Authority will not release financial modelling for desalination plant

 

MELBOURNE Water is keeping secret alternative funding scenarios for the desalination plant. 

The authority has rejected a Herald Sun Freedom of Information request to release financial modelling that gives households longer to pay off the multi-billion-dollar Wonthaggi project.

Releasing the "sensitive" material was "contrary to the public interest", it said.

The secrecy has angered consumer advocates.

"Melbourne Water is saying that spreading the cost of the desalination plant over its asset life of 50 years, rather than the length of the public-private partnership, which is 27 years, will impact its financial viability," Consumer Action Law Centre chief Gerard Brody said.

"This claim needs to be examined publicly, and that can only be done if its financial modelling is examined closely by the regulator and is open to public scrutiny."

Retailers have applied for a huge price rise of 34 per cent for next financial year for most metropolitan households, mainly to recoup desal plant costs.

The Essential Services Commission will make a draft price ruling for 2013 to 2018 soon.

Melbourne Water must pay consortium AquaSure $18 billion over 27 years before any water is even ordered, under the State Government contract.

Giving households longer to repay would ease the initial price rise and force future generations to chip in more for the plant, but could lead to a higher overall cost because of interest charges on borrowings.

In one example supplied to the commission, average bills would be just under $200 less over the first five years, but Melbourne Water borrowings would blow out by an extra $300 million.

Melbourne Water said releasing the "preliminary internal working documents" would be potentially misleading.

Spokesman Geoff Lynch said the modelling represented "hypothetical" situations prepared for the commission, but was not the only material being considered before the regulator made its decision.

If money were collected from households over a longer period "we would have to either cut services or borrow money and pay interest, which adds to the overall cost, and we don't think either of those alternatives are in the long-term interests of the community", he said.

couriermail.com.au 7 apr 2013

The quote "contrary to the public interest" is a statement that implicates the 'water authority'.

There are a myriad of shelf companies created for the project, that get a slice of the tax payers pie.

Since the fraud is on a billion dollar scale, the oppressive force is overwhelming in keeping the information within the select few.

Another fraud that will go unpunished, and probably the full extent will not be reported  or investigated by the corporate media.

The Ninety Billion Nightmare - the real cost of the NBN rollout

THE final cost of the NBN rollout could more than double and exceed $90 billion by the time it is finished, according to a new analysis contained in the Coalition's broadband policy. 

The Coalition policy claims retail prices charged to consumers would rise annually over the next nine years at double the rate of household electricity bills.

Using modelling from key telcos and finance industry analysis of the NBN Co's 2012 corporate plan, the Coalition has estimated it will take four years longer to finish and potentially cost an extra $45 billion to complete.

The extraordinary claim is made in a key document to be released as part of the Coalition's own national broadband network election policy, which claims the government had vastly underestimated the cost blowouts, delays and revenue returns of the NBN.

The NBN Co last year released a revised corporate plan which admitted to a $1.5 billion cost blowout in the capital cost - to $37.4 billion - with a total cost to taxpayers of $44.1 billion.

The Coalition document cited Macquarie Bank estimates from January this year of the real cost per household of the rollout, claiming they were 40 per cent higher than what was being forecast.

The document also estimated the current 50 per cent delay to the schedule if continued would mean it would not be completed until 2025 - a delay of four years.

The Coalition's estimates of the real capital costs suggested they would be more likely to reach $71 billion, not the $37.4 billion claimed by NBN Co's most recent estimates. The overall cost to the taxpayer, including overly optimistic revenue targets, would more likely reach $94 billion, the 12-page costing document claims.

Opposition communications spokesman Malcolm Turnbull is expected to release the Coalition's policy this week, claiming it will deliver a cheaper NBN based on a fibre-to-the-node (FTTN) rollout rather than the government's fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) model.

"Australia ranks as one of the most expensive countries in the OECD when it comes to the cost of telecommunications," Mr Turnbull told The Daily Telegraph.

"Labor's NBN will hinder Australia competing effectively in the digital economy. The NBN doesn't have a budget - Labor have handed the NBN a blank cheque and asked them to keep the country updated as to how much it is costing."

Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has accused the Coalition of having "half baked broadband thought bubbles" rather than a policy.

Sections of the ICT industry have also claimed that while the Coalition's policy may reduce the cost of the NBN in the short term, it could drive the cost higher in the future due to what they claim are the inevitable upgrades to the system from not going fully fibre in the first place.

thedailytelegraph.com.au 8 Apr 2013

Corporate fraud occurs in many different shapes and sizes.

In order for mates to obtain the contract, falsified tenders or bids are put in place and won. After the initial works have started, projects suffer a 'budget blow out' or go into overtime, in effect putting the extra money into the coffers of the corrupt business owners and their cronies.

This method of doing business has been practiced in Australia for decades with the full knowledge and approval of the authorities at the expense of the Australian taxpayers.

It is very doubtful that any corrupt (and illegal) business deals will ever be brought forward before the Australian courts.

The NBN and Victoria's desalination plant are just two current example of fraud on a grad scale.

The real losers here are the Australian consumers.

'Deceitful' Big Pharma accused of putting lives at risk

Patients are being deceived into taking drugs they don't need, that don't work or may put lives at risk, according to a scathing review of the influence big drug companies have on healthcare.

Drug companies ''masterfully influenced'' medicine, a joint review by Australian, British and US researchers has found, describing how the enormous profit involved in making and selling drugs gave the industry power to influence every stage of the health system.

''As a result of these interferences, the benefits of drugs and other products are often exaggerated and their potential harms are downplayed,'' their research, published in the European Journal of Clinical Investigation, found.

A co-author of the paper, Emmanuel Stamatakis, from the University of Sydney's school of public health, said it was ''entirely illogical'' to rely on the pharmaceutical industry to fund medical research.

''The profits involved are just too large and the temptation to manipulate the evidence is difficult to resist, even when this may lead to the loss of lives,'' Dr Stamatakis said.

''Asking corporate sponsors to conduct pivotal trials on their own products is like asking a painter to judge their own painting to receive an award.''

He cited as an example anti-diabetic drugs that he said increased the risk of heart problems and were prescribed despite interventions like exercise being more effective.

One anti-diabetic drug, rosiglitazone, is still prescribed in Australia despite being pulled from the European and New Zealand markets after thousands of lawsuits were filed against its manufacturer, GlaxoSmithKline. The company was accused of deliberately withholding evidence that the drug caused heart attacks.

Drug companies funded, designed and controlled a large portion of the most influential medical studies, the researchers found in an evaluation of 600 clinical trials.

Trials funded by industry were four times more likely than those sponsored by not-for-profits to favour the sponsored drug.

The researchers also looked at the influence of drug company representatives using flawed evidence of drugs' effectiveness to persuade doctors to prescribe them.

Doctors were also treated to free trips to international drug conferences, fancy dinners, research grants and drug company shares, researchers found.

''It is hardly surprising that clinical practice guidelines often are heavily focused on new costly interventions and only loosely follow the available evidence,'' the researchers wrote.

Medical writer and a senior research fellow with Queensland's Bond University Ray Moynihan said Australia was behind other countries like the US in reining in unethical behaviour by drug companies.

In the US, the Sunshine Act was introduced to allow anyone to look up which doctors receive industry funding.

''I think transparency is key,'' he said. ''The fact that you can go to a doctor and be prescribed a new drug, without them telling you they've learnt all about that drug at an industry funded event or a visit from a drug representative is outrageous, and it's unbelievable that it could happen in 2013 in Australia.''

The chief executive of industry group Medicines Australia, Brendan Shaw, said the industry made the medicines and vaccines people relied on.

"Industry engagement across the health sector is vital to patient outcomes and should be encouraged,'' Dr Shaw said. "Absolutely this needs to be co-ordinated in an ethical and transparent way, and the industry has a long track record of doing this.''

So why would Australian doctors accept drug company money?

''The pharmaceutical largesse takes Australian doctors all over the world on business class airfares and puts them in five-star hotels and yes, that can be good in terms of engaging with peers, but doctors should pay for that themselves,'' said Ken Harvey, who is part of the Medicines Australia transparency working group. ''It becomes a seductive, symbiotic relationship.

''Prestige can be just as important as money,'' he said.

In June the group will release its final recommendations on measures and policies to improve transparency of payments between healthcare professionals and the drug industry.

theage.com.au 7 Apr 2013

This kind of fraudulent practice has been going on for decades and show no signs of slowing down.

Doctors have been of the pharmaceutical company's payrolls for quite sometime, and even if the practice was 'outlawed' it would still occur. 

In a Melbourne hospital, a patient has been given experimental drugs by doctors, to see the effects they have, and not to 'cure' or help the patient.

The patient was feeling worse that what he was admitted in to hospital, when upon asking another doctor's opinion, the doctor was outraged by the drugs given to the patient.

Currently the internet serves as as great resource tool for the masses, which doctors are not too thrilled about, something that was not available to the general public over a generation ago, especially in the medical field where information contained in (for example) the MIMS (Australian published drug information database) was strictly available to doctors.

Doctors should be sued for malpractice and banned from working ever again.

Since this is BIG BUSINESS it will never happen.

Diabetic Daniella Meads-Barlow, 17, among rising number of 'dead in bed' victims

BY the time 17-year-old diabetic Daniella Meads-Barlow was discovered dead in her bed in November 2011, it was many hours since she had fitted and asphyxiated.

The lively strawberry blonde Year 11 student, who lived with her family in Chatswood on Sydney's north shore, had turned in as usual at 10.30pm.

Sometime in the night, her blood sugar levels had fallen so low she became unresponsive, asphyxiated and her heart stopped.

The cause of death was nocturnal hypoglycaemia, an unusual event but one whose incidence is rising at a rate that has diabetics, their families and doctors alarmed.

That Danii died in silence is a tragic irony to her family and friends: her nickname was ''Moty'' or ''Mo-mo'' short for ''motormouth''.

But that night, in common with a growing number of victims of what doctors call ''dead in bed'' syndrome, she didn't make enough sound to her sleeping family.

There was none of the primitive wailing that usually marked the start of her hypoglycaemic fits.

Donna and Brian Meads-Barlow, who had rescued their daughter from so many other traumatic episodes, are tortured by that silence.

''A parent with a child with diabetes never sleeps with the door closed - and never sleeps properly through the night ever again,'' Donna says.

''They are walking on broken glass forever.

''That night there was nothing unusual, nothing. She came into our room and said 'Good night mummy, I love you so, so much'. Then Brian asked her what her (blood sugar) readings were. Daniella was a bit cranky with the question and said 12.2 which was normal. That's the last thing she ever said to us.''

As Donna and Brian managed police, paramedics and Danii's screaming brothers that morning, they found time to call the man who had been treating her for 12 years, endocrinologist Dr Neville Howard.

Could he come talk to the police and examine Daniella?

Dr Howard, the senior physician at the Diabetes Centre at the Children's Hospital at Westmead, in Sydney's west, is an old school doctor: calm, assured and efficient.

For 30 years he's been trying to unravel the mysteries of the fastest growing childhood disease in Australia, particularly the form known as '' type 1'' and make sense of the sudden deaths from it.

There are 130,000 people in Australia with type 1 and 80 per cent of them have no family history.

Incidence of all forms of diabetes is growing at a rapid rate of three to five per cent a year.

''Dead in bed numbers will rise with that,'' Dr Howard says.

''It is rare but it is devastating. We don't have current figures on it because it's usually called asphyxiation or hypoglycaemia and autopsies are not usually done, so figures are hard to pin point''.

Ancient Egyptians recognised type 1 diabetes 4500 years ago, as a ''wasting disease'', during which young people weakened and died for no apparent reason.

Put simply, it is the misfiring of the body's auto-immune system: it attacks cells in the pancreas that make insulin.

Insulin is an essential metabolic hormone that allows us to take up glucose for the body to use as fuel.

While historically diabetes was a death sentence, in 1922 there was a breakthrough: injecting insulin was the key to survival.

Originally sourced from pigs - the closest match to human insulin - it is now made synthetically.

Surviving type 1 diabetes means a lifetime of daily insulin injections and meticulous monitoring of blood sugar levels.

''Without insulin you can't use glucose and your cells effectively 'starve','' says another juvenile diabetes authority Professor Tim Jones, from Perth's Princess Margaret Hospital.

In a person without diabetes the pancreas works hard to keep blood glucose (sugar) within a tight range.

For the person with diabetes, insulin has to be injected and if there's a mismatch between the insulin you receive and the amount your body uses, that's a problem.

Your pancreas works hard to maintain these levels within a very defined range.

If blood glucose is too high for too long then it damages cells: effectively aging the body faster and resulting in the complications of the disease in the kidneys, eyes and heart.

On the other hand if there is too much insulin then too much glucose goes into cells and blood sugar levels go low.

Your brain only works on glucose so low glucose is a problem, it can result in unpleasant symptoms and if severe it leads to convulsions, coma and even death.

Scientists suspect the increase in type 1 diabetes is related to the modern world's high levels of hygiene - and to infant feeding.

Westmead's Dr Howard says: ''We see that as countries become more 'westernised' so their rates of type 1 diabetes increases.

''The hypothesis is that when a baby's born it gets an incredible dose of antibodies from breast milk. From an early stage the little baby's body and more importantly its immune system is trying to work out: 'what belongs inside me and what doesn't? What is foreign and what is acceptable?'

''One theory is that processed rather than breast milk is responsible -or the early introduction of other processed baby foods.

''By not exposing our babies at a very young age to germs, dirt, and all forms of bacteria, the body never really learns to differentiate between the good cells and the bad - there's only a limited time for the body to learn these things.

''Today even disposable nappies are used, rather than cloth, so the baby's skin doesn't get the chance to have urine or faeces against it for long. It's soaked up by efficient nappies so the cells never get a chance to learn what's harmful and what's not.

''If you have a perfectly healthy baby that's fine. But if, due to genetics, your baby is pre-disposed to diabetes then these sorts of behaviours can trigger your susceptibility.''

Even the most deprived household in Australia, Howard says, is far cleaner than a good bulk of the world, perhaps this is creating the abnormal growth in westerners.

To test this hypothesis leading endocrinologists from around the world are sharing their diabetes statistics in a number crunching experiment, known as the TRIGR trial.

''It's the largest and perhaps most ambitious primary type 1 diabetes trial in the world,'' Dr Howard, one of the principle investigators in Australia and New Zealand, says.

The trial will culminate in September at a symposium in Barcelona.

There, they will try to make sense of the results. Why is it that Scandinavia, Australasia, the US are seeing such growth?

(Princess Margaret's) Jones notes ''a rise in Type 1 diabetes documented progressively since World War Two.

''For example when the Berlin Wall came down in the 1990's diabetes increased in eastern European countries, so we know it's something to do with our modern lives,'' Dr Howard says.

''But we have no actual proof of what exactly is responsible.

''(Diabetes) is a huge burden on the community and to find the answers is going to take a collaborative effort.''

At Newcastle's John Hunter Hospital paediatric endocrinologist and associate professor Bruce King cautions against being alarmist about type 1 diabetes.

''Since 1922 there have been consistent and progressive improvements in the management of people with type 1 diabetes. With appropriate management, the vast majority of people will live happy, meaningful, productive and long lives. Research and advances in technology continue to produce improvements in management of type 1 diabetes and through these advances we hope that tragedies caused by the dead in bed syndrome can be prevented.''

It's a big ask, given Daniella seemed well the night she died - which is usual for victims of dead in bed syndrome according to recent research.

A study by Tu et al of 400 autopsy reports of type 1 diabetics who died aged under 40 from nocturnal hypoglycaemia, published in the Australian Medical Journal in 2008 noted: ''Typically, these people are in good health when they retire to bed, only to be found dead the next morning. In deceased young people with type 1 diabetes examined by the coroner, acute diabetic complications, unnatural causes, and sudden unexpected deaths were the predominant causes of death. The relatively high frequency of sudden unexpected deaths, such as dead-in-bed syndrome, requires further investigation.''

DONNA Meads-Barlow is a businesswoman, poised and polished with a ''let's-cut-to-the-chase'' approach to life; but on the day I visit, her entire being seems to ache as she sits in the kitchen, staring into space, her worst fears as a mother realised.

Hanging above her is a huge photo of three giggling children in happier times: Daniella, 14; Josh, 12; and Codey, 9.

She and Brian made sure they were always prepared, from the time Danii was diagnosed, at five years old.

Thereafter they were hyper-vigilant. If the situation became critical, the first line of defence was a first aid kit with GlucaGens injection in bright orange syringe; it's an emergency hormonal injection of Glucagon used if patients can't respond to food or drinks

''We always had the kit ready,'' Brian says.

It is still sitting in the usual spot, on a shelf in the fridge door. And still stuck to the kitchen wall are the diabetes emergency numbers, in a child's handwriting.

Every member of the family was on alert.

Losing their larger-than-life sister has created a traumatic shift in the boys.

Josh, 16 and now the eldest, is a gentleman, soulful with a sudden, infectious laugh.

He shows me the wood and metal work tributes he's crafted with ''Danii'' carved into a delicate metal bracelet and seems surprised when I say how beautiful they are.

Codey, 13, and I chat about other things: Bob Marley, Finding Nemo.

He demonstrates his ''drop and roll'' falling technique, leaping off a rock on Australia Day.

The boys shake their heads and laugh.

Brian says they were the front-line of caring for their sister.

''The loungeroom door would burst open at night and Josh would just yell 'Daniella!','' he recalls.

''We'd grab the GlucaGen kit and my glasses and race to her. It was pretty dramatic when a fit happened, plunging this huge needle into her thigh muscle.

''She'd come back around from a fit and see me cradling her, crying over her, and she'd look at me and say, 'It's alright Daddy, you had to do it, I'm alright',''.

The loss of his only daughter, a vivacious kid with an impish sense of humour like his own knocked him ''for six'' he says.

On another occasion when I spend time with the family, he's just returned from the weekly shopping, clearly upset.

He had bumped into parents of students from Daniella's old school at the supermarket.

They turned away, uncertain how to address the death of a much-loved child.

He's stoic but hurt by their reaction.

''That's alright, it's their issue, there's nothing I can do,'' he reasons in loud, staccato sentences as he packs away the groceries.

Later, family friend Craig Davies confirms the devastation the loss of Danii has wrought.

The Davies and the Meads-Barlows have known each other 20 years, shared holidays, watched their children grow up together and relied on each other for favours.

But nothing matched the call for help the morning Daniella was found dead.

''It's impossible to describe,'' Davies says.

''We went around within an hour. It was surreal. The house was hollow, there was a vast emptiness no words could portray. The feeling then and now is still this massive void.

''Brian did go to a very dark and horrible place. Donna addresses and handles everything and is engaged, but Brian was going inward. The fact they're alive and kicking still, well, they are the two strongest people I know.''

Another parent who has had to be strong is Jan Marnell, who lost his son Lewis to nocturnal hypoglycaemia in January.

A champion skateboarder, Lewis was on a winning streak.

The 29 year-old from Fitzroy, Melbourne had signed a sponsorship deal with Nike and had a dream holiday with relatives and friends back in Stockholm before they headed back to Australia for his wedding just seven weeks before he died.

''Friends and relatives in Sweden couldn't believe how the lovely boy they knew had grown into a man,'' Jan says proudly when I call him in Stockholm.

''He managed the diabetes very well and he was very well aware of his eating and balanced that with his lifestyle. Lewis had hypos before but this time...it was no good''.

Lewis was found lifeless at home in the loungeroom on January 18 this year.

As with Daniella, he had been apparently well when he went to sleep that Friday afternoon.

There are painful silences has Jan reflects.

''These things can still happen,'' he says.

''We were so fortunate to have that time together. Lewis was a great proof of living life to full''.

Daniella Meads-Barlow also packed a lot into her short life, she dreamed of being an entertainer and loved to sing.

She'd just scored her driver's licence and had a swathe a good mates.

She was a member of the Australian Girls' Choir and a beaming photo of her in its uniform is among dozens displayed around the family home.

The girls sang their familiar anthem, I Still Call Australia Home at her funeral.

Danii was a seasoned globe-trotter thanks to her parents' travel business.

''Daniella never complained about her disease,'' Donna says.

''By the time she died, she'd tested her blood sugar by pricking her fingers, 760,000 times. But she did say to me: 'How will I survive, Mummy, unless I live up the road from you? How can I live?',''.

Managing diabetes was a tightrope walk for parents who wanted to safeguard their child, but not keep her in cotton wool.

''You want your child to go out into the world, enjoy being a teenager, dance, spend time with friends, but if a diabetic doesn't constantly check their blood sugar levels then the worst can happen,'' Donna says.

Out of their loss has come the determination to help others avoid a tragedy likes theirs, Donna says.

''The morning we found Daniella, Neville Howard sat here in our kitchen with me and said 'There's technology available that may have prevented this',''.

With him, Donna and Brian have set about the task of bringing it to Australia, creating a foundation to fund the endeavour.

Known as 'connected care', the equipment is a continuous glucose monitor (about the size of an old fashioned 'walkman') connected via catheter at the waist with a pump - to deliver insulin - and an alarm that will sound when there's an approaching blood-sugar emergency.

It replaces your need to prick your fingers 10 times a day.

The Danii Meads-Barlow Foundation is also subsidising the funding of 30 Hypomon alarm devices for critically ill diabetics.

The Hypomon, is a very different device to the continuous glucose monitor.

It's an Australian invention and monitors changes in heart rhythm.

It resembles an iPod dock with the monitor strapped around the user's chest at night.

''It might be a bit clunky now but it's a step in the right direction,'' Howard says.

A Hypomon currently costs about $3000.

The foundation's subsidy brings each one down to about $500.

''We want families from all walks of life to have access to it,'' Brian says.

There's often confusion about diabetes 1 and 2, Dr Howard explains: ''Diabetes Type 1 is where the body doesn't make insulin due to pancreas damage from the bodies own auto immune system, where Diabetes Type 2, under pressure from poor diet their bodies can't make enough insulin and they develop insulin resistance but in Type 2 it's still those people genetically susceptible that develop it.''

Like all teenagers, Daniella kept secrets from her family.

About a year ago, her parents unlocked her school computer.

They discovered a story she had written almost three years before she died, about trying to get home from school.

''After a whole humid day of not normal readings (9 and up) I felt dizzy in the head so I did another (blood) test at a low. I went to the escalator. I had an Oreo then...an apple juice...it was getting really hectic.

''I knew I was really low...I got to the Pacific Highway crossing, I burst into tears, I couldn't see properly anymore, I was crying so hard that people walking past me probably thought I had a brain problem.

''I tried really hard to get a lady's attention. She looked at me and I tried really hard to get out what I had to say. I said: 'Help, please help me. Please.'

''I was so lucky I had my diabetes band on. One of the ladies was a nurse and went into the Toyota shop to see if she could get some food for me. I was very thankful but I was horrified. It is so scary to go through something like that. I'm sure it would have been just as scary to watch.''

Community attitudes must change, Princess Margaret Hospital's Jones says.

He has a simple desire in relation to type 1 diabetes.

''I wish for kids to know it's not their fault,'' he says.

''It's not a lifestyle disease, it's not their fault they have it. The community should be more aware of it. People need to know how to support people who have it, because it is around them and it is growing.''

King in Newcastle echoes the sentiment.

''I wish people knew it wasn't anyone's fault. There was nothing the Meads-Barlows' did or that Daniella ate that caused the diabetes. It was no one's fault that Daniella got diabetes, just one of those awful things.

''People with diabetes deserve the same respect and opportunities as anyone else. Schools, workplaces, sporting fields, everywhere should operate in a way that allows people with diabetes to be normal.''

''Loss is a very real part of the job,'' Dr Howard acknowledges.

With her parents' permission, he talks about Daniella, how she danced the day before she died, her last supper - a bedtime snack of custard and bananas - about how she was found that morning, dead, despite all the years of careful nurturing, not least by him.

And then his guard is down for just a second. Pain sweeps across his face like a sheet of rain.

Daniella also wrote on her computer in 2008: ''I ran into the office where my Dad was and gave him a hug. I was so happy to see him and feel properly safe again. Diabetes isn't easy, as you may have noticed. And people need to be aware of it. But thank you to those who helped me back to safety. I feel much better now and more than that I feel happy and safe.''

news.com.au 7 Apr 2013

A growing number of diseases that are being put into the 'modern disease' category, originate from the disturbing trend by corporations and authorities to detach society from nature.

The junk food houses of the global corporate giants the likes of McDonald's, KFC - Kentucky Fried Chicken, Burger King (Hungry Jacks), Wendy's are literally cancer causing houses for the next generation of society.

Trailer Park Trash parents lead their offspring to the cancer houses of the junk food kings creating a burdensome generation, that the rest of society has to support.