And Rudd wonders why the peasants are revolting

There has been just a hint of exaperation in Kevin Rudd's tone, as he answers media questions regarding peasants pensioners and this year's federal budget.
Perhaps he might be a little more understanding of pensioner concerns about cost-of-living increases after reading that Woolworths has higher markups on groceries in Australia because it is established, holds large market share and is a price leader.
The sheer arrogance of Woolies attitude is enough to set even much younger teeth on edge.
In regional areas like the NSW North Coast where lack of competition is marked, this admission of price gouging rankles retirees, old age and disability pensioners.

"Supermarket giant Woolworths has admitted customers pay more for groceries in its Australian stores than in its New Zealand shops.
Woolworths chief executive Michael Luscombe told a national inquiry into grocery prices that competition in Australia and New Zealand is the same, but admitted its mark-ups are higher here than across the Tasman.
Mr Luscombe told the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) inquiry the margins are lower in New Zealand because Woolworths is not the price leader there.
"We may have to sometimes reduce prices further in New Zealand to make money," Mr Luscombe said.
"The business that we purchased in New Zealand is not in the same position (as here)... significant investments still need to be made in New Zealand.
"The issue in New Zealand is we have a very strong competitor who has been very stable for a long time."
Mr Luscombe said Woolworths had built its business up in Australia over 80 years, while its Kiwi arm was much younger.
Woolworths owns three major supermarket chains in New Zealand - Woolworths, Foodtown and Countdown. Its main competitor is New Zealand-owned Foodstuffs.
Mr Luscombe said internal polling showed Woolworths holds 30.77 per cent of the grocery market share in Australia.
The ACCC estimates Woolworths and Coles hold about 80 per cent of the market."

No money left for a lottery ticket or the pokies?

A Roy Morgan Research media release yesterday shows a marked decline in gambling when comparing 2002 and 2008.
With increasing petrol and food prices eating further into the family budget, it seems there may be less money in Australian pockets for traditional forms of entertainment.

The percentage of Australians gambling in the last three months has declined from 73% in year ended December 2002 to 66% in year ended March 2008, according to the latest Roy Morgan Research Single Source data. Most forms of gambling have declined, including lottery tickets (down from 64% to 58%), poker machines (32% to 27%), betting (18 % to 16%) and Keno (11% to 9%). Casino games have remained stable at 4%.....

Frequency of gambling on poker machines has also declined, with less poker machine gamblers playing more than 13 times in the last three months (down from 10% in year ended December 2002 to 9% in year ended March 2008), and more playing one to three times in the last three months (up from 55% to 57%) or four to thirteen times (up from 34% to 35%).....

“Gambling participation and frequency has declined across all age, income and lifestage groups, indicating a broad cultural and lifestyle change within Australia. People spend more leisure time on the Internet and personal computers and less time on traditional leisure activities such as gambling.
"The only good news for hotels, clubs and casinos is that more Australians are dining at licensed premises, and that gambling is only one of many reasons for visiting a venue.”

New Matilda slices and dices MalcolmTurnbull

Mark Bahnisch at his finest in PollieGraph (New Matilda) yesterday.

The Libs don’t seem to have any capacity for a disciplined approach to opposition. Despite the claims from Nick Minchin and others that Nelson would bring a “consultative” style to the leadership - in contrast to Howard’s - it appears clear that in the absence of the prize of government they’re incapable of turning their fire on Labor as opposed to scattering it among themselves. Just as some of the shine had rubbed off Swan’s budget, they’ve handed the government two devastating lines of attack - the disunity angle and the fact that they themselves know that their centrepiece budget reply “measure” is a piece of populist garbage and that they were concerned it would tear up their mythical but much cherished “economic management” brand.
Nelson sacking Turnbull would be an absolute disaster for them, for reasons that ought to be obvious. On the other hand, Nelson keeping Turnbull would be an absolute disaster for them, for reasons that ought to be obvious.
A lot of this can be traced back to their continuing failure to adapt to opposition. They need to make the government the story, not contend - in undignified and risible ways - with each other for their 15 minutes of fame in the public eye. Turnbull’s under-reported attempt at a censure on the budget after Question Time last week is a more revelatory moment than has been written up - it shows his own lack of discipline and overweening egotism in trying to shove himself into the spotlight on a day that should have been Nelson’s. Even from the point of view of a leadership contender, it’s a thousand types of dumb.

* Alternative portrait of Malcolm Turnbull (above) found at ABC News.

ALP rank and file sock it to Iemma and Costa in Crikey

Excerpt from article on the privatisation of NSW electricity in Crikey yesterday.

NSW ALP ignoring an ever-angrier rank and file
By Ben Aveling, Secretary of the Alexandria Branch of the ALP:

But now, Morris Iemma and Michael Costa have announced that they make the decisions, no correspondence to be entered into.
The Alexandria branch is a small branch, a couple of private sector employees, some public sector employees, a few small business owners. None of our regulars is a "staffer" and, like most similar branches, we are not factionally aligned. We don’t expect to dictate policy, but we do have a right to stand up and be counted.
We first tried to do this through our local State Electoral Council. Our motion against electricity privatisation passed, as did stronger motions from other branches. But in violation of two rules, the meeting had been postponed, moving it past the cutoff date for conference submissions and none of the motions reached conference. Nor was this the only attempt to manipulate the decision of conference.
In frustration, we turned to the rulebook and found that we could ask the Administrative Committee to consider the behaviour of Iemma and Costa, which we did. John Della Bosca’s response was that it is “unacceptable” for rank and file members to expect senior ministers to be bound by party rules.
Iemma has gone further: if any MP obeys the rules and supports a policy in defiance of "cabinet solidarity", Iemma will seek to have that MP thrown out of the party. Michael Egan has made his own contribution to doublespeak: Labor governments should not listen to outside forces like the Labor annual conference; as if Iemma and his supporters could have been elected without the word Labor after their names on the ballot papers.
Make no mistake, the rank and file are angry. There is a small group of people, with no grassroots support, who are trying to hijack the Party and the state. Our collective opinion was heard loud and clear at State Conference and will not be silenced by bully boy tactics from a Premier and Treasurer who seem happy to split the Party for a policy rightly regarded with deep suspicion by the electorate. We have always negotiated and compromised. Now we are being told to walk away completely. We will not.

Current Lib leadership not worth a bent zac

I wonder when the Liberal Party of Australia is going to realise that its political salvation does not lie in a choice between Brendan Nelson and Malcolm Turnbull as federal leader.
The party's entire federal front bench is so tainted by the Howard years, that public opinion polls are not likely to firm into double digits for any length of time with any of the usual suspects captaining the ship.
Every time one of these shadow ministers front a camera it is hard not to recall that they all turned a blind eye while refugees drowned at sea, drove people into madness in detention centres, allowed mates to fund a dictator with brown paper bags full of money, sent our kids to war based on WMD lies and generally rorted the political system.
Time for new blood fellas - or your particular craft just might sink without a trace.
Right now, as teh Opposition, you are p*ss weak.

Every breath you take, I'll be watching you

Tucked neatly into Joe Ludwig and Jenny Macklin's joint media release, on the welfare debit card to be introduced this year for Centrelink clients under income management and all baby bonus recipients, is this little admission.

Using the EFTPOS network will make more data available for better-targeted compliance checks aimed at detecting breaches.

What this sentence means is that every purchase made with one of these cards will be recorded against the name of the card holder and the data stored by the Federal Government.
Because it is nigh impossible to monitor for breaches without doing so.

It seems that the Rudd Government in its wisdom has decided that everytime the holder of a welfare debit card decides to purchase Kleenex tissues over Coles own brand, Arnott's biscuits over Dick Smith's cookies, Panadol over Nurofen, dried peas over fresh peas, or if a card holder buys over-the-counter haemorrhoid relief cream, it needs to know all the details.

As these debit cards will bar the purchase of alcohol, tobacco, pornography and not allow cash withdrawals, collection of additional information is insensitive, intrusive and needless.

Given that there is every indication that the Rudd Government intends to eventually roll out the welfare debit card nationally to include all government pension, benefit, allowance, concession recipients; every Australian citizen should be concerned with the implications of this data collection drive.

When one adds to this the recent Rudd Government announcement that it intends to access the full details of bank accounts held by people receiving cash transfers through Centrelink, whenever it deems this necessary; every citizen should be alarmed at where this attitude is taking our society.

NSW North Coast whale migration season underway

The magnificent humpback whales have begun their northerly migration along the east Australian coast.
It is estimated that more than 10,000 whales will soon be cruising past our doorsteps, and Australian Seabird Rescue (ASR) general manager Rochelle Ferris says that the organisation founded by her late father, Lance, is well-prepared in the event of a stranding.
“In the event of a whale stranding, ASR works closely and co-operatively with the National Parks and Wildlife Service and other non-government organisations by providing assistance and resources at the scene.
“The ASR Cetacean Stranding Team is a highly trained group of volunteers who are available to respond promptly to a stranding event anywhere between the Clarence River and the Tweed.”
ASR maintains a wide variety of response equipment including boats, tents, generators, lighting and wetsuits to support a co-ordinated rescue effort.

Please remember if you are boating, swimming or diving in sight of a whale:
NSW Parks and Wildlife introduced amended regulations in 2006 that govern whale watching from the sea to meet strict national standards. They introduced a caution zone limiting boats to 300m from a pregnant or calving whale and 100m from an adult or juvenile.
Boats are also banned from approaching whales head on or from the rear. But if a boat is stationary or drifting, a whale can obviously approach and stay with it as long as it likes.for more info on Whale and Dolphin regulations visit NSW Parks and Wildlife.

Photograph and articles from The Far North Coaster online magazine.

Someone's having a lend of Stephen Conroy

Now I know that pollies can be quite dense outside their area of expertise (ie., how to get elected) but someone must be actively having a lend of the Federal Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy for him to have endorsed including "promotion of" technology addiction in the terms of reference for a recently formed cyber-safety consultative working group.
Nobody could be that dumb surely.
Even I know that this so-called addiction is one of the many supposed problematic behaviours which suddenly pop up overnight like mushrooms and get exposure in the media whenever major pharmaceutical companies are hunting to expand their markets.
Stephen won't find it or any variant listed in the DSM or recognised by the principal specialist medical associations, even if his departmental website links try to imply that this addiction exists as a mental disorder.
The next time a shrink makes a joke about the psychopathology of childhood, I bet this gullible minister will bite.
M'oath, he'd probably even buy a roo's tailfeather if you offered it to him!

If the Minister is interested, the website which reputedly gave the drug companies their 'bright' idea is here.

Kevin Rudd needs to lift his game

A question for Prime Minister Kevin Rudd:

Why is an extremist cult, whose activities break up families, given a wide berth by the Australian Government?

Prior to the November 2007 election Mr Rudd described the Exclusive Brethren as an "extremist cult" whose activities "break up families" and called for investigations by police, the Australian Taxation Office, the Australian Electoral Commission and Austrac, the anti-money-laundering agency into the Brethren's activities.

So, Mr Rudd, what's changed? Why are there no inquiries?

Today The Age reports PM Kevin Rudd has rejected the pleas of former members of the Exclusive Brethren for a broad-ranging inquiry into the sect, saying such an investigation would "unreasonably interfere" with their right "to practise their faith freely and openly.

Former members of the Brethren seized on the comments and, in February, wrote to Mr Rudd asking for an inquiry, particularly into its "disproportionately high taxpayer funding of Brethren schools, dishonest political campaigning, their charitable status in relation to rate and tax exemptions, and their well-known intimidatory tactics during traumatic Family Court cases".

The letter was written by former Brethren member Peter Flinn and signed by 33 others. Attached were 13 stories outlining the misery inflicted by practices of the sect, including the doctrine of separation, which keeps lapsed members from contacting their families.

Mr Rudd's chief-of-staff David Epstein wrote in reply last week that the Prime Minister "does not resile from the views he expressed last year," and that he "remains concerned about the reported imposition of doctrines that weaken family bonds" and "prevent children accessing online learning tools".

Mr Epstein also added that religious observance "should not be regarded as a shield behind which breaches of the law can be hidden", and urged anyone with details of criminal behaviour within the Brethren to tell police.

However, he wrote, on religious freedom grounds, the Prime Minister would not be instituting an inquiry.

Mr Rudd's stance suggests the Government also will vote against a motion by Greens Senator Bob Brown calling for an inquiry into the sect, its tax concessions, public funding, and practices that may harm children or families.

Senator Brown tabled notice of the new motion, his third proposed inquiry into the Brethren, in the Senate on Thursday.

Senator Brown described Mr Rudd's position as "appalling", saying his priority "should be the welfare of children and families, and the taxpayers' money that is going to this organisation".

But Mr Flinn told The Sunday Age the Exclusive Brethren could take no comfort from Mr Rudd's response: "Whilst Mr Rudd did not give a specific commitment to an inquiry, he acknowledged the 'moving personal accounts'."

Mr Flinn also pointed out that Mr Rudd reiterated his Government's commitment to "enhancing transparency in the Australian electoral system, with reforms recently announced relating to the disclosure and sources of donations".

"We have no desire to interfere with the fundamental right of any religious group to freely and openly practise its beliefs. We just want to highlight other equally fundamental human rights, such as access to family who remain Brethren members, a right callously denied by the Brethren," Mr Flinn said.

The Exclusive Brethren is a wealthy Christian-based group that practises a radical doctrine of separation from the world. Its leaders became very close to former Prime Minister John Howard over many years of lobbying and political activism, and, in 2004, they poured $370,000 into his re-election campaign.

Under Mr Howard, Brethren schools enjoyed similar funding to schools for disabled and Aboriginal students, even though, by their own admission, Exclusive Brethren members are in the top echelon of income earners. Mr Rudd has continued the funding arrangements, worth $50 million over the next four years.

Do you belong to the Australian Labor Party or are you in Morris Iemma's party?

Do you belong to the Australian Labor Party or are you in Morris Iemma's party? is a question every New South Wales Labor MP should be asking themselves right now.

This week Morris Iemma breached NSW ALP policy by introducing enabling legislation to allow for the privatisation fire sale of the state's power industry.

At the same time the Iemma Government has made a submission to a Rudd Government inquiry trying to convince its federal counterpart that the teeth should be drawn on any greenhouse gas abatement schemes for the power industry.

With enabling legislation before the NSW Parliament, Morris Iemma has headed off for China and begun to talk down the value of those publicly-owned assets he intends to sell.

As some of the corporate wheelers and dealers (who would potentially be involved in either setting up this fire sale or purchasing the state's electricity assets after privatisation legislation is passed) are also found on lists of political donors to the Iemma Government, the whole setup is beginning to sound remarkably convenient for banks, big business and the multinationals.

It certainly is convenient for Labor political bully extraordinaire Michael Costa.

The Prime Minister and his ministers for water and the environment should be very careful of the motives of this state government, which appears to have both forgotten the very real concerns of its electorate and the need to genuinely tackle climate change.

Penny Wong and Peter Garrett in particular need to remember that old adage about laying down with dogs and getting up with fleas.

Obama reckons he is only 17 delegates away from wiping Clinton out

According to yesterday's Obama for America e-mail.

Barack Obama is just 17 elected delegates away from a majority -- and you can help get him there.
At the start of this race, there were 3253 elected delegates at stake in primaries and caucuses across the country. After winning 32 of 49 contests, Barack is within reach of an absolute majority.
We believe that the winner of the majority of elected, pledged delegates should and will be the Democratic nominee.
Important primaries are coming up this Tuesday in Oregon and Kentucky. With your help, Barack could win enough delegates to reach this crucial milestone on his way to securing the nomination.
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I'm asking you to be that voice.
Use our simple online calling tool to call potential supporters in Oregon and Kentucky and make sure they vote for Barack:
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We've come a long way together in this campaign, and Tuesday could be the day we reach a majority of elected delegates.
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For more than a year, we've relied on everyday supporters like you, reaching out person-to-person to build our movement.
We're close to the nomination -- please keep working to help Barack cross the finish line.
Thank you,
Jon
Jon Carson
Voter Contact
Director
Obama for America