Thread by @VernVerass

The reminder of Kristina Keneally's #NPC address from yesterday:
"…At just $100m SportRorts is small fry compared to where the main game is.

Let’s take just one example with Community Development Grants…"

"…These grants were established in 2013 with a relatively modest $340m under the Abbott Government.

But Scott Morrison – as Treasurer – recognised the political benefit of sitting on large amounts of unallocated money in the budget…"

"…Morrison has topped Community Development Grants up - budget after budget - until it now sits at a whopping $2.5 billion…"

"…And no pesky colour coded sheets to trip you up with this program – the beauty of the Community Development Grants is that to get a grant you have be invited by the Morrison Government to apply!…"

"…So, no guessing which electorates have done the best out of these grants – overall, 70% of the funds to date have gone to coalition seats, last year alone, 75% of Community Development Grant money went to coalition seats…"

"…It’s not just the massive multi-billion-dollar Community Development Grants and Sports Rorts that Morrison had up his sleeve in the lead up to the 2019 election; he had also cashed up:
• the $150m Female Facilities and Water Safety Program, with no guidelines,…"

"…no tenders or application process, where the funds went to 11 Liberal and National seats
• the $3b Urban Congestion Fund, 83% of which went to Coalition held or marginal Labor seats…"

"…There’s also the:

• $1billion Building Better Regions Fund
• $650million Commuter Car Park Fund
• $300million Drought Communities Program
• $22million Communities Environment Program
• $55million Safer Communities Fund

The list goes on and on…"

"…Billions of dollars in public funds, discreetly parked in the budget and given away – usually at the complete discretion of Ministers – because no-one needs the auditor to come sniffing again – money 2 B provided to hand-picked electorates when the electoral timing is right…"

"…The perfect pork barrel programmed into th-budget year after year, normalising a blatant misuse of taxpayers’ funds 4 th-Liberal party’s political purposes.

But the use of taxpayer money as if it is LiberalParty money extends beyond th-billions of dollars in grants& rorts…"

"…While ScottMorrison cuts JobKeeper, JobSeeker& cuts th-wages of ordinary Australians, he makes sure his mates hv access 2 secure jobs&good pay.

Eight yrs after th-election o-this Lib-Gov, half o-th- ministers in TonyAbbott’s 1st gov hv left Parliament&hv bn well rewarded…"

"… by their Liberal mates.

Fifteen of 30 ministers in Tony Abbott’s first ministry have received appointments or other favours from the Liberal Government, got jobs with organisations they worked with as Ministers, or lobby their colleagues for cash…"

"…This means that, right now, Scott Morrison is quietly spending millions of taxpayers’ dollars to fund the lifestyles of former Abbott Government Ministers.

Jobs for mates extends beyond giving a soft landing to former ministers…"

"…There are also the secretive contracts to Lib-Party connections & using gov resources to prop up Lib-Party advertisements.

Eight yrs of this Lib-Gov, & Australians still don’t know:

• Why the Libs gave half a billion dollars to the Great Barrier Reef Foundation…"

"…– a tiny organisation that never asked for the funds, and despite its name, had little experience in protecting the Reef.
• Why millions of dollars of advertising&market research contracts R being handed 2 mates of Scott Morrison,…"

"…mates like former Crosby Textor pollster Jim Reed, who got $1m to provide market research to inform Scott Morrison’s “Our Comeback” marketing campaign. The Morrison Government refuses to release the Reed research…"

"…• Why a tiny company called Paladin, registered 2 a beach shack on Kangaroo Island, ws given $500million without a tender 2 run PeterDutton’s offshore detention centres.
• Why th-Morrison Gov paid $30million for land in th-LeppingtonTriangle for the 2nd Sydney Airport,…"

"… when it was only worth $3million
• Why, while Australians were suffering from bushfires last year, Scott Morrison rolled out Lib-Party advertising politicising th-Australian Defence Force – a move that ‘discomforted’ the Chief of the ADF Angus Campbell…"

"…• Or why, last wk, the Lib-Party rolled out a social media advertisement that politicised the COVID vaccine & the Health Dept Secretary, Professor Brendan Murphy.

Scott Morrison – or #ScottyfromMarketing as he is sometimes known ~ is using $75million of taxpayers’ money…"

"… to fund his COVID recovery advertising blitz, including $7million to promote the failed COVIDSafe App and $15million to fund the “Our Comeback” Campaign – a campaign that amounted to little more than an over-worn and now abandoned catchphrase in parliamentary question time…"

"…This comes on top of $140million the Morrison Government spent in 2019 to promote themselves.

Wherever Scott Morrison goes, the marketing budget grows.

Scott Morrison can come up with a pithy marketing line about what he stands for, but when we look at his actions,…"

"…we can see whose side he is on – and who he leaves behind.

Scott Morrison announced in a media conference that his government would take responsibility for keeping older, vulnerable Australians in residential aged care safe during the COVID-19 pandemic…"

"…Scott Morrison knew our aged care system was in crisis before COVID hit.

After all, the Royal Commission Interim Report into Aged Care was handed down in 2019. It detailed shocking, horrifying reports of aged care residents with maggots in open wounds,…"

"…chemically restrained, and left to lie in their own urine and excrement.

The RoyalCommission Interim report says that there were 4,000 notifications of alleged or suspected assaults in one year, & that up 2 half of Australia's frailest aged-care residents are malnourished…"

This is not a report from a Third World country; this is a report of what is going on in Scott Morrison’s aged care system, summed up in one word, the report’s title: Neglect.

• As Treasurer, Scott Morrison cut $1.7bn from the aged care budget,…"

"…but since the Liberal Government came to power in 2013, they’ve spent $1bn in advertising telling us what a good job they are doing.

When COVID hit aged care, Scott Morrison wasn’t on the side of Australians in aged care and their families like he promised…"

"…We knew from what was already happening overseas with the pandemic that aged care residents were particularly vulnerable to COVID, & what extra measures did Scott Morrison take?

None.

No extra precaution and no personal protective equipment…"

"…and no pandemic training for aged care staff.

Surge workforce plans were developed too late.

685 aged care residents died from COVID-19, making Australia one of the worst countries in the world for aged care deaths as a proportion of all COVID deaths…"

"…Families were separated from their loved ones & aged care residents – our parents and grandparents – died alone, suffering, and sometimes without their families even aware they had passed away.

Over the past year my colleagues & I have met with dozens of aged care workers…"

"… They are the unsung heroes in Australia. They have sought, at every turn, to give older Australians the care, dignity and protection they deserve.

Aged care workers in Australia are understaffed and underpaid. They are starved of resources…"

"…They know that the "…Neglect…" detailed in the Royal Commission report is the direct result of Government cuts to funding and policy decisions…"

"…An aged care worker with many years’ experience – often a woman, often in her 50s or 60s – is most likely paid less than a 19-year-old retail worker in his first job.

I acknowledge here today Gerard Hayes & the Health Services Union,…"

"…who have launched a landmark work value case with the Fair Work Commission to get a proper pay rise for these caring&dedicated workers.

Unfortunately, when it comes to jobs in aged care, there is only one job on Scott Morrison’s mind: in his reshuffle,…"

"…the Prime Minister left Richard Colebeck in the Aged Care portfolio.

A job for a mate was a higher priority 4 ScottMorrison than th-safety&well-being of older Australians.

How can older Australians&their families rely on Scott Morrison 2 deliver on th-recommendations…"

"…of the Royal Commission into Aged Care when he has never been on their side?

Scott Morrison also stood up in a media conference & announced he would get Australians stranded overseas home by Christmas.

As a member of the COVID-19 Senate Committee,…"

"…I have heard story after story from distressed Australians stranded overseas.

Working families like Vowels from Newcastle in NSW, who were stranded for months in the UK with their 5 children, living out of a caravan & about to lose their jobs & their home in Australia…"

"… As Deanne Vowels said, “It’s mentally, financially and physically detrimental. If you can get high-paying actors and politicians and cricket players….and even lobsters in and out of Australia, surely you can get hard-working, good-working Aussies home.”…"

"…I’m happy to say that the Vowels family did finally get home, but only after a lot of publicity generated by their appearance at COVID Committee hearings.

Funny that,…"

"…pretty much every stranded Australian who has appeared at the COVID Committee Senate hearings has found they get a flight almost within days.

Sometimes Katy Gallagher and I muse that we might need to have all 40,000 stranded Aussies appear so we can get them all home…"

"…ScottMorrison promised they’d all B home by Christmas, but they weren’t.

As PetaStoyanovich-Kristie, whose husband&mother-in-law were stranded in Serbia said,“they R not stranded, they R abandoned.”

Abandoned. ScottMorrison hasn't bn on th-side of stranded Australians…"

"… There’s no national quarantine plan,& no national leadership.

The man who bought a trophy 4 himself 2celebrate his border management, now refuses 2accept federal responsibility 4 quarantine.

If U want 2 bring a horse into Aust, it goes into a fed-quarantine facility…"

"… If you are an Australian wanting to come into Australia, Scott Morrison has washed his hands of you.

He doesn’t want the political risk for quarantine: better the premiers have it, he thinks…"

"…Scott Morrison’s refusal to be responsible for the international borders is putting all Australian citizens – at home and overseas – at greater risk.

Scott Morrison also stood up here, at this very lectern last May, to announce his so-called JobMaker plan…"

"…It really was breaking news: it was the first time the federal department responsible for employment had ever heard of the plan.

We know that the Prime Minister is always there for the photo opp, never there for the follow up…"

"…But even by Mr Morrison’s standards, th-JobMaker speech was triumph o-announcement ov-delivery.

Not only is JobMaker leavin'nearly a million Australians behind by excluding them from hiring subsidies,

But now th-MorrisonGov’s IndustrialRelationsBill will allow employers…"

"… to cut the pay of Australian workers.

What’s worse, the Prime Minister is using COVID as cover for this wage cut. That is no way to thank the workers who got us through the pandemic…"

"…The Morrison Gov keeps insisting that their Industrial Relations Bill won’t mean a pay cut 4 workers.

Scott Morrison&ChristianPorter say employers simply would not take advantage of th-IndustrialRelations Bill to cut wages now,&that employees wd never agree to it anyway…"

"… Well, HelloWorld.

Last week travel firm HelloWorld wrote to their employees seeking to impose pay cuts of up to 20% when JobKeeper ends in March…"

"…HelloWorld shows us two things in black and white:

• One, we can see what employers R willing 2 do when JobKeeper ends. The end of JobKeeper will B a trigger, and we should expect that more employers will look to cut wages…"

"… – especially when the Morrison Government’s Industrial Relations Bill makes it easier for them to do so.

• Two, it should come as no surprise that the first employer we see making a pay cut is a company headed by a former Liberal Party federal treasurer…"

"…How can the Morrison Government be looking after your job and your wages, when they’re so busy looking after themselves and their mates?

And what choice do HelloWorld and other workers really have?…"

"…With 2 million Australians unemployed or underemployed, of course workers feel vulnerable.

For many the choice is the Morrison pay cut, or no job.

The Industrial Relations Bill isn’t just a problem for workers on JobKeeper. It is a problem for the wider economy…"

"…Right now, what the economy needs is for people to be spending. But families won’t spend money if they are worried about a pay cut.

Scott Morrison and Christian Porter just assert in a Trumpian fashion that pay cuts won’t happen if this bill passes…"

"…Well, as Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations Tony Burke points out, if they want to ensure Australian workers don’t get a pay cut, then don’t legislate to allow it to happen.

And if you think the pay cut will be isolated to a few companies, think again…"

"…It has the capacity to spread across entire industries.

Take a Labour Hire company with not many employees. The company gets an agreement through under Morrison’s Industrial Relations Bill that cuts wages.

Then the Labour Hire company starts 2 expand across an industry…"

"…In order to remain competitive, what are other employers in that industry supposed to do?

Make no mistake, they will be forced to cut wages.

Scott Morrison isn’t on the side of Australian workers…"

"…Labor set a really simple test for the Industrial Relations Bill. We said we would support the changes if they delivered secure jobs with decent pay.

This bill fails that test, and we will fight it.

Labor is always on the side of Australian workers…"

"…More than two years ago, ScottMorrison announced he would establish a Commonwealth Integrity Commission.

He has not delivered it.

All the Morrison Gov has produced is a draft bill for a weak, secretive&compromised Commission that would cover up corruption, not expose it…"

"…In the years since Scott Morrison made that announcement, the need for an integrity commission has only grown stronger with

the Leppington Triangle dodgy land deal, th-cash for visas scandal - which has allowed some individuals to actually purchase Australian citizenship,…"

"… and the explosion of discretionary government grants without guidelines, applications, transparency or oversight.

But Scott Morrison won’t even allow the Commonwealth Integrity Commission Bill to be debated in the parliament…"

"…It seems he wants the Australian public to be cynical about their government.

It suits his political interests if Australians’ trust in government declines, & transparency in government is dimmed.

It makes it easier for him to ignore what the Australian people want…"

"…and need, and look after his own interests.

Being in government must be about more than self-interest. It must be about the national interest.

Australians deserve a Government that acts in their interest, that is on their side…"

"…No less than the future of Australian democracy – and the capacity of government to make changes in the interest of the Australian people – rests on "…integrity…" in government and trust between elected representatives and citizens…"

"…That’s why, as a major step to restoring integrity to our democratic system, Labor will create a strong and effective National Integrity Commission.

Powerful, transparent, independent.

With the powers, independence and resources of a standing Royal Commission…"

"…The pandemic is not an excuse to delay an integrity commission – if anything, it is a reason to establish one.

There is a heightened risk of corruption in the current environment, with the prevalence of government contracts being awarded without tender,…"

"…and appointments to government bodies and advisory boards being made without adequate transparency, a national integrity commission is more important than ever.

Building trust between governments & citizens also requires robust freedom of the press,…"

"…stronger protections 4 whistle-blowers, & Governments that take seriously their legal responsibility 2 respond 2 Freedom of Information requests.

Aust-got through th-pandemic as well as we did because – in a moment o-crisis - unions, employers, th-parliament & th-people…"

"… came together & trusted one another.

As the crisis passes, and the recovery begins, Australians need and want a Government that is on their side to rebuild an economy that works for them.

I might pause here & let you in, just a little bit, on the sausage-making process…"

"…One of the reasons our slogan is “on your side” is because it unifies Labor’s two key objectives in opposition

• One, to present a positive plan for national reconstruction squarely focused on jobs – good, secure jobs with fair pay and conditions…"

"…Labor is on the side of working families, & Anthony will outline the next part of that plan tomorrow in Brisbane.

• And two, to hold the Government to account:

~ for their waste, mismanagement and scandals, and their use of taxpayer money as if it is Lib-Party money…"

"…– all of which hurts Australian families,
~ but also for their disregard for the fundamental aspects of democracy: transparency, accountability and integrity.
~ Labor is on the side of the Australian people, who want&deserve transparency&accountability in their government…"

"…How can the Morrison Government look after U, when they R so busy looking after themselves?

So, if U want good, secure jobs w-fair pay&conditions, Labor is on Ur side.

If U want a properly funded education&skills system that will prepare Ur children 4 the workforce,…"

"…Labor is on your side.

If you want more affordable childcare,Labor is on your side.

If you want an Australia that makes things,Labor is on your side.

If you want real action on climate change&want Australia to become a renewable energy superpower,w-the jobs it brings,…"

"… Labor is on your side.

And if you want accountability & transparency in government, Labor is on your side.

An Albanese Labor Government will build a recovery where no one is held back, and no one is left behind…"

"…Because Australians want and need, now more than ever, a government that looks after Australian families and is on their side."
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Labor #1
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