Category Archives: Liberal

Liberals enthusiastically pick the Munawar Faruqui saga, but remain silent on the lynching of two sadhus by a mob in Maharashtra. This blinkeredness is not serving any true liberal clause in any real sense

Freedom of expression has been much in the Indian news these last few weeks.

Dress and furnishings maker FabIndia came under fire for referring to Deepavali as Jashn-e-Riwaaj. Actor Kangana Ranaut faced a furore for saying that the Independence we got in 1947 was alms (bheekh) and that real freedom came only in 2014.

Comedian Vir Das had police cases filed against him for his monologue in Washington DC on two Indias. Munawar Faruqui says he will quit stand-up comedy after several of his shows were cancelled due to fears about protests.

Fashion designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee withdrew an advertising campaign for his line ofmangalsutrasthat featured surly women in lingerie and the Hindu necklace that signals marital status. Journalist Rana Ayyub wrote inThe Washington Postthat the filmSooryavanshiwas dangerous and that every third frame of the film is a bloodcurdling Islamophobic image.

As any sufficiently logical person could tell us, freedom of expression finally distills down to the right to offend. As Salman Rushdie, who surely knows more on this matter than most of us, stated famously: Without the freedom to offend, (freedom of expression) ceases to exist. But people surely also have the right to be offended?

I believe in the efficiency of markets, as long as broad but effective government regulations exist to deter and punish the wayward. The same applies to a democratic society. Free speech too is subject to some freedoms and conditions, as laid down in our Constitution.

FabIndia and Sabyasachi should be free to advertise their wares as they think fit and in a way that they think would attract customers. But it is also entirely within the rights of some potential consumers to say: Their message offends us. Dont buy their products. Everyone is free to buy a FabIndia kurta or a piece of Sabyasachi-designed jewellery. Just as any citizen has the right to protest peacefully in front of a FabIndia store.

Stakeholder activism is an integral part of markets, and corporations include customers in their definition of stakeholders. One could cite many examples of ads being withdrawn by major brands after a consumer backlash, but two will suffice.

In 2009, Bacardi ran an ad that seemed to imply that ugly women would look more attractive if men had a few pegs of the white rum. In 2017, a Pepsi ad showed a white woman offering a can of the beverage to a policeman watching over a peaceful street protest. The protestors cheer her and the policeman grins appreciatively. Black Lives Matter activists felt that the ad trivialised their movement against police brutality. Both companies decided that it would be better for businesses to apologise and withdraw the ads.

These principles apply in India too. And it is up to the brands to decide how to respond to criticism, based on their understanding of the market.

Two groups are at war every day on Indian social media. Some Indians spend their waking hours abusing Narendra Modi, and the rival group spends 18 hours a day praising every move that Modi may or not have made. Both sides often make wild claims and are rude and cruel. I support the freedom of expression of both sides while retaining my right to laugh at or be annoyed by their opinions.

But questions remain. Why does the recent Tamil hit film, based on a true incident, change the religion of the real villainous police officer from Christian to Hindu, and de-Hinduise the names of a few of the victims? Will Sabyasachi ever designhijabsand run a campaign with women dressed only inhijabsand undergarments?

Liberals are upset because, inSooryavanshi, terrorists offernamaazbefore they go off to kill innocents. But it is an irrefutable fact thatjihadisbelieve they are doing Allahs will and seek His blessings before setting off on their ghastly missions. In fact, several characters and scenes inSooryavanshistrongly refute the easy generalisation that Indian Muslims support acts of terror. The villains are even given back-stories where they lost family members in riots, which led to their thirst for revenge on Hindustan. As the films director Rohit Shetty has noted, no questions were asked about religion and caste when he had Hindu villains in all his other films. And those men had no back-stories to even remotely explain their venality.

I have watched the objectionable Munawar Faruqui videos. Humour is of course the ultimate test of freedom of speech. But to joke about the 59 human beings many of them women and children who were burnt alive at Godhra is not merely tasteless; many comedians across the world have made their fame and fortune from being tasteless. Such a gag could inflame a few hotheads enough to put some more innocent lives in danger. And we should feel exactly the same way if someone made fun of the Muslims who died in the post-Godhra riots. The right to offend comes with some boundary conditions.

Much of the liberal outrage that we see currently seems to be highly selective. Faruqui is being portrayed as a victim of Islamophobia, but if say a Brahmin called Mahesh Tiwari cracked a burning train joke about the Godhra incident, would he not have faced the same criticism that Faruqui faces?

Islamophobia has become such a broad-brush term used at the drop of a hat, that one doesnt even know what it means any more.

I cant remember any liberal condemnation of Haji Yakoob Qureshi, the Bahujan Samaj Party leader from Meerut, when he announced a Rs 51-crore reward for the men who killed journalists working for the French satirical magazineCharlie Hebdo. Would such a condemnation have been Islamophobic?

Last week, the Toronto District School Board cancelled a talk by Nadia Murad, an escapee from the Islamic States sex slavery and a Nobel Peace Prize winner. Apparently, Murad, a Muslim victim, talking about Islamist terrorism could promote Islamophobia and offend Muslim students. Indian liberals cheered the American academics who organised the Dismantling Global Hindutva conference, held ironically to coincide with the 20thanniversary of the 9/11 attacks by Al Qaeda. Yet, they and the same American intellectuals have not even hinted that the Toronto Boards decision could be problematic.

Indian liberals pick and choose their outrages. They stay silent when twosadhusand their driver are lynched by a mob in Maharashtra with the police looking on helplessly, when a Hindutva leader is killed after public rallies openly call for his beheading, or when armed agitators try to raise the Khalistan flag at Red Fort on our Republic Day.

This blinkeredness is not serving any true liberal clause in any real sense. Let the same logic be applied uniformly to all to both people who need their rights protected and to those who need to be denounced. Freedom of expression is too precious a commodity. Its myopic adulteration is dangerous for our society.

The writer is a former editor of Financial Express, and founder-editor of Open and Swarajya magazines. Views expressed are personal.

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Why liberals should not pick and choose outrages based on their whims and fancies - Firstpost

BEIJING, Dec. 3, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- China Liberal Education Holdings Limited (Nasdaq: CLEU) ("China Liberal", or the "Company", or "we"), aChina-based company that provides smart campus solutions and other educational services, today announced its financial results for the first six months of fiscal year 2021.

Ms.Ngai Ngai Lam, Chairwoman and CEO of China Liberal, commented, "We still delivered respectable results in the first half of the fiscal year 2021, although the ongoing uncertainties associated with the COVID-19 pandemic caused many Chinese universities and colleges to hold off on their 'smart campus' project plans. Through our efforts and dedication, we achieved highly resilient financial results while prioritizing our customers during the pandemic. For the first half of fiscal year 2021, our revenue decreased by 18.5% year-over-year to $1.85 million from $2.27 million for the same period last year. However, our gross profit reached $1.37 million, an increase of 74.3% from $0.79 million for the same period of last year, and our gross margin was 74.2%, a year-over-year increase of 39.5% from 34.7% for the same period of last year. We are also excited about our business progress of integration of enterprises and vocational education business(tailored job readiness training services). To address the actual needs of regional economic development and industrial upgrading and transformation, we provided colleges and universities with school-enterprise integrated education solutions. We strived to establish a talent training system and a comprehensive platform, providing talent trainings and co-op opportunities for students. In addition, our self-developed and patented all-in-one teaching machine, AI-Space machine, has been recognized by the market and the industry and installed in several colleges and universities across China, including Beijing Foreign Studies University, Beijing Language and Culture University, and Straits Institute of Minjiang University, laying a solid foundation for our future potential revenue growth. We believe that we are well-positioned for the future with our brand awareness, innovative technologies, and loyal customer base."

First Six Months of Fiscal Year 2021 Financial Highlights

For the Six Months Ended June 30,

($ millions, except per share data)

2021

2020

%Change

Revenue

1.85

2.27

-18.5%

Gross profit

1.37

0.79

74.3%

Gross margin

74.2%

34.7%

39.5%

Income (Loss) from operations

0.30

(0.11)

NM

Operating profit(loss) margin

16.3%

-5.0%

NM

Net income (loss)

0.23

(0.08)

NM

Basic and diluted earnings (loss) per share

0.03

(0.02)

NM

First Six Months of Fiscal Year 2021 Financial Results

Revenue

Revenue decreased by 18.5% year-over-year to $1.85 million for the six months ended June 30, 2021 from $2.27 million for the same period last year. The decrease in revenue was mainly driven by decreased revenue from technological consulting services for smart campus solutions as the Company did not enter into new large "smart campus" project contract with Chinese universities/ colleges during the six months ended June 30, 2021 since continued uncertainties associated with the COVID-19 pandemic caused many Chinese universities/colleges to hold off on their "smart campus" project plans.

For the Six Months Ended June 30,

($ millions)

2021

2020

Revenue

Revenue

Cost of Revenue

Gross Margin

Revenue

Cost of Revenue

Gross Margin

Sino-foreign Jointly Managed Academic Programs

1.42

0.23

84.0%

1.26

0.26

79.2%

Technological Consulting Services for Smart Campus Solutions

0.34

0.19

43.9%

0.93

1.21

-29.3%

Overseas Study Consulting Services

0.03

0.02

29.3%

0.07

0.01

82.9%

Tailored Job Readiness Training Services

0.07

0.04

37.9%

-

-

-

Total

1.85

0.48

74.2%

2.27

1.48

34.7%

For the six months ended June 30, 2021, revenue from sino-foreign jointly managed academic programs increased by $0.16 million, or 12.3%, to $1.42 million, from $1.26 million for the same period last year. This increase was primarily attributed to an increase in the number of students by 173 or 6.5%, to 2,841 students in six months ended June 30, 2021, from 2,668 students in six months ended June 30, 2020. Furthermore, the increase is also attributable to an approximately 9.03% positive impact from foreign currency fluctuation when the average exchange rate used in converting RMB into USD increased from $1 to RMB 7.0416 in the six months ended June 30, 2020 to $1 to RMB 6.4587 in the six months ended June 30, 2021. The increase is partially offset by a 3.3% decrease in average tuition fees. The decrease in average tuition fee was mainly caused by change in student mix enrolled in different academic programs with the universities/ colleges.

Revenue from technological consulting services for smart campus solutions decreased by $0.59 million, or 63.8%, to $0.34 million for the six months ended June 30, 2021, from $0.93 million for the same period last year. The decrease was primarily because the Company did not obtain smart campus projects of large size during the six months ended June 30, 2021. In addition, the continued uncertainties associated with COVID-19 caused many Chinese universities/colleges to hold their "smart campus" project plans.

Revenue from overseas study consulting services decreased by $0.04 million, or 64.2%, to $0.03 million for the six months ended June 30, 2021, from $0.07 million for the same period last year. The decrease was mainly due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic which caused certain countries closed its borders and imposed travel restrictions. As a result, the number of students interested in seeking overseas education reduced significantly. A portion of our revenue from overseas study consulting services was recognized when the students received offers and obtained appropriate visas. For the six months ended June 30, 2021, none of the students who participated in overseas consulting services received offers or visas as they have not yet completed their trainings and studies compared to 11 students who received school offers and obtained visas in the same period in 2020.

Revenue from tailored job readiness training services was $0.07 million for the six months ended June 30, 2021, compared with nil for the same period last year. The Company provided tailored job readiness training services to more than 130 students for the six months ended June 30, 2021.

Cost of Revenue

Cost of revenue decreased by $1.00 million, or 67.8%, to $0.48 million for the six months ended June 30, 2021, from $1.48 million for the same period last year, primarily due to the decreased hardware costs of $1.02 million associated with the smart campus projects.

Gross Profit

Gross profit increased by$0.58 million, or 74.3%, to$1.37 millionfor the six months endedJune 30, 2021, from$0.79 millionfor the same period last year, while gross profit margin increased by 39.5%, to 74.2% for the six months endedJune 30, 2020,from 34.7% for the same period last year. The increase in gross profit and gross margin was primarily due to decreased hardware costs associated with the Company's technological consulting service projects.

Operating Expenses

Selling expenses decreased by$53,872, or 41.3%, to$76,593for the six months endedJune 30, 2021, from$130,465for the same period last year. The decrease in selling expenses was primarily attributable to the decrease in the rental and office expenses and depreciation expenses by $54,679 when the Company relocated to a smaller office space.

General and administrative expenses increased by$224,833, or 29.2%, to$995,451for the six months endedJune 30, 2021, from$770,618for the same period last year, primarily due to an increase in salaries and welfares expenses of $74,630 resulting from increased number of administrative employees, an increase in professional services fees of $57,300, an increase in share-based compensation to independent directors of $53,250 and an increase in independent director compensation of $28,419.

Interest Income

Interest income decreased by $22,797 or 27.5%, to $59,973 for the six months ended June 30, 2021, from $82,770 for the same period last year. In connection with the Company's technological consulting services for smart campus projects, the Company recognized financing component resulted from a timing difference between when control is transferred and when the Company collected cash consideration from the customer. For the six months ended June 30, 2021 and 2020, the Company recognized $56,511 and $79,907 interest income in connection with the aforementioned financing component, respectively.

Other Expense

Other expense was $7,249 and $907 for the six months ended June 30, 2021 and 2020, respectively, the increase was due to increased bank charges.

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China Liberal Education Holdings Limited Reports Financial Results for the First Six Months of Fiscal Year 2021 - PRNewswire

Most roads in the city have become unfit for travel: they are either untarred or filled with potholes and dust.

While the recent incessant rains did have an impact on the roads, much of the damage has been caused by their reckless and repeated digging by various government agencies and/or privatetelecom companies.

And now we have data that shows just how bad the roads have become. Consider this: in the last two years, municipal authorities have givenpermission for digging a staggering 6,571 km of roads for the purpose of laying underground pipelines or cables.

The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) accounts for the bulk of these road-digging expeditions: it received permission for laying underground water and drainage pipelines on 3,500 kilometres of roads. While the BWSSB had completed about 90% of the work, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) says it hasnt been able to restore the dug-up roads due to a lack of funds.

The BBMP recently allowed the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company(Bescom) to dig roads for laying1,561 km of underground cables. The electricity board, which previously laid cables for 4,500 km, plans to take up fresh works mostly in the citys outer areas.

GAIL India has received approvals for laying gas pipelines along 1,510 km of road. Of this, 110 km will be covered by the mainlinewhile the remaining 1,400 km is for distribution lines.

The BBMP has also been generously approving private companies requestsfor laying optical fibre cables.

A senior BBMP official defended the approval of such requests, sayingthese utilities are very much needed for the city. Once an asphalted road is dug up, it loses its binding, and fixing it does not entirely help. Approvals are given only after a joint inspection of the road. If the road has been asphalted recently, the requestsare denied, the official said.

Better days ahead?

With the BBMP council elections to be held soon, officials are planning to asphalt all the bad roads in the next two to three months. About 3,500 km of the roads dug up by the BWSSB mainly in the outer areas are likely to be restored by December-end.

We have finalised the tenders. Once the state government gives the approval, we will start the work,said B S Prahlad, chief engineer in the BBMPs road infrastructure division. He conceded that roads in the outer zones Mahadevapura, Yelahanka, Bommanahalli and Dasarahalli are in the worst condition.

Bescom and GAIL India have been paying the BBMP for restoring the roads dug up by them. We have laid about 80% of the underground cables. Only the last phase is pending,said Rajendra Cholan, Managing Director, Bescom.

BWSSBChairman N Jayaram said the water board had already handed over 2,800 km of roads to the BBMP for undertaking the restoration work after laying water and sewage pipelines. Only about 10% of the underground drainage work is pending. We will complete it by March, he said.

V K Srivatsa, a resident of Balaji Layout in Hemmigepura, an outer ward, said the roads dug up by the BWSSB two years ago hadnt been restored as yet. About 90% of the roads in our localitydo not have any tar left. We only hope the BWSSB or any other agency does not dig up the roads once the BBMP restores them, he said.

Who dug up our roads?

* BWSSB:3,500 km

*Bescom:1,561 km

* GAIL India: 1,510 km

* Total:6,571 km

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Why are our roads so bad? Blame it on BBMP's liberal digging approvals - Deccan Herald

Rupert Murdoch's News Corp will shift allegiance to Labor in the event of a 2022 Election win and claim some responsibility for the victory, writes Andrew P Street.

ONE THING everyone knows is that News Corp's papers and cable news have an editorial slant that could be playfully described as spanning the range from "conservative" to "hyperbolically conspiratorial".

For the record, that seldom extends to the actual news coverage there. There are many excellent journalists at News and Sky doing genuinely important work, even if their stories are occasionally given horrendously misleading headlines by subeditors with axes to grind.

And because of that worldview, it is widely assumed that the majority media conglomerate are acting in lockstep with the Liberal-National Coalition to ensure their re-election. However, there are signs that love might get a smidgen more conditional in the immediate future.

See, the Murdochracy has a greater priority even than seeing a pliantly right-wing leader installed.

It's to be on the winning team.

The media arm of News has been a money pit for years. The thing that's making the Murdoch clan money these days is online betting and the second that Logan sorry, Rupert pops his clogs, it's speculated that Shiv and Roman will get the hell out of the media biz and go where the real money is.

But the power of News especially The Australian and Sky News is in its political clout. Being seen as a Kingmaker gives the organisation and the Sith Lord at its head enormous influence in Canberra, which helps keep the wheezing empire alive.

And so what happens when Labor is getting traction? Well, first, they attempt to help their natural allies by running puff pieces on the Coalition and decrying Labor for being economically profligate, especially in policies they haven't enacted.

But if the needle stubbornly doesn't move right and there's an election in the wings, what you see is the Murdoch press hedging their bets and starting to run less aggressively anti-Labor pieces while getting a little more critical of their mates in the Coalition.

And thus, it's worth noting that the piece on a no-tender quarantine going to a DPG Advisory Servicesgot oddly brutal coverage on Sky.

Specifically, the report focused on the fact that the company is headed up by a couple of Prime Minister Scott Morrison's closest pals:NSW Liberal Party Deputy Leader and president of Morrison's federal electorate conferenceScott Briggs and ex-Liberal staffer andfailed Liberal candidateDavid Gazard.

Sky's Andrew Clennell spent ten excoriating minutes on the issue, emphasising the links between the PM and the lobbyists he calls friends, including photos of Briggs and Morrison looking pally at a Cronulla Sharks game. Calling out corruption is bad enough, but dragging Scotty's ostensibly-beloved team into it? That'spersonal.

Certainly, it's newsworthy that the PM would be handing his mates public money to investigate a private quarantine program. Then again, by Morrison Government standards, $80,000 is one of the cheaper bits of rortery.

Also, this isn't the first rodeo of the people involved. Gazard, for example, was involved in the deal with Naval Group to secure French non-nuclear Australia's submarines, while Briggs made a punt on the (eventually scuppered) deal to privatise Australia's visa system, so these are remoras who've been attaching themselves to Morrison's shark(ies) for some time.

What's surprising, therefore, is that they've suddenly gotten Sky News' attention and that the story isn't merely about yet more Coalition graft but specifically targets Morrison himself.

This story also happened to break at the same time that Newspoll found the Coalition still lagging and Labor leader Anthony Albanese's approval growing, as per the trend of the last year. Hence, it wouldn't be a shock for the company to figure that maybe it was time to start quietly putting a bob each way.

After all, there's precedent for this. The company's papers threw their weight behind Kevin Rudd once it became clear that he was likely to win, running editorials and front pages declaring that John Howard had done his dash and it was time for some rebirth and renewal.

And it was an investment which one could argue would have paid off handsomely had the former-PM-then-Foreign Minister been successful inhis attempt to hand the Australia Network overseas broadcasting tender to Sky News. And when that didn't work, how well-disposed to Julia Gillard did the Murdochracy become?

Albanese tugged the metaphorical forelock to News Corp last year by declining to back the calls by Rudd and former Liberal PM Malcolm Turnbull for a royal commission into News Corp's influence on Australia's democracy.

At the time, he demurred that:

"It's a bit like complaining about the referee in a footy game. It might make you feel okay; it doesn't change the outcome or change the result."

And as undeserved flattery goes, has anyone done better than calling Murdoch the nation's umpire?

Thus, it's not hard to imagine that if the polls stay trending thusly or if new scandals emerge around Morrison's remaining frontbench, that a few more generous pieces about Albanese will start to get published.

Perhaps some editorials will explain how Labor had learned the lessons of the disastrous Rudd/Gillard/Shorten years and that they've abandoned their nutty leftism and are finally behaving like economically-responsible grown-ups. Whatever threadbare excuse they use to justify switching their support, it'll be a placeholder for "because they're going to win and we want to make them think we were responsible for that".

And when that happens, it'll be all over bar the belligerent Morrisonian shouting not because News anoints our leader, but because the team at News are masters of jumping on the winning horse and pretending to have been riding it all along.

Andrew P Streetis an Adelaide-based, Sydney-built journalist, author, editor and broadcaster and an Independent Australia columnist. You can follow Andrew on Twitter@AndrewPStreet.

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Liberal or Labor, News Corp will back the winning team - Independent Australia

The birth of a party

The United and Reform parties had first formed a coalition in 1931 to see off a challenge from the Labour Party, and won that year's general election. But in 1935 the coalition lost to Labour, leading to the formal merger as National.

United's predecessor, the Liberal Party, dominated New Zealand politics up to the first world war, and was the country's first organised political party. The Liberals enjoyed support from urban liberals and workers, but the formation of the Reform Party in 1909 and Labour in 1916 saw a steady decline in the party's fortunes.

For its part, the Reform Party was the first consolidation of conservative politicians in New Zealand, coming to power for the first time in 1912 and staying in government until 1928.

It's establishment went back to the Liberal government's land and welfare reforms, which were branded as "socialism" and an attack on farmers. Support from social conservatives and rural communities continued to be core components of the Reform Party until the 1936 merger.

Meanwhile, a group of Liberal members had formed the United Party in 1927, supplanting the Liberals as the main challenger to the Reform Party. United gained support from urban centres, the business community and socially liberal (in the 1920s sense) interest groups.

If this all seems oddly familiar, that's because many aspects of the United and Reform parties still exist within National today.

Under the First Past the Post (FPP) electoral system, the merger of those two parties made sense. Forming a single block that represented the centre-right in New Zealand allowed them to build a well-supported political apparatus.

More importantly, the merger allowed the two parties to stop fighting each other, and instead counter Labour.

Under MMP (which replaced FPP in 1996), however, the need for single parties that dominate whole sides of the political spectrum has decreased. Instead, there's an opportunity for parties to have more refined policy platforms based on clear ideologies, rather than broad-based appeal.

This doesn't mean socially conservative or liberal parties can't work together - MMP allows for this as part of governing coalition negotiations, rather than the tensions playing out as internal party machinations.

Proportional representation systems tend to increase diversity within political systems - not just in terms of gender or ethnicity, but also by providing more specific political channels for different ideological perspectives, and encouraging open collaboration and compromise between those various groups.

Looked at this way, the obvious outcome is for a devolution of major "one size fits all" parties into smaller ones that take clearer policy and ideological positions. To some extent this has already happened on the left, with the advent of New Labour, and subsequently the Alliance (which contained the Green Party), splitting out of Labour in the early 1990s.

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Analysis: History made National a 'broad church' - can the party hold up in the MMP era? - Newshub

WASHINGTON, D.C. U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Ranking Member of the Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, today led all of her Republican colleagues on the committee in introducing the Section 401 Certification Act, legislation codifying the Trump administrations 2020 Clean Water Act (CWA) Section 401 Certification Rule (401 Rule). Specifically, the legislation would ensure infrastructure projects are not denied permits because of political motives rather than actually protecting water quality.

Section 401 of the Clean Water Act is designed to provide states and authorized Indian tribes an important tool to help protect the water quality of federally regulated waters within their borders. Congress did not intend for it to be used to address political interests that do not relate to water quality, such as blanket opposition to certain electric transmission, pipeline, road construction, agricultural, and other projects. States abuse of this process has negatively impacted interstate commerce, particularly as it relates to energy commodities.

Section 401 is meant to protect water quality. It is not a broad license for states to block economic activity or infrastructure based upon political factors. We see the consequences of Section 401 misuse playing out across the country: The lack of sufficient infrastructure to transport natural gas contributes to higher energy prices. At a time when Americans are projected to pay 30% more for their heating bills this winter, states should be encouraging energy infrastructure buildout, not twisting federal water regulation to fit their vendetta against fossil fuels and pipelines, Ranking Member Capito said.

Under the Obama administration, we saw an uptick in liberal states determined to needlessly delay, and even block, pipeline and other infrastructure projects they deemed politically unsavory, not for legitimate objections allowed by law, Senator Inhofe said. Radical states have abused the Clean Water Act Section 401 water quality certification process to delay needed interstate projects from railroads and pipelines to hydropower projects for far too long. Under the leadership and careful direction of President Trump, we were able to streamline and clarify the water quality certification process to ensure projects important to economic development and energy independence are assessed solely on impacts to water quality as intended. I am glad to join Ranking Member Capito to introduce this bill that would make the Trump-era rule permanent by codifying it into law.

Its troubling to see the Biden administration use the 401 certification process as a means to delay or cancel important energy infrastructure projects. The current rule is able to curb abuses of the Clean Water Act without holding critical projects hostage. This legislation will ensure we can maintain an efficient permitting process and promote energy independence, Senator Boozman said.

For far too long Section 401 of the Clean Water Act has been used by liberal, activist states to hijack energy infrastructure and sabotage energy producing states, like North Dakota, without legitimate cause. With energy prices skyrocketing, its high time we provide much needed regulatory certainty and guardrails to prevent future abuses. Our bill codifies President Trumps rule to protect against the weaponization of Section 401, Senator Cramer said.

For far too long, federal Clean Water Act regulations have been weaponized to hold back important projects, Senator Wicker said. The Trump Administration reined in this abuse by ensuring issues unrelated to water quality are no longer used to deny or slow-walk energy infrastructure.I am glad to cosponsor an effort to make this sensible rule permanent. At a time when inflation is running rampant and energy costs are rising, the last thing the American people need is for projects that would create jobs and promote economic growth to be hindered.

Now more than ever, hardworking Alabamians and Americans are facing rising prices in energy commodities. By codifying Section 401 of the Clean Water Act to its intended scope to protect water quality this legislation would support the checkbooks of American households and properly safeguard infrastructure projects in our energy and development sectors. As such,I am proud to join my EPW colleagues to ensure that Section 404 project permits are issued in a timely manner and in accordance with the law, Senator Shelby said.

Under President Trump, the EPA focused its efforts on actually protecting our water instead of finding petty reasons to stop new construction,Senator Lummis said. President Biden is again turning the EPA into a weapon of the far left to halt American advancement and infrastructure under the moniker of environmentalism. This harms my constituents in Wyoming, and doesnt really help the environment. The Section 401 Certification Act would get politics out of the Clean Water Act, and allow for much-needed Wyoming and American infrastructure updates. Im proud to join Senator Shelley Moore Capito in supporting this bill.

Too often, we have seen critical infrastructure projects delayed or blocked due to the abuse of the regulatory process under Section 401 at the request of far left radical environmentalists, Senator Sullivan said. This legislation will codify into law needed permitting reforms that were promulgated during the Trump administration to ensure we are developing our economy, infrastructure and energy projects to utilize Americas energy abundance, create good-paying jobs, and lower costs for hard-working Americans.

I completely support this effort to curtail the bureaucratic abuse of our clean water laws, Senator Graham said. Im all for reasonable regulation of federal waters, but it is clear the Biden administration is taking the concept of clean water regulation outside any reasonable definition.Its a complete power-grab.

Click here to read the bill text.

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Capito, EPW Republicans Bill Would Prevent Liberal States from Misusing Section 401 to Deny Infrastructure Buildout - Shelley Moore Capito

Anika Gauja, professor of politics at the University of Sydney, believes this is quite a distinctive episode.

She puts this down to the increasing number of independents declaring their candidacies earlier, evidence of a significant mobilisation in their electorates against the government and the major parties on progressive issues such as climate change. She also attributes this to the high number of women candidates.

Given the findings of the Jenkins report, this isnt terribly surprising, she said.

Australian political parties have been known for quite some time for their fairly masculine cultures, and it has been quite hostile to women and women candidates. Running as an independent offers many women an opportunity to enter politics and to do so outside that culture of mainstream party politics.

But she said this election, theres a key difference.

We have a lot of very competent, talented women running for parliament this time, but I think this is a more significant episode because they have announced their candidatures early [and] they have a well-resourced, and well-organised support group behind them.

Part of that support is donations from Climate 200, which is subject to the same disclosure regulations as the major parties. Mr Holmes Court said the group had intended to have at least 200 donors coming into the next election. At time of writing, it is set to pass 6,000 donors and $5 million in funds.

We are small fry [compared to the major parties] but we are going to focus our attention on helping these independents who are stepping up. They have their own fundraising - our job is to turbocharge them.

When asked about being surrounded by mostly women candidates, Ms Tink said she found it intriguing and exciting.

I think at the moment, we are probably the focus of attention because there are a few of us that have stepped up in quick succession. So it does look like there is this real wave, this momentum.

There is clearly no doubt that women are still very severely underrepresented when it comes to leadership roles in this country, and that includes our parliamentary roles. The reality is there is more room to step up because we haven't been there in the first place.

Showing up probably means we stand out because we are unusual in what we've seen in the past.

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The female independents vying for the seats of high-profile Liberal men at the next federal election - SBS

As one analyst wrote: Lawrence was a state premier whose federal career was dogged by ghosts of her state past.

Lawrence did go on to become federal president of the ALP, just as former NSW premier Nick Greiner became federal president of his party, although he was the first major victim of the states Independent Commission Against Corruption.

Longstanding allegations followed Carmen Lawrence into federal parliament.Credit:Robert Pearce

He won the dubious title of first as he was the one who set up the ICAC. The NSW Court of Appeal later overturned its findings against him. But the ICAC went on to fell other Liberal premiers including Barry OFarrell and most recently Berejiklian.

One who did escape the curse was Mike Baird whose only appearance before the ICAC was in October, as a witness, to criticise his successor for not disclosing her Maguire romance.

That might make it a tad difficult for him to endorse Berejiklian in the northern suburbs seat for which only a few months ago he himself was being touted as a candidate.

Not to worry, though. There have been plenty of federal Libs keen to endorse the Gladys-for-Canberra push from Simon Birmingham to Katie Allen and now former PM and ex Warringah MP Tony Abbott.

Polls show St Gladys also still enjoys strong support among women from the ordinary voter to many in the powerful womens business lobby who seem content to overlook their usual dismay at the lack of integrity in politics in this particular case.

Apparently, simply being perceived as competent is enough to offset any misconduct allegations, which shows just how low the bar is for our political class these days.

Being an equal opportunity kangaroo court, as Prime Minister Morrison so ludicrously labelled it last week, the ICAC has also claimed plenty of powerful ALP scalps not the least being the odious Eddie Obeid.

It was the watchdogs lengthy examinations into everyone in Obeids orbit and the question of how successive governments enabled his corruption, that led former premier Keneally into the ICAC witness box.

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Keneally was never the subject of any ICAC criticism as the sensitive Senator constantly reminds any journalist who dares raise the issue.

Keneally is being parachuted into the federal lower house seat of Fowler at the upcoming election. Imagine the irony if the ambitious former Labor premier were to one day run for PM against the woman currently being touted as a future federal Liberal leader, Gladys Berejiklian. Hopefully, the question of a Federal Integrity Commission would not be an election issue by then.

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Why wouldnt the Liberals run a candidate with ICAC baggage - the ALP did - The Sydney Morning Herald

The Liberal Party's position has strengthened further following the Sutherland Shire Council election.

While the makeup of the council won't be certain for another two weeks, the latest vote count indicates the Liberals are likely to have eight of the 15 positions, Labor five with two independents.

Of the independents, Laura Cowell is assured of victory in E Ward, while Leanne Farmer in A Ward is in an extremely strong position and Pam Brown in B Ward has a lesser chance.

Labor lost votes to independent candidates and the group's leader Michael Forshaw (A Ward) is expected to lose his position to Ms Farmer.

Preferences won't be distributed until December 21, due to an extension of time for postal votes to be received. The new council will be sworn in on January 10.

Sports minded: Shire Sports Independents team, Laura Cowell, Matt Brady and Giulio Di Stefano monitored results while watching Sydney FC play at Kogarah. Picture: supplied

Projections based on the counting of votes up till Monday night:

A Ward: The Liberals led by Carol Provan have two positions, with independent Leanne Farmer favoured to take the third spot ahead of Labor's Michael Forshaw.

B Ward: Louise Sullivan (Liberal) and Jack Boyd (Labor) have won, and the third spot is likely to go to Liberal Kent Johns, with independent Pam Brown having some chance.

C Ward: The Liberals, led by Hassan Awada, have two positions, and Labor's Jen Armstrong the other.

D Ward: The status-quo, with Labor's Diedree Steinwall and Greg McLean, and Liberal Carmelo Pesce re-elected.

E Ward: The winners are Stephen Nikolovski (Liberals), Peter Scaysbrook (Labor) and Laura Cowell (Shire Sports Independents).

POSTERS DISAPPEAR

Meanwhile, Liberal team leader Carmelo Pesce says "someone really did a job on me" on election day.

Mr Pesce's campaign volunteers arrived at polling booths in D Ward to find the former mayor's posters had been removed.

"Five of the 17 booths were stripped bare," he said. "I put them up on Friday night and they were gone by morning."

Mr Pesce said he was sure rival candidates Diedree Steinwall (Labor) and Dominique Passmore (independent) knew nothing about it. "They were shocked when I told them," he said.

Other candidates in various wards also reported their posters being removed or destroyed during the election campaign.

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Liberal Party likely to win eight of 15 positions on Sutherland Shire Council - St George and Sutherland Shire Leader

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg during Question Time in the House of Representatives at Parliament House, Canberra, Wednesday, August 25, 2021. (AAP Image/Mick Tsikas) NO ARCHIVING

Does the Liberal Partys claim to be superior economic managers stack up? No. We dig back to Harold Holt, through 60 years of Australias Treasurers, to find the best and worst. A Callum Foote investigation.

Its not for me to tell the Australian people how they should spend their money. That was Josh Frydenberg as Australias pre-Pandemic economy spluttered towards recession in 2019.

Last week though, remarking on the build-up in household savings, the Treasurer was urging Australians to spend their money. There is more than a mite of self-interest in this call to shopping action. Money in the bank does nothing for economic growth. Money spent with shop-owners flows mostly to the Liberal Party small business base, as well as GDP.

Moreover, Josh Frydenberg is racing up the ranks of Australias worst-ever Federal treasurers, admittedly stung like no others by the most devastating external shock to world economies since World War Two but also stung by his own management of the economy. Australia was already veering towards recession before the Pandemic as his crusade for a Budget surplus effectively strangled economic growth.

He has one more set of National Accounts to announce before the Election next year.

Heading into the Election, we will be hearing a lot about the Liberal governments claim to be superior economic managers. They wheel it out every cycle, and it works. The majority of Australians actually believe it. Even Labor seems to believe it. They are still shy, despite the evidence, to claim otherwise. Shy too to use the I word it seems incompetent despite the $40bn in JobKeeper waste and other things.

Last week, the National Accounts were revealed for the September quarter. They were ugly, as anticipated, with Sydney and Melbourne smothered by lockdowns for much of the time between June and September.

So it was that negative growth came in at a quarterly -1.9%. Better than the calamitous -6.8% recorded last June but bad nonetheless. In this, the first in our series on Election tactics, we examine the assertion that will be a centrepiece of Liberal electioneering, the claim of superior economic management.

Weve run the updated Australian Bureau of Statistics numbers from this weeks National Accounts, going back to 1959 when ABS records started.

When we did this a couple of years ago, we discovered John Howard was Australias worst treasurer.

Howard had the 1st, 2nd and 4th worst growth numbers in any quarter with a personal worst of -2.9%. Harold Holt (another Liberal treasurer turned PM) had the 3rd and 5th worst. And Paul Keating (Labors treasurer turned PM) came in with the 6th and a worst of -1.1%. Josh Frydenberg would win this time if we just took the worst number ever but thats hardly fair. The Pandemic was well and truly beyond his control.

Last time we also looked at who scored a pair. A pair is two quarters of negative growth in a row (commonly accepted as a recession).John Howard scored worst again on this metric.

To be fair to John Howard too, Malcolm Fraser sacked his first Treasurer Phillip Lynch after he had 3 negative quarters out of 8 (strike rate of 38%) and replaced him with John Howard who immediately scored a negative. Who owns that one? Phillip or John? Either way, it was certainly Malcolm Frasers treasurer. Paul Keating had the same problem he got hit with the last of John Howards negatives.

We let them lie where they fall. That gives John Howard 7 negative out of 22 (strike rate 32%). And a personal worst negative of 2.9%.

Now to update our Treasurer Measurer with the new ABS numbers. Weve decided to add the pairs to the strike rate: 10 points for a pair plus your strike rate (strike rate = negative quarters as % of all quarters in your term as treasurer).

Which ever way you cut it, the Liberals are the worst economic managers with the top five worst treasurers, even when you take in to account that the Liberals have been in office for twice the time of Labor administrations.

Liberals total score: 255 (41 years in office).

Labor total score:49 (21 years in office).

Circumstance has much to do with it. It is rarely brought up in the debate over economic management but, as an export nation, Australia is exposed more than most to trade and external factors.

So it is that the stewardship of Peter Costello and Wayne Swan, two of the best ranking treasurers, enjoyed the undeniable benefits of the China super-cycle. Unprecedented and massive demand from China for Australias coal, gas and iron ore buoyed their performance. So much so that this country was able to sail through the Global Financial Crisis during Labors tenure.

We were one of the only countries to dodge a recession, thanks to the commodities we dig out of the ground and drill from the sea-beds.

Nevertheless, these numbers are compelling and beg the question of why Labor is so reticent to combat the superior economic managers claim. Well, most of them.

Shadow treasurer Jim Chalmers did have the audacity to call the government incompetent.But we are yet to hear it as a constant from Labor leader Anthony Albanese and others.

This despite Malcom Fraser selecting the 1st and 3rd worst treasurers: John Howard and Phillip Lynch with John Howard (over 5 years in office) being the worst treasurer by a country mile.

As Australia bounces back from lockdown, there is one seriously worrying aspect of this countrys economic recovery. Inequality. This is a recovery for the haves, but not the have-nots.

It is an economy whose resilience is masked by the dual boom in the sharemarket and the property market. Those with assets have done very well. Those without assets, particularly those with poorly paying jobs and especially those struggling below the poverty line on JobSeeker, are steadfastly locked out of the asset price boom.

Approximately 6.6 million Australian adults, or 35 per cent of the population, now hold listed investments, according to the ASX Australian Investor Study 2020 while 66% of Australian households owned their own home with or without a mortgage according to the ABS.

A devotee of Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan, Josh Frydenberg had imagined himself as the CEO of a freewheeling economy. Small government, free markets, all that.

The reality however could not be further from the truth. Record debt, record cost of government, record $310bn in Reserve Bank money printing and record subsidies for large corporations are the reality.

So it is that the Treasurer has backflipped from his calls for fiscal prudence to a call for Australians to go shopping. If they heed this call, it will make his December quarter numbers (which come out in March ahead of the slated May Election) look good.

This is a grand departure from his former recommendation, a grand departure from his previous view that people should do what they like with their money; that they spend their savings rather than build up a deposit for a house, or pay down debt and increase the equity on their home.

He is hoping that all the money Australians saved during the pandemic, which saw the household saving ratio increase from 11.8% in March this year to 19.8% is going to be spent as soon as possible at retail stores:

There is good news for our economy, in that consumer spending has lifted sharply since the end of lockdowns, he told the National Press Club last week. Retail trade up 14.9% More than $5 billion spent on last Fridays Black Friday sales, up 50% on the previous year.

During the pandemic, household savings have risen by $28390m, thats $1,100 saved for every Australian.

The irony of Joshs change of heart is that he wants us to delegate the decision on where our money goes to someone else.

In July 2019, when he was facing the worst economic decline in Australian history at -6.8%, he informed The Guardian, Its not for me to tell the Australian people how they should spend their money, thats for them to determine their priorities Theres an expectation that as household incomes are boosted, so is household consumption, but people have their own priorities.

To the extent that punters heed his call, they will transfer both their savings and the decision about what to do with it, to shopkeepers.This is where Josh wants the money to go; the Liberal small business base. A bonus for Frydenberg is that every dollar spent adds to GDP too.

Once the shopkeepers have it, they will decide who gets how much. In fact, business owners have already decided how much goes to wages and suppliers (variable costs) and how much goes to landlords and their banks (fixed costs).

Its really a simple plan. Shopkeepers need the money and they are far wiser than you at deciding where it should go.Spend your savings and Joshs accounts will look great when they next come out on 1 March 2022.

Money that goes to the bank does not help GDP. It produces few goods or services; it doesnt turn up in Joshs Treasurer Measurer scoresheet.

The favours have been made for the Liberal Party funders, the big businesses which make donations. The Election war chest is in. Some $40bn in JobKeeper waste, billions in liquidity for the banks, that all helped on the corporate welfare front to deliver money to buy votes, along of course with another government record, the record amounts spent pork-barrelling.

So, with big business onside, small business that represents the Partys voting base has been rewarded with low wages and a gig economy for cheap and flexible labour. It only remains now for Australians to get out there are spend their savings.

To that end we might expect to hear little about inequality that doesnt sell or low wage growth and soaring debt but plenty about retail sales and a December quarter bounce-back in economic growth. And jobs, jobs, jobs. The labour market is tight. The scene is set. Over the coming weeks we will examine the other planks of Coalition election tactics.

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Treasurer Measurer: exploding the Liberal election myth of superior economic managers - Michael West News