A quick glance at recent headlines reminded me of a question I put to fellow whisperer ‘Catching up’ recently.
“Has Wilkie done a deal with Abbott?
Just asking the question seemed a little out of place at the time, but now, I’m far from sure about the answer.
Whether ‘deal’ is the right word or not, something has changed over the last few days, just as Mr. Wilkie’s statements changed.
ANDREW Wilkie has warned Labor will pay a high price for its pokies reform betrayal, vowing to pursue “warmer” relations with the Coalition, to vote against key budget measures and even to bring down the government if it acts improperly.
.
The government now views the other elements of its September 2010 power agreement with Mr Wilkie as void, and Ms Gillard will no longer meet regularly with him and will deny him access to Finance and Treasury briefings. But the government’s $340 million commitment to Royal Hobart Hospital will be honoured.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/julia-gillard-to-pay-for-betrayal-andrew-wilkie/story-fn59niix-1226250813763
That makes sense.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/37069309/The-Hon-Julia-Gillard-and-Andrew-Wilkie-the-Parties-agreement
Mr. Wilkie has dealt himself a Joker for the time being at least as the government is still intent on progressing the pokies reform and has released documents which show it will pay clubs at least $37 million to trial poker machine restrictions in the Australian Capital Territory.
The Government has now released the offer it sent to Clubs ACT on Friday, promising to compensate for and fund the changes to all pokies.
It promises to pay clubs a monthly compensation fee totalling $36 million for the year, and is also offering a total of more than $1 million for training, specialist workers and business planning.
A committee will then review whether more payments are needed during the trial.
New pokies plan
- Original deadline abandoned.
- Pre-commitment built-in to new machines from 2013.
- 12-month trial of mandatory pre-commitment in 2013.
- Trial to end early 2014 and be reviewed.
- Poker machines to display electronic warnings.
- $250 limit on ATM withdrawls.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-01-22/pokies-fallout-deepens-as-trial-cost-revealed/3786972
The real road-block in Wilkie’s way is the powerful cashed-up lobbyists, and if he thinks for a minute that an Abbott-led Coalition government would upset it’s powerful corporate friends he’s a fool.
An Abbott government might put forward some sort of legislation in an effort to please Wilkie and to wedge the Labor party, but it would not be intended to harm the Clubs and pubs and their pokies profits.
For the Coalition this is about bringing down the government, not the pokies industry.
Another point to consider is the Coalition’s desire to see this man out of Parliament….
A potholed pokies path.
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/opinion/trials-and-errors-on-potholed-pokies-path/story-e6frezz0-1226250740991
Craig Thomson
THERE is little doubt that Australia has a gambling problem and in particular, a poker machine gambling problem.
The worst of the problem exists in NSW and there is a side to this story receiving very little attention.
The Wyong Shire local government area in my electorate on the Central Coast has the fourth highest number of poker machines in the state.
In 2010, $80 million was lost by Wyong residents on pokies.
We are talking about an area where the average income in 2009 was $39,694.
Nearly a third of the area’s wage and salary earners are paid less than $20,800 per annum. This is incredibly disproportionate and clearly something needs to be done.
After reporting these comments from Mr. Thomson in The Daily Telegraph,
The Prime Minister’s decision at the weekend was a victory for common sense.
It was timely and important.
The PM provided judgment and skill to course a path that is sensible and logical.
It is something that I and many NSW Labor MPs have been calling for – a comprehensive trial so that ultimately any legislation that comes before parliament is backed by scientific research.
Given the lack of evidence for a “silver bullet” for this issue, this is a commonsense approach. To do otherwise would have flown in the face of proper policy making.
It would have put the horse a mile in front of the cart, hoping the cart kept up.
This way we can be sure what works and what doesn’t.
Mr. Thomson makes the point that less than 2 per cent of the poker machine takings go back to the community.
news.com twisted the above words into something quite opposite….no surprise in that.
This is what came out of the propaganda machine:-
Craig Thomson undermines Julia Gillard’s reason for breaking her pokie promise, as her plan was improper policy making
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/craig-thomson-undermines-julia-gillards-reason-for-breaking-her-pokie-promise-as-her-plan-was-improper-policy-making/story-e6freuy9-1226250774602
There is another factor at play here and that is the role of some States.
Law shift is pokies jackpot for clubs:
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/law-shift-is-pokies-jackpot-for-clubs-20120122-1qc94.html
ONE of Sydney’s premier leagues clubs stands to reap a financial benefit from a state government decision to make it easier for registered clubs to gain approval for up to 150 poker machines in new areas of the state.
The move significantly lowers the bar for the approval of poker machines in clubs established next to new housing estates or new development areas.
When Opposition Leader Tony Abbott offered one billion dollars for the Royal Hobart Hospital Mr. Wilkie rejected the offer.
Mr Wilkie described Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s offer of $340 million to redevelop the Royal Hobart Hospital as the only credible offer, despite the $1 billion put on the table by Opposition Leader Tony Abbott.
”I couldn’t even have confidence that they would find that $1 billion, particularly on Thursday after the black hole appeared in their costings,” Mr Wilkie told The Age yesterday.
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-election/wilkie-defends-rejecting-1-billion-hospital-offer-20100903-14uhf.html#ixzz1kL4wlzVO
So, Mr. Wilkie has been around the block….firstly, as a member of the Liberal party, twice as a Greens candidate, then as an Independent candidate in a Tasmanian state election, and finally winning as an Independent and until a few days ago, being a player in the federal Minority government.
Currently, he is ”warming” to the Coalition.
A backward step?
Posted in Cafe Talk, Public Interest | 81 Comments »
To recap our topic from the weekend:
- So we now have it, here at last is the Liberal Party’s Policy on asylum seekers
- ALL asylum-seeker boats that are found to have started their journeys in Indonesia are to be turned around
- A Liberal government will TELL the Indonesian president that Australia will no longer accept boats which embark from that country
- More Navy vessels patrolling our waters.
He (Tony Abbott) however has conceded, repeating his previously stated proviso, that it may not always be safe to turn around every single boat and that he ”would rely on advice from Navy commanders in each case”.
Yesterday, Tony Abbott received his advice from Former Chief of the Defence Force Admiral Chris Barrie (ret), who predicted that “Naval officers ‘would disobey’ orders to turn back asylum-seeker vessels under an Abbott government”.
It is highly unlikely that Admiral Barrie was advocating mutiny, but rather was indicating that “Policy can’t override international law; nor can it tell a commanding officer what decisions he must make at sea at the time”. Admiral Barrie added that commanders would always put safety ahead of policy.
One might consider that Admiral Barrie, having had to later contradict his original statement to the Senate Select Committee enquiry into A Certain Maritime Incident, by admitting:
“After speaking at considerable length on Sunday with Commander Banks, the commanding officer of HMAS Adelaide, I have now reached the conclusion there is no evidence to support the claim that children were thrown overboard”, that he is full aware of the implications of the politicisation of the ADF.
Given the tragedies at sea including many boat disappearances, the majority of which go unreported, Tony Abbott’s recent statement is cruel in its irony:
“The navy has done it safely before” … Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott.
The international relations implications Australia/Indonesia regarding the Opposition’s policy as espoused by Tony Abbott, was worthy of a one-liner from the Murdoch media:
A radical policy departure, this has far-reaching and unpredictable consequences for Australia-Indonesia relations.
Reported in the Sydney Morning Herald is that “the conclusion United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Indonesian authorities and a former naval chief as dangerous and breaching international law.”
Factual information has been provided by Saud Usman Nasution, chief spokesman for Indonesia’s national police:
“As far as asylum seekers go, they fall under international law. You can’t turn them away. You have to hand them over for processing to UNHCR, just like Indonesia. We don’t turn them away, we hand them to UNHCR for processing.”
From the UNHCR:
Richard Towle, said: “Any such blanket approach would potentially place Australia in breach of its obligations under the refugee convention and other international law obligations, and – as past experience has shown – is operationally difficult and dangerous for all concerned.”
Craig Emerson: “In boats there are votes”.
Posted in Refugees | 183 Comments »
January 23, 2012 by wixxy
Hi there trendsetters, hip shakers, and sports fans, I trust you all enjoyed your time off, and have recovered from any drastically large uplift in the volume of alcohol consumed…
I have been a bit absent of late, and it’s not for the religious reasons that you are no doubt assuming…. I have actually been rather busy, despite the holidays. I have been doing something that our local Liberal MP’s may have read about in a book, I have been out talking to residents.
For those of you who don’t realise, I live in Sydney’s Hills Shire. Don’t get me wrong, I quite like it here, but living in an area that is dominated by Liberal politicians, and religious nuts, often one and the same, it does have its occasional drawbacks.
So, “what have I been so busy chatting to people about?” You may well ask…Well allow me to explain.
Here in the Hills Shire, in February and March last year, we all heard time and time again how wonderful things were going to be with a Liberal government in control of the state. Things were finally going to get done around here now that our local MPs, in particular David Elliot, and Ray Williams, who suddenly appear at election time, now get to experience being a part of government, rather than opposition. Streets would be repaved in gold, birds would sing, the sick would be healed, I was ready to start bathing in champagne, but alas, things have not turned out quite the way we had hoped.
Continue Reading »
Posted in Development, Politics | 65 Comments »
This morning’s Sky News provided the following announcement:
Tony Abbott has vowed to get ‘even tougher’ on asylum seekers if he becomes Prime Minister
One has to wonder why Tony Abbott has had this sudden “look over there” moment when according to all the popular; or should I say the populist press, he has already placed his bets, and won on the poker machine issue.
A sneaking suspicion from yours truly is that all is not well in Tony Abbott’s paradise on the issue of poker machine reform. The clubs are threatening to throw in millions. The clubs will be weighing up the odds.
Meanwhile, and it would seem for no particular reason whatsoever here is Abbott on this morning’s Sky News.
So we now have it, here at last is the Liberal Party’s Policy on asylum seekers:
- ALL asylum-seeker boats that are found to have started their journeys in Indonesia are to be turned around.
- A Liberal government will TELL the Indonesian president that Australia will no longer accept boats which embark from that country.
- More Navy vessels patrolling our waters.
The above clearly comes from Tony Abbott’s Little Book of How To’s, and is filed under the letter S for Stop: How to Stop People Smugglers.
This could easily have been filed under the letter N for No, however that section is becoming rather chokka and in somewhat of a disarray.
Tony is clearly adamant that this is this will work, as he has described this as not just a deterrent – no, not just that it will stop ’em – but will stop ‘em ” in their tracks”. He however has conceded, repeating his previously stated proviso, that it may not always be safe to turn around every single boat and that he ”would rely on advice from Navy commanders in each case”.
The logistics of the latter are yet to be ascertained, however on the face of it, it appears that firstly Navy commanders on interception of a SIEV will firstly have to launch boarding parties so as to assess the vessel’s seaworthiness. Navy personnel will relay their assessment to the Commander, who will then contact the Prime Minister and the Prime Minister will then provide the Yea or Nay.
By which time half of the crew will be fully engaged in a rescue operation as the SIEV would have sunk.
It is also likely that should Australia turn back boats as a matter of policy, that it would have breached its duty of care as a boarding party’s actions could be interpreted as having been “taken into custody”.
However, and I believe important to this issue is Abbott’s attitude towards our neighbor Indonesia. I would suspect that Indonesia would be quick to reiterate its previous comment that future ‘returns’ will be unacceptable.
This issue has (so far) received a one-liner from the Murdoch media:
A radical policy departure, this has far-reaching and unpredictable consequences for Australia-Indonesia relations.
I should add, that even if acceptable to the Indonesian government that this tactic of Tony Abbott’s is likely to run the risk of moving the problem sideways – that future SIEVs will not embark from ports in Indonesia, but that people smugglers will choose another country on which to focus for their operations.
Posted in Cafe Talk, Refugees | 219 Comments »
January 20, 2012 by wixxy
It has been a while since I posted anything, so I hope I’m not too rusty…
With Australia day looming, I thought I would write something about what seems to be a popular subject currently, Australians and racism.
We didn’t really need Dr Charles Teo to tell us that racism is alive and well in Australia, one only has to walk around with eyes open.
For those who missed the stories on Dr Teo’s words, below is a link to the story in the Herald.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/more-news/racism-very-much-alive-in-australia-says-dr-charles-teo/story-fn7x8me2-1226247766763
I do however applaud Dr Teo for having the guts to come out and say it openly. Considering he is going to say it as part of the NSW Australia Day speech shows not only great courage, but also shows that racism has clearly impacted his life. When the brain surgeon tells us that his young daughter has been told to “Go Home”, because of her Asian heritage, by drunken Aussie revelers, and that this happened while she was out celebrating Australia Day, which is the national day of the country in which she was born, is nothing less than a disgrace. But you know what? I probably wouldn’t care too much if it was an isolated incident, but the fact is, it’s not…
Much of Australia’s racism is brought on by ignorance and fear.
Of course this ignorance is not helped by politicians pandering to the fear merchants…
Continue Reading »
Posted in Indigenous Australia, Public Interest | 138 Comments »
January 17, 2012 by Miglo
Was the total extermination of Australia’s Indigenous people deliberately intended? Of course it was. It was OK to shoot Aborigines. God had no problems with good white Christians killing Aborigines as it was the white man’s belief that God had condemned Aborigines to extinction, and the white man was simply hurrying things along for Him. It had His stamp of approval. It was ordained genocide.
But the massacre of Aborigines was frowned upon by latter Colonial and Federal Governments, however, it did not mean that they were not considered a doomed race. These governments had a sinister role to play in that consideration; that of the evolutionary masters. That of God.
Let us trace this.
The nineteenth European scientific discourse of the Great Chain of Being, arranged all living things in a hierarchy, beginning with the simplest creatures, ascending through the primates and to humans. It was also practice to distinguish between different types of humans. Through the hierarchical chain the various human types could be ranked in order of intellect and active powers. The Europeans – being God-fearing and intelligent – were invariably placed on the top, whilst the Aborigines – as perceived savages – occupied the lowest scale of humanity, slightly above the position held by the apes. Such ideas were carried to and widely circulated in the Australian colonies and helped shape attitudes towards the Aborigines. So dominant was the concept that it helped develop the fate of Aboriginal people, even before Australia’s colonisation. The image of the Aborigine simply confirmed prejudices based on this doctrine of evolutionary difference and intellectual inferiority.
In harmony with the Great Chain of Being, the theory of evolution in the social sciences (known as Social Darwinism), was accepted by nineteenth and early twentieth century Australians as further justification for their treatment of the Aborigines. Central to the theory of Social Darwinism was the ideology that the Aborigines, who were considered to be less evolved, faced extinction under the impact of European colonisation and nothing could, or should, be done about it. Government policies reflected these ideologies and provided the validation of oppressive practices towards the Aborigines, founded on the perceptions of racial superiority.
Four of the major policies are those relating to protection; segregation; assimilation; and the integration of Aboriginal people into the wider community.
Protection was influenced by the evolutionary theory that Aborigines would die out as a result of European contact. Subsequently, all that could be done was to feed and protect them until their unavoidable demise. The policy thus took on short term palliative measures that saw enforced concentration of Aborigines in reserves and missions – protected from European contact and abuse (such as hunting parties) to await their closing hour.
This policy was a humane one based on its presumptions, however, nature had not selected Aborigines for extinction. Only the colonisers had. Subsequently, governments eventually and willingly used protection policies as a mechanism for social engineering. The policies of protection changed its fundamental goal to segregation. Their differences are difficult to identify although their purposes are not: Aborigines were a dying race so they were protected from the wider community; the Aboriginal race had failed to die off, so they were segregated from the wider community.
The social theories that legitimised and institutionalised racism were never more evident than in the practices of segregation. Segregation created two social and political worlds in Australia: one white and one black. Whilst the Aboriginal race had ignored extinction, Government policies reflected the attitude that, nonetheless, by the 1940s they had still failed to progress since European contact. Sentiment thus ruled that continued segregation of the Aborigines from the wider community would ensure white racial purity.
Segregation was pervasive in all aspects of public or political life. Church or social organisations discouraged Aboriginal participation, and access to community facilities such as swimming pools or theatres were severely restricted, if not refused altogether. Custom in many business establishments was also refused for fear of offending the white clientele. Perhaps the most damning indicator of this racism, however, was the neglect of medical treatment and health services by white practitioners. Policies of segregation were to degenerate into practises of apartheid when, in South Australia for example, association between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people became a criminal offence under Section 14 of the Police Offences Act 1953.
The policies of protection and segregation were continued even though the Aborigines had not faced their final hour. ‘Full-bloods’ remained on reserves until their demise, yet the problem for the government came in the form of the ‘half-caste’. These people looked increasingly like white people but behaved like ‘Black’ people. The only was this could be countered was to assimilate them into the general population.
Assimilation of the lighter-caste population was still an endeavour to destroy Aboriginality: by absorbing them into the wider community – the breeding out of the colour, the process of genetic change – it was hoped that they would eventually disappear. A radical suggestion that selective mating would breed out the colour was also proposed.
Of the endless record of horrors associated with colonisation and racial supremacy, some of the assimilation policies adopted in the 1950s equal the worst. In particular the taking of children away from their families by the Protection Board – as their legal guardians – and disposing of them as they saw fit. As a prelude to the Reconciliation Convention, the Government reflected on this practice:
Children were taken away under government policies of protection and assimilation aimed at having indigenous people adopt European culture and behaviour to the exclusion of their family and background. The assimilation policy presumed that, over time, indigenous people would die out or be so mixed with the European population they became indistinguishable (The Path to Reconciliation 1997, p 24).
Yes, I would argue that the total extermination of Australia’s Indigenous people was deliberately intended. If not by the bullet, then by the policies of those governments that saw them as a stain on white purity. God favoured the white man and they set out to do His work.
Posted in Indigenous Australia | 141 Comments »
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