PM Morrison hits a brick wall on 23 July

NCCC has to work within its parent CEO's framework, with attention being drawn to Mr Gaetjens' performance.

On 22 July '20 The Australian's Patrick Commins revealed that the Treasury calculated that $6.3 billion would have been "saved" if JobKeeper had been more cleverly crafted:  

• a quarter of the 3.5 million recipients are receiving an average of $550 per fortnight more than before Coronavirus hit (this adds to waste in other streams of stimulus)
• "number of features that create adverse incentives which may become more pronounced over time ..."

The Financial Review of the same date:

• part-time employees could earn both JobSeeker and JobKeeper simultaneously
• SMEs reliant on loan repayment deferrals pose a threat to recovery (the conditions have been loosened so that more SMEs will be encouraged to enter into loans)
• Frydenberg has relaxed corporate reporting requirements against the regulator's advice

All media reported that the sporting club sector has lost c $1.6 billion and need stimulus support;  while further evidence of malpractice during the "sports rorts" saga has been uncovered.

The Bubble repels logic and "repair".

The National COVID-19 Coordination Commission is a vital part of the national response to the novel Corona pandemic.

As constituted, it whitewashes the perverse legacies of recent and current governmental deceits and malice, including

• NSW's disastrous "debt lake" and engineering mistakes, making for Dam Buster-like impacts on productivity (including congestion and the sapping of Education and Health budgets)
• political appointments and fused politician/public servant making for following catastrophes ~
• repeated public scandals - bushfires, rorts (escalating fast) and failure of the "dinner" setting of the third of the current Stimulus tranches, together with widely-protested cruelty to casuals who have had the added injury of depleted superannuation accounts just for sustenance 
• Western Sydney City Deal which sterilises major port, freight, commuting and east/west employment rebalancing necessities
• iA's capture including the monopolistic Calfas Panel
• Reliance on hyperbole re fast trains, value capture, congestion, stimulus through infrastructure, and "gifting" of off-Budget cronyism
• Vile grand larceny of this analyst's Intellectual Property.

Already NCCC has shown it is continuing the self-censorship and crony attitudes of its parent Department and its Head, Philip Gaetjens, who helped then Premier Baird to dismantle due diligence in NSW, rejected "budget repair" (ironically a legacy of his former boss, Peter Costello), and extended the entanglement of NSW projects which are the product of "Bairdijiklian Malenomics", are destructive, debt-based and destructive of communities (especially through fully-subsidised MTR  densification)*.

All of these elements are documented in the "Save Sydney" suite of websites and normal and social media communications.  Specifically, all parties were clearly advised of the terms of commentary and none objected.

In light of plagiarism, the precaution was taken to widely circulate the following new ideas which relate to various NCCC ToRs (in copyrighted form):

• Nev and his fertiliser plan and gas pipelines are not “within the next few months” and are to be referred to a reformed iA.
  
  NCCC is not to duplicate work and it is, repair has been written out and NCCC has failed already to be independent enough to “repair”.
  So here are three immediate ideas I have not shared with Nev and am passing on this platform for copyright reasons:
  

1. Pressure put on families and institutions through Zoom needs 1) subsidies for download limits & costs, backdated, and 2) upgrades in homes and institutions
2. Best integrated stimulus is $2 billion for van parks for road and drainage upgrades but not under wastrels McCormack or Barilaro: pavements, drains and GPTs - obvious, duh
3. 3rd pensioner payment to take us towards US level (I forced the 2nd)

The Canberra Times published a profile of Nev Power.  Comments on the elements will follow.

Can PM Morrison listen? Seems not. I wish he could.  That NCCC reports to him, with the many inherent conflicts over energy, transport, social welfare Vs cruelty, and international/inter-jurisdictional policies and behaviours, is a serious concern as seen in the following charts - which are discussion starters.

* Controversy over Victoria's "Belt and Road" moves fade into  insignificance compared with Berejiklian's.

After all the leaks about Narrabri and Twiggy's gas pipeline, Perry  Williams nailed this in The Australian on 4 June (I have emailed him about permissions etc but this is urgent - and it's fine work) - NB I'd like to "stretch" the Government over a barrel over this mess which is harming Australia and betraying the legacies of great past Heroes:

National COVID-19 Coordination Commission chair Nev Power said a leaked report pushing for the government to subsidise cheap gas to turbocharge manufacturing did not reflect the views of the Commission, but it remains open to public ownership of new pipelines.

A NCCC manufacturing taskforce chaired by former Dow boss Andrew Liveris recommended the federal government guarantee gas volumes, open new fields and build pipelines to halve the price of the fossil fuel to a $4 a gigajoule target.

“The leaked report doesn’t reflect the views of the Commission,” Mr Power told the Senate’s COVID-19 Committee.

“It was an interim report and I can’t recall whether we’d seen it at all or whether it was in very early draft or presentation when we saw it.”

A final report has now been submitted to the government and while wide-scale subsidies are not being considered, the Commission does support government backing for gas infrastructure such as pipelines.

“The Commission is not recommending any subsidised delivery of gas or any other energy system. But we have talked about the provision of infrastructure to reduce the cost of transportation and deliver lower cost.”

The NCCC was also quizzed over its support for Santos’ $3.6bn controversial Narrabri coal seam gas project in NSW which is awaiting approvals from state planning authorities.

“I think it was included in the report. I can’t remember the details around that. It was one of a number of projects mentioned in the report,” Mr Power said.

“The predominant focus was on infrastructure to reduce the cost of transportation as opposed to supply, but there was a wide range of sources that were canvassed in that. That included infrastructure which could have dual purpose for providing transportation of gas into the network generally and specific projects.”

The draft proposals recommending $4 gas have sparked a battle between users and producers who remain at odds over the feasibility of delivering supplies at much cheaper rates than currently in the market.

Backlash

The backlash on the feasibility of cheaper gas prices on Australia’s east coast from producers including Shell, Origin Energy and Santos had been noted by the NCCC.

“It’d be fair to say there are a number of gas companies that don’t believe it’s a good thing and probably would not benefit from it and they’ve been quite strident in saying that the sorts of gas prices we’re setting as targets are not achievable,” Mr Power told the Senate’s COVID-19 Committee.

“I think if nothing else we’ve created a very robust debate across the industry with the objective of trying to identify opportunities to reduce the gas price and benefit everybody in the short term and also provide the foundation to expand and develop manufacturing industries that rely on gas as a raw material.”

The NCCC said it was important to set strong “stretch targets” for more affordable gas.

“The benefits of lower gas prices to me are very broad. There are some people that probably see that as unachievable but I believe we should be setting strong stretch targets that are going to benefit the Australian households and businesses broadly.”

NB  This topic  is outside the NCCC's terms of reference of "in the next few months" and stimulus per se.  iA has a role and it needs to be booted into a professional mode as its Priority List is blaumange.