O75 Public Administration

Business leaders in no doubt: Newman on right track with asset sales

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Original article by Annabel Hepworth, Michael McKenna
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 15-Jan-15

Public assets privatisation is a major issue in the campaigning for the Queensland state election to be held on 31 January 2015. Business leaders, as surveyed by the Chamber of Commerce & Industry Queensland, have voiced strong support for the plans of Premier Campbell Newman to lease power and ports infrastructure to overseas institutional investors. He believes that the eventual gains may exceed the original estimate of $A37bn, of which $A25bn will be used to pay down the state’s debt

CORPORATES
QUEENSLAND. DEPT OF THE PREMIER AND CABINET, CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY QUEENSLAND, UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND, SUNCORP GROUP LIMITED – ASX SUN, FLIGHT CENTRE TRAVEL GROUP LIMITED – ASX FLT, QIC LIMITED, BHP BILLITON LIMITED – ASX BHP, QUEENSLAND. TREASURY, PORT BOTANY, PORT OF BRISBANE CORPORATION, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, GRIFFITH UNIVERSITY, QANTAS AIRWAYS LIMITED – ASX QAN, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, MEDIBANK PRIVATE LIMITED – ASX MPL, HSBC AUSTRALIA HOLDINGS PTY LTD, BANK OF AMERICA AUSTRALIA LIMITED, MERRILL LYNCH (AUSTRALIA) PTY LTD, LIBERAL-NATIONAL PARTY OF QUEENSLAND

Jobs goal slips out of PM’s reach

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Original article by David Crowe
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 15-Jan-15

Approximately 11,700 jobs were created each month in the Australian Government’s first year in office. During the 2013 election campaign the Coalition committed to a five-year target of creating one million new jobs. The Government seems unlikely to achieve this goal, which would require some 18,000 new jobs to be created each month over the next four years. Economists are divided as to whether the job creation target can be achieved

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, BANK OF AMERICA AUSTRALIA LIMITED, MERRILL LYNCH (AUSTRALIA) PTY LTD, HSBC AUSTRALIA HOLDINGS PTY LTD, DEUTSCHE BANK AG, AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EMPLOYMENT, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE. INSTITUTE OF APPLIED ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL RESEARCH

Prosecutions office may have left itself vulnerable

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Original article by Josh Gordon
The Age – Page: 4 : 15-Jan-15

The Victorian Office of Public Prosecutions has decided not to recommend charges over a stolen dictaphone, which featured in a political scandal. The device was reported as lost by a Fairfax Media journalist at the Australian Labor Party’s state conference in May 2014 in Melbourne. Kosmos Samaras, assistant state secretary of the Victorian branch of the party, told the police that he took the device from a lost-property box and downloaded audio files from the dictaphone, which he later destroyed

CORPORATES
FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED – ASX FXJ, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, VICTORIA. OFFICE OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS, VICTORIA POLICE

Robb determined to secure India FTA

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Original article by Amanda Hodge
The Australian – Page: 17 : 14-Jan-15

The Australian Government has secured three free trade agreements (FTAs), with China, Japan and South Korea. Trade Minister Andrew Robb says he is very keen to add India to that list, and will continue a series of talks on such a deal during 2015 that started in 2011. He concedes that there are significant hurdles, especially in the areas of agriculture and foreign investment, but notes that the same applied to the China FTA when those negotiations began. Some 450 business leaders from 14 Australian industries are currently visiting India with Robb

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND TRADE, RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO, WOODSIDE PETROLEUM LIMITED – ASX WPL, HANCOCK PROSPECTING PTY LTD, UNITED PROGRESSIVE ALLIANCE, CONGRESS PARTY (INDIA)

Medicare cuts threaten emergency departments

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Original article by Julia Medew
The Age – Page: 7 : 14-Jan-15

Stephen Parnis, vice-president of the Australian Medical Association, has warned of increased stress on hospital emergency departments. He argued that the experience in the UK showed the Australian Government’s planned cuts worth $A3.5bn to the Medicare bulk billing system would lead to patients avoiding general practitioner (GP) visits and instead present at public hospitals. While Simon Judkins of the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine agrees, he says an even greater issue will be patients with multiple illnesses failing to visit GPs as they can no longer afford to seek appropriate care

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION LIMITED, THE AUSTRALASIAN COLLEGE FOR EMERGENCY MEDICINE, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HUMAN SERVICES. MEDICARE AUSTRALIA, VICTORIA. DEPT OF HEALTH

Patients face $20 GP bill

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Original article by Julia Medew
The Age – Page: 1 : 13-Jan-15

The Australian Medical Association (AMA) opposes changes to Medicare rebates, which are due to come into effect on 19 January 2015. From that day, Medicare will pay only $A16.95 towards visits lasting six to 10 minutes. The current rate is $A37.05. The AMA warned that many doctors will cease bulk billing shorter consultations

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HUMAN SERVICES. MEDICARE AUSTRALIA

Terror failings ‘expose data flaws’

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Original article by Jared Owens
The Australian – Page: 2 : 13-Jan-15

Australian Attorney-General George Brandis claims it is "urgent" for telcos to be required to keep customers’ telephone and internet records for a minimum of two years. Critics of the Government’s data retention proposals say the Sydney siege and Paris terrorism attacks show that the reforms cannot safeguard people against extremists. Senator Scott Ludlam of the Australian Greens points out that the authorities were familiar with the perpetrators in both Sydney and Paris

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. ATTORNEY-GENERAL’S DEPT, LIBERAL-NATIONAL PARTY OF QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIAN SECURITY INTELLIGENCE ORGANISATION, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, AUSTRALIAN CRIME COMMISSION

No free time

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Original article by Daniel Emerson
The West Australian – Page: 1 : 13-Jan-15

Some 1,127 fine defaulters in Western Australia opted to serve time in jail rather than pay their fine or undertake community service in 2013-14. In contrast, just 442 defaulters were jailed in 2007-08. Corrective Services Minister Joe Francis is concerned that many people are taking advantage of laws which allow multiple jail terms to be served concurrently. He has called for reforms such as longer jail periods and deducting the fines from the payments of welfare recipients rather than jailing them

CORPORATES
WESTERN AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF CORRECTIVE SERVICES, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HUMAN SERVICES. CENTRELINK

Crown land a ‘big fire risk’

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Original article by Katherine Fleming
The West Australian – Page: 3 : 12-Jan-15

Western Australia’s Association of Volunteer Bush Fire Brigades wants Crown land to be subject to the same laws regarding the mitigation of fire risks as privately-owned land. Association vice-president Dave Gossage notes that at present the penalties for private landowners do not apply to land that is managed by federal, state and local governments. Some 92 per cent of land in the state is Crown land

CORPORATES
ASSOCIATION OF VOLUNTEER BUSH FIRE BRIGADES OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA INCORPORATED, WESTERN AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF FIRE AND EMERGENCY SERVICES, WESTERN AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF LANDS

Coroner’s plea for drug deaths action

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Original article by Nino Bucci
The Age – Page: 4 : 12-Jan-15

An online and real-time drug prescriptions monitoring system was a campaign promise of the former Victorian government ahead of the November 2014 election. Coroner Jacinta Heffey has now called on the new State Government formed by the Australian Labor Party to adopt the policy, or face an increase in the number of overdoses. Heffey has issued her findings on the death of a man who received a prescription for methadone from one doctor and one for the benzodiazepine tranquilliser from a second

CORPORATES
CORONER’S COURT (VICTORIA), VICTORIA. DEPT OF HEALTH, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, ASIA PACIFIC CORONERS’ SOCIETY