With a flagged $4 billion to be recovered over four years, Centrelink’s demand letters over alleged debts could be just the start.
The Turnbull government’s mass invoices – constructed from data matching to claim discrepancies exist with Centrelink’s casual, disabled and vulnerable income earners – are expected to be used across the entire pensioner and social security sector. New discrepancies can be created over a recipient’s claimed asset values to substantiate invoices for ‘over-payments’.
The ‘debt’ letters are distressing many recipients, as the public outcry shows. Photo: AAP
Data matching and garnishee was originally implemented by Labor in government, but it was the Turnbull government that devised the more aggressive, presumptive and system-wide invoicing strategy.
While a responsible government has every right on behalf of taxpayers to eliminate fraud and ensure financial control in a country under deficit distress, the anecdotal hypocrisy of MPs who are extended travel allowance indulgences under lax rules adds fuel to what is becoming an explosive backlash across Australian postcodes.
A crowd funded court challenge to the legality of the alleged debt invoices is now expected.
Often stereotyped by tabloid media as dole bludgers exploiting a sense of entitlement, this time many articulate Centrelink recipients are fighting back.
Using the Not My Debtwebsite they are sharing their stories of having been coerced by the Department of Human Services to agree to fortnightly repayments even though many dispute any debt exists.
They have taken their income statements and their Centrelink letters to A Current Affair, other TV shows and Facebook to give public evidence of unfairness.
Distressed and agitated when they have received what appears to be a letter of demand, they have hit the phones to (when they can get through) dispute the claimed amount of Centrelink ‘overpayment’.
The automated matching of their Centrelink-declared casual or irregular incomes, when averaged over 12 months with the amount declared on their Australian Tax Office income tax returns, has created what appears to be a discrepancy or ‘overpayment’.
The onus of proof is immediately placed on the recipient, many of whom have to scramble to find pay slips from employers from five or more years ago, or pay their banks to recover archived bank statements showing the date and amount of income received.
Off to Dun and Bradstreet you go!
A series of Centrelink letters have initiated what looks like a ‘Catch-22’: a bureaucratic entrapment made famous by Joseph Heller’s wartime novel where a paradoxical situation is created from which an individual cannot escape because of contradictory rules.
The recipients of the Centrelink letters seem to be damned no matter what they do – much like the fictional World War II pilots in Catch-22 who were deemed to be sane if they voiced any concern for their own sanity. Photo: AAP
The first letter logged on a recipient’s MyGov account politely asks recipients to check online that their income details are correct.
Many recipients do not regularly access their MyGov accounts. If or when no response is logged a second Centrelink/ATO data matching letter quantifying the ‘overpayment’ is dispatched. Distress quickly ensues, as the quantum of the ‘debt’, in many cases thousands of dollars, is boldly displayed in what looks like an invoice, with credit card and Biller payments options listed at the bottom.
But instead of resolving the factual accuracy of the data matched quantum, the Centrelink call centre staffer says that unless the recipient immediately agrees to at least a minimum repayment (say $15 a fortnight for three months) of the disputed amount, under DHS policy the staffer has no alternative but to send the ‘debt’ for collection to outsourced collectors Dun and Bradstreet or Probe Group. Hence, ‘Catch-22’.
These debt collectors are on multi-million-dollar contracts with DHS. It remains commercial-in-confidence whether or not these companies receive a percentage of the money successfully collected. Opposition spokesperson Linda Burney has asked for the outsourcers’ incentive details to be released.
The strategy has enabled DHS’s Hank Jongen to claim, in an ABC interview, that debt recovery is working and had “identified” up to $300 million in overpayments since 169,000 letters were dispatched.
Mr Jongen claimed eight out of 10 “customers” had thus acknowledged the “overpayment”.
This official claim from DHS will be tested in coming weeks and months. The Australian National Audit Office, which coincidentally is due to report next month on DHS, has been asked to conduct a performance audit of Centrelink’s methodology.
‘This is cruelty’
In the current clawback, Centrelink has repeated its customer risk protocol by referring any distressed recipients to Lifeline for psychological support. More petrol on the fire.
Centrelink’s response to one of the widespread complaints from distressed welfare recipients. Photo: Twitter
One Centrelink senior staffer, who asked not to be named, told The New Daily the anger and rage generated by the data matching strategy had placed counter staff under confronting pressure.
“They just want to spit on us,” he said.
He asked why DHS had not quarantined vulnerable recipients, many of whom were intellectually disabled, from the more able casual income earners.
If DHS had a genuine “customer focus” the entire casual income reporting process would be “bulletproof” for recipients so they could neither calculatedly defraud nor inadvertently fall into error. A department wanting to engender trust with Australians striving to earn sustaining incomes in a now highly casualised economy would act protectively towards them.
“One intellectually disabled bloke screamed, ‘I’ve had a go mate … I did some work’.”
Our informant said the Centrelink data matching strategy would soon be exposed as counter-productive, with recipients now likely to desist in seeking any paid work for fear of losing any of their welfare payments.
With a Newstart allowance at $34 a day and city rents now at extortionate levels, many vulnerable people had little money left with which to clothe and feed themselves.
“We are dealing with the most impoverished and vulnerable sectors of the community. This is cruelty.”
Source: Quentin Dempster is a Walkley Award-winning journalist, author and broadcaster with decades of experience. He is a veteran of the ABC newsroom and has worked with a number of print titles including the Sydney Morning Herald. He was awarded an Order of Australia in 1992 for services to journalism.
The European Union has clarified the way the UK can kick-start formal negotiations to exit the bloc following Thursday’s referendum.
It says Britain can trigger Article 50, which sets a two-year deadline for a deal, by making a formal declaration either in a letter or a speech.
UK PM David Cameron has said he will step down by October to allow his successor to conduct the talks.
But EU foreign ministers have urged Britain to start the process soon.
Since Thursday’s vote there has been intense speculation about when, and how, the UK might begin formal negotiations.
A spokesman for the European Council, which defines the EU’s political direction and priorities, reiterated on Saturday that triggering Article 50 was a formal act which must be “done by the British government to the European Council”.
“It has to be done in an unequivocal manner with the explicit intent to trigger Article 50,” the spokesman said.
“It could either be a letter to the president of the European Council or an official statement at a meeting of the European Council duly noted in the official records of the meeting.”
On Saturday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the EU had “no need to be particularly nasty in any way” in the negotiations with Britain.
She said that deterring other countries from leaving the EU should not be a priority in the talks.
Mrs Merkel added that she was not in favour of pushing for a speedy withdrawal.
“No need to be particularly nasty” and “It shouldn’t take forever, that’s right, but I would not fight for a short time-frame,” she said.
In other developments, UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, facing a no-confidence vote following the referendum, has sacked shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn
Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon says she will seek “immediate discussions” with Brussels to “protect Scotland’s place in the EU”
A petition calling for a second referendum on UK’s membership of the EU has gained more than two million signatures
There are warnings British financial institutions could lose their prized access to the EU if the UK leaves the single market
Britain’s European Commissioner, Lord Hill, who oversees financial services, is to resign
Mrs Merkel was speaking after several EU foreign ministers, including Germany’s, had urged Britain to quickly implement its exit.
“This process should get under way as soon as possible so that we are not left in limbo but rather can concentrate on the future of Europe,” German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said.
His Dutch counterpart Bert Koenders said the continent could not accept a political vacuum, saying “this will not be business as usual”.
Speaking later to the BBC, Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves said he didn’t think it was “even legally possible” to force the UK to speed up the exit process.
“I understand it is very difficult for Prime Minister Cameron, who was against leaving the European Union, to now go ahead and do this,” he told the BBC World Service’s Newshour program.
“I think we should give them time; let them decide how quickly they want to do it.”
He described Britain’s exit from the bloc as “a disaster” saying Estonia had often aligned itself with the UK and had counted on Britain to present their shared views.
The UK’s decision to leave the EU has sent shock-waves across the continent with leaders of Eurosceptic parties in France, the Netherlands and Italy demanding referendums in their own countries.
New road map
In response, some EU politicians have called for speedy reforms to quell further unrest.
French economy minister Emmanuel Macron suggested a new mission statement should be drafted and put to a referendum of all EU citizens.
“We’ve never had the courage to organise a true European referendum in its real sense,” he told a conference.
“We would first build this new project with European peoples and then submit this new road map, this new project, to a referendum [across the bloc].”
The first summit of EU leaders with no British representation will be held on Wednesday, a day after Mr Cameron holds talks with members.
Global stock markets and the pound fell heavily on the news of the so-called “Brexit”, while credit rating agency Moody’s cut the UK’s outlook to “negative”.
What comes next?
Image caption The process to take the UK out of the European Union starts with invoking Article 50 and will take at least two years from that point
Brexit: What happens now? What is Article 50 of the EU Treaty?
In force since 2009 but never tested
Allows governments to notify intent to leave.
Talks then begin on a range of issues between the leaving nation and other EU members.
If no deal is reached, membership will automatically cease two years after notification.
The article is only a basic template for leaving, settling the date and some other matters. It does not automatically include issues such as movement of people or trade. The latter could take years to conclude.
AS the final waves of World War II Diggers pass away and social and demographic trends shift, many of the registered RSL clubs across the nation are closing down in the face of unprofitability.
Once considered a bastion of the nation’s social fabric, particularly in rural cities and towns, the registered RSL clubs’ demise is causing dilemma for many who have long called their local RSL a second home.
In NSW, 43 RSL clubs have been closed or amalgamated since 1995 while in Queensland, country areas such as Goondiwindi, and even the mining boom town of Mount Isa has recently seen the doors to their local RSL club permanently closed.
“It’s just devastating what’s happening to the clubs,” said Paul Phillips, a former Goondiwindi RSL president who had worked for the club for 30 years.
“For so many people, the local RSL has long been a way of life, the lifeblood of communities.”
There are a varied number of reasons for the closure facing many RSL clubs, but according to Victorian RSL president David McLachlan, the biggest culprit is nature. “As a consequence of the Second World War veterans going to their maker, we are seeing a lot of closures,” Major General McLachlan said.
Peter Lanigan, the president of the RSL in the affluent eastern Melbourne suburb of Hampton, which is facing severe financial difficulties, agrees.
“The traditional market base of WWII returned servicemen has almost disappeared and the children of those people haven’t got the same emotional connection to the clubs their parents had,” he said.
“There is no doubt a lot of pressure on borderline gaming venues and old-style branches.
“It’s a constant rationalisation. The number of clubs is reducing and will continue to close because a lot of them are past their use-by date”.
RSL Queensland branch chief executive Chris McHugh said one reason for the pressure on RSL clubs — and many clubs in general — was shifting social trends.
“In a lot of occasions, closure has been due to a combination of poor management, market forces, demographic changes and societal changes that have affected the industry,” Mr McHugh said.
“Younger people on a night out are opting for bars, cafes and nightclubs. They’re not going to clubs anymore.” It is clearly evident that RSL clubs have failed to identify this and failed to adapt to the shifting needs of the younger generation. It is has been too an attitude of “more of the same” when it has come to running the clubs, and the younger generation feel to see its relevance to their needs.
In the cities, particularly in NSW, where poker machines are entrenched in the RSL club culture, there is a split between the affluent inner city and less well-to-do outer suburbs branches. The nation’s biggest RSL club, the Rooty Hill RSL in Sydney’s outer west, is hugely profitable.
Rooty Hill RSL and Holiday Inn Phoo: Wikipedia
Last year, its patrons collectively lost an average of $1 million each week in the club’s poker machines and other forms of gambling — $48.8m for the year — which was about two-thirds of the club’s revenue. Take away the gambling revenues and it can be seen that the club is not doing as well. In clubs were members can not afford to use the poker machines, and revenues are much less, these are the clubs going to the wall.
Chief executive Richard Errington said the club had in recent years reduced its dependence on poker machine revenue, opening a major childcare centre, a bowling alley and a hotel.
“Gaming is still an essential part of our business but it is not the only reason we are here,” Mr Errington said.
At Cabra-Vale Diggers in Canley Vale in outer southwestern Sydney,the second-most profitable NSW RSL last year in terms of gaming revenue, punters collectively lost $47.5m in poker machines and other gambling.
But poker machines were not a panacea for all RSL clubs, said Mr Lanigan, as residents of richer regions were less inclined to use the machines.
In Sydney’s east, many RSL clubs have been closed down or amalgamated, including in Clovelly, Bronte, Maroubra, Botany and Mascot.
In Newcastle, north of Sydney, clubs have closed in Merewether, Hamilton, Adamstown, Lambton-New Lambton and Belmont. Some of these to close were the big, prosperous clubs, that perhaps failed to adapt to the generational changes required of them to attract younger patrons. In the case of Lambton-New Lambton its location in the shadow of a large and profitable leagues club, a bowling club and successful pubs did not help its operating position.
The RSL Sub-branches themselves are facing a similar dilemma, as they too fail to attract the young veterans from conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Solomon Islands and Timor-Leste into their midst. With strategic changes to RSL policy which enable all ex-serviceman — whether veteran or non-veteran — to join as full members, sub-branches have still failed to grow their numbers, as young servicemen and women perceive the sub-branches as old, conservative and out of touch. What the young veterans fail to identify is the mateship, camaraderie and mutual support that the members can offer them.
What is the future for these sub-branches as the older members die out? Only time will tell.
No railway journey on Earth can match the Trans-Siberian stretches between Moscow and Vladivostok. It is not just its vast length and the great variety of the lands and climates through which it passes. It is not just its history as the line that linked the huge tracts of land which are Russia. It is a dream which calls countless travellers to the adventure of the longest railway in the world.
The recent arrest of an Australian 60 Minutes TV crew in Lebanon, has had (Australian) media outlets outraged that a TV crew could be arrested for reporting the news.
What they gloss over in their outrage is that the crew were filming a kidnapping and abduction of two children of an Australian woman who was in Beirut with their Lebanese father. True, the father had failed to return the children after an access visit, but still a kidnap and abduction has occurred.
The TV crew was not just there filming the abduction. No, it is alleged that the 60 Minutes producers had actually financed the abduction by hiring a professional company to carry out the grab. it is alleged that AU$115,000 was paid by Channel 9.
That makes the TV crew complicit in the action, and an accessory to kidnapping and abduction, assault and conspiracy, all serious crime in the Lebanon.
The mother and the TV crew could find themselves in detention in Lebanon for some time to come.
If found guilty, they could face up to 20 years in jail.
Dr Denis Muller, a media ethics expert at University of Melbourne, believes Channel 9 did the story because they thought it would “rate its socks off”.
“An Australian mum was rescuing children, bringing them back to a great life in Australia, that’s what it was all about,” he said.
“I can’t imagine Channel 9 looked into the risk and I can’t imagine they would have knowingly put their staff at risk like this”. But it appears they did just that.
However, the reporter at the heart of the issue, Tara Brown, has maintained a level of integrity stating, “I cannot talk, I don’t want to jeopardise anything. It has been fortifying to get messages of support, support from my family, friends and colleagues. I am being treated extremely well and the other women here are incredibly generous and kind.”
Will this action receive unbiased reporting from the Australian media?
Ronnie Barker: We interrupt this website for a special bulletin: The Metropolitan Police today denied that prisoners in their custody are excessively pampered. This follows yesterday’s report that a man was hustled out of New Scotland Yard with an electric blanket over his head.
Ronnie Corbett: And we’ve just heard that a juggernaut of onions has shed its load all over the M-1. Motorists are advised to find a hard shoulder to cry on.
Ronnie Barker: Following the dispute with the domestic servants’ union at Buckingham Palace today, the queen, a radiant figure in a white silk gown and crimson robe, swept down the main staircase and through the hall. She then dusted the cloak room and vacuumed the lounge.
Ronnie Corbett: After a series of crimes in the Glasgow area, Chief Inspector McTavish has announced that he’s looking for a man with one eye. If he doesn’t find him, he’s going to use both eyes.
Ronnie Barker: The perfect crime was committed last night, when thieves broke into Scotland Yard and stole all the toilets. Police say they have absolutely nothing to go on.
Ronnie Corbett: And we’ve just heard that in the English Channel, a ship carrying red paint has collided with a ship carrying purple paint. It is believed that both crews have been marooned. And now, back to our regular programme.
Ronnie Barker: And now a sketch featuring Ronnie Corbett whose wife thinks he’s the salt of the earth. That’s why she keeps him in the cellar.
Ronnie Corbett: Good evening! It’s wonderful to be back with you again, isn’t it, Ronnie?
Ronnie Barker: Indeed it is. And in a packed programme tonight, I shall be having a word with a man who goes in for meditation, because he thinks it’s better than sitting around doing nothing.
Ronnie Corbett: And we’ll be talking to a car designer who’s crossed Toyota with Quasimodo and come up with The Hatchback of Notre Dame.
Ronnie Barker: And we had hoped to have been bringing you Arthur the Human Chameleon, but this afternoon, he crawled across a tartan rug and died of exhaustion. But first, the news: The House of Commons was sealed off today after police chased an escaped lunatic through the front door during Prime Minister’s question time. A spokesman at Scotland Yard said it was like looking for a needle in a haystack.
Ronnie Corbett: West Mercia police announced tonight that they wish to interview a man wearing high heels and frilly knickers, but the Chief Constable said they must wear their normal uniforms.
Ronnie Barker: Many old music hall fans were present at the funeral today of Fred “Chuckles” Jenkins, Britain’s oldest and unfunniest comedian. In tribute, the vicar read out one of Fred’s jokes, and the congregation had two minutes silence.
Ronnie Corbett: Latest on the bullion robbery: At Wansforth Police Station, a man who’s as deaf as a post, and doesn’t speak English, with a terrible stutter, bad breath and squeaky shoes, is not helping the police with their inquiries one little bit.
Ronnie Barker: At London’s Heathrow, senior customs officer Seaforth Mumbly retired today. He shook hands with passengers passing through the customs, and confiscated a gold watch for himself.
Ronnie Corbett: There was a fire at the main Inland Revenue office in London today, but it was put out before any serious good was done.
Ronnie Barker: The search for the man who terrorizes nudist camps with a bacon slicer goes on. Inspector Lemuel Jones had a tip-off this morning, but hopes to be back on duty tomorrow.
Ronnie Corbett: Finally, it was revealed in a government survey published today that the Prime Minister is doing the work of two men. Laurel and Hardy.
Ronnie Barker: And now a sketch, featuring Mr Ronnie Corbett, whose wife tries not to bring out the beast in him, because she’s afraid of mice.
Ronnie Barker: I say, Humphrey.
Ronnie Corbett: What is it, Godfrey?
Ronnie Barker: Who was that terrible woman you were with today?
Ronnie Corbett: That was my sister.
Ronnie Barker: Oh, yes! Of course! I should have noticed the resemblance. Just got married, hasn’t she?
Ronnie Corbett: Yes. Yes. And do you know, she’s married a man who, invariably, people take an instant dislike to.
Ronnie Barker: Oh? Why is that, do you think?
Ronnie Corbett: It saves time. She’s just moved to Cheltenham. She loves Cheltenham. She says, in Cheltenham, breeding is everything.
Ronnie Barker: Yes, well, we enjoy it in Kensington as well, but we’re not fanatical about it.
Ronnie Corbett: Funny thing is, though, although he’s a bully, an idler and a drunk, she intends to have seventeen children by him.
Ronnie Barker: Good grief! Why on earth would she want to do that?
Ronnie Corbett: She says she’s hoping to lose him in the crowd.
Ronnie Barker: And Solomon F. Potts, America’s most persistent practical joker, was buried today. He’s not dead, it’s just the neighbours getting their own back.
Ronnie Barker: This kitchen appliance completely replaces the milkman, unless you’re the woman at 14 Catbury Drive with the green door.
Ronnie Corbett: …in this wretched, dreadful old husk of a town – absolutely nowhere near Watford – I must make that clear, I wouldn’t want people ringing in complaining. No, no, it’s true… some of them are on the telephone now.
Ronnie Corbett: My wife and I had a bit of a fight, there was some high-spirited name calling, and I had stormed upstairs to fetch my birth certificate.
Now the French really know how to turn on a parade.
Note the particularly slow marching pace of the Foreign Legionnaires. In comparison to the 116-step-per-minute pace of other French units, the Foreign Legion has an 88-step-per-minute marching speed. It is also referred to by Legionnaires as the “crawl“. Because of the impressively slow pace, the Foreign Legion is always the last unit marching in any parade.
Daily Telegraph Uncovers Academic ‘Invasion’ Plot… 20 Years Too Late
Settlement or Invasion?
Australia’s least trusted newspaper may have just broken the record for ‘world’s oldest scoop’.
Yesterday’s (30/03/2016) Daily Telegraph’s scoop – that the University of NSW is “controversially” instructing teachers to refer to the “settlement” of Australia as an “invasion” – is based on a teaching resource produced two decades ago which was published under the auspices of the Howard government.
Entitled, Teaching the Teachers: Indigenous Australian Studies for Primary Pre-Service Teacher Education, the teaching guide was the culmination of more than two years consultation and research, and produced by UNSW in cooperation with the federally-funded Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation.
It was released in 1996 by UNSW and CAR as a guide to appropriate terminology when discussing First Nations issues. Ironically, the Prime Minister at the time, John Howard – went on to spark the ‘history wars’, after abolishing the CAR.
The guide was inspired by Aboriginal poet and activist Oodgeroo Noonucal (Kath Walker) and distributed widely throughout schools and universities around the country, in particular NSW primary schools.
Since then, it has been used widely as the basis for university guides on appropriate terminology when teaching about issues affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians.
Australian universities, including Flinders in South Australia, UNSW and Queensland University of Technology have all produced guides based on the document.
An entire section of the teaching guide – page 13 – is devoted to dealing with the issue of invasion. After noting the term ‘settlement’ is “less appropriate”, and the term ‘invasion’ “more appropriate”, the guide notes:
“Australia was not settled peacefully, it was invaded. Describing the arrival of the Europeans as a ‘settlement’ attempts to view Australian history from the shores of England rather than the shores of Australia.
“The use of the word ‘settlement’ ignores the reality of Indigenous Australian peoples’ lands being stolen from them….
“The fact that most settlers did not see themselves as invading the country, and that convicts were transported against their will is beside the point. The effects were the same for Indigenous peoples.”
New Matilda reader Serena O’Meley – a community and union activist – located the original resource at the State of Library of Victoria early this morning.
She told New Matilda: “This particular curriculum resource is highly auspiced, and it’s been around for 20 years. It was a seminal text involving substantial consultation,” Ms O’Meley said.
“It’s just sensationalist reporting by the Daily Telegraph, and it has to stop.
“Invasion is a fact, it’s not a political position. Once again they’re playing into the hands of racists and people who want to change history to suit themselves.”
Notwithstanding the motivations of the Telegraph, Ms O’Meley said some good would likely come from the debate.
“I think it’s been useful in the sense that it’s opened up a discussion, because younger people born during the history wars haven’t been properly educated about these issues,” she said.
“I’m personally a product of poor history teaching, and I know many of my peers have been as well. It’s taken me many years to understand the real basis of Australia’s true history.
“I cannot imagine what young people know and understand about these issues, so a curriculum resource like this is immensely valuable.”
New Matilda has sought to interview the Daily Telegraph reporter responsible for the story, Clarissa Bye, but at the time of press no reply was forthcoming.
A spokesperson for the University of NSW told New Matilda that the teaching resource at the centre of the Telegraph’s coverage had actually been in place since 2012. The spokesperson also noted that the resource does not mandate language from teacher’s rather it suggests ‘less and more appropriate’ terminology.
According to dictionary.com, one definition of the term ‘invasion’ is “entrance as if to take possession or overrun”.
It’s use to describe the gradual arrival of people, against the will of an existing population – as opposed to an immediate military force – is uncontroversial. The Daily Telegraph has used the term itself to describe the gradual arrival over time of asylum seekers to Australian shores.
Source: Chris Grahamon March 31, 2016
Comment/Thoughts
In the mindset of the initial European arrivals to Australia’s eastern shores, the British government of the time would have seen this as settlement rather than invasion given information supplied by James Cook. It is not possible, nearly 250 years later, to reassess the mindset of that time, when acting under the official instruction of the government of the day.
At the time Australia was considered to be ‘Terra Nullius‘. However, this is clearly clearly incorrect as instead of admitting that it was “possessing” land that belonged to Aboriginal people, Britain always acted as it were settling an empty land.
If James Cook said that Australia was “Terra Nullius“, who in England was a position to dispute this assertion?
It could be argued that the original settlers were in fact, not settlers at all! As convicts coming to a penal colony, they were hardly coming of their own free will. Once their sentence had been completed, they were hardly in a position to take themselves home! They became settlers, rather than invaders, by no choice of their own.
Academia and academics often have outspoken and controversial views which are not held by the mainstream population and government.
This story does remain an example of poor reporting on the part of the Daily Telegraph.
Speed kills. Speed cameras save lives. We have heard it all before. But, two-hundred and forty-nine people people died in fatal traffic accidents on Victoria’s roads last year — a 2.5 per cent increase from 2013’s figure.
This is despite a record number of fixed and mobile speed cameras deployed on roads in Victoria, and around Australia.
For years, the governments have been claiming that speed cameras save lives and that speed is the greatest common factor in fatal car accidents.
But with road deaths on the rise, could it be that speed cameras actually don’t save lives and in fact are contributing to our road toll by breeding poor driving practises?
Since Saab introduced seat belts as standard in 1958, occupant safety has been improving every year, and the sedans, wagons, utilities and SUVs we drive today are safer than ever. And safer cars will undoubtedly go further in reducing the road toll than speed cameras.
Speed cameras certainly have their place in society, but not with the draconian enforcement of low-level speeding and covert tactics, such as hiding in bushes and unmarked mobile speed cameras, as occurs in Victoria, at least, more needs to be done.
The proof is in the numbers. People are still crashing, they are just safer doing so.
The figures show that revenue from speed cameras alone — on the spot police fines are not included in this figure — in 2010 was around $236 million. Fast forward to 2013 and that figures jumps a whopping $57 million to $293 million. Imagine ripping almost $300 million from government coffers; speed cameras have become like a drug addiction that governments can’t help but feed off.
Included below is a graph (click here to see larger version) that shows the relationship between hospital stays shorter than 14 days, longer than 14 days, fatalities and revenue from speed cameras. The graph shows that the increase in revenue from speed cameras isn’t commensurate with a reduction in hospital stays. Hospital stays of fewer than 14 days and more than 14 days during this period trended steady.
When asked about speed cameras and levels of enforcement, a spokesperson for the Department of Justice and Regulation told CarAdvice:
“Broadly speaking the rate of people being fined by cameras is not changing, but as the population grows, so too does the number of fines issued.
“The overall number of infringements issued annually is increasing as Victoria’s population grows and there are more cars on the road.
“Over 99 per cent of vehicles passing fixed cameras and over 98 per cent of vehicles passing mobile cameras comply with the speed limit.
That’s because people know that they are there. Drivers slow down for the cameras, and then once past them, they resume their normal driving habits – Ed.
“Fixed and mobile road safety cameras reduce speeds and cut road trauma because they are placed in high-risk or high-speed areas, areas with history of road trauma, or areas that will provide a road safety benefit.
This is not always so! In 2011 a NSW review of the placement of speed cameras was carried out by the Auditor-Generals Department, and a large number of cameras, 38 in fact, were identified as being placed to interrogate the speed of a large number of passing vehicles, or where the speed limit had been reduced from a higher limit; e.g. passing from a 90kmh zone into a 70kmh zone, with no identified high risk factors or adverse trauma history – Ed.
“100 per cent of the money from camera fines is allocated to the Better Roads Victoria Trust Account. The funds from this account are used to improve road safety for all road users.”
With an enforcement focus skewed on speed, ask yourself this question: how many speed cameras did you travel through (whether it be a fixed or mobile one) in the past month? Now, ask yourself how many times were you stopped to be tested for drugs or alcohol over the same period?
Similarly, in the past 10 years, how many times did you undertake driver training to improve your skills?
The unfortunate reality of speed camera-biased enforcement can be demonstrated with the tragic death of pedestrian Anthony Parsons and husband and wife Savva and Ismini Menelaou, who were passengers in a Ford Falcon struck at the intersection of Warrigal and Dandenong roads in Oakleigh, Victoria last year.
Brazilian national Nei Lima DaCosta was high on ice and drove through one fixed speed camera at 30km/h over the speed limit minutes before careering through the intersection of Warrigal and Dandenong roads at 120km/h (40km/h over the speed limit) through another speed and red light camera. He killed three innocent people. These two cameras did nothing to help save the lives of three innocent people.
This particular example illustrates why so much more needs to be done on enforcing and dealing with poor driving, whether it be due to drugs, lack of skills or visible policing.
There seems to be a reluctance, at least in Australia for police to perform in a pro-active role. Whenever police are seen on highways, it is always in the role of enforcement, speed checking, number plate recognition activities and the like, revenue raising activities – Ed.
Speed cameras alone will never be a useful immediate enforcement or protection tool against drivers excessively speeding, or people who don’t know how to drive to start with.
Those people that use the idiom “don’t speed and you won’t get caught” simply don’t understand the reality of driving safely. If I had the preference of watching the road or my speedometer, I know which one I would choose.
What is needed is an overhaul of driver training, the proper blitzing of drink and drug driving testing, along with the removal of low level speed enforcement. Who would have an issue with being stopped twice a day for drug or alcohol testing if it meant impaired drivers were taken off the road more promptly?
We also need more transparency on where the money generated from speed cameras goes and where it should be spent.
With all the roads around NSW in such poor condition, serious doubt has to raised as just where income from fines is actually spent on – Ed.
I have always said that wee drop of whisky (in moderation) was good for you. I have a large collection of whiskies (usually single malt) which I enjoy on special occasions.
I recently found this article which seems to support my belief:
The Health Benefits of Whisky:
1. Memory Boost: Whisky contains antioxidants that help improve the health of the brain. Additionally, alcohol boosts blood circulation, both of which contribute to your memory. Also, the ethanol in whisky helps your neurons function properly, which further aids recall.
Whisk(e)y made in the US is referred to as bourbon
2. Stress Relief: In moderation, whisky can reduce stress and calm the nerves. The combination of slowing down brain activity and increasing circulation (which helps provide the body with oxygenated blood), are essential for achieving tranquility.
3. Fight Weight Gain: Compared to its counterparts, whisky is a low-calorie alcohol, free of fat and cholesterol. If you’re on a diet but still want a drink – it’s your best choice.
4. Reduce the Risk of a Stroke: Whisky prevents cholesterol from accumulating in the cardiovascular system and can help remove excess cholesterol from the body. It also relaxes the walls of the arteries, reducing the risk of obstruction. All of these factors help reduce the risk of stroke considerably.
5. Reduce the Risk of Cancer: Whisky contains an antioxidant called ‘ellagic acid’, an acid that stops DNA from coming in contact with cancer-causing compounds, such as nitrosamines and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. It is also beneficial in protecting the body from damage during chemotherapy.
6. Helps with Digestion: For centuries, whisky was considered a digestive aid, to be consumed after a heavy meal. Whisky’s composition and high alcohol percentage also make it an effective appetite suppressant.
7. Live Longer: The antioxidants in whisky help fight free radicals – the number one cause of aging, as well as prevent various diseases. This double-whammy helps your body live a longer, healthier life.
8. Diabetic-Friendly: Containing zero carbs, whisky won’t readily elevate blood sugar levels, making it the number one choice for diabetics. However, alcohol intake significantly increases the risk of hypoglycemia (low blood sugar levels). So if your diabetes is already well controlled, a moderate amount of alcohol may be fine either before, during or soon after a meal. Alcohol (whisky or otherwise) should be drunk in moderation and avoided on an empty stomach. Always consult your doctor for specific advice.
9. Improve Your Heart’s Health: Drinking whisky actually helps your heart stay healthy, similarly to red wine. It reduces the risk of blood clots, thus it can prevent strokes and heart attacks. The antioxidants in the whisky also inhibits the oxidation of low density lipoprotein – a main factor in heart disease.
10. Improve the Health of Your Brain: A 2003 study found that, thanks to the antioxidant qualities of the ellagic acid, moderate consumption of whisky reduces the risk of Alzheimer’s and dementia, and also improves cognitive functions. Basically, one drink a day will keep the brain doctor away.
11. Prevent & Treat Cold and Flu: Whisky is known for its positive effects in battling allergies and colds. It’s an effective cough syrup for people suffering from an itchy throat, and the alcohol helps kill bacteria in the throat. The best results are achieved by adding a little bit of whisky to a cup of hot water and lemon.
George Brown is a decorated soldier and health professional and 40 year veteran in the field of emergency nursing and paramedical practice, both military and civilian areas. He has senior management positions in the delivery of paramedical services. Opinions expressed in these columns are solely those of the author and should not be construed as being those of any organization to which he may be connected.
He was born in the UK of Scottish ancestry from Aberdeen and a member of the Clan MacDougall. He is a member of the Macedonian community in Newcastle, and speaks fluent Macedonian. While this may seem a contradiction, it is his wife who is Macedonian, and as a result he embraced the Macedonian language and the Orthodox faith.
His interests include aviation and digital photography, and he always enjoys the opportunity to combine the two. Navigate to his Flickr site to see recent additions to his photo library.
Џорџ Браун е украсени војник и професионално здравствено лице и 40 годишен ветеран во областа на за итни случаи старечки и парамедицински пракса, двете воени и цивилни области. Тој има високи менаџерски позиции во испораката на парамедицински услуги. Мислењата изразени во овие колумни се исклучиво на авторот и не треба да се толкува како оние на било која организација тој може да биде поврзан.
Тој е роден во Велика Британија на шкотскиот потекло од Абердин и член на Kланот MacDougall. Тој е член на македонската заедница во Њукасл, и зборува течно македонски. Иако ова можеби изгледа контрадикција, тоа е неговата сопруга кој е македонски, и како резултат научил македонскиот јазик и ја примија православната вера.
Неговите интереси вклучуваат авијација и дигитална фотографија, и тој секогаш ужива во можност да се комбинираат двете. Отиди до неговиот Фликр сајт да видите последните дополнувања на неговата слика библиотека.
Discussion on the law that applies to or affects Australia's emergency services and emergency management, by Michael Eburn, PhD, Australian Lawyer. Email: meburn@australianemergencylaw.com
Oh, let's see...distinguished Gen-X'er, frustrated writer and mom living in the confines of a small town that thinks it's a big deal. And have I mentioned Walmart yet?
Words, By George! 