Daily Archives: November 29, 2014

Victorian caretaker Premier Denis Napthine.

A closely fought out election is being forecasted for Victoria, with initial polls suggesting the Australian Labor Party (ALP) is set for a decisive victory not holding as strongly as the voting deadline approaches.

Both Herald Sun/Galaxy and Fairfax/Ipsos polls put the ALP in front of the Coalition on a two-party preferred basis throughout the campaign, which accordingly would make the Baillieu/Napthine-led government the first one-term government in close to 60 years.

But caretaker Premier Denis Napthine and Opposition Leader Daniel Andrews are both confident of their chances to lead Victoria, and maintain they will continue to push their campaigns until the close of polls.

With 24 candidates from the Greek diaspora vying for both houses of parliament, the inherently Hellenic influence on Victoria continues to sway politicians in relation to policy making.

The two major parties have laid out clear cut funding pledges to various factions of Victoria’s Greek community throughout the election campaign.

The Premier’s office told Neos Kosmos that should a Napthine Government be re-elected it will look to strengthen trade with countries outside of Asia, including heavily influential Greece and Italy, whose migrants have historically played a major part in the shaping of the state. The announcement comes on the back of an extension of an election promise dating back to 2010 which committed the government to international trade missions, the first of which, in this election period, would come from the two European nations. As part of the deal, Victorian businesses will be invited to increase trade links with businesses in Greece and Italy.

The Coalition has also pledged more than $32 million toward multicultural communities in Victoria, including a $13.4 million multicultural grants package, which will provide funding for various communities. That promise comes with a $200,000 funding commitment to upgrade Oakleigh’s Greek Orthodox Community.

It has stated it will also increase emphasis on the learning of secondary languages at both primary and secondary level, and maintains the Greek diaspora is an example of the successes of multiculturalism, with its ability to preserve its culture, whilst successfully integrating into the wider Australian society.

The Opposition leader comparatively has also pledged his support to the Greek community, and told Neos Kosmos it is an important historical aspect that will continue to shape the state’s present and future policies.

“The most important commitment I will make to the Greek community beyond the funded and costed promises is I’ve always been so proud to be warmly welcomed by so many events and functions and I’ve said it many times, the heart of the Greek diaspora beats loudest in Melbourne and Victoria. You can’t imagine Victoria without the contribution of the Greeks and in every area of public life and the economy, the Greek contribution has always made us a fairer and stronger state,” Mr Andrews said.

Despite the favourable polls, Mr Andrews was adamant he would not take an election victory for granted.

When asked about how he would win over suggested disenchanted voters, he said despite a perception of ‘broken promises’ by both major parties at a federal level, Victorians can be confident that a government led by him will deliver on all of its policies.

“We’ve laid out a very clear plan that’s optimistic and positive about our future. It’s costed and funded by a leading global accounting firm.”

“If I’m given the support of the Victorian people on Saturday, and the honour of leading our great state, I won’t waste not even one day in delivering in full the costed and funded common sense optimistic and positive plans that we’ve developed over the past four years.”

But the Coalition has been critical of the Opposition, particularly in relation to the timeliness and effect of its costings, which were released on Thursday.

Two weeks ago caretaker treasurer Michael O’Brien was quoted in The Australian, suggesting the ALP’s election promises were in fact going to cost Victorians, possibly bankrupting the state, with pledges reportedly exceeding $32 billion.

“We have seen Labor promise everything to everyone, but they can’t tell where the money’s coming from.

“If you can’t pay for your promises they simply won’t be delivered,” My O’Brien said.

But Mr Andrews dismissed the claims as “tired old negative” statements that have no current standing, promising to deliver a surplus every year, should the ALP win the election.

“I’ve got an optimistic and positive plan that’s grounded on a triple A budget a surplus every year and rebuilding the community’s faith in politics and that’s about delivering on each and every one of the commitments we’ve made. That is our commitment, that is our bond and that’s the choice that Victorians can make.”

Victorians who are yet to vote can do so today, with voting centres opening from 8:00am until close of polls at 6:00pm.

*Caretaker Premier Denis Napthine was unable to provide further comments before the publication deadline of this article.

source: Neos Kosmos

The Supreme Court decided Friday that 14 people should stand trial for the notorious property swap between the Vatopedi Monastery and the state six years ago.

Those who will face charges of breach of trust and making false declarations include the monastery’s abbot, Ephraim (photo), a monk, Arsenios, and the wife of former Public Order Minister Giorgos Voulgarakis, Katerina Peleki.

The Supreme Court backed an earlier decision by the council of appeals court judges that the suspects should stand trial as there is evidence to suggest that taxpayers’ interests were damaged during the exchange.

source: ekathimerini.com

A priest enters at the Church of St. George in Fener Patriarchate for Pope Francis’s visit on Thursday, in Istanbul. Pope Francis will visit Turkey on November 28-30, eight years after his predecessor, Benedict XVI, made a landmark visit to the predominantly Muslim country.

 Down a narrow side street, in a district of Istanbul on the Golden Horn well off the beaten tourist track, sit the relatively modest headquarters of the “first among equals” of the world’s estimated 300 million Orthodox Christian believers.

From there Vartholomaios I, known as Archbishop of Constantinople, New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch, serves in an office that dates back to the early days of the Byzantine Empire, over a millennium before the Ottoman conquest of the city in 1453.

His office of Ecumenical Patriarch has remained in place through all the historical convulsions since, its spiritual importance now out of all proportion to his relatively modest base in Istanbul.

Vartholomaios’s significance will be underlined again on Saturday and Sunday when he meets Pope Francis on his first visit to Turkey, the latest step in narrowing the schism between the Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches that dates back to 1054.

Under Vartholomaios, in office since 1991, the archbishop’s role has taken on an new importance going even beyond the bounds of Orthodoxy.

He has won praise for seeking to build bridges with the Catholic faith as well as Islam and also winning accolades for his commitment to environmental activism.

Last weekend, visiting US Vice President Joe Biden made a point of finding time to hold a lengthy meeting with Vartholomaios at the patriarchate.

“This is a really fine man!” Biden declared.

Vartholomaios is the primus inter pares (first among equals) of Orthodox churches across the world, including Greek, Russian, Serbian and Romanian. His degree of influence varies, but many consider him to the the spiritual head of the entire Orthodox faith.

He remains known as Archbishop of Constantinople, in a throwback to the former Byzantine name of the city, which was only officially renamed as Istanbul in the 1920s after the fall of the Ottoman Empire.

A holder of the US Congressional Gold Medal bestowed on him in 1997, Vartholomaios was born in 1940 on the island of Gokceada in western Turkey as Dimitrios Archontonis.

But his authority has not spared him from an uphill battle for greater rights inside Turkey.

The Turkish authorities do not recognise Vartholomaios as the Ecumenical Patriarch but just as the leader of Turkey’s tiny remaining Greek Orthodox minority of just 2,500 people.

His exalted titles in Greek carry no weight for Turkish officials who know him as the Fener Rum Ortodoks Patrigi (Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Fener) after the Istanbul district where the patriarchate is located.

His position is subject to strict rules by the Turkish authorities, most notably that its holder must be a Turkish citizen.

The Turkish authorities have also not approved repeated requests to reopen the patriarchates seminary on the island of Heybeliada (Halki in Greek) off Istanbul, creating concerns about where Vartholomaios’s successor will be found.

Vartholomaios angered the Turkish authorities in 2009 when he told a US television network he felt “second class” and even “crucified” in Turkey.

Then foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu, now prime minister, described the remarks as “extremely unfortunate.”

Turkish police in 2013 said they had uncovered a plot to assassinate Vartholomaios but his office said the patriarch did not believe it was something serious.

His term in office has also been marked by rocky relations with the Russian Orthodox Church, which gives short shrift to the idea he is the spiritual leader of Orthodox believers.

When Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2013 held an unprecedented gathering of the world’s Orthodox leaders in the Kremlin, Vartholomaios did not attend and instead sent a lower-ranking cleric.

But the focus of his meeting with Pope Francis will be the rapprochement with the Catholic Church, a process that began in 1964 with the embrace between Pope Paul VI and Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras, the first such meeting since the 15th century.

Vartholomaios also visited the Vatican for the inaugural mass of Pope Francis, the first time in history that an Ecumenical Patriarch had attended the installation of a Pope.

“We are eagerly awaiting the visit of our brother, Pope Francis,” Vartholomaios said ahead of the visit. “It will be yet another significant step in our positive relations as sister Churches.”

source: ekathimerini.com

The troika is set to decide on Saturday if it is satisfied with a range of proposals it has received from the Greek government aimed at overcoming differences between the two sides and paving the way for inspectors to return to Athens to complete the pending review.

Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and Deputy Premier Evangelos Venizelos met for more than two hours Friday to discuss which of the troika’s demands the government would agree to.

Greece’s lenders have asked for the government to find measures that would cover a 2015 fiscal gap of between 2 and 3 billion euros, to change the value added tax brackets, to reform the pension system and to make changes to the recent law allowing up to 100 installments for tax arrears.

“The government must swiftly take all the necessary measures so that the ongoing program is complete,” European Economic Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici said Friday in Brussels.

“There is a lot going on,” said Finance Minister Gikas Hardouvelis as he left the Maximos Mansion after talks with Samaras and Venizelos, who chose not to make any comments.

Kathimerini understands that that the proposals the Greek side was preparing to send on Friday would include moving some products and services from the lowest VAT rate of 6.5 percent to the next bracket of 13 percent. The government, however, is mindful that this should not affect medicines and other products that are considered basic needs.

Labor Minister Yannis Vroutsis was also drafting changes to the pension system. These are likely to include increasing the minimum number of days of insured work that someone will have to complete before qualifying for a state pension. Currently, it is 4,500 days but this will increase to 6,500.

The proposals will also put an end to exemptions that allow some Greeks, such as female civil servants, mothers of young children, bank and public organization employees, to claim pensions early. Kathimerini understands that the new regime would prevent anyone retiring before they have reached the age of 62. It is estimated that this would affect some 100,000 people who could claim early retirement.

source: ekathimerini.com

Tony Abbott’s rhetoric about budget crises and debt and deficit disasters is proving a problem now that it is facing much lower than expected revenue as did the former government. Photograph: Alan Porritt/AAP

After a week dominated by questions that answer themselves (did Tony Abbott promise not to cut the ABC?) or questions that have different answers depending on who in the government you talk to (is the GP co-payment a barnacle?) it seems like a good time to ask a bigger question. What would a good government look like? Because it’s been a while.

Abbott told his party room on Tuesday (in the same speech in which he promised to clean the barnacles and before all the confusion about what they were) that his government’s “historical mission is to show that the chaos of the Rudd/Gillard years is not the new normal”. After a truly chaotic week we can safely say that mission has not been accomplished.

1. A good government would have a clear plan

If we mute the shouting and ignore the slogans, the former government and the current government have a broadly similar understanding of Australia’s economic challenge. This may be because they have each been getting exactly the same advice from the Treasury, delivered in a sort of one-last-time-with-feeling speech by the outgoing Treasury secretary, Martin Parkinson, this week. Economic growth fuelled by resource investment boom is fading, and Australia needs to find new growth engines. Responding to the financial crisis has left the nation with too much public debt and unsustainable levels of government spending were locked in during the boom years.

The government can point to its trifecta of free trade agreements as possible generators of additional growth, but the rest of its plan is contradictory and confusing. Roads, whatever century they are built in, might save commuters time – usually if they are built in conjunction with public transport which the federal government is defunding – but they don’t actually create new industries or jobs. Nor does cutting spending on higher education, research and development concessions, science or renewable energy.

Voters, quite adept at extracting reality from rhetoric, are worried about this. As Laura Demasi, the research director for the Ipsos Mind and Mood report, told Guardian Australia recently: “People are not confident about the future. They don’t know where jobs will come from when the mining boom ends, when manufacturing companies close, when agricultural land is sold off. They are fearful about where we are headed … and whether it means their lifestyle or their children’s lifestyle will go backwards.”

In his speech to the National Press Club this week, Labor’s leader, Bill Shorten, promised he would indeed “reach for higher ground” and “seek a mandate based on a positive plan” but apart from talking about the importance of education he didn’t let us in on what it might be.

2. The plan would be explained clearly, before an election, without hysterics or hyperbole or outright untruths

Attention this week has been on Abbott’s “verbal gymnastics” over his obvious “no cuts to the ABC” broken promise, but equally difficult for the government is its ongoing hysterical rhetoric about “budget crises” and “debt and deficit disasters” and “economic vandalism” now that it is facing much lower than expected revenue as did the former government. (The Coalition used to say revenue downgrades were a sign of government incompetence). With a large proportion of savings from the last budget stalled in the Senate, this inevitably points to bigger deficits. The Coalition’s rhetoric would suggest that means an even bigger “disaster” under its watch, but actual sensible economic advice, like that from the OECD, suggests the government should proceed cautiously with alternative budget cuts lest it damage the sluggish economy.

3. The plan would include long-term, careful budget cuts that were fair, and were seen to be fair

The government would have a far better chance of blaming Labor and a recalcitrant Senate for its disastrous budget if it had not so comprehensively lost the public debate. Modelling clearly showed the budget pain fell disproportionately on the poor. A few policies were particularly toxic – including the $7 GP co-payment and paying unemployment benefits to under-30s for only six months of the year. If these policies are not to be “barnacles” but remain as unimplemented government policy, it is hard to see how the government will escape the perceptions of unfairness. It hasn’t, and can’t, win this argument by claiming the budget is the only way to make spending cuts, because voters understand that governments have choices, and they really don’t like the choices this government has made.

Points two and three would ensure the government was trusted by its citizens. This trust would mean the government had an actual chance of implementing bigger reforms that both major parties have acknowledged are necessary. In the Sir Henry Parkes oration in October Abbott tried to start a constructive new conversation about the roles and responsibilities of the states and the commonwealth and the tax system that pays for it all.

What was needed, he said, was a “readiness to give and take with opponents of good faith … [an] ability to understand the other person’s point of view, and to concede something to it,” he said.

Which is all absolutely true, but neglects to mention that he had already begun the “give and take” in his budget by taking $80bn from the long-term funding promised to states for health and education. Labor started giving right away with a full-bore GST scare campaign. And then the government took a bit more by imposing an increase in petrol indexation – against the will of the parliament – via a tariff measure.

And if Labor wins the state election in Victoria on Saturday, the almost coast-to-coast conservative governments upon which the reform plan really relied won’t be there any more either.

So much for dreaming. Time to batten down for a final parliamentary sitting week, replete with barnacle identification and attempted bludgeoning of budget measures through the Senate. It’s unlikely to look very good.

source: theguardian.com