When petty and ignorant gets voted into the Australian Parliament and fails to learn the rules governing behaviour over the next 8 years

 

Australian House of Representatives, Hansard, Question Time 26 March 2024:

Energy

Mr TED O'BRIEN (Fairfax) (14:36): My question goes to the Minister for Climate Change and Energy. In the last week alone we learnt that Labor has officially broken its promise of a $275 reduction in household power bills by up to $1,000. Over 500 families a week are going on energy hardship arrangements, and the east coast gas market is facing material shortfalls from next year. Why is the Albanese government making life harder for Australian families already struggling to cope with Labor's cost crisis?

Honourable members interjecting—

The SPEAKER: Order! When House comes to order and there are no interjections I'll call the Minister for Climate Change and Energy.

Mr BOWEN (McMahon—Minister for Climate Change and Energy) (14:37): I thank the honourable gentleman for his question. It went to two things, as I heard the question. It went to energy prices and gas shortages. Let me deal with both—

Mr Ted O'Brien interjecting—

The SPEAKER: The minister will pause.

Mr Ted O'Brien interjecting—

The SPEAKER: Order! We're just going to do this in an orderly manner. The minister was asked a question by the member for Fairfax. Within 12 seconds the yelling, the screaming—that's not helpful, and he knows that's disrespectful. He knows that's against the standing orders The member for Fairfax will leave the chamber under 94(a). That sort of behaviour, as everyone knows, is completely unacceptable.

The member for Fairfax then left the chamber.

The SPEAKER: The Minister for Climate Change and Energy has the call    [my yellow highlighting]

On 31 July 2023 quarterly National Energy Bill Relief payments came into effect for electricity account holders with valid: Pensioner Concession Card issued by Services Australia or the Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA) Health Care Card issued by Services Australia, or Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA) Gold Card marked with either 'War Widow', 'War Widower Pension', 'Totally and Permanently Incapacitated' (TPI) or 'Disability Pension' (EDA).

Together with NSW Government Household Rebate that totals electricity cost relief received by a single pensioner at between $199.72 - $202.30 a quarter or $798.88 - $809.20 over a 12 month period.

For a NSW pensioner living alone that total amount more than wipes out the costs equivalent to at least one - possibly almost two - of the four annual billing periods.

BACKGROUND

In December 2021 then Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese asserted that under the Labor Party's Powering Australia Plan annual average retail energy bills for households would be $275 lower by 2025.

On 26 May 2022 - four days after the federal election - Australia learned that the Australian Energy Regulator had been ordered to delay the release of its default market offer (DMO) from 1 May to 26 May 2022 by the outgoing Morrison government and that the new default market offer indicated across the board significant electricity price increases for households in the eastern states. This price rise followed the 4 May 2022 Reserve Bank announcement of the first official interest rate rise since 2010 - the first of 13 interest rate rises it has announced to date.

According to the Inquiry into the National Electricity Market Report, December 2023, within the National Energy Market:

in jurisdictions with retail competition, the majority of customers are on plans with prices which are determined by retailers. About 10% of residential customers and 20% of small business customers are on standard retail contracts with standing offer prices which are capped by the Default Market Offer or Victorian Default Offer.....

We analysed our sample of flat rate plans for over 5 million existing residential customers, assuming achievement of conditional discounts, and found that, in August 2023:

− 47% of all residential customers were on plans with a calculated annual cost equal to or higher than the default offer

− 42% of concession customers were on plans with a calculated annual cost equal to or higher than the default offer.....

96% of residential customers on plans with an unconditional price more than 25% above the default offer have a conditional discount in 2023. The customer-weighted average conditional discount for this group of customers is 29%, indicating they have not changed plan or retailer in the last 3 years since the introduction of rules on conditional discounts.

When we assume conditional discounts are achieved, customers with large conditional discounts are still paying prices around the default offer prices, suggesting that these customers would benefit from switching energy plan....

According to the AER Default market offer prices 2024–25: draft determination:

In NSW, residential customers without controlled load will see prices of $1,773 to $2,549 which range from a decrease of 3% to an increase of 0.9% (6.3% to 2.4% below forecast inflation) compared with DMO 5 [Default Market Offer 2023-24], depending on their distribution network region [metropolitan or country/regional areas]. Customers with controlled load will see prices of $2,476 to $2,964, amounting to decreases 0.4% to 7.1% (3.7% to 10.4% below forecast inflation).

It is noted that in the 1990s individual state governments and the Council of Australian Governments paved the road to privatisation of much of the national electricity supply industry and both Labor and the Liberal-Nationals Coalition have supported such privatisation down the years. The current Shadow Minister for Climate Change and Energy & Liberal MP for Fairfax would do well to remember that the next time he considers indulging in "yelling" and "screaming". 

Is the rental property or properties you own or manage capable of killing your tenants?

 

Are you on the board of a not-for-profit organisation that provides social or affordable rental housing? Do you have a residential property portfolio or do you just own a second home your rent out?

Then this post is written for you to consider.

Is the rental property or properties you own or manage capable of killing your tenants?

ACOSS Heat Study 2024, 1 March 2024, excerpt:

Hotter days and homes with poor energy performance create hot boxes that cannot be cooled

People variously described living in hot homes that they cannot cool as “awful”, “unliveable”, “miserable”, “unbearable”, “torture” and “a prison.”

Of the 1007 people who completed the survey, most (80.4%) said their home gets too hot in the summer.

Over half the people surveyed (56.7%) said they struggle to cool their home.

At a state and Territory level, more than half of people in Western Australia (67.2%), Queensland (66.1%), Australian Capital Territory (64.3%) and New South Wales (55.0%) said their home gets too hot and they struggle to cool it. Nearly half of the people surveyed in Victoria (45.8%), South Australia (45.7%) and the Northern Territory (45.5%) also had this experience. Tasmania was the only jurisdiction where all people surveyed said either their home was comfortable, or they are able to cool it when hot.

Some groups were more likely to struggle to cool their home:

• people renting in social housing (78.3%)

• people receiving income support (60.8%)

• people renting directly from a real estate agency (68.6%) or landlord (56.7%).

People in social or private rental properties have very limited control to make changes to their home to make it more energy efficient and resistant to extreme temperatures. They have limited control to install insulation, draft proofing, shading, fans or air conditioners, regardless of whether or not they can afford these changes. Of the 558 people living in social housing or private rental, most (69.7%) said they struggle to cool their home. [my yellow highlighting]

“I rent and there is no air con. Though I have fans, that can’t compete with high temps.

My apartment is north-west facing at top of the block.”

- Judith, New South Wales

People who indicated that they were in insecure housing (3%) also spoke of having limited control to cool their home when it gets too hot.

Healthy Futures, media release, 26 March 2024, excerpt:

Heat-related illnesses kill thousands of Australians every year (1) and roughly one-third of these deaths can be attributed to climate change (2,3). Heatwaves increase the risk of dehydration, kidney failure, heart attacks and strokes. Older people, children, people with pre-existing health conditions and people unable to afford air conditioning are most vulnerable. [my yellow highlighting]

Currently, many social housing dwellings are poor quality and prone to temperature extremes (4-6). A 2023 survey of people on low incomes by the Australian Council of Social Services found that 94.5% avoided using air conditioning because it is too expensive (7). Solar panels can significantly reduce air conditioning costs, and while 30% of Australian homes now have rooftop solar, rooftop solar coverage on social housing in New South Wales, for example, is only 7% (8).

Energy efficiency retrofits and renewable-powered air conditioning will not only protect people from extreme temperatures and drive down costs of living; they will also mitigate climate change and its health impacts in the long term by reducing dependence on polluting fossil fuel-based electricity.

Nature Climate Change, 11, pages 492–500 (2021)

Published 31 May 2021:

The burden of heat-related mortality attributable to recent human-induced climate change

A. M. Vicedo-Cabrera, N. Scovronick, F. Sera, D. Royé, R. Schneider, A. Tobias, C. Astrom, Y. Guo, Y. Honda, D. M. Hondula, R. Abrutzky, S. Tong, M. de Sousa Zanotti Stagliorio Coelho, P. H. Nascimento Saldiva, E. Lavigne, P. Matus Correa, N. Valdes Ortega, H. Kan, S. Osorio, J. Kyselý, A. Urban, H. Orru, E. Indermitte, J. J. K. Jaakkola, N. Ryti, M. Pascal, A. Schneider, K. Katsouyanni, E. Samoli, F. Mayvaneh, A. Entezari, P. Goodman, A. Zeka, P. Michelozzi, F. de’Donato, M. Hashizume, B. Alahmad, M. Hurtado Diaz, C. De La Cruz Valencia, A. Overcenco, D. Houthuijs, C. Ameling, S. Rao, F. Di Ruscio, G. Carrasco-Escobar, X. Seposo, S. Silva, J. Madureira, I. H. Holobaca, S. Fratianni, F. Acquaotta, H. Kim, W. Lee, C. Iniguez, B. Forsberg, M. S. Ragettli, Y. L. L. Guo, B. Y. Chen, S. Li, B. Armstrong, A. Aleman, A. Zanobetti, J. Schwartz, T. N. Dang, D. V. Dung, N. Gillett, A. Haines, M. Mengel, V. Huber & A. Gasparrini

Abstract

Climate change affects human health; however, there have been no large-scale, systematic efforts to quantify the heat-related human health impacts that have already occurred due to climate change. Here, we use empirical data from 732 locations in 43 countries to estimate the mortality burdens associated with the additional heat exposure that has resulted from recent human-induced warming, during the period 1991–2018. Across all study countries, we find that 37.0% (range 20.5–76.3%) of warm-season heat-related deaths can be attributed to anthropogenic climate change and that increased mortality is evident on every continent. Burdens varied geographically but were of the order of dozens to hundreds of deaths per year in many locations. Our findings support the urgent need for more ambitious mitigation and adaptation strategies to minimize the public health impacts of climate change. [my yellow highlighting]

The Lancet, Planetary Health, Volume 5, Issue 7, E415-E425

Article published July 2021, excerpts:

Global, regional, and national burden of mortality associated with non-optimal ambient temperatures from 2000 to 2019: a three-stage modelling study

Prof Qi Zhao, PhD Prof Yuming Guo, PhD Tingting Ye, MSc Prof Antonio Gasparrini, PhD Prof Shilu Tong, PhD Ala Overcenco, PhD Aleš Urban, PhD Alexandra Schneider, PhD Alireza Entezari, PhD Ana Maria Vicedo-Cabrera, PhD Antonella Zanobetti, PhD Antonis Analitis, PhD Ariana Zeka, PhD Aurelio Tobias, PhD Baltazar Nunes, PhD Barrak Alahmad, MPH Prof Ben Armstrong, PhD Prof Bertil Forsberg, PhD Shih-Chun Pan, PhD Carmen Íñiguez, PhD Caroline Ameling, BS César De la Cruz Valencia, MSc Christofer Åström, PhD Danny Houthuijs, MSc Do Van Dung, PhD Dominic Royé, PhD Ene Indermitte, PhD Prof Eric Lavigne, PhD Fatemeh Mayvaneh, PhD Fiorella Acquaotta, PhD Francesca de'Donato, PhD Francesco Di Ruscio, PhD Francesco Sera, MSc Gabriel Carrasco-Escobar, MSc Prof Haidong Kan, PhD Hans Orru, PhD Prof Ho Kim, PhD Iulian-Horia Holobaca, PhD Jan Kyselý, PhD Joana Madureira, PhD Prof Joel Schwartz, PhD Prof Jouni J K Jaakkola, PhD Prof Klea Katsouyanni, PhD Prof Magali Hurtado Diaz, PhD Martina S Ragettli, PhD Prof Masahiro Hashizume, PhD Mathilde Pascal, PhD Micheline de Sousa Zanotti Stagliorio Coélho, PhD Nicolás Valdés Ortega, MSc Niilo Ryti, PhD Noah Scovronick, PhD Paola Michelozzi, MSc Patricia Matus Correa, MSc Prof Patrick Goodman, PhD Prof Paulo Hilario Nascimento Saldiva, PhD Rosana Abrutzky, MSc Samuel Osorio, MSc Shilpa Rao, PhD Simona Fratianni, PhD Tran Ngoc Dang, PhD Valentina Colistro, MSc Veronika Huber, PhD Whanhee Lee, PhD Xerxes Seposo, PhD Prof Yasushi Honda, PhD Prof Yue Leon Guo, PhD Prof Michelle L Bell, PhD Shanshan Li, PhD

Introduction

Earth's average surface temperature has risen at a rate of 0·07°C per decade since 1880, a rate that has nearly tripled since the 1990s.1 The acceleration of global warming has resulted in 19 of the 20 hottest years occurring after 2000 and an unprecedented frequency, intensity, and duration of extreme temperature events, such as heatwaves, worldwide. Exposure to non-optimal temperatures has been associated with a range of adverse health outcomes (eg, excess mortality and morbidity from various causes).2, 3, 4, 5, 6 All populations over the world are under certain threats from non-optimal temperatures, regardless of their ethnicity, location, sex, age, and socioeconomic status. For example, in China, 14·3% of non-accidental mortality in 2013–15 might have been related to non-optimal temperatures, with 11·6% of deaths explainable by cold exposure and 2·7% explainable by heat exposure.7 In the USA, the risk of mortality increased by 5–12% due to cold exposure and 5–10% due to heat exposure between 2000 and 2006.8 An association between ambient temperature and mortality risk has also been reported in India, Australia, the EU, South Africa, and other countries and regions. 9, 10, 11  [my yellow highlighting]

Figure 1 Average daily mean temperatures of the 750 locations from the 43 countries or territories included in the analysis

The colours represent the different ranges of average daily mean temperature during the data collection periods shown in the appendix (p 4).

Daily minimum and maximum temperatures between Jan 1, 2000, and Dec 31, 2019, were collected from the Global Daily Temperature dataset (grid size 0·5° × 0·5°) of the Climate Prediction Center. This dataset was developed, by use of a Shepard algorithm with observational data from 6000 to 7000 weather monitoring stations worldwide,15 as a benchmark for a range of reanalysis products and climate change models. Daily mean temperature was calculated by averaging daily minimum and maximum temperatures.

ScienceDirect

Energy and Buildings

Volume 272, 1 October 2022:

Integrated assessment of the extreme climatic conditions, thermal performance, vulnerability, and well-being in low-income housing in the subtropical climate of Australia

Shamila Haddad, Riccardo Paolini, Afroditi Synnefa, Lilian De Torres, Deo Prasad, Mattheos Santamouris

Abstract

Social housing stock worldwide can be characterised by poor indoor environmental quality and building thermal performance, which along with the increasing urban overheating put the low-income population at higher health risk. The dwellings’ thermal performance and the indoor environmental quality are often overlooked in the context of social housing compared to the general building stock in Australia. In the present study, the synergies between urban microclimate, indoor air temperature, housing characteristics and quality of life of residents have been investigated by employing subjective and objective assessment of indoor environmental quality in 106 low-income dwellings during the winter and summer of 2018–2019 in New South Wales. It further examines the impact of urban overheating and levels of income on indoor thermal conditions. The subjective method involved assessing the links between the type of housing in which low-income people live, energy bills, self-reported thermal sensation, health and well-being, and occupants’ behaviours. The results show that many dwellings operated outside the health and safety temperature limits for substantial periods. Indoor air temperatures reached 39.8 °C and the minimum temperature was about 5 °C. While the upper acceptability limit for indoor air temperature was 25.6 °C for 80 % satisfaction, periods of up to about 997 and 114 continuous hours above 26 °C and 32 °C were found in overheated buildings, respectively. Indoor overheating hours above 32 °C were recorded up to 238 % higher in Sydney’s western areas compared to eastern and inner suburbs. Similarly, residents in westerns suburbs and regions experience more outdoor overheating hours than those living near the eastern suburbs. This study highlights the interrelationships between ambient temperature, housing design, income, thermal comfort, energy use, and health and well-being in the context of social housing. The evidence of winter underheating and summer overheating suggests that improvements in building quality and urban heat mitigation are required to minimise the impacts of poor-performing housing and local climate. [my yellow highlighting]

A shallow dive into a deep pool to look at the 2024 World Happiness Report

 

SPOILER ALERT: Australia has an overall score of 10th in the Top 10 of Country Rankings by Life Evaluation 2021-2023.  However, in Australia personal happiness is not growing but falling. More females than males are likely to express negative emotions or be classified as having lower life satisfaction. Those people under 30 years of age & those 30 to 44 years of age are the least happy. With the winners in the happiness lottery being Australians 60 years of age and older who - despite increased frequency of health problems & dwindling social interactions with the wider community - were found to be the happiest. In fact we belong to a sad little group of countries - United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand - where our young & younger mature adults no longer appear to be travelling through life as well as is anticipated in a first world country with the 12th largest economy.

Gallup-University of Oxford Wellbeing Research Centre-UN Sustainable Solutions Network, World Happiness Report 2024, March 2024, excerpts:

Happiness

Happiness has generally increased for all age groups in East Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, and the CIS, and fallen in South Asia, the NANZ group and the Middle East and North Africa....

Inequality in the distribution of happiness reflects inequalities of access to any of the direct and indirect supports for well-being, including income, education, health care, social acceptance, trust, and the presence of supportive social environments at the family, community and national levels. People are happier living in countries where the equality of happiness is greater.... 

This is the first report to consider equality of happiness by age group, set in a global environment of increasing inequality. At the global level, averaged across all ages and regions, inequality of happiness has increased by more than 20% over the past dozen years.

For the world as a whole, the average frequency of the selected negative emotions is higher for females than males, with the gender gap growing slightly from the young to the old.....

Happiness fell significantly in the country group including the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, by twice as much for the young as for the old.....

For the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, happiness has decreased in all age groups, but especially for the young, so much so that the young are now, in 2021-2023, the least happy age group. This is a big change from 2006-2010, when the young were happier than those in the midlife groups, and about as happy as those aged 60 and over. For the young, the happiness drop was about three-quarters of a point, and greater for females than males....

The group including the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand shows a quite different pattern than elsewhere. Negative emotions are at all ages more frequent for females than males, especially for those under 30. In this region, unlike anywhere else except Western Europe, negative emotions are more frequent among the young and least frequent for the old....

Changes in emotions between 2006-2010 and 2021-2023. 

As shown in Figure 2.8, negative emotions are more frequent now than in 2006-2010 everywhere, only slightly so in East Asia and Western Europe. The big exception is in Central and Eastern Europe, where there has been a drop in the frequency of negative emotions in all age groups, in contrast to the rest of the world, but consistent with the happiness convergence taking place within Europe.

Increases in negative emotions have been most frequent in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, especially at higher ages. In Latin America there has been no increased frequency of negative emotions among those under 30, but a substantial increase in the older age groups. The CIS countries show a similar but somewhat muted pattern.

There is the reverse pattern in the NANZ countries where negative emotions have increased more for the young than for the old. No other region shows negative emotions increasing more for the young than for the old.....

...positive emotions, which include laughter, enjoyment, and doing interesting things, are based on experience the previous day, are almost everywhere more frequent in the youngest age groups, and are gradually less frequent at higher ages. The only exception is in the NANZ group of countries, which show a U-shape in age, with those 60+ having about the same frequency of positive emotions as those under 30....

Loneliness

Loneliness, when measured on the same scale as social support, is in all regions generally half as prevalent as social support. It displays somewhat matching patterns, being low where social support is high, and vice versa. Only in Southeast Asia, Western Europe and the NANZ countries is loneliness significantly higher for the Millennials than for the Boomers, a pattern that is reversed in Central and Eastern Europe.

An earlier study found age to be the most important factor in explaining loneliness differences among survey respondents in the United States. They found a peak in loneliness at age 20, with a steady age-related decline thereafter. This same phenomenon is evident in the Gallup/Meta data for the group of four countries including the United States. Although overall levels of loneliness are not unduly high in global terms, there is a significantly different pattern across the generations. Loneliness is almost twice as high among the Millennials than among those born before 1965. Millennials also feel less socially supported than Boomers in those countries, another place in which these countries look different from the rest of the world. This is despite the fact that actual social connections are much more frequent for Millennials than Boomers, and about as frequent as for Generation X.

Do the high prevalence of loneliness and the lesser feelings of social support help to explain the very large ranking disparities between the old and young for the NANZ countries....

Another interesting feature of the Gallup/Meta results, applicable in all global regions, is that the oldest members of the population, those in the boomer and earlier generations, feel more socially supported and less lonely than those in the younger generations despite having less frequent actual interactions with all groups except neighbours. This ability to gain more perceived support with fewer interactions likely helps to explain why life satisfaction so often rises after middle age even as the frequency and seriousness of health problems increases.....

Note: In 2022 loneliness averaged 27% across all countries, and 21% for the four-country group including the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

Child and Adolescent Well-being

• In most countries life satisfaction drops gradually from childhood through adolescence and into adulthood. Globally, young people aged 15-24 still report higher life satisfaction than older adults. But this gap is narrowing in Western Europe and recently reversed in North America due to falling life satisfaction among the young. Conversely, in Sub-Saharan Africa life satisfaction has increased among the young.

• Overall, globally, young people aged 15-24 experienced improved life-satisfaction between 2006 and 2019, and stable life satisfaction since then. But the picture varied by region. Youth wellbeing fell in North America, Western Europe, Middle East and North Africa, and South Asia. In the rest of the world it rose.

• Turning to younger ages (10-15), evidence is limited. In high income countries, life satisfaction has declined since 2019, especially for girls. For East Asian countries, life satisfaction increased in 2019. Before 2019, the evidence on trends is mixed.

• Girls report lower life satisfaction than boys by around the age of 12. This gap widens at ages 13 and 15, and the pandemic has amplified the difference. These points apply only to high-income countries since data on these young ages is rarely gathered elsewhere. For ages 15-24, global data shows no global gender differences from 2006 until 2013. But from 2014, females began reporting higher life satisfaction than males, although the gap has narrowed after the pandemic. This global gender gap masks regional differences, and is more pronounced in lower-income countries. There are no gender differences in high-income countries.

A breakdown of Australia's Happiness Ranking

2.1 Country Rankings by Life Evaluations in 2021-2023

Australia (7.057) in 10th position with a 95% confidence interval, in a field of 143 countries.

Note: National average life evaluations and measures of positive and negative emotions (by country and year) were established in terms of six key variables: GDP per capita, healthy life expectancy, having someone to count on, freedom to make life choices, generosity, and freedom from corruption.

2021-2023 Country Rankings

The top countries no longer include any of the

largest countries. In the top ten countries only

the Netherlands and Australia have populations

over 15 million. In the whole of the top twenty,

only Canada and the United Kingdom have

populations over 30 million.

.....the four countries in the NANZ group -

the United States, Canada, Australia and New

Zealand - all have rankings for the young that

are much lower than for the old, with the biggest

discrepancies in the United States and Canada

where the gap is 50 places or more....these gaps have

mainly arisen since 2010, and probably involve

some mix of generational and age effects.

2.2 Ranking of Happiness - the Young (Age below 30): 2021-2023

Australia (7.013) ranked 19th in a field of 143 countries, with a 95% confidence interval.

Table 2.2: Ranking of life evaluations by age group, 2021- 2023

Australia's ranking

All ages — 10th

The Young (under 30 yrs) — 19th

Lower Middle (30-44 yrs) — 14th

Upper Middle (45-59yrs) — 10th

The Old (60+ yrs) — 9th

Happiest — The Old

Least Happy — Lower Middle

2.4 Ranking of Happiness - the Old (age 60 and above): 2021-2023

Australia (7.304) ranked 9th in a field of 143 countries, with a 95% confidence interval.

2.5 Changes in Happiness: from 2006-2010 to 2021-2023

Australia (0.273) negative change ranking 102nd in a field of 134 countries, with a 95% confidence interval. Being the 33rd highest fall in happiness score ranking, the highest being Afghanistan (2.599). 

The full 2024 World Happiness Report can be read and downloaded at:

https://happiness-report.s3.amazonaws.com/2024/WHR+24.pdf

STATE OF PLAY AUSTRALIA 2024: anti-corruption agencies with runs on the board & the new kid on the block

 With corruption perceived as thriving around the world and Australia showing a worsening corruption level with a 10 point change in the wrong direction since 2012, according to Transparency International, it would be nice to see some improvement on the horizon.

In its 2023 report it seems Australia is not showing any such improvement on CPI results in the previous 2022 report. Although in all fairness, on a global scale the nation is not ranked as a high range offender.

Nevertheless, on the Australian east coast alone, four states and one territory published reports on a combined 73 corruption/integrity investigations in the 18 months between 1 July 2022 and 31 December 2023. [See "BACKGROUND"]

So I'm hoping that the slow progress of the first seven months of the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) only indicates a new anti-corruption agency finding its way and, next year the general public will begin to see at least a hint that some of its 13 current investigations are nearing conclusion. Most especially, I'm hoping that Commissioner Brereton publishes the results of all completed investigations which found corrupt conduct.

Because I can see no good reason why the misdeeds of federal public officials/public servants should be afforded a total secrecy not afforded to their state and local government counterparts or any ordinary citizen.

On 5 March 2024 NACC released its regular weekly update for the reporting period: 1 July 2023 to midnight Sunday, 3 March 2024.

Overview

The National Anti-Corruption Commission:

• has received 2594 referrals

• has 376 referrals currently under assessment including 13 under preliminary investigation

• is conducting 13 corruption investigations

• is overseeing or monitoring 25 investigations by other agencies

Referral and assessment

At the end of the reporting period, the Commission had:

• received 2594 referrals

• excluded 2009 referrals at the triage stage because they did not involve a Commonwealth public official or did not raise a corruption issue

• 160 referrals awaiting triage

• 216 triaged referrals under assessment including 13 under preliminary investigation

• assessed 233 referrals, in respect of which the Commission:

  • decided to take no further action in 213 cases. Typically, this is because the referral does not raise a corruption issue, or there are insufficient prospects of finding corrupt conduct, or the matter is already being adequately investigated by another agency, or a corruption investigation would not add value in the public interest.

  • referred 5 corruption issues to agencies for investigation or consideration.

  • decided to investigate 9 corruption issues itself.

  • decided to investigate 4 corruption issues jointly with another agency.

BACKGROUND

In New South Wales out of the five investigation reports published by Independent Commission Against Corrupt Conduct (NSW ICACC) in 2023, four found seriously corrupt conduct involving members of state parliament, elected local government officials, public authority employees or property developers. While in 2022 four out of five investigation reports published found seriously corrupt conduct involving members of state parliament, political lobbyists, public servants, legal practitioners or land council employees.

In 2022-23 the Queensland Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC) received 3,931 corruption complaints and assessed 3,686 corruption complaints. Finalising 39 corruption investigations, resulting in two criminal charges and seven recommendations for disciplinary action.

In 2022-23 the Victorian Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC) began 11 investigations and 18 preliminary inquiries into public sector corruption and police misconduct. It also completed 14 investigations and 12 preliminary inquiries, with 18 investigations and preliminary inquiries still in progress at the end of that financial year.

Also in 2022-23 the ACT Integrity Commission worked on 13 investigations, including two new investigations. It also referred 9 matters:

• six referrals to the Public Sector Standards Commissioner

• one referral to ACT Corrective Services

• one referral to ACT Health

• one referral to the Justice and Community

  Safety Directorate.

In 2023 the Tasmanian Integrity Commission released two reports on the potential for bias and conflict of interest in local government hiring practices.

COVID-19 2024: I suspect there has long been a debate in government & public health sectors from which the Australian public in large measure appears to have been excluded

How the road to widespread abandonment of effective communicable disease control began.

In January 2020 the SARS-CoV-2 virus, commonly known as COVID-19, entered Australia and by 7 April 2020 there were 5,844 confirmed COVID-19 cases across the country, with 44 deaths [North Coast Voices, COVID-19 confirmed cases count for Australia, states and territories from 29 March 2020]. 

Infection numbers continued to rise and as of 29 July 2021 the national total confirmed infection number stood at 33,732 - with 2,857 mostly locally acquired active cases - and the death toll from COVID-19 was listed as 920 people with the highest number of deaths occurring in the 80-89 year age group.

Eight days later on 6 August 2021 the Sydney Morning Herald reported:

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the state must learn to live with COVID-19 as the number of people in hospital with the virus doubled within a week and the nation’s chief medical officer called for a circuit-breaker to halt the spread across Sydney.

As NSW reported a record 291 new cases on Friday, Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly said low vaccination rates, non-compliance and the speed of diagnosis highlighted the need to reconsider the state’s strategy.

On 23 August 2021 then Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced the 'national plan to live with COVID'

Prime minister Scott Morrison has said Australia must 'learn to live with' Covid-19. 'Once you get to 70% of your eligible population being vaccinated, and 80% ... the plan sets out we have to move forward'. Morrison said once those vaccine targets are hit, it is not about case numbers any more and people need to change their mindsets. 'Because if not at 70% and 80% then when? Then when?,' he said. 'This can not go on forever, this is not a sustainable way to live in this country,' Morrison said.

Needless to say by 31 December 2021 'living with COVID' à la Gladys and Scott saw the national confirmed COVID-19 infection numbers grow to 395,504 men, women and children with 137,752 mostly locally acquired active infections and, 2,239 deaths.

For it seemed that 'living with COVID' might have been Morrison's coded phrase for forced herd immunity and, like many of Morrison's schemes this one doesn't really appear to be working that well - unless the intention was to abandon the old, sick or vulnerable to this disease.

So this is where we are at today.....

 

In February 2024, as part of its fragmented public reporting of COVID-19 infection in the state, NSW Health announced that from 1 January 2024 to 3 February 2024 a total of 17,140 people ranging from 0-4 years up to 90+ years tested positive to COVID-19 via a PCR test, a total of 523 of the people were local residents in the Northern NSW Local Health District. With an est. 28% of the 17,170 requiring hospitalisation in the first week of January rising to 35% by 3 February. [NSW COVID-19 WEEKLY DATA OVERVIEW Epidemiological weeks 4 & 5, ending 03 February 2024]

Confirmed COVID-19 Infection by Age Groupings, 1 July 2023 to 3 February 2024

[ibid] Right click on image to enlarge

Note: The highest age group infection rate per 100,000 for the entire 6 months is a Bright Pink line representing those aged 90+ years and the second highest is Bright Blue representing those aged 65-89 years. While for the last four months and four days the third highest infection rate is represented by Red which indicates small children 0-4 years of age.

At state and national level total COVID-19 deaths have been increasingly hidden from the view of the general public in undifferentiated or hard to quantify mortality graphs and, on 20 October 2023 Australia’s Chief Medical Officer declared that COVID-19 is no longer a Communicable Disease Incident of National Significance (CDINS) following the end of winter in Australia.

On 8 February 2024 La Trobe University sent out a media release discussing a study led by Dr Joel Miller, Associate Professor of Mathematics and Statistics at La Trobe University, found that locking down the most at-risk group of people for a significant period, while simultaneously promoting infection in other groups in order to reach herd immunity, could be the best way to protect the high-risk groups. [my yellow highlighting]

However, increasing the exposure of one group to a disease would create an ethical dilemma and potentially result in the most disadvantaged groups in the community – usually with the least political power – becoming the highly-infected group.....

ABC News, 11 February 2024:

Steve Irons' older brother Jim was only supposed to be in hospital for a short while. A retired stockman from Maryborough, Queensland, Jim was diagnosed with leukaemia just before Christmas in 2022. He was flown to Brisbane for testing, then back to Maryborough Hospital, where doctors were putting together a plan for him to be treated at home.

But a patient in the room next door to Jim's had COVID, Steve says, and on January 14 last year, Jim tested positive too. "After four days, when the hospital told me he was no longer infectious, I took the risk and decided to visit him," says Steve, who'd flown up from Tasmania. "I sat with him for three days, playing country music, reading to him."

And then, on Saturday January 21, Jim Irons died of COVID-19 pneumonia and acute myeloid leukaemia, aged 79. It still distresses Steve to know his brother would have lived longer had he not caught a dangerous virus in a place he should have been safe. Once Jim had COVID, he says, hospital staff kept his door closed and donned masks and gowns when they came into his room. But hindsight is 20/20. "For me, to put him next door to a COVID patient caused his death," Steve says. "It didn't have to happen that way. If they'd had a separate COVID ward … with formal routes of entry, cleaning, controlled ventilation, Jim could still be with us now."

Twelve months later Australian hospitals have become a strange new battleground in the fight against COVID, with doctors and public health experts concerned that too many patients are catching the virus — and an alarming number are dying — as a result of inadequate infection control. Until recently, tools like contact tracing, testing, N95 respirators and good ventilation were mainstays of COVID management in healthcare settings. But in many hospitals they've been wound back or ditched in tandem with other community protections, putting patients and healthcare workers at risk and deterring others from seeking treatment.

Health departments insist the risk of catching COVID cannot be eliminated completely, and that hospitals maintain stringent measures to prevent infections and manage outbreaks. But senior healthcare workers in several states say vulnerable people — including transplant and oncology patients and others with compromised immune systems — are contracting COVID because even basic precautions are not being taken: a consequence, they say, of hospitals' failure to address airborne transmission, and the pervasive myth that COVID is "just a cold".

The 'Robodebt' of medicine

Of course, evidence clearly shows COVID is nothing like a cold, particularly for hospital patients who are at higher risk of severe illness and death. Shocking data released under Freedom of Information laws last year revealed 5,614 people were suspected to have caught COVID in Victorian public hospitals between 2020 and April 2023, with more than one in 10 confirmed or suspected to have died as a result of their infection. In Queensland, similar data shows an average of 13 people caught COVID in hospital every day in the 18 months to June last year, with one patient dying every two days.

"The data we are aware of indicates that there is a large problem here," says Associate Professor Suman Majumdar, chief health officer for COVID and health emergencies at the Burnet Institute. "The key policy aim in Australia is to protect the medically vulnerable and there is no more vulnerable group than people in our hospitals and aged care."

Whilst patients who catch COVID in hospital might be older and sicker, Dr Majumdar says, "this is a patient safety issue". "These are preventable infections and therefore preventable deaths and we need to take action to reduce them by setting targets, tracking progress and reporting transparently like we do for other hospital acquired infections."....