The sun sets on solar hot water rebates

Image source: yourhome.gov.au

The Government has ended its solar hot water rebate initiative, the Renewable Energy Bonus Scheme (REBS). An announcement was made yesterday that henceforth REBS rebates will only be eligible to those people who have had systems installed, ordered or purchased before 28 February 2012, and lodged a claim before 30 June 2012. Although the scheme was always meant to end on 30 June 2012, this is the first time a purchase cut-off date has been publicised. Besides providing prospective applicants with no prior warning, the closure raises the question of why has the rebate been phased out so suddenly?

New international standards on countering money laundering and terrorist financing released

Image source: Flickr user Images_of_Money

On 16 February, the Financial Action Taskforce released its revised Recommendations for combating money laundering and terrorist financing, which now also cover financing of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The FATF is an intergovernmental body established to develop and promote national and international policies to combat money laundering and terrorist financing. It was established in 1989 by the G7 and Australia is a founding member. With the cost of money laundering and underlying serious crime estimated to be between two and five percent of global GDP, it is important that the standards used by over 180 countries as the basis of their responses remain up to date and reflect emerging threats.

London Somalia Conference: ‘A space for peace and stability’

Source: European Union Training Mission Somalia

The London Somalia Conference was held on 23 February 2012 showcasing what might be considered to be an ambitious agenda, given the short program dedicated to discussions on the wide-ranging issues plaguing Somalia. The conference was opened by the British Prime Minister, David Cameron, and addressed by nine keynote speakers that included United States Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton and United Nations (UN) Secretary-General, Ban Ki Moon. Three separate sessions were subsequently held to deal with Somalia’s political process, security, and stability and recovery. The brevity of proceedings does not detract from the significance of the event and the renewed emphasis now garnered by the international community to support Somalia out of transition and into a more permanently stable State. This post follows on from the Parliamentary Library Background Note, ‘A ray of hope’: London Somalia Conference, 23 February 2012.

Global Warming and Coral

Image source: Australian Government

There are two reasons why scientists have long been concerned about the effects of climate change on coral reefs. Firstly, corals will only grow in a narrow range of water temperatures. Secondly, when there is more carbon dioxide in the air, more of the gas dissolves into the sea. When carbon dioxide dissolves in water, it makes the water slightly more acidic, and this change in chemistry is likely to make it more difficult for corals to build reefs.

While the growth rate of most marine organisms usually increases with warmer water temperature, it had always been thought that many corals are damaged by small increases in maximum water temperatures. On average, global sea surface temperatures (known as SSTs) have increased over the past century but, surprisingly, there have been different responses to this change from the corals on Australia’s west coast and in the east. A 2012 study , just released, has found that coral calcification rates of reefs in higher latitudes of Western Australia have significantly increased over the past century despite rapidly rising SSTs. On the other hand, a 2009 study found that coral calcification rates along the entire Great Barrier Reef (GBR) declined over the period 1990-2005.

Syria’s constitutional referendum—‘quite laughable’ or ‘better late than never’?



'Down with Bashar al-[Assad]'. Image source: Flikr user Jan Sefti

On Sunday 26 February 2012 Syria conducted a referendum on a new constitution. An amended constitution is one of the concessions promised by the Syrian Government in response to long-running unrest. Votes are currently being counted, and results should be released in coming days. This post briefly discusses the proposed changes to the constitution, as well as domestic and international reactions to the referendum.

Prime ministers and ALP leadership challenges update

Today’s leadership challenge to Prime Minister Gillard is the seventh in the last fifty years, and the sixth involving a party room ballot.

On 7 November 1969 David Fairbairn and William McMahon both challenged Prime Minister Gorton. It was reported that Gorton’s majority was slim, 33 or 34 or 35 votes out of 65.

The next challenge to Prime Minister Gorton came on 10 March 1971, with a confidence motion in the party room. This time the votes were tied at 33 all, and Gorton used his casting vote to vote against himself.

During Malcolm Fraser’s prime ministership he was challenged unsuccessfully by Andrew Peacock on 8 April 1982; the votes were 54 for Fraser, 27 for Peacock.

There were two challenges to Prime Minister Hawke’s position, both by Paul Keating. The first, on 3 June 1991, was lost by the challenger 66:44. The second challenge on 19 December 1991 was successful, with Keating polling 56 to Hawke’s 51.

Prime Minister Rudd was challenged on 23 June 2010 by Julia Gillard, but there was no ballot at the Caucus meeting on 24 June.

Kevin Rudd then made an unsuccessful challenge to Prime Minister Gillard; the votes in the caucus ballot on 27 February 2012 were 71 to 31 in the Prime Minister’s favour.

Updated details of Federal Parliamentary Labor Party leadership changes and challenges since 1982 follow:

Stronger Futures in the Northern Territory

Image source: http://www.indigenous.gov.au/

Scheduled for debate on 27 February are the Stronger Futures in the Northern Territory Bill 2011 and its associated Stronger Futures in the Northern Territory (Consequential and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2011 and Social Security Legislation Amendment Bill 2011.

All three follow through on measures that had their origin in the ‘Northern Territory Emergency Response’ (often referred to as the NTER or ‘The Intervention’) initiated by Prime Minister Howard and Minister Brough in June 2007. To refresh your memory, there were four bills.

'Brave new world'? The Gonski Review of Funding for Schooling

Image source: Australian Government

The report of the Review of Funding for Schooling (the Gonski Review) is a blueprint for a major overhaul of federal and state funding for school education. It has proposed a fundamental realignment of the historic funding roles of the Australian and state and territory governments that would see both levels of government provide more balanced funding to government and non-government schools. Significantly, the Gonski Review believes that its proposals will meet the Australian Government’s commitment that ‘no school would lose a dollar per student’.

Through its initial response, the Australian Government has set itself an ambitious agenda for change, with the Prime Minister aiming to introduce legislation for a new school funding system before the end of the year.

Amnesty International reports on visits to detention facilities



Image source: Australian Human Rights Commission

 On 23 February 2010 Amnesty International (Amnesty) released an initial report of its findings from a series of visits to immigration detention facilities around the country. Amnesty has been consistently campaigning against the policy of mandatory detention for many years, and this is one of its most highly critical reports to date.

It paints a damning picture of Australia’s mandatory detention policy, highlighting the harsh conditions in which people are being held and the numerous mental health problems suffered by detainees due to ‘the indefinite nature of their imprisonment’

ALP Leadership

On 23 February 2012 Prime Minister Gillard announced that there would be a special meeting of the Federal Parliamentary Labor Party on Monday 27 February at 10am, to conduct a ballot to decide the leadership of the Party.

The following table provides details of Federal Parliamentary Labor Party leadership changes and challenges since 1982:

An overview of universal dental schemes

Image source: Department of Defence

Ongoing reports of poor dental health outcomes and growing concerns that financial barriers are impeding access to affordable dental care continue to fuel calls for reform in the area of dental health. As part of its agreement with the Greens, the Government promised major dental reform but deferred significant action. It funded a number of dental internships last budget and established a national dental advisory council, to provide advice on priorities for dental reform for the upcoming budget. Although this body has presented an interim report to Government, the Minister has indicated she will await the final report before announcing a particular course of action. Meanwhile, the Minister also announced she would direct $165 million in savings from the means testing of the health insurance rebate to dental care.

‘Rolling out the red carpet’ for asylum seekers

Image source: http://www.freepik.com

Recent media reports that ‘asylum seekers are receiving plasma TVs, microwave ovens, DVD players’ and other ‘free handouts’ whilst in community detention are inaccurate and only serve to mislead and misinform the public on what is a very complex issue.

Due to the recent expansion of Australia’s community detention arrangements, several community houses around the country have been furnished in order to prepare for occupancy. However, as the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Chris Bowen, pointed out in a recent media release, none of these basic household goods are allocated to individuals detained under community detention arrangements. In fact, the items provided are only there for the use of the occupants while they remain in either community or held detention.

Draft legislation on pokies reform released



Image source: Wikimedia



The Government on Friday released draft legislation on proposed reforms to address problem gambling, particularly related to electronic gaming machines (EGMs, or pokies). The release comes at the same time Clubs ACT have reportedly given in principle agreement to a trial of mandatory pre-commitment technology on EGMs in clubs in the ACT, pending further negotiations with the Government. The draft legislation does not address this pokies trial; rather it proposes technical modifications to EGMs to enable pre-commitment technology, a time frame for these changes, limits to cash in pokie venues and the introduction of new levies.

Disclosing the political dollars: US and Australia

Image source: Australian Electoral Commission

On 1 February 2012, the Australian Electoral Commission released the 2010-11 annual financial disclosure returns from political parties, associated entities, donors and third parties who incur political expenditure. The combined receipts totalled almost $231 million. Not all of this came from donations. The annual returns from donors totalled around $25 million—but only donations above the threshold of $11 500 have to be declared.

The 70th anniversary of the Second World War events of 1942— ‘Australia’s perilous year’: February and March



Image source: National Library of Australia

'For there can be no doubt that 1942 was for Australia—as a nation and as a people—the most important single year of all those two hundred [since White settlement].

It was the turning point in the making of modern Australia. In the fire of that tremendous crisis were forged all the elements which have shaped our national life and destiny, to this day.

...

Above all, 1942 was the year in which Australians first achieved a genuine sense of national identity and national unity.'

This is how Prime Minister Bob Hawke described the historical significance of 1942 for Australia in the Forward to a special 1988 edition of the Defence Force Journal entitled ‘Australia’s perilous year’.

The Australian Greens 2008-2011

Image source: The Greens

The Parliamentary Library has recently published a research paper which examines the electoral fortunes and parliamentary activities of the Australian Greens from 2008 to the end of the first year of the 43rd Commonwealth Parliament in 2011. The paper updates and expands on an earlier paper, The rise of the Australian Greens, published by the Library in 2008. It presents a brief introduction to the structure, ideological underpinnings and policies of the Australian Greens, and includes a brief history of the development of Green politics internationally and in Australia.

Renaming of the Main Committee

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Hon. Peter Slipper, announced today that after discussions with the Leader of the House, the Manager of Opposition Business and Independent Members, he proposes the Main Committee chamber is to be renamed as the Federation Chamber of the House of Representatives. A proposal is expected to come before the House in the near future regarding the renaming of the Main Committee.

Independent Review of the Intelligence Community—interoperability still an issue?

Image source: Department of Defence

The findings of the recently released public version of the 2011 Independent Review of the Intelligence Community Report are largely positive. The report cites significantly greater access to information from overseas, improved capability, and increased performance among the variety of developments in the operations of Australia’s intelligence agencies in the ten years since 2001, and concludes that the significant investment in the agencies over that period has paid off. However, while the public version of the classified report is necessarily framed in broad terms, it is possible to read between the lines to identify some of the issues that are likely to have been expanded upon in the classified version. In particular, it seems that interoperability and cooperation between the Australian Intelligence Community (AIC) and other agencies making up the broader National Security Community is still in need of some improvement.

Trading aviation emissions

Image source: Department of Infrastructure

For the first time, Qantas and other airlines are being held accountable for greenhouse gas emissions from their international flights—at least for those flights using an airport within the European Union (EU). The move by the EU to price and restrict greenhouse gas emissions from European flights has been a contentious one. This FlagPost explains the basic mechanics of the EU’s decision and highlights some of the issues being raised.