Friday 29th of March 2024

a work of effluence...

shrmshrm

Preparing for a tough election battle, federal Liberal MP Dave Sharma massages the truth on the government’s climate action for Wentworth’s voters.

 

BY Peter Sainsbury

 

Dave Sharma, the Liberal member for Wentworth in Sydney’s affluent eastern suburbs, likes to portray himself as a “modern Liberal”. This is code for a Liberal politician, or aspiring one, whose personal policy preferences display, inter alia, compassion for refugees and knowledge of the scientific evidence on climate change. This epithet, Sharma hopes, will distinguish him from the Coalition’s loony-right Canberra parliamentarians in the minds of the well-right of centre (but very enlightened, of course!) Liberal voters of Double Bay, Point Piper and Vaucluse.

Having lost the Wentworth by-election in 2018 to independent Kerryn “I’m in favour of releasing refugees from detention and bold climate action” Phelps, following the dumping of local hero Malcolm Turnbull as PM, you can understand Sharma’s sensitivity to these issues.

Sharma won the seat back from Phelps for the Libs several months later at the 2019 general election. By then, local anger at Turnbull’s regicide had faded and the life of the Liberal government was on the line, so the faithful returned to the congregation. Sharma’s not daft though, and he has been keen during his two and a half years in Canberra to ensure that his constituents are aware of his compassionate and environmental sustainability credentials; credentials that have been more clearly on display to a watchful voter in his proclamations than his parliamentary voting behaviour.

Sharma’s determination to promote himself as a moderate can only have been strengthened by the recent news that he will face another Independent at next year’s general election. And not just any old, unknown blow-in, but the high profile and local Allegra Spender, daughter of recently deceased darling of the eastern suburbs, designer Carla Zampatti and former Liberal MP John Spender. As Spender declared, “We’re a family of Liberals”. The penny will have dropped in the local Liberal branch that Sharma’s principal challenger is going to be a locally well-liked, well-resourced and well-organised “Liberal independent”’. The days of breezing through a campaign against no-hoper Labor, Green and independent candidates are well passed.

So, with a margin of only 1.3 per cent, it’s hardly surprising that “thoroughly modern Dave” is preparing for a tough battle to defend his seat by burnishing his liberal Liberal credentials. By way of evidence, milord, I table exhibit A, a flyer  Sharma (see image at top) has been distributing among his maybe not-so-faithful-as-he’d-like supporters in Wentworth.

It appears that Sharma has been taking lessons from his leader on carefully worded deceptions. I imagine he is hoping that Wentworth voters will read his claim that “we have updated our 2030 emissions reduction projection to 35 per cent” and think that the government has updated its completely inadequate 26-28 per cent emissions reduction target. However, as he well knows, not only has the government not updated this target but the PM has already rejected any idea that it will be updated before the next COP meeting in Egypt in November 2022, thus reneging on the commitment Australia made when signing the Glasgow climate pact only a month ago.

As for the claim that “we are investing record amounts in solar, hydrogen, soil carbon and other green technologies” … that may well be true but what about telling Wentworth’s voters about the amount the government is investing in the development of new coal, oil and gas fields and technologies around Australia, not to mention the subsidies and tax breaks it gives to fossil fuel companies? I note that Sharma doesn’t mention the gas led recovery or compare the amounts given to support struggling fossil fuels with the amounts given to the “green technologies” that hold the key to the future. Wentworth’s climate conscious Liberal voters might not like those figures.

“Thank you for trusting me,” Sharma concludes. He must be joking. Why on earth would anyone trust a local member who tries to pull these sorts of con? Untrustworthiness and deception seem to extend beyond the PM and his ministers to the party’s backbenchers.

But to be fair, I do Sharma a slight disservice. The heading of his flyer is totally accurate: “Net Zero Climate Action”. That very accurately sums up in a snappy, Morrison-style mantra the government’s and Sharma’s real climate action — ZERO. (Gus would say zero point five for accuracy)

 

Read more:

https://johnmenadue.com/dave-sharma-the-very-model-of-a-wentworth-modern-liberal/

 

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laming stuffer...

Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s office has raised concerns with Brisbane-based LNP backbencher Andrew Laming about the actions of a staffer who shared an image of himself posing as a divisive US teen who shot dead two Black Lives Matter protesters.

Barclay McGain, a former Gold Coast Young LNP chairman and now electorate officer for the Bowman MP, was previously sacked from the taxpayer-funded position for his role in a controversial 2019 schoolies video from the youth branch featuring comments belittling Indigenous Australians.

 

In a social media post last month, just days after 18-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse was acquitted in a US court on a plea of self-defence, Mr McGain brandished a gel blaster and clothing similar to what the teen wore on the night of the 2020 shootings.

“Kyle Rittenhouse on neighbourhood watch duties in Brisbane’s south tonight,” an accompanying caption said, with the hashtag “#NotGuilty”. The shooting, court case and verdict — celebrated by the political right — have been a flashpoint for gun, vigilantism and racial injustice debate in the US.

 

In comments provided to Guardian Australia, which first reported on the post, Mr McGain explained the image was from a delayed Halloween party and costume was “not necessarily an endorsement or condemnation” of Rittenhouse’s actions but a topical effort to “excite people, entertain people”.

He said anyone who took offence at the costume needed to “learn to respect the rule of law” given the recent court verdict.

Mr Laming’s office has been contacted for a response, but declined to comment on the initial story. Brisbane Times has also sought further comment from Mr McGain.

 

A federal government spokesman said: “Mr McGain’s actions were completely inappropriate and the Prime Minister’s Office has contacted Mr Laming to raise its serious concerns and options for further action”.

 

The involvement of Mr Morrison’s office comes after the Prime Minister urged outgoing Dawson MP George Christensen to retire quietly following an appearance on show of a prominent US conspiracy theorist amid a backbench revolt over vaccine mandates and the pandemic response.

Mr McGain is not a current LNP member, and electorate office staff are employed at the discretion of MPs.

 

He was suspended from the LNP while chair of the Gold Coast youth branch in December 2019 after the video emerged on its Facebook page, in which he laughed when another teen with a schoolies lanyard — who had helped campaign for Petrie LNP MP Luke Howarth — said people should “stop celebrating a culture that couldn’t even invent the bloody wheel”.

Mr Laming hired Mr McGain in the electorate office role months later while he remained under investigation by the party, before suggesting he had then sacked him in mid-2020 after questions were raised about separate social media posts on his personal account.

 

Earlier this year, Mr Laming confirmed to Sky News that Mr McGain had been working in his office again since January after being told to sit out for six months. He defended the move, saying Mr McGain had tried at times to be funny but whose humour had often fallen “completely flat”.

“But that’s not a reason for a life sentence either,” Mr Laming told Sky at the time, while praising his “impressive knowledge and young networks” as valuable for any politician.

Mr Laming last month withdrew an apology ordered by the Prime Minister in March ahead of a story featuring allegations by two women who alleged he trolled them online.

In October, he sued Nine — publisher of this masthead — for defamation over a follow-up story which he said wrongly presented him as a “pervert”. That case is continuing.

 

Read more:

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/queensland/pm-s-office-flags-options-with-laming-after-staffer-s-teen-shooter-pic-20211208-p59fwp.html

 

 

 

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they would remember the cracks in the ferries...

Scott Morrison has always needed Gladys Berejiklian more than she's needed him.

As a freshly installed Prime Minister facing what many thought was an unwinnable election, he flung himself onto her election party coat-tails as the then-NSW premier pulled off an unexpected victory in 2019. 

He would pull her close again a year later as the nation plunged into the unknown depths of the coronavirus pandemic, fresh from Morrison having been singed from both a Hawaiian holiday as the nation burned and the sports rorts scandal.

Leveraging Berejiklian's personal popularity with punters has always been politically opportunistic, made more interesting by the fact that from many accounts the two could barely stand each other.

Enter Warringah. It had been a safe Liberal seat for decades in the hands of Tony Abbott — and a desperate Morrison was keen to see it brought back into the fold.

But this wasn't about getting a new job for a person he often tells the media is a close friend. The PM's now-failed bid to get Berejiklian to Canberra had a much more selfish goal: keeping his own job. 

 

Backing Berejiklian to win back a seat

 

Irrespective of the allegations and the merits of them, Berejiklian lost her job as premier because of a scandal with an integrity commission

Matters of integrity have long haunted the federal government and her candidacy would have played well into the criticism long-levelled at the Coalition that it had failed to create a federal version of the body that cost Berejiklian her job, despite having pledged to do so more than a thousand days ago.

Federal Liberals were convinced that should Berejiklian have contested Warringah, the seat Abbott lost to independent Zali Steggall, she would have won.

The upside of a Berejiklian victory was far greater than any downside her candidacy might bring, those behind the idea thought.

She certainly wouldn't be the first member of federal politics elected to office despite facing accusations about their conduct.

 

Read more:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-11/scott-morrison-needed-gladys-berejiklian-more-than-she-needs-him/100689538

 

 

Most likely, Gladys would have a good chance to loose in Warringah and look like a fool... The voters would remember the bottom cracks in the ferries and all the various "achievements" done on the hop... They would also remember that Tony Abbott was a liar and a political idiot, while Zali is doing a great job... Meanwhile ScoMo is so hubristically and bombasticolically a verbal-diaperologist that he is an embarrassment to the fair folks of this country...

 

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a scomo selfishness...

Real or contrived, Morrison’s “Gladys for Warringah” push showcased his lack of respect for integrity and women   

Gladys Berejiklian is not, as you have probably heard, nominating for the federal seat of Warringah. The former NSW premier this morning publicly confirmed that she would not be contesting the seat (“or any other federal seat for that matter”), after reportedly informing Scott Morrison last night, ending a week of pointless conjecture and public appeals that many suspect had more to do with a PM in need of a distraction. Some are now criticising the media for so intensely covering the “dead cat” story, but was it really that? Or was Morrison truly trying to pressure Berejiklian into helping save his government at the next election? Whichever it is, the PM’s actions this week were both desperate and newsworthy: either he was willing to openly back a candidate under investigation for corruption, or he was willing to use a woman at a low point in her career as a cheap distraction. Regardless, Morrison was more than happy to trash the standing of the NSW anti-corruption commission (not to mention the confidence in the actual Liberal nominee for Warringah, Jane Buncle), while showing little regard for Berejiklian’s preferences or privacy.

Many are now questioning just how realistic the idea of “Gladys for Warringah” ever really was. It was first floated in October, when senior Liberals reportedly approached Berejiklian about a hypothetical run, but the story seriously picked up pace on Monday when Morrison launched a full-throated campaign for it. Sources claimed that the former NSW premier had shifted from a hard no to a maybe, and the nomination closing date was reportedly extended just for her. Sky News political editor Andrew Clennell is among those lambasting journalists who covered the “story” seriously this week, noting that it took him only “two phone calls” to confirm that Berejiklian was never running. “Seven days of journalists running with utmost seriousness a yarn that was never going to happen,” he tweeted, questioning whether it was for clicks. “Bizarre stuff, particularly by [Nine] newspapers.”

Yesterday, as it became clearer that Berejiklian was a no (amid mounting pressure for her to rule herself out of a position she never asked for), state Liberals began suggesting that Morrison was using his recruitment efforts as a deliberate distraction from his poor polling, Labor’s policy announcements and independent campaign launches. “You don’t do what they’re doing if you actually think she’s going to run,” one source added.

It’s more than likely, however, that Morrison truly did want Berejiklian to run, seeing her as his best chance to regain the seat, and was doing everything he could to try to convince her and the public that it was a good idea – with the added bonus of getting to attack the anti-corruption commission and justify his own toothless proposal in the process. Far from helping him, this week’s “distraction” has been a terrible look for the PM: he has been snubbed by his preferred candidate, had his public overtures rejected (a “disaster” for him, as he attempts to wrangle the NSW factions, party sources said), made the woman who has nominated for pre-selection look like second choice, revealed just how threatened his party feels by independents such as Zali Steggall and further torched his reputation when it comes to integrity – one of the core issues the independents are running on. Not sure we’d call it a win.

Or, if the PM was in fact seeking a media distraction, did he get what he wanted? Perhaps slightly. But Morrison’s public antics this week, real or contrived, dead cat or desperate, were certainly worthy of coverage. The PM was willing to publicly back someone who recently resigned over allegations of breaching the public trust and turning a blind eye to corruption, with the subsequent public hearings revealing, if not corruption, then at least highly unsavoury conduct. In doing so, Morrison further solidified his character-defining rejection of accountability, his win-at-all costs mentality and his comfort with corruption.

“The fact is conservatives used to stand up for institutions and this country,” said Labor leader Anthony Albanese. “This prime minister does not stand up for institutions, he just knocks them down.”

That’s not the only thing this saga has confirmed. The entire episode has been yet another example of Morrison’s bullying behaviour and disregard for women’s autonomy. Berejiklian’s preferences (she was reportedly briefly considered running in response to early appeals, but quickly ruled it out) appear to have played little role in Morrison’s game. He has publicly cajoled her and praised her at length, after backgrounding against her when she was in office, and is today talking up their “dear” friendship (the pair are not close). As Crikey’s Amber Schultz notes, Morrison has spoken for her throughout, even going so far as to make this morning’s “announcement” before she could, via a drop to the media.

Berejiklian, who still has an ICAC-shaped cloud hanging over her head, has made the right move in turning down the nomination she never sought, whether out of self-interest (she’s set to go into the private sector) or some semblance of shame. Unfortunately for her, the PM has the former in spades, and absolutely none of the latter.

 

Read more:

https://www.themonthly.com.au/the-politics/rachel-withers/2021/10/2021/1639109109/stunt-woman

 

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ineffective liberals...

Independent MP Zali Steggall has stared down attacks from the Prime Minister and moderate Liberals, calling them ineffective and out of touch.

Most of the independents challenging the incumbent Liberal MPs at the looming federal election are running on a pro-climate action platform and pushing for an integrity commission, saying the Commonwealth hasn’t done enough on either issue.

On Wednesday, the Warringah MP chastised progressive Liberals such as Dave Sharma, Trent Zimmerman, Jason Falinski and Tim Wilson who defend the government’s climate record and position themselves as a voice for change within the party.

 

“They are entirely ineffective. We have not progressed our climate policy since [former prime minister] Tony Abbott,” Ms Steggall said.

Mr Sharma has publicly pushed for the government to adopt a more ambitious mid-term emissions reduction goal, calling for a new target of a 40 to 45 per cent reduction by 2035.

But Ms Steggall said the Liberal MP for Wentworth had numerous opportunities to stand up for his convictions and vote in favour of a more ambitious target, following the path of his more conservative colleagues who have withheld votes over issues such as vaccine mandates.

“It’s convenient to say they are fighting in the party room when what happens in the party room isn’t public,” she said.

“Now they are under pressure they come out with all this talk.”

Coalition MPs have also tried to frame the independent movement as pro-Labor, saying the movement is targeting only Liberal seats.

Liberal federal director Andrew Hirst questioned, in an email asking party members for donations, why no high-profile independents were taking on Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese.

Ms Steggall said socially progressive voters in traditionally Liberal-held seats had nowhere to turn, which was why independents were picking up the slack.

 

“If you are in traditionally Labor-held seats and want more climate action you can vote for the Greens,” she said.

“In a traditionally Liberal-held seat where the Greens’ economic policy doesn’t appeal, there is no sensible centre option for fiscally conservative voters.”

Ms Steggall also labelled critiques of her voting record as misleading as Coalition MPs push the line that she’s sided with Labor two-thirds of the time.

The tally includes votes against gag orders where the government attempts to shut down debate or prevent a member being heard in parliament – a measure Ms Steggall said she always voted against.

Further, there are some votes where the government and Labor team up – and the cross bench are the only dissenting voices are not officially recorded.

With an election due by May 2022 and the possibility of a hung parliament, it’s likely the major parties will need to turn to independents to form government.

Tasmanian MP Andrew Wilkie has already ruled out a formal agreement with either side. Asked her position on formal governing agreements, Ms Steggall didn’t rule anything in or out, saying she would consult with her electorate in the result of a hung parliament.

“[But] I’m not interested in being a kingmaker or a queenmaker,” she said.

 

 

Read more: https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/politics/australian-politics/2021/12/15/zali-steggall-climate-independents/

 

SCOMO'S GOT TO GO !

 

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scomo's blathershite ...

 

BY the Political Sword...

 

 

It’s becoming alarming. Every day our Prime Minister becomes more verbose, more shouty, more insistent. The old-fashioned word ‘blatherskite’ comes to mind. Listen to him as he fronts journalists, answers questions in Question Time, or delivers his characteristic off-the-cuff oratory on any subject he chooses, from protestors to carbon capture and storage to electric cars. 

In a cute appraisal in The Guardian you can read how Sarah Martin mocked his electric car approach with these acerbic words

In a galling pivot, Scott Morrison hopes he can peek under the bonnet of an EV and be accepted as a convert.

Not so long ago he said Labor’s electric cars policy would ‘end the weekend’, and now he’s spruiking his own plan, but there’s no substance to it. 

It’s hard to say which element of Scott Morrison’s new electric vehicle strategy is most galling. If you missed the unveiling on Tuesday, there’s not much to catch up on, given the strategy has all the substance of a Corn Thin.

The Coalition’s “strategy” for electric vehicle take-up contains $178m of government spending on EV infrastructure but no new policies, just like its “Australian Way” plan to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. It rebuffs calls for vehicle emissions standards and provides no market signal to incentivise take-up – the two measures viewed by experts as the most important to drive change.

But while a policy document three years in the making that is entirely bereft of substance is certainly offensive, it is nowhere near as galling as the way in which Morrison expects voters to forgive and forget the Coalition’s position on electric vehicles ahead of the 2019 election.

As he unveiled the government’s new clean car policy that embraced electric cars, Morrison attempted to deflect accusations of hypocrisy by denying he had attacked electric vehicles before the 2019 federal election when he had insisted Labor would “end the weekend”.

The government has already ruled out subsidising the expansion of electric and hybrid vehicles through rebates or tax breaks, saying it expected only 30% of new sales to be EVs by 2030 – a date by which a growing number of countries plan to ban altogether the sale of new petrol and diesel cars.

The “future fuels and vehicles strategy” instead includes $178m of new funding, mostly for new EV and hydrogen refuelling infrastructure and to help businesses set up charging stations for fleets. It said the government would “co-invest with industry” to install an estimated 50,000 smart chargers in homes. Under questioning at a press conference in Melbourne, Morrison denied he had criticised EV technology before the last election. But the records show that at that time he had insisted: ”battery-powered cars would ‘not tow your trailer’; ‘not tow your boat’; ‘not get you out to your favourite camping spot with your family’.” Touché!

Morrison claimed his criticism had been limited to Labor’s then-policy, not the technology itself, and that he did not regret saying EVs would “end the weekend”.

“I don’t have a problem with electric vehicles, I have a problem with governments telling people what to do and what vehicles they should drive and where they should drive them, which is what [former opposition leader] Bill Shorten’s plan was,” Morrison said at Toyota’s hydrogen centre in suburban Altona.

“I’m not going to put up the price of petrol [for] families and make them buy electric vehicles, and walk away from the things they have. That is not the Liberal way and the Nationals way.” 

The Shorten-era Labor policy was not to tell people what vehicle they should drive, require anyone to buy an EV or put up the price of petrol. It included a non-binding target of 50% new car sales being EVs by 2030 and the promise of a vehicle emissions standard to reduce the average carbon pollution of the national car fleet.

Morrison stressed the government would not “be forcing Australians out of the car they want to drive or penalising those who can least afford it through bans or taxes. Just as Australians have taken their own decision to embrace rooftop solar at the highest rate in the world, when new vehicle technologies are cost-competitive, Australians will embrace them too”.

The expansion of rooftop solar – which, according to the Clean Energy Council, has now led to 3m systems being installed across the country – was encouraged for more than a decade through federal and state incentives and subsidies.

The government vehicle strategy suggests its approach will have only a limited impact as a climate policy. It is projected to cut greenhouse gas emissions by just 8m tonnes – less than 2% of the national annual total – over the next 14 years.

Transport emissions are nearly 20% of the national total, were increasing rapidly before Covid-19 lockdowns and are projected to escalate in the years ahead.

Opposition Leader, Anthony Albanese, said the future policy was “another pamphlet, rather than a serious announcement”. He said a Labor government would make EVs cheaper by removing import and fringe benefits tax. “I think people will look at Scott Morrison today and this announcement and just shake their head and say, ‘What’s changed?’,’This is a guy who says he’s about new technology. Yet he’s resisted it.”

The energy and emissions reduction minister, Angus Taylor, said the government’s strategy of helping install charging infrastructure, rather than phasing out fossil fuel cars, was about helping motorists “embrace the increasing range of technologies available to keep them moving in an informed and fair way”. He claimed credit for the number of low emissions vehicle models available in Australia increasing by 20% over the past eight months, but did not explain how the government’s policy had contributed to this.

Car manufacturers across the globe have released a wave of new EV models as governments have announced emissions limits for passenger cars and future bans on fossil fuel cars. Industry representatives say Australians have fewer options than comparable countries due to a lack of policy support.

Once more, Australians face the risk of being left behind. What’s new!

 

Read more:

 

http://www.thepoliticalsword.com/posts.aspx?postid=84f7d504-5c0c-4aad-aa27-66f563652683

 

 

SCOMO'S GOT TO GO !

 

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scomo’s shame…

The first coal shipment from central Queensland Carmichael Mine is about to leave Australian shores after years of controversy, international media coverage and environmental campaigning against the facility. 

Key points:
  • Bravus says the mine's first coal shipment is ready to be loaded at North Queensland Export Terminal.
  • It comes after years of controversy and heavy opposition from environmental and Indigenous groups.
  • The company would not say where the first shipment is headed, other than to an Asia-Pacific client
 

Bravus Mining and Resources, the Australian arm of Adani, today confirmed the shipment had been assembled at the North Queensland Export Terminal in Bowen. 

Bravus CEO David Boshoff celebrated the milestone, calling it a "big moment".

"From day one, the objectives of the Carmichael Project were to supply high-quality Queensland coal to nations determined to lift millions of their citizens out of energy poverty and to create local jobs and economic prosperity in Queensland communities in the process" Mr Boshoff said.

"With the support of the people of regional Queensland we have delivered on that promise."

 

 

READ MORE: https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2021-12-29/adani-ships-first-coal/100729834

 

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SHAME SHARMA SHAME... SHAME SCOMO SHAME...

a scomo slight of hand...

You've heard the news, you've read the news or Mr Hitzatruth poke your eye with it: ScoMo is going to restore the ABC/SBS budget... Yippee... Pigshit. Not so fast...

 

This caper is far from the truth, but the sound of it was designed for the voters in lalaland such as the Wentworth electorate, where the "Liberal" (CONservative) candidates are under pressure from the "independents"... One of the independents platform is the FULL restoration of the ABC/SBS budgets... Voters in most such rich electorates are illiterate and don't ask questions. All they hear is that "the ABC/SBS budget will be restored by Scomo"... They don't read the small print...: Instead of breaking the legs of the ABC/SBS with an axe, ScoMo is breaking their legs with a hammer.

 

Meanwhile, Mr Murdoch's henchmen (and women) are displeased with this news... Apparently, the press were so hot, the ink in the DT had a meltdown and started to spit chips... Hey relax, Murdoch's scribes. Sure you want ScoMo to destroy the public broadcasting networks and this news only prolongs the agony... Below is the truth:

 

-------------------

 

ABC chair Ita Buttrose is “delighted” and managing director David Anderson says he now has “certainty” for planning.

However, the Morrison government’s pre-election announcement it would restore the ABC’s budget to 2018 levels doesn’t come close to making up for what has been lost in cuts to funding and staff.

Seven weeks ahead of the budget, Communications Minister Paul Fletcher has announced the ABC will receive $3.284 billion over three years from July, while SBS will receive $953.7 million over the same period.

 

Significantly, the government says it is scrapping its controversial indexation freeze on the ABC’s budget.

This was imposed by then-prime minister Malcolm Turnbull in 2018 and meant the broadcaster’s funding did not keep pace with inflation. It led to drastic cuts in programming and staffing in June 2020.

Mr Fletcher also announced the ABC funding would include $45.8 million for another three years for the broadcaster’s “enhanced news gathering” program, which is earmarked for local public interest journalism in regional communities.

However, the funding comes with strings attached.

The Morrison government has published what it calls a statement of expectations, a requirement for the ABC and SBS to provide a report each year detailing staff numbers in regional and remote Australia, as well as hours of programming tailored to those audiences.

Mr Fletcher also said the ABC and SBS weren’t currently required to report on the number of hours of Australian drama and documentaries they show each year.

Although these hours are published in the ABC annual report, the government will now require the ABC and SBS to provide further reporting on this through a national framework.

Tweet from @asunderlandImpressive figures, but it doesn’t undo the damage

To those who haven’t been following the ABC’s funding situation closely, the announcement may seem like impressive numbers.

 

Certainly, the government’s line is the ABC will be “boosted” by scrapping the indexation freeze.

However, the end of the index freeze and the retention of the news gathering program still do not make up for the massive cuts already inflicted on the ABC.

As we noted in our research in 2019 and 2020, a total of $783 million was removed from ABC funding between 2014 and 2022.

As the table below shows, these accumulated funding losses include a series of budget announcements, cancelled funding contracts, reduced or ended specific programs and implemented major cuts.

In fact, taking into account the government’s latest announcement, we now calculate the ABC’s accumulated lost funding from fiscal years 2014-15 to 2024-25 will reach a staggering $1.201 billion.

 

To get to this figure, we used our previous research as a baseline and factored in this week’s funding announcements.

This takes account of no additional plans by the government to restore any of the earlier ABC funding cuts, and the ongoing impact of the three-year indexation pause.

While ending the freeze means future ABC funding will take some account of inflation, it does not address the impact of the freeze itself from 2019.

The ABC has said this is a problem. In answer to a Senate Estimates question in October 2021, the broadcaster said this would result in a funding shortfall of just over $40 million annually, which would continue to be felt in future years.

Our research also factors in the ABC’s loss of the 10-year Australia Network contract in 2014. This resulted in a reduction in funding of $186 million, which is represented across the balance of the contract term in the table above.

Tweet from @abcnews

 

Certainly, the ABC does continue to do some international broadcasting, particularly in the Pacific, but it is no longer the dominant broadcaster in the region it once was.

Restoring and even boosting the funding that was given to the Australia Network would go some way to improving Australia’s standing in the Indo-Pacific region.

We found the total lost funding continues to accumulate at well over $100 million annually through 2024-25.

In other words, if the government truly wanted to restore the ABC’s funding, it would need to increase its budget by at least 10 per cent annually.

It is difficult to be definite with the numbers because the triennial funding total announced by Mr Fletcher lacks detail.

It is not clear, for instance, how much will be available for the broadcasters’ operations after funds are allocated for broadcast distribution and transmission contracts that go to third-party suppliers. In the ABC’s case, these contracts are worth almost $600 million over the next three-year budget cycle.

It must also be noted Mr Fletcher rejects the assertion the ABC’s funding has been cut at all in the current three-year funding period from 2019 to 2022.

In fairness to the minister, while the indexation freeze and other funding reductions continue to reduce the available funds to the ABC, they were not announced during the current three-year period.

 

The ABC lacks funds for future-proofing

This week’s announcement was warmly greeted as a significant change in the government’s position towards the public broadcasters.

It is also certainly a positive response to the dire state of journalism in some areas, particularly in the suburbs and regional and remote communities, where the closure of commercial newsrooms has left many without a local journalist or any local news service.

But we’d argue more needs to be done.

The ABC still gets only about half the per capita government funding other democratic countries provide to their national broadcasters.

This funding will also not future-proof the ABC or SBS with the extra resources needed to remain at the forefront of delivering digital content to Australians as they continue to change the way they access quality and trusted news and information.

The announcement may at least prevent the ABC from becoming an election issue.

The Friends of the ABC had been gearing up its campaigning across the nation, fundraising to target key marginal seats.

And last week, the Guardian Australia reported the majority of Australians would support restoring funding to the ABC.

It remains to be seen if the announcement is sufficient to convince Australians who love and trust the national broadcasters that the Coalition has actually has done enough to support them.The Conversation

Alexandra Wake, Program Manager, Journalism, RMIT University and Michael Ward, PhD candidate, University of Sydney

 

 

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons licence. Read the original article.

 

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https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2022/02/09/abc-sbs-broadcaster-budget-losses/

 

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Wentworth MP Dave Sharma has defended sending out political communications in the same teal colour as his independent rival Allegra Spender without mentioning his membership of the Liberal Party.

Ms Spender, one of the high-profile “climate independents” supported by Simon Holmes a Court’s Climate 200 campaign, is challenging Mr Sharma for the previously safe Liberal seat in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.

Ms Spender’s brochure highlights her support for a “new economy” built on decarbonisation and sustainability and six policy areas stemming from that – climate action, honest politics, accessible education, first-class healthcare, inclusive society and natural environment.

Mr Sharma’s brochure uses the same colours and features a picture of Mr Sharma at Bondi Beach. The text emphasises Mr Sharma’s life story – his immigrant roots, his perfect tertiary education rank of 100 and study at Cambridge, his work for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade including as ambassador to Israel, and his wife and three daughters. There is no mention of the Liberal Party.

 

Mr Sharma said he did not routinely mention his party affiliation in all communications as a member of parliament, but this would be on all campaign materials once the election was called. He said a billboard had gone up at Edgecliff that carried the Liberal logo because it would remain there throughout the election campaign.

“I’ve been on the blue colour scheme ever since I was a Liberal, so I don’t think the question is why am I copying someone else’s colour scheme, I think is why they are on the Liberal colours, and that’s a question for the other candidate,” Mr Sharma said. “No one owns a colour.”

 

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https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/no-one-owns-a-colour-sharma-denies-copying-spender-s-teal-brochure-20220312-p5a43f.html

 

 

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