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This website is in imminent danger of being shut down. It has been online since 1995, but the personal circumstances of the owner, Malcolm Farnsworth, are such that economies have to be made. Server costs and suchlike have become prohibitive. At the urging of people online, I have agreed to see if Patreon provides a solution. More information is available at the Patreon website. If you are able to contribute even $1.00/month to keep the site running, please click the Patreon button below.
The 2016 Census came back online at 2.30pm this afternoon and the Australian Bureau of Statistics has again apologised for the outage, whilst reassuring the public that the census is back on track.
The Chief Statistician, David Kalisch, and the Census Manager, Duncan Young, both gave televised statements at 5.20pm, in time for the evening news. No resignations were forthcoming. [Read more…]
This is the amended Administrative Arrangements, following the swearing-in of the Second Turnbull Government.
The Administrative Arrangements outline the responsibilities of government departments and ministers. They show which Acts of Parliament fall within the responsibility of the department and minister. The Order is signed by the Governor-General.
This order renames the Department of the Environment to the Department of the Environment and Energy. It lists the matters to be added to the Department’s responsibilities, including 8 Acts of Parliament. Most of these are taken from the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science. [Read more…]
This is a statement on immigration detention and children, issued by the Department of Immigration and Border Protection.
The statement was issued by the Secretary of the Department, Michael Pezzullo.
Later in the day, a further statement was issued, following criticism of the third paragraph’s statement that “suggestions that detention involves a ‘public numbing and indifference’ similar to that allegedly experienced in Nazi Germany” were offensive.
Both statements are shown below.
Statement from Michael Pezzullo, Secretary of the Department of Immigration and Border Protection.
Immigration detention and children: separating fact from fiction
Consistent with the law of the land, and under direction of the government of the day, the Department of Immigration and Border Protection operates a policy of keeping children in detention only as a last resort, and releasing those children that might be in detention as soon as reasonably practicable.
This is a very contentious area of public policy and administration. Sometimes emotions rise and facts gets distorted. For the reputation of my Department and its officers, it is crucial that I set the record straight: the Department and its uniformed operational arm, the Australian Border Force, does not operate beyond the law, nor is it an immoral ‘rogue agency’.
Recent comparisons of immigration detention centres to ‘gulags’; suggestions that detention involves a “public numbing and indifference” similar to that allegedly experienced in Nazi Germany; and persistent suggestions that detention facilities are places of ‘torture’ are highly offensive, unwarranted and plainly wrong – and yet they continue to be made in some quarters. [Read more…]
Following the reshuffle of the Turnbull ministry, amendments to the Administrative Arrangements Order have been announced.
Responsibility for Population policy moves from the Department of the Environment to the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.
In the aftermath of Jamies Briggs’s resignation, the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet also takes over National policy on cities.
The Administrative Order is shown below, as is the original order from September 30, 2015. [Read more…]