Ebay Australia Helps Snare Welfare Cheats

Data from online trading site eBay.com.au has helped Australia’s Government welfare agency, Centrelink, catch out social security recipients who are not declaring big profits from internet sales. Centrelink has cleverly compared its payment records with the activity of nearly 20,000 people who are running profitable eBay businesses.

The government agency identified 25 people who must repay close to $AU900,000 in welfare payments they weren’t entitled to. Centrelink general manager Hank Jongen said some matters had been referred to the director of public prosecutions, but no charges have yet been laid.

Welfare fraud costs Australia more than $AU600 million a year, the Australian Institute of Criminolgy – AIC – says welfare fraud is difficult to measure because it falls outside the two main crime measures of incidents reported to police and victim experience surveys. The AIC says the UK department responsible for social welfare estimated in 2009 that more than two percent of all benefit expenditures, or £3 billion a year, was fraudulently claimed :: Read the full article »»»»

REBLOG! Doping Australia’s Sporting Elite

BLOG! At the outset of this post, I must confess to being the LEAST interested in Australian Sport! The shinanigans ofthe preceeding week have been of amusement to me simply because of the irony, elite sports men and women taking performance enhancing drugs? your kidding right, not here, not in AUSTRALIA!

For those in a cave, this past week, the ACC – Australian Crime Commission – has released a landmark report that as the countries sporting fans and officials in a proper dither: Apparently, Australians are SHOCKED that it’s sporting elite uses drugs!?

Mainstream media in Australia is currently abuzz with chatter on the ramifications of the ACC report, organised crime, doping, betting are clearly the focus. The minister for sport – Kate Lundy – in a press release said: “The investigation identified widespread use of prohibited substances including peptides, hormones and illicit drugs in professional sport. It also found that this use has been facilitated by sports scientists, high-performance coaches and sports staff. In some cases, players are being administered with substances that have not yet been approved for human use.”

Like other notable international incidence of drug abuse in sport – Lance Armstrong – the Australian case is more about policing powers, not drug testing. The coercive powers of the ACC are set to beef up ASADA – Australian Sport Anti Doping Authority –  in the wake of the recent review into Cycling Australian. One of the plus-points here is that ASADA should now be able to move now from simply being a testing and education body to an agency with proper teeth

So as we’ve sat at front of our teles snickering at oversized Chinese swimmers, or cyclists who strove for greatness at the end of a needle while we swallowed his cancer pitch, we clearly missed just HOW good our own guys were getting (except of course for the 2012 Olympic Swim Team, Doubtless there are any drugs there) :: Read the full article »»»»

Aussies Jump on Mobile Band Wagon

New figures from the ABS – Australian Bureau of Statistics – show that Aussies have significantly increased their mobile data downloads. The ABS stats show that around 6 million Australians are now using mobile wireless connections, an increase of almost 7 per cent in just six months.

In the three months between April and June, mobile users downloaded 6,610 terabytes of data,  a 32 per cent increase in mobile downloads compared to the three months to the end of last year. The ABS stats are based on figures from internet service providers, also show that the increase in desktop and laptop pc’s in the same period was up by 20 per cent.

Elise Davidson from the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network reckons the data isn’t surprising. However, she’s warned it is easy for mobile data spending to get out of control.

“Our advice is monitor what you’re using regularly, especially if you’re on a new plan or a new device,” Ms Davidson said. ”It typically takes two or three months to figure out how much data you’re going to use. If you’re signing a new two-year contract, have a look at what you’ve used both in terms of calls texts and data in your previous contract and estimate really conservatively in the first instance.”

The ABS figures also show the number of internet subscribers in Australia rose by 10 per cent last financial year. There were 12 million subscribers, excluding mobile handset subscribers.

HSU President Cowardly Quits via SMS

Australia’s ABC News is reporting that embattled Health Services Union national president Michael Williamson has resigned via text message after damning allegations of nepotism at the scandal-hit union.

Acting HSU national president Chris Brown has confirmed he received the text message tendering Mr Williamson’s resignation on Monday. It comes less than two weeks after a leaked report into the union’s internal workings alleged that Mr Williamson engaged in nepotism while he was general secretary of the branch.

Mr Williamson stood aside last September when investigations into allegations of misuse of funds in the union’s East branch began, though he still formally held the position. Mr Brown says Mr Williamson resigned ahead of a national executive committee meeting in Sydney yesterday.

“He’d advised me by text so I have not yet had an opportunity to speak to Michael Williamson but I’ve taken the resignation as being effective immediately,” Mr Brown said. ”It’s another piece of [what] we needed to occur to clean up the union and get it to the stage where members could get back to having confidence in it. What we’ll be able to do now is fill that position of national president.”

The Australian Online is reporting that it has been told Mr Williamson submitted his resignation before the Unions NSW’s executive committee could meet to consider his fate. Unions NSW has accepted his resignation :: Read the full article »»»»

Fords $AU100 Million Dollar Government Gift Equates to 400 LOST JOBS

In January this year we wrote – The Cost of Keeping Auto Makers Local – as sales of Australian made large cars – GM Holden Commodore and Ford Falcon – dramatically dropped the auto makers stood in line for serious government financial assistance. GM’s Commodore 15-year run as Australia’s best-selling vehicle was ended abruptly in 2011 by the Japanese manufactured Mazda3, while Ford Falcon sales plummeted to fewer than 19,000 units in 2011.

In May we questioned the validety of Australian Government subsidies granted to the nations 2 big auto makers – General Motors & Ford – The Cost of Keeping General Motors ‘Holden’ Local, And asking the question: So Exactly How Much Does it Cost to Keep Auto Makers in Australia? At the time, the Australian Government answered the question by handing General Motors Holden more than $AU275 Million to help keep auto manufacturing in Australia.

Ford Australia in the last few days has shockingly announced the loss of 440 jobs in it’s Victorian plants.

In the case of Ford, the Australian Government granted the company $AU103 million in subsidies with the promise of  plant – Geelong – upgrades and the longevity of Fords large sedan the Ford Falcon. Right about now the Federal Government, and Prime Minister Julia Gillard must be wondering if they’d simply thrown good money after bad, with Ford announcing that it will shed 440 jobs?  :: Read the rest of this entry »

Julian Assange Applies For Political Asylum to South American Republic of Ecuador

Julian Assange is seeking asylum in Ecuador in a last-ditch bid to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning over allegations of sexual assault. The Australian born founder of Wikileaks visited Ecuador’s embassy in London this morning to seek political asylum.

A statement on the embassy’s website said Ecuador was a signatory to the United Nations Universal Declaration for Human Rights and had an obligation to review all applications for asylum.

The decision to consider Mr Assange’s application for protective asylum should in no way be interpreted as the Government of Ecuador interfering in the judicial processes of either the United Kingdom or Sweden.

The statement from the Embassy of Ecuador in London said,  ”While the department assesses Mr Assange’s application, Mr Assange will remain at the embassy, under the protection of the Ecuadorian Government,” the statement said. ”The decision to consider Mr Assange’s application for protective asylum should in no way be interpreted as the Government of Ecuador interfering in the judicial processes of either the United Kingdom or Sweden.”

On June 15, 2012 Britain’s Supreme Court has dismissed a bid by Australian WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to reopen his appeal against extradition to Sweden over alleged sex crimes :: Read the full article »»»»