Media Watch VIII

We all know just how manipulative, dishonest, sensationalist, gutless, unfair and unbalanced is the media in this country? If, like me, you believe they need to be held accountable for the gross display of injustice they push down the throats of the Australian public then this is the thread in which to voice your opinion.

I intend to keep the Media Watch threads open indefinitely. If anyone sees an example of their lies in action then we’d like to learn about it. We will document everything we can and spread the message as far as we can.

The truth will win in the end.

The Media Watch pages are archived after 300 comments (or thereabouts), as beyond that they can be slow to open if accessed by some mobile phones.

Here are the links to the previous three Media Watch discussions:

Media Watch V

Media Watch VI

Media Watch VII

313 comments on “Media Watch VIII”

  2. Eddie thanks for the link

    Mr. Denmore knows a thing or two about this subject.

    By common consent, Murdoch is the single most powerful media figure in the English-speaking world. From humble beginnings in Adelaide in 1952, he slowly has built a global vertically integrated media and entertainment conglomerate that ritually makes and breaks democratic governments and shapes our public space more than any other single entity. Whether in America, donating $1 million to the Republicans, in the UK summoning would-be prime ministers across the world to his private court or in Australia vowing to destroy the Greens as a political entity, News Corp long ago crossed the line that separates news companies as observers of the political process from the direct players.

    So any claim – and there inevitably will be in the weeks ahead – that action to curb Murdoch’s power equates to a curb on the freedom of the press needs to be taken with a large grain of salt

    Mr. Murdoch Snr. and the ‘junior’, James must be pulled into line now while this appalling scandal is being investigated. Until now there has been no stopping the grasp for more and more political power but it has to be stopped.

    The days of Mr. Murdoch deciding who will lead various countries are hopefully over.

    As Mr. Denman writes:-
    The fact is News Corporation – like Merrill Lynch and Lehman Brothers in investment banking – is just too big and its tentacles are entangled too closely with our democratic institutions to believe that the public good is served by it continuing to exist in its present form. This is a company that professes a love for free markets, but which acts ruthlessly to stamp out would-be competitors. This is a company that uses its power primarily to further the commercial and ideological interests of its proprietor. And this is a company whose poisonous culture is a pox on journalism. It is the Failed Estate writ l

    large.

  3. Eddie thanks for the link

    Mr. Denmore knows a thing or two about this subject.

    By common consent, Murdoch is the single most powerful media figure in the English-speaking world. From humble beginnings in Adelaide in 1952, he slowly has built a global vertically integrated media and entertainment conglomerate that ritually makes and breaks democratic governments and shapes our public space more than any other single entity. Whether in America, donating $1 million to the Republicans, in the UK summoning would-be prime ministers across the world to his private court or in Australia vowing to destroy the Greens as a political entity, News Corp long ago crossed the line that separates news companies as observers of the political process from the direct players.

    So any claim – and there inevitably will be in the weeks ahead – that action to curb Murdoch’s power equates to a curb on the freedom of the press needs to be taken with a large grain of salt

    Mr. Murdoch Snr. and the ‘junior’, James must be pulled into line now while this appalling scandal is being investigated. Until now there has been no stopping the grasp for more and more political power but it has to be stopped.

    The days of Mr. Murdoch deciding who will lead various countries are hopefully over.
    “Lunch with Rupert” no more !!

    As Mr. Denman writes:-
    The fact is News Corporation – like Merrill Lynch and Lehman Brothers in investment banking – is just too big and its tentacles are entangled too closely with our democratic institutions to believe that the public good is served by it continuing to exist in its present form. This is a company that professes a love for free markets, but which acts ruthlessly to stamp out would-be competitors. This is a company that uses its power primarily to further the commercial and ideological interests of its proprietor. And this is a company whose poisonous culture is a pox on journalism. It is the Failed Estate writ
    large.

  4. Journalists have been writing about the reason why the Labor government is doing so poorly in the polls.
    They need look no further than their own scribbles.

  5. Phone-hacking scandal: is this the tipping point for Murdoch’s empire?For decades the US mogul has held sway over British media and political life – but last week all that seemed to change

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jul/09/phone-hacking-scandal-rupert-murdoch

    Shortly before nine o’clock on a Saturday evening last month an elderly man wearing a woollen jumper and slacks escorted a flame-haired woman to the back of a dining room in a Cotswolds pub. The sun was emerging after a day of rain and the jolly mood in the Oxfordshire gastropub was shared by the couple. Laughing, they settled side by side behind a stripped pine table and examined their
    menus.

  6. More on the News Limited Code of Professional Conduct, and Knowledge of Same

    http://blogs.crikey.com.au/contentmakers/2011/07/09/more-on-the-news-limited-code-of-professional-conduct-and-knowledge-of-same/

    and from Carl Bernstein, [author of All the Presidents Men]

    Murdoch’s Watergate?

    http://www.newsweek.com/2011/07/10/murdoch-s-watergate.html

    Almost every prime minister since the Harold Wilson era of the 1960s and ’70s has paid obeisance to Murdoch and his unmatched power. When Murdoch threw his annual London summer party for the United Kingdom’s political, journalistic, and social elite at the Orangery in Kensington Gardens on June 16, Prime Minister Cameron and his wife, Sam, were there, as were Labour leader Ed Miliband and assorted other cabinet ministers.

  7. A couple of annoying housekeeping items. In the topic intro:

    “Here are the links to the previous two Media Watch discussions:”

    It’s now three so it would be prudent to drop the “two”.

    Pip you have been throwing up a lot of double posts lately but more than that many are where the first one is only half completed and then starts again in a new post where the complete article is posted.

    I don’t know if you can do anything about it as it sometimes difficult to follow topics from my mobile.

  8. ‘Pip you have been throwing up a lot of double posts lately’

    Just blame wordpress’s narky comment field Pip, I still can’t get used to the stoopid thing 😉

    Twice is better than none 🙂

  10. Thanks for the education Min. Until this post I wasn’t aware that IIX is an historically valid way of expressing the more usual VIII 🙂

  18. ABC News at 3.10 pm just watched Joe Hockey at a town hall meeting where the speaker who preceded him called for armed insurrection against the Government – nice company you keep Joe.

  20. luna lava , someone just tweeted a Twitpic of an comment on the Herald Sun.

    Probably no need to ask whose column it was on !

    http://twitpic.com/5oeffd

    This ties in with Joe Hockey’s company !

    Is this how they talk in private as well ?

  23. Is a call for armed insurrection against the government a terrorist act?

    I wish I had kept my terrorist fridge magnet, who you gonna call?

  28. Sue, from your link..

    Teenager Phoebe Kelly was a lone voice in the anti-carbon tax forum.

    She received a cold reception when she stepped up to the microphone and boldly asked Mr Hockey about the opposition’s climate change policy.

  30. BER – just the bad news please

    http://www.independentaustralia.net/2011/media-2/just-the-bad-news-please/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=just-the-bad-news-please

    Anti-Government bias and misrepresentation from the Murdoch press is par for the course — but not from the ABC. Nevertheless, that’s just what’s happened with their reporting on the BER Taskforce report. Sandi Keane reviews the Australian landscape.

    The Summary said:

    “This is a significant achievement. It is clear that the program did, in fact, delivery substantial stimulus”.
    That day, Chair of the Taskforce, Brad Orgill, gave a press conference to announce the results. These are his actual words:

    “I think the rollout of the program, overall, was successful. Twenty out of 22 education authorities did a very good job.”

    He later went on to say that the 2 that failed were NSW and Victoria.

    How difficult was it to report that?

  31. “He later went on to say that the 2 that failed were NSW and Victoria.”

    NSW and Victorian govts involve a lot of money. The report also said

    “The NSW Government performance has been impressive in its speed of implementation but there are too many examples of poor quality, and lack of value for money project outcomes. The Victorian Government performance on implementing BER has been mixed. High quality template design and low program fees have been offset by a slow rollout, inadequate project oversight and systemic quality issues……………………………The Taskforce has observed a number of construction industry wide issues including deficiencies in the quality of workmanship, project management, public works capacity and in the framework of private certification.’

    Sounds like there were problems with more than 3% of the projects. There were billions of dollars wasted but if you say it saved us from the GFC the enormous waste was acceptable.

  32. Neil, I suspect that it depends upon one’s definition of the word ‘waste’ – waste to me is spending money and not knowing what it’s been spent on, aka Howard-handouts. In spite of 3% of problems with the BER which have all been identified as problems in project management and so forth, we now have schools both state and private with facilities such as school halls, disabled toilets and covered walkways.

  33. I actually do not believe the 3% figure. I gave a link the other day where people were unhappy but did not complain.

    I guess you are right about the facilities. Whether it was a good spend of taxpayers dollars is another question.

  34. I have a link somewhere which shows that 97% of people were happy, thrilled with their new school halls which not only provides an important facility for the school but brings in revenue as the school is able to lease it out to community groups. Also parents of kids with disabilities whose children are now able to attend their local school..they couldn’t previously as the school didn’t have any disabled toilets.

  35. Well i hope you are right Min and not just barracking for your side. I could think of lots of things I would spend the money on before school facilities. I wonder if this made it into the report

    http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/commentary/a-ball-short-of-a-tennis-match/story-e6frgd0x-1226062946085

    ““There used to be a full tennis court at Nundah State School, a good little earner as the locals regularly hired the court. Then the Building the Education Revolution, part of the Stimulus Package, arrived……………
    …….Well, it turns out that after building the deemed essential new building, there was insufficient room to build a new tennis court.

    And so, to ensure there was a proper space between the fence and the baseline, the tennis court was built at 80 per cent the size of a tennis court. That’s right, 80 per cent. Of course, no child learns tennis on an 80 per cent court, and no local players hire it.”

  36. Neil re “I could think of lots of things I would spend the money on before school facilities”. Irrespective of the worthiness of facilities for schools, there was nothing else that could have been rolled out so quickly. Big Ticket nation building items take years to get off the ground, just environmental impact statements alone can take a very very long time.

    The BER employed local tradespeople, brickies, electricians who then could employ the unskilled unemployed as laborers. The BER also supported local businesses, the local timber merchant for example. Plus all that it would have required is a local Council building application and instant employment and stimulation to local economies.

  37. Spot on Min. There was not a single other scheme that met the criteria of getting through the GFC whilst saving hundreds of thousands of jobs whilst building much needed infrastructure neglected by the Howard government, and this is something those in hindsight who are coming up with what should have been done differently deliberately overlook in their rush to yet again attack the government whilst they attempt to rewrite history.

    The opposition’s response at the time was substantial tax cuts and nothing else, and as in other nations like the US that used substantial tax cuts as a stimulus, this would have failed miserably as was proven by those nations that did it. Yet for all that, as Hockey himself revealed, their total GFC spend would have only been four billion less than the government’s very successful stimulus package, yet the opposition’s policy would have cost the nation many more billions than that four they claimed they would have saved, and that doesn’t include the hundreds of thousands of jobs and thousands of businesses the opposition would have thrown to the scrap heap.

  38. Sorry nil, but why is that anything to do with the governement. Schools were responsible for applying for infrastructure, nobody forced them to put a building over a tennis court. If a building went there, it was because the school requested it. They could have got a smaller building, a different type of structure, or nothing at all.

    Yet somehow, the story appears to say that Wayne Swan rode down to and forced this school to bulldose a perfectly good court.

    What a load of bollocks.

  39. “What a load of bollocks”

    Well the article implied quite strongly that they had to accept what was offered

    “The Building the Education Revolution deemed that Nundah State School needed a new building. The fact the school was well provided for did not matter.”

    If what you say is correct it means the story is misleading.

    Furthermore I am not sure we needed any stimulus spending. I think they went “go households” because of what happened during the last recession. I think it is generally agreed that Keating/treasury made the recession that they faced last time worse by their policies.They were not going to make the same mistake again. I think they did make a mistake and just wasted a lot of money.

  40. ‘If what you say is correct it means the story is misleading.’

    You do realise the paper you linked to don’t you nil 😉

    That should be answer enough

  41. ‘Furthermore I am not sure we needed any stimulus spending.’

    Even though all of the evidence shows that this was one of the main reasons we avoided a recession?

  42. Mobius, basic common sense actually but as former Shire Councillor and former teacher I could see exactly how the BER was going to work…all very logical and practical.

  43. Neil re “Furthermore I am not sure we needed any stimulus spending”. And what has happened to the countries which were too slow off the mark – they’re still struggling with the ramifications of the the GFC. It was a case of be quick or you’re dead – fortunately Australia had a Labor government which was prepared to take quick and decisive action. Also giving due regard to the fact that the OO made Rudd their Australian of The Year because of his handling of the GFC. And before we swap the topic over to Rudd’s ‘knifing’, Rudd could also be his own worst enemy due to being pedantic.

  46. If what you say is correct it means the story is misleading.

    My god Neil please don’t tell me you are that ignorant or brainwashed by the extreme right that you believe what a News Ltd outlet publishes is fact?

    Time and time again Murdoch organisations have been found to lie, deceive, distort, prevaricate, confabulate and actually make up stories out of nothing purely to push their extreme right wing agenda and to further the Murdoch empire’s power in controlling politics, a control Abbott is more than willing to hand to them.

    Yet you are telling us you believe with reservation what they publish is fact, especially when they rarely even bother to source or back up their published information and it’s an attack against a government they want to remove from power using any means at their disposal?

  49. Ruby Murch is in the world 🙂 🙂

    Congratulations to Catherine Freeman and her husband David Murch on the birth of their very beautiful little daughter. With photo.

    http://www.couriermail.com.au/entertainment/confidential/cathy-freeman-shows-us-her-bundle-of-joy/story-e6freq7o-1226093099908

    Ruby Anne Susie Murch was born at 8.21am on Friday, marking yet another victory for Freeman, who discovered she had type 2 diabetes during her pregnancy and has had to inject herself with insulin four times a day.

  52. Min, I read this somewhere yesterday that there will be no early election.

    “the PM wants to do him slowly”

    Shades of Keating, but she’ll do it with a smile 🙂

  53. WA MP Tony Crook smells a rat….a smoky rat…

    Clumsy astro-turfing !!

    MP accuses retail body of deceptive conduct

    First, a reminder about the Alliance of Australian Retailers:
    http://www.smartcompany.com.au/entrepreneur-watch/20110704-lobby-groups-up-in-smoke.html

    Big Tobacco fighting this fight is one thing but retail associations fighting on behalf of tobacco giants is another thing entirely.

    Today the Alliance of Australian Retailers, a group backed by the Australian Newsagents Association, the National Independent Retail Association and the Service Station Association, with funding provided by big tobacco companies, released more research by Deloitte that purports to show that small retailers will be hit hard by plain packaging laws.

    http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/mp-accuses-retail-body-of-deceptive-conduct/story-fn59niix-1226092667590

    CROSSBENCH Nationals MP Tony Crook has accused the Alliance of Australian Retailers of “disingenuous” tactics in its campaign against plain packaging tobacco laws by cold-calling small retailers and patching them through to his office.

    He says the retailers often seem unaware of the identity of the person to whom they are being transferred.

    Rural independents Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott and Tasmanian independent Andrew Wilkie’s offices have been receiving similar calls.

    Staff said there was a slight delay before the caller appeared on the line and the callers sometimes had no idea who they were talking to.

    The plain packaging laws, which have bipartisan support, will require cigarettes to be sold in plain packs with no logos. Health warnings will cover 75 per cent of the front.

    Mr Crook, who supports the laws, said some callers told his staff they had been telephoned by the Alliance of Australian Retailers and asked whether they wanted to speak to a politician.

    Mr. Crook goes on to say:-
    “We found out these people are being called by the Alliance of Australian Retailers and then they’re being wound up and asked if they’d like to speak to a politician about it, and they’re being transferred to an office.

    “It’s a bit disingenuous, I think, to get other people to (fire) the bullets for them.”

    Staff at Mr Windsor’s office said about half the callers asked who they were talking to. “They say, ‘Someone rang me and then they put me on hold and suddenly I’m talking to you’,” a staff member said.

    The Alliance of Australian Retailers refused to deny it had been cold-calling retailers and transferring them to MPs.

  54. Typical….. look over there.. blame the victim.

    “The public need to know” is not a valid reason to publish the health details of any person let alone a four month old baby.
    Brooks ‘told’ Gordon Brown she was running the story.

    No interview, no permission from the Browns, just cheap tabloid arrogance.

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jul/12/the-sun-gordon-brown-son

    The Guardian reported that the Sun’s then editor, Rebekah Brooks, – now News International chief executive – telephoned Brown in 2006 to say they were running a story.

    Brown later said the call had left him “in tears” as he wanted to keep the news private, prompting the newspaper to issue a statement on Tuesday evening saying: “We did not access the medical records of their son, nor did we commission anyone to do so. The story the Sun ran about their son originated from a member of the public
    whose family has also experienced cystic fibrosis

    http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3691926/The-Sun-exposes-the-allegation-that-we-hacked-into-Gordon-Browns-family-medical-records-as-FALSE-and-a-smear.html

    THE Sun today exposes the allegation that we hacked into Gordon Brown’s family medical records as FALSE and a smear.
    We discovered the ex-PM’s four-year-old son Fraser had cystic fibrosis months after his birth.

    We can reveal the source of our information was a shattered dad whose own son also has the crippling disease and who wanted to highlight the plight of sufferers.

    Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3691926/The-Sun-exposes-the-allegation-that-we-hacked-into-Gordon-Browns-family-medical-records-as-FALSE-and-a-smear.html#ixzz1RwwzTSKf

  56. We can all be assured that News ltd is doing the right thing in Australia.

    News 24 story :Julian Disney from the Australian Press council (APC), a self regulation body, has stated that John Hartigan (NEWS LTD) has called in the APC to do some type of investigation/ assurance statement that Australia has not got the same problems as the UK. As Disney said, it won’t be an investigation as the APC doesn’t have the resources and News hasn’t decided what the APC should do , but the APC will probably get a brand new web site.

    GEE WHIZ, I FEEL BETTER NOW

  58. BBC.Breaking News.

    Breaking News News Corporation has withdrawn its bid for BSkyB, the BBC’s Business Editor Robert Peston says.

  59. Eddie I just spotted the breaking news as well.

    The last I heard was that the English Parliament is going to vote on advising Rupert to withdraw his bid for BSkyB …..every side of the Parliament, on a vote put up by the Opposition. That’s almost unheard of. The kid gloves are off.

    No more “lunch with Rupert”.

  60. News Corp withdraws bid for BSkyB

    Updated July 14, 2011 00:21:33

    Rupert Murdoch’s embattled News Corp has withdrawn its bid for pay TV giant BSkyB.

    The announcement came shortly before Britain’s House of Commons was to debate a motion urging Mr Murdoch to halt his attempt to acquire the 61 per cent of BSkyB his company does not already own.

    “We believed that the proposed acquisition of BSkyB by News Corporation would benefit both companies but it has become clear that it is too difficult to progress in this climate,” said Chase Carey, deputy chairman, president and chief operating officer of News Corp in a statement.

    “News Corporation remains a committed long-term shareholder in BSkyB. We are proud of the success it has achieved and our contribution to it.”

    A Downing Street statement said: “We welcome the news. As the prime minister has said, the business should focus on clearing up the mess and getting its own house in order.”

    Opposition Labour leader Ed Miliband said the withdrawal of the bid was “a victory for people up and down this country who have been appalled by the revelations of the phone hacking scandal”.

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-07-13/news-corp-withdraws-bid-for-bskyb/2794016

  61. Will the decision by Murdoch to withdraw his bid for BSkyB make him more determined to get his hands on the Australia Network, and will our government have the guts to say NO ?

  62. Pip, the answer this morning is yes.

    It seems that Rupert is in a big spot of bother…

    Will Rupert be arrested? “Be ye ever so high, the law is above you” is the great principle that embodies the rule of law. Should it now require Murdoch’s detention in custody for long enough to assist police with their inquiries?

    Anyone whose employees engage in bribery, corruption or other crimes for his benefit should always be called upon to explain whether he knew or approved of their actions, if only to exculpate himself from secondary liability, e.g. for conspiracy or incitement, or aiding and abetting a criminal offence.

    http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/unearthing-truth-will-take-a-judge-20110713-1hdxn.html#ixzz1S1LJLQeh

  63. News I caught on a TV snippet this morning is that Murdoch could be finished in the UK and will have to sell off all his media interests there, especially the papers. There is going to be a full and thorough investigation that will spare no one including pollies, police, the Murdochs and Brooks, and very hefty penalties are being put in place for any breaches or broken laws the investigation uncovers.

    In the meantime Murdoch may also be in trouble in the US as his media comes under scrutiny there, to which Murdoch has reacted and stated there will be a complete review and overhaul of the Murdoch empire.

    One can only hope this means a clean out of the extreme right wing News Ltd here and finally they are made to live up to their own CoC instead of using it to do the opposite.

    If on the slim chance News Ltd does become an honest and fair media outlet here then Abbott’s days must surely be numbered. He will not be able to continue his lies and beatups without the help of the right wing media and shock jocks in this country.

    Interesting times ahead.

  64. On that topic Mobius…

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-07-13/news-limited-to-examine-books-pm/2793758

    News Limited is seeking to distance itself from the phone hacking scandal engulfing Rupert Murdoch’s British media outlets by proving it has not been engaging in similar practices…….

    “We will be conducting a thorough review of all editorial expenditure over the past three years to confirm that payments to contributors and other third parties were for legitimate services,” he (Hartigan) said.

  65. Min @ 7.51am
    Hartigan is doing a review. Probably the same type of review as they did at NOTW for the british police in 2007.
    I would rather the Greens in the senate launch an investigation.

  68. Media commentators maintain the line that Julia Gillard told a lie

    Fact 1: All political parties modify policy after an election loss. Before the 2007 election, WorkChoices was the Liberal Party’s policy. After the election, we are told that WorkChoices was ‘dead’ ‘buried’ and ‘cremated’. Was this change of mind or a lie either before or after the election!

    Fact 2: Labor did not win the last election. No party won.
    Therefore all parties had the justification to modify policies.

    Fact 3: It has always been Labor policy to put a price on carbon, preferably through an ETS.

    Fact 4: After a short period where the government sets the price with a tax there will be an ETS

    Explain to me again, “Where is the lie?’

  70. I just put this up elswhere, but is probably worth putting here to

    It is interesting watching the rabid, rejected rabble turn their logic perceptors inside out trying to call the PM a liar

    On the one side, we have the ‘There Will Be No Carbon Tax’, where the word Tax is stretched to the furtherest corners of its varied interpretations (ignoring the whole time that one of thee interpretations is precisely the scheme she also said at the time that they would pursue). If it looks like a tax, if it smells like a tax, or even if yabot calls it a tax, then it is a tax. (Of course, for the opposition, a tax would never be attached to something that would run for the duration os 3 years, would it joe, but then, consistency has never been a strong point over there)

    On the other side, we have some of the anti carbon cheer squad declaring Gillard to be A BIG FAT LIAR because she uses the terminology ‘Carbon Pollution’. In this case, however, she is a liar because the term ‘Pollution’ is restricted to mean only a very few specific examples of pollution, of which, to them, C02 just ain’t one of.

    What is most amazing, in both cases, is that the actual definition of the terms are largely ignored, perhaps because, if they stuck to what the words actually mean, it would become all to evident that in neither case, there was actually a lie, and that, in both cases, what is being said, is precisely what is occuring.

    The dictionary according to the hissy fit team as they slide to irrelevance.

  71. “News I caught on a TV snippet this morning is that Murdoch could be finished in the UK and will have to sell off all his media interests there, especially the papers.”

    ME

    If that is true it could not happen to better thug company IMO.

  72. And speaking of hissy fits

    It’s almost like there’s some kind of pattern in right-wing behaviour at the moment, isn’t there? It’s almost as if the validation from shameless partisan shock jocks has made them comfortable indulging in the fantasy of being some kind of oppressed people who are therefore more than entitled to abuse anyone who could be described as “left”. The level of hysteria, of self-righteousness, of completely unrealistic persecuted victimhood… it’s getting well beyond what we’re used to seeing in this country.

    http://blogs.crikey.com.au/purepoison/2011/07/13/what-happens-when-you-tell-people-theyre-about-to-be-oppressed/

  74. Sue @ 8.18am..no I don’t have much faith in an internal investigation either. I am certain that there will be more to follow on this one. Just the fact that the Brits are investigating Murdoch ‘the man himself’ will be enough to put the fear of God into Murdoch’s Australian stable. At the moment there is no evidence of anything untoward happening in Australia (we’ve all got heaps of suspicions but currently no evidence)…but just one mention of any sort of Australian connection and it will be sufficient to be able to launch a parliamentary investigation.

  75. Lies or Changes of mind

    Consider
    Case 1:
    Billy tell mother he is off to school. Instead he goes to his friend’s house where they play all day.
    (Real Life Mr Abbott first says “Compulsory paid maternity leave? Over this Government’s dead body, frankly.” Mr Abbott then proposes a $2.7 billion tax on big companies to fund a universal paid parental leave scheme.]

    Case 2
    Billy tells mother he is off to school. On the way he comes to a creek blocked by a flash flood. He then stops at his friend’s place. When the water subsides he continues on to school.
    (Real life: Labor proposes an ETS but not a ‘tax’ before election. Loses election. Modifies plan to arrive at an ETS via a “tax’

    Please explain – Which case is a lie and which case is a change or mind?

    Answer (according to the media)
    If Billy is a member of the Labor Party, then Case 2 is a definite lie. Case 1 is a ‘smart political move.

  76. Lucy @ 8.34am.. there is also the fact that in January ’10 “…Prime Minister Julia Gillard has offered Coalition leader Tony Abbott the chance to nominate two MPs for the climate change committee”. So why the complete ‘surprise’ from Tony Abbott about the carbon tax? Abbott was given the chance to participate but chose not to.

  77. Lucy..far too logical for the MSM to cope with. Basically, Gillard successfully negotiated with the Independents to form government and with the assistance of the Independents will bring in a carbon tax.

    Tony Abbott can run around the countryside claiming that Julia Gillard ‘lied’ but whence the lie when the carbon tax has been brought in via a cross-party committee…and one which Abbott refused to participate in.

  79. Well done Sue. The way that Labor and the Greens and the Independents have been treated by the Murdoch media might come back to bite them on the bum…..

  80. This is actually very clever of Bob Brown. He is not attacking the Murdoch media as such but putting it forward as an enquiry into the Media Alliance’s Code of Ethics.

  81. What will the ABC use for news if News Ltd is forced to be honest and transparent here?

  82. Oh another important piece that I heard on that news snippet this morning is that at least in the UK all meetings between government and government agencies such as police and a media organisation or their representative will have to be declared up front and then fully documented and recorded.

    I really hope that is bought in here. Bye bye Abbott. I do note that Gillard has also had private meetings with Rupert Murdoch but it is Abbott who will lose when it is apparent that having him elected will no longer be a financial and power advantage to the Murdoch empire. Watch them turn on him if that’s the case and I will not be surprised if in the Murdoch empire shakeup that News Ltd here does an about face in the near future. Abbott cannot last two years without the media’s support in this country, Gillard has shown that not only can she do without their support she can successfully government in a minority government despite the media being unfairly hostile towards her.

  83. Daughter just pointed out a Tweet from Jemima Khan….

    Jemima_Khan Jemima Khan

    I’m told, Murdoch and Rebekah Wade were refused a table at The River Cafe last night when they tried to book…Inconceivable a month ago

    9 hours ago Favorite Retweet Reply

    Oh to have been a fly on the wall 😀

  84. ‘What will the ABC use for news if News Ltd is forced to be honest and transparent here?’

    Guess they could just go directly to the libs website?

  85. Our Prime Minister at the National Press Club when asked about what should be journalists responsibilities, responded:
    “Don’t write crap”
    The National Press Club address was her best performance ever.

  87. Press club address was brilliant, I hope the ABC repeats it.
    I noticed the Oz did not have their “big guns” there, so they will be able to continue to write “crap”.

  88. Sue, News Ltd journos may have been attending code of conduct and ethics awareness workshop (hopefully) or more likely they were busy at the office shredder.

  91. Liberal colleagues turn on Malcolm Turnbull over his ‘bitter’ mindset

    http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/liberal-colleagues-turn-on-malcolm-turnbull-over-his-bitter-mindset/story-fn59niix-1226094524004

    MALCOLM Turnbull is being urged by colleagues to reconsider his future in politics after his latest attack on Opposition Leader Tony Abbott.

    A senior Liberal told The Australian Online that Mr Turnbull had a strong future in the party, but only if he could shake his “bitter and twisted” mindset.

    Another Liberal went further, saying it was time for the former Liberal leader to resign.

    “For the good of the Liberal Party and the country, Malcolm Turnbull has to leave the parliament,” the source said.

    Mr Turnbull yesterday said he would back the Coalition’s climate policy out of loyalty, but added that that was more than he’d received as Liberal leader.

  93. I really enjoyed our Prime Minister’s address at the National press Club today – wish I had recorded it.
    Does anyone know if these programs are repeated or available online?
    Its a shame that her stellar performance is seen by so few and all the MSM does is pick out those bits which they manipulate into a biased story.

  94. ABC The Drum – talk about stop the crap. Tonights panel has Joe Hildebrand the Telegraph and a John Stanley from radio 2UE. Oh the outrage! How dare the Greens suggest an investigation of the media! yah de dah de dah…
    Our readers know how good we are.

    And they have just advertised that Leigh Sales will be interviewing Hartigan tonight.

  95. Bloody ABC news now referring to the PM as the “Real real Julia” after her press club address. So more editorial crap from the ABC rather anything resembling a news story.

  96. Sue, my bet that it’s Abbott’s ‘hang onto the leadership’ campaign more than anything else. Julia is the incumbent and nothing is going to ‘force’ an election. And every single time that Abbott opens his mouth it only reinforces to the Independents that they made the right choice.

  97. Listening to the ABC Hartigan interview. The man claims he’s a god and knows all about what’s going on with journalists in Australia so knows there is no media malpractice. We have a different media culture to the UK according to Hartigan so are fair and honest.

    Of course we are different because News Ltd. dominates here unlike it didn’t in the UK so it doesn’t have to engage in the aggressive behaviour Hartigan went on about, but that doesn’t mean that News Ltd. here isn’t derelict and in fact shows it is time after time.

    Yet here is Hartigan saying he is fair and hasn’t overstepped the bounds.

    When it looks like bullshit and talks like bullshit then it is Hartigan in an ABC interview. When an interviewer is allowing bullshit and leading the bullshit then it is Sales conducting an ABC interview.

    The ABC are being very gentle on him asking leading questions that allow Hartigan to put his side unchallanged and making him look good. Not once has Sales challanged him on his assertions of being fair on the government and only holding them to account and saying the government only has sour grapes because they are so low in the polls. No challange that News Ltd was just a viciously and unfarily attacking the government when their polls were high.

    Poor and soft interview by Sales with a lead in by Uhlmann also setting up a background of News Ltd being OK here in Australia.

  99. Paul Keating used this word on Lateline, to describe the antics of Tony Abbott and this is what it means 😀

    ob·scur·ant·ism (b-skyrn-tzm, b-, bsky-rn-)
    n.
    1. The principles or practice of obscurants.
    2. A policy of withholding information from the public.
    3.
    a. A style in art and literature characterized by deliberate vagueness or obliqueness.
    b. An example or instance of this style.

    Abbot’s arguments ‘tripe’, ‘jingoistic’: Keating
    Print Email
    Australian Broadcasting Corporation

    Broadcast: 14/07/2011

    Reporter: Tony Jones

    Former prime minister Paul Keating tells Lateline Australia risks falling behind developing economies like China if it does not embrace new industries and a better quality future by pricing carbon.

    You know this – you know what Tony Abbott’s policy is? “If you don’t give me the job, I’ll wreck the place. If you don’t give me the job, I’ll wreck the place.” And we’re supposed to, “Well, Tony, you better have it, you know, otherwise you might destroy it on us.” I mean, Tony’s got to have the political judo chop. That’s what Tony has to have.

    TONY JONES: This policy is an all-or-nothing gamble for Julia Gillard, who it seems you think should be judo chopping Tony Abbott.

    PAUL KEATING: Well, what can you do with obscurantism? 😀

  101. Not a time for the PM to bow to Brown
    http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/media/not-a-time-for-the-pm-to-bow-to-brown/story-e6frg996-1226094946944
    “This is not the calm air in which to form a new Australian media policy. Nor is it opportune for Gillard politically to open an entirely new political front four days into selling the carbon tax.”
    “Calm air” , “political front” from the Australian and Dennis Shanahan maybe that can be added to the PM’s list of crap reporting.

  103. Sue @ 8.18am.

    The “don’t write crap” meme is another example of ‘what was the question?’.

    The question actually included the word ‘crap’, but unfortunately the Q + A of the Press Club is not transcribed, and the result is the same as the ‘no carbon tax’ meme.

  108. Sue,
    Grattan is supposed to be a very senior journalist but she should now be writing for the 17 magazine. Hopeless.

    Another Fairfax senior editor is Tony Wright and his writing is now down the s-bend as well !!

    They both sound like town gossips

  111. Migs @ 1.34pm. I suppose that this means that you would like the key to cellar back..

    Bacchus, didn’t I give it to you?

  115. Yes Min – remember I was trying to get rid of the garlic and wine smell before Migs’ return. I left the key in the usual spot 🙂

  117. Pip…nooo, deep poo if I comment on that one.

    Bacchus, whoops I washed my bras today, I should go and check.

  118. Now from the ABC
    Farming and the carbon tax: what’s in store?
    The article isn’t too bad until the journalist must have thought it needed a bit more controversy so under the heading “No tax on the tractor” Sarah Collerton writes
    “But while petrol for farm vehicles is exempt, the heavy transport industry will be slugged with a fuel excise”
    Couldn’t help herself a rise in excise has to be a SLUG.

  119. ‘The question actually included the word ‘crap’, but unfortunately the Q + A of the Press Club is not transcribed, and the result is the same as the ‘no carbon tax’ meme.’

    Pip, do you know what the question was. I do fear, like the ‘Carbon Tax’ one, this will be lost to the context

    Mind you, I like this one no matter how it sits, cos, it’s quite right. Currently, they are writing quite a lot of it 😉

  120. Tom, if anyone would know the question it would be Pip. However, I think that she has gone to the footy this evening so you might have to wait for the answer.

  121. I can wait on a Crows victory for that Min

    (it may be a few weeks away though)

    This ‘What was the question’ is happening a lot lately, but, I guess that’s what happens when you write crap 😦

  122. A fairly horrible piece of garbage written by Shaun Carney.

    WHAT an incredible scene it was this week, to see a voter telling the Prime Minister to her face that she was a liar, not worthy of respect.

    Shaun surely this tells more about the ‘voter’ than it does about Gillard. The ‘voter’ can stand up and big note herself, call names basically do what she likes. Could the PM retaliated in kind? No, of course not.

    It was therefore an unfair fight from the start with the voter able to make accusations but the PM unable to retaliate.

    At least Carney has the good graces to state:

    There is sexism behind some of the disrespect for Gillard and also a malicious agenda among parts of the media; elements of Rupert Murdoch’s News Ltd clearly want to destroy her and most commercial radio shock jocks treat her with contempt because that’s how they hold their audiences.

    Shaun, surely this is the whole point of the matter rather than what one ‘voter’ is able to hurl in a public venue.

    Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politics/gillards-increasing-lack-of-authority-no-laughing-matter-20110715-1hi0n.html#ixzz1SE8c7aDG

  123. I still reckon J. Edgar Hoover‘s explanations of an absolutely-normalised causation con-fusions are amusing:

    LEIGH SALES: So there’s no company-wide directive then that you want the Gillard Government out?

    JOHN HARTIGAN: Absolutely not. I think, you know, we’re a company of values, like most companies, and we have very implicit values, we have things that we think as a company and individually as editors that need to be done. One of them is a leadership vacuum by minority government, but there’s lots of leadership vacuums around Australia at the moment. You know, there’s lots of issues.

  128. Apparently the Cronulla Riots were not enough for Alan Jones now he appears to be ramping up physical abuse of our Prime Minister. Read this account of his program by Laurie Oakes:

    Take right-wing radio talkback king Alan Jones, who on Tuesday said of Gillard: “I’m putting her into a chaff bag and hoisting her into the Tasman Sea.”

    On Wednesday Jones claimed that her behaviour in imposing the carbon price “borders on the treasonous”. And here he was agreeing with one of his more feral callers on Thursday: “Yeah, that’s it. Bring back the guillotine!”

    It is one thing to criticise, protest and advocate an anti-Labor vote, but this extremist nonsense is beyond the pale.
    http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/opinion/seeking-respect-in-a-difficult-climate/story-e6frezz0-1226095554922

  130. That was the first one that popped into my head actually Min (although I was thinking of Chocalate Starfish, sad really, isn’t it)

    Yes, I know I have done this one before, but I gotta do it again 🙂

    Have you heard what they said on
    The news today
    Have you heard what is coming
    To us all
    That the World as we know it
    Will be coming to an end
    Have you heard have you heard

    ………………..

    They tell us nothing that we don’t already know about
    They tell us nothing that is real at all
    They only fill us with the stuff that they want
    Did you know, did you know?

    ………………..

    Can’t believe all the lying,
    All the screens are denying
    That the moments of truth have begun

    Can’t you see it on the T.V.?
    Don’t believe them in the least bit
    Now the days of our ending have begun

    http://lyrics.wikia.com/Iron_Maiden:When_The_Wild_Wind_Blows

  132. “One of them is a leadership vacuum by minority government, but there’s lots of leadership vacuums around Australia at the moment. You know, there’s lots of issues.”

    Where is the vacuum. The present govern appears to be4 operating very well.

    It has the numbers that count. It is getting it’s legislation through with NO problems. A good budget has been passed. It is paying it’s bill. The country is not in crisis.

    It is moving on with it’s programme.

    Where is the vacuum?

  134. ‘Where is the vacuum?’

    Within the oo’s own pages

    There is an obvious ‘vacuum’ or reporting on the BER benefits, the NBN benefits, the Mining tax benefits, the Carbon Tax benefits.

    The oopositions glaring deficiencies

    There appears to be a pattern developing here

  136. CU, I suspect that there is only a leadership vacuum because the MSM says that it’s so.

    Gillard has how many bills passed in parliament? Gillard has or hasn’t been able to successfully negotiate with the independents? The proof as always is in the pudding….

  138. Eddie I particularly liked the last paragraph….about the bid for the Australia Network

    The ABC’s Scott will no doubt shrug off the latest tirade as a compliment to his success in levering up the public broadcaster’s reach through digital TV. Murdoch and his son James, who runs BSkyB in London, have complained long and bitterly at the unfairness of having to compete against government-funded media like the ABC and BBC that reflect the tastes of a ”narrow elite”.

    Which makes it strange that his organisation is so avidly chasing a $22 million-a-year government subsidy. If Murdoch truly believes he can reach out beyond a ”narrow elite”, why don’t Sky and News start a new Australian-brand international service with their own funds?

  141. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Diary-of-a-liberal-front-bencher-carbon-crusade/

    It is the full video of the woman being threatened after Mr. Abbott’s community forum. Where were Mr. Abbott’s staff to offer the woman some assistance.

    Is this what Australians have become. I would love to think this man is one of a kind. I am not so sure. For once the media present acted like humans.

    I do not know why the woman had no rights that the police could have acted on. He was definitely threatening her.

    Article is good as well.

  143. It has become the norm now to be derogatory and critical of the Prime Minister.

    This is what the right-wing Ltd News imitators, the ABC, is spending ‘taxpayers’ money on.

    Julia Gillard ……sitcom star

    NO, actually, it’s Julia Gillard, Prime Minister

    http://www.yourtv.com.au/blog.aspx? blogentryid=848462&showcomments=true

    Could this have the LOL factor that Angry Boys seriously lacks? ABC has announced that it will take a light-hearted look at life in The Lodge in a new comedy series, At Home With Julia.

    Described as “part rom-com, part guaranteed lawsuit”, the series stars Amanda Bishop as our PM and Phil Lloyd (Review with Myles Barlow) as her partner, Tim.

    “They’re just like any other busy modern couple, trying to balance their relationship with critical tasks like introducing taxes no-one voted for,” executive producer Rick Kalowski said.

    ABC Head of Comedy Debbie Lee joked: “We’ve long been concerned about generous Government funding for the ABC. Hopefully At Home With Julia will put a stop to that.”

    Not funny, Debbie

  144. Pip, and the PM and per partner have been in the Lodge for how many months? How can you base a sitcom on X weeks. It’s all becoming very tacky and not in the slightest bit amusing.

  145. Min, the bullsh test would be ….would they have done a sitcom/romcom about John and Jeanette Howard; would there be a romcom/sitcom about the Abbotts in the Lodge ??

    Would there ever have been a thought about this if the Prime Minister was properly ‘churched’.

    I doubt it.

    If the promo picture is anything to go by, the actress is wearing little fluffy slippers, [nothing very sophisticated there] and the actor has a fifties style ‘do’ and collar and tie adrift, [a bit of a rough ‘n].

    Unfortunately we would be forced to watch to see whether it will be a Kath and Kim bogan spoof or will it be a whole lot better than the picture indicates.

    either way it’s not appropriate for the ABC.

  146. Pip, Jeanette and John, that would be boring in the extreme. I immediately think of Mrs. Bucket.

    I wonder how they could do one on the PM. Surely there is very little they know about her or her partner.

    I am sure they feel that she has to presented as a Kath and Kim mode. Many claim she is a bogan, whatever that means.

    I find it hard how they can present a clever, quick witted and tough woman as empty headed idiot.

    There is nothing frivolous about our PM. Her partner comes across as level headed and normal bloke.

    Now, I can just imagine the skits you could create with Mr. Abbott and his family.

    Even I could write the scripts for that one.

  149. (Decontextualised in a reverse-read-world, the comedy (fool’s) gold from latest outspoken-Cassidy nugget o’ wisdom piece is, perhaps, somewhat revealing of its embedded-journalist’s frame-of-reference…

    It is said that “silence is golden”, and sometimes it is.

    It is symptomatic of today’s politics that any leader can set aside months at a time for a single issue, to the exclusion of everything else. Never in the past has this indulgence been possible. It only happens now because government by and large is run for the benefit, not of the country, but the media. Some of the ministry have a direct or a passing interest in the climate change issue. What on Earth do the rest of them do?

    And it makes perfect sense: a media-run government and country is beneficial; and government now would benefit from being silent-silenced; while doing what it’s told is good for it and the country by media luminaries with a direct or passing-off interest and nothing better to do than proxy-govern-benefit from that golden era’s greatest sideshow on Earth.)

  152. Hello all.

    Australian Blog Sites have come up for renewal and I have decided not to renew. Whilst it has been widely supported, the expense of keeping it running – given that I can no longer edit the site since it was hacked – is not warranted.

    I believe that setting up and rigorously promoting the site was still a worthwhile exercise. If our cause was taken up by just one person, then it was a success.

  154. Miglo, I am sad to hear that you are giving up something you obviously enjoy and have worked hard to make it a success.

    You are to be congratulated for the pleasure you have given me and I believe many others.

    I don’t know what I am going to do with my time. I find this site one of, no the best one.

    Good luck and I hope down the track you find the energy to start up again.

  155. Eddie, that Crikey link is what journalism is all about. He has called the tele’s bluff, and thrown it straight back in their face.

    The downside in that article on how there was cheering and gloating around the claim that ‘the front page story’ won the election for howard. And there would be much truth in that statement. Which just goes to prove what Gillard is up against.

    Watching the media (theirabc(tos)) last night claiming that Labor were simply jumping on a bandwagon in their calls for a look into privacy issues and media concentration was surreal to watch. They even claimed that Labor were hypocritical since they had been so buddy buddy with murdoch for so long???

    I can understand the reporters a ltdnews batting for their team, but theirabc? I really should have expected it.

    Well done Crikey!

  156. Well Tom, the reporters only have one place to go if they do not want to stay at the ABC.

    I am sure that many have tabs on themselves and intend on seeking greener pastures.

    If they go overseas, most still have to rely on Murdoch to enhance their careers.

    Mr. Murdoch does not have to do or say anything to ensure they do little to upset him.

    It is not an enquiry into News Ltd that is needed. It is an enquiry into all media including their ABC.

  158. Eddie, thanks for the link. Just goes to show what investigative journalism looks like, a rare offering.

  159. Min, and Kevin R. thanks for the link, [I think}.

    http://annarose.net.au/2011/07/22/fear-and-loathing-in-australian-politics/

    2UE is in the gutter. Interesting though that this behaviour isn’t a one off, as we’ve all seen the personal attacks on the PM.

    It’s a very practiced piece of work which would have been researched to test it’s effectiveness.

    Research from the United States conducted by Lake Research Partners for the Women’s Campaign Forum reveals how voters react to sexist coverage of women candidates. Surprisingly, the research found that the impact of “mild sexism” has the same negative ramifications for their campaign as “extreme” sexist smear campaigns. This is because the public is already uncomfortable with women in positions of power and influence.

    Sam Bennett from the WCF Foundation told attendees at the Netroots Nation conference this year, “Even mild sexist attacks (like focusing on a female politician’s hair and makeup) is just as damaging to the perception of that woman’s ability as a leader as an outrageously sexist attack. Our culture has a hard time perceiving women as leaders. That means that when these attacks come the way of women, it further erodes readers and listeners’ ability to take them seriously.”

  161. The big gun lobbyists are out in force

    Gillard hits new low with business

    http://www.smh.com.au/national/gillard-hits-new-low-with-business-20110722-1ht0k.html

    BIG business has declared war on the federal government, with corporate leaders labelling it intrusive, short sighted, heavy handed, possibly illegitimate, and the most difficult administration it has dealt
    with.

    Description of government straight out of the right-wing think tanks !

    Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/gillard-hits-new-low-with-business-20110722-1ht0k.html#ixzz1StjHwWrn

  162. Corporate goliaths hold sway

    http://www.smh.com.au/national/corporate-goliaths-hold-sway-20110722-1hsxk.html

    The fights over the mining tax and a carbon price have starkly highlighted how the pendulum of power has swung in favour of big business.

    Instead of the government coming up with policies that best deliver its public interest ends, it has found itself in protracted negotiations with miners, power generators and industry.

    Over the past two decades, business has become more assertive while our elected leaders seem diminished, even fearful – and the reason may lie in our competition policy, which was designed to give industry the size to be competitive overseas but has left Australia
    with a few domestic goliaths.

    Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/corporate-goliaths-hold-sway-20110722-1hsxk.html#ixzz1StkRovxR

  166. This morning on Insiders we had a very indignant Michael Stutchbury going on about Privacy , how dare the government accuse News Ltd of breaches, and the UK, how dare the government link what is happening there and News Ltd Australia.
    Stutchbury was keen to point out that the only Privacy cases to reach court were against the ABC.
    To Reach Court, was he listening to himself did Barry point this out? No
    As has been seen in the UK, News had very big, deep pockets in making sure cases did not go to Court.
    So here is a question that possibly the other Media should be asking.
    How much did News pay for the NOT photos of Pauline Hanson? When did News discover the photos were not Pauline Hanson? Did News through their investigative journalists or editors do any due diligence before buying the photos? And what was the increase in circulation numbers for the paper that ran the photos and stories?
    Answer that Stutchbury if you dare. The public must be asking are you a pompous hypocrite or just a journalist from the Australian?

  167. Sue, I wish we could make Sutchbury answer that question! And sadly I think he knows that people watching that will never be given a chance to let us know if they thought he was a pompous hypocrite or just a journalist from the Australian.

    Though he was offensively on the defensive there and very anxious to downplay any need for an enquiry into privacy issues re. the press! But then so were they all except perhaps for Misha Schubert who was generally talked down on that and other issues by the overbearing and ‘pompous’ Mike Sutchbury.

  169. http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/d-j-taylor-no-weird-food-please-ndash-were-british-2319413.html

    There was a delicious irony in the speech in which a newly emboldened Ed Miliband discussed some of the implications of phone hacking. The irony lay not in Mr Miliband’s conclusions – “a far greater sense of responsibility in our country” – but in the venue at which it was delivered: the London headquarters of the international accountancy firm KPMG.

    I am biased, of course, having spent several years working in the marketing departments of two of our leading bean counters, but if any organisation needed to be read a lesson by a senior politician on the need for greater responsibility, it is an international accountancy firm. The role of chartered accountants in shoring up vested interests is not explored often enough by journalists, but this week’s Private Eye thoughtfully enumerates some of the recent exploits of Ernst & Young. This is the firm that missed the £1.5bn Equitable Life black hole and the $50bn inflating of the Lehman Brothers balance sheet, not to mention an audit of News International that has no record of the six-figure payouts to Max Clifford and Gordon Taylor. Perhaps they simply weren’t “material”.

    Then there is the disastrous part played by certain big firms in government IT procurement; the disappearance of much-needed tax revenue through avoidance; and the regular complaints about auditors warning a bank that a client is in trouble and then contriving to emerge from the wreckage with a commission to wind it up. One of the first acts of an incoming Labour government ought to be the setting up of a royal commission to investigate the fitness for purpose of Messrs Ernst & Young, KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers and the others. It would have the makings of the City’s very own phone-hacking scandal.

  170. Enough with the NBN pricing hysteria. Great article by delimeter.com.

    Everyone feverishly slamming early National Broadband Network pricing plans needs to sit the hell down, take a chill pill and stop engaging in an orgy of self-congratulatory rage over pricing which is actually very reasonable and wholly expected when you remove your head from the media hype machine and examine it in detail.

    To say that there is a huge amount of misleading spin and damaging misinformation being put forth by a number of high-profile media outlets and politicians at the moment regarding NBN pricing is a collossal understatement.

    Take the article from the Sydney Morning Herald as an example. When putting this story together, the authors had a number of headline choices. They could have gone with ‘Internode unveils NBN pricing’, which is what we chose for Delimiter’s story, and actually the truth. They could have gone with ‘NBN pricing starts at $59.95 a month’, or ‘NBN pricing revealed: From $59.95 to $189.95 a month’.

    They could even have gone with — as someone else, presumably another editor, actually did go with in a different section of the exact same SMH site — “Broadband users to pay comparable prices”. But to scream “NBN retail price revealed: up to $189.95/month” — effectively using the Sydney Morning Herald’s collossal media platform to make $189.95 a month the banner NBN pricing figure and imply that customers would be paying that to access the National Broadband Network — is irresponsible. The simple fact is that Internode is offering another 15 plans, most of which cost under $100 a month.

    Now, you might say that this is just one isolated story and it hasn’t had that much of an impact on the national broadband debate. But senior politicians have already taken up the Sydney Morning Herald’s line and are running with it.

    “This is a Government which is spending upwards of $50 billion to give Australians a service that they can’t afford,” Opposition Leader Tony Abbott told journalists at a doorstop in Tasmania yesterday. “How many Australians could afford $190 a month for a broadband service that they’re currently getting for about $30 a month? It’s just bad policy and it’s typical of a Government which spends billions and billions without thinking it through first.”

    “The more we learn about the National Broadband Network, the more of a dud deal it seems.”

    So now we have one of Australia’s largest media outlets coupled with one of the nation’s foremost politicians, bringing the ‘$190 a month’ NBN pricing figure into the public debate as if it has some form of legitimacy, instead of representing the absolute extreme end of the first early stage NBN pricing plans released by one provider.

    Other media outlets and politicians instantly started dancing to the same tune.

    http://delimiter.com.au/2011/07/23/enough-with-the-nbn-pricing-hysteria-already/

  171. Agree Miglo, you do not Ge much for $80 a month. I have found, having an 16 old grandson in the house, I need to pay around $80 per months.

    It becomes very confusing when comparing different ISP’s. The difference in price is amazing. Nearly as bad as comparing the cost of mobile phones.

    You need to pay for download if you are going to get any benefit from broadband. That is life.

    I have been wondering about Mr. Murdoch’s statement that it was his humble or word to that affect.

    Can someone tell me what he meant. Was it that he was humble.

    He challenge one of the questioners when they used the word shameful, which I think is nearer the mark.

    The words I would have chosen, include, humiliated, shameful, shocking, terrible or disastrous. I do not know where humble fits in.

    Why has not the media explained what he meant.

    I think he meant you can all go and ????. I am not taking the blame. How dare you criticise me.

    Why is it such a shocking thing for a PM to say that the media may have questions to ask. Are the media in this country above the law and criticism.

    The question I believe that meeds asking is:- Why should we accept blindly News Ltd statement . That what’s happen in the UK cannot happen here.

    Why not?

    Murdoch’s chiefs move around the world. It is the same mob in every country.

  172. Catching Up regarding
    ‘it is the same mob in every country”

    In 2003, all of Murdoch’s 175 newspapers supported the Iraq invasion.
    http://www.truth-out.org/rupert-murdoch-vs-edward-r-murrow-and-izzy-stone/1311475077
    That just about sums up what you are saying. One of the latest articles on Truthout compares Murabank and Murdoch
    Mubarak and Murdoch: The Arab Spring Gives Way to the Anglo-American Summer
    http://www.truth-out.org/mubarak-and-murdoch-arab-spring-gives-way-anglo-american-summer/1311456797
    Now that could be humbling.

  173. Is there a teensy little threat at the end of this article ?

    http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/double-standards-on-privacy/story-e6frg71x-1226100902639

    Julia Gillard needs to be careful about unleashing the privacy issue against newspapers that the government and the Greens perceive as enemies because they have the temerity to do their job of scrutinising politicians thoroughly. As the focus switches to political parties’ data bases, the Prime Minister might regret opening such a pungent can of three-year-old red herrings. She would better serve the nation’s interests, and her own, by putting the lid firmly back on and returning to the real priorities.

  176. Tony is always, think of a number and double it…numbers are just things which float around in Tony’s imagination.

  177. Independent MP supports media inquiry

    http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/independent-mp-supports-media-inquiry-20110725-1hw0c.html

    A parliamentary inquiry into the media could produce some genuine reform and not just allow politicians to seek revenge on the Australian arm of Rupert Murdoch’s global empire, a key federal independent MP says.

    Rob Oakeshott, who admits he has not always been fairly treated by News Ltd publications, says the last inquiry of substance was 20
    years ago “when the internet was invented”.

  178. Pip, so we have the Greens and Oakeshott. The numbers aren’t quite there yet. And it’s an excellent point, that there has been no enquiry basically since the invention of online media.

    Oakeshott, at least in this transcript doesn’t say what he means by ‘reform’. If it’s a matter of ethics, then how does one police these. If it’s a matter of ownership and influence of the Murdoch Empire, it’s going to be one hell of a job to turn around the Titanic.

  179. Old media powers warned about digital content

    http://www.smh.com.au/business/old-media-powers-warned-about-digital-content-20110724-1hvgp.html

    COMPETITION chief Graeme Samuel has warned that “old media” powers seeking to entrench their control in the market for digital content will face growing resistance from regulators.

    After the watchdog’s shock draft findings on Foxtel’s $1.9 billion bid for Austar last week, Mr Samuel said technological change meant mergers that put control of content in fewer hands would come under greater scrutiny.

    “Regulators will have to have a key focus on ensuring that the new media doesn’t get tied up in a way that further increases the market power of the incumbents,” the outgoing chairman of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said.

    “Content is paramount. Content is king. It’s going to be the fundamental consideration,” Mr Samuel said.

    Better late than never !

  183. Miglo, Craig has resigned from the Crows and daughter says stats., say whichever club has a new coach wins the next Showdown…: 🙄

  184. Pip @3.11 enough about testicles.
    The MSM, at the obligatory photo shoot, decided that the message of the day was about nutty Abbott and his. Oh what a guy.

  190. Mr. Denmore knows the ropes …..
    The Failed Estate
    Rejuvenating journalism in a jaded age

    Agenda benders

    http://thefailedestate.blogspot.com/2011/07/agenda-benders.html?showComment=1311529262721

    What’s the key difference between good and bad journalism? In the former, the facts always come first, assumptions are to be avoided and the simple questions ‘who, what, where, when, how and why’ are the tools of the trade. For the latter, the facts are just a convenient hook on which to hang a specific agenda. The tragic events in Norway provide a prime example of how this works.

    ………………………..
    For a busted mainstream media, this get-your-prejudices-confirmed-here approach delivers page impressions, no doubt. It’s successful, to be sure; if, of course, your idea of success is twisting and distorting real-world events to fit an agenda that panders to ignorance, bigotry and xenophobia. There’s ALWAYS been a market for that. I’m not sure I would call it journalism, though. Not in my book.

  192. Words will not save Richard from jail time
    July 25, 2011
    Ads by Google
    Need a Financial Planner?

    australianfinancialplanners.com.au

    Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/business/words-will-not-save-richard-from-jail-time-20110724-1hvar.html#ixzz1T5zYoORW

    I find the advertisement placed with this story decidedly weird.And then from the article itself
    When Shawn Richard sought character references as he faced a lengthy jail sentence, there were a few people from his past he felt he could ask.

    Instead of investors, Richard turned to some old mates, some professional contacts and some financial planners for some kind words

    Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/business/words-will-not-save-richard-from-jail-time-20110724-1hvar.html#ixzz1T60QUsu3

    Yep as the advertisement suggests, just turn to a financial Planner for character references after ripping off your clients.

  195. Min, who actually buys The Australian?

    Judging from a few conversations I’ve had the buyers are mainly old farts who feel important because they vote Liberal, and the ‘big end of town’ types who like to read nice things about themselves !!

    {Not that there’s anything wrong with being an old fart 🙄 }

  196. Sue,

    It is indeed quite an amusing exercise – read the article then compare it with who the sponsor is for the article. For Abbott it’s reverse mortgage seniors and funeral plans…

    And for the incredibly stupid..

    Domain real estate advertisement: Are you worried about the carbon price affecting the cost of new housing?

  197. Sue, I must clarify regarding the ad directed at Abbott’s demographic.

    There are old farts, and there are silly old farts !

    I might belong in the former category 😀

  199. Eddie, from your link to Mr. Denmore…

    Journalism in Australia is in crisis not because the media’s classified advertising business model has been blown apart. It is in crisis because the product is simply not very good.

    And that’s it in a nutshell, it’s a poor quality product.

  201. Snippets from Eddie’s link to The Failed Estate:-
    Trust never sleeps
    http://thefailedestate.blogspot.com/2010/10/trust-never-sleeps.html

    Or perhaps the answer is that your product is deemed not worth paying for? Put another way, are you, Ms Crabb, seriously suggesting that the Australian public would fork out its hard earned to pay for the sort of “coverage” we saw in this past election – where the press gallery was either shadowing every move of a former Opposition Leader moonlighting for a tabloid current affairs show, opining on the size of the prime minister’s ear lobes or doing half-arsed “analysis” of opinion polls generated by their own mastheads, who create these polls as a marketing peg?

    and

    They would not pay for News Ltd’s ideological barrow pushing and distortion or the ABC’s futile attempts at bogus balance or for the commercial “cross-platform” ambitions of Channel Ten or anyone else. This confuses what the seller thinks it can “price” and what the buyer “values”. Ultimately, what drives the quality of the relationship between a journalist and his or her readers and viewers is TRUST. That is what good journalism is worth. If journalists stopped feeling so sorry for themselves, got back to their knitting and focused on that – restoring trust – the money men could take over from there and fiddle with the business model. That’s the discussion that Ms Crabb’s speech, as amusing and feel-good and rousing as it was to nostalgic-at-the-pub journos, did not tackle. And it is one we badly need.

  202. In regards to media honesty and what can be done, a phyllis stein posed an interesting point at Pure Poison, which I will post her in full. Not sure if it is viable

    I’m sure it’s been asked and answered, but does the ACCC have a role in pursuing a charge of deceptive and misleading conduct by NewsCorp et al. Is the media exempt?

    From the ACCC website:

    “There is a very broad provision in the Australian Consumer Law that prohibits conduct by a corporation that is misleading or deceptive, or would be likely to mislead or deceive you.

    It makes no difference whether the business intended to mislead or deceive you—it is how the conduct of the business affected your thoughts and beliefs that matters.

    If the overall impression left by an advertisement, promotion, quotation, statement or other representation made by a business creates a misleading impression in your mind—such as to the price, value or the quality of any goods and services—then the conduct is likely to breach the law.”

    http://blogs.crikey.com.au/purepoison/2011/07/22/unchanged-climate-at-news/comment-page-1/#comment-59447

  203. Thank you Tom. I’m a bit behind the times, I hadn’t realized that the Trades Practices Act – misleading and disceptive conduct had been renamed the Competition and Consumer Act 2010.

    Broadly in order to prove misleading or desceptive conduct one has to prove some sort of detriment. Therefore if the advertising lead you to believe that the fridge played one of 27 different Beatles tunes every time you opened the fridge door and it didn’t, and then IF you could prove that the advertising lead you to believe this, then IF you could prove that you purchased the fridge solely because of the advertising… then it’s misleading or desceptive conduct.

    The moot point is ‘detriment’. A person or organisation has to prove detriment of some kind. The short answer is buckley’s and none. It’s difficult enough to prove detriment for a fridge much less trying to prove ‘detriment’ from a newspaper and which isn’t already covered via other forms of tort.

  204. Just finished watching Q&A and I realised I could have a problem with the neighbours. My husband and I were both yelling at the tellie when Abetz was on. We then laughed and thought gee whiz this sounds like a really bad domestic.
    If you get to have a look at Abetz on qanda it was the very first question asked..

  205. Sue I watched it as well. Abetz is a tool.
    Did you notice the answer Melanie Kerrison gave about whether she and her husband own pokie machines?
    “No, I don’t”. She didn’t elaborate on her husband !

  206. I haven’t watched it yet (hope to in a couple of hours) but apparently milne was pushing for an enquiry into media bias???

    Has the drink truly got to him. He may just make himself redundant? Mind you, I would welcome it, although, as Min highlighted a couple of comments ago, it is fraught with complexity.

    Looking at the front page of the oo today, they appear to be quite frightened of it, lashing out in numerous directions at anything that might look into their black heart. The craziest was when they tried to use the Australian publics fear of the Australia card as too much infringement into their privacy as some kind of defense to limit their powers to look into the publics privacy?? The logical contortions there just make my head hurt.

    Lets hope I don’t get as animated as you did Sue, my neighbours will not be so accomodating (being in the next office and all 😉 )

  207. Good morning Tom 🙂

    Lookie at this one from the OO…

    JULIA Gillard’s retribution over her perceived enemies in the press has latched on to an extremist rights agenda that would reregulate free speech and encourage a more litigious society.

    Well, well Michael Stutchbury..so that’s what it’s all about. It’s not about the standards or rather lack thereof in Australian media – encouraged by the Murdoch scandal – it’s all about Julia Gillard seeking “retribution over her perceived enemies”. Given that Bob Brown’s Greens have always had this as part of their media policy:
    3.media diversity in content and format is a right of all Australians.
    4.strong, independent public and community media are an essential part of Australia’s media sector…and that it was Brown who first mooted an investigation into Australia’s media, how amazing that all of a sudden the OO has decided to lay the ‘blame’ on Gillard.

    http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/commentary/lawsuits-no-way-to-defend-privacy-or-free-speech/story-e6frgd0x-1226101597493

    **comment taken over to new topic.

  208. Well Min, Gillard did say that ltdnews here does need to answer questions after all considering what happened in the UK, which, to ltdnews here is an ‘attack on ltdnews’

    Forget the fact that they even said that they were looking into practises themselves, which pretty much accepts Gillards comments.

    Mind you, trusting ltdnews to investigate itself is akin to footy player umpiring his own game.

    There are plenty of questions that need to be asked, questions that many in the public have been cryiong out for for a long time now.

    Privacy, media ownership and truth in reporting are the main ones that spring to mind.

    And, particulalrly in the light of the events in Norway, the role of our commentators in lowering the level of debate. It was a question that should have been asked after the shootings in America of the politician, but got sidetracked by the “poor palin” brigade. It also should be looked into. Our public commentators should advance debate, not debase it.

  209. Hear, hear Tom. Agreed, according to news.com an ‘attack’ is being asked to answer questions..how dare she!

  210. Still watching Q&A

    Abetz bellyaching about bias on the ABC on an ABC show (facepalm)

    And apparently, the science program has a science agenda 😯

  211. Tom R did you hear the bit from abetz about “if” anal jones said …gillard chaff bag.
    Big laugh from the audience directed at Abetz. he didn’t like that

  212. Yes, he appears to be flaoting along in denial. I noticed he also went on about ‘others do it’. Not sure what ‘other’ he was referring to, but he spent a lot of the evening going ‘look over there’

  213. He also had an argument against pre-commitment on Pokies. Apparently, in Nova Scotia, 36% of problem gamblers can get around it.

    Doesn’t that mean that 64% of problem gamblers are not getting around it. Wouldn’t that indicate that it is having an effect on their problem?

    It seems that according to him, if is it doesn’t stop 100% of gambling, it’s a failure, and besides, you can bet on horses (quick, look over there).

  214. Tom, 85% of problem gamblers bet on the pokies. It’s a quick adrenaline fix..and most addictions are to do with receiving ‘a high’.

  216. The AFR report which claims that PM Gillard argued for a bi-partisan climate deal is doing the rounds.
    The first I saw was ABC online:-

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-07-25/tony-abbott-emissions-trading-scheme-report/2808914

    As is the norm, the article began with:-

    Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has seized on a report that says Julia Gillard wanted to do a deal with him to reduce Australia’s carbon emissions when she was serving as Kevin Rudd’s deputy.

    The Australian Financial Review newspaper quotes a cabinet paper written by Ms Gillard and entitled ‘The Bipartisan Solution’. Handed out to her Cabinet colleagues, it proposed a bipartisan deal on a 5 per cent reduction in carbon pollution, to be achieved without a carbon tax or an ETS.

    The paper argued there was little chance of the Coalition agreeing to an emissions trading scheme (ETS) while Mr Abbott was leader, and urged the Government to adopt a fallback position.

    It’s quite a lengthy report from the ABC but there is not one quote from the PM or her spokesperson.

    Other news reports have omitted the interesting part of the ABC report “while Mr. Abbott was Leader”.

    If the ‘note’ exists and this was a leak from within the Labor Party the irresponsible person should think again about the consequences, but, if it wasn’t, the PM needs to have a look at her staff, as well as security.

    For example, when the last big leak given to Laurie Oakes was announced with such relish at the National Press Club, much was written about it and there was just one passing reference in a story in The Australian, to the junior adviser, a former Federal Policeman, to the PM. That was the person who ‘took notes’ for the PM when she was unavailable for Cabinet meetings.
    That same adviser was previously an adviser or ‘junior staffer’ to Alexander Downer.

    It would be quite wrong to suggest that this man was guilty of anything and he is possibly no longer there but it seems to me that every one in the PM’s department should be above reproach.

  217. Pip at a press conference on the Malaysia deal yesterday the PM was asked about the AFR article and she said the article had no veracity or truth. The MSM must have missed that quote.

  221. Sue, “the MSM must have missed that quote”.
    No, more likely that they studiously ignored it.

  222. Thank you Mobius, there was a small hiccup in the link which I thought that I had fixed..but then you know my technological ability…

  223. Just another Howard/Costello/Pell supporter

    also cites former Prime Minister John Howard, former treasurer Peter Costello and Archbishop George Pell in a “manifesto” posted online only hours before the killings.

    “Prime Minister John Howard has repeatedly proven to be one of the most sensible leaders in the Western world,” he writes.

    “Mr Costello has also backed calls by Prime Minister John Howard for Islamic migrants to adopt Australian values.

    Mr Howard caused outrage in Australia’s Islamic community when he said Muslims needed to speak English and show respect to women.”

    Breivik writes that Archbishop Pell considered the September 11 attacks a wake-up call.

    He quotes an address given by Archbishop Pell in which he said: “in the relationship between the Islamic and non-Islamic world, the normal thing is a situation of tension if not war, or outright hostility”.

    He also quotes Archbishop Pell as saying: “some seculars are so deeply anti-Christian, that anyone opposed to Christianity is seen as their ally. That could be one of the most spectacularly disastrous miscalculations in history”.

    Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/world/i-dont-feel-like-his-father-killers-dad-20110726-1hxrx.html#ixzz1TBFPu8lf

  227. Thanks Pip I was not familiar with the term “astro-turfing”. I now know what to call the Liberal Party online campaign and in particular the methodology and strategy of many Liberal party trolls.

    I must admit that the Federal Liberal Party appear much better organized than Labor, I think this is because they got an early start with the Ruddock propaganda team first setup under Howard.

    A good reference to be found at:: http://nostatic.com/viral/?q=node/10

  228. I think this has been posted somewhere at the Cafe before, but in case anyone missed it …..

    Tim Lambert catches out The Australian, again.
    http://blogs.crikey.com.au/purepoison/2011/07/25/tim-lambert-catches-out-the-australian-again/

    July 25, 2011 – 10:32 am, by Dave Gaukroger

    The Australian has been busy misrepresenting scientific studies again. Tim Lambert shines a light on the story.

    The Australian’s War on Science 65: Stuart Rintoul misrepresents a scientific paper : Deltoid

    Phil Watson, Team Leader of the Coastal Unit in the NSW Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water was probably pleased when The Australian’s Stuart Rintoul asked to interview him about his work.

    ..So I’m guessing he wasn’t too pleased when Rintoul’s front page story about his work claimed that “Watson has written a report stating that global warming is not affecting sea levels”

    Your article has misrepresented our Mr Phil Watson’s research paper by saying that “global warming is not affecting sea levels”. This is untrue and misleading and it is not what Mr Watson told your journalist.
    Do you think that The Australian printed this letter?

    Of course not.

    Instead they repeated the misrepresentation in an editorial

    Shameless.

    Not just shameless, but deliberately mislleading, that is DISHONEST! Here’s looking at you Ltd. News.

  230. Sue re ““Mr Costello has also backed calls by Prime Minister John Howard for Islamic migrants to adopt Australian values.”

    Gawd..the mind boggles about what these might be.

  232. Luna lava, the Liberal expert at astro-turfing would have to be Cory Bernardi.

    Last night I posted a piece about the subject and I can’t remember where it is 🙄

    Looking !!

  233. Luna lava, found it at Richard Denniss versus Monckton 26th, 12.46am, after Sue’s mention of “Catch the Fire Ministries were one of the paying sponsors of Monckton”.

  236. Will our media pick this up?

    Former Guantanamo Chief Prosecutor: David Hicks’ War Crimes Charge Was a “Favor” for Australia

    The phone call was made one day after US officials met with the ambassador to Australia, where Hicks’ case and its impact on Howard’s re-election campaign was discussed, according to a secret State Department document obtained by Truthout.
    Hicks could still be in Guantanamo today if the Bush administration declined to help Howard as he campaigned for another term in office.
    http://www.truth-out.org/former-guantanamo-chief-prosecutor-david-hicks-war-crimes-charge-was-favor-australia/1311603758
    .

  237. “““Mr Costello has also backed calls by Prime Minister John Howard for Islamic migrants to adopt Australian values.”
    ”

    What Australian values?

    What values do we have that all other cultures do not share?

    Could it be that they should become Christians.

    Of course those of us who support no religion do not share Australian values.

    It is arrogance on our part if we think we have superior values.

  239. I was talking to a customer in western NSW yesterday and she was infomring me of the number of people in the area that took up the offer of solar power paenls for their home with the NSW government rebate scheme. Apparently the basic setup only cost the home owner $100 and the rest was paid for by the NSW Government.

    After the standard mass doorknocking by private companies keen to make money most homes in the area took up the offer.

    The first electricity bills are in and most as so very happy as their bills are almost non existant or a few dollars.

    What is the really distasteful part of the process is that the pensioers and elederly who did not know better were actually sent in the mail another charge never mentioned at the time. A travel charge bill of $300.

    I wonder how they can maipulate this into blaming the government like the batts and BER instead of sheeting home the blame where it should go. The actual thieving businesses.

  240. A weekend of death and shallow analysis

    Great article by Razor and look at the comments, a growing number of media dissenters now making their feelings against the media public. You have to wonder how long the media can ignore or fob off this ground swell of discontent against them before they get off their arses and start honestly reporting.

  247. Eddie @4.11
    Alan Jones’ own broadcast proves he is THE LIAR.
    But maybe even having to possibly apologise on air is just a chaff bag to far for this Pompous p****

  248. Irate NBN chief blasts media over hack arrest

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-07-28/nbn-chief-blasts-media-over-hacking-coverage/2814582

    The head of the company rolling out the National Broadband Network has responded angrily to security concerns sparked by the alleged hacking of one the network’s providers, accusing the media of distorting the story.

    A man was arrested yesterday in New South Wales over the hacking of one of the NBN’s contracted providers, Platform Networks.

    and
    Mr Quigley also lashed out at media outlets over their coverage of the arrest.

    “I’d like to respond to what is a bunch of provocative headlines that I’ve seen over the last 24 hours,” she said.

    “Headlines such as ‘Self-taught hacker charged over NBN attack’ which came from the ABC or ‘NBN hack charges’ from The Daily Telegraph, or ‘More arrests to come over NBN hacking’ which was in The Australian. Or even as I saw this morning, Sky News and the NBN hacking scandal.”

  249. NBN rolls into Kiama Downs to “overcome the tyranny of distance”

    http://www.current.com.au/2011/07/29/article/NBN-rolls-into-Kiama-Downs-to-overcome-the-tyranny-of-distance/XDPYVZHJHP.html

    Deputy Prime Minister Wayne Swan also welcomed the arrival of the NBN in the area, saying it would be great for business.

    “Small businesses are already relocating to Kiama to take advantage of the NBN, highlighting that the NBN can promote efficiency, productivity and new opportunities for businesses,” Swan said.

    “The NBN will allow businesses, whether they are small, medium and large in rural and regional Australia, to overcome the tyranny of distance by gaining access to national and international markets.

    “Australian businesses will be able to operate smarter against their competitors, here and overseas regardless of their size or location – and focus on expanding their markets through the use of applications operated on the NBN by reducing their need for a physical presence.”

  250. Pip, exactly it. Australia has always needed 1st class telecommunications due to distance and isolation. The NBN cannot be ‘wound back’ no matter what Abbott says. Remember when JWH was going to sell Australia Post?

  251. It’s easy to understand why Mr. Abbott and Joe Hockey are not invited to the Tax Forum; it’s for grown-ups who are capable of conducting a mature debate.

    http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/tony-abbotts-wrecking-ball-not-wanted-at-meeting/story-fn59niix-1226103780476

    WAYNE Swan has snubbed the opposition by explicitly not inviting Tony Abbott or Treasury spokesman Joe Hockey to his October tax forum.

    The Treasurer has invited all the independent MPs, as well as Greens leader Bob Brown and a colleague of his choice, but the list of 156 participants released yesterday has no place at the table for the opposition.

    A spokesman for Mr Swan said yesterday the opposition had made clear “from the outset” it was not interested in taking part.

    However, despite not being included on the guest list, the opposition would be welcome to attend if it were prepared to be constructive, the spokesman said.

    “Unfortunately, the Liberals under Mr Abbott have no positive policy agenda and have done nothing but try to wreck important reforms and talk down the economy,” he said.

  252. Goverment using tax forum as pay-back, says Hooke

    Read more: http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/goverment-using-tax-forum-as-pay-back-says-hooke/story-e6frfku0-1226104231360#ixzz1TSZzNx7y

    THE mining industry has accused the Federal Government of vindictiveness after it was left off the invitation list for October’s tax forum.

    The invitation list, unveiled by Treasurer Wayne Swan yesterday, includes trade union officials, academics and tax experts, state premiers and federal government representatives.

    No mining industry representatives were listed.

    Minerals Council of Australia boss Mitch Hooke said it looked like payback after the industry’s advertising campaign against the original

    proposed mining tax.

    “You can only come to the conclusion this is an act of vindictiveness; this is pay back,” Mr Hooke told Fairfax Radio today.

    “They want to have a conversation with those who actually agree with them rather than those who are prepared to hold the Government to account and talk about things that the government actually doesn’t agree with.”

    The mining industry had been recognised by the Federal Government as the engine of the nation’s economy, Mr Hooke said, yet it wouldn’t have a say in what could be a significant structural change to
    Australia’s tax regime.

    He said the mining companies the MCA represented, including BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto, accounted for about 24 per cent of the company tax revenue the Government takes in.

    What about the other 76% of company tax revenue Mr. Hooke?

    The Mining council should realise they are not the government. The fact is they are bullies and I wouldn’t have invited them either.

  254. Hoping for civility, hearing words of hate
    http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/2816182.html

    Sue, this is an excellent article which should be read by those who offend and divide with their language, but I doubt they’ll read it.

    Min mentioned this over at ‘Friday on my mind’ as well.

    Tim Dunlop wrote:-

    But Mr Howard’s shameful rhetoric pre-dates the Iraq War. A quick look through the years shows us a man who often indulged in the so-called “culture war” rhetoric that tries to reach down into the fabric of society and divide the strands, one from the other.

    His comments about Asian immigration in 1988 were widely condemned, even by those in his own party, but let us never forget how inflammatory they were. He specifically targeted Asian immigration, suggesting that it was damaging social cohesion, a ploy designed to create the sort of division he claimed to be speaking against, in order to reap political reward.

    Delightfully, his tactic backfired, arguably costing him leadership of the party, and he did finally back away from what he had said. But nothing really changed. By the time he was PM he was happy to use the authority of that office to quite blatantly set one group against another or be an apologist for racism. Two incidents exemplify this.

    First, the children overboard affair, where Mr Howard accused asylum seekers of throwing their children into the water.

    In fact, he went so far as to say this: “…I can’t imagine how a genuine refugee would ever do that. A refugee flees persecution or flees a country more than anything else in the name of the future of his or her children and anybody who would endanger the lives of their children in that kind of way, I find it hard to accept. I certainly don’t want people of that type in Australia, I really don’t, and the Navy has behaved impeccably.”

    No children were thrown overboard. Mr Howard still denies he knew this at the time (a claim flatly contradicted by Peter Reith’s senior adviser, Mike Scrafton), but the point is that his comment very deliberately sought to vilify the asylum seekers, to dehumanise them, and his approach has had a lasting and nauseating affect on this national debate.

  255. “First, the children overboard affair, where Mr Howard accused asylum seekers of throwing their children into the water. ”

    Te Howard Government went further. They directed the navy not to intervene until the children were in the water.
    The navy obeyed and immediately the boat sunk, some of our brave sailors dived immediately into the water to save the children.

    The Howard government should get down on their knees and thank these brave men and women who put their lives at risk because of the actions of the disgraceful Howard government. The Howard government owes them thanks that the tragedy was not worse, with many lives being loss. Has anyone followed up on the lives of these people today?

    “

  257. CU re “The navy obeyed and immediately the boat sunk, some of our brave sailors dived immediately into the water to save the children.”

    Photos were taken of this rescue and these official Navy photos were then doctored to remove the date and the time before they were published in the MSM to ‘prove’ that asylum seekers had thrown their children into the water.

    This is just one example of the absolute corruption of the Howard government.

  259. It says something for the reputation of the four above that they influence someone in far off Norway.

    Influence him enough for him to comment on what they did and said in his writings.

    If it is true that the Norwegian did as alleged, he believed the four men supported his views.

    Costello brushed it off as the ravings of a mad man. Maybe that is true, but the madman is consistent in that the four of them have similar views.

    It does not make me proud that some overseas sees us as a racist nation. Many do believe where there is smoke, there is fire.

    When we look at today’s politics, it has come down to the gutter level of perceptions, not truth. Therefore why should we not believe the perception because of the actions of the four are that we are a racist nation, especially when it comes to people whose religion is Moslem, those others of an Arabic background are also not wanted.

    Imagine the outcry if someone from the Labor side was mentioned in some similar situation. They would be condemned in every headline in the country. There would be no concern that there was little truth in the allegation

  260. especially when it comes to people whose religion is Moslem, those others of an Arabic background are also not wanted.

    Let’s not forget though that in the 80’s with Howard it was Asian as Tim Dunlop pointed out. The only difference between his veiled racist rhetoric against Asian immigration then and against Arab immigration when he was PM was the fact he was PM, so he had a much wider audience and had the resources of government and a derelict MSM to employ in his racism, all the while railing against those who rightly called out his racist undertones by claiming he was not a racist and those calling him one were Howard haters.

  263. It is perception not truth that appears to count today. Therefore Mr. Howard was guilty of racism. Most Asians in the country and in his community believed so.

    Mr. Howard also believed he was seen as racist as he spent decades attempting to change the perception.

    I believe in truth he was racist. Mr. Howard was stupid enough to voice the words that haunted him for the rest of his career.

    Mr. Rudd’s connection with China and his ability to speak Mandarin, did him no harm in the 2007 elections.

  264. Min @ 8.48 and further on in Carlton’s piece

    ACMA has the power to take an offending shock jock off air, and to fine, suspend or even shut down a radio station that breaks the rules.

    If calls for the assassination of the Prime Minister aren’t enough to get ACMA to act, you wonder what would be . So far we haven’t seen 2GB or its on-air hate mongers cop even the usual feeble slap with a wet lettuce leaf.

    Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/curb-the-hate-mongers-for-all-our-sakes-20110729-1i44k.html#ixzz1TXeLbAAb

    I hope Getup also put in a complaint about the Chris Smith program,where a caller wanted the PM assassinated and Smith allowed it on air.

    With Smith (the groper) and Jones (the ….) inciting their listeners no wonder 2GB is not coming to Canberra, maybe the station had a visit from the Federal Police or ASIO. And if they have not then maybe they should as ACMA has failed to uphold the law.

    The ACMA board should look to standing down or be stood down.

  266. CU, that certainly brings back memories…remember when Rudd had strips torn off him for having an unusual interest, speaking an unusual language.

    We kinda liked our wordy nerd, I certainly know that I did. Rudd is incomprehensible to the media as he does not possess the same malice as do other politicians – hence the reason that the MSM could not believe that Rudd could become a team player in a Gillard government.

  267. ACMA are a total waste of space, they employ over 600 people and I am not aware of any action to enforce the commercial radio Code of Practice (apart from an ad campaign).

    Just compare them to the Australian Consumer and Competition Commission (ACCC) and their enforcement of the Trade Practices Act.

    They might as make them all redundant and save some money.

    Chris Chapman, the ACMA Chair has just been reappointed for a further five years, who was the Labor party bunny responsible for this?

    Anal Jones treats them with contempt and on this issue I agree with him.

  268. Luna, I’m not certain of the logistics here but wouldn’t it be preferable that both organisations come in under the same department. It would seem to me that best practice would be a combo of the Trade Practices Act and Anti-Discrimination/HREOC.

  269. I believe there are many in politics because they enjoy the job and the fact that you can have some influence on how our community operates.

    I am sure that many go into politics because they get satisfaction out of the job. They like the idea of contributing something to the community and find making money for money’s sake unfulfilling.

    I am sure some find other roles in politics, rather than being leader more to their liking.

    We have more than Mr. Rudd being deposed on the Labor side, who have stayed on in parliament, still doing a worthwhile job for many years.

    Mr. Rudd, has many skills and much to offer. Maybe being PM was not the role that suited him best. Getting Labor into power was a role he carried out successfully.

    There has been many, such as Mr. Faulkner, I am sure would have made an good leader but has carried out more important roles.

    The PM needs the support of her/his party to survive. They cannot do it on their own.

    Being in government is team work. Picking the correct roles for all involved, is what leads to ongoing success. All roles are equal and important.

  270. CU re: We have more than Mr. Rudd being deposed on the Labor side, who have stayed on in parliament, still doing a worthwhile job for many years.

    And Simon Crean comes to mind.

  272. Our new Coalition government is very efficient. They sure know what they are doing.

    Two days later they are already reversing the number of speed cameras they are closing down. Community outcry has been great. The government is saying they are listening to the community.

    If that is the case, we are in for some exciting times.

    Wonder if we make enough noise re the ethics classes in schools, will we be able to bring about a similar reversal. I think not. I believe the same would be true for their new IR laws. I am sure all the noise in the world will not bring change.

    What if we said Parramatta Jail should stay and the jobs be saved, I am sure they will be accommodating. I think not. What if we say we do not like prisons being run by private enterprise, they will desist, especially as I do not remember many of these things being mentioned before the last election. I know that keeping promises only applies to Labor, but It would be nice if the Opposition let us know.

    I am waiting for the outcry when we have a couple of serious accidents at the sites the cameras are removed.

    I am sure that will occur, worse luck as some cameras are being removed from near schools. I am not so sure we will read about it in the MSM.

    Now many believe they need more police on the road for them to drive safely. If they need the police, where do they propose the money comes from to pay the police. Surely not those who drive in a correct and safe manner.

    If you need police, I suggest that speeding drivers pay, using speed cameras to collect the money. If you obey the traffic rules you do not pay.

    Fair deal to me.

  273. CU @11.05
    One of the 6 big issues for the American right-wing ALEC is privatised prisons, the other 5 are, union busting, disenfranchising voters,undoing efforts against climate change,opposing health insurance.
    And to make sure their privatised money making prisons are full they push anti-immigrant legislation.

  274. Mr. Howard’s obsession was getting rid of unions. According to him and his ilk, all would good with the world if unions did not exist.

    The worker had to be put back into his place, for free enterprise to prosper.

  275. Stand by Cu at O’Farrell is on the verge of breaking another set in stone election promise, and one he made a lot of mileage out of.

    The free Wollongong shuttle service costs $2.1 million pa and the Keneally government was looking at holding a review of the costs of running it and it’s value for money. O’Farrell and some of his ministers visited the Gong on many occasions making a huge deal out of this proposed government review promising to keep the shuttle service if they won government.

    The O’Farrell government has announced a review into the free Gong shuttle and it’s cost effectiveness. As one ABC Local Radio caller said if O’Farrell goes ahead with the review then there is going to be a lot of loud noises against him right up to the next election.

    Like the growing list of broken promises from the other State Liberals, Baillieu was mentioned the other day on another one, O’Farrell is doing his best to catch up and surpass his fellow ideological colleagues.

  276. ME, what else can you expect when you have Max the axe and Griener in charge. (Mr. Max Wilton, Mr. Howard’s axeman). Mr. Griener, who if I remember was thrown out for not being terribly honest.

    Mr. O’Farrell is really breaking one promise, the one were he promise to do better than Labor. As for other promises, did he make any?

    Beware of the Coalition. The ones that are elected, are not the ones in charge.

    Look at Queensland, the Coalition has a a parliamentary leader that has not been elected.

    NSW has Max Wilton and Griener calling the shots.

    Talk about faceless men, the present day Liberal party is making it an artform.

  277. “The free Wollongong shuttle service costs $2.1 million pa and the Keneally government was looking at holding a review of the costs of running it and it’s value for money”

    Was that the service was so good that the local taxi drivers were up in arms against.

  280. This from Laura Tingle who IMHO is the best journalist in the country.
    No nonsense from this lady !
    AFR is usually behind the paywall, but this one is not.

    http://www.afr.com/p/opinion/centre_forgotten_in_rush_to_extremes_HeoSKDAlijgvw8xp8q0GcP

    Centre forgotten in rush to extremes

    and also a link to
    :http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/PEPU/Goot.pdf

    Population, immigration and asylum seekers: patterns in Australian public opinion
    Professor Murray Goot and Dr Ian Watson, Macquarie University

    Ms Tingle says this should be required reading for political junkies if for no other reason than it wrestles with the issue of the circular nature of polling and opinion: how perceptions of voter opinion from polls feed into politics then feed back into polls.

  281. Looks like the nasties from the right are out to target Mark Riley from the Seven network. Apparently the question put by Riley to the PM at the National Press Club is the cause. Riley’s question highlighted the nut case in Brisbane, who wanted to take up arms. And of course the PMs classic response of Don’t write Crap.
    The “crap ” pushes are extremely upset and are out for vengeance. But then when the story is in the Telegraph you kind of expect it.
    It’s all on: War erupts between Ray Hadley and Channel 7
    http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/its-all-on-war-erupts-between-ray-hadley-and-channel-7/story-e6freuy9-1226105113257

  283. Premier O’Farrell has a problem named Fred

    O’Farrell bows to Nile over ethics

    http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/ofarrell-bows-to-nile-over-ethics- 20110729-1i4b8.html?from=smh_sb

    i>THE state government has bowed to pressure from Fred Nile and will consider removing ethics classes from schools only months after they began.

    A deal the Christian Democratic Party MP says he has struck with the Premier, Barry O’Farrell, places at risk the Coalition’s election promise not to remove the classes, which began in February under the former Labor government as an alternative to religious education lessons.

    But it also presents Mr Nile and the government with a potential compromise over the issue, on which neither has been willing to give ground since it re-emerged two weeks ago.

    Mr O’Farrell, Mr Nile and the leader of the house in the Legislative Council, Duncan Gay, met on Thursday to discuss the impasse, which has threatened to grow into a full-blown crisis for the government.

    Mr Nile had vowed to use his party’s upper house votes to ”torpedo” the government’s public service wages legislation if it did not consider his demand that ethics classes not be held at the same time as Scripture lessons.

    The government calculates that failure to introduce its policy to cap wage rises for public servants at 2.5 per cent unless first matched with employee-related savings could cost the budget almost $2 billion over four years.

  284. Premier O’Farrell is also facing a push-back

    Stand firm on school ethics classes, says program manager

    http://wentworth-courier.whereilive.com.au/news/story/stand-firm-on-school-ethics-says-class-expert/

    THE general manager of the school ethics program has called on NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell not to use students as a “bargaining chip” for a political end.

    Primary Ethics general manager of schools Teresa Russell said she believed Mr O’Farrell would continue to support school ethics classes, despite a call from upper house Christian Democrat MP Fred Nile to scrap them.

    Mr Nile has said he would consider voting against new state government industrial relations legislation unless Mr O’Farrell dropped
    ethics classes in schools.

    Ms Russell co-ordinated the pilot program in 10 primary schools, including Crown Street Public and Darlinghurst Public, and now runs the program through Primary Ethics, the body set up to deliver the classes.

    She said Mr Nile was “isolated” and the ethics classes now appeared to have the support of one of its biggest opponents – the Anglican church.

  285. I think it time if parents do not want their children indoctrinated by well meaning, often religious nuts to withdraw their children from the scripture classes.

    How dare the likes of Mr. Nile dictate what our children will be taught.

    If parents want, as is their rights, religion instruction for their children, should not they expect the churches to provide the instruction and venues, out of school hours.

    Least parents will have some confidence that the children will be taught by experts in the field.

    What could be wrong with classes that let children learn the difference between right and wrong. Classes that also let them learn why something is right or wrong. They are only learning at this level how to get on and respect each other.

    I know that is hard for many on the distance right to understand, as they seem to believe only them and their beliefs demand respect. Everyone else is wrong and should be treated with contempt and insults, should be destroyed.

  286. So how is O’Farrell being under the control of Fred Nile different to Labor supposedly being under control of Bob Brown.

    The difference is in reporting. One is ignored or published as a byline of not much importance the other is vindictively reported using harsh language with lots of hate and untruths.

  287. There is currently a High Court Challenge against the School Chaplaincy program run by parent Ronnie Williams.

    http://highcourtchallenge.com/

    The argument being that government schools should be secular. If someone wants their child to have a religious education then this is their responsibility. Ethics is not the domain of any one particular religion and it should not be assumed that this is so.

  288. Mobius, given the choice I would much rather be under the control of Bob Brown than Fred Nile…at least one would expect a decent feed of vegie rolls compared with tea and scones, and those given begrudgingly.

  291. You’re right Tom, they’ve missed it entirely – instead from news.com there is a scare campaign against so-called ‘looming’ rate rises..this in spite of also noting that this was if the Reserve bank ‘defies expectations’.

  292. They have been running similar headlines for months Min. Sooner or later they’ll be right.

    Their silence is deafening on the health reform. Probably looking for some minor negative point they can blow into a headline.

  293. Wonderful to hear the PM ask reporters what do they mean by their question. Malcolm was glob struck.

    The PM said she not making assumptions but asking what they mean. The PM challenged the journalist assumptions.

    Backs immediately went up. The hard questions came and the PM had a chance to answer.

    It is going to be hard for the journalist to create perceptions that the PM is not putting her position clearly.

    The questions asked seem to be creating the groundwork that the PM has given into the states. The PM cut off this line of questions by asking where she had let down the patients. The PM also made it clear that it is not the government’s role to sit in Canberra telling the hospitals how they should do their job.

    The PM’s seem to be saying we are responsible for assuring the funding and the states for carrying out services.

    The journalist, I believe after this press conference will have to deal with what has been said, not their version of what has been said.

    I think we have seen the PM negotiating skills in operation.

  294. ” Probably looking for some minor negative point they can blow into a headline”

    The headline is going to be that the PM caved in.

    The PM has told them very clearly they need to look at the facts. The PM has said very clearly she has not caved in.

  296. Who do we believe?

    “Acting Opposition Leader Julie Bishop said the Prime Minister had capitulated to the states.

    She said the blame game would continue and that nothing in today’s announcement would secure any long term benefits for Australia’s health system.

    “The so-called great negotiator, once again, has given everything away and received nothing in return,” Ms Bishop said.

    “It reminds me of the Malaysia swap deal.”

    But the architect of the Medicare system, Dr John Deeble, backed the health agreement as a “sensible, pragmatic solution”.

    While acknowledging it would not solve all the problems caused by rising demand for health services, Dr Deeble welcomed the extra funding and the move away from the contentious GST clawback.

    “I really think it is a substantial step,” he said.

    “People said it was watered down. But it was watered down from something that wasn’t going to work anyway.

    “I support it. This is as much as you can reasonably expect to do.”

    Australian Medical Association President Steve Hambleton said doctors would be watching closely to ensure the promised extra funding filtered down to patients.

    He welcomed the changes to the emergency and elective surgery targets, saying the government had listened to the AMA’s advice.

    “It is a positive change, mainly because it’s a target not imposed by Canberra, but imposed as a result of consultation with doctors,” Dr Hambleton said.

    “I think this is progress. There are some signals here that make the AMA happy.”

    http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/health/reform-deal-to-lift-hospital-standards-pm/story-fn59nokw-1226106562966

  297. I like the PM’s conclusion..that if the Leader of the Opposition wants to play “funny buggers” with the legislation. This is a win for Gillard or else Abbott would not have left the scene leaving J. Bishop to pick up after him.

  298. CU “who do we believe”
    I presume Dr Hambleton and Dr Deeble have some expertise so of course the Coalition will dismiss their opinion as irrelevant and lump them in with the scientists and economists.

  299. I have just watched last nights Q&A. Why did not someone warn me that it had become a comedy show. Any comedian would have found it hard to beat the MSM representative.

    The problem is if I did not laught, I would have had to cry.

  300. Catching up,
    after the comments about the Insiders on Sunday, [can’t remember which post we were on], I think you might enjoy this comment from Larvatus Prodeo on that subject of the Insiders panel…..

    http://blogs.crikey.com.au/pollbludger/2011/07/29/morgan-56-5-43-5-to-coalition-2/comment-page-1/#comment-964384

    smithe
    Posted Friday, July 29, 2011 at 5:31 pm | Permalink
    From the previous thread:

    Lynchpin
    Posted Friday, July 29, 2011 at 2:55 pm | Permalink
    mpbowers Mike Bowers
    Insiders ABC 1 & NEWS 24 9am Sunday-Panel-The Australian’s Chris Kenny and political commentators Kerry-Anne Walsh and Glenn Milne #insiders

    Yes, Insiders has definitely got our insides covered this weekend. There’s the bowel, the spleen and the rectum on the one panel.

    Marvellous.

  301. Gillard meets Murdoch editors

    http://www.theage.com.au/national/gillard-meets-murdoch-editors-20110802-1ia4i.html

    PRIME Minister Julia Gillard last night called on Rupert Murdoch’s editors, after months of acrimonious relations.

    But before she set foot in the door News Ltd signalled that it felt a new parliamentary inquiry into the Australian media was overkill.

    Ms Gillard went to Sydney late yesterday to address the editors’ conference of News Ltd at the invitation of the chief executive and chairman, John Hartigan.

    Advertisement: Story continues below She said she intended to talk about ”the government’s reform agenda and my vision for the nation’s future”. But ahead of last night’s high-powered gathering a News Ltd spokesman told The Age the company saw little merit in a ”separate taxpayer funded inquiry” into the media when the government had already begun its ”convergence” review of media regulation.

    The Prime Minister has a problem because Ltd. News is too obsessed with it’s own Newspolls to waste too many column inches on “the government’s reform agends”, and the PM’s “vision for the nation’s future”.

  302. Pip, Ms Sue Ley, Liberal from Western Australia was on Capitol Hill, ABC. She raved on about Labor complaining about the Murdoch.

    The lady came to the conclusion that Labor did not like the scrutiny the Murdoch press. She could see nothing wrong with the media in this country.

    Ms. Ley went onto say that if people did not like the Murdoch press, they did not have watch or read them. She added they could watch the ABC as an alternative.

    My son thought I was mad when I yelled at the TV, that we could not even get away from the MSM because they had invaded and taken over the ABC.

    On that show as well as the Liberal there was a Green member of parliament. Topic, discussing Labor’s health scheme, Malaysian solution and the visit tonight to the editors meeting. No Labor member present.

    By the way, Ms. Ley was not challenged. Nothing new.

    The Drum tonight was worse. We had the re-appearance of Mr. O’Neill.

  303. Pip, well there went this morning’s cup of coffee, after reading your:

    Yes, Insiders has definitely got our insides covered this weekend. There’s the bowel, the spleen and the rectum on the one panel.

    Marvellous.

  306. CU I hope you did not round off your ABC viewing / yelling with 7.30 and the Leigh Sales interview with Paul Wolfowitz..
    Sales introduced Wolfowitz as the former head of the World Bank, she asked him about the US debt and queried him about the cost of 2 Wars. After he thoroughly dismissed that idea and blamed the cost of social welfare, I wondered about Wolfowitz’s backgound.
    So a more apt description of Wolfowitz is

    he was “a major architect of President Bush’s Iraq policy and … its most hawkish advocate”

    Mr Wolfowitz’s personally intervened to secure promotion, pay increases (of 46%) and benefits for his girlfriend, Shaha Riza, shortly after he took over as head of the world bank. Wolfowitz was forced to resign because he had lost the reputation for ethical impeccability on which the World Bank relied..

    So more right wing propaganda on ABC. Shame on Leigh Sales and 7.30 no wonder they are losing viewers when they indulge with this subterfuge.

  307. lunalava I had a look at the same story in the Murdoch Herald Sun, nice picture of the MP, but basically they noted that the story came from the Fairfax press.
    So apart from the bullets and the $5000 drug debt, the herald sun left out the bit of the other son and a road rage incident.
    You think the Herald sun would do a full expose of this MP for the benefit of the electorate, as did the Sydney Telegraph on Belinda Neal. And of course for balance this story will need to be in the headlines for the next few months.

  308. Sue, my son’s TV survived that interview.

    Maybe some economist on these sites can explain why spending money on war is good. Spending money on health is bad.

    I am stupid but I was under, if he is correct, the mistaken idea that the Korean War and later on the Vietnam war bought periods of inflation and other ills to our and the USA economy.

    Did not the first war against Iraq lead to high petrol prices to the USA and other county’s economies.

    Now I know the arms manufacturers and suppliers benefited but it is news to me that the nations economy does.

    I have a sneaking feeling that increasing tax at this stage might fix some of their ills.

    I was listening to some station over night on the radio. I heard as American saying the USA is still a strong economy. Yes the difference between the poor and rich was growing, but they still lead the world. He went onto say that they have a universal education and health system, among the best in the world. Yes, they were not spending on the necessary infrastructure etc. but the were still the best. Yes they have a unemployment that is not improving, but it was still the best country.

    I think we need the rose coloured glasses that many Americans wear. They are miraculous. Maybe it is that if you are able to ignore the poor and needy, to protect your own patch, things are good.

    By the way, I reluctantly thank Mr. Abbott in his success on talking the economy down leading to interest rates not going up yesterday. It has to be to Mr. Abbott’s credit as we know that no way could the government have any influence over the rates staying steady for the last few months. Interest rates can only be low under a Coalition government.

  310. I note that the decline in the Bolt Report continues, even though Bolt keeps spruiking up his ratings. The Encore edition is now matching the main edition, which continues to decline. It was the combining of the Encore edition’s much better ratings with the main one that propped up The Gina Report figures, but that is now failing.

    From May to July The Gina Report has lost nearly 60,000 viewers.

    Gina won’t pull this of course, she has almost limitless pockets thanks to daddy, even if advertisers are given free airtime to remain. If her TV report produces just one soundbite or media quote a week it will be doing the propaganda she’s paying(wasting) big bucks for.

  311. ME. to be fair to Gina, she was left by her father an inheritance that was going down the gurgler. She has made an success of it. That said, I still do not like the woman. Her father was not the nicest of human being, she is worse.

  312. Hi folks, my email and broadband accounts are currently STUFFED…am awaiting technical assistance, as in a real live person coming around to help. Wish me luck….

  313. I remember the saying how do you make a small fortune? Answer: Give the young Fairfax a large fortune.
    Most ultra wealthy people think their wealth is just a way of keeping score on their importance. Any fool can lose money, and losing money makes them look foolish to the people that matter.
    As for Bolt – stick a fork in him I reckon he’s done. A good summary of Bolt on: http://heathenscripture.wordpress.com/

    “Even the worst nightmares can’t keep Bolt upright “

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