Western Australia is clearly at the bottom of Julia Gillard's list of priorities. We're just about two weeks into a five week campaign and the Prime Minister still hasn't made it to WA. (more...)
If Julia Gillard had nothing to hide about her new tax on mining she would allow Treasury Secretary Ken Henry to answer all the outstanding questions about her tax tomorrow. (more...)
WA Liberal Senator Mathias Cormann has accused Julia Gillard of using Western Australia as a cash cow to fund Labor's reckless spending in Canberra. (more...)
The Senate Fuel and Energy Committee will reconvene next Tuesday and has recalled Dr Henry to appear and answer questions about the government's mining tax deal. (more...)
At a hearing of the Fuel and Energy Committee this morning Treasury confirmed that the impact on jobs and investment in the mining industry would be worse under the deal negotiated by Julia Gillard than under the RSPT. (more...)
The Coalition welcomes the government’s back-down from its decision to scrap face-to-face interviews between job seekers and Centrelink. “This latest back-down is most welcome, because regular quality contact between job seekers and Centrelink is important,” Shadow Minister for Employment (more...)
Julia Gillard has failed to deliver on technical training and education during her nearly three years as the part-time Minister for Training Shadow Minister for Training Mathias Cormann has said. “After promising 2,650 trades training centres in schools at the last election in 2007, only one of them (more...)
Western Australia is right at the
back of the queue and will miss out on the Rudd Labor
government's reckless broadband scheme for the foreseeable
future, WA Liberal Senator Mathias Cormann said on a visit
to Kalgoorlie today. "This is just another example of the
Eastern
(more...)
Ten days after the Coalition
attacked the government’s watering down of Australia’s
welfare system, junior Labor Minister Mark Arbib has adopted
the Kevin Rudd approach to the situation, talk tough, but do
nothing. “It’s not good enough to talk tough
(more...)
There will be no improvements to
international education services unless the government starts
taking some action Shadow Training Minister Mathias Cormann
said. "The Rudd government has been provided with yet another
review – this time on education services to overseas
(more...)
The rescue package for home
insulation workers announced with much fanfare by the Prime
Minister and Senator Arbib yesterday has no new money in it.
Job seekers not involved in home insulation will miss out on
training and job services because the government needs to
(more...)
For the second
time this week Mark Arbib has refused to answer a direct
question in the Senate about when he first became aware of
safety concerns for workers involved in the failed home
insulation program. "The Prime Minister now says he takes
responsibility for the failed
(more...)
Mark Arbib, the Minister responsible for coordinating the
roll-out of the stimulus package has refused to say when he
first became aware of inadequate training and safety issues
for workers involved in the ill-fated home insulation program.
"When Mark Arbib was promoted by
(more...)
Shadow Minister
for Employment Participation, Apprenticeships and Training
Mathias Cormann
visited the Challenger Institute of Technology in Kwinana this
week. “High quality trades training for young people is so
important, particularly in a growth area like Kwinana,”
Senator
(more...)
Only one single
trades training centre out of 2,650 promised by Kevin Rudd
before the last election is fully operational according to
evidence before Senate Estimates today. Incredibly, government
officials were unable to tell how many full-time students were
actually
(more...)
Employment
Participation Minister Mark Arbib is refusing to put
Australian jobs ahead of Labor's reckless spending according
to evidence before a Senate Estimates Committee. "If Mark
Arbib really cared about jobs he would call on the Prime
Minister and the Treasurer and urge
(more...)
Labor's poorly
thought out changes to skilled migration have created
significant uncertainty for our international education sector
and will put more private training colleges under pressure.
"To abolish the current 'Migration Occupations in Demand List
(MODL)' without replacing it
(more...)
WA Liberal
Senator Mathias Cormann has again called on ABC Managing
Director Mark Scott give a long term commitment to ABC TV
coverage of the Hopman Cup. Questioned at Senate Estimates by
Senator Cormann today, ABC Managing Director Mark Scott
refused to
(more...)
The Rudd Labor
Government doesn’t think that two hours work for a young
person is worth
bothering about, Shadow Minister for Employment Participation,
Apprenticeships and Training
Mathias Cormann said today. “Reports in the media confirm that
young people who
(more...)
The Rudd government should immediately pass important
legislation to improve the quality of education services for
overseas students in Australia through the House of
Representatives.
The Senate this afternoon passed the Education Services for
Overseas Students
(more...)
The collapse of
yet another major private training college comes as the Rudd
Labor Government has been dragging its feet on legislation
currently before Parliament to deal with these issues. Senator
Cormann's statements come after a major English training
centre with about
(more...)
The Rudd Labor Government has given a half hearted and
arrogant response to an important Senate committee report into
the recent job services tender according Shadow Employment
Participation Minister Mathias Cormann. The government today
tabled its largely
(more...)
While the slight
improvement in overall unemployment figures in December 2009
is welcome, the
Rudd government needs to start focusing on some of the hidden
problems in our labour market
Shadow Employment Participation Minister Mathias Cormann said
today. Senator
(more...)
Aged care nurses
in NSW and Queensland will be worse off as a direct result of
Labor's award 'modernisation' scheme Shadow Employment
Participation Minister Mathias Cormann said.
Labor's new scheme will seriously discourage prospective aged
care nurses in NSW and
(more...)
A training
provider in Rural New South Wales has been left in limbo due
to the inaction of the
Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, Education and
Social Inclusion. “The part-time Minister for Education, Ms
Gillard, doesn’t seem to think the closure of an important
(more...)
The Rudd Labor
government is failing long-term unemployed Australians,
Employment Participation Shadow Minister Mathias Cormann said
today. Despite billions of dollars wasted in so called
stimulus spending the number of long-term unemployed
Australians continues to
(more...)
Minister Arbib
still has a lot of explaining to do in the wake of allegations
that funding from the Rudd Labor government's 'jobs fund'
significantly favoured Labor electorates. "I note the
Minister's statement through a spokeswomen that he was
apparently not involved in the decision
(more...)
Employment
Participation Minister Mark Arbib needs to shift his focus
away from finding jobs for failed NSW Labor politicians and
prioritise the needs of job seekers around Australia. Newly
appointed Shadow Minister for Employment Participation Mathias
Cormann has called on
(more...)
The Rudd Government had the wrong
priorities by planning to publish average premium increases
for each private health fund while allowing poorly performing
hospitals and surgeons to "float under the radar". The
criticism came from the peak private health insurance body
after Health
(more...)
I n the field of medical
procedures, there are two operations that are considered truly
liberating - cataract removal and hip replacement. Both have
the capacity to rejuvenate and liberate the most disadvantaged
people in our community - the elderly - and both are under
siege by
(more...)
Senate estimates is the time when
instead of Budget night slogans and headlines we get to check
out the fine print. It is the invaluable and robust part of
our democratic process when any hidden Budget nasties will
come to the surface. One of these - yes it is unbelievable -
is a
(more...)
TREASURY has confirmed the
coalition's proposal to increase the tax on tobacco would save
$300 million more than means testing the private health
insurance rebate. The coalition has put forward a plan to
raise the excise on tobacco by 12.5 per cent. Treasury
officials were
(more...)
State Health Minister Kim Hames
has distanced himself from his own department's harsh
criticism of the 30 per cent private health insurance rebate,
declaring he does not want to see
it scrapped. Dr Hames was forced to defend the rebate after
The West Australian
(more...)
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd faces a
$1.6 billion Budget hangover after anti-binge drinking
campaigner Steve Fielding joined with the coalition in the
Senate yesterday to sink the big tax increase on alcopops.
Top-selling brands such as Vodka Cruisers and Bacardi Breezers
(more...)
The private health insurance
rebate should be scrapped or reassessed, critics said
yesterday. Treasury reportedly advised the Rudd Government the
30 per cent rebate was "very poor policy" and should be
scrapped in the aftermath of the last federal election. And
the $3.5 billion
(more...)
Health funds have defied their own
predictions of a membership exodus because of changes to the
Medicare Levy Surcharge, with latest figures revealing
coverage still growing and hitting new peaks. Health Minister
Nicola Roxon yesterday used the results to claim victory in
her
(more...)
New figures defy dire predictions
that changes to the Medicare levy surcharge would lead to an
exodus from private health funds, according to the Federal
Government. The Private Health Insurance Administration
Council reported yesterday more than 11 million Australians
had
(more...)
CANBERRA has a multi-milliondollar
battle on its hands to contain health fund premium rises, with
any increase cutting into $380 million of Medicare surcharge
savings. Health Minister Nicola Roxon pushed through the
controversial changes to the surcharge last year, lifting the
(more...)
Kevin Rudd could run out of time
to make his alcopops tax grab permanent with the Opposition
threatening to stall legislation in the Senate unless he
proves the tax rise has cut binge drinking. The Opposition is
furious the Government has ignored requests for information on
how
(more...)
ONLY a fraction of the thousands
of health training places promised for 2008 have been
released, sabotaging Canberra's attempts to shore up
Australia's under-staffed hospitals. Kevin Rudd's vow to end
the blame game on health has fallen foul of state
bureaucracies, with all but one
(more...)
The Federal Government will try to
push its revised emissions trading scheme through Parliament
in the winter session, according to Climate Change Minister
Penny Wong. And in a swipe at Opposition Leader Malcolm
Turnbull, Senator Wong said the Liberal Leader was "running
(more...)
Thank you very much for joining
Senator Fifield and myself for the release today of the Select
Committee on Fuel and Energy Report: ‘The CPRS: Economic cost
without environmental benefit’. After an inquiry that lasted
nearly a year, investigating the impact of the various
(more...)
Now first of all though, of course
we have just heard that Colin Barnett, the Premier of Western
Australia, and the Kimberley Land Council and have just held a
press conference announcing that they haven’t reached an
agreement. Does this surprise you?
(more...)
Midnight Oil drummer Rob Hirst has
landed bandmate Peter Garrett in hot water by suggesting
yesterday the Federal Environment Minister would veto the
preferred Kimberley site for a gas processing plant He made
the remarks in Broome, where he was performing at a concert
(more...)
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd plans to
ignore a Senate inquiry into emissions trading by pressing
ahead with his proposed scheme without changes. The Australian
Greens yesterday backed an Opposition move to resurrect the
inquiry the Government axed in the House of
(more...)
The Federal Government's plan to reduce Australia's carbon
emissions will be re-examined after Treasurer Wayne Swan
referred the emissions trading scheme to the House economics
committee. It will examine whether carbon trading is the best
way to reduce emissions
(more...)
The Government White Paper released last month confirmed the
scheme would begin in 18 months with a 2020 greenhouse
reduction target of between 5 and 15 per cent, depending on
the outcome of global climate treaty talks this year. But WA
Liberal senator Mathias Cormann
(more...)
On October 29, Vice Chairwoman of the HCM City People’s
Committee Nguyen Thi Thu Ha received a delegation of the
Australian Political Exchange Council led by Mr. Mathias
Cormann, Liberal Senator for Western Australia and Shadow
Parliamentary Secretary for Health
(more...)
“Chúng tôi rất ấn tượng trước những hoạt động của phong trào
thanh niên t́nh nguyện tại VN.Việc Đoàn TNCS Hồ Chí Minh có
thể thu hút được số lượng đoàn viên lên tới hơn 5 triệu người
là điều chúng tôi rất muốn được chia sẻ kinh nghiệm” - thượng
nghị sĩ
(more...)
Chiều 29-10, Phó Chủ tịch UBND TP HCM Nguyễn Thị Thu Hà đă
tiếp xă giao đoàn đại biểu Hội đồng giao lưu chính trị
Australia do ông Mathias Cormann, Thượng nghị sĩ đại diện Tây
Australia, dẫn đầu nhân dịp đoàn đến thăm TP HCM.
(more...)
Đoàn đại biểu gồm các chính khách trẻ tuổi của Úc (thượng nghị
sĩ của 2 đảng: Công đảng - đảng cầm quyền và Tự do) hôm qua đă
đến thăm và làm việc với Báo Thanh Niên tại TP.HCM (ảnh). Qua
tiếp xúc, các thành viên trong đoàn rất ấn tượng trước sự đa
dạng về sản
(more...)
Belgian born WA Liberal senator Mathias Cormann has been asked
to help facilitate the friendship group. Senator Cormann said
he was keen to discuss the ...
(more...)
...When Senator Mathias Cormann (Liberal, WA) asked, "who made
the decision on how to structure the exgratia payment", the
response was that it had been "very much a collegiate affair"
(more...)
Department of Veterans Affairs secretary Mark Sullivan is to
take on a new job as chief executive for Canberra water
utility company ACTEW. Mr Sullivan, who has headed DVA for the
past four years, said he informed the board of ACTEW he would
take the job on Friday evening
(more...)
QUICK
passage of the Government's legislation to deregulate bulk
wheat exports should be assured after Liberals on the Senate
inquiry yesterday backed it, with amendments.
(more...)
Australia’s defence chief has admitted the new training role
for Australian troops in Afghanistan will be more dangerous
than the work being done by the reconstruction team. Air chief
marshal Angus Houston has been facing questions from a Senate
Estimates Committee
(more...)
WA Liberal Senator Mathias Cormann said the decision would
deny access to fast broadband internet for hundreds of
thousands of Western Australians and Premier Alan Carpenter
should demand the program is reinstated.
(more...)
Senator Mathias
Cormann says the Federal Government s decision not to go ahead
with the OPEL broadband network to regional Australia is
scandalous. Mr Cormann has criticised the Federal Government s
plan to roll out its own broadband network as a poor choice
for
(more...)
Now you’re
watching ABC News Breakfast. The Government has launched an
unprecedented
attack on the Coalition, calling it the most obstructionist
opposition in thirty years. Prominent
government ministers fronted the media yesterday to demand
cooperation saying
(more...)
We’re going to be
joined shortly by Shadow Employment Participation Minister
Mathias Cormann. There is some chance early in this bulletin
that we may be interrupted by a news
conference that Julia Gillard is giving where she will no
doubt be talking about
(more...)
Prime Minister
Kevin Rudd says he’s disappointed in himself for not paying
closer attention to the roll out of the Government’s home
insulation programme. That will get him a few votes, by the
way. By taking that tact, which is the one they should have
taken in the first place saying
(more...)
The Federal Opposition is preparing to block key aspects of
the Government's proposed industrial relations changes, saying
they go much further than Labor promised before the election
and could lift unemployment. Opposition Leader Malcolm
Turnbull, who has said that Labor had a
(more...)
Coalition senators will use this week's hearings of the Senate
Industrial Relations Committee
to press for extending the life of the Labor Government's
replacement for Australian Workplace
Agreements.
(more...)
The Federal Opposition has proposed a compromise with the
Government over Australian Workplace Agreements, vowing to
accept the abolition of the controversial agreements if
Labor lets workers stay permanently on transitional individual
contracts that it has
(more...)
THE Federal
Government has moved towards establishing an Australian
Technical College in Brand ahead of this weekend's Federal
election. Labor is opposed to ATCs and signalled it would
merge them into the State's TAFE system if it won office.
(more...)
STUDENTS and staff at Kings College (formerly El Shaddai
College) in Wellard are set to benefit from three Australian
Government grants totalling $129,400 under the Federal
Government's Investing in Our School Program
(more...)
University of WA
Albany opened its doors to the local community last Thursday,
marking its first decade in the Great Southern. More than 300
visitors, including school groups, teachers, carers, advisers,
families and members of the public came to the event to find
out more about the
(more...)
WA's main
aged-care providers are backing the Catholic Church's call for
means-tested accommodation bonds for high-care residents to
ensure the ailing sector survives. Catholic Health Australia
has reversed its 1997 stand against accommodation bonds paid
(more...)
Senior Rudd
Government minister Chris Evans has suggested that Troy
Buswell might have been excluded from a meeting of fellow
State treasurers because of their revulsion at his "personal
characteristics" - a veiled reference to the chair-sniffing
and bra-snapping antics which
(more...)
Alan Carpenter
and Energy Minister Fran Logan will be asked to front a
special Senate inquiry to be grilled over the Varanus Island
gas explosion in a move by the Federal Liberal Party to
embarrass the State Government ahead of next week's election.
(more...)
A Senate
Committee has agreed to hold a federal parliamentary inquiry
into Western Australia's gas crisis, but it is unlikely it
will start before the election. The explosion caused
(more...)
THE
multimillion-dollar Lark Hill Sportplex was officially opened
last Saturday. After a Welcome to Country by Noongar elder
Neville Collard, Brand MHR Gary Gray addressed the crowd.
(more...)
ROCKINGHAM'S
reputation as an aquatic playground will be watertight
following a Federal Government grant of $250,000 to divert
stormwater drainage pipes along the beachfront to dissipation
tanks.
(more...)
In another
windfall of pre-election goodies for Rockingham, the Federal
Government has committed $880,000 towards a replacement PCYC
facility in the city. In a project estimated to be worth $7.4
million, the 35-year-old hall in Smythe Street will be
replaced with a
(more...)
A SPORTING and
community facility in Meadow Springs is a step closer to
reality with a $1.1 million contribution from the Federal
Government. The funding announcement for the Meadow Springs
open space project was made last week by new Western
Australian Senator Mathias Cormann.
(more...)
An open space
project at Meadow Springs has received $1.1 million in Federal
Government funding to provide purpose-built sporting and
community facilities with an education and tourism component.
(more...)
WA Liberal
Senator Mathias Cormann said the fees were irrational,
inequitable and unfair. He notified Mr Turnbull who asked the
commission if the fees complied with the National Water
Initiative. But there may be little the commission could do,
fees were a decision of the
(more...)
A
rare coalition between Liberal, National and Green State Upper
House members is set to block the Government's controversial
new water license fee legislation... In his letter to the
Minister, Senator Cormann said farmers who had used
generational strong water management...
(more...)
WA Liberal
Senator Mathias Cormann has been coordinating the meeting so
the groups can voice their concerns over the State Government
s new licensing system. Mr Cormann has already called on the
state to reconsider its fee structure for the licences, saying
it is debilitating to farmers.
(more...)
WA Liberal
Senator Mathias Cormann says the fees are over the top. The
Minister for Water Resources, John Kobelke, has dismissed the
comments and says Senator Cormann wants to pass the burden
from one group to another.
(more...)
THE State Liberal
Party will attempt to reverse legislation surrounding new
water licensing fees following a meeting with farmers and dam
owners in Manjimup on Friday
(more...)
In his first
Senate speech, Mathias Cormann said federalism is crucial to
his state. Mr Cormann is originally from Belgium and thanked
his family there who were watching on the internet.
(more...)
REGIONAL
Partnerships program funding of $18,472 has helped the West
Arthur Shire to incorporate a pharmacy within the West Arthur
Health and Resource Centre. Western Australia Senator Mathias
Cormann officially opened the pharmacy on Friday.
(more...)
Liberal Party powerbroker Mathias Cormann was sworn into
Federal Parliament this week as WA's newest senator, filling
the vacancy created by former minister Ian Campbell. It was a
smoother than expected entry into Federal Parliament for
Senator Cormann
(more...)
Perhaps buoyed by the tiny shift
in the polls, or perhaps just finally accepting that they did
not win the 2007 election, some opposition senators did good
solid work over this past fortnight scrutinising government
departments. Even after receiving what for them must have been
(more...)
The following note from Senator
Cormann regarding his exchanges with Minister Faulkner on
Monday in Senate Estimates is worth a bit more space than the
Comments section allows.
Dear Peter, Thank you for your interest in the recent exchange
between Senator Faulkner
(more...)
Special Minister of State and
Cabinet Secretary John Faulkner has been through the Senate
Estimates Committee processes interminably over the years, and
probably knows more about the subject than anyone other than
soon to retire Clerk Harry Evans. In the Finance and
(more...)
A Western Australian Liberal
Senator is calling on the Federal Government to pressure banks
to pass on interest rate cuts to farmers and small businesses.
Senator Mathias Cormann says since September, the Reserve Bank
of Australia has cut rates by two per cent, but major
(more...)
Some of the more
notable questioners have been Queensland Liberals George
Brandis, Ian Macdonald and Brett Mason, Victorian Liberal
Michael Ronaldson, former minister Eric Abetz, South
Australian Liberals Nick Minchin and Simon Birmigham, ACT
Liberal Gary Humphries and relative newcomer, WA Liberal
Mathias Cormann.
(more...)
Liberal senators
will push for the Australian Competition and Consumer
Commission to have a strong role in monitoring third-party
access to port terminals when wheat exports are deregulated
from July.
(more...)
A
third of WA Liberal MHRs snubbed yesterday's apology to the
Stolen Generation, refusing to attend the official
parliamentary ceremony - despite the "sorry" motion being
supported unconditionally by their party.
(more...)
WA Senator Mathias Cormann spoke against the apology at
Wednesday's joint party room meeting. He said he would not
abstain but would speak out if given a chance to address
the Parliament.
(more...)
FEDERAL parliament will unite to apologise to the Stolen
Generations and acknowledge past mistreatment of Aboriginal
Australians after Brendan Nelson yesterday asserted his
leadership and demanded his party back the historic statement.
(more...)
The Liberal
Senator, Mathias Cormann, says the answer lies in reducing
land tax and opening public funding for housing to private
competition. WACOSS says massive increases in public housing
are needed to address the shortage.
(more...)