O75 Public Administration

Bulletproof Donald breaking convention

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Cameron Stewart, Adam Creighton
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 17-Jul-24

Former president Donald Trump received a hero’s welcome when he arrived at the Republican National Convention, with delegates chanting "fight, fight, fight" as he appeared with a bandage on his wounded ear. Meanwhile, Trump’s surprise choice of Senator JD Vance as his running mate continues to attract scrutiny, given his youth and inexperience. Democrats have claimed that Vance is an extremist on issues such as abortion, health and foreign policy. President Joe Biden has described Vance as a "clone of Trump" on certain issues, and says Trump will "surround himself with people who agree completely with him". Vance himself has previously been a vocal critic of Trump, but he is now a strong supporter of the ‘Make America Great Again’ movement.

CORPORATES
REPUBLICAN PARTY (UNITED STATES), UNITED STATES. EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT

Health department records show some pathology companies rorted Medicare during COVID pandemic, expert says

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Alison Branley
abc.net.au – Page: Online : 16-Jul-24

Documents obtained under freedom of information laws have revealed that some pathology companies rorted Medicare during the pandemic, with one doctor claiming 21,000 tests in a single day. The documents also reveal cases where pathology companies were operating state-government funded pop-up and drive-through testing clinics, but billing Medicare; the federal government was already half-funding the state centres under a national partnership agreement. Health economist Professor Stephen Duckett says the documents show there was "systematic rorting on a very large scale", which reflects very badly on the pathology sector.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HUMAN SERVICES. MEDICARE AUSTRALIA

Climate plans of Australian companies would be exempt from private litigation for three years under proposal

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Adam Morton
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 16-Jul-24

Legislation currently before the Senate aims to expand the amount of information that companies provide about the risk the climate crisis poses to their business and what they intend to do about it. The legislation provides a grace period of three years in terms of certain statements by companies, directors and auditors being subject to legal challenge, unless the company is being accused of criminal behaviour or is the target of action by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission. Although the legislation has been praised for targeting corporate climate responsibility, concerns have been expressed that the exemption will allow polluting companies to avoid public scrutiny for longer

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION

Roy Morgan Poll: Federal Election is ‘too close to call’: L-NP 50.5% cf. ALP 49.5%

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 16-Jul-24

If a Federal Election were held now the result would be a hung parliament and ‘too close to call’ with the Coalition on 50.5% cf. ALP 49.5% on a two-party preferred basis. The ALP or Coalition would require the support of minor parties and independents to form a minority government, the latest Roy Morgan survey finds. Primary support for the Coalition dropped 2% to 37.5% this week while the ALP increased 2.5% to 31%. Support for the Greens was down 1% to 12.5%. Support for One Nation was unchanged at 5%, support for Other Parties was up 0.5% to 5% and support for Independents was unchanged at 9%.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, MORGAN POLL, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, ONE NATION PARTY

Born-again Trump: Miracle Donald pivots to political peacemaker

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Cameron Stewart, Adam Creighton
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 16-Jul-24

Former US president Donald Trump says God prevented him from being assassinated in Pennsylvania, adding that the doctor who treated his wounded ear in hospital described his survival as a ‘miracle’. Trump will address the Republican Party’s national convention in Milwaukee this week, where he will be formally nominated as its presidential candidate. Trump says it will be a "whole different speech now", and rather than largely targeting the policies of President Joe Biden, it will aim to bring the nation together; Trump adds that he has been given the chance to unite America. Biden has in turn used a presidential address from the Oval Office to call for the nation to "stand together", contending that there is no place for violence of any kind in America.

CORPORATES
UNITED STATES. EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT, REPUBLICAN PARTY (UNITED STATES)

Albanese poised to move against CFMEU

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 5 : 16-Jul-24

The federal government will consider a range of options to address the CFMEU. Cabinet minister Bill Shorten has indicated that these include deregistering the CFMEU or appointing external administrators to the militant union. Shorten had previously appointed administrators to ‘clean out’ the Health Services Union during his tenure as industrial relations minister in the Gillard government. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says "all options are on the table" regarding the CFMEU; he contends that the recent resignation of Victorian state secretary John Setka should be just the beginning of the cleaning up process.

CORPORATES
CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY AND MARITIME EMPLOYEES UNION, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, HEALTH SERVICES UNION OF AUSTRALIA

Secret Service faces review as top sniper claims this guy had help

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Matthew Cranston
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 12 : 16-Jul-24

US President Joe Biden has ordered an independent review of the Secret Service in the wake of the attempted assassination of former president Donald Trump at a campaign rally on Saturday. The investigation will focus on how Thomas Matthew Crook was able to get close enough to shoot at Trump with an assault-style rifle, with one of Crook’s shots appearing to hit Trump on the ear. Meanwhile, Canadian Special Operations sniper Dallas Alexander, whose team holds the world record for the longest confirmed sniper kill, contends that Crook could not have been able to get in a position to shoot at Trump in broad daylight from a rooftop just a couple of hundred metres away without getting help from "somewhere within an agency organisation or government".

CORPORATES
UNITED STATES. SECRET SERVICE

Age-old hatred threat to nation, warns new envoy

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Tom McIlroy
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 10-Jul-24

The federal government has appointed Jillian Segal as Australia’s first special envoy to combat anti-Semitism. Segal is a business leader, lawyer and philanthropist, and a former president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry. She says anti-Semitism is a threat to Australian society as a whole, rather than just the Jewish community. Segal will represent Australia at the upcoming World Jewish Congress in Argentina. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has ruled out holding a judicial inquiry into anti-Semitism on university campuses. He has also criticised the Greens’ deputy leader Mehreen Faruqi for failing to call for Hamas to be ‘dismantled’ in a recent interview.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIAN GREENS

Australian real wage growth among worst in OECD

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Rachel Clun
The Age – Page: Online : 10-Jul-24

A report from the OECD has concluded that real wages in Australia are still 4.8 per cent below pre-pandemic levels. The Paris-based organisation’s latest employment outlook also shows that Australia is one of 16 member countries whose real incomes have fallen since the end of 2019. The report notes that although real wages have risen in 2024 for the first time in nearly three years, Australian households are still under pressure due to the cost-of-living crisis. Treasurer Jim Chalmers says the report shows that the federal government’s policies to increase real wages are making a "meaningful difference".

CORPORATES
ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY

Labor names, shames Chinese cyber spy gang

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Ben Packham
The Australian – Page: 4 : 10-Jul-24

The Australian Signals Directorate has publicly named a Chinese cyber espionage group that has been targeting public and private sector networks in Australia and the South Pacific region. The APT40 hacking group – which is also known as Gingham Typhoon, Kryptonite Panda, Leviathan and Bronze Mohawk – is believed to have links to China’s Ministry of State Security. Microsoft recently identified APT40 as the Pacific region’s most active cyber espionage group. It is not known as to whether Prime Minister Anthony Albanese raised concerns about Chinese hackers during Premier Li Qiang’s recent official visit to Australia.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN SIGNALS DIRECTORATE, CHINA. MINISTRY OF STATE SECURITY, MICROSOFT CORPORATION