legislation addresses some problems with that national scheme. It is now over to the government to get everything in order to make sure that the national scheme works, and that it is subjected to no further delays. We support these bills. We wish that these problems had been dealt with earlier, in the February legislation, but we accept that the problems were identified later and that these bills address those problems. As such, we will be supporting the bills today.

26. We will see what Labor does on March 23.

27. I ask again
    what are the bits Labor are allegedly not supporting in the Greens Disallowance motion?

    Di Natale intends to move
    “Mr President
    I give notice that, on 23 March 2017
    , I shall move that items 1 and 4 of Schedule 1 of the
    Therapeutic Goods and Other Legislation Amendment (Narcotic Drugs) Regulation

    2016 made under the Crimes Act 1914 and the Therapeutic Goods Act 1989,be disallowed.”

    again I ask what are items 1 and 4

    If you don’t know, just say “I don’t know”
    it’s a simple question really
    ,

28. nurses,

    The down scheduling of cannabis from Schedule 9 to a Schedule 8 “controlled drug” on 1 November 2016, should have given seriously ill and terminal patients urgent and efficient access to cannabis under Category A of the SAS.

    But on the same day that cannabis became Schedule 8, Sussan Ley made discretionary changes to the Therapeutic Goods Regulations with the approval of Malcolm Turnbull’s Cabinet, that eliminated the legal rights of seriously ill, terminal and palliative care patients to URGENT access to any form of cannabis under Category A of the SAS. The changes also apply to the personal importation scheme. Now Category A patients must use Category B which needs TGA and State approval.

    https://www.change.org/p/malcolm-turnbull-greg-hunt-give-seriously-ill-and-dying-patients-back-their-legal-right-to-urgent-access-to-cannabis-and-stop-interfering-in-state-and-territory-rights-to-change-unjust-criminal-laws

    As for Shorten’s stance on the disallowance motion, I haven’t seen any other reference to it other than silkworm’s link. It is to disallow the changes that Ley made without taking it to parliament.

    I found this but can’t really make sense of it

    https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/F2016L01652/Html/Text

29. Nurses – I think I’ve got this right…

    1 Subregulation 12A(1)

    Repeal the subregulation, substitute:

    (1) For the purposes of subsection 18(1) of the Act, and subject to subregulation (2), all medicines are exempt from the operation of Part 3‑2 of the Act (except section 31A and sections 31C to 31F), other than medicines that contain a substance covered by any of the following entries in the Poisons Standard:

    (a) the entry for cannabidiol in Schedule 4;
    (b) the entry for cannabis in Schedule 8;
    (c) the entry for dronabinol in Schedule 8;
    (d) the entry for nabilone in Schedule 8;
    (e) the entry for nabiximols in Schedule 8;
    (f) the entry for tetrahydrocannabinols in Schedule 8;
    (g) an entry in Schedule 9.

    4 Schedule 5 (table item 1, column 2, after paragraph (a))

    Insert:

    (aa) the goods do not contain a substance of a kind covered by any of the following entries in Schedule 8 to the Poisons Standard:

    (i) cannabis;
    (ii) dronabinol;
    (iii) nabilone;
    (iv) tetrahydrocannabinols

    https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/F2016L01652

30. Well done and thank you again Kaye