Submitted by: M Mullikin
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull personally linked to a second multi-million-dollar fraud of taxpayer’s money
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull personally linked to a second multi-million-dollar fraud of taxpayer’s money
Malcolm Turnbull has been caught sticking his hand in the government till for $12 million dollars for some dodgy outfit called the United States Studies Centre which directly benefits his wife, his son-in-law James Brown and the Murdoch Family. This is not the first time that Malcolm Turnbull and the Murdoch Family have personally conspired to fraudulently rip-off taxpayers for millions of dollars for their own benefit.
In 2007 Malcolm Turnbull and Matt Handbury, who is Rupert Murdoch’s nephew, were involved in an $11 million rainwater scam but more on that in a minute. And of course, there is the $30 million that Turnbull’s government gave Rupert Murdoch’s Foxtel to further broadcast “women’s and niche sports”. The problem is that nobody knows exactly what the money will specifically be spent on.
The SMH reported in February 2018 “News Corp is refusing to explain exactly how it will spend taxpayers’ money more than six months after the Turnbull government granted Foxtel $30 million.” (Click here to read more) And nothing seems to have changed. But back to the latest scam.
Malcolm Turnbull’s new scam
The financial review reported on Monday (23-7-18) that:
The United States Studies Centre, a foreign policy think tank with close links to the Turnbull and Murdoch families, has been given $12 million by the federal government.
The think tank, based at Sydney University, was established by the American Australian Association to promote the US alliance, train students, develop policy and provide an intellectual counterweight to American critics in Australian universities.
The grant, which was announced on Sunday, will be provided through the AAA, which was co-founded by Rupert Murdoch’s father, Sir Keith Murdoch. Part of the money will go to USAsia Centre, which is the US Study Centre’s sister organisation located at the University of Western Australia.
The grant is an example of how politically connected organisations are often effective at lobbying governments for funding.
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Rain Man Malcolm Turnbull
In September 2012 I wrote an article titled “Malcolm Turnbull the rain man who speaks with forked tongue” which detailed Turnbull using his position as Enviroment Minister, just weeks before the 2007 federal election which the Liberal Party lost, to steal $11 million in a rainwater scam. I wrote in the article:
Malcolm Turnbull has called for more truth in parliament. I agree, so in this post we have a look at what a dirty rotten lying scoundrel Malcolm Turnbull is.
In a speech that Mr Turnbull gave in Perth last Wednesday it was reported “Malcolm Turnbull has decried the state of political discourse in Australia, saying it had deteriorated to such an extent that the nation suffered “a deficit of trust” and there was an urgent need for honesty in politics.” (Click here to read more)
Before Malcolm starts preaching he needs to have a good look at himself. His own party dumped him as leader in 2009 and from all reports trust and honesty were an issue. Mr Turnbull has also refused to answer a number of questions in relation to a grant he gave when he was Enviroment Minister in the Howard government to his friend Matt Handbury.
Mr Turnbull’s electorate fund-raising is done though an organisation he set up in 2007 called the Wentworth Forum. The SMH reported “Regarded as the country’s most sophisticated political fund-raising machine, the forum offers membership packages that give the most generous supporters more opportunities to gain access to Mr Turnbull.”
“It costs $5500 to be a “member”, $11,000 to be a “sponsor”, $16,500 to be a “patron”, $25,500 to be a “benefactor” and $55,000 to be a “governor”.”
“A governor can host boardroom events, and gets two tables at big functions featuring Mr Turnbull, and attendance at an exclusive dinner for supporters.”
“An analysis of forum donations, fund-raising events and memberships between 2007 and last December shows Mr Turnbull received more than $1.4 million. He personally contributed about $10,000 in catering for forum events. Most of the money was raised before the 2007 federal election.” (Click here to read more)
Matt Handbury was one of the donors to Mr Turnbull’s Wentworth Forum.
Before the 2007 election and two weeks after the election was called Malcolm Turnbull announced that the government would spend $11 million funding a trail of rainfall technology. The company in question was Australian Rain Corporation which was then part owned by Matt Handbury.
It says on Mr Turnbull’s Wikipedia profile “During the 2007 election campaign, Turnbull announced that the then Government would contribute $10 million to the investigation of an untried Russian technology that aims to trigger rainfall from the atmosphere, even when there are no clouds. Literature suggests that the technology is based on bogus science. The Australian Rain Corporation presented research documents written in Russian, explained by a Russian researcher who spoke to local experts in Russian.”
“Although Turnbull claimed that Australian Rain Corporation is Australian-based, investigations have shown that it is in fact 75 per cent Swiss-owned. It was also revealed that a prominent stakeholder in the Australian Rain Corporation, Matt Handbury, is a nephew of Rupert Murdoch. Turnbull has refused to answer questions regarding Matt Handbury’s contribution to the Wentworth Forum, the main fundraising organisation for Turnbull’s 2007 election campaign.” (Click here to read more)
“There is an interesting organisation involved in what is described as ‘rainfall enhancement technology’—a company named the Australian Rain Corporation. Apparently they have decided to corporatise rain! The Australian Rain Corporation sought money and the National Water Commission commissioned an independent review of the technology that they were putting forward by a former senior CSIRO officer and professor of physical sciences and engineering from the ANU. The National Water Commission insisted that the Australian Rain Corporation give a presentation of this technology to a panel of physicists. They then provided it with the research papers and made the presentation in Russian. The independent review concluded: ‘There is no convincing evidence that the Atlant technology operates as believed by its proponents.’ But in the end the department recommended that the member for Wentworth provide them with $2 million for a trial, which was arguably a generous offering, given what had been said about the technology. What did the Leader of the Opposition, as a minister, do with a recommendation to give them $2 million? He wrote to the Prime Minister seeking a lazy $10 million for the Australian Rain Corporation. You have to ask: what would be the circumstances of taking a departmental recommendation for $2 million and turning it into $10 million? Why would the Leader of the Opposition have done that as a minister?”
“This is where we discover that an executive of the Australian Rain Corporation happened to be a next-door neighbour of the Leader of the Opposition. The same person, the same neighbour, was a member of his electorate fundraising committee, the Wentworth Forum, with membership costing a cool $5,000 to get yourself into the room. If you want to find deals for mates, there are stories of deals for mates and there are stories that rest very squarely with the Leader of the Opposition. This is the same person who was able to run around saying, ‘Well, we’ve got this email. You’d better publish it,’ and who went to members of staff, intimidated them and said that he had documentary evidence. All we ask of the Leader of the Opposition is: prove that you have been telling the truth. We know what will happen. We know we will be greeted with the same deathly silence that we get now. We know that he is pretending to write and focus on something else, but we know full well that the Leader of the Opposition has been caught out and caught out badly.” (Click here to read more) And on the 23rd June 2009 it was raised again in parliament by Tony Burke. (Click here to read)
Another article says: “Rainmaker Ian Searle, the father of cloud seeding in Australia for the Tasmanian Hydro scheme, has also expressed doubts, as has Israel’s internationally respected cloud physicist Professor Daniel Rosenfeld.”
“There is no single scientific paper, only the patent, and one can patent anything claiming it’s to do anything that he likes, as long as no one else has made the same claims before,” Professor Rosenfeld said.
“Mr Searle says all the literature he has seen on the technology shows it to be a bogus science.” (Click here to read more)
At one point the government were talking about having an inquiry into the grant to Australian Rain Corporation but it never eventuated. As it turned out when the Rudd government came to power in November 2007 the new Enviroment Minister Penny Wong cancelled the grant but $2.97 million had already been paid and there were likely other costs in terminating the funding agreement. (Click here to read more)
There are a lot of unanswered questions that Malcolm Turnbull needs to answer about the Australian Rain Corporation grant. So far, he refuses. (Click here to read more)
Once a thief, always a thief and nothing will change Malcolm Turnbull. If you look at one issue by itself it is bad but once you start collating all the corruption Turnbull is involved in it starts to tell the full story. It’s another one of the hundreds of reasons why we need a federal corruption body like ICAC to investigate corruption like this. Until then the best thing voters can do is helping publicise the corruption on social media.
In 2007 Malcolm Turnbull and Matt Handbury, who is Rupert Murdoch’s nephew, were involved in an $11 million rainwater scam but more on that in a minute. And of course, there is the $30 million that Turnbull’s government gave Rupert Murdoch’s Foxtel to further broadcast “women’s and niche sports”. The problem is that nobody knows exactly what the money will specifically be spent on.
The SMH reported in February 2018 “News Corp is refusing to explain exactly how it will spend taxpayers’ money more than six months after the Turnbull government granted Foxtel $30 million.” (Click here to read more) And nothing seems to have changed. But back to the latest scam.
Malcolm Turnbull’s new scam
The financial review reported on Monday (23-7-18) that:
The United States Studies Centre, a foreign policy think tank with close links to the Turnbull and Murdoch families, has been given $12 million by the federal government.
The think tank, based at Sydney University, was established by the American Australian Association to promote the US alliance, train students, develop policy and provide an intellectual counterweight to American critics in Australian universities.
The grant, which was announced on Sunday, will be provided through the AAA, which was co-founded by Rupert Murdoch’s father, Sir Keith Murdoch. Part of the money will go to USAsia Centre, which is the US Study Centre’s sister organisation located at the University of Western Australia.
The grant is an example of how politically connected organisations are often effective at lobbying governments for funding.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s wife, Lucy Turnbull, is the United States Studies Centre’s “patron”.
Their son-in-law, James Brown, was the think tank’s research director from 2015 until a few months ago, when he resigned to devote time to the unpaid role as president of the NSW division of the Returned and Services League of Australia, which is going through a financial scandal.
Mr Brown, a former army captain, remains a non-resident fellow of the think tank.
“I suspect what has happened here is they were meant to get this money in the budget last year but because of the controversy surrounding James Brown and the treatment of Tom Switzer it was too hot to give them the money,” a former associate of the US Studies Centre said.
Government spokespeople declined to discuss, on the record, the close ties between the think tank and the Turnbull family.
Negotiations for the four years of funding were handled by the American Australian Association, and Ms Turnbull and Mr Brown weren’t involved, US Studies Centre CEO Simon Jackman said.
The structure of the US Studies Centre was decided in the dining room on the third floor of the headquarters of News Corp in New York City in 2006. Prime minister John Howard promised $25 million start-up capital. (Click here to read more)
If the $12 million grant was approved last year that means Malcolm Turnbull’s son-in-law was the “think tank’s research director” at the time the government approved the grant and Malcolm’s wife was “patron”. It is such a blatant conflict of interest and something that Malcolm Turnbull and the government should have declared publicly before the $12 million grant was approved.
Negotiations for the four years of funding were handled by the American Australian Association, and Ms Turnbull and Mr Brown weren’t involved, US Studies Centre CEO Simon Jackman said.
The structure of the US Studies Centre was decided in the dining room on the third floor of the headquarters of News Corp in New York City in 2006. Prime minister John Howard promised $25 million start-up capital. (Click here to read more)
If the $12 million grant was approved last year that means Malcolm Turnbull’s son-in-law was the “think tank’s research director” at the time the government approved the grant and Malcolm’s wife was “patron”. It is such a blatant conflict of interest and something that Malcolm Turnbull and the government should have declared publicly before the $12 million grant was approved.
Rupert Murdoch, his wife Jerry Hall and eldest son Lachlan Murdoch leave Kirribilli House after Saturday’s summer drinks with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. January 2017
Rain Man Malcolm Turnbull
In September 2012 I wrote an article titled “Malcolm Turnbull the rain man who speaks with forked tongue” which detailed Turnbull using his position as Enviroment Minister, just weeks before the 2007 federal election which the Liberal Party lost, to steal $11 million in a rainwater scam. I wrote in the article:
Malcolm Turnbull has called for more truth in parliament. I agree, so in this post we have a look at what a dirty rotten lying scoundrel Malcolm Turnbull is.
In a speech that Mr Turnbull gave in Perth last Wednesday it was reported “Malcolm Turnbull has decried the state of political discourse in Australia, saying it had deteriorated to such an extent that the nation suffered “a deficit of trust” and there was an urgent need for honesty in politics.” (Click here to read more)
Before Malcolm starts preaching he needs to have a good look at himself. His own party dumped him as leader in 2009 and from all reports trust and honesty were an issue. Mr Turnbull has also refused to answer a number of questions in relation to a grant he gave when he was Enviroment Minister in the Howard government to his friend Matt Handbury.
Mr Turnbull’s electorate fund-raising is done though an organisation he set up in 2007 called the Wentworth Forum. The SMH reported “Regarded as the country’s most sophisticated political fund-raising machine, the forum offers membership packages that give the most generous supporters more opportunities to gain access to Mr Turnbull.”
“It costs $5500 to be a “member”, $11,000 to be a “sponsor”, $16,500 to be a “patron”, $25,500 to be a “benefactor” and $55,000 to be a “governor”.”
“A governor can host boardroom events, and gets two tables at big functions featuring Mr Turnbull, and attendance at an exclusive dinner for supporters.”
“An analysis of forum donations, fund-raising events and memberships between 2007 and last December shows Mr Turnbull received more than $1.4 million. He personally contributed about $10,000 in catering for forum events. Most of the money was raised before the 2007 federal election.” (Click here to read more)
Matt Handbury was one of the donors to Mr Turnbull’s Wentworth Forum.
Before the 2007 election and two weeks after the election was called Malcolm Turnbull announced that the government would spend $11 million funding a trail of rainfall technology. The company in question was Australian Rain Corporation which was then part owned by Matt Handbury.
It says on Mr Turnbull’s Wikipedia profile “During the 2007 election campaign, Turnbull announced that the then Government would contribute $10 million to the investigation of an untried Russian technology that aims to trigger rainfall from the atmosphere, even when there are no clouds. Literature suggests that the technology is based on bogus science. The Australian Rain Corporation presented research documents written in Russian, explained by a Russian researcher who spoke to local experts in Russian.”
“Although Turnbull claimed that Australian Rain Corporation is Australian-based, investigations have shown that it is in fact 75 per cent Swiss-owned. It was also revealed that a prominent stakeholder in the Australian Rain Corporation, Matt Handbury, is a nephew of Rupert Murdoch. Turnbull has refused to answer questions regarding Matt Handbury’s contribution to the Wentworth Forum, the main fundraising organisation for Turnbull’s 2007 election campaign.” (Click here to read more)
“There is an interesting organisation involved in what is described as ‘rainfall enhancement technology’—a company named the Australian Rain Corporation. Apparently they have decided to corporatise rain! The Australian Rain Corporation sought money and the National Water Commission commissioned an independent review of the technology that they were putting forward by a former senior CSIRO officer and professor of physical sciences and engineering from the ANU. The National Water Commission insisted that the Australian Rain Corporation give a presentation of this technology to a panel of physicists. They then provided it with the research papers and made the presentation in Russian. The independent review concluded: ‘There is no convincing evidence that the Atlant technology operates as believed by its proponents.’ But in the end the department recommended that the member for Wentworth provide them with $2 million for a trial, which was arguably a generous offering, given what had been said about the technology. What did the Leader of the Opposition, as a minister, do with a recommendation to give them $2 million? He wrote to the Prime Minister seeking a lazy $10 million for the Australian Rain Corporation. You have to ask: what would be the circumstances of taking a departmental recommendation for $2 million and turning it into $10 million? Why would the Leader of the Opposition have done that as a minister?”
“This is where we discover that an executive of the Australian Rain Corporation happened to be a next-door neighbour of the Leader of the Opposition. The same person, the same neighbour, was a member of his electorate fundraising committee, the Wentworth Forum, with membership costing a cool $5,000 to get yourself into the room. If you want to find deals for mates, there are stories of deals for mates and there are stories that rest very squarely with the Leader of the Opposition. This is the same person who was able to run around saying, ‘Well, we’ve got this email. You’d better publish it,’ and who went to members of staff, intimidated them and said that he had documentary evidence. All we ask of the Leader of the Opposition is: prove that you have been telling the truth. We know what will happen. We know we will be greeted with the same deathly silence that we get now. We know that he is pretending to write and focus on something else, but we know full well that the Leader of the Opposition has been caught out and caught out badly.” (Click here to read more) And on the 23rd June 2009 it was raised again in parliament by Tony Burke. (Click here to read)
Another article says: “Rainmaker Ian Searle, the father of cloud seeding in Australia for the Tasmanian Hydro scheme, has also expressed doubts, as has Israel’s internationally respected cloud physicist Professor Daniel Rosenfeld.”
“There is no single scientific paper, only the patent, and one can patent anything claiming it’s to do anything that he likes, as long as no one else has made the same claims before,” Professor Rosenfeld said.
“Mr Searle says all the literature he has seen on the technology shows it to be a bogus science.” (Click here to read more)
At one point the government were talking about having an inquiry into the grant to Australian Rain Corporation but it never eventuated. As it turned out when the Rudd government came to power in November 2007 the new Enviroment Minister Penny Wong cancelled the grant but $2.97 million had already been paid and there were likely other costs in terminating the funding agreement. (Click here to read more)
There are a lot of unanswered questions that Malcolm Turnbull needs to answer about the Australian Rain Corporation grant. So far, he refuses. (Click here to read more)
Once a thief, always a thief and nothing will change Malcolm Turnbull. If you look at one issue by itself it is bad but once you start collating all the corruption Turnbull is involved in it starts to tell the full story. It’s another one of the hundreds of reasons why we need a federal corruption body like ICAC to investigate corruption like this. Until then the best thing voters can do is helping publicise the corruption on social media.
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