Govt refuses to confirm carbon price

The federal government is refusing to confirm reports it has settled on a $23-a-tonne starting point for its carbon pricing scheme.

'This will be announced on Sunday when all of the details will be released,' cabinet minister Nicola Roxon told ABC Radio on Thursday.

'That's when that question will be answered.'

Mr Roxon also refused to say whether public hospitals will be compensated for the tens of thousands of dollars it will cost them in higher electricity charges.

Fairfax has reported the $23 price is a compromise between Labor, which was seeking $20, and the Australians Greens, who wanted a much higher price.

Government modelling based on a $20 price showed that a carbon tax would cost the average family about $7.80 a week, or $406, a year, before compensation.

Seventy per cent of households are expected to be compensated by the government.

The government also has halved the number of companies hit by the carbon tax from 1000 to about 500.

Companies that will be excluded include fuel suppliers and distributors and also firms emitting synthetic greenhouse gases, such as the refrigeration and air conditioning industries.

Independent MP Tony Windsor was coy about the reported carbon price, saying he was bound by confidentiality as a member of the government's multi-party climate change committee.

'People will be pleasantly surprised on Sunday with the detail that's in the package,' he told reporters in Canberra.

Mr Windsor urged voters to look beyond the headlines and read the detail.

'I hope they see a genuine attempt ... to come to grips with this issue early rather than leave it to later generations,' he said.

It was 'gutsy' for the government to pursue action in a hung parliament.

'The easiest thing would have been to leave this to another parliament,' he said.

Australian Greens MP Adam Bandt said his party had been realistic about sealing a carbon package deal.

'We've always known there's going to be give and take and that we won't get everything that we want,' he told reporters.

'It's not the package we would have written by ourselves, but it's far better than what the government would have come up with if left to their own devices.'

Mr Bandt denied the package was similar to the Rudd government's dumped carbon pollution reduction scheme which the Greens voted down in 2009.

'I think you'll find it's quite different,' he said.

The MP rejected suggestions the Greens had sold out or that supporters would be disappointed by Sunday's announcement.

'I think Greens supporters will be very pleased with what we have been able to negotiate,' he said.

Government MPs will learn about the details of the carbon package in a phone hook-up on Sunday.

Backbenchers Ed Husic and Michelle Rowland defended suggestions they and their Labor colleagues were being kept in the dark.

'It's similar to the budget,' Mr Husic said.

Ms Rowland denied was 'a cop out', saying there had been a good debate in caucus.

'Information has always been forthcoming, I've never felt like I was in the dark.'

skynews.com.au 8 Jul 2011

The government is demonstrating that it is not accountable to anyone, especially the general population.

The government will now install Carbon Tax companies that 'manage' your money with respect to the tax. The government claims that these companies will plant trees to off set the polution caused by our vehicles, and not industry.

The government turned a blind eye to fraud and corruption in the Carbon offset companies that were around. There was no jail time for the CEO's of the firms, and the government sponsored monies that went to them by corrupt government officials.

High dollar pushes relative cost of living in Australian cities up world rankings

Australia has four of world's costliest cities

Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane

THE rise in the Australian dollar means we now have four of the 15 most expensive cities in the world to live in, according to a survey released today by the UK-based Economist Intelligence Unit.

Sydney has moved up from 32nd place two years ago to sixth now and Melbourne is up from 38th to seventh, with a cost of living more than 40 per cent higher than New York, The Australian reports.

Perth and Brisbane, which are almost 25 per cent more expensive than New York, are ranked 13th and 14th.

All four cities are now costlier than major cities including London, Vienna, Rome, Berlin, Hong Kong and Beijing, according to the survey, which compares the cost of living using more than 400 individual prices in 133 cities around the world.

Tokyo, Oslo and Osaka take the top three places overall while Mumbai, Tunis and Karachi are the three cheapest.

The Australian cities' rankings have climbed sharply in the unit's surveys in recent years.

Read more about Australia being home to four of the world's most expensive cities to live in at The Australian.

aap 7 Jul 2011

The reality of this story is quite the contrast to what the government mentions about not only Australia but also the official inflation rates.

The majority of household bills have gone up in the tens of percent, and some as high as 50% annually.

The press (and for example the utility companies) mention that bills will soar.

The evidence is in the average household budget that there is a staggering increase in the cost of living.

At this point in time the mass media has mentioned that Melbourne is 40% more expensive to live in than New York.

The government insists that the inflation rate (CPI - Consumer Price Index) is 3.33% (March 2011).

This is another blatant government lie, which is deliberately ignored by the government sponsored mass media.

Truckie more concerned about truck than victim after crash

A TRUCK driver who hit two stationary cars, killing a woman and injuring her daughter, appeared more concerned about his truck than his victim, a court has heard.

Leigh Rigutto was driving an 18-tonne semi-trailer when he veered into a bicycle lane, smashing into a parked white Toyota, which cannoned into a stationary red Mazda.

The white car became airborne and its driver Debbie Masliczek suffered life-threatening injuries.

Her mother Lorraine Masliczek, 63, who was in the red car, died in the crash in Melbourne's east in October 2009.

The County Court heard Rigutto was involved in three further collisions after the fatal crash, including one in his truck three months later for which he was convicted.

Today, Rigutto, 30, of South Morang, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing death and dangerous driving causing serious injury over the Epping crash.

A forensic physician found his driving may have been affected by methadone, cannabis and sedatives.

Prosecutor Amina Bhai said Rigutto failed to drive properly, keep a proper lookout and apply his emergency brakes.

After the crash, witnesses told police he got out of his truck, took a packet of cigarettes and "appeared to be more concerned about his truck as opposed to the dead woman in the red car he was standing next to''.

He told police he went to see if the driver was OK but when she didn't reply, went to check on his truck.

"I just wanted to make sure I could still drive it back to Queensland tomorrow,'' he told them.

Despite the cars being stationary, Rigutto claimed the red car came out of a side street and cut him off, leaving him no choice but to hit it.

He said he did not know anything about the white car.

Debbie Masliczek, 37, suffered life-long injuries, including snapped ribs. She is continually short of breath, cannot sleep lying down and can't have children.

She said the loss of her mother, whom she described as her best friend, was devastating.

"A piece of our heart died along with my mother that day,'' she said.

Ms Masliczek said Rigutto had not shown remorse and instead smirked in court.

"I pray he gets a revelation and realises what he's done instead of laughing at everything,'' she said.

Defence barrister Jason Gullaci said his client accepted responsibility for his actions and that his behaviour after the crash was consistent with shock and panic rather than lack of remorse.

The prosecution wants Rigutto jailed for a maximum three to four-and-a-half years.

The pre-sentence hearing continues on Friday.

news.com.au 6 Jul 2011

The is another example of how the law works to the benefit of the criminal.

One can quite easily kill someone, and be incarcerated for only a few years.

There is no interest for the law makers to change the law, as it is NOT them that is generally effected by these type of crimes, but rather the community at large for which they have little regard for.

Law makers generally are of the opinion that it is to bothersome to change the law, unless there is some monetary reward with the proposed change.

It is common practice for law makers to dismiss many changes, a fact that again is ignored by the mass media.

The law deliberately lets these people out onto the streets to re-offend, so that revenue can be raised if caught for speeding.

Australia's Jobless rate at 4.9%

Today, the government announced in the mass media, that the jobless rate is currently at 4.9%.

In the wake of this announcement, and prior to the build up, there is a deliberate mass media silence on the accuracy of this, given that the real figure is close to 9.5%, and is used by industry analysts.

The banks interest rates are effected by factors which include unemployment rate.

In order to steer the economy, the government falsifies the official rate of unemployed, to fit the banks needs to a rise or decline in interest rates.

The welfare agency Centrelink has confirmed that if its welfare recipient is on a course, work for the dole program, or sick, they are not included in the jobless statistic.

This is a deliberately fraudulent act on behalf of the government to influence the business community, of whom there are many parliamentarians and cronies of the law makers.

Victoria's head of police has recently resigned, over fraudulent figures issued over crime statistics.

There is also a large police involvement in the drug gangs drug manufacturing and distribution program, of which there have been no arrests of police nor other operatives.

These people are above the law, as will be seen by the deliberate lack of legal cation against them in the future.

corpau.

Record high in foreign aid fraud, review shows

THE level of fraud in Australia's $4.8 billion foreign aid program has reached a record 191 cases - nearly eight times the level of six years ago.

As a high-level review to be released today gives the green light to lifting annual aid spending to $9 billion, it can be revealed 63 staff involved in the aid program have been dismissed for corruption.

Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd will today declare Australia's aid program in good shape and able to cope with a massive increase in funding to help some of the world's poorest countries.

He will also announce an effective end to bilateral aid to China, with assistance to be cut from $22.5 million to just $4 million by 2012/13.

The Foreign Minister will use the review headed by former Olympics' boss Sandy Hollway as the impetus for key changes to aid delivery.

"Our aid program is making a real difference to people's lives," Mr Rudd said.

Opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Julie Bishop said the government had to maintain "strict control over management of the foreign aid program to prevent corruption". AusAID is battling a record number of alleged fraud cases across 27 countries and involving millions of dollars.

aap 6 Jul 2011

This has been a well known and documented fact within the government cricles for quite some time.

The government has 'allowed' this kind of practice to flourish, as billions ($4.8 billion) of dollars of tax payers money is being wasted.

The government naturally covers this up, and makes up excuses, that it is in control, when clearly it is NOT.

One of the primary concerns is that this type of market (charities), supports many a government position, will never cease to exist, even though it has fraudulent transactions taking place all the time.

Tiger Airways took too long to stop sales: ACCC

GROUNDED airline Tiger Airways took too long to stop selling tickets amid uncertainty about when it will be flying again, the nation's consumer watchdog says.

Tiger Airways Australia temporarily suspended ticket sales late on yesterday night after warnings from the nation's consumer regulators that it needed to provide better advice for customers.

Far from welcoming the step, a "bewildered" Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) chairman, Graeme Samuel, said Tiger took too long to respond to the regulators' concerns.

"It's not a question of welcoming, it's a question of saying well at long last they've responded," Mr Samuel said.

"I'd have to say that the reaction of Tiger in the period from Monday morning through to Tuesday night was far from satisfactory at all, well the reaction was nothing, no response.

"There was 48 hours there where despite the fact that they knew that our view was that to comply with the Australian consumer law they needed to provide this advice to customers, they simply for one reason or another didn't respond and didn't deal with that appropriately for customers.

"There were a large number of customers potentially who bought tickets on Monday and Tuesday who did not have that advice and warning given to them at the time that they bought the tickets."

All of Tiger's domestic flights are suspended until early Saturday. The Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) has yet to decide if it will lift the grounding.

State and federal consumer regulators had warned Tiger that if it continued selling tickets for flights from Saturday, it needed to tell customers that it was uncertain whether it would be flying and that it was dependent on CASA approval.

"And they needed to stop selling tickets if they got to a point where they didn't reasonably expect to resume flights," Mr Samuel said.

Mr Samuel would not detail what action the consumer bodies may take against Tiger, or if it had broken consumer laws.

"We are now in continual and constant contact with Tiger on this matter," he said.

The ACCC and state bodies are demanding that Tiger explain why it took 48 hours to respond and take the appropriate action on its website and call centre.

The regulators will also continue to monitor the airline's dealings with customers, including the issue of refunds if flights aren't back on Saturday and ensuring the required warnings are in place when ticket sales resume.

aap 6 Jul 2011

This is another example of blatant consumer rip off and fraud.

In Australia, stealing is a crime.

Many companies withhold monies from consumers in their holding accounts, denying the customer his own interest in the bank if the monies were returned.

This is in both plain English, and legal jargon, theft or stealing.

The law deliberately ignores this this theft is it is the business (cronies of the legal community) community that profits.

Laws are made to the detriment of the masses only to support fraud of businesses.