Federal Government departments hoarding unused iPhones, iPads, computers and TVs

Senator Joe Ludwig ... has crticised the Abbott government for hoarding so much electrical equipment. Source: News Limited

 

SIXTY thousand pieces of taxpayer funded electrical equipment, including iPhones, iPads, computers and televisions are collecting dust in government buildings across the country. 

Federal bureaucrats have been exposed as some of the nation’s worst hoarders, with more than $9 million in electrical devices remaining “unallocated” – meaning they are not being used by a public servant and are sitting in storage.

Despite the government’s pledge to end the ‘age of entitlement’, the list of tens of thousands of unused electrical goods, obtained by News Corp through Senate Estimates, includes more than 4000 PCs, more than 1000 tablet devices, hundreds of smartphones and a number of televisions.

In some cases, Federal departments are even paying storage fees for the wasted devices.

BIG SPENDERS: Departments get big office upgrades

CRAZY?: Now bureaucrats are banning pot plants
 

E waste ... the Federal Government has more than 4000 unused computers like this sitting in storage. Picutre: File/Supplied Source: Supplied

 

Both the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Australian Tax Office confirmed they were each spending in excess of $100,000 a year on storage costs for their unallocated electrical devices.

Stocked up .. the government has iPads waiting to be used. Picture: News Corp Australia Source: News Corp Australia

 

While DFAT did not attempt to estimate how many pieces of electrical equipment it was hoarding in storage, it did confirm there was “442 palettes worth of equipment”.

Defence has emerged as having the biggest stockpile of unallocated electrical goods, currently storing 40,000 unallocated ICT devices.

Unused ... iPhones are also not being used by government departments. Picture: Getty Images/AFP Source: AFP

 

Other Departments with a significant number of unused pieces of electrical equipment are the Human Services Department, the ATO, the Department of Health and the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

The Abbott government stressed that each Department and agency is responsible for managing its own collection of unallocated devices.

While government sources say it is necessary to have a stockpile of unallocated phones and iPads handy to facilitate the quick replacement of faulty devices, questions are now being raised about whether the Federal Government should be required to be more efficient with the electrical devices being purchased with taxpayers’ money.

Senior Labor frontbencher Joe Ludwig seized on the waste list and said Prime Minister Tony Abbott should be helping people rather than “hoarding electronics”.

“Instead of pretending to be Storage King Tony Abbott should be shelving his cruel budget of broken promises,” Senator Ludwig said.

news.com.au 11 Oct 2014

As expected from a fraudulent parasitic government.

Victorians owe $1.5 billion in fines

More false information spread by the government lap dog the corporate media.

The article:

Victorians owe $1.5 billion in fines


Victorians owe more than $1.5 billion in outstanding warrants for parking fines and unpaid tolls.

The Sheriff's Office arrested 3354 people in 2013/14, up from 2086 the previous year.

'Unfortunately some people are still not getting the message that you cannot hide from your unpaid fines,' Victorian Sheriff Brendan Facey said on Monday.

The Sheriff's Office finalised about 420,000 warrants in 2013/14, an increase of nearly 25 per cent.
Despite that action, the value of outstanding warrants in the last year grew from $1.316 billion to $1.533 billion.

Mr Facey said reforms were on the way to provide a single, integrated system to track and collect infringement fines, court fines, victim compensation orders and civil judgment debts.

He said the changes would give the Sheriff's Office greater ability to identify people racking up large amounts of outstanding fines and take action early.

Source: http://www.skynews.com.au/news/national/2014/10/13/victorians-owe--1-5-billion-in-fines.html

What is not mentioned:

• The so called sheriffs of Victoria are factually operating unlawfully as debt collectors.

• Any person acting in a capacity as a 'sheriff' other than Brendan Facey is doing so unlawfully.

• The warrants issued are unlawful.

• Victoria Police are participating in a conspiracy together with the Sherrif's Office to defraud billions of dollars from Victorians, an act which is an indictable criminal offence.

In Victoria, a current and applicable law is within the Imperial Acts Application Act (1980) - Sect 8, contains an entrenched law of England called the Bill of Rights (1688).

Stating:

[1688] I William and Mary Sess. II (Bill of Rights) c. II,

• 12. That all grants and promises of fines and forfeitures of particular persons before conviction, are illegal and void.

The Australian 'courts' do not want the 'accused' to know this information, nor present it in their defense.

Note: The validity of law in Victoria is put aside for the purpose of this article. 

The Imperial Acts Application Act (1980) - Sect 8 is available (18pp and 156KB) at:

Cops' code of silence - Police act like criminals says magistrate

Magistrate Charlie Rozencwajg said he accepted Constable Brennan Roberts felt “pressured and intimidated” by his more senior partner. Picture: Nicole Garmston

 

A JUNIOR police officer who backed-up a senior officer accused of ramming and bashing a random motorist may keep his job as a cop. 

Constable Brennan Roberts, 27, was today fined $3000 and released without conviction on a charge of making a false report.

Constable Roberts had pleaded guilty to the charge after he came clean to his role in the alleged incident in August last year.

His victim was allegedly punched up to six times in the face by Sen-Constable Kieran Atkin and spent more than four hours in the lockup before being charged with reckless conduct endangering life.

The details were revealed in the Melbourne Magistrates' Court last week after Constable Roberts dobbed him in and confessed to making a false report.

In handing down his decision, Magistrate Charlie Rozencwajg said Victoria Police appeared to suffer from a similar culture of silence to the criminal world.

“Especially for young people, who have no choice but to back senior officers,” he said.

Mr Rozencwajg said he accepted the young officer felt “pressured and intimidated” by his more senior partner.

“But your moral responsibility prevailed over self-interest,” he said.

Constable Brennan Roberts outside court. Picture: Nicole Garmston

 

The court heard Constable Roberts had been working temporarily with the Brimbank Highway Patrol when the incident happened.
Crown prosecutor Peter Pickering told the court a personal video camera attached to the police car's ceiling captured most of the attack.

The alleged incident happened when the two officers spotted an unregistered Honda on the Melton Highway in Sydenham.

Sen-Constable Atkin, who was driving the car and owned the camera, activated its lights and sirens and followed the Honda for about 2km until it attempted to reverse up a driveway.

Neither officer called headquarters to advise they were in a pursuit. The court heard the victim had been unaware the police car was following him.

Footage shows Constable Roberts get out and approach the passenger door before Sen-Constable Atkin reverses and rams the car, sending it into a brick letterbox.

The court heard the officer then switched the camera off and over the next four minutes assaulted the stunned driver as he sat in the car.

Mr Pickering said the subsequent camera footage captured audio of Sen-Constable Atkin telling his partner what to tell their boss, ordering him to say the victim had aimed his car at them and heavily rammed their car while they were in it.

Constable Roberts maintained the lie for five days before confessing to his superiors.

He was suspended by Victoria Police when charges were formally issued in May this year.

Mr Rozencwajg condemned Constable Roberts for breaking the trust of the community and police, but said he would not create an obstacle for him in returning to his job by imposing a conviction.

An audible sigh of relief from the police officer’s many supporters was heard throughout the courtroom as the sentence was read.

Constable Roberts will give evidence against Sen-Constable Atkin when he faces court in December.

heraldsun.com.au 16 Oct 2014

What most Victorians would be blissfully unaware of is that as of 2013, the Victorian parliament unlawfully made Victoria Police a corporation.

Victorians would also be blissfully unaware that they are living in a Police State, where the police are NOT at or for your service but under instructions of the corporation conglomerate known as the government.

Still not convinced that the police are NOT your 'friends' or even NOT a corporation?

This is another example of the corrupt judicature in Australia allowing criminal cops run rampant.

They are a danger to society and should be incarcerated.

The general populous is imprisoned for lesser 'crimes'. 

Armed PSO threatened to kill dog at North Fitzroy station, dog owner claims

Chris Drane, his dog Poncho, and friend Tim Durkin were allegedly threatened by an armed PSO at Rushall station. Photo: Simon O'Dwyer

Police are investigating a complaint by two Melbourne musicians that a Protective Services Officer threatened to kill their dog while they were walking through a railway station underpass.

The pair, Chris Drane and Tim Durkin of guitar band Cherrywood, allege the officer put his hand on the butt of his gun and threatened to kill Drane's Rhodesian ridgeback, Poncho, after the dog barked at the officer.

The incident took place on Sunday afternoon in the pedestrian underpass at Rushall station in Fitzroy North, the two men have alleged in a statement submitted to the Police Conduct Unit of Victoria Police's Professional Standards Command.

The pair allege the threat was made moments after two PSOs stopped them in the underpass because they (Drane and Durkin) were carrying opened beer cans.

The officers told them it was an offence to drink alcohol at a railway station and demanded the two men's personal details. The men said they offered to turn around and leave the underpass, unaware it was part of the station. The underpass is on VicTrack land and is managed by Metro but is not inside the station gates and is commonly used as a public walkway to Merri Creek.

During the exchange the dog barked at the PSOs, and Durkin admits he facetiously said, "That's the way, Poncho."

It was then that the officer made his threat, the men claim.

"At the same moment, the shorter of the two PSOs reached for and placed his hand on his gun, stared me in the eye and said, 'That's a good way to get your dog killed,'" Drane wrote in a statement he submitted to police on Monday.

"Not only were we both appalled by this statement, but also very fearful for the life of the dog and of our own safety. This was a very excessive reaction to the situation," he wrote.

Drane and Durkin attempted to leave the underpass but the other PSO, who remained calm during the exchange, grabbed Drane's arm and insisted on taking the pair's details.

They relented, gave their information, and were let on their way.

The pair said the incident left them feeling shaken.

"It is concerning to think that people who are supposed to protect the public are actually threatening and scaring them," Drane said.

Victoria Police said on Wednesday that the incident was being investigated.

"The complaint has been acknowledged by the Professional Standards Command and will be assessed and investigated," a spokesman said.

Protective Services Officers have been stationed at Rushall for less than two weeks. It is one of Melbourne's quietest stations, according to patronage data.

The Napthine government has promised to deploy 940 PSOs to patrol Melbourne's 212 stations, plus four regional stations, by November. There are currently 929 officers guarding 156 stations between 6pm and the last train of the night.

Officers must complete a 12-week training course before graduating, which is shorter than the 33-week course required for general police duties.

theage.com.au 15 Oct 2014

Another PSychO PSO?

ALL interaction with police should be recorded in the event of future use in court.

Parliament's criminal actions - Victoria Police a corporation

Most Australian's would be unaware of the criminal activities of the persons who reside in office masquerading as 'government', are doing so, both at a federal and state level.

Alongside this fact, in 2013 the Victorian parliament unlawfully made Victoria Police a corporation.

The Victoria Police Act (2013) is available for download (275pp and 930KB) :



Under contractual law of the Corporations Act, consent MUST be given in order for two parties to engage in a lawfully binding contract.

Nobel medal arouses suspicion at US airport: astrophysicist Brian Schmidt

Suspicious article ... Professor Brian Schmidt’s Nobel prize Medal for Physics appeared completely black on airport X-ray machines. Source: Supplied

 

A NOBEL Prize winner has revealed how he was interrogated by airport security because his medal raised suspicions as he travelled to show it to his grandmother. 

Brian Schmidt, who won the 2011 Nobel Physics Prize, was flying to visit his grandmother in the American town of Fargo, North Dakota, when airport security became alarmed by the mysterious object in his luggage, he says.

Professor Schmidt, who works as an astrophysicist at the Australian National University in Canberra, was recounting the tale at an event in New York City last month, Scientific American reports.

Interrogated ... Nobel prize-winning astrophysicist Professor Brian Schmidt at the Australian National University in Canberra. Source: News Corp Australia

 

“One of the things you get when you win a Nobel prize is, well, a Nobel prize. It’s about that big, that thick [he mimes a disk roughly the size of an Olympic medal], weighs a half a pound, and it’s made of gold,” he told the audience, gathered to celebrate the construction of the Giant Magellan Telescope, due to open in 2020 in Chile.

“When I won this, my grandma, who lives in Fargo, North Dakota, wanted to see it. I was coming around so I decided I’d bring my Nobel prize. You would think that carrying around a Nobel prize would be uneventful, and it was uneventful, until I tried to leave Fargo with it, and went through the X-ray machine. I could see they were puzzled. It was in my laptop bag. It’s made of gold, so it absorbs all the X-rays — it’s completely black. And they had never seen anything completely black.

Awarded ... the Governor-General Quentin Bryce (right) at Government House in Canberra with Professor Brian Schmidt. Picture: Smith Kym Source: News Corp Australia

 

“They’re like, ‘Sir, there’s something in your bag.’
I said, ‘Yes, I think it’s this box.’
They said, ‘What’s in the box?’
I said, ‘a large gold medal,’ as one does.
So they opened it up and they said, ‘What’s it made out of?’
I said, ‘gold.’
And they’re like, ‘Uhhhh. Who gave this to you?’
‘The King of Sweden.’
‘Why did he give this to you?’
‘Because I helped discover the expansion rate of the universe was accelerating.’

At which point, they were beginning to lose their sense of humour. I explained to them it was a Nobel prize, and their main question was, ‘Why were you in Fargo?’”

Professor Schmidt grew up in the United States but has worked in Canberra at the Australian National University since 1995.

The 2014 Nobel Physics Prize was awarded last week to Isamu Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano and Shuji Nakamura for inventing blue light-emitting diode (LED) lights.

news.com.au 13 Oct 2014

This is the kind of brain dead security the authorities want working for them.

ASIO can modify your data without ANY consequences

Tonight on ABC's program of Q & A, a very important question was raised that being the new law that allows ASIO the power to add, copy, delete or alter data on a 'citizen's'* electronic equipment and what accountability there may be.

In short the answer is that there is no accountability and no repercussions if there is corruption and a conspiracy to frame a person deemed uncomfortable to the authorities.

Welcome to the new age of the police state of Australia.

All in the name of 'terrorism'.

*Note: A citizen is a resident of a republic.

Six SA Police officers to be charged following investigation by the Independent Commission Against Corruption

SIX SA police officers, including a sergeant, have been arrested and will be charged with abuse of public office and with allegedly stealing items including booze, tools and electrical goods in new Independent Commission Against Corruption’s first bust since being set up last year. 
 
ICAC Commissioner Bruce Lander and Police Commissioner Gary Burns today revealed the arrest of the six plain clothes officers.

The six arrested officers are part of a seven-person Operation Mantle drug squad that operates from the Sturt Police Station.

They include a sergeant, senior constables and constables.

PROBE: Independent Commissioner Against Corruption Bruce Lander (left) with Police Commissioner Gary Burns. Picture: Mike BURTON

 

■A 53-year-old man from Darlington has been charged with abuse of public office and aggravated theft.

■A 43-year-old man from Aberfoyle Park has been charged with two counts of abuse of public office, two counts of theft, and property damage.

■A 38-year-old man from Woodcroft has been charged with two counts of abuse of public office, two counts of aggravated theft and property damage.

■A 33-year-old man from Camden Park has been charged with abuse of public office and aggravated theft.

■A 31-year-old woman from Sellicks Beach has been charged with abuse of public office, aggravated theft and property damage.

■A 27-year-old woman from Woodcroft has been charged with abuse of public office and aggravated theft.
All six charged police officers have been bailed to appear at the Adelaide Magistrates Court on 19 December 2014.

Mr Burns said the allegations were first raised with police earlier this year and the ICAC was alerted, as demanded by legislation.

Mr Lander, a former Federal Court judge, then elected to head up the investigation in a joint operation with SA Police’s own Anti-Corruption Branch.

The arrests were made this morning after a six-month investigation.

Mr Lander said the officers had “let down” the force and he was impressed by the professionalism of the ACB police he worked with on the investigation.

“The ICAC Act provides for that, that I should oversee any investigation and I should head it if I elect to do so, which I did,” he said.

“I thought it appropriate that somebody independent of SAPOL head the investigation because of the allegations that have been made.”

Mr Lander said the arrests would still have been made, even if the ICAC were not established.

“I’m satisfied with the integrity of the Anti-Corruption Branch and I think they would have still carried out the investigation even if I had not been occupying the position I did,” he said.

“I was disappointed to hear of the allegations. I was disappointed when the evidence was obtained.

“SAPOL has shown a real energy in trying to identify the conduct, identify the culture, and to deal with it. “I think even without ICAC this investigation would have taken place.”

Mr Burns admitted the revelations threatened to damage public confidence in the force.

However, he said there was no evidence criminality had occurred at other stations.

“These arrests resulted from an operation that commenced earlier this year when information came to the SA Police that there were irregularities in the way that the Sturt Mantle team was operating,” Mr Burns said.

“From that point, the Anti-Corruption Branch became involved.

“Over this time, the Sturt Mantle team were investigated and (that) culminates in the arrests, with six being arrested for theft of property and abuse of public office.

“These members will be duly charged.”

He said the Sturt Mantle team focused on “low-level drug dealing (and) street offending”.

“There’s no indication of any drugs being stolen,” Mr Burns said. “It’s mainly in the lower-category items. Liquor, tools, some electronics, those type of things.”

A deeper probe of the Sturt Mantle team would now be conducted, he said.

“Six of the seven have been arrested and obviously we’ll be, as part of the ongoing investigations, interviewing the other officer involved,” Mr Burns said.

“The arrests today don’t finalise the investigation. This investigation will be ongoing.

“This is disappointing. The allegations are very disappointing.”

However, he insisted the vast majority of SA Police officers were honourable.

“It shouldn’t be seen as a reflection on the other 4500 police officers who go out and do their work on a daily basis to the best of their ability,” Mr Burns said.

“This is isolated to a small group of people.

“As part of our investigations going forward, we’ll be looking at what opportunities they had that formed this little subculture.”

The group was not believed to be onselling the allegedly stolen property.

“Obviously every police officer in South Australia, police will be concerned about this because we work on reputation and we need public confidence and public support,” Mr Burns said.

“Any matter like this, where police officers are involved in criminality will always have an impact.”

The officers have been suspended pending court proceedings.

Mr Lander was appointed the inaugural head of SA’s ICAC in September last year.

Mr Lander has previously revealed to The Advertiser he has referred one matter to the Director of Public Prosecutions for action but had not publicly disclosed the nature of the allegations.

Under law, Mr Lander is permitted to make public statements on his own discretion.

He has not previously exercised that right to hold a general press conference.

Last month, Mr Lander told The Advertisera middle-ranking public servant was the first person he had referred to the DPP and that several other referrals were likely in the following weeks.

He said that case related to the “conduct of a senior person in public administration’’.

“We have had some serious matters reported that are still under investigation, a couple of which are taking up a significant part of our resources, both in the number of personnel involved and the cost of the investigation,’’ Mr Lander said.

“We have had to put on some part-time people to assist, former police officers who are taking statements in one very serious matter.’’

Of more than 900 complaints and reports made in the first year of the ICAC’s operation, less than 60 were under investigation for corruption-related offences after being assessed.

adelaidenow.com.au 13 Oct 2014

Only a small portion of corrupt police caught out.

Unfortunately not enough is done to weed out the corrupt cops.

Information has been obtained anonymously by CorpAu that police in Melbourne's western and northern suburbs are involved in drug related crimes including theft of property to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars per incident.

Police are supposed to protect the community, but instead are thugs, assailants and thieves threatening those who wish to expose their criminal activities with violence to them and their families.

Australian poverty rate hits 13.9 per cent, ACOSS report shows

2.5 million Australians are now living in poverty. Picture: AFP Source: AFP

 

MORE than 2.5 million Australians are now living below the poverty line, according to a major new report by the Australian Council of Social Services. 

The report, to be released today, will show that in the past two years, a quarter of a million more Australians have fallen into poverty, raising the national poverty rate to 13.9 per cent.

The situation is substantially worse among Australian children, with 17.7 per cent of kids across the country living below the OECD poverty line, and more than one in three children living in sole parent households are in poverty.

In Australia, the poverty line equates to living on less than $400 a week for a single adult or $841 for a couple with two children.

REALITY CHECK: What life looks like for Australians below the poverty line

DISADVANTAGED: One in three Australian elderly live in poverty

More people ... slipping below the poverty line. Picture: News Corp Australia Source: News Corp Australia

 

ACOSS chief executive Cassandra Goldie said the findings of the report are alarming and “highlight the need for a national plan to tackle the scourge of poverty”.

“It is unacceptable that after 20 years of economic growth our wealthy nation is going backwards in the numbers of people falling into poverty,” Ms Goldie said.

“These findings paint a disturbing picture that we as a community need to confront if we are to reverse the spreading disparity we are seeing on the ground in the daily lives of people across the country,” she said.

Across the country, there are more people living in poverty in Tasmania than any other state, with the island state’s poverty rate toppling 15 per cent.

This is followed by Queensland, where the poverty rate is 14.8 per cent, then New South Wales at 14.6 per cent, Victoria at 13.9 per cent, Western Australia at 12.4 per cent and South Australia, which has a poverty rate of just 11.7 per cent.

Women are significantly more likely to be living below the poverty line than men, with 14.7 per cent of Australian women experiencing poverty, compared to 13 per cent of men.

Welfare recipients are most at risk of living in poverty, with more than half of all Newstart recipients living below the poverty line.

Calling for help .. ACOSS chief executive Cassandra Goldie. Picture: News Corp Australia Source: News Corp Australia

 

Just under half of all recipients of the Disability Support Pension are also living in poverty, as are a quarter of the Australians receiving the carers payment and 15 per cent of those receiving the age pension.

Ms Goldie said the report shines a light on the “sheer inadequacy” of the welfare system.

She also said it emphasised the danger posed by the Abbott government’s first budget, which would reduce the indexation of pension payments to the Consumer Price Index only.

news.com.au 12 Oct 2014

While there are well over 2.5 million Australians living in poverty where government financial help does not exist, and is not given, the Australian politicians are importing cheap slave labour at a rate of 1000 per week into Victoria alone, with free housing and gifts over $10,000 per household for LCD televisions, newest smartphones, and motor vehicles.