'Corruption risk' in NSW govt powers

A controversial planning provision granting the NSW government sweeping powers to approve major projects has given the state too much discretion and should be reformed, the corruption watchdog says.

Introduced in 2005, Part 3A gives the NSW planning minister consent authority for major projects deemed to be of state or regional significance.

But the sweeping powers have led to frequent clashes with councils and community groups, angry at being locked out of the planning process.

In a report released Monday, the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) said while there were no examples of corruption under Part 3A, the consent powers granted to the minister created a corruption risk.

Among its 20 recommendations, ICAC called for the independent Planning Assessment Commission (PAC) to be given control of private sector applications which exceed development standards by 25 per cent.

It also called for changes to how members of the PAC are appointed, while limiting how long they sit on the commission.

The planning minister currently has the power to appoint and dismiss PAC members - a process ICAC wants to be independently scrutinised.

"The Part 3A system is characterised by a lack of published, objective criteria," the report says.

"There are also various elements of Part 3A that are discretionary, particularly as regards residential and commercial development, which are prohibited or exceed existing development standards.

"The existence of a wide discretion to approve projects that are contrary to local plans and do not necessarily conform to state strategic plans, has the potential to deliver sizable windfall gains to particular applicants.

"This creates a corruption risk and a community perception of a lack of appropriate boundaries."

NSW Planning Minister Tony Kelly said the government would consider the recommendations as part of a five-year review of Part 3A.

But he defended the provision, saying ICAC's failure to find any corruption associated with Part 3A approvals showed it had been unfairly tarnished by the government's political opponents.

"The facts of the matter are that we do need some policy, some sort of a framework that we can get through large development applications," he said.

"We need to have some overarching planning system that gives some kinds of consistency."

He said the ICAC report, which recognised the importance of Part 3A, was a blow to the NSW opposition's pledge to scrap it altogether.

"Part 3A has helped create 200,000 jobs over the last five years," he said.

However, opposition planning spokesman Brad Hazzard criticised the broad definition of state and regionally significant projects under Part 3A.

If it wins the March election, he said the coalition would narrow the scope of projects determined by the planning minister and the PAC, with "by far the bulk of planning issues" going back to local government.

"As we go into 2011 there is no question in my mind that the whole reputation of Part 3A has become tainted," he said.

NSW Greens MP David Shoebridge said the report was a "damning assessment" of Part 3A.

"The Greens have been calling for an independent state planning commission to assess state significant projects for some time," he said.

13 Dec 2010

Corruption is part of the deal in politics and government.

Many tenders are made fraudulently with overinflated prices, with monies from the tax payers to business colleagues, personal friends or freemasons from the lodge, of the people involved in government.

Many of these deals are done in secret and NEVER exposed.

Price tag for water buybacks rises by $5b

An independent report has suggested the federal government will need billions in extra dollars to fund its commitment to restoring the Murray-Darling Basin.

Some $3.1 billion over 10 years has been pledged to restore the basin's rivers through water buybacks, but the report suggests the government is burning through the money.

"If the current performance rate is maintained ... the current budget would be insufficient to achieve even the smallest of the recovery targets," the report by water broker Waterfind reads.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard promised during this year's federal election that the government would pay for all the water needed to revive the basin's rivers.

If the government sticks to its 3000 gigalitre target, then that will be worth an additional $1.6 billion, the report suggests.

The promise will be worth an extra $5 billion if the government wants to return 4000GL to the river system.

The federal coalition seized on the report as another reason the government should explain its costings as well as its legal advice.

Mike Taylor's unexpected resignation as basin authority boss last week has cast renewed doubt over the legalities of any potential government reform.

"(The government) are either hiding things from the public or they don't know the answers," opposition water spokesman Barnaby Joyce said in a statement on Monday.

"They seem to be stumbling along and making it up as they go along and the minister doesn't seem to even understand his own act."

He criticised the government's $3.1 billion allocation as too small.

"At that rate, it will take until 2030 before all of the water is bought back."

13 Dec 2010

In this instance, the government sells its water supply, and the businesses involved only take monies from the general public, NOT investing back into the infrastructure.

What results is a TOTAL 'business' failure, to the detriment of the public, in this case resulting in a failure to provide an essential resource water.

The government then, 'buys' back at an over inflated rate to their business colleagues at again the expense of the populous.

The peasants pay twice if not more for government incompetence.

Police Corruption - Road Fines

Corruption is a 'natural' part of society, irrespective of political persuasion , whether it be in the northern or southern hemispheres, eastern of western cultures or capitalist or communist regimes.

To make the masses sleep well at night, there are laws purporting that justice will be served to those who are treated illegally, with detriment, etc.

It is often said by the general populous (rarely acknowledged / admitted by the government), that in Australia, Victorian and New South Wales (NSW) police are the country's most corrupt.

Road fines are one of the government's largest revenue raisers, and governments are actively seeking new ways, and pushing new laws very quickly through parliament, to fine the general public more for road offenses. Any official word is that it is for the BENEFIT of the masses, BUT the underlying reason are purely financial.

NSW police have been given orders to target easy individuals to issue fraudulent fines against. An easy target is one the is perceived by the officer, that is least likely to resist or oppose the fine through the court system.

Court documents obtained by corpau, clearly indicate that the police officers involved in issuing a fraudulent infringement notice have been supported by the judge.

In the documentation obtained, it has been shown that police have made a false statement. A false statement in a court of law is an act of perjury, i.e. an offense.

The police officers involved were NOT reprimanded, but instead allowed to continue working (gathering fines) for the government.

Just another example of how corrupt the legal system of Australia is.

Common Aussie surnames are: Anderson, Brown, Smith, Taylor.

Police break up Visy workers' strike

Police have been accused of using heavy-handed tactics to arrest 29 protesting workers outside packaging giant Visy's Melbourne plant.

But police say no one was injured and they had no choice but to forcibly remove demonstrators after they refused to leave the entrance of the Dandenong plant.

Almost 400 workers at Visy sites in Victoria and NSW began striking 10 days ago.

They are angry about the company wanting to freeze the hourly pay rates of casual staff for the duration of a new enterprise bargaining agreement.

"We're not criminals, we're human beings," one protester shouted, as police dragged the workers into divisional vans on Monday.

"Shame Visy, shame," some 90 workers chanted, as they sat locked arm-in-arm outside the Dandenong plant's Greens Road entrance.

Australian Manufacturing Workers Union national secretary Dave Oliver said it was inappropriate for police to become involved in a "peaceful" industrial dispute.

"They were within their rights to be there participating in a protest," he told AAP on Monday.

"They were fighting for their conditions, and yet the police saw fit to physically remove them from the premises."

Negotiations between Visy and the union began in July.

Visy won a Supreme Court injunction on Friday, which was extended on Monday, banning union officials from hindering access to the company's Dandenong site or encouraging any person to do so.

Mr Oliver said he had written a letter to Police Minister Peter Ryan asking why the police became involved in the dispute.

"I can't recall seeing such a thing since the days of the Kennett government," he said.

A spokeswoman for Mr Ryan said the minister had not yet received a letter and therefore would not comment at this stage.

Mr Oliver said police had used "strong-arm" tactics, and one of the workers was run over by a truck and taken away in an ambulance.

Comment was being sought from Ambulance Victoria.

Inspector Chris Major said the police had no choice but to physically remove the protesters.

"Despite repeated requests (to move) they were endangering their own lives by remaining seated on the roadway and we moved them in a manner as best we could without causing any injury to themselves or the police members attending," he told reporters.

Late on Monday police were still in the process of charging the arrested demonstrators with creating an undue obstruction and besetting premises.

Senior AMWU officials will meet with Visy at 6am (AEDT) in Sydney on Tuesday.

"I've been a union official for 22 years, and no dispute gets resolved through strong-handed tactics such as this.

"The way disputes get resolved is by people getting around a table and negotiating an outcome."

Visy spokesman Tony Gray would not comment.

"Our long-standing policy is that we don't comment on industrial disputes," he told AAP.

The union wants a five per cent pay rise for full-time workers each year over three years, while Visy is offering four per cent annually.

Also at issue is whether the union should be consulted on issues such as rostering changes.

13 Dec 2010

The Dawn of a New Age is upon us.

Any act of defiance against the ruling elite will be met with hostile force.

The right to free speech is gone, and the New World Order is born.

Richard Pratt convicted of fraud and subsequently fined $36 million dollars.

The fraud that was alleged against him was to the value of over $700 million.

The amount that he was 'fined' (read slap on the wrist from his cronie colleagues) was 5%, an amount BETTER than tax.

Fraud and consumer rip off is favoured amongst the Anglo-Masonic Law System of Australia.

Richard Pratt has a child outside of wedlock with his mistress Shari-Lea Hitchcock.

Pop star attacks assistant over stage lighting

A Russian pop star has fled the country after he attacked his female assistant during a show, slapping her in front of stunned audience members.

The Bulgarian-born Philip Kirkorov, 43 is reportedly in Israel following the dispute at a concert rehearsal for the annual Golden Gramaphone contest.

The altercation occurred after a dispute over the stage lighting, which ended in Kirkorov hitting Marina Yablokova.

He also allegedly hit her in the face, kicked her and dragged her by her hair.

Marina Yablokova later went on a Russian television show and revealed a large bruise on her upper leg she claimed was caused by Kirkorov.

She told viewers she would sue Kirkorov. Moscow police have confirmed they have launched an investigation into the assault.

Kirkorov's aides have initially played down the incident, saying it was a complete fabrication. But video footage taken of the event shows the slap taking place.

Kirkorov has since checked himself into an Israeli hospital for psychiatric testing, saying he believed he was ill.

He was due to present a televised apology but instead issued a statement on his website confessing to the incident.

Kirkorov is a household pop icon in Russia where his songs have topped the music charts for two decades.

13 Dec 2010

A cowardly woman basher.

Now the International Police (Interpol) can issue an arrest warrant for violence against a woman, similarly like with Julian Assange, and Kirkorov, can be incarcerated, waiting extradition for crimes committed against women.

Youtube censoring Wikileaks

Politics, finance and the mass media go hand in hand, as the individuals who run them are part of the elite that runs the world.

Staring in the face of evidence, without any benefit of doubt, companies blatantly lie, that they do not, for example, censor a particular topic, that covers exposing government lies, or that is unpopular with the governments concerned.

In this instance, Youtube, has a video posted by the sunshinepress, exposing the killings of people in Iraq. The video was originally submitted to Wikileaks.

At the time of the above screenshot of the video called:
Collateral Murder - Wikileaks - Iraq,
has been viewed 9,475,371 times in 8 months

In Youtube's search field, when one types the name of a video, the next best / popular option is suggested head of the person typing.

In the screenshot, after typing in Collateral Mu the letter r is totally omitted by the 'automated' search function, and instead the user is forced to choose:
Collateral Music, who's video, at the time of posting, been viewed 48,971 times in 3 years,
prompting a cause for concern that Wikileak's video Collateral Murder is deliberately excluded from the search engine, implicating that a call of censorship is against Wikileaks.

World is getting more corrupt, says transparency poll

The world is considered a more corrupt place now than it was three years ago, a poll suggests.

Some 56% of people interviewed by Transparency International said their country had become more corrupt.

The organisation put Afghanistan, Nigeria, Iraq and India in the most corrupt category, followed by China, Russia and much of the Middle East.

Meanwhile, a BBC poll suggests that corruption is the world's most talked about problem.

About one in five of those polled by the BBC said they had discussed issues relating to corruption with others in the last month, making it the most talked about concern ahead of climate change, poverty, unemployment and rising food and energy costs.

In the Transparency International survey, political parties were regarded as the most corrupt institutions, and 50% of people believed their government was ineffective at tackling the problem.

One in four of those polled said they had paid a bribe in the past year - the police being the most common recipient.

Some 29% of bribes went to the police, 20% to registry and permit officials, and 14% to members of the judiciary.

Political parties have long been regarded as the most corrupt institutions - they topped the list in Transparency's 2004 barometer with 71%. In this year's report, 80% regarded them as corrupt.

Religious bodies experienced a sharp rise in people regarding them as corrupt - 28% in 2004 increased to 53% by 2010.

People from Afghanistan, Nigeria, Iraq and India were among those who perceived the highest levels of corruption in their daily lives.

At least half of the people surveyed in those countries reported paying a bribe in the past year.

While people from Cambodia (84%) and Liberia (89%) were the most likely to have to pay a bribe, the Danish reported 0% bribery.

Robin Hodess, Transparency's policy and research director, expressed particular concern at the figures on bribery.

"Unfortunately people's experience with bribery most often involves the police, and this is really worrying," she said.

"It's a figure that's grown in the past few years. It's nearly doubled, in fact, since 2006. Nearly one in three people who had contact with the police around the world had to pay a bribe."

By region, people in sub-Saharan Africa were the most likely to have paid a bribe (56%).

Bribe taking was least common in EU countries and North America (both 5%) - although these were the two regions seeing the biggest increase in concern about corruption.

Analysts blame this rising concern on the global financial crisis for undermining people's faith in government, banks and economic institutions.

The lobby group interviewed 90,000 people in 86 countries to compile its corruption barometer.

Poverty

The opinion poll commissioned by the BBC sampled 13,000 people in 26 nations.

One question asked people to rate which issues they saw as most serious.

Corruption was ranked as the second most important topic behind poverty.

Respondents in Brazil, Egypt, Colombia, the Philippines and Kenya were especially likely to view corruption as a very serious issue.

In Europe, Italians were the most concerned about bribe taking.

Publication of the BBC poll coincides with anti-corruption day held by the United Nations.

bbc.co.uk 9 Dec 2010

Corruption is a rife in the West as it is in the East, in Capitalistic countries as it in the Communism, except that people's perception could the otherwise.

Revealed: How the ALP keeps secret files on voters

THE ALP has secretly recorded the personal details of tens of thousands of Victorians - including sensitive health and financial information - in a database being accessed by campaign workers ahead of this Saturday's state election.

In a rare insight into personal profiling by the major parties, The Age has gained access to the database used by the ALP to tailor its telephoning and door-knocking of individual voters in key marginal electorates.

The Coalition has a database capable of similar profiling of voters, but has refused to comment or to divulge any details.

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The Age investigation has revealed how Labor is building profiles of constituents based on its communications with MPs, attendance at rallies, membership of groups, letters to newspapers and through polling and surveys.

Staff in MPs' electorate offices are believed to be primarily responsible for collecting personal information dating back up to a decade.

The system allows searches based variously on people's names, addresses and their stances on issues such as gay rights and the environment. It also enables mapping of campaign street walks, giving candidates and volunteers access to profiles on many of the people they door-knock or phone - including their voting intentions.

It shows how Labor campaign workers have access to details of private lives of voters, including information people may have intended to share only with the offices of local MPs. Database entries seen by The Age include details of a family's concern about an East Malvern man's prostate cancer, a man's financial problems after he purchased a gaming agency, a Brighton family's complaint about superannuation payments, and details of a woman's victims of crime compensation claim.

The major parties have different versions of the software - Electrac for the ALP and Feedback for the Liberals - enabling the creation of detailed, cross-referenced files on constituents.

The software attracted controversy when it was introduced in the mid-2000s, with lawyers and academics expressing privacy concerns. Both parties have defended the databases, claiming they enhance the electoral and political process. But little has been known until now about how the software is used.

Voters on the Electrac database contacted by The Age all confirmed they had not given authority for details of their political activity or attitudes, or contact with their MP, to be filed.

Sam Waszaj, of Travancore, near Flemington, expressed dismay that his correspondence with a federal minister about Medicare funding for late abortions led to a database entry.

''The minister wrote back to me and said Labor was happy to hear my concerns. But they never said to me, 'Oh, by the way, we will store this on a big database','' Mr Waszaj said.

''This is what the KGB used to do. Who has access to this information? How will it be used in the future?''

Several voters in Northcote are listed in the ''hard green movement'' due to their membership of a climate change action group. Others are listed as having passed information to their MP about ''corruption in high security prisons''.

Records are kept in marginal seats on constituents' voting intentions, including the strength of their support for a party. Those rated as ''soft'' Liberal supporters, or ''at risk'' for Labor, are likely to be repeatedly canvassed.

Exposure of these records raises thorny questions for Labor about how the information was gathered and the appropriateness of it being made widely available in the party.

Some voters whose participation in ALP polling led to their views being stored on the database said pollsters had not identified their party connection.

Despite the objections of civil liberty campaigners, such activities are not illegal. Political parties and MPs are exempt from privacy laws that restrict record-keeping by others including government departments, the police and local councils.

Liberty Victoria president Michael Pearce, SC, said yesterday The Age revelations highlighted the inadequacies of privacy laws. ''If a state or federal department or a business with turnover of $3 million or more did that they would be in breach of either the state or federal privacy acts,'' he said.

Mr Pearce said it was troubling that personal information given in confidence was being used for political purposes.

Victoria's Privacy Commissioner, Helen Versey, said she had no jurisdiction over political parties because privacy laws only applied to the public sector. But she referred The Age to the Australian Law Reform Commission's August 2008 report, which examined the use of political databases.

The commission said it was not convinced that data collection by parties should be exempted from privacy laws. It recommended that parties should tell people what information would be held about them, give them the right to access and correct such information and to take steps to ''ensure the quality and security of the information''.

Sam Morrisson, of Clifton Hill, is recorded on the Labor database as having contacted the office of her local MP, Richard Wynne, in July 2008 over concerns about the working conditions of paramedics.

''I am surprised they kept that on a central system,'' she said. ''I don't see it as sinister, but it should be a matter of course that they would say, 'This is going down on a database'.''

Elizabeth Bodkin-Moore, also of Clifton Hill, said she should have been told that a record of her emails to her MP on environmental issues would go on the database. ''At one level, I am happy with it being recorded. But I think that it is appropriate that there is some indication that it will be put on file,'' she said. ''If this stuff is being put on long-term files, who knows what will happen to it in the future.''

The Greens candidate for Northcote, Anne Frances Martinelli, is recorded as having ''attended Chandler Hwy public meeting'' in October and having written letters to newspapers about environmental issues. ''A lot of people would feel uncomfortable that this sort of information is being held by a private organisation,'' she said.

Labor state secretary Nick Reece last night defended the use of the database. ''Like all political parties, the ALP phones people as part of election campaigning. It complies with all privacy laws and other tele-marketing regulations.''

Asked about party volunteers having access to highly personal information on voters, Mr Reece declined to comment.

Liberal state director Tony Nutt refused to comment when asked about the Coalition's database and its profiling of voters.

theage.com.au 23 Nov 2010

The way of the New World Order, to catalogue EVERYONE, under ANY pretext.

It is the sheer indifference of everyone that makes this a quicker reality.

New powers to the invasion of person / property are drafted in the name of terrorism / National Security.

Australia's Media Monopoly

In Australia, there are so many news outlets, ninemsn, heraldsun, theage, au.yahoo.com, just to name a few of the more popular ones.

But are they really that different or even independent?

In Australia, 70% of the corporate mass media is owned by Rupert Murdoch.
The rest is distributed thinly between Packer and Stokes.

Some of Murdoch's acquisitions are:

Daily Telegraph
Gold Coast Bulletin
Herald Sun
NT News
Post-Courier
Sunday Herald Sun
Sunday Mail
Sunday Tasmanian
Sunday Territorian
Sunday Times
The Advertiser
The Australian
The Courier-Mail
The Mercury
The Sunday Mail
The Sunday Telegraph
Weekly Times
Big League
Inside Out
donna hay
ALPHA

In general, it is widely acknowledged, that the mass media is responsible for the shaping of today's society.

With such a narrow band of ownership, it is easily conceivable that flows and trends, opinions and the general mental well being of the working classes can be manipulated by the media owners to whatever political persuasion or agenda they follow.

This is not an environment for providing unbiased media reporting.

The Australian political arena vigorously claims that it supports competition, as it is in the best interest of the consumers.

Yet, at the same time the governing bodies are doing very little, very slowly to make this a reality, i.e its actions are quite the opposite.

Laws are passed immediately to nab speeding motorists in ever more ingenious ways, claiming it's to the benefit of the public, but laws concerning anti-competitive behaviour or fraud (which are ALSO to the benefit of the public - but detrimental to their business colleagues) , are deliberately slowed down in parliament.

Fraud and Anti-Competitive behaviour, is to the benefit of the local and global business community, who's members are cronies with the politicians, law makers, bankers, etc.

The general theme is that it MUST be mandatory to the detriment of the masses or canon fodder, as referred to by the ruling elite.

The role of the mass media is to keep the 'peasants' amused, with senseless news, using shock tactics on stories, and mindless entertainment.

Under NO CIRCUMSTANCES can the mass media be used in incite knowledge, that will empower the masses.

It is irrespective of any of the individuals personal agenda for creating social networking sites, blogging stores, video 'tubes', in the end, their goal must unified, to DUMB DOWN the masses.

In the James Bond film, Tomorrow Never Dies, a Media Mogul Elliot Carver, uses his mass media empire to keep the plebs amused.

"There's no news like bad news"

Power company outsmated - Fraud

Meet the backyard boffin who developed his own computer program to turn the tables on the big power companies. After suspecting he was being ripped off he analyzed his own meter - and is claiming every bill they sent him was wrong.

You can download a free trial, or purchase the program for $99.95 at the website below -

However it is important to note that its results can not be used to claim a refund from your energy provider.

From the article :

http://aca.ninemsn.com.au/article/8176383/power-company-outsmarted

ninemsn.com.au 6 Dec 2010


Here is another media article, that has a 'slight' inaccuracy.

The unnamed power company, has issued a FRAUDULENT BILL.

IF an individual claims a fraudulent amount i.e. produces a fraudulent receipt, and is found out criminal proceedings are taken against them.

IF an individual does not pay to a company, legal action can be taken, and a criminal proceedings, including jail are a real option.

The video also mentions that you as a consumer cannot make the electricity company pay you back for the difference of the fraudulent bill they sent you.

The legal system is deliberately set up to the detriment of general populous, with no repercussions against the companies involved.

This is deliberate consumer Rip off at its best.

The suggestion to change from the company, made by the presenter is nothing more than a farce.

The suggestion to take legal action would be more appropriate, but you cannot say that in the Australia's biased mass media.

Download the Electricity Meter Analyzer

http://www.c-sharplizards.com/EMA.aspx