Two for you….
Turnbull’s $444 million barrier reef fraud exposed
https://kangaroocourtofaustralia.com
11th August 2018
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is in the fight of his life trying to justify his fraudulent awarding of a $444 million grant to the Liberal Party aligned and mining industry backed Great Barrier Reef Foundation. Nine’s Karl Stefanovic has come to Turnbull’s defence on Twitter defending the deal while knowingly concealing that the Great Barrier Reef Foundation is a sponsor of Channel 9.
The problem is that the deal it totally indefensible as all protocols were broken which makes Karl Stefanovic’s cash-for-comment routine blatantly obvious. It also raises issues with Nine’s planned merger with Fairfax Media which I will deal with later but firstly some of the background and Stefanovic’s grubby cash-for-comment Tweet.
I wrote an article last week titled “Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull personally linked to a second multi-million-dollar fraud of taxpayer’s money” which dealt with a number of scams involving Turnbull but missed this fraud and theft as it was not until Monday that more evidence was reported linking Malcolm Turnbull directly to it. The scam in my last article relevant to this article is the $11 million Rainwater Corporation fraud that Turnbull pulled off just before the 2007 election. At the time Turnbull was Environment Minister and he awarded $11 million to a company called Rainwater Corporation, owned by his friend Matt Handbury, even though his department advised against it.
I have no doubt that Malcolm Turnbull is planning similar a fraud and theft with the Great Barrier Reef Foundation as he did with the Rainwater Corporation who claimed they could make it rain. But this time he thinks he won’t be found out like I wrote in the 2012 article “Malcolm Turnbull the rain man who speaks with forked tongue“.
Why? Because this time Turnbull has put the decision-making at arm’s length by giving the money to the Liberal Party aligned Great Barrier Reef Foundation.
The SMH reported on Monday: “Mr Rose said the private foundation was not subject to “important accountability mechanisms” such as freedom of information legislation and oversight by the national audit office.“ (Click here to read more) If the same situation had been in place in 2007 then many of the details would not be known about Malcolm Turnbull’s dodgy $11 million grant to his friend Matt Hanbury’s Rainwater Corporation.
Secretive Great Barrier Reef Foundation reveals four founding leaders
Peter Hannam
The Great Barrier Reef Foundation, the charity controversially granted $443 million by the Turnbull government to co-ordinate reef research, has finally bowed to pressure to reveal the names of its four founding members.
The not-for-profit group, which is under scrutiny in a Senate inquiry, on Wednesday revealed its four founders in late 1999 to be Sir Sydney Schubert, Sir Ian McFarlane, John B Reid and David Windsor.
The disclosure confirms speculation, reported by Fairfax Media in May, that the late Sir Ian, a Queensland shale oil developer, had been among the founders. The organisation has previously declined to reveal its founders, and three of its directors have been unavailable to give evidence to the inquiry.
Of the others, late Sir Sydney was a prominent Queensland public servant and a founding director of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority.
The authority is one of the government agencies, along with the CSIRO and the Australian Institute of Marine Science, that now has to submit proposals to the foundation for research funds.
Mr Reid has been described as the last of the family dynasty to run James Hardie, the company behind one of Australia’s biggest asbestos producers.
Mr Windsor has been previously named as a founding manager director of the foundation.
Bill Shorten says Turnbull must come clean over $444m reef foundation ‘scandal’
Lisa Cox
Turnbull asked to explain half a billion dollar handout to Great Barrier Reef Foundation
01/08/2018
Senators say they will continue to scrutinise a decision to hand close to half a billion dollars in funding to a small not-for-profit organisation.
An inquiry has heard Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull was at the meeting where $443 million was offered to the Great Barrier Reef Foundation.
Senator Kristina Keneally tells Alan Jones the public needs to know how and why the organisation was given the funds.
“They got it in a private meeting between the Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, the Minister for Energy and Environment Josh Frydenberg and the Foundation Chair Dr John Schubert
“And the Prime Minister just gave them the money in this private meeting. “As you say, the foundation didn’t even seek it.”
Minister approves $400m grant to 6 people without any consultation
Minister approves $400m grant to 6 people without any consultation
6th Aug 2018
Drought effected farmers living on 3 minute noodles watching their livestock die of starvation have been subjected to more Turn-bullshit as the government hand over $400M to 6 people to support the greens academic army totally reliant on government grants to exist.
An engineered world wide Greenie fictional fear mongering campaign that the barrier reef is in need of major repair requiring $millions has worked. On the factual side, never considered as relevant, is decades of experience from people working and looking after the reef have exposed this cashing up scam to feed the green machine.
The pittance Turn-bullshit has allocated to desperate drought affected farmers of $15,000 assistance upon completing a plethora of bureaucratic paperwork, will not be completed available until March 2019 long after farmers are destitute and their livestock are dead. Available now is the $400 million feeding the greens camp phd’s and cohort bludgers from the unaccountable public purse.
How much long is it going to take for voters to wake up and remove the duopoly establishment problem from power before the new owners move in.
And one for you…..
‘Tears running down my face’: farmers turn to crowdfunding for support
Emma Koehn
Over the past two weeks dairy farmer Jason Maloney raised $266,000 to save his business – then his accountants delivered bad news.
The farmer launched a Gofundme crowdfunding campaign for his property at Jamberoo, NSW, asking for support from his community “with tears running down my face”.
Maloney says he reached the point where his feeding creditors had pretty much “cut me off” and raising funds to buy food for his cattle was critical.
The campaign took off quickly and more than 4000 donations have so far been secured for the business.
However, Maloney says his accountants then raised an issue – they believed the proceeds of his campaign may be classed as business income,
meaning he may have to pay a significant chunk of it to the tax office.
“The accountants are looking right across everything. I’ve done this so I can help other farmers as well – it’s going to be a lot that’s going to the government now,” Maloney says.
Tax status depends on how funds are used
According to guidance from the ATO, how money from crowdfunding is taxed comes down to the specific circumstances of the raise and tax status is determined according to how the funds are used within the business.
A spokesperson for the ATO told Fairfax Media most farmers looking to raise money this way will not have to pay tax on it but it does depend on how they use it.
“Where the amounts received are spent on deductible expenses, such as purchasing feed for livestock, there will be no net taxable outcome, as the income amounts will be offset by the deductions obtained. This means, for most farmers, there will be no tax payable in relation to money donated to them for their farm expenses,” the spokesperson said.
“The crowdfunding amounts will only be assessable to the extent that they are intended to be for use in the business rather than for other purposes. For example, where the amounts received are intended to be used for emergency relief, such as food and clothing, then these amounts are not assessable.”
Meanwhile, farmers can be assured they will not pay income tax unless they make a net business profit for the financial year, the spokesperson said.
The tax office says it recognises this is an incredibly tough time for those in drought-affected areas and Maloney is not the only one turning to the crowd for help.
Suffering in silence
Tammy and Craig Whatman supply 1.2 million litres of milk to the Australian market from their Mayberry farm in Burrawang, NSW but their more than 300 cows are approaching starvation and drought conditions are pushing them to the edge.
The family was “suffering in silence” and approaching breaking point when Tammy’s sister, Melissa Birta, realised it was time to turn to the community to save their farm.
“My family are the most important thing to me and I didn’t hesitate to try and help,” Birta says.
She launched a Gofundme crowdfunding campaign page with a $500,000 target, featuring a letter from the family pleading for help.
Over the past eight days, Mayberry Farm has raised $33,000 to help feed the cattle and just keep the farm ticking along.
The family says if it turned out their crowdfunding dollars would be subject to taxation, it would be “devastating” to their campaign.
Government help not enough
Fifth-generation Queensland dairy farmer Ashley Gamble says he also turned to crowdfunding to save his family business, because government support for farmers is not enough.
Gamble and his family run a dairy farm in Boodua, outside Toowoomba.
They have so far raised $24,000 of a $150,000 target through the Gofundme campaign, which is called Qld Drought the forgotten state.
The family have also been discussing the farm’s struggles through the Gamble Family Farming Facebook page.
Gamble told Fairfax Media he believed government drought relief support needed to go well beyond what is currently on offer.
“My main concern is to feed my cows and being able to feed those cows so they stay alive,” he says.
“I feel f—ing sick because I am taking honest people’s money and they shouldn’t be helping me. But 100 per cent, the government is where the money should be coming from.”
On Sunday, the federal government announced a $190 million package to further its drought-relief measures.
Under changes to the Farm Household Allowance, eligible farmers will now receive two lump sum payments in September 2018 and March 2019, worth $12,000 for couples and $7200 for single farming households in need.
However, Maloney says for those struggling with buying feed, that additional help is an “insult” and has forced many to turn to the community to keep their businesses running.
“The federal government offering $12,000, well – that doesn’t even cover one load of hay,” he says.
Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources, David Littleproud, said the government’s unveiling of a new payment for affected farmers was designed to help them face the immediate challenges of the drought.
“This is not just $12,000, it’s an extra $12,000. A farming family at the moment would get around $25,000 from the FHA. This is an extra lump sum payment of $12,000 in two instalments that will help them put bread and butter on the table
“This is a fluid situation and we need to be agile as a government and that’s why we’re continually going out and listening,” the minister said.
Dairy farmers plan to walk away from industry after years of financial uncertainty
Dairy farmer Steve Dalitz loves his cows and knows them all by name, but he is preparing to say goodbye to them.
Mr Dalitz has made the tough decision to put his dairy farm on the market.
“I’ll miss the cows but one day I just decided it,” he said.
The combination of low milk prices and high feed and water costs have put enormous financial pressure on the Dalitz family.
“None of our boys are interested in milking cows and I’m 50 now, and it’s just getting harder and harder to make a living from it,” he said
With a $70,000 annual interest bill just to keep the farm running, the third generation farmer is not surprised the next generation does not want to follow in his footsteps.
“I’m happy for our kids to do whatever they want to do, and they’ve probably seen the worst ten years of dairy farming that there’s been,” he said.
“Our oldest son is 20 so he would’ve been 10 when the drought started and all that sort of stuff, so I don’t blame them for not going into dairying.”
Mr Dalitz is not alone.
A recent national survey of dairy farmers found less than half remain confident about the future of the industry, down from 75 per cent four years ago.
In some parts of the country, over a quarter of dairy farmers are thinking about quitting.
conspiracyoz 
Appalling – Mick Raven
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Here’s another link to this Article – Mick Raven
Great Barrier Reef grant decision broke Government’s own rules, environmental lawyers say – ABC News
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-08-08/reef-grant-decision-broke-governments-own-rules-senate-told/10083128
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Here’s another link to this Article – Mick Raven
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