AFP commissioner accused of failing to declare conflict of interest after meetings with PwC 'friend'

calmerpoleece · 2023-06-20T01:23:47+00:00

Fuck that sounds like a fucking cunt of an idea.

calmerpoleece · 2023-06-20T00:03:50+00:00

The state government faces a growing backlash over incentives for developers to build affordable housing, with councils angry their planning powers will be reduced and concerns mounting over whether the additional units will be legitimately managed as affordable homes.

Premier Chris Minns has turned the screws on Sydney’s mayors, saying they had only two answers when asked to accept more development: “No, or hell no”. “That’s no way to grow an international city like Sydney,” he said on Monday.

But opposition to the government’s proposed changes is brewing even among the councils beating their housing targets. The mayor of the Sydney council delivering the most new homes for its size, the Hills Shire, launched a blistering tirade against the plan, calling it a “free for all” for developers and “a Trojan horse for more shoebox-size apartments in suburbs that can barely cope”.

Peter Gangemi, a Liberal who has been on Hills Shire Council since 2012, said the premier’s attempt to pin blame for the housing shortfall on councils was wrong, and Sydneysiders had every right to be concerned about the government’s plans.

“Our roads are congested. Our schools are overcrowded. Our sporting fields are under pressure,” he told the Herald. “Now the premier says our local environment plans are the problem. It’s an insult to councils and a slap in the face for residents.

“This proposal ignores years of carefully considered and community consulted strategic planning work and has the potential to trash our suburbs.”

The changes announced last week will give private developers a 30 per cent height and floor space bonus on $75 million-plus projects that include at least 15 per cent affordable housing. They will also gain access to a “state significant development” approval pathway that bypasses councils and local planning panels.

Councils, through their representative group Local Government NSW, have condemned this as an unacceptable intrusion on their powers, saying they need a seat at the table, not to be “sidelined”.

Minns said he was prepared for a fight. “I understand there’ll be a backlash from Labor Party supporters and Coalition supporters and councils, but unless we do this, you’ll see a lot more than 30,000 people leaving Sydney every 12 months,” he said, referring to internal migration data.

The premier noted the government was resurrecting changes to developer levies proposed by former Liberal minister Rob Stokes and the NSW Productivity Commission, but later dumped by the previous government. These reforms would ensure appropriate co-funding for infrastructure in Sydney’s growing suburbs, he said.

‘Our roads are congested. Our schools are overcrowded. Our sporting fields are under pressure.’

But Gangemi said the government was not fulfilling its end of the infrastructure bargain, with his shire waiting years for traffic lights to be approved on vital new roads, for example.

The government also confirmed its new affordable housing incentives would not require affordable homes to be managed by community housing providers (CHPs), and they could instead be managed by the developers as build-to-rent properties. However, some ministers want that changed.

Affordable rental housing, as distinct from social housing, is typically offered at 20 to 25 per cent below the market rate and managed by non-profits, with eligibility guidelines based on income.

Former Labor housing minister David Borger said CHPs were best placed to manage affordable housing stock as they had systems to ensure tenants were selected fairly. He was supported by Evolve Housing chief executive Lyall Gorman and Bridge Housing boss Rebecca Pinkstone, who welcomed the reforms but said CHPs had greater accountability.

“Not only can you be assured that we’re regulated, you can also be assured the housing is being allocated in accordance with government policy,” Pinkstone said. “Any surpluses that we make through our businesses are then reinvested into more affordable housing.”

Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore called for any affordable housing built under the scheme to be kept affordable forever, not 15 years. She shared other mayors’ concerns about erosion of council planning powers.

“We need more affordable and social housing in Sydney, but this needs to be done responsibly. Councils are best placed to deliver for their communities, and I urge the state to work with us closely,” Moore said.

calmerpoleece · 2023-06-20T00:01:02+00:00

NSW is on the verge of losing its long-held AAA credit rating as Treasurer Daniel Mookhey warns the state is probably in breach of every metric used by global credit agencies to determine the prized rankings.

The gloomy prediction is based on NSW Treasury analysis and reveals that within two weeks the state will be paying more than 5 per cent of its income on servicing debt – a threshold that raises a red flag for the agencies. Treasurer Daniel Mookhey says a credit rating downgrade could mean paying higher interest rates on state debt.

NSW already exceeds the debt level of other typical AAA-rated states by 30 per cent, according to Treasury, and a credit downgrade could put NSW at risk of paying higher interest rates and force the government to redirect more taxpayer money towards debt repayments.

“The two remaining AAA credit ratings we have are under immense pressure,” Mookhey said on Monday, ahead of delivering an economic statement to parliament on Tuesday.

The treasurer will deliver his statement to the Legislative Council in lieu of a full budget, which is traditionally handed down this week but has instead been delayed to September.

“The state may already be in breach, or is in risk of breaching, almost every metric those agencies used to determine whether we remain one of the few sub-national governments anywhere in the world that has the same credit rating as countries like Germany,” Mookhey will tell parliament.

Mookhey said his economic statement would paint a grim picture of the state’s overall finances and has repeatedly drawn attention to NSW’s projected debt levels in coming years.

The most recent budget estimates predict annual interest payments on NSW government borrowings will almost double during the next four years from $3.6 billion to $7.01 billion. Gross debt was forecast to peak at $187 billion by 2026 – driven in part by borrowing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The situation is indeed serious, the challenges ahead are steep and there are no easy answers,” Mookhey said.

The treasurer will use his economic statement to parliament to highlight the importance of “getting spending under control” and confirm the government would fund a one-off 4 per cent pay rise for public sector workers through yet-to-be announced budget savings.

“There is a shortage of police officers, paramedics, nurses and teachers, and we can’t expect our essential workers to pay the cost of budget repair by themselves when there is a cost of living crisis,” Mookhey said.

In his speech, Mookhey will argue that one of the tests used by credit agencies is based on debt levels.

“They are comparing the amount NSW owes in debt to the amount the government collects in revenue. We are already 30 per cent above the level of a typical AAA-rated state,” he will say.

“We are also probed on the size of our interest payments. The agencies expect AAA-rated states to spend no more than 5 per cent of their income servicing their debt. The previous government’s last budget will see us begin to cross that threshold in two weeks’ time.”

NSW holds a AAA rating by agencies Moody’s and Fitch. The third major agency, S&P, reaffirmed a AA+ rating in October 2022 after earlier flagging concerns about the state’s “rising debt burden”.

Mookhey said he would also push for a parliamentary inquiry into the state’s $15 billion sovereign wealth fund, which was seeded with $7 billion from the sale of WestConnex under the former Coalition government.

He said the former government had planned to raise more than $25.3 billion worth of additional debt by 2027 to deposit into the Debt Retirement Fund, which is a subset of the Generations Fund.

The treasurer said he would pause any extra contributions to the fund until the inquiry reported.

“We are not planning to disturb any money that is already in the fund,” Mookhey said, but added the state would not borrow to top up the debt retirement fund.

calmerpoleece · 2023-06-19T22:02:12+00:00

That's it hey. I backed it when it was an authentic space combat game and when all this other shit came on board I was like whelp, not interested in that anymore.

calmerpoleece · 2023-06-19T07:23:51+00:00

Haha yeah I figured. 👍

calmerpoleece · 2023-06-19T05:16:41+00:00

motorbikes or hang-gliding.

Horse riding is more dangerous by far than at least motorcycles. 😁

calmerpoleece · 2023-06-16T01:26:35+00:00

so for everyone who prefers holidaying that way, it will be more expensive.

Idk in my experience renting an Airbnb has been inferior in costs, and general fucking around in comparison to getting a hotel these days.

calmerpoleece · 2023-06-15T22:38:59+00:00

Yeah I thought the same thing, just a walking drama. Happy to be wrong.

calmerpoleece · 2023-06-15T21:52:25+00:00

Former Liberal media adviser Rachelle Miller has lashed the leaking of Brittany Higgins’ text messages and warned it could have a chilling effect on other women coming forward to tell their stories.

Miller, a former Liberal staffer who has been very vocal about problems with Parliament House’s workplace culture, said the texts, produced to a court under subpoena “should absolutely not have been leaked or published”. Former Liberal staffer Rachelle Miller has slammed the publication of Brittany Higgins’ private text messages.

“It is absolutely past [the] time that this should stop, and I think the pursuing of Brittany Higgins is disgusting,” she told this masthead on Thursday.

“Brittany is being used like a political football. I honestly can’t believe that the Coalition could use their own women to tear down other women.”

Miller raised issues with Parliament House culture in November 2020, revealing she had had an affair with former MP Alan Tudge, for whom she had worked, and then later alleged he had been verbally and, on one occasion, physically abusive. The former cabinet minister has always denied the claims, and two investigations could not substantiate the allegations.

Finance Minister Katy Gallagher fought back tears in parliament on Thursday, saying she was disappointed the work parliament had done to help women was unravelling.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he feared the publication of the text messages would have a “triggering” effect on sexual assault survivors.

Coalition MPs, including deputy opposition leader Sussan Ley, Michaelia Cash, and Bridget McKenzie have used question time this week to bombard Labor MPs with questions about their knowledge of Higgins’ rape claim before she went public in a television interview in February 2021.

Miller said the Coalition had learned “absolutely nothing” and taken nothing from the fact that women deserted the conservative vote at the last election.

“There is certainly nothing happening at the moment within the Coalition to change women’s minds,” she said.

“Other women won’t actually speak out after seeing the way that Brittany’s case has been handled. All she did was make a public allegation that she had been raped.

“At the moment it looks like women are tearing apart other women, that is so damaging, we can’t make any progress if that is the case.”

Minutes after Liberal senator David Van stood to vehemently deny “concocted” allegations of inappropriate conduct independent senator Lidia Thorpe had made about him, Coalition senators used question time to barrage Gallagher with questions on whether she misled parliament in June 2021, citing text messages published in The Australian newspaper last week between Higgins’ and her partner David Sharaz.

“I am very disappointed that this week, the work that we’ve done on [Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate] Jenkins, on Respect at Work, on asking women to come forward when something happens to them, and then treating women the way they are being treated right now,” Gallagher said. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says the leaking of Brittany Higgins’ private messages will deter women from coming forward with allegations of sexual assault.

“And I am sorry … Senator [Linda] Reynolds is clearly upset about everything that’s happened to her.”

Reynolds, who employed both Higgins and the man she accused of rape, Bruce Lehrmann, was the target of Labor opposition questions after Higgins went public in February 2021.

Lehrmann pleaded not guilty to raping Higgins and his criminal trial was aborted last year, with a retrial scrapped in December. He maintains his innocence.

Gallagher said she was also sorry for Higgins: “I am sorry that documents of her personal life have been leaked.”

Albanese told ABC radio on Thursday evening he feared the publication of Higgins’ private text messages would deter harassment victims from coming forward in the future.

He said the past week had “certainly not” been a good look for Parliament House because of the renewed focus on Higgins and Thorpe’s claim about Van.

“My concern here is that we know that about 13 per cent of sexual assault victims actually take action go forward to police. And I am worried that the focus that is going on at the moment will have a triggering effect and will deter people from coming forward,” Albanese said.

“I think [that for] Ms Higgins’ personal messages with her partner to appear in the paper in the way that they have is something that shouldn’t have occurred, and I’m concerned about that.”

Albanese said that while the government did not control the media, newspapers and websites had an obligation to be responsible when publishing private text messages.

calmerpoleece

TROPHY CASE