A possible explanation as to why in 2017 Liberal and Nationals politicians in Australia still hold the poor in such contempt?

In the 45^th Australian Parliament 86.9 per cent of Liberal MPs and senators and 59.1 per cent of Nationals/CNP MPS and senators have formal higher education/professional qualifications.  

A total of 175 of these 196 qualified Coalition parliamentarians graduated from university, with the majority of qualifications being in law, commerce, economics and finance. [See 45th Parliamentary Handbook of The Commonwealth of Australia]

As a group Coalition parliamentarians have a higher percentage of members with higher education qualifications compared with other parliamentary political parties.

By comparison, in the general Australian population 48.9 per cent of 35-44 year-olds, 38.2 per cent of 45-54 year-olds, 33.9 per cent of 55-64 year-olds had tertiary qualifications in 2015 according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development data.

Both Liberal and Nationals MPs and senators also feature prominently in a list of parliamentarians with significant investment property portfolios.

However, belonging to the current affluent political class doesn’t completely explain the level of arrogant entitlement our Coalition politicians display on the floor of federal parliament and elsewhere.

Unless for many in this affluent group a sense of privilege began generations before…….

In Australia a wide collection of rarer surnames, predominately of British/Irish origin, were used by Gregory Clark (University of California), Andrew Leigh (Parliament of Australia) and Mike Pottenger (Melbourne University) to study social mobility between 1870 and 2017.

Immobile Australia: Surnames show Strong Status Persistence, 1870-2017

In this paper we derive equivalent surname status correlations for Australia 1870-2017. These show that despite the fact that Australia was an immigrant society incorporating migrants from a wide variety of backgrounds, and without some of the entrenched social institutions and rigidities of England, underlying social mobility rates all the way from 1870 to 2017 were just as slow as in England. Also there is no sign of any increase in mobility rates in the most recent years……

In 1900-9 someone with the rare elite surname was 16.5 times as likely to get a degree from Melbourne or Sydney as someone with a common surname. Over the decades this overrepresentation declines, but more than 100 years later in 2010-17 the rare surnames are still 76% more represented among degree recipients than would be expected......

With this structure the social system behaves as though it has a longer memory of family status. The predicted status of children depends not just on the parents, but also on the grandparents, uncles, aunts and other relatives. In high status lineages, large short-term declines in status by a child tend to be corrected in the next generation, the grandchildren. For lower class families large upward movements in social status tend also to get corrected in the next generation.

Another feature that should be emphasized is that our data does suggest there will be complete social mobility in Australia, if we wait enough generations. The descendants of the Colonial elite are becoming more average with each passing generation, and will eventually be completely average in status. However, this process takes a very long time. The holders of rare elite surnames in table 2 had an average occupational status 1.54 standard deviations above the social mean in 1904. With an intergenerational correlation of 0.75 in occupational status their average status will lie within .1 standard deviations of the social mean by the generation of 2204. It takes about 10 generations, 300 years, for such an elite set of families to become effectively average.

It is not obvious how we should weight the two different elements of short run and long run mobility in terms of evaluating the degree of social mobility in Australian society. Indeed, policies that increase parent-child social mobility may be desirable even if we expect that there will be some reversion in the next generation. But it is clear that in terms of long-run social mobility, Australia has been just as immobile a society as its sclerotic parent England.

It appears that Australian society is as stratified as ever with dominant groups retaining high status through the generations and working class families remaining relatively fixed in lower status groups and, a genuinely egalitarian society in this country is not to be expected for another 300 years - if at all.

Adding to our NBN blues now come the scams

ACC, ScamWatch, 22 August 2017:

Watch out for NBN scams

The ACCC is warning the community that scammers are pretending to be from NBN to con victims out of their money and personal information.

Scamwatch has received 316 complaints this year about scammers impersonating NBN with nearly $28,000 reported lost.

“Scammers are increasingly using trusted government brands like NBN to trick people into falling for scams. Their goal is always to either get hold of your money or personal information,” ACCC Deputy Chair Delia Rickard said.

The three common scams reported to Scamwatch that involve scammers impersonating NBN are:

signing victims up to fake accounts – scammers will ring victims to ‘connect’ them to the NBN network for a low price. They will often demand payment be made through iTunes gift cards

gaining remote access to computers – scammers pretending to be from NBN will call a victim with claims there are problems with their computer. The scammer uses this ruse to gain remote access to the victim’s computer to steal valuable personal information, install malicious software or demand payment to fix ‘problems’ they have discovered

phishing – scammers impersonating NBN will call victims to steal valuable personal information like their name, address, Medicare number, licence number. The scammer may tell the victim they’re entitled to a new router, for example, and say they need these personal details to confirm the victim’s identity.

“Australians over 65 are particularly vulnerable to this scam with fraudsters using phone calls to target their victims,” Ms Rickard said.

“NBN will never phone you out of the blue to try to sign you up to a service over its network. NBN is a wholesaler meaning they don’t sell direct to the public. If you get an unsolicited call like this, it’s a big red flag that you’re dealing with a scammer,” Ms Rickard said.

“NBN will also never call you to remotely ‘fix’ a problem with your computer, or to request personal information like your Medicare number or your bank account numbers. Don’t listen to the reasons they give you for needing this information.”

“Finally, if someone ever asks you to pay for a service using iTunes gift cards, it is 100 per cent a scam. Legitimate businesses, especially those like NBN, will never ask you to pay for anything in this way,” Ms Rickard said.

People can protect themselves by following some tips:

If you’re ever in doubt about contact you’ve had from someone saying they’re from NBN trying to sell you an internet or phone service, hang up the phone and call your retail service provider to check if the person calling is a fraud.

You can only connect to the NBN network by purchasing a plan through a phone and internet service provider. Go to NBN’s website(link is external) to check if your home or business address is able to connect to the NBN network and see which phone and internet providers are available in your area.

Never give your personal, credit card or online account details over the phone unless you made the call and the phone number came from a trusted source.

Never give an unsolicited caller remote access to your computer.

If you think you have provided bank account or credit card details to a scammer, contact your bank or financial institution immediately.

People can also follow @Scamwatch_gov(link is external) on Twitter and subscribe to Scamwatch radar alerts to get up-to-date warnings.

The persistence and quiet dignity of the Yaegl community in their long struggle to achieve Native Title over traditional land and waters has seen Part B of Yaegl People #2 claim determined in their favour

Map showing Native Title area surrounding Dirrangun

ABC News, 31 August 2017:

History has been made on the New South Wales north coast today with the granting of a native title claim over the ocean.

The Yaegl people of the lower Clarence first started native title proceedings more than 20 years ago and two years ago the land was granted but now, for the first time in NSW, their rights to a stretch of sea have also been recognised.

The claim involves more than 90 kilometres of coastline between Woody Head and Wooli and extends 200 metres out to sea.

The decision means native title holders cannot be prohibited or restricted from carrying out fishing for personal, non-commercial needs.

It does not affect commercial fishing operations or public access to beaches.

What does this native title allow?

The right to access, traverse and remain on the ocean

The taking, using, offering, sharing and exchanging of resources in the area for non-commercial purposes

The right to maintain and protect places, objects and areas of importance under traditional laws and customs

The right to be accompanied by others on those areas

Claimant spokesperson and Yaegl man Billy Walker said the granting of native title means freedom and independence for the Yaegl people.

"The Yaegl people can proudly say I'm going to go fishing, I'm going to go worming. I'm going to go and get pippies," he said.

"I'm going to do what I can on the foreshores and out at sea without anybody looking over our shoulders telling us what to do and what we can't do.

"It's … a very historic day not only for the Yaegl people but also sets a precedent for other claim groups up and down the east coast of NSW."

Mr Walker said the result gave protection to the Dirrangan reef, at the mouth of the Clarence, which "we've always wanted to protect from day one".....

NTS Corp, the native title provider in NSW, said the Yaegl people will continue to self-regulate their fishing to ensure the sustainability of the fisheries as they have for thousands of years.

Note:

Part B of Yaegl People #2 was resolved by consent determination on 31 August 2017. The applicants on behalf of the Yaegl People were Lillian Williams, Ron Heron, Vivienne King, Eileen Mcleay, Judy Breckenridge, Deidre Ann Randall, William Walker, Noeline Kapeen, Ferlin Lee Laurie, Clarence Randall, Ken Laurie. View orders  with all four maps.

The Yaegl Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation RNTBC has consented in writing to hold the rights and interests comprising the native title in trust for the common law holders and to perform the functions of a registered native title body corporate under the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth)

Matters don't seem to have markedly improved for the Liberal Party since February 2015

Full February 2015 six-page Higginson letter here.

Just on seven months later the disunity within the Liberal Party came to a head with the sacking of then Prime Minister Tony Abbott and the installation of Malcolm Bligh Turnbull.

On 2 July 2016 the first double dissolution federal election in 30 years was held and, although the Liberal-Nationals Coalition was returned to government it was with a reduced majority after the loss of 14 seats.

In August 2016 ABC News reported that:

The New South Wales division of the Liberal Party took out two multi-million-dollar loans with Westpac in little over a year as it struggled with deep financial problems in the lead-up to the federal election campaign.

Internal documents sighted by Four Corners reveal that the embattled Liberal Party division took out the first $7 million loan with Westpac prior to the NSW state election in March 2015, secured against anticipated public funding from the NSW Electoral Commission (NSWEC).

While current Australian Prime Minister and multimillionaire Malcolm Turnbull was forced to personally donate $1.75 million to the federal Liberal Party during the 2016 federal election campaign to ease its financial distress.

In 2017 factional divisions within the Liberal Party remain on public display:

Financial Review Michael Kroger hires QCs to get $75m from Liberal donor

SBS News Liberal MPs accused of defending factions

The Saturday Paper Friction between factions as disunity threatens Liberal Party

Sky News Left wing of Liberal party 'winning': Pyne

On 21 August 2017 the Federal Coalition recorded its 18^th consecutive poor Newspoll result which would have seen it lose government if a general election had been held on that day.

Four days later the Australian Electoral Commission announced that an additional 90,000 Australians have registered to vote since 8 August 2017 – increasing the number of registered voters to 16 million and making the current Commonwealth Electoral Roll the largest since Federation. When age demographics are broken down, 65,000 of these new voters are young people between 18 and 24 years of age. An age group thought to favour the Australian Labor Party and The Greens.

Sometime between 4 August 2018 and 18 May 2019 the Turnbull Government with its slim one MP majority is obliged to go to a general election.

The optics are not looking good.