Thursday 6th March 1997
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Issues - The banking system under the spotlight. Opposition leader Kim Beazley was on the attack saying that High Court appointments should be made entirely on merit. Attorney-General Darryl Williams responded by saying that his priority was to find the best person available to replace Brennan.
Opposition justice spokesman, Nick Bolkus, accused Williams of refusing to distance himself from Mr Fischer's earlier comments, indicating that he was also interested in a political appointment.
Fisher's comments about the role of the High Court has also got the academics coming to blows against each other with some saying that a level of political activism in the High Court was necessary while others said that they had gone to far.
The Public Service is in shock at the moment after Industrial Relations Minister Peter Reith announced that 100 Government agencies would renegotiate pay and industrial conditions with their workforce.
Some 130,000 people are effected by this move which will see people working for different salaries in areas that were traditionally on the same pay scale.
The new deal is likely to get right up the nose of the Unions as their role will be watered down. The Government would stop collecting public servant union dues unless employees requested deductions in writing and only if the relevant unions acted "responsibly".
A spokesman for House of Representatives Speaker Bob Halverson yesterday confirmed that the Speaker's Office had received a copy of the letter.
The letter was faxed to the Ipswich City Council on the Federal Member for Oxley's letterhead with Ms Hanson seeking to cancel services following the sale of her Silkstone seafood shop.
The complaint which originated from one of the Ipswich City Council's councillors, Paul Tully, would "certainly be considered" the spokesman said. He said it was too early to decide whether any action should be taken.
Ms Hanson yesterday dismissed Cr Tully's claim by saying "the man's a joke". Her office later issued a press statement in which Ms Hanson estimated that her staff had spent hours, which she costed at Au$420, in dealing with Cr Tully's "puerile allegations" while the cost of her original fax had been 30 cents.
Ms Hanson's spokesman, David Thomas, said Ms Hanson, who has an extremely busy schedule, telephoned a staff member on March 3rd asking them to notify the council, via fax, that she wished to cancel waste services and her Health Food Hygiene licence.
"Ms Hanson has a very busy schedule, and has been down here (Canberra) six weeks of the past eight," Mr Thomas said.
"If Mr Tully is looking to save money, he should look at some of his own council procedures."
In her statement Ms Hanson also questioned how Cr Tully obtained a copy of the document, and said she would follow the matter up with Ipswich Mayor John Nugent. Cr Tully said the Local Government Act stated councillors could look at all documents.
Cr Tully said the amount of money involved may be small, but "it's not the amount, it's the misuse of her position".
Hanson's spokesman, Thomas, said that Ms Hanson travelled to Canberra by business or economy class while she was entitled to first-class air travel at about twice the cost and that she had only used her entitlement to be accompanied by a blood relative once - although she could make the claim nine times a year.
In the meantime a spokesman for David Jull's Department of Administrative Services, confirmed that no action would be taken against Ms Hanson for using her electorate allowance to buy a television set - which was used at home.
As a ratepayer in Ipswich I find it very interesting that thirteen councillors are able to chalk up many tens of thousands of Au$ worth of unaccounted mobile phone calls every year at the expense of ratepayers... or how about this one - these same Ipswich City Councillors have claimed over Au$300,000 in "largely undisclosed secretarial entitlements" in the last 12 months!
These are city councillors, each representing about 5,000 local residents - compared to a Federal politician (Ms Hanson) representing about 70,000 voters!
Then compare Ms Hanson's alleged "misdemeanour" with the travel rorts allegedly being made by senior Senators (see the story below) and you will see what a wank this whole episode is.
The real issue is how can private business correspondence be leaked to an outside source and details to the media. It makes doing business with the Ipswich City Council a very risky business indeed.
Howard said, "If Colston had done anything wrong, then the law should apply to him as it would to you or me, but we are not going to be bulldozed by the Labor party picking up every bit of scuttlebutt around this building under parliamentary privilege and hurling it at him."
Yesterday Colston faced fresh accusations including allegations that he ordered staff to act as secretaries for his family investment companies.
Senator Robert Ray, who has led the Opposition attacks, said that "anyone who rats on the Labor Party can expect exactly the same as this quisling Quasimodo from Queensland".
The Opposition last night accused the Coalition Government of a cover up for refusing to allow the reopening of the estimates committee.
Administrative Services Minister David Jull said that accounting giant KPMG would review the system of politician's entitlements saying that it needed an overhaul.
Extensive political commentary and links can be found on Palmer's Australian Politics page.
Hello again,
Tim Fischer, (in his eagerness to please his overseas bosses), seems incapable of opening his mouth these days without finding his foot in it. Judges are not "elected" to the High Court, they are "appointed" by the government of the day, which of course makes a mockery of the principle of an "independent judiciary". THAT is the reason Australia is in such a fix over Mabo etc. Judges have been appointed by successive governments BECAUSE of their known political leanings, NOT their known judicial impartiality. If Mr. Fischer thinks he can solve the problem by more of the same policy he must really be as confused as he sounds.
Australia is suffering the inevitable fate of a society that believes you can behave how you like and still have "civilisation".
Have a nice day on the way down,
Graham.
"I think all would agree that the economy has been strengthening in 1997 and we'd be looking forward to strong growth, which I think does make those (Budget) targets achievable," he said.
Packer's Publishing and Broadcasting Limited (PBL) expects to earn slightly higher profits this year despite suffering a 3.1% dip in interim net profit to Au$104.3 million. Falls were experienced at Nine Network (television) with revenues slipping 1.9% to Au$326.1 million and television advertising slipping 4.4%.
New PBL managing director James Packer focused attention on Channel Nine's station in Queensland, QTQ9, saying, "The performance in Brisbane... was not up to the level we aspire to for our owned-and-operated stations and will be a major focus of management attention in 1997."
The magazine arm of PBL reported "virtually unchanged revenues" despite a 3.4% rise in advertising revenue.
Another day to be enjoyed in the global office.
Have a great day.
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