O75 Public Administration

Kivalu avoids jail over blackmail

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 2 : 17-Jun-16

Union organiser Halafihi Kimonu Kivalu has changed his plea from not guilty to guilty to two charges of blackmail. A covert recording of a telephone conversation provided evidence that he received $A70,000 from a building contractor. In the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory on 16 June 2016, Kivalu received a suspended jail sentence of two years and nine months.

CORPORATES
SUPREME COURT OF THE AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY, CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Labor’s proposed environmental approval laws a ‘disaster’

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Original article by Primrose Riordan
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 7 : 16-Jun-16

The Federal Opposition has been criticised over its proposal to reverse reforms that gave state governments increased responsibility for granting environmental approval for major projects. Northern Territory Treasurer David Tollner warns that the policy would result in job losses in industries such as agriculture and construction. New South Wales Environment Minister Mark Speakman has also expressed concern about the policy, although it is supported by Queensland Environment Minister Steven Miles.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, NORTHERN TERRITORY. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, NEW SOUTH WALES. DEPT OF PLANNING AND ENVIRONMENT, QUEENSLAND. DEPT OF ENVIRONMENT AND HERITAGE PROTECTION, TASMANIA. DEPT OF PRIMARY INDUSTRIES, WATER AND ENVIRONMENT, MINERALS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE ENVIRONMENT

No deal vow as Tanya takes aim at Greens

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Original article by David Crowe, Mark Coultan
The Australian – Page: 8 : 16-Jun-16

The Federal Government has launched a new advertising campaign in which it claims that the Opposition will seek an alliance with the Australian Greens and independents to form government. However, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has ruled out an alliance with the Greens, while Deputy Leader Tanya Plibersek says the Greens’ election campaign is actively targeting the Australian Labor Party rather than the Coalition. She adds that there is lack of agreement within the Greens on some key issues.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, DEMOCRATIC LABOR PARTY

Turnbull under pressure to give Abbott a ministry

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 6 : 16-Jun-16

Conservatives within the Liberal Party of Australia are likely to insist on playing a bigger role in government if the Coalition is re-elected on 2 July 2016. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said he would not give a ministerial portfolio to former prime minister Tony Abbott, and the latter stated that he did not expect such an offer. However, his colleagues say that Abbott will accept a ministerial position if offered.

CORPORATES
LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF DEFENCE, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Voters are bored and cynical

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 15-Jun-16

Focus group research in the western Sydney seat of Lindsay has found that many swing voters have lost interest in the 2016 federal election campaign. The research by Visibility also shows that there is growing discontent and cynicism regarding politics, with negative perceptions of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in particular. The same voters were generally positive about Turnbull in an earlier focus group that was conducted after he became Prime Minister in September 2015.

CORPORATES
VISIBILITY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, JWS RESEARCH PTY LTD

Unis call time on uncapped places

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Original article by Julie Hare
The Australian – Page: 5 : 15-Jun-16

Australia’s Group of Eight universities have urged the major political parties to reconsider the funding model for the nation’s tertiary institutions. Group of Eight chairman Michael Spence notes that while abolishing the cap on university places has increased the participation rate, it has not improved equality of access, as students from middle-class backgrounds account for the bulk of the increased demand for university places.

CORPORATES
THE GROUP OF EIGHT LIMITED, UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Labor and Greens swap deal ‘a danger’

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Original article by David Crowe
The Australian – Page: 9 : 14-Jun-16

The Australian Labor Party and the Greens have secured a deal to swap preference votes in many electorates. However, the Greens have excluded 11 electorates from the preferences deal, and the party will direct first preferences to minor parties in the Senate. Labor and the Greens will also have an open ticket in South Australia in order to avoid directing second preferences to the Nick Xenophon Team. The Coalition recently announced that it will direct its preferences to Labor.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, NICK XENOPHON TEAM, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, ANIMAL JUSTICE PARTY, MARRIAGE EQUALITY PARTY, SECULAR PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, PIRATE PARTY AUSTRALIA, RENEWABLE ENERGY PARTY

Blame-game in NBN backflip

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Original article by Phillip Coorey, Paul Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 5 : 14-Jun-16

The Australian Government has rejected claims that the Opposition’s policy will cap the cost of the national broadband network at $A29.5bn. The Australian Labor Party argues that its plan to resume deploying fibre-to-the-premises technology will reduce the cost of the rollout. Labor aims to connect an additional two million homes and businesses to the NBN via FTTP. However, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has conceded that it would cost too much to upgrade premises that have been connected using fibre-to-the-home under the Coalition.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, KPMG AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, McKINSEY AND COMPANY, INTELLIGENT BUSINESS RESEARCH SERVICES PTY LTD, TELSYTE PTY LTD, INTERNET AUSTRALIA

Labor, Libs leave $60b health hole

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Original article by Laura Tingle
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 6 : 14-Jun-16

The issue of public hospital funding is under scrutiny, with the health policies of the Coalition and the Australian Labor Party only providing funding for the next four years. Professor Stephen Leeder notes that none of the major political parties have outlined a plan for sustainable funding of the public hospital system. Deloitte Access Economics’ Chris Richardson says Australia faces a "black hole" in hospital funding that will ultimately have to be addressed by the federal government rather than its state counterparts.

CORPORATES
LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, DELOITTE ACCESS ECONOMICS PTY LTD, SOUTH AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PREMIER AND CABINET

Undue payments under scrutiny

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Original article by Grace Collier
The Weekend Australian – Page: 22 : 11-Jun-16

Wesfarmers CEO Richard Goyder has criticised the Australian Labor Party for opposing plans to reduce the company tax rate. However, many of Wesfarmers employees are covered by the Shop, Distributive & Allied Employees’ Association’s enterprise bargaining agreement. The SDA in turn contributes more to Labor’s coffers than any other union. While Labor is widely seen as being "anti-big business", it in fact ultimately receives much of its funding from the large end of town. Furthermore, a lot of this funding is sourced from what the trade union royal commission labelled "corrupting payments".

CORPORATES
WESFARMERS LIMITED – ASX WES, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, SHOP, DISTRIBUTIVE AND ALLIED EMPLOYEES’ ASSOCIATION, AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO TRADE UNION GOVERNANCE AND CORRUPTION, COLES SUPERMARKETS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, TARGET AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, KMART AUSTRALIA LIMITED, BUNNINGS GROUP LIMITED, ACTU, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EMPLOYMENT