There are days where you simply don't have words to describe the acute surprise, the acute embarrassment, and the acute pain of having this idiot:
...as our Prime Minister. Today is one of those days.
In extraordinary comments on Monday afternoon, Mr Abbott attacked the UN and said its representatives would "have a lot more credibility if they were to give some credit to the Australian government" for stopping boat arrivals.
"I really think Australians are sick of being lectured to by the United Nations, particularly, particularly given that we have stopped the boats, and by stopping the boats, we have ended the deaths at sea," Mr Abbott said.
"The most humanitarian, the most decent, the most compassionate thing you can do is stop these boats because hundreds, we think about 1200 in fact, drowned at sea during the flourishing of the people smuggling trade under the former government."
The un-ironic stupidity is breathtaking. The boats being "stopped" only happened because of the deterrence offered by the Manus Island detention centre being a terrible place to end up. So even the "stopping the boats" he wants credit for, rests on the fruits of what the UN would term torture. Which means he can't get credit for that.
Worse still, the asylum seekers are being sent to Manus Island because the ALP choice of Malaysia was disqualified because Malaysia wasn't a signatory to the UN convention on refugees. And thanks to Tony Abbott's own drama-queen efforts as the opposition leader, they could not be brought to Australia, and had to be sent to Manus Island as a last resort. There's nothing in this that isn't somehow Tony Abbott's own damn fault.
As Paul Keating said, "God help us all, God help us all."
The Mental Health System Is About To Break
"Big" works in Mental Health and he is always full of stories about how the system is stretched to breaking point, and then they halve the resources. Or stop replacing broken fluoro tubes in the building. Or stop fixing broken toilets. And stop cleaners' contracts. Alas, making the situation even more miserable to the outside eyes, the mental health workers are with the HSU. Yes, that same union that had that Craig Thomson guy spend fantastic plastic money on hookers and had Kathy Jackson and Michael Williamson and all kinds of characters that had the smack of corruption about them. Having ended up in court in the wake of the Craig Thomson affair (and never was the use of the word 'affair' been more accurate as double entendre), ensnared by their own bizarre politics and rorting, the HSU became the least effective representation for its union members.
Worse still, the mental health workers have had a gag order placed upon them as a term of their employment. Not only are they sewn up with medical confidentiality, they're specifically not allowed to talk about their conditions at work to the media lest they get terminated. When you consider there aren't may private sector posts for mental health workers, you can see the New South Wales government has been gagging an entire sector of workers.
Finally, the Sydney Morning Herald has put a slit into the curtain of silence. But they're only getting the doctors' side of the story.
For years doctors have complained about the serious underfunding of mental health services. The reason? Most people think it's because performing more surgeries and cutting waiting times in emergency departments wins elections, while making sure someone with schizophrenia is properly supported and medicated in the community doesn't.
Today Fairfax Media revealed that the situation is reaching crisis point.
Doctors around the state cheered when the government, just after it was elected, allowed local health authorities more control over health services in their area. But the downside of the decision was that some areas with particularly stretched budgets have looked to mental health services to find savings. It's almost impossible to close a hospital bed without serious political ramifications, doctors say. But leaving a community health worker position unfilled? That's much easier to get away with.
All of the charts might be correct but it's only scratching the surface of the problems in funding, and worse still, it hasn't even gotten down to the day-to-day people who handle all the mentally ill people who live out in the community. There are horror stories to tell there.
Consider this fact. When Julia Gillard and Wayne Swan were making cuts in their last budget, one of the two places to get an increase in funding was Mental Health. It hasn't been nearly enough to cover for the shortfall in funding; and WTE Joe Hockey has been trying to cut even that funding.
Politicians are really fucking this up badly. There simply is no other interpretation.
Screen Australia - Abnormal Business Practices
Pleiades sent in this link.
Companies associated with actor and film producer Claudia Karvan were paid $10.5 million by Screen Australia last year. Karvan is on the board of Screen Australia.
Companies associated with fellow director Joan Peters, a media and entertainment lawyer, received just under $14.8 million in production grants, consultancy fees, travel grants and assorted transactions with Screen Australia.
Companies associated with actor and film producer Claudia Karvan were paid $10.5 million by Screen Australia last year. Karvan is on the board of Screen Australia.
Companies associated with fellow director Joan Peters, a media and entertainment lawyer, received just under $14.8 million in production grants, consultancy fees, travel grants and assorted transactions with Screen Australia.
Companies associated with fellow director Joan Peters, a media and entertainment lawyer, received just under $14.8 Companies associated with director and film producer Rosemary Blight picked up $2.2 million in production grants and travel to the Toronto Film Festival.
Payments of $1.5 million were made to companies associated with filmmaker Rachel Perkins and for a project in which a "close family" member of Perkins was involved.
Payments were also made to companies associated with the former chairman of Screen Australia, Glen Boreham, companies associated with deputy chair Deanne Weir and companies associated with another director, Richard Keddie.
There is no suggestion of anything amiss. The transactions are duly recorded in the notes to Screen Australia's financial statements and the website features a conflict of interest policy. One can't help wondering though – as normal procedure on conflicts is for a director to leave the boardroom when a related party transaction is being discussed – that Screen Australia board meetings must resemble more a game of musical chairs than a traditional, boring old board meeting, as members excuse themselves.
In two decades of digging around company accounts, this reporter has never seen anything quite like it; no less than five pages of related party transactions.
"Screen Australia is fortunate to have an expert industry board ensuring decisions are well informed with an industry perspective. The agency adheres to a strict conflict of interest policy that ensures fairness and accountability," a spokeswoman said.
We had stumbled on this quite by accident, in the process of researching a story on why the Australian film industry was not living up to its potential.Are we surprised? It's a freaking rort. That it's all nepotism and paying one's spouses out of the public purse is as rife as it is, as costly as it is?
Need I say any more?
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