This offer document was published by the Australian Government to the internet this morning, I presume it's still there now as you read it. It strikes me that the clients who read and accept our offer would have reasonable grounds for expecting that we'll deliver.
Fact Sheet 63 – Immigration Advice and Application Assistance Scheme
This scheme gives free, professional migration advice and application
assistance to eligible immigration clients. It ceases once the visa
applied for has been finally determined as granted, or refused following
merits review.
Who is the Immigration Advice and Application Assistance Scheme for?
Protection visa applicants in detention and the most disadvantaged
protection visa applicants and other visa applicants in the community
are able to seek assistance under this scheme
Coalition vows to stop funding legal advice for asylum seekers
The Federal Opposition is promising to stop funding immigration advice for asylum seekers if it wins next week's election.
The Coalition has unveiled the final plank of its border protection policy today.
Currently, Australian taxpayers fund refugee claims and legal appeals.
The Coalition says while it would not stop people accessing the help, it would stop funding it.
The move is expected to save about $100 million over four years.
The
changes would also mean anyone who arrives by boat or plane and applies
for asylum will not get help for free while doing so.
Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison told the ABC's AM program refugees would have to pay for legal advice.
"People
can still make the claims, obviously, and if others in the community
want to provide that advice free of charge or they want to pay for that
advice, they can continue," he said.
"We won't be stopping access to advice but the taxpayer will no longer be on the hook for it.
Shaz reports that she was on the water in her own boat yesterday and saw HMAS Warramunga coming in to Christmas Island. She saw about 130 people on board and took these photos from the water on a beautiful day on CI.
Beautiful, inspiring words that embody British civilisation, chivalry, duty and honour.
“It symbolises love, with a young man strapping it to his body because it was an engagement present from his fiancee,” he said.
“It
epitomises bravery. He knew there would be no lifeboats. It
symbolises everything that's good about people...."
THE violin played by the Titanic's bandmaster as the ship sank beneath the waves sold at auction for $1.5 million, a world record for memorabilia from the doomed liner.
Wallace Hartley's violin was found strapped to his body after he drowned with some 1,500 others on board the supposedly unsinkable ship in 1912.
It was sold to a British collector after a feverish 10-minute battle between telephone bidders at Titanic specialist auctioneers Henry Aldridge and Son in Devizes, southwest England.
The instrument carries an inscription from the 33-year-old's fiancee Maria Robinson to mark their engagement and was sold with the leather luggage case, initialled W.H.H, in which it was found.
For decades the violin was believed lost but it was found in the attic of a house in northwest England in 2006, prompting a debate about its authenticity, which experts only recently resolved.
“We're absolutely overjoyed,” said Christine Aldridge, a spokeswoman for the auction house.
“It was sold to a UK collector who was bidding by telephone. The whole sale only took about 10 minutes.”
She said the final price including premiums paid to the auction house was $1.75m.
Hartley's band famously decided to continue performing as the Titanic sank, playing the hymn “Nearer, My God, to Thee” to comfort the panicked passengers as they sought places in the few lifeboats.
Hartley and his seven bandmates all died when the ship slipped beneath the icy North Atlantic on April 15, 1912, after hitting an iceberg.
Bidding for the violin started at just $85, with principal auctioneer Alan Aldridge joking that he was setting the price so low so that two of his friends could bid.
But within a few minutes it had passed the previous world record of $368,000 for a piece of Titanic memorabilia sold at auction, a 10-metre plan of the ship that went under the hammer in 2011.
There were gasps from the 200 people packed into the auction house as the price reached $585,000 and then a tense silence as the battle for the instrument narrowed to two telephone bidders.
Andrew Aldridge, a valuer with the auctioneer, said he hoped the violin would stay in Britain and go on display.
“It symbolises love, with a young man strapping it to his body because it was an engagement present from his fiancee,” he said.
“It also epitomises bravery. He knew there would be no lifeboats. It symbolises everything that's good about people, not just Wallace Hartley and his band, but all the men, women and children who lost their lives.”
Hartley was given the maple, spruce and ebony violin by his fiancee in 1910.
She had a silver plaque fixed to the instrument engraved with the words: “For Wallace, on the occasion of our engagement. From Maria.”
It is now thought that the instrument was inside a leather bag that was found strapped to his body 10 days after the sinking, and was then passed to Robinson.
- See more at: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/record-auction-price-for-a-symbol-of-love-the-violin-played-as-the-titanic-went-down/story-e6frg6so-1226743243445#sthash.tl3NtPHy.dpuf
WALLACE HARTLEY VIOLIN ARCHIVE - R.M.S. TITANIC: THE LONG LOST VIOLIN OF TITANIC BANDMASTER WALLACE HARTLEY, A GIFT FROM HIS FIANCÉE MARIA ROBINSON AND CARRIED WITH HIM ON THE ILL-FATED TITANIC. The violin is German, probably Berlin or Dresden school, circa 1880, bearing a later label Giovan Paolo Maggini brescia (sic), a copy of a Maggini with double purfled back and front, the two piece back of medium curl descending from the joint. The ribs and head of similar wood, the table of medium grain narrowing on the flanks. The original varnish now largely absent of a dark brown colour with a later golden brown covering. The length of the back is 360mm. The tailplate fitted to the violin bears a silver hallmark Chester, 1910 engraved "For Wallace on the occasion of our ENGAGEMENT from MARIA". The violin is one of the most iconic collectables of the 20th century and bears testimony to the courage and spirit of the Bandsman onboard the Titanic who played until the end on that fateful night. The extensive history of the violin and the Hartley/Robinson archive are listed in the chronology that accompanies the sale catalogue. The originals of all scientific and historical reports are included within the sale of this lot. They will be available for inspection to all pre-approved clients wishing to bid on this violin. Copies of these documents will also accompany the purchase of the Valise Lot 231.
The full history of the violin and Hartley collection can be found in the sale catalogue. Please contact the auctioneers for details of the pre-approval protocol to bid on this lot.
I saw two large planes on final approach abort landing - the first of them went on very steep climb with gear still down for quite a while. The second aeroplane aborted about Kurnell.
I watched the main runway stop functioning with a Virgin aeroplane followed by a Cathay Pacific large aeroplane in the taxi queue for take-off just sitting there for about 45 minutes.
I've heard that a United Airlines 747 is dumping fuel at sea, it's holding at about 7000 feet 30 miles offshore.
“They've changed the media strategy around it, they've
changed the secrecy around it, but there is not one part of the policy that we
put in place with the regional resettlement arrangements that they've shifted.
Really?
Temporary Protection Visas are back. To me, that's the biggest deterrent, no family reunion, no permanent residence and back home as soon as conditions allow.
LABOR says any reduction in the number of boat arrivals is
because of the previous government's hardline regional resettlement policy,
introduced before the election.
Tony Abbott said yesterday the number of asylum-seekers
arriving by boat had dropped dramatically since the election of the Coalition
government.
But while he said they hadn't stopped completely, he
expressed confidence reduced numbers were arriving. “I can say to you with
great confidence, they are stopping,” Mr Abbott said.
But former immigration minister Tony Burke, the minister
responsible for introducing the Rudd government's policy of sending boat
arrivals to Papua New Guinea or Nauru for resettlement, said that plan was
responsible for the reduction in boats, not Coalition policy.
“They've changed the media strategy around it, they've
changed the secrecy around it, but there is not one part of the policy that we
put in place with the regional resettlement arrangements that they've shifted.
“They've haven't gone around boats and turned them back.
They haven't to my knowledge gone through Indonesian fishing villages buying
boats. What they've been doing is implementing the regional resettlement
arrangements and they work.”
However, the Labor frontbencher said it would be “churlish”
of him not to credit the Coalition with implementing the resettlement plan.
“They are implementing it. There are ways you can wreck it,”
he said.
The newly-appointed manager of opposition business said he
was confident Labor would stick with the hardline policy despite divisions
within the party on refugees.
Coalition Government resurrects temporary protection visas
UpdatedSat 19 Oct 2013, 6:31am AEDT
The Federal Government has officially reintroduced the Howard-era temporary protection visas (TPV).
Under the Migration Act, the visa gives refugees protection for up to three years and prevents the visa holder from applying for permanent protection.
Reintroducing TPVs was one of the Coalition's key election promises.
In August, Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced plans to deal with the backlog of nearly 32,000 people already in Australia on bridging visas in detention centres.
He said the Coalition would introduce a rapid audit of their claims, by which a single immigration case worker would decide the refugee status of people who had arrived in Australia by boat.
Those found to be refugees would be given TPVs, with no prospect of permanent settlement - including for family reunions.
Those judged to have no refugee claim would be deported or detained, and stripped of appeal rights.
Yesterday the Sydney Morning Herald published this story by Kate McClymont. Here are the final few paragraphs.
Couple tried to fight crooked union boss
In the late 1990s union officials Alan Ivers and Bill
O'Connor took action in the Industrial Relations Commission to see the union's
books.
On Williamson's union-issued American Express card were
purchases for Chanel perfume, jewellery, restaurant bills, a $1045 David Jones
purchase, valet parking, a gas bill, a $308 bike, shoes, designer handbags, a
mattress, a $579 purchase at Chippendale Cellars and more.
But they were also surprised to see that Williamson's
mistress Cheryl McMillan also had a credit card on which she had racked up
personal expenses.
Armed with this evidence of flagrant rorting, in 1999 Mark
and Janice Hardacre, Mr Ivers, Paul Ford and Mr O'Connor ran a ticket
challenging Williamson for control of the union.
When they revealed details of the rorts, Williamson hit them
with a law suit. Armed with access to the union coffers, Williamson used
solicitor Greg Keating, now a District Court judge, to sue the rival team for
$750,000 for suggesting he was corrupt.
Faced with losing their houses, after four years of what
they collectively describe as ''hell'', they settled the case with Williamson.
His opponents each paid between $25,000 and $50,000 in legal costs. A term of
the settlement was that they never mention the allegations again.
''He behaved in a criminal way and he had done so from the
very beginning,'' said Mr Ivers, now retired.
Bruce Wilson turned to a future Labor Prime Minister and a future Federal Court Judge to bring defamation proceedings on Ralph Blewitt's behalf.
Michael Williamson turned to a Labor Prime Minister's brother who would be appointed a District Court Judge to bring proceedings on his behalf. Judge Keating made a tidy sum on the sale of his interest in the McClellands law firm to Slater and Gordon. Small world.
THE NSW Labor Government has appointed Greg Keating, brother
of former Labor prime minister Paul Keating, to a $306,990 job as president of
the state's Workers Compensation Commission.
Mr Keating's appointment comes just two months after he
shared in a windfall of up to $5million when he sold his interest in Sydney law
firm McClellands to Slater & Gordon Ltd.
Because the presidency of the commission is reserved for
judges, Mr Keating has also been appointed a judge of the NSW District Court,
triggering calls for reform of the judicial selection process. "Greg
Keating is a very able lawyer but it is for others to judge whether his
relationship to Paul Keating has advanced his cause," said Opposition
legal affairs spokesman Greg Smith.
"Next time, I'd like to see a more transparent process
such as the British system where a separate body interviews candidates and
checks their competency."
Industrial Relations Minister John Della Bosca said Mr Keating,
52, had extensive legal and specialist workers compensation experience.
He had practised as a solicitor for 26 years, had been an
acting judge of the District Court for three years to June 1999, and had been a
director of the NSW WorkCover Authority since 1998, Mr Della Bosca said.
Mr Keating, 13 years junior to his famous brother and the
youngest of the four Keating children, did not go to university to obtain his
legal qualification, instead doing a Solicitors Admissions Board course at
night.
"My father was never real keen on university
graduates," he told Paul Keating's biographer John Edwards.
"There was never any great pressure to go to university
... certainly not from Dad's point of view - he used to describe university
graduates as bums."
Until the sale of McClellands to Slater & Gordon in
August, Mr Keating had been managing partner of the firm founded by the late
Labor senator "Diamond" Jim McClelland.
Mr Keating guided the firm through a prostitution scandal
involving former partner Michael Ryan who had been acting for former Federal
Court judge Marcus Einfeld.
He has also been a keen property investor, leading a
syndicate that bought a parcel of land next to Sydney's Olympic stadium eight
months before the NSW government announced its decision to bid for the 2000
Olympics at Homebush. At the Workers Compensation Commission, Mr Keating will
be replacing current president Terry Sheahan, a former president of the NSW
Labor Party and former state attorney-general. Mr Keating's presidential salary
of $306,990 falls short of the $321,670 special pay deal that the state
Government made with Justice Sheahan.
The ABC calls the research the "ABC Appreciation Survey". It's conducted by the Newspoll organisation and you can find this year's here and previous years back to 2003 here.
The report tells us that 48% of Australians listen to nil ABC radio and 29% watch nil ABC TV.
The ABC's web-based services have been used by 37% of Australians once, with 16% using the ABC online at least once a week.
I'll post the executive summary and the report's findings on the ABC and its charter obligations and trust/impartiality measures on ABC flagship news programs.
