The Opposition has had its first real opportunity to hold the Government to account during the two-week Senate Estimates hearings which have just ended.

The basic question in portfolio after portfolio was: “What has the Rudd Government actually achieved?”
The answers appears to be: “Worked on destroying the Howard-Costello legacy as fast as possible with very little thought to the consequences and established a climate of fear in the Public Service.”

Bizarrely, the Government also refused to provide a full list of election promises and the Ministers responsible for implementing them.

During Estimates, we heard:

• The Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations has never been asked for advice on the impact of Labor’s workplace relations laws. DEEWR hasn’t even seen the leaked Treasury modelling on the inflationary impacts.
• Treasury didn’t consult the Department of Health and Ageing before the Government increased taxes for Ready to Drink (RTD) products—a pretty fair indication that this measure was about revenue raising, not improving health.
• Neither Treasury or the Department of Health and Ageing were asked to assess the impact of changing the Medicare Levy Surcharge threshold. Treasury massively underestimated the number of people who would drop out of private health insurance by using adults only figures. Children were not included. The States were not asked about the effect of more than 500,000 people now needing to use the public hospital system.
• The Government ended the 30-year-old tax exemption on extracting light crude oil from natural gas without consulting the Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism or the industry. The Government will “save” $2.5 billion but it may destroy the industry.
• The Commercial Ready program was secretly closed 16 days before the announcement was made in the Budget.
• The Computers in Schools program still doesn’t cover the cost of school building changes, installation and maintenance of the computers.

The window dressing and ideological change for change’s sake is best illustrated by attempts I made in Estimates with DEEWR officers to find out the difference between the already existing National Industry Skills Committee, established by the Howard-Costello Government, and the new Skills Australia body, established by the Rudd Government. The meeting and admin budget for Skills Australia for 2008-9 is $3 million.

The answer: The existing National Industry Skills Committee consists of representatives of industry and unions with expertise in skills needs and reports to the Ministerial Council, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Gillard. The new Skills Australia consists of individuals from industry and unions with expertise in skills needs and reports to Deputy Prime Minister Gillard - and costs $3 million a year.

There are dozens of similar examples across departments of the need for a BIG gesture defying common and financial sense, including the composition of Infrastructure Australia which I wrote about in the last Queensland onLine.

Laura Tingle writing in the Australian Financial Review last Friday summed it up:

"This has not been a good time for Kevin Rudd. For the first time I get the impression that Australians are no longer prepared to accept blindly what he and his government have to say...

Rudd's promise to have a press conference after every cabinet meeting has already gone the way of the dodo, replaced first by ministerial press conferences on vaguely related subjects, then by hastily arranged doorstops on something relatively minor... Notably, there are a lot of unforced errors creeping into the government's game... It's hard to look economically competent when you can't even seem to manage politically competent... And Rudd and his frenetic government have been exposed as verbose and vulnerable."

LIBERAL PARTY STATE CONVENTION

Welcome to Mal Brough in his new role as President of the Queensland Liberals. The next few months will be crucial to centre-right politics in Queensland and Mal brings much-needed skills and experience to the role. I'd also like to recognise the contribution made by outgoing President Gary Spence.

The Party’s new Vice-Presidents are Bob Harper, Dave Elson, John Caris, John Clifford (Country) and Melinda Holborn (Northern). Delegates elected from the floor of Convention are Rod Schneider, Isaac Scott, Ben Ward, Matt Myers, Susie Rostirolla and Julian Simmonds.

I wish them all the best - we sometimes forget that ours is a party of volunteers and that members put their hands up because they want to improve the fortunes of the Liberal Party.

I'd also like to thank all those nominated for the positions. It takes a lot of courage to put yourself forward.

Merger

In terms of Liberal-National merger talks, it’s useful that one of my Coalition Senate colleagues has publicly articulated some of my concerns.

Writing in the Sydney Morning Herald on the weekend, Senator Barnaby Joyce said:

The National Party is a party based on agrarian, socialist, principles, as can be seen in the single desk for the orderly sale of wheat, drought aid and regional development.

The Liberals believe in the free market and it is probably in their economics where they are truly liberal. They believe in pure market principles and that the consequences of what happens next are, in the long term, the best outcome.

Read on at www.jennymacklin.fahcsia.gov.au/Internet/jennymacklin.nsf/content/increased_pension_30may08.htm to find that pension thresholds will increase in line with indexation, just like they have for the past 10 years.

Read on at www.jennymacklin.fahcsia.gov.au/Internet/jennymacklin.nsf/content/disabilities30may08.htm to find out the CSTDA might perhaps be negotiated by the end of the year. $1.8 billion of this money had been announced by the Howard-Costello Government and was being spent by the Commonwealth despite the State and Territory Governments refusing to sign the CSTDA.

The Coalition Government extended the original agreement to December 2007 when the States refused to negotiate. The Rudd Government promised when it took office that it would fast-track negotiations of the CSTDA and offered this as a shining beacon of the benefits of wall-to-wall Labor cooperation.

Since then the CSTDA has been extended twice - first to June 30, 2008 and now to December 31.

DISABILITY CLOCK TICKING

The disability community is concerned that Australia may not have a seat at the UN table on disabilities after playing a leading role in the development of the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

The Convention came into force on May 3, 30 days after it was ratified as required by 20 UN members.
Despite being an early signatory to the Convention, Australia has not yet ratified it.

The delay has been caused by the requirement for treaties to undergo a National Interest Assessment by the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties. The assessment also requires submissions from State and Territory Governments, most of which have been undertaken.

Hopefully, the Rudd Government will not send it to yet another Committee before ratification.

Only countries that have ratified the Convention by November 3, 2008 can be members of the new UN treaty body - the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

If Australia has not ratified the Convention by that time it won't be a member of the Committee.

The text of the Convention, and related papers, may be viewed on the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission website at: www.humanrights.gov.au/disability_rights/convention.htm.

FINANCIAL LITERACY - ON THE CHEAP?

I have spoken on financial literacy in the Senate as a crucial element both in helping young people to manage their increasingly complex finances and in the current housing market.

In my view, it is financial illiteracy, not simply interest rates or the housing market, that has led to a substantial number of mortgage foreclosures. A better understanding of money management may have saved the heartache of couples forced to sell their homes by a relatively small rise in interest rates.

In June 2005, the Coalition Government established the Financial Literacy Foundation, headed by respected finance writer and adviser Paul Clitheroe. The budget for the Foundation has been just $5.4 million a year - a very small cost compared to the benefits of the program.

Whether it’s about choosing the best mobile phone plan when you’re 18, being sure you can afford to buy the house of your dreams or planning for retirement, financial literacy is crucial.

Now the Labor Government has closed down the Foundation despite rhetoric about recognising “the importance of financial literacy in helping families and individuals to secure their financial well being and to plan for the future”.

Labor says that they want to ensure "Australia's financial markets are fair, transparent and supported by more informed investors and consumers" But they shut down the Foundation and transferred the responsibilities to ASIC without funding any dedicated unit in ASIC to handle these.

CHAOTIC DEMANDS AND EXHAUSTED SERVANTS

I don’t think anyone in Australia cares about Kevin Rudd’s personal work habits but the effect they are having on those around him should be of concern.

There’s a serious disconnect between a Prime Minister pushing workplace changes labelled “Forward with Fairness” and setting deadlines that force public servants to work more than 24 hours straight. Where is the ACTU when workers need them?

Since March, I have questioned Mr Rudd’s spruiking of an interest in work-family balance, both in a media release and in Senate speeches. This is the man who wants a National Employment Standard for a 38-hour working week!

And at Senate Estimates, Treasury officer Ms Holdaway admitted reluctantly that she and two colleagues had worked for over 35 hours without a break to prepare the rushed legislation for FuelWatch.

Many others are being forced into ridiculous work hours by Ministers and staffers paranoid about incurring the wrath of Kevin 24/7. And unfortunately it’s a pattern familiar from Mr Rudd’s stint working for Premier Wayne Goss in Queensland where he was nicknamed “Dr Death”.

The Financial Review last week commented:

"(A) 35-hour day is unacceptable except in extreme circumstances. Even so, such appalling occupational health and safety practices invite mistakes and ill health. At least it has provided a concrete example of why such phenomenal exhaustion is setting in, especially in the central portfolio departments, fuelled by the exhaustion and anxiety in ministerial offices and by Rudd's high and at times chaotic demands."

OVERSEAS AID AND FAMILY PLANNING

I’m proud to say that, in my experience, the Liberal Women’s Council in Queensland has always favoured pro-choice views on abortion, that is, the termination of pregnancy is not a decision taken lightly but it is a decision that should rest ultimately with the individual woman.

During my presidency, an LWC(Q) motion requesting the Federal Government “to review the policy which currently prevents Australian funds for aid to developing countries being used for providing the full range of information and resources relating to contraceptive methods and reproductive health” was passed by the Party’s State Convention in 2005.

My view, then and now, is that any family planning method (including ‘artificial’ contraception, abortion and abortion counselling) that is legal in Australia should be available to Australian aid workers overseas.

There is no suggestion that Australian views should be rammed down the throats of countries that have laws making contraception or abortion illegal, just that Australian overseas aid programs should not make moral judgements that are not made here.

DANIEL'S SHIELD

Daniel’s Shield was established by individuals concerned about the vulnerability of people in nursing homes, especially those without family.

They are holding a meeting to plan activities for National Nursing Home Initiative Week from July 28 to August 3. It’s on June 19 at 111 Morden St., Sunnybank Hills.

All you need to be involved is a concern about the potential for abuse and exploitation of our elderly in nursing homes - please phone Diane on (07) 3204 1119.

COMMUNITY HERITAGE GRANTS

Community organisations such as historical societies, museums, public libraries, archives, Indigenous and migrant community groups which collect and provide public access to their cultural heritage collections are eligible to apply for Community Heritage Grants.

The Community Heritage Grants (CHG) Program aims to preserve and provide access to locally held, nationally significant cultural heritage collections across Australia. The program provides grant funding of up to $15 000 for preservation projects and preservation and collection management training through community based workshops.

To find out more go to http://www.nla.gov.au/chg/