Raoul Wallenberg (4 August 1912–17 July 1947 (?))—Australia’s first posthumous Honorary Citizen

Image source: Wikimedia Commons

On 6 May 2013 the Governor-General of Australia, Quentin Bryce, will bestow Australia’s first posthumous Honorary Citizenship award to a former Swedish diplomat, Raoul Wallenberg. In a covert diplomatic operation involving hundreds of people, Wallenberg was credited with saving tens of thousands of Jewish people from the Nazi concentration camps in occupied Hungary during the Second World War by issuing them with a Swedish Government protective travel document known as ‘the Schutzpass’. Wallenberg was detained by Soviet authorities on 17 January 1945 and was reported to have died while in prison on 17 July 1947. He has already been granted posthumous honorary citizenship by the United States (1981), Canada (1985), Israel (1986), and Hungary (2003).

A short history of increases to the Medicare levy

The Government is proposing to introduce legislation during budget week to raise the Medicare levy by 0.5% in order to help fund DisabilityCare, the name of the new National Disability Insurance Scheme. This recent Flagpost outlined some of the reasons for securing funding for the scheme. The Medicare levy has been increased a number of times, and there have also been occasions where an increase has been proposed in order to fund other proposals.

Health spending: patients bearing higher costs



Recent reports have highlighted the growing cost of health services and the increasing financial burden on individuals. According to data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) Australia spent more than $130 billion on health in 2010–11, or around 9.3% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Around 70% of this was spending by Government—the Commonwealth and the states and territories combined, through programs such as Medicare, public hospital services and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS). But a significant and growing component of health expenditure comes from individuals.

Paying for the NDIS: what about a levy?

Image source: Australian Government

There is increasing speculation that the Gillard Government is considering introducing a levy to help pay for the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). The question of how the NDIS would be financed was one of the key issues examined by the Productivity Commission (PC) in its inquiry which lead the Government to introduce the scheme.

This post outlines the importance of the financing issue and what the Productivity Commission recommended as a model for funding the NDIS. It highlights some of the key questions relating to the design of a levy for the NDIS.

Where in the world is doping a crime? (doping in sports pt. 6)

In the previous FlagPost in this series we examined actions related to doping in sport that can also be prosecuted as crimes in Australia. Do other countries criminalise doping in sport, or is Australia unique in having criminal offences that apply to conduct associated with Anti-Doping Rule Violations (ADRVs)?

Is doping in sport a crime? (doping in sports pt. 5)

The previous FlagPost in this series explored the dual use of evidence in both sports tribunals and criminal proceedings.

Whilst it is commonly understood that doping is prohibited in sport, is it also a criminal offence?

Higher education savings - students pick up the bill

Image source: Vic Department of Education

The government’s Statement on Higher Education announces savings measures in three areas. Reaction from, and on behalf of, the higher education sector has been negative. The peak body representing universities, Universities Australia, has condemned the cuts.

Yet it is not the universities that will bear the brunt of the savings but their students.

And then there were none: HECS discounts

Image source: WA Dept of Commerce

On 13 April 2013 the Australian government released a Statement on Higher Education. One of the three savings measures announced is ‘removal of the 10 per cent discount on paying university fees upfront and the 5 per cent bonus received for voluntary repayment of HELP debts’. 

This move is the end of the line for two incentives that have been whittled away over the past ten years. Abolishing them is expected to save $230 million.

Boat arrivals on the mainland: what difference does it make?

Image source: www.immi.gov.au

On 9 April 2013, Customs and Border Protection advised the Minister for Home Affairs that a suspected irregular entry vessel (SIEV) had arrived in Geraldton harbour in Western Australia. The boat is thought to have been carrying 66 people (officially known as irregular maritime arrivals or IMAs) from Sri Lanka.

According to Parliamentary Library research compiled from departmental and ministerial press releases, these were the first IMAs on Australia’s mainland since November 2008. According to the Minister for Immigration, there were 19 undetected mainland arrivals during the Howard Government—mostly prior to 2002. Between 2002 after the introduction of the ‘Pacific Solution’ and 2008 when the ‘Pacific Solution’ was formally dismantled by the Rudd Government there were four according to publicly available information:

‘Grandfather’ arrangements for PPS – entitlement or inequity?

Image source: Leichhardt Municipal Council

Since it was announced in the 2012-13 Budget that ‘grandfathering’ arrangements for single parents receiving Parenting Payment Single (PPS) would cease on 1 January 2013, there has been considerable concern expressed at the plight of these recipients who would see their weekly income support payments reduced by over $130 per fortnight for those on the maximum rate, and in some cases not be entitled to any income support and associated benefits if they had high enough earnings. However there appears to have been little recognition that these changes also mean that those who have been in receipt of PPS continuously since June 2006 are now being treated equally to the majority of single parents on income support.

Of Airports and High Speed Trains

The discussion of a High Speed Train (HST) along the east coast of Australia has rumbled on for decades. But now it's running into the Sydney airport issue. The government has recently released a study into the feasibility of a HST system and is completing another report about a location for a second Sydney Airport (SSA).

 

The Australian Greens argued in late 2012 that a new report, commissioned by Greens Deputy Leader Adam Bandt, outlined a strong economic case for High Speed Rail (HSR) and removed the need to build a second airport for Sydney. The study also concluded that $48 billion in benefits would accrue from a HSR network along the East Coast from Melbourne, to Canberra, Sydney and Brisbane. High Speed Rail: Benefits that add up, A report for the Australian Greens, authored by Naomi Edwards, claimed that high-speed rail would lead to shorter commute times, reduced congestion, fewer accidents, and less pollution than existing transport options.

The dual use of evidence in both sporting tribunals and criminal proceedings (doping in sports pt. 4)

The previous FlagPost in this series explored what happens once a possible Anti-Doping Rule Violation (ADRV) is detected, and the role of sporting tribunals in determining and sanctioning athletes or support personnel who are found to have committed an ADRV.

As part of that process, ASADA (and also potentially Customs and the AFP) collect a variety of evidence. So when can evidence collected as part of an anti-doping investigation be used in criminal and civil proceedings and vice-versa?

This FlagPost examines the long-standing tradition of the ‘dual use’ of evidence in both civil and criminal proceedings in Australia and the situation with regard to sporting tribunals and criminal proceedings.

Same conduct, two sets of proceedings 

Proving doping: the ADRV enforcement process and the role of sporting tribunals (doping in sports pt. 3)

The previous FlagPost in this series explored what constitutes doping under the World Anti-Doping Code (the WADC) and the standard of proof required to prove Anti-Doping Rule Violations (ADRVs).

 

This FlagPost examines what happens once a possible ADRV is detected, either through evidence collected as part of an investigation or as a result of an adverse analytical finding (the detection of the presence of a substance or the use of a method on the Prohibited List in a sample provided by an athlete).

So how is an ADRV proved and prosecuted?

What is doping in sport? (doping in sports pt. 2)

The previous FlagPost in this series explored the reasons why particular substances and methods are included on the World Anti-Doping Code Prohibited List (the WADC Prohibited List) and hence banned in sport. This FlagPost examines the legal definition of ‘doping’ in sport provided by the World Anti-Doping Code (the Code).

So what is doping?

The Prohibited List (doping in sports pt.1)

The February 2012 Australian Crime Commission report into Organised Crime and Drugs in Sport has resulted in ongoing significant media attention and public interest in issues surrounding the supply, distribution and use of drugs in sport, and what might be done to combat doping in sports more generally.

 

As recent incidents involving Essendon AFL and the Cronulla and Manly NRL football clubs demonstrate, there can be confusion about the nature of supplements or drugs, and whether they are banned in sport and/or are illegal and/or are regulated under other rules. This is especially true when it is the class of substances or methods that is prohibited under the World Anti-Doping Code (WADC) Prohibited List and when expert medical or scientific advice is needed to determine whether the specific type of product that is being used falls within such a class.


So why are some substances and methods banned in sport?

Global asylum trends 2012: how does Australia compare?

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) recently released its latest report on the number of asylum applications lodged in the 44 industrialised countries that provide statistics to the UNHCR.

The 2012 report, Asylum levels and trends in industrialized countries, recorded the second highest number of applications this decade with 479 300 asylum applications lodged (the highest level was in 2003 when there were 505 000 applications). Afghanistan remained the main country of origin of asylum-seekers in 2012, followed by Syria with a 191 per cent increase in asylum claims.

The High Commissioner for Refugees, António Guterres, noted that both new (Syria) and old (Afghanistan) conflicts were contributing to the rise in claims and that wars were ‘driving more and more people to seek asylum’. However, Guterres also pointed out that the asylum claims lodged in industrialised countries were only a drop in the ocean compared to the levels of displacement experienced closer to the regions of conflict:

In most cases people seeking refuge from conflict choose to remain in countries neighbouring their own in hope of being able to return home (an example is Syria, where the figure of 24, 800 Syrian asylum claims in industrialized countries compares to more than 1,100,000 registered Syrian refugees currently in neighbouring countries). 

World Health Day: highlighting blood pressure

Image Source: Better Health Channel Victoria

World Health Day, marking the establishment of the World Health Organisation (WHO) is celebrated on 7 April each year. It was on this day that the WHO was established in 1948. To mark World Health Day, the WHO nominates a priority area of global public health as the theme for World Health Day: this year the theme is controlling high blood pressure. According to WHO, high blood pressure (also called hypertension) affects more than one in three adults worldwide. Complications from high blood pressure—including heart attack and stroke—account for more than 9 million deaths worldwide every year.

Announcements end superannuation budget speculation?

Image source: QLD government

Following recent media speculation about possible changes to superannuation in the upcoming 2013–14 Budget and concerns about the inequity of tax concessions for superannuation, on 5 April 2013 the Government announced a range of measures to superannuation tax, contribution and age pension arrangements. The Government’s overall intent in making these changes was to ‘improve the fairness, sustainability and efficiency of the superannuation system’. So what are the major changes proposed by the Government and how do they contribute to fairness?

ABS public consultation on topics for the 2016 Census

Image source: ABS

Under the Census and Statistics Act 1905, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) is required to conduct a Census of Population and Housing every five years. The next one is scheduled for August 2016 and planning is already well underway. An extensive review of topics collected in the Census is being undertaken to ensure that the data collected remains relevant to contemporary Australia.

Creative Australia : National Cultural Policy 2013

Image source: Wikimedia Commons

On 13 March 2013, the former Minister for the Arts, Simon Crean, launched the National Cultural Policy — Creative Australia— the successor to Creative Nation delivered by Paul Keating in 1994. As the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, stated, the policy is ‘a fresh expression of the values and priorities that will sustain Australia as a richly creative society in the 21st century’. It ‘continues the spirit of engagement with the arts embraced by my predecessors Gough Whitlam and Paul Keating, and affirms the centrality of the arts to our national identity, social cohesion and economic success’. The much anticipated release of Creative Australia has been long awaited with the policy being developed since the consultation process first commenced in 2009.