Monthly Archives: May 2014

Στο… κόκκινο η αγωνία

Τα ίχνη της 58χρονης Helen Michael, που πάσχει από καρκίνο, αγνοούνται από την προηγούμενη Τετάρτη και μέχρι αυτή τη στιγμή οι έρευνες της αστυνομίας δεν έχουν αποδώσει καρπούς.

Οι συγγενείς και οικείοι της βιώνουν στιγμές αγωνίας από τη στιγμή που  η ηλικιωμένη εξαφανίστηκε από το σπίτι της στο Gabriel Terrace, στις 12 το μεσημέρι της 30ης Απριλίου, καθώς μάλιστα και το πρόβλημα υγείας που αντιμετωπίζει χρήζει άμεσης φαρμακευτικής αγωγής.

Βλέποντας ότι οι ώρες περνούσαν χωρίς να επιστρέφει, ειδοποίησαν άμεσα την αστυνομία της Βικτώρια, η οποία και ανάρτησε πρόσφατη φωτογραφία της ηλικιωμένης στην επίσημη ιστοσελίδα της.

Πρόκειται για γυναίκα ύψους 1.50μ. με στιβαρό σωματότυπο και κοντά γκρι μαλλιά. Την ημέρα που εξαφανίστηκε φορούσε μωβ μπλούζα με κουκούλα, φόρμες και αθλητικά παπούτσια.

Όποιος έχει την παραμικρή πληροφορία που μπορεί να φανεί χρήσιμη,  παρακαλείται να τηλεφωνήσει άμεσα στην επείγουσα γραμμή της Αστυνομίας της Βικτώρια, στο 000.

Πηγή: Νέος Κόσμος

Εκφράζουν την έντονη αντίθεσή τους στις αλλαγές που προωθεί στον αντιρατσιστικό νόμο, η κυβέρνηση Άμποτ.

Οι κυβερνήσεις των δύο πολυπληθέστερων Πολιτειών της Αυστραλίας, αυτή της Βικτώριας και της Ν.Ν.Ουαλίας καλούν την κυβέρνηση Άμποτ να «ξεχάσει» τις αλλαγές που θέλει να κάνει στον αντιρατσιστικό νόμο της χώρας και τάχθηκαν στο πλευρό των εθνοτικών κοινοτήτων.
Σε κοινή τους ανακοίνωση, οι δύο πολιτειακές κυβερνήσεις αναφέρουν ότι οποιαδήποτε αλλαγή «απειλεί την κοινωνική συνοχή όχι μόνο των κατοίκων που ζουν στις Πολιτείες μας, αλλά και ολόκληρης της αυστραλιανής κοινωνίας».

Την Πέμπτη, τόσο ο κ. Mike Baird -ο νέος πολιτειακός πρωθυπουργός της Ν.Ν. Ουαλίας- όσο και ο υπουργός Πολυπολιτισμικών Υποθέσεων της Βικτώριας, κ. Matthew Guy, δήλωσαν όχι μόνο την αντίθεσή τους, αλλά και τόνισαν την ετοιμότητά τους να προασπιστούν τα δικαιώματα των εθνοτικών κοινοτήτων των Πολιτειών τους.
«Σ’ αυτό το θέμα και οι δύο Πολιτείες είμαστε ενωμένες» δήλωσε χαρακτηριστικά ο κ. Guy.

Εν τω μεταξύ, τον φόβο τους ότι οι αλλαγές που προωθεί στο νόμο περί φυλετικών διακρίσεων, η ομοσπονδιακή κυβέρνηση, μπορεί να προκαλέσουν στο μέλλον βίαιες ρατσιστικές διαδηλώσεις όπως αυτές που έλαβαν χώρα το 2005 στην Cronulla της N.N. Ουαλίας, εξέφρασαν στις γραπτές εκθέσεις τους προς την ομοσπονδιακή κυβέρνηση οι μεγάλες εθνοτικές κοινότητες της χώρας.

Την Τετάρτη ολοκληρώθηκε η συμβουλευτική διαδικασία για την αλλαγή του νόμου. Το κύριο χαρακτηριστικό των Εκθέσεων που υπέβαλλαν στην κυβέρνηση η Ελληνική, η Κινεζική, η Εβραϊκή, η Αραβική αλλά και η Κοινότητα των Αβοριγίνων, είναι η προτροπή τους προς την κυβέρνηση να μην προχωρήσει στην αλλαγή του νόμου.
Σύμφωνα με την έκθεση που κατέθεσε στην κυβέρνηση η Ομοσπονδία των Συμβουλίων Εθνοτικών Κοινοτήτων (FECCA), η οποιαδήποτε αλλαγή του νόμου αφήνει τους κατοίκους της χώρας έκθετους και χωρίς καμία προστασία αν πέσουν θύματα ρατσιστικής συμπεριφοράς.

«Η FECCA είναι της άποψης ότι το προσχέδιο νόμου που κατέθεσε για δημόσια διαβούλευση η κυβέρνηση δεν επιφέρει την ισορροπία μεταξύ της προστασίας των πολιτών από ρατσιστική συμπεριφορά και της προστασίας του δικαιώματος της ελευθερίας του λόγου».

Το Αυστραλοελληνικό Συμβούλιο Ν.Ν. Ουαλίας, στην Έκθεση που κατέθεσε, ζητά από την κυβέρνηση να μην προχωρήσει στην αλλαγή του νόμου, γιατί όπως αναφέρει χαρακτηριστικά «οι λόγοι που η κυβέρνηση Άμποτ προτάσσει για αλλαγή του νόμου είναι ‘αδύναμοι’ και δεν δικαιολογούν την αλλαγή του νόμου».
Η αντίθεσή στην αλλαγή του νόμου αλλά και την ανησυχία για έξαρση των ρατσιστικών φαινομένων και βίαιων επεισοδίων όπως αυτά που σημειώθηκαν το 2005 στην Cronulla, είναι τα κύρια σημεία της έκθεσης που κατέθεσε το Αραβικό Συμβούλιο της Αυστραλίας.

Το Κινεζικό Αυστραλιανό Φόρουμ (CAF), μάλιστα, αναφέρει στην Έκθεσή του ότι οι αλλαγές που προωθεί η κυβέρνηση είναι ανήθικες και ότι θα λειτουργήσουν ως καταλύτης στην αύξηση ρατσιστικών επεισοδίων. «Η κυβέρνηση με τις αλλαγές αυτές ανοίγει την πόρτα στο ρατσιστικό μίσος προκειμένου αυτό να εισέλθει στον δημόσιο βίο» αναφέρει χαρακτηριστικά η έκθεση του CAF.

Η κυβέρνηση Άμποτ, ως γνωστόν, προωθεί την κατάργηση κάποιων παραγράφων του νόμου με σημαντικότερη την παραγραφή της παραγράφου 18C, σύμφωνα με την οποία θεωρείται παράνομο και διώκεται από το νόμο «η δημόσια προσβολή, εξύβριση, ταπείνωση ή εκφοβισμός» ενός ατόμου ή μίας ομάδας.

Πηγή: Νέος Κόσμός

Stournaras to put forward suggestions on how to reduce annual repayments at Monday’s Eurogroup.

Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras is due to ask his eurozone counterparts Monday to begin considering further debt relief for Greece, with the government already having drafted a number of options to reduce the repayments the country faces in the years to come.

Having achieved a primary surplus of 1.5 billion euros in 2013, Greece will demand that the Eurogroup lives up to its November 2012 commitment to examine other ways of reducing the country’s giant debt burden of roughly 175 percent of gross domestic product. It is highly unlikely, though, that Stournaras will get an immediate answer. The matter will probably be referred to the Euro Working Group, with the technical team that advises eurozone finance ministers being asked to come up with proposals on how to reduce Greece’s debt.

“Discussions will begin but there are a number of preconditions to be met, not just the primary surplus,” a high-ranking European Union official told Kathimerini. “That is why the negotiations will take place when the next [troika] review [of the Greek adjustment program] has been completed.”

Sources have told Kathimerini that there is some reluctance within the eurozone to make any firm commitments now because of the proximity to the European Parliament elections on May 25.

Reducing Greece’s debt is a politically sensitive issue in a number of eurozone countries. Also, Greece’s lenders feel that they can use the issue of debt relief for leverage over the next few months to ensure that Athens meets its structural reform commitments.

Although there is not likely to be a definitive answer regarding Greek debt lightening until the fall, Athens has worked on some proposals.

The first part of the Greek plan consists of stretching the maturity of 192.8 billion euros in loans the country has received from the eurozone to 50 years. The Greek Loan Facility (GLF) loans amount to 52.9 billion euros and have an average maturity of 17 years. The 139.9 billion euros Greece has received from the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) have an average maturity of 30 years.

An extension could reduce Greece’s debt repayments over the next couple of decades by about 6 billion euros a year.

The second part of the proposal consists of switching to a fixed interest rate on the GLF loans. Currently, Greece is paying a rate of 0.83 percent (Euribor plus 0.50) but as the Euribor rate is expected to rise over the next few years, Athens wants to ensure lower repayments by fixing it at a low rate.

source: Neos Kosmos

Thirteen days ahead of local elections, coalition partners ND and PASOK are seeking to galvanize their party base to secure results that will dampen SYRIZA’s vote.

Thirteen days ahead of local elections and 20 days ahead of European Parliament elections, coalition partners New Democracy and PASOK are seeking to galvanize their party base to secure results that will dampen leftist opposition SYRIZA’s calls for a snap national vote.

The coalition is set to complete its term in June 2016, but SYRIZA has threatened to trigger an early vote by blocking the election of a new president early next year.

Over the weekend, ND welcomed two new opinion polls that gave the conservatives a narrow lead over SYRIZA ahead of the Europe-wide ballot.

An MRB poll for Star TV showed ND to have inched forward to 21.9 percent, pushing SYRIZA into second place at 21.3 percent. PASOK’s grouping with other center-left parties, known as Elia, or the Olive Tree, alliance, scored 5.1 percent.

A Metron Analysis poll, commissioned by Ethnos on Sunday newspaper, put ND at 20.6 percent, ahead of SYRIZA’s 20 percent. The Olive Tree platform was at 4.2 percent.

Both polls showed centrist newcomers To Potami in third place at around 8 percent.

Conservative officials hope to further capitalize on the expected launch of talks regarding debt relief at Monday’s Eurogroup summit in Brussels as well as the beginning of the country’s tourist season, which is expected to lift the economy.

Meanwhile, PASOK is struggling to stress the once-dominant party’s political relevance. In an interview Friday, socialist leader Evangelos Venizelos suggested that PASOK is key to the survival of the coalition.

A poor showing for the Olive Tree, Venizelos told The Toc website, “will create problems for the stability, the orientation and the solidity of the government.”

Source: Kathimerini

Minister for Social Services, Kevin Andrews. Photo: AAP/ Lukas Coch.

Ethnic communities condemn the Herald Sun for playing the ‘anti-migrant card’.

Ethnic communities have been angered by a Herald Sun front page story on Thursday, which implied that $100 million might be paid every year to finance the ‘holiday lifestyles’ of numerous disability pensioners who live overseas.

Official figures revealed in the Herald Sun indicated that 7,313 disability support pensioners are living overseas, costing Australian taxpayers $99.9 million a year.

The most popular destination of pensioners was Greece, where 1242 disability support pensioners live; followed by Turkey – 849, New Zealand – 870 and Croatia – 506. The figures also revealed that 82,000 pension payments, mostly the age pension, go to people overseas.

The news came as the Abbott government is preparing to announce its first budget on May 13, that has been heralded by warnings of health, family and pensioners payments cuts.

Federation of Ethnic Communities’ Councils of Australia (FECCA) Chairperson, Joe Caputo, told Neos Kosmos that the Herald Sun article is one more in a row of articles ‘clearly designed to inflame parts of population against various groups – weather it be ethnic or other groups.

“If there is an eligibility of pensioners, then people can go wherever they want to live, as long as they are not defrauding the state.

“The real question is – are these people eligible for certain rights? If they meet the criteria, than the fact that they live in Broadmeadows, or Brighton or Greece, is irrelevant. And not only it’s irrelevant, but it’s very nasty – the fact that they mentioned those 3,4 groups shows it’s playing on the race card,” Mr Caputo said.
On Thursday, Minister for Social Services Kevin Andrews told News Corp he has asked for information clarifying residency requirements for disability support pensioners, saying he was concerned that some pension recipients may be choosing to live overseas for lifestyle reasons at the expense of taxpayers.

In order to clarify the isssue Neos Kosmos requested a response from the Ministers office.

“The Disability Support Pension (DSP) provides income support for day to day living for people with disability who cannot support themselves, and to qualify for DSP, a person must normally be an Australian resident.

“The vast majority of people who are on DSP are abiding by the law and in rare cases I have asked the Department to provide clarification on the residency requirements for DSP. The thousands of overseas DSP recipients doing the right thing have nothing to worry about,” said Minister Andrews in his response to Neos Kosmos.

Minister Andrews explained that disability support pensioners who had indefinite portability under the legislation before July 2004 are covered by grandfathering provisions in the legislation, and are able to come and go from Australia as they wish as long as they do not resume residence in Australia.
“Many working-age social security payments, including DSP, are generally only payable overseas for up to six weeks. This was reduced from 13 weeks on 1 January 2013. Before this change, some people did seem to be trying to maximise their arrangements by living overseas and returning briefly to Australia every 13 weeks,” he said.

George Zangalis, a steering committee member of the Fair Go for Pensioners Coalition, described as ‘outrageous’ the attempts to look at what can be taken and saved from pensioners.

“They are preparing the grounds, as they normally do, and the vulnerable and the weaker are becoming the targets. They are raising the question without any facts and figures, again to try and blame the others. And the others being the non-Anglo Australians and the others being ‘by and large’ – in terms of economic income – immigrants.

“It’s just preposterous to look at what little crumbs are provided for people who are entitled to Australian pension. They have every right to spend a bit of their time or the rest of their life in other country.”

Mr Zangalis said that it’s not the first time that the workers and the foreigners are to blame when there is a difficulty in the country.

In the 1980s, the pensions scandal arose, accusing Greeks of exploiting the social security system. After three years in court, the Government had to compensate the victims considerable amount of money, he said.

“It would be highly discriminatory for Australian citizens who want to spend their last days in the country of their birth to be denied of their rights to social security,” Mr Zangalis said.

“They are playing the game of blaming the victim. In a nutshell, it is an attempt to shift the problem from those who have the money to those who haven’t and playing an anti-migrant card.”

Minister Kevin Andrews told Neos Kosmos that in some circumstances DSP is payable indefinitely overseas – if a person has a terminal illness and is planning to return to their country of origin or to be with family for care and support.

Disability support pensioners with a severe and permanent disability and no future capacity to work can also apply for indefinite portability of their pension. Indefinite payment of DSP is also available to pensioners who are classified as severely disabled and paid under an International Social Security Agreement.

source: Neos Kosmos

Attorney General George Brandis is facing widespread opposition over changes to the Race Discrimination Act. Photo: AAP/Stefan Postles.

NSW and Victoria back multiculturalism.

Feedback to the Race Discrimination Act (RDA) Exposure Draft shows unanimous opposition to the government’s plans to repeal key sections of the act, and plans by the Abbott government to change it have been left in tatters.

On Wednesday the deadline for submissions closed, but not before influential ethnic communities – including Greek, Chinese, Arab and Jewish groups – had made their feelings clear on the proposed amendments.

The Federal Government’s intention has been to amend the act, which makes it illegal to publicly “offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate” a person or a group of people. It maintains the proposed changes would allow greater freedom of speech while strengthening the laws against racial vilification.

But the argument has been deemed ill-conceived and fundamentally flawed. Following Attorney-General George Brandis’ comments defending the amendments – when the minister declared that “people have the right to be bigots” – the proposals have attracted widespread condemnation.

In its submission to the Attorney General’s Department, the Greek Orthodox Community of New South Wales said that it opposed the amendments that “would encourage those racist elements in the Australian community to voice their prejudices, their hatreds, without any recourse to those who are victims of such prejudices…”

The GOCNSW response added that the amendments proposed did not afford “any protection”, and the exemptions contained in the amended act would “in effect, exempt most if not all of the circumstances in which such conduct or words occur”.

GOCNSW President Harry Danalis said that the Community supported the submissions made by the Australian Multicultural Council, who have called for a “systematic” public enquiry into the operation of the RDA, before the Coalition government embarks on any legislative changes.

In its response to the Exposure Draft, the Federation of Ethnic Communities’ Councils of Australia said the government’s thinking failed to achieve a “reasonable balance between the protection from racial vilification and the protection of free speech”.

It went on to say that the Exposure Draft – if enacted – would provide “hardly any restrictions on free speech, while reducing the racial vilification protections to naught. The changes would be sending a message that racism is acceptable”, said FECCA Chair, Mr Joe Caputo, who urged the government to withdraw the amendments.

The Arab Council Australia (ACA) has called for the government to abandon its proposals, saying it was “horrified that vulnerable people will be further disenfranchised if the proposed changes were to be adopted”.

The ACA’s submission warned that changes to the act could provoke similar scenes of racial tension and violence as seen during the 2005 Cronulla riots.
In NSW and Victoria, both state governments have lodged formal submissions opposing the changes, warning they would weaken protections against racial vilification and threaten social cohesion.
NSW Premier Mike Baird declared that the two governments were committed to defending their multicultural communities.
“The concerns across the multicultural communities in this state are saying ‘we’re worried, we’re afraid’, and we’re standing up for them,” he said. “We’re prepared to stand up for what we think is right.”

Victoria’s Multicultural Affairs Minister Matthew Guy said the two states were “as one” on the issue.

“The Victorian Government stands very firmly against any changes to the federal act,” he said.

In the Victorian Multicultural Commission’s submission, the VMC said the proposed changes to the act were unnecessary, and threatened Australia’s cultural harmony and the human rights of its multicultural communities.

The VMC added that “[the] law as it stands provides the right balance between free speech and the rights of citizens to be free from racially vilified language”.

The plan to change the RDA by the Abbott Government has been increasingly attacked by members of its own backbench.

This week the Sydney Morning Herald reported that Federal Member for Barton – Nickolas Varvaris – had offered his support to fellow NSW backbencher David Coleman, who is understood to be drafting an alternative proposal for changes to the act.

Other Federal Coalition MPs opposed to the government’s proposal include NSW MP Craig Laundy and Victorian Jason Wood.

However a spokesman for Mr Varvaris told Neos Kosmos: “The article in the SMH was incorrect. Mr Varvaris has never stated that he is involved with the MPs drafting other amendments.”

In a statement supplied to media, Mr Varvaris said: “These reforms are only proposed and the government is taking submissions from stakeholders and the public.”

Prior to the submission deadline, Mr Varvaris encouraged “concerned constituents and stakeholders in relation to these proposed reforms” to make their own submissions and contact his office.

source: Neos Kosmos

Treasurer Joe Hockey is offering privileged access to a select group including business people and industry lobbyists in return for tens of thousands of dollars in donations to the Liberal Party via a secretive fund-raising body whose activities are not fully disclosed to election funding authorities.

The Independent Commission Against Corruption is probing Liberal fund-raising bodies such as the Millennium Forum and questioning their influence on political favours in NSW.

Mr Hockey offers access to one of the country’s highest political offices in return for annual payments.

The donors are members of the North Sydney Forum, a campaign fundraising body run by Mr Hockey’s North Sydney Federal Electoral Conference (FEC). In return for annual fees of up to $22,000, members are rewarded with “VIP” meetings with Mr Hockey, often in private boardrooms.

The North Sydney FEC officials who run the forum – which is an incorporated entity of the Liberal Party – say its membership lists and therefore the identities of its donors are “confidential”. Mr Hockey also says details of who he is meeting and what is discussed are confidential.

What little public information is available reveals members of the forum include National Australia Bank as well as the influential Financial Services Council, whose chief executive is former NSW Liberal leader John Brogden.

The FSC’s members, including financial advice and funds management firms, stand to benefit from the changes to the Future of Financial Advice (FOFA) laws being considered by the federal government, which would involve a winding back of consumer protections introduced by Labor.

The National Australia Bank would also benefit from the changes.

The chairman of the North Sydney Forum is John Hart, who is also the chief executive of Restaurant and Catering Australia – a hospitality industry lobby group whose members stand to benefit from a government-ordered Productivity Commission review of the Fair Work Act that is expected to examine the issue of penalty rates.

Mr Hart also sits on Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s Business Advisory Council.

In March, it was revealed a former member of the North Sydney Forum was controversial infrastructure company Australian Water Holdings (AWH), which has been linked to the family of corrupt former Labor powerbroker Eddie Obeid and is under investigation by the ICAC over its attempts to win lucrative government contracts.

When AWH’s links to the Obeid family were revealed last year, the North Sydney FEC returned an $11,000 forum membership fee and AWH’s membership of the forum was ended. In March, the North Sydney FEC revealed it had returned another $22,000 in membership fees from AWH, whose former chairman is Liberal Party senator and former assistant treasurer Arthur Sinodinos.

Senator Sinodinos stood aside as assistant treasurer in March, after giving evidence at the ICAC about AWH’s attempts to win a billion-dollar contract with the NSW government. Before that, he was responsible for implementing the government’s FOFA reforms.

During the three years AWH was a member of the forum, the company’s chief executive was Liberal fund-raiser and former lobbyist Nick Di Girolamo, whose gift of a $3000 bottle of Penfolds Grange Hermitage to Barry O’Farrell shortly after his March 2011 election win led to his resignation as premier last month, after he gave false evidence to the ICAC.

North Sydney Forum deputy chairman Robert Orrell said he was “sure” Mr Di Girolamo – a close friend of Eddie Obeid jnr, who was employed by AWH – had attended private boardroom meetings with Mr Hockey.

However he was adamant Mr Obeid jnr did not attend any meetings.

The North Sydney Forum was established in May 2009, shortly after Mr Hockey became shadow treasurer in February, by Joseph Carrozzi, managing partner at professional services firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers.

Mr Carrozzi is also chairman of the Italian Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Australia and was a board member of the organisation when Mr Di Girolamo was its chairman.

He said he could not recall how AWH became a member of the North Sydney Forum but denied it was through this link. He said the chamber was not a forum member.

Mr Carrozzi, who said he had known Mr Hockey for 20 years, said he was “honoured to be asked” to establish the forum, which was “essentially there to provide a network and insight for small businesses”.

“Members get an opportunity to sit down and chat with Joe. We’ve had other ministers, state and federal, participate as well.”

Mr Carrozzi said NSW Transport Minister Gladys Berejiklian and Premier Mike Baird – until recently treasurer – had participated in the forum’s functions for members.

Past forum members include wholesale distribution and marketing firm Metcash and business services group Servcorp, founded by long-time Liberal Party supporter Alf Moufarrige.

In 2008, it emerged Mr Moufarrige had given former treasurer Peter Costello six bottles of Penfolds Grange – reportedly worth about $3000 in total – as a thank you gift for opening a Melbourne building.

Mr Carrozzi said Mr Hockey “sits down regularly” with members of the forum. Mr Di Girolamo “may have attended one or two” meetings with Mr Hockey but Mr Carrozzi stressed “he was certainly not a regular attendee”.

He said Mr Obeid jnr was “certainly not at any meetings I attended with Mr Hockey”.

Mr Orrell said the forum had had about 12 lunches each year, “typically in a members’ boardroom”.

“It’s genuinely an exchange of information,” he said. “Joe just goes around the table and talks about issues.”

The North Sydney Forum membership structure offers “full membership” for an annual fee of $5500 for which members are entitled to five boardroom events.

The fee for corporate and business members is $11,000 which offers an extra “VIP boardroom function” while private patrons paying $22,000 enjoy the additional benefit of “10 boardroom events”.

Mr Orrell said money raised by the forum was often distributed to Liberal Party marginal seats.

However, the forum does not lodge its own disclosures to the NSW Election Funding Authority.

In its disclosures, the NSW division of the Liberal Party declares membership fees – regarded as donations for the purposes of the election funding act – but does not state they are for the North Sydney Forum. This practice masks who is donating directly to the North Sydney Forum and the identity of its members.

A spokesman for the NSW Election Funding Authority said: “There is no record of the North Sydney Forum in the EFA system.”

Occasionally members name the North Sydney Forum in their disclosures to the Election Funding Authority but there is no requirement to do so.

The structure of the North Sydney Forum is based on that of similar vehicles established by other Liberal MPs, such as the Wentworth Forum which was set up for Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull in August 2007.

The Wentworth Forum was established by former federal Liberal Party treasurer Michael Yabsley to raise funds for Mr Turnbull’s re-election to the eastern suburbs seat of Wentworth following a redistribution in 2004 which made it a less safe Liberal seat.

It operated between August 2007 and late 2009 – for six months when Mr Turnbull was environment minister but primarily while he was shadow treasurer and then opposition leader – and gave members access to exclusive functions he attended. It also had a sliding scale of membership fees from $5500 to $55,000.

The Wentworth Forum was based on the Millennium Forum, the Liberal Party’s main fund-raising body, which was established by Mr Yabsley in the late 1990s to replicate corporate fundraising practices.

Millennium Forum members are regularly invited to events hosted by NSW and federal ministers.

Last week the chairman of the Millennium Forum, Paul Nicolaou, resigned after ICAC heard allegations it and another entity, the Free Enterprise Foundation, were used to disguise payments from prohibited donors including property donors to bankroll the Liberal Party’s campaign to win the 2011 NSW election.

Detailed questions were sent to the NSW Liberal party about the North Sydney Forum, how it operates and why its membership is not disclosed to authorities. A spokeswoman responded that the North Sydney Forum was “covered by the Australian Electoral Act with donations disclosed to the AEC in accordance with the law by the NSW division of the party and funds are used for the work of the party”.

Questions were also sent to Mr Hockey inviting him to disclose details of his meetings with members. A spokewoman responded: “Questions about the function and administration of the North Sydney Forum should be addressed to them. The Treasurer’s diary is confidential.”

source: smh.com.au

There is more trouble in the polls for the Government with new numbers showing voters are overwhelmingly opposed to a planned raise in the pension age or scrapping bulk billing.

According to the poll 69 percent believe the pension age should be left where it is. This follows another poll yesterday which suggested that if an election were held today the coalition would lose, with a voter backlash mounting over the planned new debt tax.

Two party-preferred support for the coalition has plunged 5.5 percentage points since the September election, the Galaxy poll commissioned by News Corp Australia has found. The coalition sits on 48 per cent, compared to Labor’s 52 per cent. Voters have abandoned the government, the poll suggests, over its deficit tax plan, with 72 per cent of respondents saying it represents a broken promise.

The Government is meanwhile playing down the new polling data.Assistant Infrastructure Minister Jamie Briggs yesterday downplayed suggestions that imposing a deficit levy would be a broken promise, telling Sky News the Government must ‘do the heavy lifting’ to get the books back into the black.

‘What would be a broken police is if we squibbed it and we let this budget go by without putting in place short, medium and long term measures to fix the budget because that was our overwhelming promise”The reality is the Australian people were given $900 for free – and nothing in life is for free’.But the Opposition says a tax hike on higher income earners is not just a broken promise, it would be a bad policy.

Shadow treasurer Chris Bowen has told Sky News that a tax increase would hurt the country internationally.’The globalised world, where you’re competing with the best and the brightest in the world – the old days of just the easy solution of whacking up a marginal tax rate every time you have a problem are gone’.’And for Joe Hockey and Tony Abbott to go down this road, when they promised no new taxes, but also promised to be a low taxing governement is an insult to the Australian people, very bad policy and very bad economics.

‘Yesterday angry workers took to streets around the nation, protesting any cut to the minimum wage.Thousands joined the Labour Day marches, buoyed by a poll saying the federal coalition would be kicked out of office if an election was held now. But with the next one not due for more than two years, unionists fear the minimum wage will be slashed as recommended by the recent national commission of audit.

Queensland’s Council of Unions president John Battams said if the recommendation to cut the wage from $16 to $12 an hour was adopted, Australian wages would moved into United States territory. ‘That would result in a huge pool of working poor in Australia,’ he told reporters in Brisbane. ‘About one-and-a-half million Australians depend on the minimum wage to actually make ends meet.’

It’s understood there are rumblings in the cabinet room, with senior Liberals, including deputy Liberal leader Julie Bishop and Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull, holding reservations about the planned tax. The coalition’s primary vote has fallen from 45.5 per cent at the election to just 39 per cent now.

Labor, however, is still languishing on 37 per cent, and has not been able to gain traction from the hit to Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s coalition. The Greens have picked up more than two percentage points, with voters also migrating to independent candidates and other minor parties.

Galaxy has found 65 per cent those polled disagree with the government’s paid maternity leave scheme in the current budgetary environment, News Corp reports.

The prime minister recently announced the wage cap for his signature policy would be reduced to $100,000 a year, from $150,000. But the national commission of audit, which released its report on Thursday, recommends that should be watered down further to be capped at average annual earnings. Cabinet will hold talks again on Wednesday and Treasurer Joe Hockey will hand down his first budget on May 13.

The Galaxy poll was taken between April 30 and May 1 and results are based on the opinions of 1391 voters.

source: skynews.com.au

Σάνο Χάλο: Η μαρτυρία της έκανε γνωστή σε όλο τον κόσμο την Γενοκτονία.

Πέθανε στις ΗΠΑ, σε ηλικία 105 ετών, η Ευθυμία Βαρυτιμίδου, η θρυλική Σάνο Χάλο, που με τις μαρτυρίες της έκανε γνωστή σε όλους την Γενοκτονία των Ποντίων.
Η «Γιαγιά όλων των Ποντίων», όπως την αποκαλούσαν οι απανταχού Πόντιοι, σύζυγος του Αβραάμ Χάλο, έφυγε πλήρης ημερών.
Όπως τονίζεται στην ανακοίνωση της Παμποντιακής Ομοσπονδίας ΗΠΑ και Καναδά, «η Σάνο Χάλο με την προσωπική της μαρτυρία για τα πάθη που είχε υποστεί πριν 90 χρόνια στη γενέτειρά της, στον Πόντο, όπως αυτές καταγράφηκαν από την κόρη της, Θία Χάλο (Thea Halo) στο βιβλίο «Not Even My Name» («Ούτε Καν το Όνομά Μου»), πρόβαλε σε όλο τον κόσμο το μείζον εθνικό ζήτημα της Γενοκτονίας των Ελλήνων του Πόντου και της Μικράς Ασίας και γενικότερα όλων των χριστιανικών λαών της τότε παραπαίουσας Οθωμανικής αυτοκρατορίας».

Το βιβλίο εξιστορεί τη δραματική πορεία θανάτου από τον Πόντο μέχρι τον Λίβανο της δεκάχρονης τότε Σάνο, κατά την οποία ξεκληρίστηκε όλη η οικογένειά της και τη συνταρακτική αναζήτηση των πατρογονικών της εστιών εβδομήντα χρόνια μετά ώστε να ανακαλύψει την εθνική της ταυτότητα και το οικογενειακό της όνομα μέσα από κάποιες θολές παιδικές αναμνήσεις.

Η Παμποντιακή Ομοσπονδία αναφέρει ότι «η Σάνο Χάλο ήθελε με ‘θείο’ πείσμα, όχι απλά να μην ξεχάσει, αλλά πολύ περισσότερο να αυτοπροσδιοριστεί εθνικά, κοινωνικά και ιστορικά. Και το πέτυχε μέσα από την ενδελεχή αναζήτηση της κόρης της, Θία. Η Γιαγιά του Πόντου έμαθε επιτέλους το πραγματικό της όνομα, έμαθε ποια είναι. Δεν έκανε το χατίρι των γενοκτόνων της. Επέζησε, κράτησε σαν φυλακτό τις θύμησες, τις διηγήθηκε και τις κατέγραφε με την πένα της κόρης της και δίδαξε την οικουμένη το ανείπωτο δράμα των Ελλήνων του Πόντου, των χριστιανών της Μικράς Ασίας. Η Σάνο Χάλο υπήρξε αναμφισβήτητα μια θρυλική μορφή του Ελληνισμού (ίσως τη μεγαλύτερη του απόδημου Ελληνισμού), ένα τεράστιο εθνικό κεφάλαιο της Ομογένεάς μας, που δυστυχώς δεν έχει μελετηθεί σοβαρά και δεν έχει αξιοποιηθεί κατάλληλα ακόμη. Ο αδυσώπητος χρόνος προσπερνούσε την υπεραιωνόβια Γιαγιά του Πόντου, όχι απλά με κατανόηση αλλά, με βαθύ σεβασμό γιατί γνώριζε ότι η παρουσία της και το μήνυμά της αποτελούν πολύτιμες διαχρονικές αξίες που συμβάλλουν στη διαμόρφωση μιας οικουμενικής συνείδησης για σεβασμό στην ανθρώπινη ύπαρξη και τις αξίες της».

Στην ανακοίνωση σημειώνεται επίσης ότι «σε μια συμβολική καμπή της ιστορίας της Γιαγιάς το Πόντου, στα εκατοστά γενέθλιά της, αποφάσισαν φίλοι και συγγενείς της, εκφράζοντας τον πόθο της ίδιας, να εορτάσουν την 9η Μαΐου του 2009 τα εκατοστά γενέθλιά της στη Μονή της Παναγίας Σουμελά στο Νιου Τζέρσεϊ των ΗΠΑ.

Τέλος, επισημαίνεται ότι «ήταν ημέρα Πέμπτη, 12η Ιουνίου 2009 στις 1:00 μμ στο Γενικό Προξενείο της Ελλάδας στη Νέα Υόρκη, όπου οι κυρίες Σάνο και Θία Χάλο ορκίστηκαν ενώπιον της Γενικής Προξένου Άγης Μπαλτά και τους απονεμήθηκε τιμητικά η ελληνική υπηκοότητα. Η τακτοποίηση της πολιτογράφησης των δύο κυριών, της μητέρας και κόρης, αποτελούσε διακαή πόθο και των δύο και βέβαια πάγιο αίτημα των Ποντίων της Αμερικής. Η απόδοση επιτέλους της ελληνικής ιθαγένειας σε δύο γυναίκες που, όχι απλά είναι Ελληνίδες, αλλά προέβαλαν τις αξίες και τα πάθη του Ποντιακού Ελληνισμού σε όλη την ανθρωπότητα, ήταν επιβεβλημένη για την ελληνική Πολιτεία και χρέος για τους Ποντίους της Αμερικής να απαιτούν κάτι τέτοιο».

Πηγή: Νέος Κόσμος