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The Communist Alliance, a party which formed in March 2009, is set to change its name to something simpler.
According to an article in the Commonwealth of Australia Gazette (No. GN 28, 20 July 2011), the party is seeking to change its name to “The Communists.”
The party’s official abbreviation will remain the same.
The Alliance formed in 2009 and consists of several communist political parties and groups, including the Communist Party of Australia.
The Communist Party was founded in 1971 as the Socialist Party of Australia.
The Communist Alliance contested the seat of Sydney in the 2010 Federal Election.
Over three years after their last album, and after much (often false) speculation over when LP8 will be released, last Monday Radiohead announced the imminent online release of their latest studio album, The King Of Limbs.
The new album will be available from the Radiohead website tomorrow as a digital download. A physical copy, described as “the world's first* (*perhaps) Newspaper Album”, is available to be shipped at a later date. Radiohead was right to put the “perhaps” clause in there – if I recall correctly, the original release of Jethro Tull’s Thick as a Brick was released as a newspaper.
Can’t wait until tomorrow? Well, here for your Friday night viewing pleasure, is the first single from the new album. (Incidentally, “On A Friday” was the name of Radiohead whilst they were still a school band.)
If this new song, called Lotus Flower, is an accurate indication of what The King Of Limbs will sound like, it would seem that this new album breaks Radiohead’s track record of every album being significantly different from their last. Lotus Flower could easily have been a part of Radiohead’s last album, In Rainbows, or singer Thom Yorke’s solo album, The Eraser.
Now that he’s a bit older, I think that Thom Yorke is starting to look a little like Jamie Oliver.
This is not the only news from the alternative music industry this week. Chiptune and Nerdcore artist Doctor Popular, who recently released Beeps and Smudges, has also released a new single.
Part of a new album planned for release in March, sunchoked is a return to the sound that Doctor Popular had when he released Me Geek Pretty One Day. Doctor Popular manages to do this whilst continuing his venture into iPad and iPhone music software, which he started with Beeps and Smudges.
Compare the new single, which can be listened to through the YouTube video below, to an earlier Doc Pop song, Dropped. (Click here to listen to Dropped.)
It seems that both Radiohead and Doctor Popular are standing by the styles which have worked for them in the past.
This is a report on a public forum, entitled Wikileaks and Free Speech, which was conducted by Liberty Victoria at Federation Square in Melbourne on the 4th of February 2011.
Speakers included the director of Wikileaks, Julian Assange; Assange’s lawyer in the UK, Jennifer Robinson; Greens MP for the seat of Melbourne, Adam Bandt; Principal of Gordon Legal and former senior partner of Slater and Gordon, Peter Gordon; Melbourne public interest solicitor, Lizzie O'Shea; the Federal Secretary of Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance, Christopher Warren; and President of Liberty Victoria, Professor Spencer Zifcak.
THE REPORT INCLUDES INTERVIEWS WITH: MP Adam Bandt, lawyer Peter Gordon and Professor Spencer Zifcak.
Audio (via video): (May require the use of Internet Explorer or plugins to be downloaded to listen/view.)
(10.8MB, WMV Format, 18:02 Minutes) If audio/video does not play, or the play button does not appear above, please try loading the page in Internet Explorer or click here for the Firefox plugin. If you are using Internet Explorer, you may have to click on the yellow bar at the top of the page and select ‘allow blocked content’.
In an address to the National Press Club today, Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced a temporary levy and several policy and funding alterations to pay for the cost of rebuilding after floods in Queensland, Victoria, northern New South Wales and Tasmania.
Ms Gillard has dubbed the new levy as being a “highly progressive levy”, responding to the strength of the Australian economy which, Gillard says, allows the government to “pay as [it] goes” in funding the rebuilding effort. Ms Gillard expects that “by 2013 [the Australian Economy] will be running close to full capacity”.
Although the strong economy has allowed for the relief effort to go ahead quickly, Ms Gillard acknowledged that its strength is a double-edged sword. The low unemployment figure of about 5% means that few workers are available to work on the reconstruction.
To help overcome this problem, the Prime Minister has proposed quicker approval of temporary visas for foreign workers trained in skills that are required for the rebuilding effort. This means a five day turnaround for applications in those fields. The Prime Minister also proposed that jobless people from other states seeking government assistance for relocation should only be given the option of moving to Queensland so as to boost worker numbers there.
Gillard also explained to the Press Club that the government must provide funding in a way which will keep the balance between supply and demand so as to avoid inflationary pressures.
The levy, designed to aid the government in its promise to return the Australian budget surplus by 2012/13 whilst rebuilding after the floods, will pay 1.8 billion dollars toward the “first preliminary estimate” of 5.6 billion dollars required from the government to pay for rebuilding.
The remainder of the 5.6 billion will be raised by a series of policy and program alterations and cancellations. This includes “abolishing, deferring and capping access to carbon abatement schemes”. Schemes to be cancelled include the Green Car Innovation Fund (or “Cash for Clunkers” program) and the Green Start Program. The Solar Hot Water Rebate will be altered with a new demand management scheme and funding for the Global Carbon Capture and Storage Institution will be reduced and the body restructured.
Ms Gillard announced that a price on carbon would replace these programs and help improve the budget. Gillard explained the some of the cancelled programs are “not as effective as a carbon price”.
In addition to these cuts, six planned Queensland road and infrastructure projects will be delayed and their funding redirected to the rebuilding effort. This will make a major contribution to funding the rebuilding and will free up more skilled labour for the rebuilding of basic infrastructure. Gillard also said that the deferral will “ensure value for money”.
So how will the relief money be distributed? If the bill passes through Parliament unaltered, there will be an immediate upfront payment to Queensland of two billion dollars for rebuilding projects in the more than 60 flood-affected communities in the state.
The money for the Queensland reconstruction effort will be managed by the Queensland Reconstruction Authority. This authority will arrange the state-wide reconstruction plan.
Payments to other states will be managed through the natural disaster relief and recovery agreement between the commonwealth and the states.
The one-off levy to most Australian income earners will be charged “like income tax” and is proposed to be implemented only during the 2011/2012 financial year. Lower income earners earning 50 thousand dollars per year or less will not pay anything. People with an income between 50 thousand and 100 thousand dollars per year will pay 0.5 per cent on taxable income per week, whilst people earning 100 thousand dollars per year or more will pay one per cent on taxable income per week.
The Prime Minister gave the examples of people with an income of 60 thousand dollars per year paying just under one dollar per week, and people earning 100 thousand dollars per year paying just under five dollars per week.
Those people affected by flooding will be exempt from paying the levy. This exemption is awarded to those who claimed the Disaster Assistance Recovery Scheme payouts from the government earlier this year.
The Prime Minister was at pains to make it clear that the levy is “not like the Medicare levy” – a levy model that political and financial commentators had predicted.
Public transport is not usually included in the Commonwealth’s contribution to natural disaster relief funds, however Ms Gillard has explained that there is some possibility that the government could fund this area under the “community rebuilding” section of the funding agreement with the states.
In an effort to calm people who have already given significant sums of money to flood appeals, Ms Gillard explained that, where the flood appeals saw the money being sent directly to the people affected by the flood, the levy will pay for the reconstruction of infrastructure.
The levy will not be increased if the government’s planned return to surplus by 2012/13 comes under threat. There will instead be further cuts to government programs and spending.
The bill must now get through parliament, where it may struggle to pass both the upper and lower houses. With the legislation to be introduced in the first sitting week of parliament for 2011, the government has a very short time to conduct a hard sell for the crossbenchers who keep it in power. The opposition opposes a levy, and Greens Senator Christine Milne announced, shortly after Gillard’s address, the Greens’ disappointment with the cutbacks for climate change initiatives in response to what they consider a natural disaster exacerbated by climate change.
Last Friday One Cuckoo Short of a Nest conducted an interview with Liberal party MP Russell Broadbent. The interview covered issues local to Mr Broadbent’s seat of McMillan, as well as broader Coalition policies including the “Green Army” and the Coalition’s answer to the Labor government’s National Broadband Network.
The transcript for the interview can be read below.
=== TRANSCRIPT Interview with the Member for McMillan Mr Russell Broadbent Interview conducted: 13/8/2010 Published: 16/8/2010 at www.onecuckoosnest.com Interviewer: William Kulich
[OCSN] Mr Broadbent, thankyou for talking to One Cuckoo Short of a Nest again so close to the election. As August 21 draws nearer I ask that you to reflect on your second term in Parliament since your return to office in 2004. What events have shaped this term?
[Mr Broadbent] Um, of course the bushfires were an event for the whole of Australia. And my response to that in the parliament and, you mentioned here in your notes, about the standing ovation being given after I’d spoken to parliament – I think that was as a response to how the parliament felt about the bushfires as much as a response to me. I painted a picture for them that hadn’t been painted before. The poetry about the fires that I presented was also a response to the twelve month anniversary to the fires, and I suggested to a local poet that having reflected on the bushfires and, and our local area particularly, and the event of the service out at um, Labertouche that day, and would he put that down in words and he did. And he did. And we went back in… twelve months later. He actually read that out and I went to hear him read that for the first time, and I read it in to the Hansard. So, there was no acclimation for me, although that did begin and shape the term. There was also the issue of us charging long-term detainees and causing them to have a debt after they were released. And I was very strong on my stand on having that debt removed, as we never received more than four per cent of it anyway, so, there was some very difficult times in this term that I responded to by my address to the parliament and those speeches are there. But I think the most important one was the 58 second statement on the bushfires after twelve months, where, in very few words and a very short time I was able to encapsulate the continuing grief that some people still feel, and for me that was the address of the term.
[OCSN] Your compassion for those affected by the bushfires is clear, what have you been able to achieve for those in your electorate affected by the fires?
[Mr Broadbent] Not as much as we had first hoped, but I have to say to you that the former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd whose responses were, um, were excellent, in regards to those members of parliament whose areas were affected. We wanted to do something about boundary fencing. The Prime Minister Rudd wanted to do something to support the loss of boundary fencing, that was opposed by his beaurucrats and especially the state parliament and the state beaurucrats. So whilst we were able to support them in certain ways, we were never able to achieve what I set out to achieve on their behalf, and that is a disappointment.
[OCSN] What had you hoped to achieve? What was you plan?
[Mr Broadbent] Well the basis of the plan was that we actually paid each farmer so much per meter for the loss of boundary fencing, and that would come out of the bushfire fund. And the state government refused to acquiesce to that, which was a great disappointment.
[OCSN] Did the plan only include farmers?
[Mr Broadbent] Ah well, it was, in our area, in my particular area it was the farmers who were the most hit. It was farms where we had loss of housing, and loss of… property destruction. Whilst we don’t know the results of the trauma that people went through even to this day, we didn’t have the loss of life that we had in other areas so our focus was on property loss and some recompense that I’d hoped we could have gained and I think there was more we could have done. But the community did a lot for itself.
[OCSN] Mr Broadbent, when we last spoke you mentioned that you see climate change as an “an issue for Australia and an issue for the world.” Early in this campaign your leader Tony Abbott announced his “green army” policy, which has actually hardly been explained and has been used almost as a catch cry for the coalition’s environment policy. What exactly is this policy? Do you feel that it properly addresses the need for significant action on environmental issues?
[Mr Broadbent] Um, I think it’s a way of doing some very important projects at a local level. 15, 00 people around the country doing projects that will make a difference to climate change in the long run.
[OCSN] What are these projects?
[Mr Broadbent] They’re projects like revegetating a wetland, they’re projects like, um, it will depend, locally, but we have a number of programs that you could… where revegetation would be, um, as we’ve done with Landcare, revegetation, the upgrading of corridors, where we could have planting through corridors, and just opportunities like that where we could really make a difference to climate change by local practical proposals.
[OCSN] Aren’t there already groups that do this? Like, you mentioned Landcare.
[Mr Broadbent] Well, I’d like to see Landcare reinstated back to what it was under the Howard government. Ten million dollars has been taken away from Landcare which has been a shame, and I’d like to see that reinstated but importantly, there are projects that would come through local government or through other community interest groups, where a group of people, otherwise unemployed, would have the opportunity to do something in the environment that would make a long term difference.
[OCSN] Do you think that this is enough to address the threat of climate change?
[Mr Broadbent] No, and that’s why we have... that’s only one part of it and that’s why we have bipartisan approach to the reduction of emissions.
[OCSN] What are the other parts of the coalition’s program?
[Mr Broadbent] Well we have agreed with the current Government on the reduction of emissions and abatement and all the other programs that go with it especially in regard to renewable energy, which is the MRET (Mandatory Renewable Energy Targets) targets, and, now whilst that will increase the cost of electricity certainly renewables are an important part of the program.
[OCSN] The division of McMillan has been ignored by the mainstream media as focus has been drawn to the marginal seats in New South Wales and Queensland. You were first elected to the seat in 1996 and were defeated in the 1998 election, before being elected again in 2004 and re-elected for the first time in 2007. It’s quite clear that this seat is no safe seat. How do you feel you will fare this election? Is it going to be a tough one?
[Mr Broadbent] Well, to this point we’ve run the best local campaign possibly can in the context of the people that are resident in this electorate. To win election campaigns, I don’t believe at a local level they can be won in the last few weeks or on the day… of the election campaign – they have to be won from the three years that you are working within the electorate. People have the opportunity then to see your work, evaluate what you do and consider their vote at the election campaign whether they will vote locally or from a national perspective. And often incumbent members can attract, even though it’s minor, a personal vote. Now I’m not suggesting that personal vote here is very high, but I am suggesting to you that the incumbency of a local member, be they Liberal, Labor, National or Green… or independent for that matter, it is an important place because people do tend to take ownership of their member.
[OCSN] You mentioned that there are both local and national influences. What are the most prevalent local issues this election?
[Mr Broadbent] Well there’s two ways of looking at that. One is, the people in my electorate, such as farmers, know my, and I don’t want to be trite about this but know my record of support for them especially when they were not receiving exceptional circumstances… drought relief… were other nearby farmers were. And they know that I went out on a limb for them. People with disabilities know my record in support of them over many years and… some very specific incidences that we can talk about at another time. And also, the people in the power industry particularly know that I’ve taken a very strong stance - where I ask the question about climate change and people say to me well the first thing we do is we’re going to close down our dirty coal fired power stations. My question to those people then is alright where is the power going to come from?
[OCSN] But surely, Hazelwood, the most inefficient power station in the world, the developed world that is, should be replaced.
[Mr Broadbent] Oh, I think it could be changed to a gassified power station, therefore reducing the emissions. At this stage it supplies nearly a quarter of our power and we have to consider that in any proposal. Even the state government has said they were going to close down part of Hazelwood and then they said through minister Batcheloron ABC radio, well of course if we need the power we won’t close it down. So what we have to do… all our power stations are coming to the end of their lives, all our power stations are, and we need to consider how we are going to supply that power in to the future. Somebody has to have a vision of how we are going to use the resources that we have and at the same time have more efficient power generation to reduce emissions.
[OCSN] But what the state Government has been looking at doing is replacing part of Hazelwood with renewables. And I read somewhere that Alcoa is looking at extending Hazelwood’s service to 2036, which is still a very long time, that’s hardly near the end of its life.
[Mr Broadbent] Ah, not without changes it won’t. Not without changing it to a gas fired power station it won’t, no.
[OCSN] Tony Abbott has described himself as not being a “tech head” when questioned on his plan to upgrade Australia’s broadband. I am aware of several cases in your electorate of people being unable to get faster internet simply because of old telephone switches. Would you please explain, for Mr Abbott, what exactly will be upgraded in the Liberal’s scheme?
[Mr Broadbent] Well one of my concerns under Labor’s scheme is much of my electorate will not be receiving the broadband that they require. As proposed.
[OCSN] Why is that?
[Mr Broadbent] Because it’s to be run out to, I believe, townships and communities above 5000 people. So that’s an enormous amount of my electorate that will not be receiving the broadband run out that the Labor party is suggesting.
[OCSN] But what is the Coalition’s policy?
[Mr Broadbent] Well we’re suggesting that by 2016, 97% of Australia will be receiving between 100 megabytes, to a minimum of 12 megabytes for speed. We propose that our proposal is market based and affordable broadband, as compared to the expensive National Broadband Network which will be wasteful. And on top of that we have target mobile telephone coverage blackspots… where we need to target those blackspots and to ensure better support service.
[OCSN] In the next three years though, what are the qualifications for towns under the Coalition’s scheme? After all, the five thousand people minimum is only a short-term goal of the Labor party. What can we be expecting under the Coalition in the short term and what are the qualifications for towns?
[Mr Broadbent] Well already there are companies supplying up to… between 70 and 100 megabytes in the capital cities. Now where there is a market that can be rolled out further, and with wireless that can be given to areas that wouldn’t otherwise have it under the National Broadband Network.
[OCSN] But is this much of an improvement to what is already in place?
In what Greens leader senator Bob Brown has dubbed as being “breakthrough politics”, the Greens have put forward a five point plan to Prime Minister Julia Gillard that could end the deadlock on an emissions trading scheme before the next election.
Yesterday Senator Brown wrote a letter to Prime Minister Gillard that restated “the Greens’ commitment to… find a way forward to climate change action before an election.” The letter focused on the Greens’ willingness to adopt a “Garnaut-style carbon price which could open the way later, to emissions trading.”
The proposed program outlined in the letter by Senator Brown is not a direct alternative to the emissions trading scheme supported by former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. The Greens’ proposal is an interim plan to establish a carbon price prior to setting up an emissions trading scheme at a later date.
In his letter, Brown listed five “key elements” which he said are to “serve as the basis for open and constructive negotiation”. The most specific point made was that the scheme should include a price of $23 per tonne on carbon which should be put in place by July 1 2011, with an increase of 4% + CPI per annum. Brown also said that the scheme should remain in action until a new global treaty establishes “longer-term emission targets”.
The other key points outlined by the senator were that “no targets would be included in the initial legislation”, that “full trading would commence once targets are legislated” and “international permits would only be allowed once trading commences.”
Brown also suggested that the construction of new ‘dirty’ coal power stations should, in line with a 2007 Labor election promise, be prevented; that an national energy efficiency target should be introduced and that “native forest; and woodland clearance – which accounts for 15-20% of Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions” should be ended.
In the letter, Brown told Gillard that through negotiation with the Greens a price on carbon could be set within three months – potentially prior to the next election.
In a Greens media release last Saturday, Brown criticised “Labor's right-wing ascendency”. This was after a recent decline in the Greens’ opinion poll standing, which occurred after Gillard took over from Kevin Rudd as Prime Minister. Brown argued that "the Green vote "parked" with… Julia Gillard, won't stay there long" as Labor’s positions on environmental, humanitarian and business will once again become apparent to voters.
Brown did however mention that he “[looks] forward to talking to Prime Minister Gillard about a carbon price and real action to tackle climate change”.
In a media release yesterday which announced the letter to the Prime Minister, Brown also acknowledged that “the government is set to announce new solar and wind projects”. Labor’s position on climate change was asserted in Gillard’s first speech as Prime Minister, in which she announced that she “[believes] human beings contribute to climate change”. Gillard also commented that she finds it “disappointing” that Australia has no price on carbon. --- How does emissions trading work? Click here for a video explaining the process!
A new Labor party election campaign was launched this morning, focusing on the words and actions of Liberal leader Tony Abbott.
The campaign takes the form of a website, www.abbottfacts.com.au. The website takes articles from Australia’s major papers and the words of Tony Abbott himself and presents them as evidence for statements against Mr. Abbott.
These statements cover topics including Mr. Abbott being “out of touch with Australian families” and supporting the return of “the worst elements of WorkChoices”.There is also a section which looks at the “divided” Liberal party that Mr. Abbott leads.
Subscribers to the Labor Party mailing list were today sent a email from Labor National Secretary Karl Bitar, who authorised the website. In the email Mr. Bitar described the project as “a website where you can see all the facts about Tony Abbott for yourself.” Bitar also publicised the website in an article on the Australian Labor Blog.
The website has been met with some opposition by Labor supporters, with no positive comments being left on Mr. Bitar’s blog post. One commenter goes as far as to say that Labor has “nothing new to offer because [the party is]starting to attack the opposition” and that the approach is “how the last election was LOST”.
As at time of publication, there has been no formal reply regarding the website on the Liberal Party website.
Former Liberal Party leader and Howard Government Minister Malcolm Turnbull has today announced that he will not be contesting the seat of Wentworth in this year’s federal election.
In an email to subscribers to his website today Mr. Turnbull thanked his constituents, family, personal staff and supportive party colleagues for their support during his five and a half years in parliament.
The decision was not taken lightly by Mr. Turnbull, who had been considering his future in parliament since he lost the leadership of the Liberal party in a spill to present leader Tony Abbott last year. In the email Turnbull said that after he lost the leadership he had resolved to not cause a by-election by resigning from parliament. Turnbull will continue to represent Wentworth until parliament is dissolved for the next election.
Mr. Turnbull mentioned that a highlight of his two terms in parliament was during his time as Environment and Water Minister in the Howard Government. In this position he brought about the federalisation of the Murray Darling System’s water management. He also expressed his disappointment in the Liberal Party’s opposition to a Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme which had been a policy whilst he was Environment minister.
Mr. Turnbull said that he is “looking forward” to “pursuing new opportunities in the private sector” with his wife, Lucy, and wishes Liberal Party leaders Tony Abbott and Julie Bishop “every success in this election year.”
--- An apology to readers: technical issues delayed the publication of this article by two hours.
Given Radiohead front man Thom Yorke’s statement to NME last year that another full album would “kill” Radiohead, it was a surprise when fellow band member Ed O’Brien later announced that the band would begin recording their eighth album.
In a post on the band’s website in December last year, O’Brien said that the band would return to the the studio in January. O’Brien wrote that it was “reassuring” that the band was “most definitely a different band” to what it was whilst recording their forth album ‘Kid A’, suggesting that the band’s stylistic movement was “the aim of the game” in music.
And history tells us that when Radiohead moves onto another album their website moves with it. On the Radiohead website, ‘Dead Air Space’, there is a section for old websites under the Orwellian name of “Memory Hole”. This includes websites designed specifically for the release of many of their previous albums including ‘Hail to the Thief’, ‘Amnesiac’, ‘Kid A’, and ‘OK Computer’. Their second most recent design tied directly in with the cover art of their seventh album ‘In Rainbows’, and now it has changed again.
[The new design of the Radiohead website.]
Although this doesn’t explicitly mean that the band is to release another full album, the redesign shows that with the January recordings Radiohead has made a definite step from their last album.
--- NOTE: Due to an error in publishing, the time posted for this article is incorrect. The real time is 12:05PM
Russell Broadbent is the Liberal MP for the federal seat of McMillan, Victoria. Mr. Broadbent today spoke to One Cuckoo Short of a Nest on topics ranging from the federal Liberal party’s chances gaining seats next election to issues in the electorate.
The video of this interview can be viewed below. There is a transcript of the interview below the video.
A note: There are two mistakes in the questions to Mr. Broadbent. One is that it was not specified that offshore processing was in relation to asylum seekers. The other is that the quote from Peter Costello’s memoirs is inaccurate. The error is that in the interview it is said that Mr. Costello would have ratified Kyoto if John Howard had stood down after the election. The memoirs actually state that this policy change was lined up for if Mr. Howard had stood down after APEC. These errors should not alter the meaning of the replies.
Video: (May require the use of Internet Explorer or plugins to be downloaded to view.)
(19.4MB, WMV Format, 14:08 Minutes) If video does not appear above, please try loading the page in Internet Explorer or click here for the Firefox plugin. If you are using Internet Explorer, you may have to click on the yellow bar at the top of the page and select ‘allow blocked content’.
Transcript: OCSN: Mr. Broadbent, when Tony Abbott recently became leader of the Liberal Party you immediately gave the new leader your full support. My first question to you is where do you think you stand in the Liberal Party? Mr. Abbott is firmly a Liberal dry as he asserted with the reappointment of Philip Ruddock to the front bench, however back in 2006 you Petro Georgiou, who I’ve seen described as a dissident, and Senator Judi Moylan crossed the floor on [then PM] Howard’s policy on immigration of offshore processing [for asylum seekers]. That was very much the stance of a Liberal wet. Do you see yourself as a wet or a dry, or do you not believe in this classification in the party?
Mr. Broadbent: Well, I don’t believe in the classification in the party as you have put it because I’ve never put myself in boxes, I’ve always seen myself to be actually in the centre. I take a common sense point of view to each situation as it arises rather than I have a view on all things about…. in only one way, and I don’t. And so that affords my the ability to make a decision, and have the respect of my party to make a decision on the issues as they arise.
OCSN: Do you see some members of your party as having this kind of wet-dry divide, I mean the party is obviously divided over, well, for example, climate change which is very much a progressive or non-progressive, sorry, which is very much a modern or an old fashioned party stance in the party which is split right down the middle… over this issue do you see the divide in that aspect?
Mr. Broadbent: Yes, there is a divide in the aspect you have described however, it’s more along the lines of groupings, groupings of people. Especially within the Liberal party, groupings of people out of New South Wales, groupings of people out of Victoria, people who see themselves to be on the right but then when tested don’t actually align with that group, so, it is a moving feast in opposition of people that are grouping themselves together rather than a wet or a dry. As people like... it’s simplistic to describe it in that manner.
OCSN: So, so do you see… so there are distinctive groups within the party but is the party as a whole do you feel united on major policy… on most major policy?
Mr. Broadbent: 80% we would agree, not only with the rest of the party, 80% of the situations that arise in the Parliament are supported by both parties, the Greens, by independents; there is a view about where the nation should be going. We argue about the 20%, and sometimes the 20% gets the largest amount amount of play because it’s the controversial issue. But basically the Liberal party as a whole would be aligned with each other right across the board.
OCSN: You mentioned a while back on your website that the Liberal party doesn’t support Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme. You did however mention that a report commissioned by the coalition, the Pearce Report, indicates that a broader approach needs to be taken in the form of an Emissions Trading Scheme. The report suggest also that the Canadian System should be investigated. Your support of Abbott’s outright blocking of the scheme would seem to go against this. Would you still consider an ETS in combating climate change if those investigations suggested in the coalition’s report were carried out?
Mr. Broadbent: The leadership change of last year meant that the group following Abbott’s lead on this issue won the day, and I as a member of Parliament have to respect that my party decided, which I’m a part, my party decided where they wanted to go on the issue, and it’s up to me to support that. I don’t see this as a conscience issue as I have stood in the past, this is a policy issue. The party has taken a stance on a policy issue, and it’s up to me to see where the party goes on this. Unless they were… unless I saw it that they were outrageously wrong, and with a total inability whatsoever to deliver on climate change. We’ll have to see what he comes up with next week in his approach to how we might combat climate change.
OCSN: Do you yourself believe in climate change as being an issue for Australia?
Mr. Broadbent: It’s an issue for Australia and an issue for the world.
OCSN: So you do believe that it exists?
Mr. Broadbent: Absolutely.
OCSN: Peter Costello mentions in his memoirs that if Howard had stepped down after the last election [edit: should be APEC] he would have ratified Kyoto. Would you have supported the ratification of Kyoto as a definitive course of action for… for combating climate change.
Mr. Broadbent: No, I think it was a.. Kyoto was a political statement to garner support for perhaps the climate change… general climate change issue, general environmental issue and because we hadn’t ratified Kyoto, although we had performed very well as a nation in regard to the Kyoto targets, but because we hadn’t ratified it became a political issue, a political statement. So, the Government, he would have ratified Kyoto, as a political statement he would have ratified Kyoto, very much the same as Malcolm Turnbull would have ratified Kyoto to get it off the political… plate.
OCSN: So do you believe that was Kevin Rudd’s motive for ratifying… for agreeing to the protocol?
Mr. Broadbent: Well I don’t know what Kevin Rudd’s personal motives were, but it was a political tool he used in the run up to the last election.
OCSN: You have said recently that you “learnt early that in politics you do lose some times.” After last election where the Liberal party didn’t gain any seats and in fact lost many, did you feel the party could make a quick comeback and win the next one? You have lost your seat twice yourself.
Mr. Broadbent: Yes but we held very well at the last election campaign here in this electorate, and we’ll be working very hard to do that again, we don’t take anything for granted we will be working very hard to do that again the next election. History shows that there’s only one party that’s only had a one term Government. It would be very difficult for the Libs to come back wholly to government at the next election campaign, the Liberal-Nationals, but you never know in politics, we have to keep trying.
OCSN: Do you think that the Liberal party could rather quickly recover from this rather turbulent term in opposition?
Mr. Broadbent: Whenever you’re given an incentive, or a goal, yes, people will work together very quickly. It’s up to any party to look at their leaders, support their leaders, get in behind their leader and back their leader as best as they possibly can. I have… that has been my approach all the way through even if I’ve had disagreements, always backed their leadership as best as I possibly could.
OCSN: Do you think that the Liberal party may gain a significant number of seats next election or is it too early to tell?
Mr. Broadbent: It’s too early to tell. The polls at this stage are horrific for the Liberal and National parties. I mean, if the polls remain as they are today, we will be wiped out. But, they always come closer come election time. So you can get closer to the point at election time, that’s when you’ve got to make… when people begin to make their decision about who they want to support for the next election campaign. And so until you come up to that time of the election and people begin to focus, they’re not focussing, they are focussing on the tennis and everything else at the moment, it’s only when they have to make that decision people will probably garner support for the party of their choice.
OCSN: Do you feel confident in the policies as they stand at the moment in gaining a large swing of voters?
Mr. Broadbent: Well the policies are not out there yet, from either the Prime Minister or the… the government have their policies of the day so the, they are governing, they are making decisions. There will be a budget out in May, that’s more policy run out. And the Liberal Party and the National Parties have not really put their policies out for the people and they won’t do that yet until the run up to the election campaign. But quite often people make a decision early, if they have made a decision early it will be very difficult for us to win at the next election campaign. But, in politics, you just can’t say what next week will deliver. We don’t know, so you work hard, this could be the first time there is a turnaround and Rudd becomes a one term government but we’ll have to see how that works out. It’s seat by seat, state by state, seat by seat, and whoever ends up with the largest number of those seat wins.
OCSN: After all, yeah, a week is a long time in politics.
Mr. Broadbent: It is.
OCSN: We are now at the start of a new decade, where do you see the Liberal Party in ten years?
Mr. Broadbent: I would hope I see the Liberal Party in Government in ten years, with a new Prime Minister, that is comfortable in the role of Prime Minister and governs for the whole country. Governs for the whole country, and has regard for those who are least able to look after themselves as a priority.
OCSN: Labor’s National Broadband Network is set to help connect rural areas of Australia to high speed internet. How could the electorate of McMillan benefit from such a scheme in relation to small business and home users?
Mr. Broadbent: If I believed their national broadband scheme was going to work and actually would get to those rural subscribers, which I don’t believe it will and we’ve just had a meeting with the communications people today about small areas of McMillan that can’t get ADSL. Now, I don’t believe that Labor’s program, at 43 billion dollars, will deliver outside of the 80%, 85% of Australia that can get it now, because it won’t be commercially viable. They have no business plan and I think it’s a bucket of money that can be used much better elsewhere, and I believe that communications, as a whole, internationally communications are moving so quickly that we don’t know what we’ll be using in three years time or a years time. So, why would we be trying to introduce something that may be out of date by the time we introduce it at such an enormous cost to this country? And I thought that Governments were moving out of the control of communications, and that was supported by both Governments, and now we’re finding ourselves intervening in controlling communications. Governments should be getting out of that and letting the marketplace drive what happens in communications. And then the people in the remote areas, at least through the agreements with Telstra, and only through Government support will we be able to get the sort of coverage to those people that they desire.
OCSN: So do you believe the National Broadband Network’s company should be privatised as soon as possible?
Mr. Broadbent: No I don’t think it should go any further than its gone I don’t… I’m not a believer in the National Broadband Network. I just don’t think it’s going to happen. I think it’s going to fall in a hole… well, fall in a communications hole. I think that communications, as I said before, worldwide are moving so quickly we just don’t know what sort of new facilities we’ll be using in that time.
OCSN: In November of last year you were involved in a debate on the National Bike Path Program were you were strongly advocating bike paths as a benefit to community health, transport and the environment. Darren Chester mentions Moe, a city in your electorate, and other cities in the Latrobe Valley would benefit from bike trails between them. Are you planning such a scheme in this area?
Mr. Broadbent: There’s a fantastic trail between Warragul and Drouin now, which is being regularly used. I mean, it has a huge high use rate for walkers, runners, bike tracks. So if there were an opportunity to promote such an idea, it would be great. But there’s a fairly great distance between those two and you’d have to consider the expense of doing that and whether the opportunity is there for the facility to go through. But, look basically bike paths while supported nationally, through some programs, they are a state and local government responsibility and we have to have regard for that. So, it’d be up for the state to say look it’s a great idea and we’d like you to fund it. We’d have to consider it in the budget outliers then.
OCSN: Through your website, you have asked your electorate for some local solutions to what you describe as a financial storm. This is of course in relation to the global financial crisis. From this request and from your own opinion, what action do you have planned to shelter your constituents from this storm?
Mr. Broadbent: I don’t think there’s anything that I can do to shelter my constituents from the financial crisis that engulfed the world. All we need to be doing though is be very careful about the financial decisions we make and the investments we make… and make sure that they are prudent investments and any advice that can be given through Government or through or any other organisation, should be taken on board. So, you know, you have got to work with your accountant, you have got to work with people, and I suppose that if you are too greedy and you invest in things that look too good, they probably are.
OCSN: Mr. Broadbent, thank you for your time.
Mr. Broadbent: Thank you. Thank you very much.
### With thanks to Mr. Russell Broadbent and his office Interviewer: William Kulich Sound and Video: Name removed by request Produced exclusively for One Cuckoo Short of a Nest. www.onecuckoosnest.com ###
The Implications of Google’s Actions in China on the Labor Government’s proposed internet Censorship.
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In a firm stand against the Chinese government’s human rights policies, Google yesterday announced that they will no longer provide the same search censoring service to China that they once did.
Google’s webmail service, Gmail, and several other internet services were subject to cyber attacks last month which Google have traced to China.
In a post on The Official Google Blog entitled “A new approach to China”, Google’s Chief Legal Officer David Drummond stated that “we [Google] have decided we are no longer willing to continue censoring our results on Google.cn”.
Drummond continues to explain that Google will “discuss [how Google could run] an unfiltered search engine within the [Chinese] law, if at all.” This is backed up by a statement that Google “may well [have] to shut down Google.cn, and potentially [its] offices in China” if an agreement with the Government cannot be reached.
Drummond’s post indicates that the attacks were on the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists, and that Google have a strong belief in human rights and freedom of information. He comments that when Google China was launched in 2006 it was intended to make uncensored information more easily available in China, and that Google had experienced “discomfort” in agreeing to censorship.
The Australian system will be implemented as a blacklist targeting “refused classification” (RC) websites. RC websites contain material which is not allowed a rating in Australia due to illegal actions being portrayed. A report leaked last March however suggests that some websites possibly outside of the initial scope of RC content may also be blocked, including some pages on the online encyclopaedia Wikipedia.
What are the implications of this on Google’s service in Australia? If the search engine were to leave Australia it may cause greater public unrest than in China where Google is not such a dominant search engine.
Google’s stance on freedom of information may lead to some disputes on service with the Australian Government, however the ISP-level filtering forwarded by Senator Conroy may mean that filtered content found on Google will lead to a dead link and not the blocked website.
Google’s actions in China show how a large information carrier such as Google can attempt to hold an entire country’s Government at ransom.
In response to requests from the Liberal party for Labor to provide more information on the proposed free-to-air satellite digital television service, the office of the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy has today outlined details of the scheme to One Cuckoo Short of a Nest.
In an article published on One Cuckoo Short of a Nest (OCSN) last week entitled “Labor Announces Satellite Broadcasting to Improve Rural Digital Television Reception”, a spokesperson for the Shadow Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy Tony Smith MP explained that the Liberal party had “not been provided with enough information from Labor” on the details of the upgrades.
The satellite scheme aims to remove “blackspot” areas of free-to-air digital television reception which will otherwise be left without television when the analogue signals are cut off.
Today by email, the office of the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy Senator Stephen Conroy answered questions on the scheme. The questions cover the time frame of the scheme, availability of public information and how the subsidy for satellite television conversion will work. (A full transcript can be found at the end of this article).
When asked what time frame the project will be started and completed in, the spokesperson replied “the measures to upgrade 100 ‘self-help’ towers and launch the digital satellite service will be in place before analogue services are switched off in each regional broadcast license area. [The] switchover [will commence] with the Sunraysia/Mildura region on the 30th of June 2010 and it will progress according to a region-by-region timetable until the 31st of December 2013.” The spokesperson also said that more information on the switch-offs is available at http://www.digitalready.gov.au/rolloutmap.aspx.
OCSN asked when full information on the details of the scheme will be released to the public and other parties, to which the spokesperson replied “the Government will be writing to ‘self-help’ transmission licensees detailing the new measures as well as providing further information to local communities shortly.”
Commenting on how the subsidy will work, the spokesperson explained that “residents [who] rely on a self-help retransmission facility that is not converted to digital will be eligible to receive a satellite conversion subsidy. The satellite conversion subsidy recognises past community investment in analogue television transmission infrastructure and is intended to ease the cost burden for the households where they will need to install a satellite dish and equipment because they are reliant on terrestrial self-help towers that are being switched off. A pilot of the satellite conversion subsidy will be piloted in the Sunraysia/Mildura region.”
OCSN: In roughly what time frame will the project be started and completed in?
Spokesperson: The measures to upgrade 100 ‘self-help’ towers and launch the digital satellite service will be in place before analogue services are switched off in each regional broadcast license area. Switchover commences with the Sunraysia/Mildura region on 30 June 2010 and it will progress according to a region-by-region timetable until 31 December 2013. More info here: http://www.digitalready.gov.au/rolloutmap.aspx.
OCSN: When will full information on the details of the scheme be released to the public and other parties?
Spokesperson: The Government will be writing to ‘self-help’ transmission licensees detailing the new measures as well as providing further information to local communities shortly.
OCSN: How will the subsidy work?
Spokesperson: Residents that rely on a self-help retransmission facility that is not converted to digital will be eligible to receive a satellite conversion subsidy. The satellite conversion subsidy recognises past community investment in analogue television transmission infrastructure and is intended to ease the cost burden for the households where they will need to install a satellite dish and equipment because they are reliant on terrestrial self-help towers that are being switched off. A pilot of the satellite conversion subsidy will be piloted in the Sunraysia/Mildura region.
The Labor Government is set to introduce satellite television broadcasting as part of a series of infrastructure upgrades to provide digital television to “blackspot” areas.
In a media release published yesterday on the Labor Party website the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy Senator Stephen Conroy said "This is a fantastic outcome for people in regional Australia, many of whom have received limited television services for many years."
Senator Conroy also claimed that "All regional Australians will now receive the same television services as people in the cities.” He also mentioned a “dedicated local news channel” in the system.
The cost of the satellite system is yet to be determined, and the Government is promising subsidies to “eligible” households who are not upgraded by the broadcasters.
Digital terrestrial transmitters will also be upgraded as part of the scheme, with new transmitters in Underbool and Ouyen near Mildura to be built. The Mildura licence area will be one of the first affected in the analogue television switch off, with the old signals ceasing prior to June this year.
The Liberal Shadow Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy Tony Smith MP said in his own media release yesterday that he hopes the scheme “doesn’t end up as yet more Labor pie in the sky.” Smith also suggests that rural viewers should “believe it when they see it.”
A representative of Tony Smith’s office today told One Cuckoo Short of a Nest that it is “too early to say” whether the Liberals would continue with a satellite system if in power or opt for terrestrial upgrades instead. The representative explained that the Liberal party had “not been provided with enough information from Labor” on the details of the plan, including on how the subsidy will work or how much it will cost to upgrade the 100 transmitters involved. When asked if they saw an opposition policy being released on rural digital television services, the representative stated that “there will be a lot of policies released before the next election”, including a “full policy released” on this portfolio.
Free TV Australia’s CEO Julie Flynn has stated in a Free TV media release that “this is a big win for regional viewers who will lead the way in the transition to digital-only services.” The media release also states that “Free TV broadcasters are pleased” with the Government funding of a satellite service for those unable to receive terrestrial services.
Flynn also states that “Free TV will continue to work with the Government to deliver a smooth transition to digital services for all Australian viewers”.
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To view a list of current Australian free-to-air television channels, see “What’s On The Box?”.
Ten years ago a new millennium had just started, nine years ago it was the start of the 21st century, and one year ago was the start of 2009.
What got us where in the year just passed? Here is a light hearted review of 2009 which looks at a select number of events that were in some way significant (or not) to the year just passed.
This high negative is best explained by another statistic released by the Pew Center, which shows the November 11th terrorist attacks to be most widely considered the “most important event of the decade”.
But has the decade really been as bad as this research has shown? It really depends on who you ask. The research mentioned above is only a study of a fraction of the American population (779 people) and doesn’t represent any other country around the world.
One good piece of information to take from this study is that many of the people surveyed think that next decade will be better than the 2000s. Given the rating of the 2000s that won’t be hard!
Australia Post has been denied a price hike on postage stamps that would have seen the basic postage rate increase from 55 cents to 60 cents.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) denied Australia Post the price increase, stating in a media release today that “the proposed costs of Australia Post in the material provided to the ACCC do not reflect [the decline in usage]."
Australia Post submitted a draft pricing proposal on the 24th of July this year. This draft included proposed changes to the postal service’s Small, Large and PreSort letter services.
A media release issued by Australia Post today said that it is “disappointed by the findings of the ACCC”.
An Australia Post spokesman today told One Cuckoo Short of a Nest that Australia Post “haven’t made a decision” on whether they will appeal the ACCC’s decision, and that they will be “making a decision over the next few days”.
The ACCC has stated that it has been “unable to determine how Australia Post's demand forecasts were derived”. The spokesman also told One Cuckoo Short of a Nest that the predictions had been made in “a way we have done it the past two times [and not been rejected].” He also stated that the service was expecting a 2.3% decline in usage over the next three years and that the increased price was “reasonable” given that overseas postal services are expecting a decline of “up to 5%.”
The Australia Post media release explains that “cost pressures [are] a reality due to rapid growth in [some] areas”, and that “the basic postage rate has not even kept pace with inflation over the last two decades”. It continues to suggest that if it had Australia’s basic postage rate would presently be 70 cents.
This media release mentions that Australia post is “also in dispute with the union who are demanding additional costs be placed on the business, despite a four percent pay increase guaranteed for next year.”
A previous post on installing fonts in Windows and Ubuntu discussed Ubuntu not having a logical method of font installation. The recent release of the new Ubuntu 9.10, “Karmic Koala”, has seen a great improvement in font management.
Opening a font file now throws up a different preview screen, one more detailed than that of Ubuntu 9.04. This screen also includes a button which has long featured on the Windows preview screen - “Install Font”.
There are still some areas in need of improvement to bring Linux up to speed with Windows’ font management. Firstly, Linux lacks an option to install a font when you right-click on its icon. This has been present in Windows since XP and is a useful shortcut when installing a select few fonts from a large selection.
Another issue is one which could confuse less tech-savvy users. If a font has already been installed and the “Install Font” button is pressed, the button changes to read “Install Failed”. This is true, however the font still remains installed. In similar situations Windows informs the user that the font is already installed and the old file should be removed to install the new one.
Although still rough around the edges, Linux font management has vastly improved with this new version of the operating system (OS). The “Install Font” button has made it possible for people who have never used Ubuntu to figure out how to install a font. This improvement is a sign of Linux’s progression from a IT professional’s server OS to a standard desktop frontend.
In a knife-edge win yesterday, MP Tony Abbott won control of the Liberal party in a spill against former leader Malcolm Turnbull. A spill motion was carried and three candidates, Turnbull, Abbott and Joe Hockey stood for election by the party room. Hockey was defeated in the first round of voting, and Abbott won the second round over Turnbull by 42 votes to 41.
Speculation over the legitimacy of this win has arisen, suggesting that an MP who was ill and unable to attend the meeting would probably have voted for Turnbull. There was also an informal vote, which may have been intentional or a legitimate mistake, thus meaning Turnbull may have won.
No matter what happened, Abbott is now the Liberal party leader, if only a "temporary" leader as former Labor Prime Minister Bob Hawke suggested yesterday. As a result of the change in leadership, the party consensus on the CPRS legislation has largely changed to rejecting the legislation.
Despite the two Liberal Senators voting with the Government, the bill was rejected today giving Prime Minister Kevin Rudd grounds to call a double dissolution election. Abbott has said that he is not "not afraid" of an election on climate change.
In a video addressed to Liberal Party supporters, Abbott explained that the Liberals are now an "alternative" to the Labor party, saying that "that (the alternative), I think is what [the voters] wanted". He also said that the Liberal party "will give the Government a bloody good fight."
The Labor party has already started attacking the new Liberal leader. In an email to Labor party supporters, Labor said "Mr Abbott's extreme views will take Australia backwards", particularly in relation to climate change and WorkChoices, which Abbott supports. The email also includes a link to a campaign video against Mr. Abbott.
This upheaval in leadership has not been good publicity for the Liberals, who face a by-election in Peter Costello's former seat of Higgins this weekend. The Labor party has not fielded a candidate, and the Greens are posing a threat to the blue ribbon seat.
Today, Labor Minister for Finance and Deregulation Lindsay Tanner compared the present turmoil within the Liberal party with that of the Australian Labor Party when it split in 1954.
This comparison is grounded by the spate of resignations of Coalition members from Malcolm Turnbull’s front bench after he survived a leadership spill two days ago. At present 12 members have relinquished their positions.
Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party Julie Bishop today joined the large number of cries from within the party for Malcolm Turnbull to resign as leader. (This information has since been corrected by Turnbull on the ABC’s 7:30 report: 27/11/2009)
The Liberal party has been divided since Turnbull’s decision to support the Rudd Government’s Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS). Turnbull has vigorously defended his position as leader, lashing out at those who don’t support his decision.
Former Shadow Minister for Health and Ageing Tony Abbott and Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey are favourites to take the leadership of the party, however Hockey has said that he will only run if Turnbull has resigned. Hockey has frequently stated that he supports Turnbull, however recently he withdrew his support for Labor’s ETS. Abbott, one of the ministers to have quit Turnbull’s front bench, is set to challenge Turnbull on Tuesday for the party’s leadership.
The party is bitterly divided over the human contribution to global warming, with the leader of the Liberals in the Senate Nick Minchin not sharing Turnbull’s views that action needs to be taken. Minchin was one of the twelve to resign from a front bench position.
Could this be the sign of an imminent split in the party? As several members plan a second leadership spill it may not be long until we know. As it is often said a week is a long time in politics, and this weekend may not hold up either.
At about 1:18PM today the results of the vote on the Liberal party leadership spill were announced.
A secret ballot was taken in a meeting called by Turnbull himself in response to growing Liberal party disharmony over his decision that the party will support the Government’s Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS). Some Liberal MPs argued that his call was premature and not in the party’s interest.
Malcolm Turnbull has retained his position as leader of the Liberal party by a margin of 13 votes, with a count of 48 votes to 35 in his favour.
This support means that the CPRS may have a chance of passing through the Senate without the support of the Greens, Family First or Nick Xenophon. However, the stance of some Liberal senators prior to the vote suggests that it may still not have the support of the whole Liberal party.
Today the Government released a set of proposed changes to its Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) legislation. These changes stemmed from negotiations with the Opposition Liberal Party, whom with the support of the Government aims to pass the bill through the senate. Heading each side of the negotiations are Labor Minister for Climate Change Penny Wong and Liberal Opposition Energy Spokesman Ian Macfarlane, who have been negotiating a deal for weeks. These changes include excluding agriculture from the scheme, further transitional assistance for affected industries and measures to ensure that the burden on households of increased prices on goods and services is lessened.
Today’s Media Release from the Department of Climate Change outlines the areas in which changes have been proposed. Included amongst these propositions is the Government’s previously announced exclusion of agriculture from the CPRS. The details of the proposed changes document also supplied by the Department of Climate Change says that this exclusion will be “indefinite” and the bill will “explicitly exclude agriculture”. This means that any change to this part of the passed CPRS legislation will need to be voted on by the parliament of the day.
The changes also include $1.1 billion for a Transitional Electricity Cost Assistance Program, designed to assist medium to large businesses with the increased electricity costs. An additional $4 billion is also proposed for the Electricity Sector Adjustment Scheme (ESAS) making the total investment in this area $7.3 billion. The ESAS is designed to lessen the financial shock of the CPRS on fossil-fuel powered electricity generators such as coal powered power stations. Coal fuelled power stations will also be receiving a further $750 million in “transitional assistance” over five years, making the total transitional assistance for the coal industry come to $1.5 billion. $270 million for the Coal Mine Abatement Fund has also been proposed.
The changes also suggest including voluntary household action in the goal of the CPRS, and the details mention that an assistance package has been designed for low- and middle-income households. The carbon price estimate has also been lowered by $3 to $26 per tonne in 2012-2013 due to the strong Australian dollar, which will reduce the cost of goods and services. The media release says that “voluntary action by households will now allow Australia to go beyond our 2020 emissions reduction target.”
The details mention that eligible Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) producers will receive free permits.
The media release also describes making the Global Recession Buffer for affected industries permanent, meaning that eligible industries for 60 and 90 per cent assistance will have a 10 per cent and 5 per cent buffer respectively to ensure sufficient assistance.
The media release explains that with these amendments, Australia will still be able to achieve its “ambitious” unconditional target of a 5 per cent reduction of greenhouse gas emissions on 2000 levels by 2020. It also argues that the “deal” is economically “responsible”.
The media release closes with a plea to the Liberal Party. “We call on the Opposition to support this negotiated package and ensure a vote on this package before Parliament rises this week” - a timetable which many Liberal party members may still not agree with.
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In what Greens leader senator Bob Brown has dubbed as being “breakthrough politics”, the Greens have put forward a five point plan to Prime Minister Julia Gillard that could end the deadlock on an emissions trading scheme before the next election.
