Ronaldo and Portugal into semifinals at Euro 2016

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Wimbledon 2016: Revealing dress causes stir

Nike's flimsy attire for women's pros at Wimbledon is generating plenty of attention -- and this without arguably its highest-profile female tennis client Maria Sharapova, who is serving a two-year doping ban.

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Ibrahimovic says he's off to Manchester United

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The ultimate English tradition?

What two things are quintessentially English and as inextricably linked as America and apple pie?

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Unelected & Merged: NSW councils’ sneaky new property taxes

 

Councils that were sacked and placed under the control of administrators by the Baird Government are sneakily imposing hefty new taxes on property developments in direct contravention of state planning guidelines to prop-up their finances, a peak building industry body has warned.

Urban Taskforce, whose members include developer giants like Meriton, Mirvac and Brookfield Multiplex, is demanding an immediate New South Wales Government intervention to put a stop to a cash grab it says is being foisted on the property industry under the guise of ‘value capture’.

“The Urban Taskforce is concerned that a number of metropolitan Sydney councils are developing value capture policies as a way to earn income,” said the group’s chief executive, Chris Johnson.

“As this is clearly against the Government’s practice note of 2005 the Department of Planning must either withdraw the practice note or update the practice note with clearer guidance.”

The shot over the State Government’s bow is yet another problem for embattled Local NSW Government Minister Paul Toole, to whom the newly merged councils will report until September 2017 – and potentially puts him on a collision course with Cabinet Ministers.

With the forced merger of councils predicated on making them financially ‘Fit for the Future’, any cash raid under State Government appointed administrators is certain to ring alarm bells.

Government News has been told that “imprudent” and “understated” integration cost estimates have started to blow out and will risk delivering big deficits instead of savings unless ancillary revenue streams or major cost cuts are quickly found.

With ‘mum and dad’ rates and fees very strictly off-limits, the pressure to find new money is on: but it’s not a simple equation.

 

Peter vs Paul robbery

A major drawback of councils levying land taxes using ‘value capture’ is that the money they extract from developers would otherwise flow back to the state government to offset big investments in infrastructure.

Those investments then act to drive-up property values, thus creating a capital lift that can be put to work. But it’s a finite pot.

The established value capture model works by releasing land (often compulsorily acquired) that’s nearby rail, light rail or major road projects to developers who cash-in on strong demand for property close to new transport corridors and hubs.

The project owner, usually the State Government, then takes a cut of the property sales, usually through a floor space ratio levy, and puts the money towards the project to minimise the cost and maximise the use of public funds.

Urban Taskforce is now warning that with councils now under State Government control, taking a big second bite out of the value capture cherry will simply make some major projects non-viable.

New Parramatta Council under fire

The new City of Parramatta Council is cited as a prime offender, a rather embarrassing situation in the midst of a federal election campaign where urban infrastructure in Sydney’s marginal Western Suburbs has become a key battleground.

 

Urban Taskforce isn’t stupid. It knows when to pounce.

“Of particular concern was that the City of Parramatta Council included in their levy the collection of a state tax of $200 a square metre for housing alongside the proposed light rail. There is some confusion as to how State Government value capture taxes are to be collected,” Mr Johnson said.

“The overlap of State Government value capture with council value capture levies is also occurring on sites near new stations proposed for the Sydney Metro. Urban Taskforce members with projects near the proposed Crows Nest station are being asked to provide value capture levies by North Sydney Council as well as the State Government.”

Mr Johnson also accused the City of Parramatta Council of “selling bonus floor space at a fixed price irrespective of the individual qualities of a development site.”

He said developers held fears that despite “negotiating projects over a number of years the unexpected imposition of the proposed [council] tax would make their projects unviable.

“This is a huge unanticipated cost which throws out the feasibility of many developments,” Mr Johnson said.

 

Parramatta stands its ground

Amanda Chadwick

Amanda Chadwick, City of Parramatta Council’s Administrator, isn’t letting Urban Taskforce’s claims – especially the accusation that imposing value capture levies or ‘value sharing’ is against state planning guidelines – go unchallenged.

“I have received advice to the contrary,” Ms Chadwick plainly told Government News.

“What I have asked for is an independent peer review of all of the work that was done by the City of Parramatta [and] Parramatta City Council to ensure that a good decision is made and informs that.”

“I have also asked for independent legal advice,” Ms Chadwick said, adding that those two documents were now being prepared and would go on to inform consultation documents that will be released.

“While I accept [Chris’ Johnson’s] concerns in relation to ensuring that that there’s a good framework around value sharing, I think what we really need to do is ensure that council’s options are on the table in the form of a document for consultation.

“And that industry have the opportunity to respond to that, together with the good ratepayers and everybody else who has an interest in Parramatta’s future,” Ms Chadwick said.

 

Consultation imperative

The next step in that process, Ms Chadwick says, is to release two discussion papers for consultation so that “the planning work, the policy work, the economic work and the legal work can be tested by industry.”

Ms Chadwick also firmly contested any notion that harnessing value sharing (or value capture), was a new idea linked to councils recently being put into administration.

“The CBD planning proposal of the former Parramatta City Council has been in the public domain for almost a year,” Ms Chadwick said, noting the big increase in population around the corner.

“That document – if it is accepted as a planning proposal as the new LEP – would mean a quadrupling of the current dwelling entitlements for the CBD,” she said.

“Now that document has a lot of supporting information behind it, including this concept of value sharing, including the infrastructure that that [Parramatta] CBD would need. It’s been a long process that’s led to this.”

The next step, according to Ms Chadwick, is to ensure “a proper and transparent document” is released for consultation “so that that the whole of the industry has the opportunity to respond.”

Equally, the Parramatta Administrator insisted, “ratepayers and residents” must to have their say as do “the businesses that are already in Parramatta” in terms of “the way in which infrastructure for the city should be funded, and the shape of the city that they want to live and work in.”

 

Muzzled administrator label rejected

One of the biggest risks of the NSW forced council merger process is the growth of a palpable public perception that council administrators are simply doing the State Government’s bidding at arm’s length, thus circumventing local democracy in the process.

Ms Chadwick rejects that notion in its entirety. She says she’s satisfied with her freedom to speak out and challenge Macquarie Street in the interests of the local community under her control.

“On this issue, what I see myself as doing is continuing the policies of the former Parramatta City Council. They were very clear about the city that they wanted to see, very clear about the way they thought that city could be funded.

“What I am in fact doing is continuing that policy direction… wrapped around it with good transparency and integrity in decision making, which is exactly what you should expect to see from an administrator.”

 

Ratio Decidendi

Prior to being put into administration, Parramatta’s elected representatives had resolved to place a dual ‘value sharing’ mechanism into place.

It reflected gains that would be generated not just from increases in land value, but also increasing density and floor space ratios ranging from 6:1 to 10:1 attracting a levy and a so-called ‘bonus’ rate that applied to developments with ratios of up to 15:1.

Upscaling density at 15:1 isn’t just a number, it’s a high-rise goldmine for developers, but one that places real pressure on underfunded municipal services. Bluntly put, multiply a population by a factor of 15 and the rubbish that needs to be collected increases by the same proportion.

With the scale of development in Parramatta planned being so substantial, as well as the creation of planned creation of a ‘Dual CBD’ by the State Government, the reasoning behind fixing value capture levies was to make planning responsibilities to developers abundantly clear and consistent.

A major advantage for councils in adopting a consistent approach – or a flat rate – is that projected payback received does not have to be negotiated on an individual project-by-project basis.

It is also understood that since administration took effect in Parramatta the levy rate for the ‘bonus’ range of much bigger buildings was set at 46 per cent – but took into account the possibility of a state infrastructure levy being imposed, with the rate then being dialled down to not less than 20 per cent.

With so much at stake, the politics of the creation of Sydney’s second CBD is certain to remain a hot issue.

 

The post Unelected & Merged: NSW councils’ sneaky new property taxes appeared first on Government News.

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'Incredible' Hulk joins China soccer revolution

It's soccer's fastest-growing new power -- and now the Chinese Super League (CSL) has shattered its transfer record again.

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How Iceland's heroes inspired a nation

He's just won a presidential election -- now he's targeting the European Championship finals.

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Michael Phelps qualifies for record fifth Olympic Games

Michael Phelps qualified for a record fifth Olympic Games by claiming victory in the 200m butterfly at the U.S. Swimming trials in Omaha, Nebraska.

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Body parts wash up near Olympics beach volleyball site

With just 38 days to go before the Rio Olympics kicks off, the situation in the host city just went from bad to worse.

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Australia’s public servants could rush to Britain’s aid following Brexit

 

Australian public servants and consultants could help prop up the British civil service if it begins to implode following Brexit.

With the UK still in shock after last week’s decision to leave the European Union (EU), there is growing recognition that disentangling the country from Europe will be a huge task; a task made more difficult with Civil Service staffing levels in Britain at their lowest levels since the Second World War after a series of deep job cuts and redundancies.

Much of the work ahead will demand people with high calibre legal, cost-benefit analysis, auditing and policy skills to evaluate thousands of EU-related laws and regulations and decide whether to keep, change or ditch them.

Diplomacy and economic know-how will also be called upon as Britain negotiates its new trading position with Europe and the rest of the world.

Another significant workload will be generated by the large number of UK government departments that receive chunks of EU funding for various programs – not to mention the staff they employ – as the government works out what must be cut and what projects still need to be funded without relying on EU cash.

Aussies seeking fresh UK job opportunities could, for example, head to the new EU Unit within the Cabinet Office, which brings together officials from the Cabinet Office, Treasury, Foreign Office and Business Department.

The unit is charged with negotiating Britain’s departure from Europe and devising new terms governing trade and the freedom of movement.

In his statement to the House of Commons following the vote, British Prime Minister David Cameron called Brexit the “most complex and most important task that the British Civil Service has undertaken in decades” and said the new unit would contain the “best and brightest” from the UK Civil Service.

Mr Cameron said: “It will report to the whole of the Cabinet on delivering the outcome of the referendum, advising on transitional issues and exploring objectively options for our future relationship with Europe and the rest of the world from outside the EU.

“And it will be responsible for ensuring that the new Prime Minister has the best possible advice from the moment of their arrival.”

The question is, are there enough of these people left?

Dr Genevieve Knight from the National Institute of Labour Studies at Flinders University said that despite the upheaval in the UK and the possibility of a recession, Australians were unlikely to be deterred from travelling to the UK for work.

The UK is still the gap year of choice for a high number of Aussies and many have a European heritage.

“The monetary incentives could be quite compelling, especially as the exchange rate has fallen,” Dr Knight says.

In fact, she says “the odds are on” for an increase in Australian public servants working in Britain following Brexit “if the demand for civil servant workforce increases, as it seems it will with good gambling odds”, especially as the two countries interact a lot already.

“They’re highly skilled, they speak English and they’re part of the Commonwealth so they respect Her Majesty’s government.”

She points out too, that there is a clear political affinity between the Conservative/Coalition governments currently in power in both countries.

There is an established pattern of Australians – including public servants – decamping to Britain and other parts of the Commonwealth, further entrenched by expectations of APS career paths, where people changed postings at least every two years, says Dr Knight.

“The whole system of the civil service is very much modelled on consistent movement.”

But the single, biggest factor is the sheer volume of work that UK public servants are going to have to get through as the complexities of withdrawing from the EU are gradually revealed.

“A massive work programme for public servants has now started with literally thousands of pages and thousands and thousands of billed hours of legislative legal work and all other departmental work, budgets and programs of work need to be revised,” Dr Knight said.

“At the risk of sounding like Nigel Farage, this is because the EU has an enormous bureaucracy and those 60 years of hard work after the Second World War building the public servant legislative boundaries of this are interwoven into the very fabric of the British legislation across all facets of the Government.”

Consultants

A combination of a relatively unionised UK public service and the UK government’s austerity budget and savage public sector job cuts means consultants could be one of the few winners post-Brexit.

Dr Knight reckons the big four international accountancy firms – KPMG, Deloitte, Ernst &Young and PWC – could well be sizing up the UK as a potential source of business.

“It sounds possibly like a clarion dinner bell calling to “The Consultants” to step in and help out,”

Dr Knight says. “That’s because their fees aren’t usually part of the planned departmental budget of expenditures.

Dr Knight says the British government will either need to take on more staff to deal with all the extra work or employ “a massive volume of consultants” and keep it off the books.

She says: “Australian public servants might want to help them with their Churchillian WWII public ministry motto “keep calm and carry on.”

The post Australia’s public servants could rush to Britain’s aid following Brexit appeared first on Government News.

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Wimbledon 2016: Federer ends 'Cartman' fairytale

Roger Federer sent British fan favorite Marcus Willis packing from Wimbledon, but not before everyone under the roof at centre court had a good time.

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Glorious Goodwood just got richer -- to $6.7M

Glorious Goodwood, which will be held next month at the "world's most beautiful racecourse," just got richer.

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The NFL star leaping to Olympic gold?

Marquise Goodwin isn't your average Olympian.

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Sharapova enrolls at Harvard Business School

She might be serving a two-year doping ban, but tennis star Maria Sharapova won't be twiddling her thumbs during that enforced sabbatical after enrolling for a course at the prestigious Harvard Business School.

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Good to talk: Finally, agreement on single comms standard for self-driving vehicles

Autonomous workaround. [image: HERE]

Cars and trucks – manual or self-driving – will very soon be able to see what’s coming around the next corner or over a hill and automatically avoid collisions without having line-of-sight using cloud-based technologies.

Sound far-fetched? Hold that thought.

The grand vision of a world filled with driverless cars that instantly communicate with each other to make transport a stress free, totally automated and intelligent experience has have generated huge attention lately … but the really big and basic questions over how future transport systems will evolve are really still up in the air.

Sure, car makers, traffic authorities and technology companies are all racing towards a big shiny autonomous dream, but the far more basic issue of who will write the ‘language’ of data standards and protocols that ultimately dictates how vehicles talk to each other still hasn’t been decided.

But that could be about to change.

On Wednesday location technology developer HERE announced what it claims is a major step forward in thrashing out a global consensus on what kind of technical lingua franca autonomous vehicles will speak, saying that more than “more than 11 major automotive manufacturers and suppliers” had agreed to its open data standard dubbed SENSORIS.

The agreement’s potentially a very big deal because it could form the basis of a workable consensus on which interoperable international standards for autonomous vehicles can be built.

Global technical standards are, for the main, one of the driest and most eye-glazing subjects around – predictably, they garner little or no publicity as a result. But they’re still critically important as the bedrock foundations for technologies that need to work the world over to realise their potential.

Boring, yes. Irrelevant? No way.

 

Car cloud hits the road. [pic: HERE]

The internet, aviation, telecommunications, credit cards, banking, satellites, navigation and even customs and postal systems would all come unstuck without global standards. Think the technical equivalent of the biblical Tower of Babel scenario (or Australia’s rail gauges SNAFU).

According to HERE, companies that have already joined what it calls the SENSORIS Innovation Platform include AISIN AW, Robert Bosch, Continental, Daimler, Elektrobit, HARMAN, HERE, LG Electronics, Jaguar Landrover, NavInfo, PIONEER and TomTom.

Ok, BuzzFeed keywords like Tesla, Apple, Uber, Trump, Kardashian, kittens, General Motors [etc] don’t quite make the cut, but the point is there’s some real momentum happening without big name brand dropping.

“More organisations are expected to join in the coming weeks,” HERE said in its announcement.

The design for the universal data format for vehicular chat (that’s SENSORIS) has also been submitted to Europe’s public/private partnership for helping to develop intelligent transport systems, a peak industry body called ERTICO-ITS Europe.

And things are genuinely starting to move quickly on the technical language front, even if the official talk is stills preferences dry accuracy over fluffy buzzwords.

“Defining a standardised interface for exchanging information between the in-vehicle sensors and a dedicated cloud as well as between clouds will enable broad access, delivery and processing of vehicle sensor data,” said ERTICO’s chief executive Hermann Meyer.

“[It will] enable easy exchange of vehicle sensor data between all players, and finally enable enriched location based services which are key for mobility services as well as for automated driving.”

The soundbite version of that statement is that car makers are desperate to avoid a repeat of the compatibility wars that can fragment developing industries. Betamax vs VHS; Apple vs PC, left hand drive vs right hand drive – and too many electrical power plug and voltage standards to point to.

HERE’s Asia Pacific director, Brent Stafford, has an Australian spin on the concept.

“Driverless vehicles need more than just these sensors to provide a smooth and safe driving experience, Stafford says. “They need to communicate with all other vehicles on the road, sending, receiving, interpreting and responding to live route conditions in real-time, Stafford says.”

“By speaking a universal data language, in the future, a German built autonomous truck driving down an Australian highway will be able to warn a driverless Japanese sedan and US made SUV following close behind to ‘slow down’ or ‘change lanes’ because of a wombat or mob of kangaroos near the road ahead.”

Our favourite example of ‘vehicular multiculturalism’ from Stafford revolves around trying to find a park from the incredible shrinking pool of spaces.

“Perhaps a Holden parked in a busy neighbourhood could notify a BMW that has been circling nearby, that a parking spot has just become available in the adjacent space,” he says.

Well it certainly wouldn’t offer it to a Ford. That would be un-Australian.

If Government News had its way, intelligent self-driving cars would be able to detect approaching parking inspectors and drive-off before they could issue a ticket.

That would be technological progress.

The post Good to talk: Finally, agreement on single comms standard for self-driving vehicles appeared first on Government News.

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The rising star backed by John McEnroe

He may not have coached for over 20 years, but tennis great John McEnroe has seen enough of big-serving world No.7 Milos Raonic to believe the 25-year-old American is capable of winning Wimbledon.

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Finance NSW bounces its cheque book, disconnects fax

 

The NSW Department of Finance, Services and Innovation (DFSI) has officially torn-up its agency cheque book, with Minister Dominic Perrottet telling customers and suppliers alike the organisation will now only make payments via electronic channels.

The clean out of paper-based technologies has also disconnected almost 500 fax lines into the agency over the last year, a move Mr Perrottet says will save around $200,000 by putting an end to “archaic processes” and “tackling inefficient legacy systems.”

The move to dump cheques and faxes effectively sounds the death knell for the vintage technologies in other agencies as Finance, Services and Innovation continues on its mission to spearhead government-wide changes by playing the role of exemplar.

However what’s still unclear whether Finance will continue to accept inbound cheques as a payment option – a method still favoured by a subset of older people who remain uncomfortable dealing with internet and other electronic channels.

 

Terminal decline

Big revenue agencies, councils and banks have all been quietly trying to eliminate cheques from the payments landscape for years because of the high cost of manual processing, fraud risks and slow turnaround times.

The Australian Payments Clearing Association estimates that the use of cheques has dropped a whopping 71 per cent over the last 10 years as a structural shift to digital channels spreads through the economy.

Banks, which largely bear the costs of cheque processing, are especially keen to get rid of the signed bits of paper. As long ago as 2007 the Reserve Bank of Australia estimated that the average cost of cheques for consumers, merchants and financial institutions was $7.69, making them a financially painful channel for institutions.

Despite the increasing costs of processing, banks remain deeply reticent over killing-off cheques entirely because of the risk of a backlash from key customer segments, including older customers, charities and mothers with school-age children who dispatch payments using under age couriers.

Finance Minister Dominic Perrottet is not so hesitant, saying that cheque issuance has already declined from 15,000 a month to 1000 a month.

“It is 2016, and there is no excuse for government departments being stuck in the past when it comes to basic operations,” Mr Perrottet said. “To better respond to the needs of our citizens, we need to be flexible, agile and put progressive work practices in place.”

 

Trapped by PDFs

Cheques and fax machines may not be alone on their way to the scrapyard.

Not content with publishing acres of spreadsheets to electrify numbers in Finance, Services and Innovation’s Budget documents, Mr Perrottet has released “a revamped Budget Visualisation Tool (BVT)” that shows the department’s Budget data in vivid blocks of colour that can be sorted, sliced and diced.

If you’ve ever struggled to navigate and harvest data from dense government PDF files, the NSW Finance Minister reckons he shares your pain.

“Trawling through the Budget papers can feel like a bit like reading the phone book – finding the information you want takes time,” Mr Perrottet said.

“With this tool you can easily see how DFSI’s Budget has been allocated with just a few mouse clicks, which means a better understanding of government finances, and a more accountable government.”

“Rather than being trapped in a PDF, the information is also available in an open format for developers to use as they see fit, on Data.NSW.gov.au,” Mr Perrottet continued, a statement unlikely to amuse Adobe.

The Budget interface breaks down core business expenses and capital expenditure for DFSI agencies, including Office of State Revenue, NSW Fair Trading, Service NSW and Property NSW the agency says.

You can take a look at it here.

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Hotbed of altruism uncovered among Victorian local councillors

 

Geelong Council’s former Mayor, Darryn Lyons.

 

Forget personal benefit, political power or Machiavellian skulduggery: a survey of more than 170 Victorian local councillors has uncovered a hotbed of rampant altruism.

According to a Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV) survey, successfully elected councillors gave their primary reason for standing for election as being to benefit their communities.

The top three reasons councillors gave for running for office were:

• Giving the community a voice
• Being recognised as a community leader by their peers
• Rising to new challenges

MAV Chief Executive Officer Rob Spence said it was pleasing that the most popular reason councillors chose to run for office was to benefit their communities.

“Wanting to contribute to the community is a great reason to run for council because one of the main roles of a councillor is to become a voice for the community and advocate on important issues,” Mr Spence said.

Other motivating factors included having a passion for politics, wanting to fix a specific issue and the desire to make councils more diverse.

But Mr Spence cautioned that altruism sometimes had to co-exist with cold, hard reality.

“Some candidates run with a false hope that they can fix problems in a community overnight. This is not a reality. It takes hard work, collaboration with peers and dedication to overcome obstacles faced by the council and the community.”

Of course, it may be useful to note that the survey list the reasons councillors openly gave for why they wanted to be elected.

It is safe to assume that councillors did not say they stood for council because they wanted to:

• Buy a council car park at a knockdown price to redevelop it (Auburn)
• Have a blazing row over a Christmas tree and shirt front another councillor (Monash)
• Charge 20,000 phone calls to the council’s tab (Glen Eira)
• Avoid remediating asbestos on a property and intimidate the neighbours (Hurstville)
• Bully staff and other councillors and behave in a sexist and threatening manner (Geelong)
• Take kickbacks from developers in return for approving controversial development proposals (Woollongong)
• Make hefty expense claims (Melbourne)
• Blackmail a corrupt mayor (Strathfield)

Election hacks 

Along with their reasons for wanting to sit on council, Victoria’s councillors also gave their top tips for getting elected, which included: letterbox drops, print advertising and exchanging preferences with other candidates.

Mr Spence said: “Another campaigning tip identified in the survey was exchanging preferences with other candidates. This is not a prerequisite, but it is a political reality and it can mean the difference between being elected and not.”

MAV is running candidate information sessions to help prospective candidates understand the role of being a councillor and run for the right reason, before they throw their hats into the ring.

“We encourage anyone who is thinking of becoming a council election candidate to attend a local information session or visit our Stand for Council website. Ensuring candidates have all the information is the first step in becoming a great community advocate,” he said.

Victoria’s local government elections are on October 22, except for Geelong Council which holds theirs in 2017.

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Can tennis' 'Cartman' topple giant Federer?

He almost quit tennis, called himself a "loser" and has no problem being compared to a pudgy TV character. Marcus Willis has lit up Wimbledon at a time of uncertainty in England following the EU referendum vote.

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Roger Federer: The stats that define a tennis genius

Novak Djokovic may currently be the alpha male of the tennis court -- but Roger Federer remains the greatest player in history.

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Introducing the Goodwood Festival of Speed

Lord March, the man behind the Goodwood Festival of Speed, introduces one of the highlights of the motorsport calendar

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Goodwood Festival of Speed highlights

CNN's Amanda Davies looks at the highlights from this year's Goodwood Festival of Speed

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Golf's No. 1: 'I can't take Zika risk'

He's the best golfer on the planet -- but Jason Day won't be winning Olympic gold anytime soon.

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27 amazing sports photos

Take a look at 27 amazing sports photos from June 21 through June 27.

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Iceland wins, England implodes, Twitter reacts!

Iceland shocked the world as it ousted England from Euro 2016 Monday and Twitter reacted in style.

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Who will replace the England boss?

At the end of the 90 minutes, England's players lay sprawled, desolate on the turf at the Stade de Nice.

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Welfare debt crackdown grabs tax return cash

 

People who owe money to welfare agencies will have debts snatched from their tax returns while Centrelink and the Tax Office will get unprecedented instant electronic snooping powers over welfare recipients’ financial affairs under the Coalition’s latest policy to stamp out social security rorts.

Estimated to boost the Budget bottom line by $1.1 billion, final pre-election costings released by Treasurer Scott Morrison on Tuesday reveal the promised welfare crackdown will include adoption of “real time monitoring and real-time data analysis of online transactions to immediately address potential non-compliance concerns.”

The core of the Coalition’s plan is the claw back of a $3.5 billion standing debt “due to fraud, non-compliance or misreporting in the welfare system” by applying tactics similar to those used by the Child Support Agency (CSA) to force deadbeat parents to pay up.

“A new and important recovery initiative which is to be part of the Coalition’s overall strategy is to expand tax garnishing to recover unpaid welfare debt,” the policy says.

“Existing processes already ensure that debts are recovered from former welfare recipients who are not in a repayment arrangement by garnishing their tax return and now this process will be expanded to current welfare recipients with debts owing regardless of whether or not they are in a repayment arrangement.”

Put more simply, that means welfare agencies chasing debts will simply take the money directly from debtors’ tax returns rather than trying to make repayment arrangements with individuals.

 

Employers spared collection

However the new policy has pulled up short of directly docking the wages of welfare debtors, an enforcement tactic Child Support authorities often use to intercept cash flowing from employers before it hits debtors’ bank accounts.

While hitting wages would clearly be a highly effective option, it is understood many large employers are strongly against the move because of the administrative burden and withholding obligations it would foist on them.

The latest crackdown policy is a significant policy departure from the decades-old system of chasing down government debts and overpayments by trying to negotiate gradual payment plans with welfare debtors and then heading to the courts.

Social policy advocates have also long been critical of Australia’s convoluted system of welfare payments because of the heavy burden of complex manual administration and self-reporting incumbent on benefit recipients and the potential for unintended mistakes and potential for fraud.

The government now estimates that around $870 million is owed to it from former welfare recipients, a debt it already chases down using tax return garnishing.

The policy does not say what agency would get priority if debts are owed to both welfare agencies and the Tax Office.

 

Electronic fraud profiling and data mining intensifies

Aside from the unashamed cash snatch, a massive profiling, data matching and cross checking push is being proposed by the Coalition, all enabled by automated processes that can now trawl through financial and welfare records held by agencies.

The measures include a “historical analysis of social services data to apply risk management techniques to better manage and prevent non-compliance by welfare recipients” and a bid to “identify and manage welfare recipients most at risk of non-compliance.”

Claimants attracting attention will also be helped through “faster and more targeted intervention to prompt welfare recipients to address potential non-compliance behaviour, which will minimise the risk of payments being reduced or cancelled.”

Despite a pledge to “require more frequent and more stringent self-reporting” the Coalition argues that the new measures “will make it simpler and less time consuming for welfare recipients to meet their obligations.”

“This will improve the efficacy of the social welfare system, making it better for recipients, less burdensome, less susceptible to fraud and inadvertent overpayments, and more sustainable,” the policy says.

 

Shrinking pool of funds?

One area of substantial ambiguity in the Coalition’s welfare debt policy is the financial impact of a potential move by the ATO to do away with tax returns for people with simple tax affairs.

In August 2015 ATO Chief Information Officer Janet King publicly floated the possibility of her agency creating a “personalised tax rate” that took account of real-time financial information from customers, including welfare information, and made adjustments on the fly.

If implemented, the system could potentially negate the need for tax returns because straightforward PAYG customers would always be up to date.

The post Welfare debt crackdown grabs tax return cash appeared first on Government News.

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Dry July? Queensland booze crackdown imminent

Queensland is calling time on alcohol being served after 3am from July 1 in a bid to combat alcohol-fuelled violence.

When the new rules kick in next Friday no alcohol will be allowed to be served after 2am state-wide, except in designated safe night precincts – which covers most entertainment areas – where alcohol can be served until 3am.

There is also a ban on drinks which cause rapid intoxication being served after midnight. This includes shots, bombs, blasters, test tubes and jelly shots. It also covers drinks containing more than 5 per cent alcohol by volume (including pre-mixed drinks) and those containing more than 45 millilitres of sprits and liqueur.

However, the ban does not include cocktails, provided they are listed on a cocktail menu, they are not sold for knockdown prices and “are not designed to be consumed rapidly”, partly because of stiff opposition from small bars.

But Queenslanders wanting to keep partying could, for instance, opt for a long island tea, a cocktail which often contains five shots of booze: tequila, gin, vodka, rum and triple sec.

It is expected that lockout laws will not be introduced until February next year, to give the industry time to prepare.

Attorney-General and Minister for Justice Yvette D’Ath said there was widespread support for the new rules, with four in every five Queenslanders supporting cutting off alcohol service beyond 3am.

“A survey by the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education (FARE) also found that more than half of Queenslanders felt the city or centre of their town was unsafe on a Saturday night, and of those people, an overwhelming 92% said alcohol was to blame.

“Our package of laws is designed to encourage people to feel safe enough to go at night and enjoy the diversity of Queensland’s entertainment and nightlife options,” Justice D’Ath said.

“The opinion of Queenslanders is clear, and the evidence is clear about the benefits laws like these create.”

The measures are also backed by organisations such as the Australian Medical Association, the Queensland Tourism Industry Council, the Royal Australian College of Surgeons, the Queensland Police Union, the Queensland Nurses Union and the Salvation Army.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has promised the new laws will “provide a boost to the social life and economy of Queensland’s towns, cities and entertainment precincts”, a claim likely to jar with many Sydney CBD bar and club owners.

Similar laws have divided police, patrons, bar owners and medics in Sydney, where the March 2014 laws curbing alcohol service were introduced in a much smaller area, the CBD entertainment district, compared with the Queensland alcohol restrictions, which are state-wide.

NSW has more draconian laws on bottle shop opening hours, with bottle shops closing at 10pm, rather than Queensland’s more generous midnight shut down.

In Queensland, the backlash has already begun over the new laws, with venues fearing diving profits and business closures, staff fretting over lighter pay packets and patrons complaining they are being over policed. Groups have already sprung up, including No Curfew and Keep Queensland Open and a protest rally is planned in Brisbane this Sunday.

There is also anger over the exemption of casinos from the laws, which the government argues is fair as alcohol is not their central trade and they have beefed up security.

There is a summary of the changes for industry at http://ift.tt/2909iaj and for patrons at http://ift.tt/2949mso.

The post Dry July? Queensland booze crackdown imminent appeared first on Government News.

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Iceland ends England hopes in historic upset

Iceland pulled off one of the most astonishing results in the history of European football after knocking England out of the European Championship finals.

source CNN.com - RSS Channel - Sport http://ift.tt/295Yol4

Djokovic, Federer win Wimbledon openers

On the opening day at Wimbledon -- the granddaddy of tennis tournaments -- three grand slam winners at very different stages of their career featured at the sport's most famous stadium.

source CNN.com - RSS Channel - Sport http://ift.tt/295PC7X

Italy eliminates Euro champion Spain

Spain's reign as champion of Europe came to a shuddering halt Monday as Italy claimed a famous 2-0 win in Paris.

source CNN.com - RSS Channel - Sport http://ift.tt/295x1aM

Devastated Messi: International career is over

Argentina's Lionel Messi, considered by many to be the best player in the world, said he will likely retire from international soccer. The news came shortly after his side lost the Copa America final to Chile on penalties.

source CNN.com - RSS Channel - Sport http://ift.tt/28Yp0Go

Five players to watch

When the world's most prestigious tennis tournament starts Monday, who are the players to watch? Here are five of them.

source CNN.com - RSS Channel - Sport http://ift.tt/292tKL0

Historic club to think again on female members

Muirfield golf club near Edinburgh, Scotland has announced it will seek a fresh ballot of its members on the issue of female membership.

source CNN.com - RSS Channel - Sport http://ift.tt/28Xueyg

Labor targets public service job cuts, Efficiency Dividend

Thankyou for waiting.Your call is… [pic: CPSU]

Centrelink’s infamous call centre queues are the latest attack front in the Federal Election Campaign after Labor announced a $1.9 billion cull of government consultants and contractors to restore staffing levels at the Department of Human Services, Medicare and the Australian Taxation Office.

The loathed Public Service Efficiency Dividend, the trigger for an estimated 14,000 public sector jobs losses, could also be on the chopping block after Labor vowed to hold an immediate inquiry to find “new measures” to replace savings in the 2016-17 Budget – without cutting more jobs or increasing spending. (More on that a little further on.)

Announced by Shadow Finance Minister Tony Burke and Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations Brendan O’Connor on Sunday, the proposed measures double down on the tactic of fuelling mistrust of the Coalition’s plans for social services – especially around outsourcing and alleged privatisation plans for Medicare.

While accusations that there are plans to “privatise” Medicare have been emphatically rejected by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Labor is keeping the spotlight on troubles around the delivery of frontline services.

Public anger over long call waiting times at Centrelink, compounded by problems with the MyGov online access facility, has been boiling over for at least the last two years, with public frustration exploding in May last year after an Australian National Audit Office report found more than a quarter of calls to Centrelink just got an engaged signal.

As the election campaign enters its final days, Labor has promised to take $500 million listed as savings from “public sector transformation” in the 2016-17 Budget and redirect the money “to keep Medicare in public hands.”

“This funding will also go to improving service provision at the Australian Tax Office and the Department of Human Services to reduce Centrelink call waiting times and increase call centre staffing,” Labor’s statement said.

Just how much call centre improvement $500 million shared between at least three agencies will buy is questionable, even on official public service figures.

“The department [Human Services] has estimated that to reduce the KPI to an average speed of answer of 5 minutes, it would need an additional 1000 staff at a cost of over $100 million each and every year,” the ANAO 2015 report into Centrelink’s call centre debacle revealed.

By those numbers that’s $300 million alone gone on just one agency over three year forward estimates.

 

Efficiency Dividend review … but no promises

Still deeply unclear is whether Labor is proposing to scrap the Efficiency Dividend (this year sitting at 2.5 per cent) in its entirety – or lower the rate of the annual cut to more traditional levels of between 1.25 per cent and 1.5 per cent.

“Labor will conduct a review, to be concluded by 1 January 2017 to investigate how to replace the 2016-17 Budget Efficiency Dividend and the 2015-16 MYEFO Efficiency Target for national cultural and collecting institutions in the 2017-18 Budget with new measures that achieve the same savings, without targeting staffing costs,” the Opposition’s latest statement said.

Asked whether this meant the Efficiency Dividend would be dropped or just reduced to previous levels, Labor’s Campaign Office would not offer numbers or further clarification.

However the Community and Public Sector Union, not surprisingly, is backing Labor’s policy.

“Our community has a right to expect Governments will think smart so they can spend money efficiently while providing the services we need,” said CPSU National Secretary Nadine Flood.

“We welcome this common sense decision from Labor, which reflects their policy reached in 2015 and will benefit all Australians. This is a big step for public services and could see regional jobs which have been ripped out of services like Centrelink and Medicare being restored.”

Ms Flood said billions of dollars had been “stripped out of public services” and handed to the Coalition’s “multinational consultancy firm mates like KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Deloitte.”

“There’s been an incredible growth in private sector contracting, with staff frustrated at seeing plenty of waste in these megabuck contracts but only cuts to jobs and core services.”

The CPSU has been an ardent opponent of the Efficiency Dividend since it was introduced by Labor under the Hawke government in 1987 because agencies typically resort to retrenchments to meet the mandate.

Despite being formally affiliated to Labor, the CPSU took the extraordinary step of suspending all of the union’s election campaigning support for the second Rudd government in 2013 after the Efficiency Dividend was boosted from 1.25 per cent to 2.25 per cent.

That increase under Labor was inherited by the Abbott government and ultimately trumped plans by former Treasurer Joe Hockey to slash public service numbers by 12,000.

Biparisan support for Digital Transformation

With Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull using the Digital Transformation Office as the main bulwark against Labor’s accusations of planned Medicare privatisation Government News asked whether Labor had a position of the continuation of the DTO if it was elected and where the agency would sit in terms of the machinery of government.

“Labor is supportive of Digital Transformation Office’s key objective to get ‘government services…delivered digitally from start to finish.’ Of course we are – it’s Labor policy,” a Labor Campaign spokesperson said.

“Labor announced its “Digital First” policy in the June 2013 update to the National Digital Economy Strategy. The objective of Digital First is “priority government transactions will be end-to-end digital by 2017” so that “by 2020, four out of five Australians will choose to engage with the Government through the internet or other types of online service,” the Labor spokesperson continued.

“Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but like the National Broadband Network, the DTO is another example of Malcolm Turnbull making big promises and failing to deliver.”

Irrespective of who wins on Saturday, the mess that is Medicare and Centrelink’s ageing transactional processing system overstretched call centres and still be there to clean up.

And it won’t be cheap.

The post Labor targets public service job cuts, Efficiency Dividend appeared first on Government News.

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Small businesses duped by fake Australian government grants scam

Small businesses have paid up to $700 to access non-existent Australian government grants spruiked on a website.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) issued a public warning today (Monday) about the conduct of the Australian Business Funding Centre Pty Ltd, which also goes by the name Australia Business Financing Centre or ABFC and has a website http://ift.tt/29eT2kM.

Despite the website using an Australian address, it is operated by ABFC’s sole director who is based overseas.

The ACCC has alleged that ABFC charged small businesses between $500 to $700 to access an online database of Australian government grants and loans but once they were given access to the database the grants evaporated or they were not eligible to apply.

The website, which is still up, proclaims: “Australian government money may be available for your small business.”

It says: “Take 45 seconds to learn how much money your small business may be able to receive in government grants and/or loans if you meet the criteria. While no one can guarantee you funding the more you know the better.”

The Commission claims that the company made false or misleading representations about its capability and quality, and the role it played in helping small businesses get government grant funding.

The website also prominently features a number of “success stories” from actual Australian small businesses but the Commission found out that the stories were used without the businesses’ permission and they had not obtained any government funding via ABFC.

ACCC Acting Chair Dr Michael Schaper said the Commission was very concerned that small businesses were paying ABFC for a service that did not help them access government grants.

“Small businesses should take care when assessing offers to assist them in obtaining government grants,” Dr Schaper said. “The bottom line is that information relating to government grants is generally available free of charge from a variety of state and federal resources online.”

He said there were similar websites targeting small businesses in other countries, which had come to the attention of regulatory authorities in New Zealand and Canada.

Small businesses can find free, legitimate information about government grants at www.business.gov.au(link is external) and other websites ending with .gov.au.

The post Small businesses duped by fake Australian government grants scam appeared first on Government News.

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