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PM scrapes barnacles from the ship of state
Volume 32 #29
December 27, 2017
Inquiry please As a small-business training ‘community-owned organisation’, NORTEC abruptly abandoned its small-business incubators and operators just prior to Christmas (see page 6). Those affected have explained how they have been unfairly treated and left out of pocket, yet the response from NORTEC has been to instead duck and hide. To be clear, NORTEC is a government-funded entity, so the question is whether selling its property for profit and expansion at the expense of its client base is part of their core business. In NSW, NORTEC receive funding in part from the LiberalNational Party’s dubious Smart and Skilled vocational education and training (VET) program. There are many Smart and Skilled online news articles pointing to the disaster that occurs when you allow private enterprise to control the educational sector. Since it was introduced in 2015, the minister for skills, small business and NSW Nationals leader John Barilaro has ignored the criticisms and instead counterattacked and quibbled over technicalities. Will he intervene here and call an inquiry into this latest debacle? And since a 2007 merger, NORTEC claims to have ‘successfully grown to more than 40 office locations through the mid- and upper-NSW region (Forster to Tweed Heads), and through southeast QLD (from Palm Beach to Brisbane).’ Yet the price for such success appears to include the collateral of local small enterprises like Eco Minerals and Jake May Design. In total, The Echo has reported more than a dozen local small businesses have been affected in Byron Bay, Mullumbimby and Goonellabah. Shaming as a mechanism for change should never be the first option of a newspaper or the media. But in this case, The Echo feels there is no choice, and herewith we publish the names and pictures of the board of directors who are responsible for putting corporate profit over the people they are supposed to assist.
Fiona Evans, David Fayyad, Geoffrey NORTEC Colwill, NORTEC director NORTEC chair director
T
he renaissance of Malcolm Turnbull’s leadership proclaimed with such jubilation by John Alexander after regaining the seat of Bennelong lasted just 24 hours. Then Newspoll arrived with its all too familiar message: the government was still stuck in the doldrums six points behind Labor in the two party preferred vote. Twenty-five gone, and counting. Back to the dark ages. However our perennially cheerful prime minister had ducked and weaved his way through Christmas with the merry message that things were now on the up and up: he had scraped off three persistent barnacles from the ship of state and once again he could get on with the real issues. But a closer examination reveals that the barnacles have not been scraped off at all, merely temporarily sedated until parliament resumes. They are, in order, same-sex marriage, energy policy and the dual-citizen saga, and none of the three can be considered settled, let alone scrapped. Samesex marriage, of course, is now law, to almost everyone’s great relief. But there is an aftermath – the review from Phillip Ruddock and co into what is euphemistically called religious protection. This may be kept under cover for a while, but has the potential to be just as divisive and dirty as the lengthy debate it spawned. If there was any doubt, the Christian Lobby and the other churches, along with their willing evangelists in the parliament, have made it clear that this is where the real battle begins. And they have no shortage of firepower: the Catholics’ response to the findings of the Royal Commission into Child Abuse, which was essentially that they would obey the law only when and where it suited
CHESS
Michael Kinnane, NORTEC director
Linda Spurr, NORTEC director
Sarah Lance, Dawson Petie, NORTEC NORTEC director director
Hans Lovejoy, editor News tips are welcome: editor@echo.net.au
The Byron Shire Echo Established 1986 General Manager Simon Haslam Editor Hans Lovejoy Photographer Jeff Dawson Advertising Manager Angela Cornell Production Manager Ziggi Browning
Nicholas Shand 1948–1996 Founding Editor
‘The job of a newspaper is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.’ – Finley Peter Dunne 1867–1936 © 2017 Echo Publications Pty Ltd – ABN 86 004 000 239 Mullumbimby: Village Way, Stuart St. Ph 02 6684 1777 Fax 02 6684 1719 Printer: Fairfax Media Brisbane Reg. by Aust. Post Pub. No. NBF9237
8 December 27, 2017 The Byron Shire Echo
by Ian Rogers Peter Svidler is the best commentator in world chess, causing some to forget that at 41 he remains a world class Grandmaster. This week Svidler returned to the world’s top 10 with a record eighth win of the Russian Championship, finally moving ahead of Mikhail Botvinnik’s seven Soviet Union titles. While historians argue about the relative merits of Svidler’s record, it is already clear that the only person likely to break it in the future is Svidler. Though he has had an impressive career, including missing becoming Anand’s world title challenger in 2013 by just half a point, there is no obvious explanation for Svidler’s extraordinary Russian Championship feats. After winning the 2017 title – plus a million roubles and a car – in front of his home crowd in Saint Petersburg, Svidler tried to explain the phenomenon: ‘I’ve got a theory that it’s psychologically easier to win where you’ve already achieved success. You don’t have an internal voice telling you: “This tournament will be extremely tough.” I first won
them, was unequivocal. Rome will be a bloody big barnacle. And as for energy – well, the bills (which is what the voters really care about) will keep going up – until, ironically, more wind and solar power come on line in several months – certainly not in time for the long, hot summer. A reduction in the wholesale price of gas will be unnoticeable, and Turnbull’s beloved Snowy Hydro 2.0 is not yet even a hole in the ground. Turnbull says sustainability of supply is now secure, and he had better be right: a serious blackout in any of the major
limpets have been more firmly despatched. George Brandis is to retire his pomposity to the Court of St James, and while he will not be greatly missed – after all, his exit has been signalled for more than a year – he has been a staunch Turnbull ally in a party room where there are all too few of them. The same applies to Arthur Sinodinos, who has had his travails over corporate donations (linked, dare we say it, to Eddie Obeid among others) but was seen as one of Turnbull’s main men until sickness has sidelined him.
If there was any doubt, the Christian Lobby and the other churches, along with their willing evangelists in the parliament, have made it clear that this is where the real battle begins. by Mungo MacCallum cities would destroy whatever credibility over the issue he has left. Just keep scraping. And as for dual citizenship – Turnbull apparently intends to unilaterally refer his suspected opponents to the High Court, while maintaining, in a curious echo from Bill Shorten’s ill-advised bravado, that all his own are squeaky clean. It is a sure bet that the media will not be assuaged, and a likely bet that more problems, including some on his own side, will be turned up. And by throwing the crossbencher Rebeka Sharkie into the mix, he has ensured that her support for no-confidence motions is no longer guaranteed. He obviously believes that with the return of Alexander and Barnaby Joyce this is no longer vital, but he has left another barnacle nonetheless. But undeterred, Turnbull has embarked on another round of barnacle scraping in the form of a drastic reshuffle, in which four the Russian title in 1994 as a fledgling youth when the demon of doubt hadn’t taken root. For a person like me, inclined to doubt my own abilities, it’s useful to play in tournaments that I know are not impossible to win.’ Q This summer, three of Australia’s leading female players will head to Europe to try to impress the 2018 Olympic selectors. In December Canberra’s Emma Guo has followed up a solid result at the London Classic with a fine performance in Spain, including the following finish against German International Master Peter Meister. Sitges Open White: E Guo Black: P Meister Opening: Hippopotamous 1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nc3 d6 4.f4 a6 5.a4 e6 6.Nf3 Ne7 7.Be3 Nd7 8.Be2 b6 9.Qd2 Bb7 The Hippo set-up, a favourite of Australia’s Alex Wohl; Black’s pieces stay below the radar until White ventures too far. 10.Rd1 0-0 11.0-0?! Nf6 12.Bd3 Ng4 Black should now be completely comfortable but Guo pushes onwards. 13.f5 Nxe3 14.Qxe3 exf5 15.exf5 Qd7 16.Nh4 Rfe8 17.Qf4 Nd5 18.Nxd5 Bxd5 19.c4 Bb7 20.f6 Bf8 21.d5 c6? Allowing a lightning strike from a clear sky. After 21...Bc8! White cannot break through. 22.Bxg6!! hxg6 23.Nxg6! Bg7 23...fxg6 24.f7+ Kg7 25.Qf6+ is hopeless. 24.Ne7+! Rxe7 25.Qg5!! 1-0
Darren Chester can be considered unlucky; he has hardly revolutionised the infrastructure portfolio, but he has done little wrong – except, of course, for voting for same-sex marriage, an unforgiveable sin in the eyes of some of his National Party colleagues. And he was particularly offside with his leader, Barnaby Joyce. But what struck him down, we are told, was not his stand on human rights, but his place of residence: Chester is a Victorian, and the party wanted more Queenslanders in cabinet. Or so they say: the other who has been turfed, Keith Pitt, is a dead-set Queenslander, but apparently he doesn’t count. The Nats will not countenance affirmative action for women, that would be discrimination: politicians must succeed on their merits. Except, of course, those north of the Tweed: they don’t have enough of them to qualify. And there was still just
enough time to crow about the national accounts figures, which shaved an insignificant amount and probably temporarily from the deficit. Jobs and growth, trumpeted Turnbull, is not just a slogan but an outcome. Well, perhaps some of it. A lot of jobs have indeed been created, although many of them are low paid and given the current stagnation over wages, they are not likely to become much more attractive. But economic growth has actually been forecast to decline from 2.75 per cent – no bonanza in its own right – to 2.5 per cent. Naturally, this manifestly inadequate result was yet another win for the government, said Treasurer Scott Morrison. In fact, most of it came from a fortuitous rise in commodity prices and cuts on welfare. Despite the demands of an ageing population, the numbers of welfare recipients are the lowest in more than 40 years, which Treasurer Scott Morrison obviously thinks is a good thing. This is not a view that is necessarily shared by the victims – age, disabled and singleparent pensioners, to name but a few. And now that the senate has jacked up against further cuts, Morrison will resort to the mean and tricky device of using regulations to defy the clear will of the parliament of Australia. Turnbull now admits that he regrets including Newspoll as a reason for ousting Tony Abbott – but then, he never dreamt that he would be in a similar, or even worse, position. However, at least he has survived the killing season – Christmas comes but once a year/ To fill our leader’s heart with fear. Now there’s just 2018 to contend with. For auld acquaintance be forgot. And especially if that auld acquaintance happens to include Tony Abbott.
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