Right Pulse

From the Australian Medical Association on the government’s budget decision to increase the medicare levy threshold:

AMA national president Dr Rosanna Capolingua says the Treasury modelling which suggests that 500,000 people will drop private cover as a result of the changes falls far short of what the figure will actually be.

“The AMA’s modelling was much higher than half a million. It was more like 700,000 to a million people,” she said.

This comes on the back of complaints made by Catholic hospitals. They argue that increasing the levy will just disadvantage those that most need the public hospital system - the poor, disabled and elderly - by increasing waiting times for treatment. In other words, the public system should just be a safety net for those most in need, not for people that could afford private coverage.

Treasury have also admitted, at Senate Estimates, that they have little idea as to the fiscal impact on the public system from the levy decision. That’s policy dudd 101 from Rudd. No wonder NSW Treasurer Costa is asking for Federal $$$ for the future budget impact.

Given the divide within the ALP on this issue, the opposition would be justified on blocking the policy in the Senate by explaining to people that it will not save them money, but increase the burden on public hopsitals, which invariably will require more tax $$$ to fix. Public health care is not free.

From the SMH and the transport union holding Sydney commuters, the NSW Government and tourists hostage to their wage demands:

At a hearing of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission in Sydney this morning, RailCorp asked the Commission to terminate the bargaining period, which has allowed members of the rail, tram and bus union to schedule a 24-hour stoppage for July 17 - the day Pope Benedict XVI’s motorcade courses through Sydney.

But Senior Deputy President Anne Harrison has instead ordered the parties to reappear before the commission on Thursday, when she will conduct a full hearing into the dispute.

Leaving the commission, a union spokeswoman said: “As it stands the action is still scheduled to proceed. The commission has made no order on that.”

Ironically, the NSW Labour government is looking to use Howard’s Work Choices legislation to stop the strike. With wall to wall ALP governments no one should be surprised at the strike action, which follows industrial action by Qantas workers.

The Rail Tram and Bus Union yesterday announced plans for a 24-hour strike by rail workers on July 17, the day more than 200,000 pilgrims — on top of the normal commuter crowd of 500,000 — are expected to travel to the Sydney CBD to see the Pope’s motorcade pass through the city’s streets.

NSW Premier Morris Iemma said yesterday he would “not be blackmailed into giving them (the union) what they want as a result of these industrial terror tactics”.

“The threat to embarrass the state on one of the most important days of recent history will not cut ice with the Government,” Mr Iemma said.

The union has rejected the Government’s offer of an 8 per cent pay rise over two years.

A couple of big swings against the Labour Party, both here in Australia and in the UK. Starting in Australia and in the Gippsland by-election the ALP suffered an 8.4 per cent swing against them after only 7 months ago having achieved a 1 - 2 per cent swing the other way. The result was never in doubt, a National win, but the swing against the Government is promising. Rudd’s popularity is starting to wain as people start to think about politics again.

In the UK, the Labour Party suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of the conservatives:

A HUMILIATING fifth place finish for the Labour Party in a parliamentary by-election was Gordon Brown’s anniversary present yesterday as he marked his first year as Prime Minister.

Labour’s candidate even lost his pound stg. 500 ($1036) deposit after failing to reach the 5per cent threshold intended to discourage joke candidates.

Labour supporters who have been wondering just how low the Government’s fortunes could plunge may have found out in the Henley-on-Thames by-election, as their candidate polled just 3.1per cent of the vote.

For the first time, Labour was beaten not just by the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats, but even by two parties that lack a single member of parliament: the Greens and the far-right British National Party.

Combined with promising polling in New Zealand for the conservative Nationals, and also with Liberal state oppositions here, it looks like the political pendulum is swinging back to the right all round. The latest from the SMH about Premier Morris Iemma:

The results of today’s Sun-Herald/Taverner Poll will be the final straw for MPs, who have stoically stuck by their man only to see their party’s support plummet, with political oblivion a certainty unless something is done.

The damning verdict of voters surveyed on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday nights will alarm Labor MPs.

An election held now would propel the Opposition into government with a 56-44 two-party preferred landslide.

Rip rip rip away I say:

EDUCATION Minister John Della Bosca and Planning Minister Frank Sartor are being targeted for removal by ALP powerbrokers in a campaign that could rip the Iemma administration apart.

At the heart of the ructions are Treasurer Michael Costa, Ports Minister Joe Tripodi and powerful backbencher Eddie Obeid, who are being blamed for a smear campaign against Mr Della Bosca over his role in the power privatisation debate.

The Premier’s chief of staff, Josh Murray, was caught up in the tensions when he was fingered by senior ALP staffers as the author of an embarrassing mock video clip featuring Mr Della Bosca as Hitler, which appeared on YouTube last week. He denied any involvement.

The video is below.

Continuing:

Yesterday a rival video using the same footage, but this time portraying Hitler as Mr Iemma railing against Mr Costa and referring to Mr Murray, was also posted on YouTube.

The tit-for-tat video battle comes as Labor MPs plan a revolt on the floor of parliament over the privatisation legislation.

The counter video is linked here. Warning, there is a bit a foul language in the video, after all it is the ALP. Back to the story. Apparently there are multiple ALP MPs threatening to cross the floor and vote with independents opposed to the privatisation. I suppose they know they can’t block privatisation of the electricity network, due to conservative support, so the ALP left are looking for a scalp from the front bench - a bit of political bullying to keep any other dissidents in check.

If the conservative opposition wanted to be completely opportunistic, they could continue to give in principle support to privatisation but vote against it in Parliament due to a lack of community support, or something to that effect. Anything to get the independents and the ALP left to vote for a motion of no confidence against Iemma and hopefully spark an early election. With the opposition ahead in the polls, that would give them the best chance of getting back into power sooner rather than later.

Well you maybe aware of the drama that has unfolded in NSW regarding the ALP privatisation of the electricity utilities and the union opposition to it. I blogged recently on the issue and you may re-call Paul Keating had some rather unflattering things to say about the unions opposing the move.

Well the fall out and division within the NSW ALP continues. So much so that it looks like the unions are going to have their policy making power within the NSW ALP significantly reduced - which can only be a good thing for voter choice - by cutting off the party conference from the big decisions of Government, from ABC Stateline:

RODNEY CAVALIER: In short, the pledge is in real difficulty. But no one is pretending otherwise. You’d like these things to have been handled perhaps in a different order. If the thought was that the caucus becomes an independent space ship within the Party, then bring forward rules changes to expressly exempt them from direction. Now, …

QUENTIN DEMPSTER: Well, that means the conference is just an advisory body like the Liberal Party. You’ve got a Liberal Party type advisory structure for your Party forums.

RODNEY CAVALIER: It may well be that it become as highly persuasive body like the UK Labour conference. Now, you might recall, British Labour had real difficulties during the Thatcher years. And three leaders in succession - Kennett, Smith and Blair - moved to take away the directive power of the conference and the various trade union bodies that were associated with making a big input so as to make an elected Labour Government virtually autonomous. And, as we’ve seen since, Labour was elected in 1997, effectively autonomous.

QUENTIN DEMPSTER: So, that’s what’s gonna happen here, isn’t it?

RODNEY CAVALIER: I think something like that has been happening in a de facto way.

The ALP Pledge referred to could be for the ”democratic socialisation of industry, production, distribution and exchange, to the extent necessary to eliminate exploitation and other anti-social features in these fields”.  And the Liberals need to modernise? Although Dempster is more likely referring to the following ALP membership pledge: “I will forfeit my membership if I nominate against any endorsed Labor candidate.” So in other words, if the unions do not support Iemma and his Government who do they support? The unions cannot nominate against an endorsed ALP candidate as means to stop the privatisation and still be in good standing with the ALP, and with the withering of the union’s ALP conference power they are really stuck.

From his latest attack on the NSW ALP left faction:

Former prime minister Paul Keating has thrown his weight behind NSW Premier Morris Iemma’s plan to privatise the state’s electricity industry.

Mr Keating said unions previously attempted to prevent the sell-off a decade ago, and have cost the state billions in lost revenue.

“Then, the power stations were worth $35 billion,” Mr Keating told Fairfax newspapers.

“A decade later the price discussion for the same stations is around $15 billion.

“That is $20 billion in lost value - $20 billion that could have been spent on education, health and vital new infrastructure.”

Good work unions…

Well, after repeated assurances from ALP Government’s across the country that the Chinese Olympic security forces would not become involved in defending the Olympic flame as it tours Australia, this now happens:

Beijing spokesman Qu Yingpu said the attendants - branded thugs for their heavy-handed tactics — would take matters into their own hands if a torchbearer was threatened. He said the guards would “use their bodies to form a kind of defence for the torch bearer”.

They were “trained security personnel with the ability to cover and evacuate the torch bearer in the case of an emergency”, Mr Qu said as he read from the BOCOG relay manual.

“Flame attendants are deployed alongside and behind the torchbearer to respond to any immediate threat against the flame or the torchbearer.”

So much for local authorities being in control.

The remarks derailed attempts by ACT Chief Minister Jon Stanhope and his police chief to persuade the public local authorities were in control of the event.

They were seen by Australian relay organisers as a deliberate act of provocation by the Chinese, who have been told for months that they would not be allowed to have a security role.

It is believed the BOCOG document also contains clauses, not read out by Mr Qu, stating that any security activity by the flame attendants would have to be at the behest of local authorities.

A clearly furious Mr Stanhope, sitting metres from Mr Qu, said there were “communication issues” about the Chinese guards’ role.

Looks like the whole thing will descend into farce. And in all of it, where are the locals going to be?

Canberra is bracing for the biggest security event in its history. Police expect up to 10,000 Chinese nationals to descend on the capital and deliver raucous support for Beijing, while a further 3000 Tibetan sympathisers are also expected to attend.

The huge police operation will effectively shut Canberra down from early today until the relay’s completion just before midday, when Ian Thorpe takes the flame to Commonwealth Park.

A scandal is brewing in New South Wales. Basically the ALP Government is using taxpayers funds to pay grants to unions, who then pay them back to ALP politicians.

Since 2002, Government agencies run by John Della Bosca, have given $733,905 of taxpayers’ money to the Transport Workers’ Union and almost that identical amount has been paid by the Transport Workers’ Union back to the Labor Party.

There is nothing new in this ALP tactic. Under Paul Keating the Federal ALP constructed a building for its national HQ, Centenary House, and then forced the Australian National Audit Office into the building to pay inflated lease costs back to the ALP. From Alan Ramsey, hardly a conservative:

Centenary House is Labor’s national headquarters. It is a four-storey building, opposite the National Press Club in Canberra, whose construction in 1992 has been funded entirely by taxpayers’ money. This was achieved by the developer, Lend Lease, negotiating, on Labor’s behalf, a 15-year lease for the Australian National Audit Office, a government agency, to occupy the 90 per cent of the new building Labor was offering a long-term tenant. The ANAO’s rent that first year was $2.5 million. The pot of gold in the lease is the 9 per cent compound interest by which the rent increases each and every one of the lease’s 15 years, ending in mid-2008. ANAO’s total rent to its Labor landlord this year is something in excess of $5 million, conservatively.

We don’t know exactly the figure. Labor, no doubt embarrassed by the multiplying annual honeypot, never tells taxpayers…

The second Royal Commission into the scandal estimated that taxpayers would have overpaid the ALP by $42 million by the end of the 15 year lease. The building was later sold for $30 million in 2005. Nice little money earner for the ALP, on behalf of taxpayers.