THE CSIRO’s laboratories in Aspendale could be shuttered as part of a long-term plan flagged by the scientific research organisation’s management, with federal budget cuts also putting pressure on the ongoing viability of the facility. The Abbott government announced its intentions to slash funding to the scientific research organisation by about $115 million over four years and the Aspendale facilities, where scientists research the effects of climate change, looks like it could be on the chopping block. Before he was elected prime minister, Tony Abbott infamously said he believed “the so called settled science of climate change … is absolute…
Author: Neil Walker
A KINGTON retailer fears the federal government’s controversial cost-cutting budget, the first by the Abbott government, has caused consumers to keep their hands in their pockets and stop spending money, but believes some shoppers may be jumping at financial shadows. Notions Unlimited Bookshop owner Chuck McKenzie said small businesses had been doing it tough before last month’s budget, and the devil for retailers had been in the reported detail of proposed income cuts to the average household, including $3 billion in family tax benefits budget cuts. “Without wishing to bring politics into it, sales have sharped dropped since the announcement…
KINGSTON councillors have been accused of trying to silence further debate about the possible axing of the village committees system of consultation. Councillors met on Monday evening to finish last month’s ordinary general meeting which was unable to be completed when it ran on until midnight on Monday 26 May. At that meeting, councillors narrowly voted five-to-four to put the village committees “in recess” until a new formal community consultation process was decided upon (‘Village committees canned’, The News, 28/5/14). Appointed residents of nine Kingston village committees have provided feedback to council on issues affecting the community at publicly open…
THE way Kingston City Council consults with the community is set to change after almost 20 years amid claims of “secrecy” and – ironically – a lack of consultation. Kingston councillors clashed during an at times heated debate at Monday night’s council meeting before a close five-to-four vote to suspend the village committees system of consultation that has existed since 1997. Nine Kingston village committees consisting of appointed residents provide feedback to council on issues affecting the municipality. Members are usually appointed for a minimum of two years. The committees advise council and provide comment on council strategies, plans and…
CRITICISM of the Abbott government’s first budget shows no sign of abating, two weeks after controversial cost-cutting measures were unveiled by Treasurer Joe Hockey. Organisations such as the Victorian Council of Social Services (VCOSS) fear the most disadvantaged people in society – the young, the unemployed, the disabled – will be hardest hit by some of the public services cuts (‘Battlers bear budget burden’, The News, 21/5/14) and even some fellow Liberal Party politicians reckon the federal government has gone too far with proposed health and education funding cuts. Carrum Liberal MP Donna Bauer has joined Premier Denis Napthine in…