. PEORIA, Ill. In early March, with the weather warming and her day of reckoning with the power company fast approaching, Shawna Brewer slid her bill from the envelope and tried not to cry. She owed $4,242.44. It was the beginning of another month for Shawna, 38, in which her main goal was survival. Like millions of Americans, she was not just poor, she was poor in ways that often rendered her unaccounted for by many of the government aid programs and charitable groups that could offer help. Her blighted Zip code had become the sort of place where hundreds of families could lose their electricity; few would complain and no one in a position of power or influence would even notice.
The federal government is in the midst of one of the biggest expansions of the social safety net in U.S. history, committing $5 trillion over the last year. And yet for all its successes, the trillions in aid have often failed to reach the poorest Americans in places like the south end of Peoria where hundreds lost power last fall.
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Central Queensland politicians are calling on the Department of Defence to commit to the Rockhampton and Livingstone regions long-term.
In Senate Estimates in late March, Mr Canavan questioned Estate and Infrastructure Deputy Secretary Steve Grzeskowiak about plans regarding the Australia Singapore Military Training Initiative.
He asked about a military storage facility to be built in Townsville by 2025, and what that meant for the current storage at Rockhampton Airport.
“My understanding is that that will remain, certainly for the time being, but I’d have to take on notice what the very longer-term plans for that facility are,” Mr Grzeskowiak said.
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A small number of special forces soldiers who blew the whistle on alleged war crimes at an official inquiry have been issued termination notices against the advice of the military watchdog.
The notices have set up a clash between the military hierarchy and the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force, whose most senior war crimes investigator, Justice Paul Brereton, recommended in his recent report that whistleblowers who had done nothing wrong should be promoted while witnesses who had honestly disclosed their own wrongdoing should not necessarily be sacked.
âIt is crucial that their careers be seen to prosper,â Justice Brereton wrote last November of key witnesses who had engaged in no wrongdoing.
War crimes inquiry and Defence clash over sackings of whistleblower soldiers smh.com.au - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from smh.com.au Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.