Welcome to the April edition of Wentworth News.
We include:
Reflections on the death of John Paul II,
News of my recent trip to Israel
An inside look at how my office handles immigration cases,
Details of the increase to Australia's skilled migration programme,
News of more Federal funding for
Wentworth,
How the Government is promoting Anzac Day in our schools,
A report on our local Clean Up Australia Day activities,
An update on our campaign to recycle Sydney's wastewater,
Links to my recent speeches in Parliament,
More discussion on Tax Reform ,
A research paper on wireless antennae ,
A Passover greeting to the Jewish Community .
Visit to
Israel
Recently I spent a week in Israel on a private visit. There is an enormous amount to see in Israel (despite its size!). I spent several days in Jerusalem and there met Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom and Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. See my Jerusalem blog
here. I also travelled through the country north to the border with Lebanon and south to the Dead Sea and Masada. I inspected the water reclamation projects of the Jewish National Fund on the Yarkon and Alexander Rivers.
Israel is well known for its achievements in information and communications technology and Paul Israel of the Israel-Australia Chamber of Commerce introduced me to some of the brightest minds in Israeli science including their chief scientist Dr Eli Opper.
But my main scientific interest while visiting Israel was water, and Paul was very efficient in that regard too. As one of the world's driest countries, Israel has had no choice but to get very smart with the way it deals with water. The Israelis recycle more than 2/3 of their waste water: the highest recycling percentage in the world. They are also leaders in desalination and I visited the world's largest, and newest, desalination plant at Ashkelon. It will shortly produce 100 billion litres of fresh water each year. Not far from Ashkelon was the Shaf-Dan Sewage Reclamation Plant. It recycles about one third of Israel's sewage and produces about 125 billion litres of recycled water that is used for agriculture and irrigation. Read more about Israel and water science on my blog here.
I also spent a day visiting some leading figures in the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah and Bethlehem. It gave me a good opportunity to have a close look at some of the Israeli suburbs near Jerusalem and of course, at the controversial security fence in its different manifestations. Read more
here.
Update from the Wentworth Electorate Office
A high percentage of the constituent cases we deal with in my Electorate Office are immigration related. They include visitor visas, spouse visas, parent visas, student visas, general skilled visas, business visas, employer sponsorship visas and protection visas.
Dealing with these cases is often difficult and demanding and requires tact, discretion, follow-through and patience. My electorate officer, Anthony Orkin , is especially endowed with all these qualities! Read about some examples of the immigration cases we have dealt with and the feedback from constituents here .
Skilled Immigration Increase
The Federal Government announced that the Skill Stream of the 2005-06 Migration Program will increase for the eighth successive year, providing up to 20,000 additional places to help meet Australia's short and long-term labour force needs.The increase to 97,500 reflects the continued growth in the Skill Stream which has rise from 34,600 in 1997-98. For more information visit the DIMIA website.
Federal Funding for Wentworth
The Federal Government will provide $2 million under the Building Our National Transport Future policy to resurface access roads and pavements on the seaward side of Campbell Parade and building of a new intersection at Campbell Parade and Lamrock Parade in Bondi Beach.
The Federal Government has approved 70 new residential places at the soon to be built Bondi Waters Residential Aged Care facility under the Investing in Australia's Aged Care: More Places, Better Care package. 55 places will be in the general category, 12 in Dementia and 3 in Respite. The estimated total value is $995,190 or $14,217 per place.
The Federal Government has approved new funding of $33,784 for the Greek Welfare Centre under the National Respite for Carers Program. The funding will help working carers from the Greek community living in the Randwick, Waverley and Woollahra Local Government Areas.
Wentworth Schools Honour Anzac Day
To assist in commemorating Anzac Day next week, the Federal Government has provided all
Wentworth schools with packs of materials, including educational resources and posters.
This will help ensure that younger Wentworth residents continue to embrace the Anzac traditions of commemoration and remembrance. The Federal Government has an excellent website dedicated to the Anzacs.
Our thoughts this Anzac Day are especially with the families of those who lost their lives in the Sea King crash earlier this month and the surviving crewmen now recovering from their injuries. This tragedy was a reminder of the risks the members of the Australian Defence Forces face serving our nation.
The Prime Minister will be at Gallipoli this Anzac Day and has asked me to represent him at the Anzac Day Sunset Service at the Cenotaph in Martin Place.
On a personal note, I was able to visit the Commonwealth War Memorial cemetery in Jerusalem at Mount Scopus. Beautifully maintained, it contains the remains of hundreds of British, Australian and New Zealand soldiers who lost their lives in the Palestine campaign of the First World War.
Clean Up Australia Day in Wentworth
I was joined by over 60 volunteers on Clean Up Australia Day - Australia's largest grass roots community environmental event. In glorious sunshine, our team collected more than 40 bags of rubbish from Rose Bay Beach. I was thrilled that so many children took part in our clean up. Clean Up Australia Day provides the perfect opportunity for children to learn about environmental responsibility. See the photos
here.
Start Recycling Now
As you know, I launched a campaign to promote large scale water recycling and to reduce ocean pollution. I also set up a website http://www.startrecyclingnow.com.au/ with an online petition. Please register your support for this initiative by filling in the petition.
We live on the edge of the driest continent on Earth, water levels are at an all time low, water restrictions are at their most severe and yet every year over 400 billion litres of barely treated sewage is pumped out to sea through Sydney's ocean outfalls. This sewage is not only polluting our oceans, it is wasting water - and at the height of
Sydney's water crisis.
My report on visits to Israeli water reclamation and desalination plants is on my website here
The Business Council of Australia has released an excellent report on infrastructure in Australia prepared by Port Jackson Partners. It includes an analysis of Sydney's water needs, confirming that we are heading to a massive excess of demand over sustainable yield unless something is done, and soon. The Report can be downloaded on my downloads page
here
Speeches in Parliament
In the last sitting week of Parliament I gave speeches on the death of Rafik Hariri , Migration Litigation, Trafficking of Women and the tabling of a Report on Ageing from the House of Representatives Health and Ageing Committee. The speeches can be accessed
here.
Tax Reform – the Debate Continues
The lively discussion of tax reform continues. A few weeks ago I participated in the Melbourne Institute's “Sustaining Prosperity” Conference which is sponsored, and comprehensively covered, by The Australian newspaper. My speech is in the speeches' section of the website or, available as a download (complete with footnotes),at the downloads section here. I have also included as a download a slide presentation and paper by Professor John Freebairn, the incoming head of the Melbourne Insitute, on approaches to lowering the tax rate and broadening the tax base. Another very useful paper on that theme is the recent tax reform proposal from the Business Council of Australia, which is also available from my downloads section.
Flat taxes have often been described as being not very far from “flat earth” in terms of fiscal eccentricity. However, as The Economist reports in its cover story (and as I had noted the previous week in my speech in
Melbourne), flat taxes are becoming rather vogueish in Eastern Europe. Many countries are experimenting, boldly, with radical tax reform and the results are worth watching and appraising with care.
The Centre for Independent Studies continues to publish provocative and insightful works on tax reform. For their latest publications see
here.
Wireless Antennae
Last year there was a lot of controversy over the siting of a Vodafone 3G antenna in Hewlett Street Bronte. I undertook at the time to see what I could find out about the regulatory regimes in other comparable developed countries. The result of that work (to which I am indebted to the Parliamentary Library) is available as a download from my website here.
Passover – Festival of Freedom
I take this opportunity to wish the Jewish community in Wentworth a chag sameach for the fast approaching Festival of Passover - Pesach. This sacred holiday commemorates the liberation of the Israelites from slavery and the beginning of their exodus from Egypt to Israel.
Yours sincerely,
Malcolm Turnbull, MP
Member for Wentworth