Voting machines remain a worry in US poll

FEW want to even think about it, but the 2012 US election result could be clouded by problems with voting machines ... again.

Twelve years after the Florida punch card debacle in which thousands of votes went uncounted in the crucial state, some experts cite similar concerns about voting technology.

"I'm not sure we've made forward progress since 2000," said Douglas Jones, a University of Iowa computer scientist and co-author of a book published this year, "Broken Ballots."

"We've put a tremendous effort into changing the voting systems, but in many cases we've discarded systems too quickly and replaced them with systems that we haven't examined enough."

Jones said technology used on some vote machines is now close to a decade old and should be updated. And some systems have security flaws or may not allow for recounts or audits, he noted.

"Whenever an election is close all of the weaknesses become apparent," he said. "I expect there will be some states where the margin is so close that people will raise questions about irregularities."

A frequent target for critics is the use of touchscreen voting machines, which lack a paper backup. Around 25 per cent of Americans are expected to use paperless electronic voting, according to the Verified Voting Foundation.

A report earlier this year by two activist groups and the Rutgers University School of Law said systems used in 20 states were either "inadequate" or needed improvement.

That includes 16 states which use paperless machines in some or all jurisdictions. Six states were ranked "good" and 24 "generally good."

Hurricane Sandy's destruction has added another element of uncertainty, says Thad Hall, a University of Utah political scientist and researcher for the Voting Technology Project.

"No power means that (vote machines) will only operate as long as their batteries last," he said. "It also means that voters voting on paper ballots will not have the use of scanners to identify errors on their ballots."

The devastation also means "some voters will literally not be able to vote because they will have been evacuated from their local polling place and there is no provision for remote voting."

Hall said the storm probably had a disproportionate impact on supporters of President Barack Obama, creating new political risks even if the incumbent carries those northeast states.

Lower turnout "may not mean that Obama does not win the affected states but it could mean that we have a re-run of 2000 - an electoral college winner who does not win the popular vote," he said.

A report last month by the Voting Technology Project, a joint effort by the California Institute of Technology and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, found some electronic voting systems had a failure rate as high as punch cards.

The report said between four million and six million votes were "lost" in the 2000 election, and that despite some progress since then, it's not clear whether the problems could be repeated.

"What has changed since 2000? In many respects, there have been profound changes in the voting equipment business, but in some very important respects, very little about this business has changed," the report said.

The report said growth in mail-in and early voting raises new questions and Internet voting available to overseas or military voters raises security issues.

Charles Stewart, an MIT professor and member of the project, said the most likely problems may come from mail-in paper ballots, which have increased as states ease absentee restrictions.

He said these are problematic because "absentee ballots are not secret ballots, they generally don't have a secure chain of custody, and they are prone to be disputed."

Jones meanwhile is among computer specialists who argue that paper ballots scanned by computers remain the most reliable method.

"Everything is complicated if you have no paper backup," he said. "If the scanners fail you can hand count the paper ballots. If touchscreens fail, what can you do?"

But Paul DeGregorio, a former chairman of the US Election Assistance Commission and currently a consultant, says technology should be seen as the solution, not the problem.

"Of course there are the naysayers to progress and change. They believe paper and pencil is the answer to everything; that technology is not our friend - and that it cannot be trusted, under any circumstance," DeGregorio said in a commentary to the CalTech/MIT report.

He added that "modern technology can make it easier to confirm legitimate voters and also catch those who are trying to vote illegally," and that electronic systems have "prevented thousands of voter errors."

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Foreign firms owe British taxman Stg5.5bn

FOREIGN companies in Britain reportedly owe about Stg5.5 billion ($A8.6 billion) in taxes.

Britain's tax-collecting body, Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs, has identified 258 major multinational firms thought to have outstanding tax bills amounting to that sum, The Times said on Saturday.

According to figures the newspaper obtained under Britain's freedom of information laws, UK businesses owned by foreign parent firms were responsible for 44 per cent of all potential tax lost through underpayments by Britain's largest companies.

Margaret Hodge, who chairs parliament's public accounts committee, a cross-party scrutiny body, told The Times: "Over the past few months there has been growing anger at what is seen to be unfairness in the tax system.

"If you're rich you get away with tax avoidance, and if you're an ordinary person you pay your fair share."

The committee will question revenue and customs chief executive Lin Homer on Monday.

In total, some 551 major British and foreign firms are thought to owe a total of Stg12.5-19.3 billion in tax.

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Swan at G20 as world economy uncertain

TREASURER Wayne Swan has left behind the political argy-bargy over the federal budget, jetting off to Mexico City for this weekend's G20 Finance Ministers' Meeting, where discussions will centre on the more troubling issues of Europe and the US.

After the two-day meeting, Mr Swan will travel to Washington for talks with US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke and International Monetary Fund managing director Christine Lagarde.

Mr Swan said these meetings would provide a valuable opportunity to get first-hand assessments of the world's most pressing economic challenges.

"The global economic outlook remains uncertain despite much-needed initiatives over recent months that have helped stabilise financial markets," he said in a statement on Friday.

The euro zone remained a key threat to the global outlook, with many countries in recession, unemployment at a record 11.6 per cent and debt at unsustainable levels, he said.

The looming "fiscal cliff" in the US, which will see a sudden unwinding of tax cuts and the ending of expenditure programs, also risked pushing the world's largest economy back into recession.

However, Mr Swan said Australia faced these challenges from a position of strength, not least because the budget was returning to surplus ahead of every other major advanced economy.

In Melbourne, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott resumed his week-long attack on the government's budget, telling a conference that Labor would never return an "honest" surplus.

He told the 2012 Economic and Social Outlook Conference he had warned his shadow ministers that some of the coalition's initiatives might have to be phased in or commenced later because the current structural budget position was "so poor".

But Finance Minister Penny Wong told the conference that without the government's structural changes to the budget since the 2008/09 financial crisis, the medium-term budget outlook would be in a much poorer position.

"Rather than net debt returning to zero in 2020/21, it would be over $250 billion in that year," Senator Wong said.

The changes included reforms to the family payments system and fringe benefits tax, means testing for aged care recipients, reforms to tax offsets and changes to the concessional contributions arrangements for superannuation.

"These have not been easy decisions, nor have they had bipartisan support, but they underline an important aspect of budgeting under our government," she said.

Mr Abbott used his speech to outline the opposition's plans for government, reiterating the proposed scrapping of the carbon and mining taxes.

While the two taxes are slated to raise $40 billion over the forward estimates, meaning serious savings would be crucial, axing the carbon tax alone would add $1 trillion extra to cumulative gross domestic product by 2050, he said.

An Abbott government would convene a new business advisory council three times a year, and would set up a working group to consult with business, state and local governments and the wider community about reforms to boost productivity.

It would also promise an annual $1 billion reduction in red tape.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard told reporters on the NSW Central Coast Mr Abbott had just "rehashed some tired old ideas", and that he would never get rid of the carbon tax.

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Protests won't affect Paladin in Malawi

PALADIN Energy says its Kayelekera Mine operations in Malawi are not expected to be affected by planned protests over the company's sourcing of food from outside the country.

The uranium miner said operations at its Kayelekera Mine were proceeding well and would not be affected by a demonstration on a highway in the nearby town of Karonga between November 14 and November 17.

Paladin said it had learnt that two groups, the Karonga Youth for Justice and Karonga Business Community, planned to blockade the M26 highway, which is a major access route to its Kayelekera Mine.

"Paladin does not anticipate any disruption to its operations however it also maintains adequate stocks of diesel and necessary reagents on site to mitigate the risk of supply disruptions due to weather or other reasons," the company said in a statement.

Paladin said the Malawi police force told the company any attempt to block the highway would be unlawful and necessary steps would be taken to ensure public access is not restricted.

The company disputes claims it imports rice to feed its workforce, rather than buying locally and that the company discriminates against local suppliers in food.

"This is definitely not the case," Paladin said.

The company said 23 local groups supplied food to the Kayelekera Operations and Paladin contributed $US48 million ($A46.35 million) to local suppliers in fiscal year 2012.

Paladin shares were down 0.5 cents at $1.095 on Friday.

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Vic to lobby federal govt on health cuts

VICTORIAN Health Minister David Davis will lobby his federal counterpart at the health ministers' meeting in Perth to reverse changes to the health agreement that have seen $474 million cut from Victoria's health budget.

Mr Davis said the decision by federal Treasurer Wayne Swan to "unilaterally rejig, redefine the growth factors in the health agreement" would have significant effects on Victorian health services.

He said the treasurer had used 2006 Census data as part of a revision of population growth, which had given Victoria a negative population growth figure.

He has written to federal Health Minister Tanya Plibersek asking her to address his concerns about the changes and advise her that Australian Bureau of Statistics data showed population growth of 1.4 per cent - or 75,000 people - in 2011-2012.

"There is clear population growth in this year ... and that is the figure that ought to have been used," he told reporters in Melbourne.

"The federal treasurer is arguing that there is an 11,000 fall in the number of people in the Victorian population.

"That is clearly absurd and is frankly wrong."

Mr Davis said the adjustment amounted to $474 million over the forward estimates period, including $39 million in the previous financial year.

"It is a massive hit onto our health services in an unexpected way and if there is no resolution to this we're going to face a very difficult period," he said.

Mr Davis said he remained hopeful that the federal health minister would see sense and not go forward with the changes.

"There's massive growth in our suburbs, there's massive growth in our population," he said.

"We're trying to meet that demand but for health services to be told that their population is declining is like a kick in the teeth from the federal government."

He warned that if Ms Plibersek did not change the unjustified decisions, there will be a direct impact on patients.

"What it will mean is that less patients can be treated, the growth in services is reduced, people will end up waiting longer," he said.

But Ms Plibersek told reporters in Canberra there was more than $200 million in commonwealth funding available to Victoria "right now waiting to be claimed by them" for hospital and cancer centre projects.

"It's extraordinary to see the Victorian government engaging in cuts right across the Victorian health system and then turning around and looking for someone else to blame," the federal minister said.

Ms Plibersek said commonwealth funding to Victoria would actually increase by 26 per cent over the coming years.

"Almost an extra $1 billion over the next four years," she said.

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Govt reforms need funding certainty: Evans

THE man who served 16 federal treasurers has lashed the federal government for failing to bed down long-term funding arrangements for major policies, such as the Gonski education reforms and the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).

In a wide-ranging speech, former treasury secretary Ted Evans said education should be the nation's future economic powerhouse.

He also called for a national population policy that would help progress the debate surrounding asylum seekers, imported labour and labour offshoring.

Asked whether there should already be funding arrangements in place underpinning long-term policy announcements, such as the Gonski reforms and the NDIS, Mr Evans replied, "Have they been properly costed ... is that information in front of the government when decisions are being made?

"I don't know the answer to that; it should be."

He said in past decades federal governments had a policy of not making decisions outside the budget context.

"I know that it (that procedure) is no longer followed and that's a great pity because looking at things in isolation ... you could never run a business that way, you can't run a country that way, not in the long term," Mr Evans told the Melbourne Institute 2012 Economic and Social Outlook Conference on Thursday.

He said there was a growing fear of planning in public policy.

"Improving our productivity performance is the number one priority," he said.

"(There is a) need to address issues now and to act on policy and it's in that area that I feel disappointed."

Mr Evans said political debate was focused on what he viewed as non-issues, such as achieving budget surpluses.

While he welcomed a commitment to fiscal discipline, the aim of budget surpluses had been supported by both sides of politics for about 15 years.

Australia needed to invest in education, he said.

"It won't be all that long before education is Australia's number one export and potentially could be, I'd love to see it be, Australia's number one industry," he said.

Mr Evans retired last year after serving as Westpac chairman for four years and stepping down as treasury chief in 2001.

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Iranian terrorist group demands delisting

AN Iranian group with a history of violent clashes with authority is fighting to be delisted as a terrorist organisation in Australia and it has the backing of several federal politicians.

For half a century the Mujahideen-e-Khalq (MEK), or People's Mujahideen of Iran, has fought to topple what it calls the "oppressive" Iranian government.

Listed as a terrorist group in Australia since 2001, it is seen by some as a modernising democratic force, and others as a mystical terror-cult.

Its logo, in use since the 1970s, features a Marxist clenched fist holding a sickle, crossed over a gun and bayonet.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade told AAP the MEK was listed because it satisfied, on reasonable grounds, the definition that it was either "a person who commits, or attempts to commit, terrorist acts or participates in or facilitates the commission of terrorist acts; an entity owned or controlled directly or indirectly by such persons; or a person or an entity acting on behalf of, or at the direction of such persons and entities."

Now the MEK is lobbying to be removed from the list, saying it has cleaned up its act.

But it's unclear whether the outfit will be able to shake off its past.

In 1992, about 15 MEK members trashed the Iranian embassy in Australia and assaulted staff, an event filmed by an SBS camera crew which had been tipped off by local MEK supporters.

Federal police raided about 10 homes of suspected MEK members in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane in 2003.

No one was charged or arrested, and the AFP still won't comment on the raids.

The organisation has a far more troubled record overseas.

Defectors speak of a Marxist-Islamist cult centred for 40 years on its leaders; husband and wife team Massoud and Maryam Rajavi.

US government-funded think tank RAND Corporation, which produces analysis for the armed forces, listed the group's cult-like characteristics in a 2009 report.

"(Massoud) Rajavi instituted what he termed an 'ideological revolution' in 1985, which, over time, imbued the MEK with many of the typical characteristics of a cult," the RAND report states.

It lists tactics including authoritarian control, confiscation of assets, sexual control (including mandatory divorce and celibacy), emotional isolation, forced labour, sleep deprivation, physical abuse, and limited exit options.

"Recruits were brought into Iraq illegally and then required to hand over their identity documents for 'safekeeping'. They were effectively trapped," the report said.

The findings of the RAND report are largely replicated in a 2005 Human Right Watch (HRW) report.

It states that during the ideological revolution in Iraq, married couples were forced to divorce and families were broken up, with children sent to live in safe houses run by the MEK.

The HRW document says many were told their families had died, only to find out years later they had been alive all along.

Likewise the families had been told their loved ones in the camp had died.

The report claims members were also forced to undergo daily self-deprecation sessions where they would be marched out in front of hundreds of other members and asked to chastise themselves.

Those who tried to get out of the MEK were beaten, tortured, held in solitary confinement and even killed, it says.

But last month the US delisted the MEK as a terrorist group after a well-funded lobbying campaign.

Australian Federal MPs who support the group, including Labor Senator Claire Moore, and Nationals Senator John Williams, hope this country will follow suit.

"I think it's worth giving them a go," Senator Williams said.

"Are they a threat to our society if they come here, are they a threat to the rest of the world?" he asked.

"A lot of countries have delisted them, saying they aren't."

Co-Secretary of Australian Supporters of Democracy in Iran, Peter Murphy, isn't surprised the US delisted the MEK, calling the group "a peaceful, democratic, constitutionalist force for change".

But University of NSW Middle East expert Dr Anthony John Billingsley claims that's a fantasy.

"It's a dark illusion and a shameful demonstration of the power of lobbyists," Dr Billingsley told AAP.

"I wouldn't call them a force for democracy in Iran, quite the opposite.

"They're a group of weird, quite nasty terrorists, guilty of killing a fairly large number of Iranians including leading members of the regime, but also a large number of Americans and other westerners as well."

Upon delisting the MEK, US State Department officials released a statement saying it "does not overlook or forget the MEK's past acts of terrorism, including its involvement in the killing of US citizens in Iran in the 1970s and an attack on US soil in 1992.

"The department also has serious concerns about the MEK as an organisation, particularly with regard to allegations of abuse committed against its own members," it said.

"The secretary's decision today took into account the MEK's public renunciation of violence, the absence of confirmed acts of terrorism by the MEK for more than a decade."

Dr Billingsley said some members are giving up their lives for the group.

MEK observer Mohammed Sadeghpour explained that last year a Brisbane based supporter sold his home and donated all the money to the group before moving to France to become a full member.

"He is a good supporter, whole-hearted," he said.

"He sold it for about $300,000 or $400,000.

"But these are individual decisions; they make them on their own."

A report produced later in 2005 by a group known as Friends of a Free Iran (FOFI), comprising four European Parliament MPs, found no evidence of the RAND and HRW claims.

Mr Murphy said HRW's report was "a spray job, but useful slander" for the MEK's opponents.

"There are obviously HRW staff that are very pro-Iranian regime," he said.

"It's a shame HRW let itself go down that path."

But HRW says its critics haven't provided any evidence to back up claims the organisation is pro-Iranian.

Mr Murphy bristles at any suggestion the MEK has operated as a cult, including instances of self-immolation.

When MEK leader Maryam Rajavi was detained and questioned by French police in 2003, 10 members set themselves on fire in Paris - three died.

Hunger strikes also occurred in Australia, and Ms Rajavi was released without charge after a few weeks.

When asked about these events, Mr Murphy's frustration becomes apparent.

"There's absolutely no evidence anyone asked them to do that," he said.

"What you are suggesting is just absurd, ridiculous."

After the interview with AAP Mr Murphy took to Twitter to say this author was a pawn of the Iranian government.

"AAP journalist Martin Silk is unethically entrapping torture victims, ultimately for the misogynist Iranian regime," he Tweeted.

AAP rejects this notion as absurd and ridiculous.

Mr Murphy denies the MEK was ever anything but a pro-democracy group or has used any terrorist tactics in its war with the Iranian government.

"One of the MEK's cultic characteristics is a focus on suicide," the RAND report states.

"Although it had not used suicide as a tactical weapon in terrorist attacks since 1981, the MEK has frequently used the threat of suicide as a negotiating tactic or to frustrate investigations," the document says.

Labor Senator Claire Moore admits it seems odd a democratic group has only had one leader in 40 years.

But she blames the terrorist listing for stopping the MEK telling governments its side of the story.

She says she understands the group has been at war with the Iranian government in the past, and employed tactics including bombings and assassinations.

"But they deny they've been careless, and they haven't been involved in terrorist activities against Australia, the US or any European countries," she said.

But Dr Billingsley insists any portrayal of the MEK as a peaceful organisation is flawed.

Some people think the MEK isn't so nasty after all, he said, because "they're blowing up our enemies rather than us".

"They fact is they're killing civilians," he said.

"It's terrorism by any definition."

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Grass fire out of control in eastern Vic

SEVERAL properties may be under threat as a grass fire continues to burn out of control in Victoria's east near Sale.

The Country Fire Authority (CFA) was alerted to the blaze that began in Turners Road, Perry Bridge, at about 1.45pm (AEDT) on Wednesday.

A spokeswoman said the fire was burning out of control and had covered 150 hectares of grassland.

"There are quite strong winds down there so it's making things more difficult and making it move a little faster," she told AAP.

"There are some properties that may be under threat."

The spokeswoman was unable to say how many properties might be under threat from the blaze that was moving east towards swampland.

There were 12 fire trucks on scene and two bulldozers making fire breaks.

The CFA has advised people who were planning to leave, or those that don't have a bushfires survival plan, to leave now.

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RSPCA wants boycott of Warwick rodeo

THE RSPCA is calling for a corporate boycott of a Queensland rodeo after organisers took more than half an hour to put down an injured bull while hundreds of spectators watched.

RSPCA Queensland CEO Mark Townend says the organisation has a good working relationship with the Australian Professional Rodeo Association (APRA), but news of the bull's death at Warwick, in southeast Queensland, has caused them to rethink their position.

"When an animal gets hurt like this bull the other day, you might want to look at some other form of entertainment," he told AAP.

"Times have changed, we know a lot more now, you can get great entertainment without being cruel to animals.

"Rodeos are against our policy, but particularly when animals being injured for no good reason."

Mr Townend issued a call for Warwick rodeo sponsors Big W, Norco, Theiss and Bundaberg Rum to end their support for the event.

"We're just saying places like Big W should think twice about their sponsorship," he said.

Thiess said it had sought an explanation from APRA in relation to the bull's death.

"This matter is currently under investigation by the RSPCA and Thiess will consider the findings of that investigation should we again be asked to sponsor a rodeo," a spokesman said.

Big W, Norco and Bundaberg Rum have yet to respond to AAP's queries at the time of publication.

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Hancock loses appeal over iron ore project

AN appeal by Gina Rinehart's Hancock Prospecting over the big Rhodes Ridge iron-ore project in Western Australia has been dismissed but the company has indicated it will contest certain court orders.

A 2010 court order forced Hancock to relinquish its 25 per cent per cent stake in the project, increasing Wright Prospecting's interest to 50 per cent and honouring an agreement between Ms Rinehart's father Lang Hancock and his business partner Peter Wright in 1984 that involved the carve-up of their various mining assets.

Mr Wright died in 1985 and Mr Hancock died seven years later.

On Tuesday, Hancock Prospecting's appeal was dismissed by the WA Court of Appeal.

In the judgment, Justice Carmel McLure reflected on Mr Hancock's fears that there would be stoushes between the men's descendants.

"The genesis of this dispute is an agreement entered into when the men were in the 70s and Mr Hancock was concerned that the hitherto harmonious and cooperative relationship between the partners would not survive the changing of the guard to the next generation who would take control of the corporate vehicles," Justice McLure said.

"As this litigation demonstrates, Mr Hancock's concern was soundly based."

Hancock Prospecting had claimed the 1984 agreement was superseded by a 1989 agreement, but that was rejected.

"The intention and purpose of the 1984 agreement is unambiguously clear," Justice McLure said.

A Wright Prospecting spokesman said the company welcomed the ruling.

"Throughout this matter and the previous matter in the Supreme Court, Wright Prospecting's focus has been to enforce and protect its rights to 50 per cent of the Rhodes Ridge joint venture," he said.

Hancock's legal team indicated that the company would oppose three orders in Tuesday's judgment that it needed to take instruction on and would be the subject of submissions explaining why it did not believe the orders were appropriate.

Justice McLure gave the Hancock team until November 13 to lodge the submissions while Wright had until November 20 to respond.

Rio Tinto owns the other half of the Rhodes Ridge project, situated east of the mining giant's West Angelas operations and south of its Hope Downs joint venture with Hancock.

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