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.”
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.”
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 piecepublished 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.
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.
SINGLE-officer police stations are the “lifeblood” of smaller regional communities and must be retained, according to Victorian shadow police minister Edward O’Donohue.
Mr O’Donohue visited Macarthur police station last week with South West Coast MP Denis Napthine as part of a tour of local police operations.
“We, as a Coalition, strongly believe in the value of single-member stations,” Mr O’Donohue said.
“They are integral to the lifeblood of communities and we want to make sure that they are preserved, that they stay open and that they continue to be central to the life and heart of so many communities in Victoria.”
Mr O’Donohue accused the State Government of failing to match the Coalition’s police recruiting drive and creating a shortage of officers for regional Victoria.
“When we were in government we recruited 1900 additional police, the largest single additional recruitment of police in Victoria Police’s history,” he said.
“Labor has turned off the tap. The police academy is operating at half strength. Labor has made no commitment to additional police.”
Police Minister Wade Noonan in response accused Mr O’Donohue of running a scare campaign during his visit to the south-west and said police offer allocations were a matter for the Chief Commissioner.
Under the previous Coalition State Government, Victoria Police released a ‘blue paper’ policy discussion document that suggested smaller police stations would lose their full-time officers.
As a replacement, ‘super stations’ would be created to send roving officers to where they were needed.
The previous and current state governments have played down the ‘blue paper’ but The Spectator understands that Victoria Police has continued to survey officers for their thoughts on the ‘super station’ model.
Mr O’Donohue said police ‘hubs’ could help supplement single-officer stations, but should not replace them.
“A larger hub can always provide reinforcement, can always work with these sort of stations (Macarthur), but it can’t
replace, in our view, the work that these sort of places do,” he said.
Dr Napthine also said he was committed to keeping single-officer stations.
“The frontline of community safety, and community confidence, is the local police station and the local officer,” he said.
“That’s got to be maintained, protected and reinforced.”
Dr Napthine also welcomed amendments to a recent ‘two-up’ police safety policy that aimed to eliminate instances of police officers working alone.
The new policy was implemented in response to a heightened terror alert level and several terrorism-related incidents, but exemptions were added because of the burden placed on regional police stations.
“What we want is the opportunity for experienced single officer stations to operate with common sense; priority on safety for themselves but at the same time having the flexibility to respond as required in the community,” Dr Napthine said.
“Safety of officers must be the highest priority, but you can also achieve that with common sense.”
SOUTH-WEST Victoria is potentially sitting on a $6 billion oil and gas deposit with a production capacity of 100,000 barrels per day, according to Melbourne-based industrial engineering and mining company Mecrus Resources.
Mecrus has told Victorian Parliament’s inquiry into a potential onshore unconventional gas inquiry, via a written submission, that there is a ‘shale oil’ and natural gas deposit between Casterton and the South Australian border.
The company believes the commercial prospects for this deposit are “beyond doubt” after it “invested significant money to date in detailed exploration and investigation” and commissioned an independent study.
Representatives from Mecrus are due to give testimony to a Gas inquiry hearing in Hamilton’s Performing Arts Centre on Wednesday.
“The oil shale is quite deep and it is significantly separated from any utilised groundwater aquifers,” Mecrus managing director Barry Richards wrote in the submission.
“The identified resources in our primary target area are also extremely thick and of world class in nature”.
The primary target area is comprised of two mineral exploration licence areas held by Mecrus with a combined size of about 1500 square kilometres.
The two tenements, EL5298 and EL5297, incorporate land from around Ardno, Strathdownie and Wilkin to the south, to around Lake Mundi and Tullich in the north.
The eastern border of the two adjacent tenements begins about 10 kms west of Casterton and is hemmed in by the variety of state nature reserves and Crown land between Casterton and the SA border.
The exploration licence areas EL5298 and EL5297 in south-west Victoria, held by Mecrus Resources and believed by the company to contain ‘world class’ shale oil deposits
“If the progression to the next stage from exploration to mining is successful, then it would be expected that many support companies would establish offices and service centres to support the development,” Mecrus’s submission stated.
Mecrus did not state how deep underground the oil deposit is meant to be, but other oil and gas companies have been exploring about four kilometres beneath the surface near Penola, SA.
The ‘Mecrus Group of Companies’ includes a variety of businesses focussed on groundwater management and desalination.
But its resources department is current focussed on mineral and petroleum exploration and not production.
The largest single project that Mecrus has worked on, according to public reports, is a $135 million contract to supply four giant coal-handling machines at the Abbot Point Coal Terminal in North Queensland.
Some of the company’s flagship contracts, listed as ‘case studies’ on its website, were worth between $2m and $10m.
The revelations in Mecrus’s submission could further agitate anti-gas activists and locals farmers who have joined their cause.
Landowners from south-west Victoria joined a protest rally in Melbourne on Sunday that called for the entire state to be declared “gasfield free” due to concerns that an onshore unconventional gas industry would damage agriculture.
Mecrus has also stated that, if an oil drilling project goes ahead, south-west Victoria could also be used for ‘carbon sequestration’ to held Australia meet its international emissions reduction targets by pumping greenhouse gas underground.
The Mecrus submission said the deposit as been “independently assessed” to likely contain 360 million barrels of oil as well as pockets of natural gas.
The deposit is believed to have a lifespan of 40 years and could produce more than $600 million in royalties for the Victorian Government during that time.
Given that oil royalty rates in Victoria are usually about 10 per cent of net production value, the economic value of the deposit could be as high as $6 billion.
If the project ever goes ahead it could, at peak production, create a yearly economic output larger than Iluka Resource’s Hamilton mineral sands separation plant or the Portland Aluminium Smelter,
Mecrus Resources notes that the “financial expenditure for such projects is extremely large” but says that it would bring “massive flow on effects for local communities”.
“If the progression to the next stage from exploration to mining is successful, then it would be expected that many support companies would establish offices and service centres to support the development,” Mecrus’s submission stated.
“This also will have a positive impact on the employment of local citizens through support functions to a new industry.”
The company says its exploration results indicate “there is a significant Oil Shale reserve and associated hydrocarbons contained within these Oil Shales” in the Otway Basin.
Mecrus has submitted ‘commercial in confidence’ documents to the parliamentary gas inquiry, including work and operation plans, an environmental management plan and groundwater contingency plan.
The managing director offered to give MPs a confidential briefing on request and stated in its submission that the aboveground impact from oil drilling in its exploration licence areas would be about one hectare in total.
Mecrus will probably have to use the controversial hydraulic fracturing, AKA ‘fracking’, technique to improve yields from any oil and gas deposits found in south-west Victoria.
Fracking involves pumping a mixture of water, sand and chemical underground to break up rock layers; the technology has been a major source of opposition to unconventional gas from farmers.
Mecrus has also proposed to fill the remaining underground void with carbon dioxide to cash in on the search for ‘carbon capture and storage’ facilities.
Brown coal power stations are a major contributor to Australia’s high per-capita carbon emissions.
A recent advertising campaign by the Mineral Council of Australia, promoting coal as “amazing”, has talked up the possibility of carbon capture to improve the economic and environmental virtues of the fossil fuel.
There is only one functional carbon capture operation in the world, located in Canada, but there are plans to use the technology to store emission from coal power stations in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley.
Mecrus has successfully completed a number of large construction and maintenance projects since the company was formed in 1999, but it has never started or delivered a mine or oil production site.
Mecrus established its mining and resource division in 2009 and was awarded its first exploration licence in 2010.
The collapse of oil and gas prices over the past 12 months has proven to be a challenge for Australia’s petroleum exploration and production companies.
South Australia’s Beach Energy, which holds a number of onshore gas exploration licences in south-west Victoria, was forced to slash capital expenditure after oil prices dropped and its share price plummeted.
Mecrus is a privately owned company with a much lower profile than its publicly traded competitors and it does not have to publish its annual reports.
The Victorian Parliamentary submission by Mecrus represents a rare insight into the company, as its latest press release was issued in August 2011 and its last four-page newsletter came out in late 2013.
Backing up what the company told Victorian MPs in 2011, the July 2015 submission states that “we do not believe there is any commercially viable Coal Seam Gas reserve” in the Otway basin.
The company wants any future oil activity to be governed under Victoria’s Mineral Resources Sustainable Development Act, rather than the Petroleum Act.
This could see oil and gas projects go ahead in Mecrus’s south-west Victorian exploration licence areas even if the Victorian Government decided to extend its current moratorium into onshore gas exploration and fracking.
Mecrus argued that treating south-west Victorian oil extraction under mining legislation would “strengthen regulatory safeguards and prevent delays to development of the industry”.
WANNON MP Dan Tehan has missed out on a ministerial portfolio from Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s post-leadership spill cabinet reshuffle.
Some of Mr Tehan’s fellow Victorian Liberals were big winners in the reshuffle, which saw a number of key Abbott-era ministers replaced but the Immigration, Finance, Environment and Trade portfolios left with their original holders.
Melbourne MPs Kelly O’Dwyer and Josh Frydenberg picked up key business portfolios as part of an effort to overturn Abbott’s ‘economic team’, who were strongly criticised by Mr Turnbull during a speech announcing his intention to challenge for leadership.
Victorian Senator Mitch Fifield has also moved up to the Communications and Arts portfolios.
Mr Tehan had backed Mr Abbott to remain as Liberal leader and Prime Minister, but said before the reshuffle that he would be happy to serve in any role under Mr Turnbull.
Mr Tehan will likely attend selected cabinet meetings in future as part of his work on the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Agriculture and Industry.
He is also chair of the high-profile Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, which is primarily tasked with reviewing proposed counter-terror and intelligence gathering legislation.
The Committee recently released its report into legislation designed to allow the Australian Government to revoke the citizenship of dual nationals who engage in terrorist activity, or join or fight overseas for a terrorist group.
New ministry sworn in September 21, 2015:
TITLE
MINISTER
Prime Minister
The Hon Malcolm Turnbull MP
Minister for Indigenous Affairs
Minister for Women
Senator the Hon Nigel Scullion
Senator the Hon Michaelia Cash
Cabinet Secretary
Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Public Service
Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Digital Government
Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Counter Terrorism
Senator the Hon Arthur Sinodinos
Senator the Hon Michaelia Cash
Senator the Hon Mitch Fifield MP
The Hon Michael Keenan MP
Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister
Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister
Assistant Minister for Productivity
Assistant Cabinet Secretary
The Hon Alan Tudge MP
Senator James McGrath
Dr Peter Hendy MP
Senator the Hon Scott Ryan
Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development
The Hon Warren Truss MP
(Deputy Prime Minister)
Minister for Resources, Energy and Northern Australia
Minister for Territories, Local Government and Major Projects
The Hon Josh Frydenberg MP
The Hon Paul Fletcher MP
Assistant Minister to the Deputy Prime Minister
The Hon Michael McCormack MP
Minister for Foreign Affairs
The Hon Julie Bishop MP
Minister for Trade and Investment
Minister for International Development and the Pacific
Minister for Tourism and International Education
Minister Assisting the Minister for Trade and Investment
The Hon Andrew Robb AO MP
The Hon Steven Ciobo MP
Senator the Hon Richard Colbeck
Senator the Hon Richard Colbeck
Attorney-General
Senator the Hon George Brandis QC
(Leader of the Government in the Senate)
Minister for Justice
Assistant Minister for Multicultural Affairs
The Hon Michael Keenan MP
Senator the Hon Concetta Fierravanti–Wells
Treasurer
The Hon Scott Morrison MP
Minister for Small Business
Assistant Treasurer
The Hon Kelly O’Dwyer MP
The Hon Kelly O’Dwyer MP
Assistant Minister to the Treasurer
Mr Alex Hawke MP
Minister for Finance
(Deputy Leader of Government in the Senate)
Senator the Hon Mathias Cormann
Special Minister of State
The Hon Mal Brough MP
Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources
The Hon Barnaby Joyce MP
Assistant Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources
Senator Anne Ruston
Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science
(Leader of the House)
The Hon Christopher Pyne MP
Minister for Resources, Energy and Northern Australia
The Hon Josh Frydenberg MP
Assistant Minister for Science
The Hon Karen Andrews MP
Assistant Minister for Innovation
Mr Wyatt Roy MP
Minister for Immigration and Border Protection
The Hon Peter Dutton MP
Assistant Minister for Multicultural Affairs
Senator the Hon Concetta Fierravanti–Wells
Minister for the Environment
Minister for Cities and the Built Environment
The Hon Greg Hunt MP
The Hon Jamie Briggs MP
Minister for Health
The Hon Sussan Ley MP
Minister for Sport
The Hon Sussan Ley MP
Minister for Rural Health
Assistant Minister for Health
Senator the Hon Fiona Nash
Mr Ken Wyatt AM MP
Minister for Defence
Senator the Hon Marise Payne
Minister for Veterans’ Affairs
Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Centenary of ANZAC
The Hon Stuart Robert MP
The Hon Stuart Robert MP
Minister for Defence Materiel and Science
The Hon Mal Brough MP
Assistant Minister for Defence
The Hon Darren Chester MP
Minister for Communications
Minister for the Arts
Senator the Hon Mitch Fifield Senator the Hon Mitch Fifield
SOUTH-WEST Coast’s state by-election Liberal candidate will be Woolsthorpe farmer Roma Britnell after she won support from a majority of local party members at a preselection vote on Sunday.
Ms Britnell told The Spectator that she was “honoured to have been nominated to represent the Liberal Party in South-West Coast.
“I have lived in the region my whole life and raised a family here and I look forward to addressing its issues, strengths and challenges,” she said.
“Roads will be one of the significant issues.”
Ms Britnell is the vice president of United Dairyfarmers of Victoria, a commodity group of the Victorian Farmers Federation.
Her family’s farm was selected to host the launch of the Federal Government’s Agriculture Policy Whitepaper in early July.
Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott, Federal Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce and Wannon MP Dan Tehan attended the whitepaper launch.
The parliamentary secretary for agriculture, Tasmanian Senator Richard Colbeck, also attended the July event.
Senator Colbeck was promoted by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Sunday to Minister for Tourism and International Education and minister assisting the Minister for Trade and Investment.
The Weekly Times has reported that 90 Liberal Party members engaged in two rounds of voting to preselect Ms Britnell.
Glenelg Shire Councillor Anita Rank and Portland accountant Deborah Kieller had also stood for preselection.
The Spectator understands that the Warrnambool region has about four times more Liberal Party members than Portland, where Ms Rank and Kieller were based.
Former state upper house MP Donna Petrovich, and fashion retail businesswoman Jacinta Anderson and Tom Napthine, the son of former South-West Coast MP Denis Napthine, were also contenders.
Ms Britnell will be going up against the Coalition’s partner, the Nationals, who have nominated former Warrnambool Mayor and Liberal Party member Michael Neoh as their candidate.
The Greens have announced Warrnambool student Thomas Campbell as their candidate and Roy Reekie may run as an independent if Labor does not nominate for the seat.
South-West Coast was vacated by former Premier Denis Napthine after 27 years of representing the region, which goes to the polls for the by-election on October 31.
THE State Government’s proposed rates cap will cause “long-term unsustainability” and cuts to staff or services from local governments, according to Southern Grampians Shire Councillor Dennis Dawson.
Cr Dawson made the comments during a debate on how to respond to the State Government’s latest round of consultation, which took place in Wednesday’s council meeting.
Cr Katrina Rainsford said she supported the rates capping policy as a way to make local governments more “efficient and effective” but criticised the State Government for increasing its own levies by seven per cent.
Cr Paul Battista also supported the rates cap but said he was concerned that it would increase the Shire’s vulnerability to unexpected large costs, such as superannuation blowouts or natural disasters.
The actual motion was only to note the release of the Essential Services Commission’s ‘A Blueprint for Change’ draft report and provide the Shire’s response by August 28.
The report set out the State Government’s review into how it would impose rates capping and deal with applications for an exemption by local governments.
Southern Grampians Shire Council voted unanimously to note the report and prepare its response.
Shire services director Bronwyn Herbert told councillors that the report was “very important for all councils across Victoria” as the Essential Service Commission would determine if certain shires could get exemptions from the cap.
“This report takes in all those submissions and presents a model for rate capping in the future,” she said.
“It needs to be considered very seriously.
“Tonight is not about discussion particular views or ins and outs of the policy.”
Despite Ms Herbert’s request the debate turned to the rates cap policy itself.
Cr Dawson said he was concerned that rate payers would be confused by rates and some charges being capped while others were not.
Cr Dawson was also concerned that rate payers would believe the cap would still be at the Consumer Price Index inflation rate rather than the new proposal to base the cap on an amalgam of financial forecasts.
“I think these distinctions are going to create confusion for people who relate to the whole cost as detailed in the rates notice,” he said.
Cr Dawson said the rates cap would have the potential to fundamentally change the relationship between local governments and their communities.
“One of the downsides of this proposal is that it has the strong potential to end the cross-subsidisation of council activities,” he said.
“We do cross-subsidise council activities in the community interest to make services available at reasonable prices.
“I think that rate capping will push councils towards a full cost recovery models for some services and will take away that supportiveness of cross-subsidisation.
“It ensures that we continue to be motivated by money rather than the sense of community responsibility and community support.”
Cr Dawson said he believed that rates capping would affect waste services, home help, meals on wheels, recreation services and “services to help less advantaged members of community”.
Cr Rainsford said shires need to have a “finger on the pulse” and recognise that people in business and farming “are doing more with less”.
“I’ve served on council for a long time and I haven’t seen the political will for councils to collectively, at times, say ‘no’,” she said.
“It’s not about not continuing to provide services, it’s about actually reflecting the general community as a lot of people out there don’t get five to six per cent rises each year in their pay packet.”
Cr Rainsford did criticise the State Government’s policy of increasing the levies that it requires local governments to collect.
“We have got a government that talks about the cost of living but it’s not going to worry about the fire services levy, which people are linking to their rates notices,” she said.
“They have put the levy up by seven per cent while at the same time talking about rate capping.”
Cr Albert Calvano said the shire needed to make note of the close deadlines for preparing its draft budget and any application for a rates cap exemption.
Cr Battista said he welcomed the rates cap but noted that it could increase the impact of possible “unexpected monetary issues” in the future.
“For to long many councils throughout Victoria have set their rates at a very large level and communities have been saying ‘we can’t afford it any more’,” he said.
“It is going to make us more responsible with our budgets and make sure that we get the process right by what we put forward to the community.
“I think we will work hard and maintain our services.”
A GROUP of Gunditjmara people have protested against a keeping place and business centre that Gunditj Mirring Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation has proposed to build at the Lake Condah Mission.
A number of Gunditjmara Elders led the protest against the “multi-million dollar” plan for a “huge building”, which involved about 30 people attending the mission site on Saturday morning with placards and banners.
The slogans displayed included ‘Land not Profit’ and ‘Not a Human Zoo’.
A keeping place is designed to exhibit pre and post-colonial Aboriginal culture, but opponents claim that it will be focussed on tourism and only a few members will get the economic benefits.
Gunditj Mirring Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation was established in 2005 by Gunditjmara traditional owners to progress “rights and interests in native title, cultural heritage and caring for country”.
The corporation’s management have denied that the keeping place will be commercial in nature and have defended its decision making and consultation process.
Management said it has been “entirely offended and sickened” by some of the statements that have been made accusing keeping place supporters of betraying other members’ heritage.
A statement from the corporation said that last year it commissioned “three sets of independent legal advice at a cost of just under $30,000 to review the Full Group processes in relation to the Keeping Place/Business Centre being constructed at the Lake Condah Mission”.
A GROUP of Gunditjmara people protest on Saturday morning against a keeping place and business centre that Gunditj Mirring Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation has proposed to build at the Lake Condah Mission. Photo: BILLY EASSON.
Elder and traditional owner Sandra Onus told The Spectator that that proposed keeping place had been “contentious from the word go” and many Gunditjmara people wanted it to be built in Portland.
“We have archaeological evidence that out people lived in that country,” she said.
“That’s where my people were concentrated; they grew up there.
“It’s a sacred place.”
Ms Onus said the building would be a “commercial venture” and an “intrusion” on a place where her people had enjoyed “peace and quiet” to “reflect on their journey”.
In response to a request to comment, the Gunditj Mirring provided The Spectator a statement it had made to organisers of the ‘Save Lake Condah Mission’ Facebook page.
The statement said that the Lake Condah Mission keeping place proposal had been planned since 2007 and there had been a “lengthy, heartfelt and emotional process of talking between Gunditjmara Elders and people about the Keeping Place”.
“As part of the 2007 Gunditjmara native title settlement agreement, the Gunditjmara community negotiated $1,000,000 for the construction of a non-commercial Keeping Place to have a place for the return of Gunditjmara cultural heritage and knowledge as well as Business Centre for the Gunditjmara community to operate its business dealing with caring for country, native title, cultural heritage and our continuing connection to country,” the corporation’s statement said.
“Following an extensive Location Evaluation Study in 2008 on where the best place to build the Keeping Place/Business Centre, the Full Group decided to construct the Keeping Place/Business Centre at the Lake Condah Mission.”
The ‘Save Lake Condah Mission’ Facebook page had 438 ‘likes’ at the time of publication but claimed that its posts on Saturday’s protest had been shared with thousands of people.
The page described itself as having been “created for members of Gunditjmara who are against the proposed building on what our elders consider to be sacred and significant land”.
Gunditjmara Elder Eunice Wright appears in a video posted to the page in which she says she feels a duty to protect the mission area as her family was the last to leave its confines.
“Lake Condah Mission, to me, is sacred”
“The land means everything to me, it really does.
“Out of respect for my family, I’m trying to protect the mission and, as we were the last family there, I will not stop fighting for that mission to be left as it is.”
Ms Wright said she lived “really well” on the mission for seven years and caught rabbit and kangaroo with traps.
The Traditional Owners Corporation has disputed some of the statements made about its management and voting membership by the Save Lake Condah Mission’ Facebook page.
“While respecting the right of people to protest, the Gunditjmara people attending the Full Group meeting held on 7 August 2015 are entirely offended and sickened at the suggestion that decisions made by the Full Group are to be labelled as the ‘raping of our land’ as described on the ‘Save the Lake Condah Mission’ page on Facebook.,” the statement said.
“As always, the Full Group meeting is open to all Gunditjmara people.
“All Gunditjmara people must respect our Gunditjmara country in honour of our Ancestral Beings, our cultural heritage and identity, our Elders, our community and our future.”
