Category: Hamilton Spectator

Concern over portable classrooms proposal

September 19, 2015

LAKE Bolac P-12 College could lose two of its portable classrooms as the State Government evaluates dozens of rural schools to help meet demand from growing populations in outer Melbourne.

Principal George Porter told The Spectator that parents had “strong concerns” that removing the classrooms, which have now been incorporated into a larger permanent complex, would “change the school’s culture”.

“The Education Department is looking at whole state and we have been identified as having two portable classrooms. They have sent someone to evaluate them,” Mr Porter said.

“We were told we are on a list of schools that have classrooms in excess of the school’s needs but we have not been notified if they will be removed.”

The Education Department has advised principals across Victoria that they may have to contribute to a plan to use 175 existing classrooms and 125 new classrooms to help provide space for more than 14,000 new students.

Education Minister James Merlino has pledged to minimise disruption and make any changes “fair for all”.

The two classrooms at Lake Bolac that could be uprooted and put on a truck are currently used for primary school classes.

The school has about 90 students, 70 of which are in the primary school, and removing the classrooms could see students sent across to classrooms and toilets designed for older children.

Lake Bolac has also combined its portable classrooms with other permanent buildings to create an enclosed space that includes an assembly hall and a kitchen that was recently refurbished by parents.

Shadow education minister Nick Wakeling said parents and students at Lake Bolac P-12 College were “rightly concerned” about the proposal.

“This move by the Andrews Government will halve the number of primary school buildings on the site,” he said.

“It is essential that any proposed removal of relocatable classrooms consider not just student numbers, but also the impact of removing multiple classrooms in a short period of time will have on the ability of the school to continue to deliver high quality education.

“(Premier) Daniel Andrews needs to ensure that teachers and students are not inconvenienced and that student education is not jeopardised.”

Western Victoria Labor MP Gayle Tierney said the Education Department “will work with the school to minimise disruption, assist with the transition and where possible it moves relocatable classrooms outside of term time”.

Ms Tierney said the “Relocatable Building Program utilises student enrolment data to balance and prioritise the classroom needs of more than 1500 government schools”.

“Relocatable classrooms are transferred from schools which
have more classrooms than required to schools without the classroom capacity to meet growth in student enrolments.

“Unprecedented growth in enrolments across the state and the former Coalition government’s neglect of Victorian schools has put significant pressure on the Department’s relocatable asset base.

“The previous Coalition government failed Victorian students by halving the investment in school infrastructure throughout Victoria.

When the capital budget is cut by more than half, it has a devastating impact on schools and we are now dealing with the fallout from these savage cuts.”

EPA makes formal request for information

September 17, 2015

THE Victorian Environmental Protection Authority has formally requested information from mineral sands mining company Iluka Resources to aid its assessment of a works approval for continued waste disposal at Douglas.

The EPA has also requested that Iluka install additional water bores around ‘Pit 23’ at Douglas, about 85 kilometres north of Hamilton, where the company intends on burying 2.2 million tonnes of waste over 20 years.

Iluka has said previously that its Hamilton Mineral Separation Plant, a major local employer, needs a suitable disposal location to remain viable.

However, members of the Kanagulk Landcare Group have a long standing opposition to the move due to concerns that low-level radioactive waste contained in the by-products could affect local groundwater.

EPA Vic released a statement on Tuesday that said it had “formally requested” information from Iluka after reviewing its application and independent reports.

An Iluka statement said that “Request for Further Information by the EPA is a well-established part of the approvals process. Iluka is working with the EPA to provide the information requested as soon as possible.”

EPA said it also considered “expert views of specialist staff” at a number of State Government departments and a summary report from a community conference held in Balmoral last month.

A copy of the letter sent by EPA to Iluka’s project manager stated the authority requested complete “groundwater borelog and monitoring data”, groundwater risk assessments, surface water monitoring data, soil and dust sampling,

The EPA has also requested copies of internal Iluka reports on some of its mining operations going back to 2001.

The letter states “a discussion of the site and regional groundwater chemistry and potential for enhanced mobility of solutes in groundwater is required.”

The EPA said its assessment of Douglas may be delayed if it does not receive the information it has requested by September 18.

The EPA’s website states that Iluka’s “by-product waste disposal activities do not pose a risk to human health or the environment and are appropriately controlled and managed”.

Freeze on federal grants a challenge to councils

September 12, 2015

SOUTHERN Grampians Shire Council will write to Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss in order to highlight the impact of a three-year freeze to federal Financial Assistance Grants to local government.

The letter will raise “the importance of the financial sustainability of local government for our communities, the importance of Financial Assistance Grants to our Council’s budget and sustainability”.

The Shire will urge Mr Truss to restore the indexation of the federal grants “as soon as possible”.

Councillor Dennis Dawson said the freezing of federal grants was a “significant challenge to councils, particularly regional councils such as us because we don’t have the ability of metropolitan councils to derive income from other areas and have the benefits of economies of scale.”

Cr Katrina Rainsford said that the federal government had a “responsibility” and “duty” to help maintain services in the community “and not just look after the marginal seats and try to follow the latest fashion”.

The motion to lobby Mr Truss was passed by unanimous vote on
Wednesday.

Shire services director Bronwyn Herbert said that the council, like every other in Australia, had been asked by its representative bodies, Australian Local Government Association and the Municipal Association of Victoria, to consider the motion.

Ms Herbert said 250 councils had already passed similar motions and it was about “making a statement and letting the Federal Government know what this means”.

“I think council is very well aware of this issue, the freezing of Financial Assistance Grants for the three year period, and the impact it has.

“It has been a challenge to incorporate that impact in this financial year and it’s an issue for future budget processes.”

Councillor Paul Battista successfully asked for an amendment to the motion to send a copy of the letter to Wannon Federal MP Dan
Tehan.

Cr Dawson said the grants were a “particularly important component” of the Shire’s revenue and urged funding to be restored to “proper levels”.

“The impact of freezing of the grants over the three year period will see a reduction of $1.2 million over the period,” he said.

“In our Strategic resources plan it has much more of an impact thank just the $1.2 million; those reductions compound over time and further reduce our capacity.

“Rate capping, which is being proposed by the State Government, will also come in the financial year 2016/17, which is the last year that the assistance grants have been reduced.”

Cr Dawson said the Shire knew that its costs were going to go up and that finding that amount of savings in cash or savings was difficult.

“A result of these decisions made by other levels of Government, our ability to fund and deliver services has been reduced,” he said.

Cr Dawson also said the “community needs to begin to consider what level of service it will demand in certain areas, and what services might be achieved given the financial challenges in the future”.

Cr Rainsford said that “local government is very transparent, closest to the people” and therefore it was “more difficult to get away with the lurks and perks and misuse of community’s or taxpayers’ dollars than other levels of government”.

“It’s basically where the management and maintenance goes on and I keep saying that housekeeping doesn’t seem to be sexy,” she said.

“There are big buckets of money: billion dollar funds that everyone
has to bid for.

“Go through an election cycle, launch a new program and we all have to bid for it, which means that they are not actually paying for the maintenance of services, basic management and actual infrastructure that councils have.”

Cr Rainsford said there did not have to be “a new program with a new name and bells and whistles” to fix the federal grant issue.

Both sides of debate welcome EPA report

September 15, 2015

BOTH sides of the debate over Iluka’s mineral sands waste disposal at Douglas have welcomed a report from a community conference run by Victoria’s Environment Protection Authority.

An independent facilitator ran the ‘Section 20B’ conference in Balmoral late last month to hear community concerns about the proposal to continue dumping millions of tonnes of mine waste at Iluka’s former mine site.

The waste, which includes low level radioactive waste in the form of naturally occurring elements, will be transported from Hamilton’s Mineral Separation Plant to the site located about 85 kilometres north.

The EPA conference report made 23 recommendations across three categories: what Iluka should do before its planning application is reviewed by Horsham Rural City Council (HRCC); what it should do if a permit is granted; and what it should do regardless of whether it gets approval.

The report stated that Iluka should implement greater groundwater and stormwater modelling, along with greater monitoring of bores and radioactive gas emissions.

Iluka should also “specify what materials can be disposed … and enforce
accordingly.”

The recommendations also included four actions Iluka should take to “improve community understanding and alleviate health and environmental concerns”.

Iluka said in a statement that it “welcomes the report”.

“The company is currently considering the report and notes that several of its recommendations are clearly addressed either by the proposal documents submitted by Iluka to the EPA and HRCC, or by the routine regulation of current operational activities.

“The company is proposing continuation of a practice that has been occurring, regulated and accepted at Douglas for a decade and looks forward to progression of the approvals process.”

The EPA’s decision on Iluka’s works approval application is expected in October but the HRCC decision on the planning permit may take longer, possibly into next year.

Kanagulk Landcare Group member Ian Ross said he thought the EPA conference was “a good first step but it should have happened about five or six years ago.”

“We should have had a conference before the 2009 work plan variation,” he said, referring to a prior application Iluka made that significantly expanded its waste disposal at Douglas.

“The conference facilitator did a very good job of summing things up.”

Mr Ross welcomed the report’s recommendation that agencies involved establish a common ground for radiation standards and communicate their relevance in “plain English”.

“Then we can go to ARPANSA (Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency) and ask if Iluka are in compliance,” Mr Ross
said.

“The Health Department (of Victoria) has been all over the shop, it has not been consistent.”

Another of the recommendations is that it “consider whether lining Pit 23 is a feasible option”.

Pit 23 is the main disposal area nominated as part of the planning permit application.

Mr Ross said he “definitely” supported that recommendation as Pit 23 should have had a “lining, at minimum”.

“Given the material that is to be dumped, Iluka should always have had a lining,” he said.

“There should have been a water board inquiry.”

During the EPA conference, Kangulk Landcare Group members called for Iluka to use another former mine site, ‘Echo’, for waste dumping instead of its Douglas facility.

The Echo site, near Nurrabiel, is about a 34-kilometre drive north-east of Douglas.

“Echo site has no interaction with the water table,” Mr Ross said.

“It is away from significant assets. It is 20 to 30 kilometres away from the Wimmera River.

“There is enough room for all the waste. I don’t want to push the issue onto another community but it would be a better site.”

First home buyers face a kick in the guts: O’Brien

September 12, 2015

ABOLITION or reduction of Victoria’s 50 per cent stamp duty concessions for first home buyers would be a “kick in the guts for young people”, according to shadow treasurer Michael O’Brien.

Mr O’Brien told The Spectator that he believed the Labor State Government intends to scrap the concession, which can deliver savings of up to $15,500 on the tax bill for buying a house.

“We introduced the 50 per cent stamp duty concession as we knew that young people needed a bit of help to get into the housing market,” he said.

“For first home construction we also introduced a $10,000 grant. Both policies make a big difference towards getting a deposit together.

“If (stamp duty concessions) were rolled back or scrapped it would be a kick in the guts for young people.”

The concessions cost Victoria about $170 million a year, which could increase as the price of housing in Melbourne continues to rise.

Details of a potential policy shift by State Treasury were leaked to Fairfax Media this month and Treasurer Tim Pallas responded by saying the Government had “no plans” for change.

Mr O’Brien called for the State Government to go further than its previous statements on the issue and give a guarantee that it would not change the concessions.

When asked by The Spectator to give a guarantee that concessions would not change, Western Victoria Labor MP Gayle Tierney said there were “no plans” to do so.

“Victorians can be assured that support for first homebuyers is not at risk,” she said in a statement.

“The Government has no plans to change arrangements for first home buyers.”

“The Andrews Labor Government is fully aware of the concerns and obstacles facing first home buyers and will continue to take action to ensure they are supported.”

Mr O’Brien said any downward changes to housing incentives would have an impact in regional Victoria.

“The median house price in Hamilton was about $260,000 last time I checked,” he said.

“(Premier) Daniel Andrews wants to double the stamp
duty bill for first home buyers and keep their homes out
of reach.”

Put ‘bombing’ question to Defence Minister: Tehan

An RAAF F/A-18F Super Hornet F/A-18A Hornet in the skies over Iraq. Photo: Department of Defence
An RAAF F/A-18F Super Hornet F/A-18A Hornet in the skies over Iraq. Photo: Department of Defence

September 10, 2015

WANNON MP Dan Tehan has refused to comment directly on a United States Military Central Command report that suggested the Royal Australian Air Force may have bombed a civilian area in Iraq last year.

Mr Tehan did say that avoiding civilian casualties would be “a key consideration” if Australia decided to expand its campaign of airstrikes against terrorist group ISIS from Iraq into Syria.

Last week the website Airwars.org, in conjunction with the ABC, published a US CENTCOM report into suspected civilian causalities in Iraq and Syria caused by nations participating in the US-led bombing of ISIS.

The report revealed that the US and its allies had internally investigated dozens of events involving at least 325 possible civilian deaths from airstrikes.

The report covered the period from August 2014 to May 2015, during which 16,193 sorties were flown and bombs, cannons or missiles were used on 3837 of those missions.

According to the report, on December 21 last year “two unknown individuals may have been wounded as a result of a deliberate strike conducted by the Australians on a suspected weapons factory in Fallujah”.

“Approximately 10 minutes after the last weapon impact, a probable female and probable child were observed on FMV (Full Motion Video, likely filmed by drone or fighter jet) to walk through the target area.

“A probable male arrived and carried the child to a motorcycle and transported him to the Fallujah hospital.

“The female walked to the median strip on the road and lay down, and was not observed any further.”

The “allegation” was listed as “cleared” in the report and the findings were passed on to an Australian liaison officer.

“Assessed to be insufficient information to determine CIVCAS (civilian casualties),” the report stated.

“The lack of urgency and the fact that the child walked normally suggest his injuries were not life threatening.

“There was no Iraqi allegation of CIVCAS and CAOC (Combined Air and Space Operations Center, US Air Force base, Qatar) recommends that there is insufficient information to warrant further inquiry”

The report also noted that the Australian Defence Force had also investigated the incident and “reached a similar conclusion”.

During a press conference on Friday, Mr Tehan said he was “not aware of that report”.

“It would be better if that question was directed to the Defence Minister,” he said.

Mr Tehan was asked if the Australian Government would consider the risk of civilian casualties if the RAAF started airstrikes in Syria.

“That is always a key consideration that any government considers when it makes decision as to whether it should join military action in
any country,” he said.

“That aspect, the rules of engagement, is always something that is taken into consideration.”

Mr Tehan has been at the forefront of a recent push for Australia to expand its anti-ISIS air campaign to Syria on the grounds that the international border was providing a safe haven for terrorists.

Australia is already bombing ISIS in Iraq at the request of that nation’s government, and bombing Syria would present additional legal issues.

Mr Tehan was asked if there should be more transparency in regard to civilian casualties caused by the US-led Coalition’s bombing of Iraq and Syria.

“I think there is transparency,” Mr Tehan said.

“Those that we are fighting are the ones who do not like transparency; they do not like democratic principles. They are the ones that are acting in ways that, frankly, beggar belief.

“The current situation in Syria, where you have nine million people internally displaced, is the greatest humanitarian crises we have seen in the word, and in my personal view, it is a very strong reason as to why we need to act in Syria and why we need the international community to be doing more.”

The US report into suspected civilian causalities was originally designated ‘SECRET’ and was on restricted release to governments of ‘Five Eyes’ nations, which includes Australia.

The report was subsequently declassified and released to a US journalist under Freedom of Information laws.

The Australian Defence Force said in a statement to the ABC that a routine ‘battle damage assessment’ was conducted following the airstrike.

“The assessment was consistent with the reports detailed in the Iraq/Syria CIVCAS Allegation tracker released by US Central Command under FOI legislation,” the statement read.

“As there were no reports or claims of any casualties from Australian airstrikes, no further action was undertaken.”

Two per cent wool levy recommendation

September 3, 2015

AUSTRALIAN Wool Innovation, which funds research and marketing
on behalf of woolgrowers, has recommended that members vote in ‘WoolPoll’ for a two per cent levy for the next
three years.

However, some Western District woolgrowers want the AWI to reduce its funding for marketing activities or change its approach to promoting Australian wool around the
world.

A two per cent levy brought in about $43 million to AWI from woolgrowers in 2013/2014, which was combined with $8.7m from brand licensing and $13m in government contributions.

AWI has previously spent 40 per cent of its funding on research and development (R&D), which has occurred both on and off farms, and 60 per cent on marketing.

AWI chief executive Stuart McCullough confirmed last week that this spending ratio will continue.

Woolgrowers who have paid a levy will be given the chance over the next six weeks to vote on how much of their sales go towards AWI, with options ranging from zero to three per cent.

Hensley Park Jigsaw Farms principal and manager Mark Wootton said he would vote to cut AWI’s funding and he believed many other local growers would do the same.

“I’m a zero (levy) man now,” he said.

“South-west Victorian growers aren’t getting much from AWI; it’s a very NSW-centric organisation.

“I’m convinced about the
R&D, but I’m not sure if
the marketing has been
successful.”

Report

Mr McCullough said the two per cent level was put forward because that was the maximum level the Government would match, and there were also concerns about the global economy.

AWI has commissioned Deloitte to produce an independent report into “all aspects” of its organisation and had found the levy offered “excellent return on investment”.

“What they found is that the company in the last three years improved productivity, we also created some demand for wool and increased wool prices, and we delivered cost savings as well,” Mr McCullough said.

“What they also said is for every $1 spent, $2.90 was
returned to woolgrowers.”

AWI had been “very successful” in promoting wool as a ‘technical’ fibre for the ‘sports and outdoor’ market, as well as re-establishing the luxury market in China.

“The recommendation is two per cent (for the levy). The rationale for that is, firstly, the cost/benefit analysis that has been done by Deloitte indicated that we are doing OK, we are doing well,” Mr McCullough said.

“(At the time of assessment) Greece looked like defaulting on loans, America was still emerging, and China looked a little bumpy. And it has proved to be really bumpy with growth there, although promised at seven per cent, it’s going to be half that.

“We are of the view that consumer confidence is not going to be great over the next three years and now is the time to ratchet up.”

Call for changes

Despite the results presented by Mr McCullough, a number of Western District woolgrowers have called for changes to be made to AWI’s approach to marketing, as well as its transparency with the results of WoolPoll and feedback from its brand campaigns.

Mr McCullough was asked during the WoolPoll launch event in Melbourne last week about the lack of WoolPoll ‘roadshow events’ in the Western District.

“Are you afraid of what
some of the farmers might
say to you?” a woolgrower
asked.

Mr McCullough dismissed that suggestion, but it appears some local woolgrowers have concerns and want better communication with AWI.

“There’s a lack of transparency, I’ve asked them about their marketing campaigns and they’ve said it can’t be judged easily; I wouldn’t be able to run my business like that,” Mr Wootton said.

“I’m sure a lot of SW Vic growers would have voted for zero last time. AWI must have that voting data but they won’t release it.

“There’s a lot of frustration as the wool industry has changed, but I’m not sure AWI has.”

Concerns

Nareeb Nareeb Station property manager and stud principal Richard Beggs said “overall I’m pretty happy with AWI” but he had concerns.

“I support the two per cent levy. I wish that AWI would offer growers a way to vote on how the levy was spent,” he said.

“I would like to see a higher percentage spent on research and on farm innovation rather than marketing

“A lot of growers feel that the spending has shifted too far towards marketing.

I’m a little disappointed in the WoolPoll committee that they didn’t give us that option.”

As AWI has recognised, many woolgrowers are looking at their returns and being tempted to switch to producing crops or other livestock.

‘Glenholme’ woolgrower Matthew Linke said he was questioning the two per cent levy recommendation.

“We’re not seeing the return with auction prices. There’s a fair value for 21 microns but with 16-17 microns it’s getting hard to meet costs,” he said.

“We want to go with a contract rather than go to auction.

“I can’t see the benefits of AWI flowing through to growers if they are producing super fine.”

Mr Linke also said that he found AWI’s approach to marketing “concerning” and he had spoken to wool buyers who shared the same opinion.

Money was also a big concern for Mr Wootton.

“Two per cent is a lot of money … I’m not going to say how much but it’s a fair motza,” he said.

“This is a real life decision and we have got other options.

“Cattle is an option for us, or prime lamb. Right now, protein is king.”

Data retention is no threat to terrorists

REX MARTINICH

Opinion

The Hamilton Spectator – April 03, 2015

THE Mandatory Data Retention scheme that was passed by both houses of Australia’s Parliament last week represents the unholy trinity of bad legislation: rushed debate, unclear costs and no real solutions.

 

To make things clear, I am not a libertarian or anarchistic extremist who is calling for the end of all government surveillance.

Targeted surveillance has saved lives and will continue to save lives; it should be available to police and intelligence agencies though a system that is fast and flexible, but has appropriate safeguards and accountability.

On the other hand, retaining communications metadata on 23 million Australians is a form of mass surveillance that is unreasonable, expensive and ineffective.

The Government says it only wants access to the ‘envelope’ not the ‘letter’ inside, to use a 19th century analogy that has been widely employed by MPs.

Political strategy

The thin, artificial line between digital ‘envelopes’ and ‘letters’, applied to almost every form of modern communication, is a political strategy to make this mass surveillance more palatable to the general public.

As US intelligence service whistleblower Edward Snowden has stated, metadata is the most valuable part of mass surveillance because it cannot lie, it can be processed automatically by a computer and it does not need language translation.

Under Mandatory Data Retention, the government can tell that you called a doctor’s office and a sexual health clinic in the last two years but it doesn’t know what you talked about.

It can tell you called your accountant, your financial adviser and a ‘money lender of last resort’ all in one day but it can’t tell what the issue was.

It can tell that you called a marriage counsellor and a removalist, received an email from a last-minute hotel booking service and started using your phone on the other side of town, but it can’t tell the health of your relationship.

Minute-by-minute

It will record which towns and suburbs you have visited with your mobile phone over the last two years, sometimes at a minute-by- minute level of detail, but this isn’t ‘real-time tracking’ according to Wannon MP Dan Tehan.

It make use of all these powers without a warrant using legislation that predates the sale of home computers, and will have the amplified power of two years’ worth of records.

A lengthy record of whom you communicate with, who communicates with you, and when and where this all happens, is hugely revealing even if you aren’t a journalist or whistleblower.

The Associated Press reported on Tuesday that the US Government is considering an end to mass phone metadata retention as an internal review had found it “not central to unravelling terrorist plots”.

American civil liberties groups claimed that the only identifiable conviction that has come to light from phone metadata alone was for a taxi driver who sent $15,000 to a terrorist group in Somalia.

If Mandatory Data Retention offered even a faint hope of combating terrorism it would be much easier to support, but the international experience is that it has only increased crime clearance rates by 0.006 per cent.

Considerable damage

That tiny increase, about 100 times less than what might be considered statistically significant, will be achieved at the cost of the presumption of innocence and considerable damage to Australia’s tech sector.

Under the most generous estimate, about half the costs will be passed directly on to consumers; it is a new tax of at least $120 per year for the privilege of being spied on.

It is another broken promise from Prime Minister Tony Abbott.

The Labor Party deserves equal blame, both for supporting the legislation and for letting the concept gain significant ground under former Prime Minister Julia Gillard in 2012.

The rise of the so-called Islamic State and its brainwashed young followers in the suburbs of Australia were used to justify the latest reincarnation of mandatory data retention.

However, Islamic State has already distributed an easy-to- follow internet security guide to its members and sympathisers that renders Data Retention completely useless.

The horror of the Charlie Hebdo magazine killings in Paris was also invoked by Mr Tehan despite France already having a robust mandatory data retention scheme, which manifestly failed to prevent the attack.

Even the Chinese Communist Party, which has both metadata and content surveillance built into China’s internet and pays about 100,000 people to monitor online conversations, has failed to prevent all terrorist attacks.

More arrests

When those aims failed to cut through to voters, the list of claimed benefits was expanded to include more arrests of drug traffickers and paedophiles.

The Australian Federal Police had already let slip that the system would help civil lawsuits against those who share Hollywood films on the internet, a trivial offence in comparison.

When you look past the spin, there is no real urgency to this law as it has been languishing around Canberra for at least seven years and will not be implemented for at least two years.

Listening to the rhetoric from the Coalition and Labor, it was as if passing the Bill would force Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and telcos to simply hit a switch and instantly retain records.

Prior to the widespread adoption of the internet it was only feasible to protect your electronic communications if you had been trained by a spy agency or worked for a major corporation.

One of the first free military-grade encryption applications was released in 1991, and since 2002 it has been possible to mask your identity online using relatively simple software.

For any kind of criminal, let alone a terrorist, avoiding Data Retention will be even easier than installing a software package.

“Smart criminals”

Attorney General George Brandis has conceded that “smart criminals” may be able to get round his new surveillance system.

If you can figure out how to sign up for popular email services such as Yahoo or Gmail, or a social network like Facebook, then congratulations: Senator Brandis now considers you “smart”.

The Australian Government has no power to force overseas communications providers to store useless data, and so it hasn’t even tried.

According to internationally- respected magazine, The Economist, mobile messaging apps will be technology’s latest battleground.

However, in this new technology race Australia has already started to slash its own Achilles tendons with Data Retention.

The massive cost of creating and storing data that is useless for commercial purposes will scare off any group considering launching messaging apps, or even local offshoots, in Australia.

Almost all the jobs, investment and tax revenue from mobile messaging boom will flow to countries that have never instigated mandatory data retention, or have wisely decided to abolish it.

Bear the brunt

Even humble email services are likely to depart these shores, with only the biggest of Australia’s hundreds of ISPs likely to bear the brunt of data retention.

Google’s Gmail is standing by to offer cheap, encrypted, overseas- based and data retention-exempt email for businesses.

The lion’s share of economic benefits will flood to Silicon Valley in California, not Australia’s ‘Silicon Beach’.

Data Retention will create jobs, but mostly they will be in other nations with cheaper power and labour costs for warehousing hard drives.

Detailed information on your everyday life will be kept overseas by the lowest bidder, except for Telstra, which has pledged to store it locally.

If you or your children are planning to study for an IT course, it might be worth asking Mr Tehan why the Australian Government has opted to make it much harder to get a tech job in this country.

It is such as shame that the Coalition chose this path, having gotten off to a great start last year by announcing tax reforms that aim to encourage local entrepreneurs and investors to launch new tech ‘startups’.

Mandatory Data Retention represents an incredible back flip for a party that claims to stand for the ideals of more freedom and jobs, with less regulation.

 

Note: About four months after this piece was published, ABC reporter Will Ockenden requested his own smartphone metadata from a telecommunications provider. He published the results and then asked ABC viewers to analyse the raw metadata to see what they could learn about him. A week later they provided a “scarily accurate” profile of his physical movements during a 12-month time period.

Tehan calls for RAAF to bomb ISIS in Syria

REX MARTINICH

The Hamilton Spectator – August 15, 2015

WANNON MP Dan Tehan has called for the Royal Australian Air Force to expand its current bombing campaign against ISIS terrorists in Iraq to include Syria.

 

Mr Tehan made the call in an opinion piece published by the Herald Sun on Thursday, arguing that Australia had an obligation to act in Syria to prevent terrorism at home and stop atrocities overseas.

“We are acting in Iraq against Daesh (ISIS) with our Hornets launching air strikes on a regular basis. We should be doing the same in Syria,” Mr Tehan wrote.

“It is in our interests to end the suffering of its civilians and to degrade the Daesh ‘caliphate’, which continues to shine as a beacon for global terrorism.”

Australia currently has F/A-18 Hornet jets stationed in the Middle East to attack terrorist targets in Iraq at the request of that nation’s government.

Launching military action might involve a different legal process despite Australia not recognising the legitimacy of Syria’s government, which as been attacking its own people as part of a brutal civil war.

Mr Tehan is chair of the Parliament’s Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, which is mandated with reviewing spying and counter-terror laws.

The PJCIS does not have an explicit mandate to recommend military action but Mr Tehan invoked his recent meetings with security agencies in France, the UK and USA as part of his argument for bombing Syria.

The Spectator asked Mr Tehan if Parliament should vote on the proposal.

“Like our contribution to the effort in Iraq, any contribution to the effort in Syria would need to be decided by the National Security Committee in consultation with our allies,” Mr Tehan said.

“After doing this with regard to Iraq, the Prime Minister made a statement in Parliament.”

Prime Minister Tony Abbott said he supported Mr Tehan’s suggestion, but no formal process had begun to expand Australian airstrikes to Syria.

When asked if Australia should also take military action against the Syrian Government, whose campaign of mass murder, torture and rape mirrors that of ISIS, Mr Tehan said an end to that conflict should come through the United Nations.

“Australia must do its part now to assist the fight against Daesh,” he said.

“On the broader question of the civil war in Syria, the international community needs to come together at the UN and bring about a resolution to the conflict, with leadership from the UN Security Council.”

Lowy Institute research fellow and former Army officer, Associate Professor Rodger Shanahan, has labelled Mr Tehan’s Syria call “bizarre” and argued it would stretch Australia’s military resources.

Deputy Labor leader Tanya Plibersek told ABC radio that she agreed Syria was a humanitarian disaster but criticised how the push to expand RAAF bombing was announced.

“I think it’s extraordinary, frankly, that the Government sent out a backbencher to start floating ideas without any clear proposal, without any explanation to the Australian people of what the legal basis would be, what the mission would be, what success would look like,” she said.

‘Debate, not hate’ on same-sex marriage

REX MARTINICH

The Hamilton Spectator – August 15, 2015 

FORMER Casterton man Lachlan Beaton, who has become a prominent figure in the debate over same-sex marriage, has called for people on both sides of the issue to abandon “hate”.

 

“As the weeks drew closer to (Tuesday’s Coalition party room vote), the debates become quite vitriolic on both sides,” Mr Beaton said.

“I went to a marriage equality rally (in Sydney) on Sunday and there was a lot of hate towards the other side, and I suspect the same is happening on the ‘anti’ side.

“I hope that over the next 12 months the debate doesn’t bring out the deepest darkest issues.”

Mr Beaton urged other same-sex marriage supporters to concentrate on the “important issues”, such as the impact of inequality on rural youth, rather than denigrating opponents.

He has been featured in news reports worldwide after he uploaded an emotional YouTube video that discussed his 12-year struggle to come to terms with his homosexuality.

Mr Beaton realised he was gay at about age 15 but hid the fact from everyone in his life, including his identical twin brother.

Queensland LNP MP Warren Entsch saw Mr Beaton’s video and used it to support his campaign for a bi-partisan private member’s bill to legalise same-sex marriage.

Despite the campaign, federal Liberal and National MPs and Senators voted two-to-one to block a ‘free’ vote on same-sex marriage during a six-hour party room meeting on Tuesday.

Backbench Coalition MPs can still cross the floor of Parliament and vote for same-sex marriage and not be punished, but any cabinet members that do so will be sacked from their ministerial positions.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s party room strategy has made it almost certain that any bill to legalise same-sex marriage will be defeated if put to Parliament before the next election.

Mr Beaton returned to Australia this week from his home in New York City in order to lobby MPs in Canberra and give a talk to students at his former school, Monivae College.

The Spectator asked Mr Beaton if the private member’s bill vote should still go ahead even if it created a damaging spectacle in Parliament.

“I think, from a political point of view at a sensible level, you should look at taking it off the table until there is a path through,” Mr Beaton said

“Having met with (Mr Entsch) on Monday, he’s really not worried about the politics of it and he’s said that to me directly.

“If there’s a prospect of MPs crossing the floor he would probably welcome it; he’s got a really strong conscience on this and he’s not going to let it go away.”

Mr Beaton met with Wannon MP Dan Tehan in Canberra on Monday, where there was agreement that youth mental health was a pressing issue.

However, Mr Tehan remained committed to his belief in the traditional definition of marriage and repeated his public pledge to support a free vote on same-sex marriage.

The next day Mr Tehan backflipped during the party room meeting and now supports the same-sex marriage decision being made by the people and not the Parliament.

The Coalition cabinet appears split on the issue of how to proceed now that Mr Abbott has made an open-ended pledge to have the issue decided “by the people”.

Some senior Liberals want a ‘plebiscite’ on same-sex marriage, which would require a simple vote by every eligible Australian to settle the matter outright.

Social conservatives want to hold a full referendum, which would require a majority of people in at least four of Australia’s six states to support same-sex marriage, a much higher hurdle to clear.