Abbott says the Menzies Report is a coincidence

Federal Health Minister Tony Abbott has denied suggestions that the Menzies Report was released to lesson the severity of Oxfam’s findings on indigenous health.

Oxfam’s Executive Director Andrew Hewett said that findings from the Oxfam report are scandalous.

Australia is ranked at the bottom of wealthy nations for the health outcomes of its indigenous citizens.

The life expectancy of Aborigines is 20 years less than that of other Australians.

In New Zealand, Canada and the US the gap in life expectancy between indigenous and non-indigenous citizens is about 7 years.

Abbott said that he was encouraged by the Menzies report.

He highlighted findings that Aboriginal women are now living 14 years longer than they were in the 1960s and men are living eight years longer.

“It is not quite the situation of unremitting gloom which we tend to get,” Abbott said.

Indigenous health services are the focus of a national two-day conference beginning today.

Indigenous health Aborigines Oxfam report Menzies Report life expectancy

Did he say the Messiah?

After another strong poll for Labor, Health Minister Tony Abbott has hinted that tax cuts and other big election sweeteners will be on the agenda in this year’s budget.

“The money belongs to the public and they deserve to have it back,” Abbott said, likening his and other political leaders' roles in government to that of stewards.

He shrugged off any suggestion that personal attacks on Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd backfired on the Coalition, saying they were appropriate at the time.

“We’re in a different phase now,” he said.

When asked about his own attack on Rudd, Abbott said that Rudd only had himself to blame.

The childhood story Rudd related to the media was like “a narrative of political redemption,” he said

“It was almost a messiah story.”

The public can read into it what they will, he said.

Labor has slipped 4 points from 61 to 57 per cent on a two-party preferred vote in the latest Newspoll result. The Coalition is up from 39 to 43 per cent.


Newspoll Tony Abbott Kevin Rudd tax cuts

Guantanamo Justice

Guantanamo detainee David Hicks has been sentenced to nine months after pleading guilty to the new Military Commissions Act of providing material support for terrorism.

He is not allowed to speak to the media for one year as a part of the condition of his sentence. Here are what others have had to say:

Prime Minister John Howard: “He’s not a hero in my eyes and he ought not to be a hero in the eyes of any people in the Australian community… He pleaded guilty to knowingly assisting a terrorist organisation - namely al-Qaeda.”

Colonel Morris Davis: (Prosecutor): “We told [Howard and Ruddock] we would provide a fair trial, they took us at our word and I believe this week we accomplished that. So, I appreciate their support.”

Attorney-General Philip Ruddock: “The sentence proves that Hicks received a rigorous defence.”

Terry Hicks: “I believe it's too coincidental that David is kept out of sight until after the election… It’s political and designed to help the government's chances.”

Lex Lasry QC (Defence team): “As far as the Australian Government’s concerned it’s interesting that there’s an election in Australia later this year and Mr Hicks will be in custody until after it and he won’t be able to speak about his circumstances for another year.”

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer: “I have no concerns, I don’t mind whether he’s gagged or not ... I don’t know whether it would matter one way or the other to us so much.”

Treasure Peter Costello: “(It’s) a pretty stiff sentence but I must say for those people who say ‘poor David Hicks’, I say the poor dead and their families who died in the World Trade Centre and in the Bali bombings.”

Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd: “We are no defenders of Mr Hicks; we are no defenders of what he has done or what he is alleged to have done. We are a defender of his legal rights and human rights.”

Senator Bob Brown: “This is more about saving Mr Howard’s political hide than about justice for Hicks… It is clearly a political fix arranged between Mr Howard and the Bush administration to shut Hicks up until after the election in November.”

Major Michael Mori (Defence team): “I’m not going to talk about private discussions I’ve had with government officials - US or Australian.”

David Hicks Major Michael Mori Colonel Morris Davis Colonel Ralph Kohlmann Guantanamo Prime Minister John Howard Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd Terry Hicks military commissions australia America George Bush

Costello pulls a GST wildcard on Rudd

Treasure Peter Costello has made a formal statement to the press ahead of his meeting with state treasures.

“If Labor forms government federally, government in all of the states and the territories, they will be able to get unanimous agreement to increase the GST rate,” he said.

Costello said the GST could be as high as 17 per cent under Labor.

The Prime Minister followed suit.

“The only way you are going to get an increase in the GST, anyway, from a structural point of view would be if the commonwealth government and all the state governments agreed on it.”

“I take this opportunity of pointing out that if you have Labor governments at both levels, an agreement on something like that is far more likely," he said.

Labor has dismissed accusations that they will increase the tax, saying that this is another example of the Government distorting the truth.

According to Shadow Treasure Wayne Swan, the state treasures will voice their concerns about not being able to meet the federal demand that they cut more taxes.


GST Peter Costello Wayne Swan

Howard withstands Stern warning

Climate economist Nicolas Stern has urged the Australian Government to sign up to a global treaty to reduce carbon emissions 30 per cent by 2020.

Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd has heeded Stern's advice with a policy to reduce emissions 60 per cent by 2050.

This angered Prime Minister John Howard who said that such reductions would be devastating to Australia’s economy.

In Howard's opinion Australia is doing enough for climate change. He said that we already have an agreement through the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate (AP6).

Stern said that he’d be surprised if the reduction devastated Australia’s economy, but that studies into the costs do need to be done country by country.

The climate is the greatest market failure according to Stern. It presents a unique challenge to economics, he said.

If we continue the way we are going, we will swallow up to 20 per cent of GDP from across the world by 2020, Stern predicted. By urgently addressing the need to reduce emissions the cost will only be about 1 per cent of the world’s GDP, he said.

Australia has refused to ratify the Kyoto agreement on the basis that big emitters like China and India should be part of the deal.

Stern said there is a critical misunderstanding here. China and India actually emit less energy per capita than developed nations.

There needs to be mutual understanding, he said. And the best way to do this is to embody it in an international treaty, where individual countries will have different responsibilities under the treaty.

Stern put the onus is on the rich countries to take the lead because they are responsible for emitting 75 per cent of the concentration in the atmosphere.

They should also compensate for the lesser emission reductions of the poorer countries, Stern said.

To stop the world from going above 3 degrees centigrade, relative to pre-industrial times, the rich countries will need to reduce their emissions by 60 to 90 per cent by 2050. Even that, he said, is a modest ambition considering that anything above 2 degrees centigrade is thought to be dangerous by some scientists.

According to Stern, Australia is in a good position to take a lead on climate change because it has good international relationships. By opening up our trading schemes carbon finance will be cheaper and bring our costs down. If Australia can deliver clean coal technology, he continued, it will prove to the developing countries that carbon caption storage for coal works well.


Nicolas Stern Kevin Rudd global warming climate change Kyoto agreement Australia

Rudd chews his pen

Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd has been busy at the drawing board drafting a 4-page policy platform document for the 400 delegates that will be attending the ALP conference next month. The platform centres on Labor's model for economic growth and free trade.

Labor has to embrace the challenges of the new century, Rudd said when asked about his blueprint. He made references to things like the rise of China, climate change, the skills shortage, and the need for a national broadband.

Many from within the ranks of the party Left, however, may not be happy with Rudd's plans.

According to some commentators, he encourages support for the casualisation of the workforce, takes a hard line on indigenous welfare and the welfare system generally, and has softened Labor’s position on private health policy.

In other policy moves Rudd has scrapped the former Labor Leader's controversial forestry policy. And will overturn policies on federal funding for schools and uranium mines.

Although Rudd intends to scrap WorkChoices he has not yet pledged a return to unfair dissmissal laws.

Despite potential criticism from within his own party Rudd remains confident that his party will endorse the platform.

“When it comes to our party and our movement putting forward the best plan possible for the economy of the 21st century, some may oppose that, but I intend to prevail,” he said.

The Government is sceptical of Rudd's conviction, saying that he is all words and will eventually kowtow to the unions.

Rudd has accused the Government of riding on the economic boom of the mining industry and lacking any real economic vision.

Kevin Rudd Labor economy

Guilty by association?

The US military commissions have come under further scrutiny as US military lawyer Major Michael Mori entered a guilty plea on behalf of Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks.

Hicks pleaded not guilty to a charge made by the military commissions that he entered Afghanistan in December 2000 to provide material support for terrorism.

He pleaded guilty to another charge of material support for terrorism, however, that consists of a number of detailed allegations. It alleges, for example, that Hicks had links to terrorist organisations, trained under al-Qaeda, and met Osama bin Laden.

Prime Minister John Howard told Parliament today that the Government welcomes the latest development and progress towards a resolution.

The Government has had to fend off growing public criticism over its handling of Hicks’s case. They weren’t seen to be doing enough over the 5 year period to pressure the Bush administration into finding a resolution.

“It has always been our view that Hicks should face justice but we have been very concerned about the time that it has taken,” the Prime Minister said.

The legailty of the military commissions remains a contentious issue however. The Government's position is summed up by Foreign Minister Alexander Downer:

“Different courts and different jurisdictions have different practices and when you go overseas and you get seized overseas and taken before a court, you have to live within the jurisdiction within which you've found yourself.”

Labor leader Kevin Rudd has so far refused to comment, preferring to wait until the final outcome. Rudd said, with reference to Hicks's guilty plea, “we are, therefore, now in the midst of this quite complex legal process and for those sorts of reasons we ourselves are reluctant to comment.”

Rudd has been highly critical of the military commissions in the past. In his opinion Hicks was not going to get a fair trial and should have been tried in a civilian court.

For a detailed list of the charges see:

http://beforeithappens.wordpress.com/2007/02/06/the-charges-and-allegations-against-hicksdawood/

David Hicks guilty plea Guantanamo