Media Watch XII

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 is the links to the previous Media Watch discussion:

MediaWatch XI

373 comments on “Media Watch XII”

  1. News Ltd starts smear campaign against Slipper
    http://www.independentaustralia.net/2011/politics/news-ltd-starts-smear-campaign-against-slipper/

    It didn’t take long for the Murdoch press to start the “let’s get Peter Slipper” ball rolling. Senior correspondent Barry Everingham comments.

    The Liberal Party’s Melbourne newspaper, published under the banner of “Herald Sun”, is already in full flight denigrating the new Speaker of the House of Representatives, Peter Slipper.

    In today’s edition, the Herald Sun uses unnamed Coalition MPs to demonise Speaker Slipper as being a drunk, or having been “warned” in the past of reeking of liquor and the not too subtle implication is that he’s northing more than an out of control alcoholic.

  2. And he is the only MP that has been accused of smelling of liquor.

    How do all those business and other leaders cope after their long lunches.

    What about the stories of Mr. Abbott enjoying along lunch and sleeping through divisions.

    Mr. Hawke and I believe a very successful Labor war time PM cope very well in spite of being a alcoholic.

    One wonders if this is all they have, what is the outcry about.

  3. Tony Abbott slept through key vote
    The Sunday Telegraph March 08, 2009

    http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/national/abbott-snoozed-through-key-vote/story-e6freuzr-1111119064644

    TONY Abbott missed the key economic vote of the new Parliament – the $42 billion fiscal stimulus package – because he fell asleep after a night of drinking witnessed by MPs from both sides of Parliament.
    Mr Abbott told Chief Opposition Whip Alex Somlyay that he missed five divisions on the night of Thursday, February 12 because he fell asleep in his office.

    His nap followed dinner in the Members’ Dining Room with Peter Costello, Kevin Andrews and Peter Dutton, where numerous bottles of wine were consumed.

  6. The lady, Ali I think, she was on last night. She said she was going elsewhere. It was the last show of the year.

    It was a queer Lateline with Michael Koger on. They seem to be bringing out all the big guns from the past. Mr.Howes did not come across too bad.

    It was 20 months between visits for Mr. Abbott. Is that a sign of desperation.

    It must be hard for the media to make up stories now with so much going to air live or to be found on the web.

  8. Peter van Onselen tweeted about Libs crossing the floor..

    Apparently they are allowed to cross the floor but if on the front bench they have to resign from it.

    Very democratic.

  10. Pip, therefore T’bull is stuffed if he wants to support gay marriage – it’s a choice between resigning and going by his principles. My bet is that T’bull’s principles will be the losers..but then you never know.

    The other scenario is that T’bull makes a play for the leadership with the threat of resigning over the gay marriage issue. Now THAT could happen.

  11. Pip at 3.19
    The Liberals’ much lauded right to cross the floor is a bit like your Granny’s best china, up there on the top shelf to be looked at & admired but not for actual use. One of the most pointedly forgotten episodes of recent political history is when Turnbull’s entire force simply didn’t turn up for a vote on asylum seeker legislation so as to avoid some of their number crossing the floor & voting with the ALP.

  15. One would think there were enough stories without the need to make one up/

    “….And you thought that gay marriage, boat people policy or direct election of some ordinary members to future ALP conferences were the important matters at Labor’s federal conference. Not for the Sydney Daily Telegraph. For that journal of record the big story of the day is Kevin Rudd being snubbed in a Prime Ministerial address. And the result of Julia Gillard not mentioning Kev’s 07 triumph in the pantheon of party greats will be … a leadership challenge!..”

    http://blogs.crikey.com.au/thestump/2011/12/04/what-would-the-tele-be-without-a-leadership-challenge-story/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+CrikeyBlogs%2Fthestump+%28The+Stump%29

    “………The Federal Labor party remains divided over gay marriage despite yesterday voting to change its policy to endorse it.”

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-12-04/labor-divided-on-gay-marriage-approval/3711332

    Since when having difference of opinion within an organisation mean that it is divided.

    I would have thought it would be queer if all agreed.

  16. Cu, the smellygraph constructs it’s own version of events,,, hope it makes them feel proud of their efforts.

  22. Pip and CU

    Did you notice that the “author” of the Rudd to challenge article was none other than Sideshow Sam. Yes Samantha Maidan, who has the incredible ability to do a book review without reading a book. So no doubt she has done a “reading” of the Rudd challenge with her own innate ability.

    I will wait to see if this “story” is highlighted on Insiders today and of course Barry’s reaction.

  24. I think that Ltd. News either believes if it states something as true often enough it must eventually come to pass or that they are so full of themselves and their misguided belief in their power of influence that they believe they can engineer a coup just by repeatedly saying there will be one.

    The greatest joke in Australia is Ltd. News and its management and most of its journalists, even a greater joke than the clown puppet whose strings they pull, Abbott.

  25. Sue, typical tactics. From your link,

    Kevin has never wanted for ticker when it comes to taking on the leadership,” one Labor MP..

    But Sam, what was the question that was asked this one Labor MP? This answer could be in relation to any number of things.

  26. Sideshow Sam is just one of many Murdoch minions who have no credibility.
    Remember her lame #awj phase – another white jacket – her nasty way of bitching about the Prime Minister.

  27. Labor pledge $10m to plan national disability insurance scheme
    http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/labor-pledge-10m-to-plan-national-disability-insurance-scheme/story-e6frfku0-1226213029086

    CREATION of a national disability insurance scheme is now underway with the ALP for the first time securing the policy in its official platform.
    The objective would be to cover the costs of treatment and daily care of anyone struck by a debilitating illness or injury.

    Prime Minister Julia Gillard said $10 million would be spent setting up an agency to plan the introduction of an NDIS, which could require more than $6 billion to cover all Australians.

    That’s the truth on news.com, the same source of information that
    ‘Piers who tells porkies’ could access…if he wanted to write an accurate, truthful article…he doesn’t of course because it would spoil his agenda.

    Never mind that it is a very important policy which will be a benefit to thousands of disabled Aussies and their carers.

    This is the best that ‘Porky’ Piers can offer in the smellygraph.

    Lying leaders are inept and cruel
    http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/opinion/lying-leaders-are-inept-and-cruel/story-e6frezz0-1226211663205

    JUST a week ago Julia Gillard was cloaking herself in compassion at the National Disability Awards night, promising the introduction of a National Disabilities Insurance Scheme.
    It would, she said, be a “defining achievement” of her government.

    As the defining moment of the Gillard administration is currently her own big fat lie about there being no carbon tax under the government she leads and it actually came before she was elected, one would think her additional promises would be greeted with deep scepticism.

    Gee that carbon ‘tax’ has been useful to Piers, pity he doesn’t read his colleagues, Kelly and Shanahan.

    Well, now, they too have been sucker-punched by Gillard and her Treasurer Wayne Swan, as it has been revealed that the government did not earmark a single bean in the mid-year economic and fiscal outlook mini-budget for the NDIS. Not a cracker, not a red cent or a plugged nickel.

    Liars often extend their sentences…as above…

  28. Did anyone catch Tony Abbott on the Insiders round-up of 2011.

    “The Prime Minister shouldn’t go around the country looking for carefully staged photo opportunities.”

    Say what !!

  29. What would the Tele be without a leadership challenge story?
    http://blogs.crikey.com.au/thestump/2011/12/04/what-would-the-tele-be-without-a-leadership-challenge-story/

    And you thought that gay marriage, boat people policy or direct election of some ordinary members to future ALP conferences were the important matters at Labor’s federal conference. Not for the Sydney Daily Telegraph. For that journal of record the big story of the day is Kevin Rudd being snubbed in a Prime Ministerial address. And the result of Julia Gillard not mentioning Kev’s 07 triumph in the pantheon of party greats will be ..a leadership challenge!

    Meanwhile the real business of the Foreign Affairs Minister

    Rudd to move proposal on banning asbestos
    http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=8384183

    Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd wants the Labor government to lead the world in securing a global treaty to ban asbestos use and trade.

    Mr Rudd will move the asbestos motion on the last day of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) national conference on Sunday afternoon.

    The motion, obtained by AAP, flags a global alliance convening to discuss asbestos hazards at an Australian conference next year.

  30. Just heard a funny line as I flicked channels- “How do I know it was a lie? Because I read it in your newspaper.”
    Not sure where it came from.

  33. I will, Patricia. It was great and it’s fabulous to finally see something positive written about her.

    Thank you for providing the link.

  35. So much this morning but I will start with O’Farrell and the increase in prison breakouts, including the escape of the first maximum security prisoner in over a decade.

    What have these breaks come on the back of? What has changed since O’Farrell took power? Privatised prisons and a dysfunctional AG department.

    The media is reporting, buried deep of course and only as a byline, that there is a big rift between the NSW AG and his department, which the NSW government is denying.

    So what excuse does the O’Farrell government give when finally someone questions them on the three fold increase in prison escapes?

    It is not bad as it’s coming off a ten year record low.

    Picking jaw off flaw. These were the same people who when in opposition were touting every escape over the last decade as a sure sign of a government losing control of their prisons. Of a government putting all of NSW in dire danger and not able to able to run law and order. Now they are saying the last decade the previous government were actually in control and had managed record low prison escapes, and this government is using that success as an excuse for their current failure.

    Please media why aren’t you holding this NSW government to account over this, and not only this but the long and growing string of other major failures?

  36. I was going to make some other comments on Abbott’s continuing decline in the polls and Labor’s slow inch by inch increase, but then Virginia Trioli on ABC News Breakfast again showed her love for Abbott.

    Paraphrasing. “This is a government in trouble with a lot on its plate and despite what the polls are saying about him they are against Abbott who is doing very well.”

    I think her pregnancy has not just affected her body but her mind as well, though she has always gushed over Abbott.

  37. Abbott must be in trouble because out comes all the speculation on Rudd again. You can always pick when Abbott and the Coalition aren’t doing well or have internal troubles as Rudd and “Labor Party rift” start making the headlines.

  38. From Patricia’s link at 3.09am..a very quotable quote is:

    Let’s not forget Gillard’s considerable daring in taking on Alan Jones, the kingmaker who practically humped John Howard’s leg whenever that PM stopped by for a chat.

    How refreshing (and unusual) to read some positive press for Julia.

  39. Mobius, wasn’t that one of your predictions..either your good self or Tom R, that as soon as Gillard receives any positive press that the MSM will immediately start on the Leadership Speculation Theme.

    And sure enough..so they did.

  40. My prediction has always been on the back of bad polling for Abbott or real internal rifts within the Coalition.

    If you go back through these Rudd Leadership/ALP Internal Rift stories by Ltd. News, you will inevitably find they coincide with polls that are not complementary to Abbott or on the airing of stories of internal Liberal Party grumblings.

    It’s telling that the organisation that releases the main polls, and the ones most quoted across the MSM, Newspoll, is also the organisation that preempts bad polls for Abbott or bad news for the Coalition with news stories of ALP rifts and leadership challenges.

  42. Miglo

    Well news ltd showed on the weekend how they fix international problems.
    On the weekend a NZ sub editor made the mistake of calling the Australian Senator Penny Wong , “Pansy Wong” Although there was the claim that the name “pansy” was not a deliberate error, it showed their dismissive attitude to a potential highly offensive remark.

  44. ABC wins contract for Australia Network
    http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/abc-wins-contract-for-australia-network-20111205-1of8v.html

    AAP

    The ABC has been awarded a permanent contract for the federal government’s Australia Network broadcasting service, the government says.

    Sky News and the ABC had both bid for the 10-year $223 million contract to broadcast the Australia Network to 44 nations in Asia and the Pacific.

    and
    “Having reflected upon the process to date, and what the service really needs to provide, the government has determined that Australia’s international broadcasting service should be delivered by the national broadcaster.”

    Senator Conroy said the decision would give the ABC certainty with the job of broadcasting the network to the Asian region.

    “The ABC has been performing well in the role and the government believes that the national broadcaster will maintain and further enhance the Australia Network in the years ahead,” he said.

    “The government also believes that the ABC is well placed to explore the opportunity to combine the Australia Network with its current international radio service, Radio Australia, and potentially with new online services to provide a multi-platform international media operation to embrace the converged media era.”

    The Australia Network was the nation’s equivalent of the UK’s BBC World Service and Germany’s Deutsche Welle, Senator Conroy said.

  50. GetUp! Campaign Suggestions Forum
    http://suggest.getup.org.au/forums/60819-getup-campaign-suggestions/suggestions/1684971-petition-for-abc-to-return-to-its-charter

    Petition for ABC to return to its charter

    We have been witnessing the inclusion of right-wing shock jocks and commentators as the main talking force within ABC’s news programming.

    There has also been a constant demonstration of ABC’s journalists adopting news items, verbatim, from the Murdoch press.
    Any attempt to maintain balance has been demonstrably abandoned, and when challenged, the ABC’s ‘apologists’ cite the amount of time given to each side of the political fence as a demonstration of balance, when in fact the quality of the reporting varies greatly (and example would be the 7:30 reports recent interviews with the PM and Opposition leader by Chris Uhlmann — the first was antagonistic and rude, the second was sycophantic and a virtual political advertisement).
    As a viewer and taxpayer, I am more than concerned that the National Broadcaster has become a political mouthpiece for the ultra conservatives

    by Concera Vota in Media

  51. AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION ACT 1983
    http://www.abc.net.au/corp/pubs/ABCcharter.htm

    – SECT 6
    Charter of the Corporation

    (b) to transmit to countries outside Australia broadcasting programs of news, current affairs, entertainment and cultural enrichment that will:

    (i) encourage awareness of Australia and an international understanding of Australian attitudes on world affairs; and

    (ii) enable Australian citizens living or travelling outside Australia to obtain information about Australian affairs and Australian attitudes on world affairs;

    This does not include handing off the Australia Network to Rupert Murdoch enabling him to broadcast Australian news across Asia, ‘the world according to Rupert’.
    Having said that the ABC should be reminded of same.

  52. Lousy outcome leaves service looking doomed
    http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/opinion/politics/lousy-outcome-leaves-service-looking-doomed-20111205-1ofr5.html

    Now the public broadcaster wins the prize, but with a thin mandate from government as to its purpose. Foreign Affairs will wash its hands of the service, having effectively lost control.

    Over time, an already stretched broadcast will wither further and be lost among competing priorities in the ABC.

    Time to switch off.

    I’m not sure what Mr. Flitton intends to turn off; after reading his article I don’t think he knows.

  53. Sky’s the limit, as ABC handed overseas TV contract without end
    by: Dennis Shanahan, Political editor
    From: The Australian December 06, 2011
    http://www.theaustralian.com.au/media/skys-the-limit-as-abc-handed-overseas-tv-contract-without-end/story-e6frg996-1226214617674

    THE Gillard government has dumped its bungled tender process for the $223 million Australia Network and handed control and funding of the overseas network to the ABC forever.
    Pre-empting an Australian Federal Police investigation and an Auditor-General’s inquiry into the aborted contract process, cabinet last night decided on a policy change to hand the ABC the international service.

    The unmentioned elephant in the room is the ‘phone hacking’ saga in the UK
    and the obvious bias presented on a daily basis in the Australian News Ltd. papers. Their denial of any such bias is a joke, except to the rusted on conservatives.
    “News” isn’t news, it’s propaganda.
    Rupert Murdoch has said he backed Whitlam, then changed his mind, and it’s very obvious which side he’s backing here and it’s unlikely that this interference in politics will change.
    His Fox News in the US is one of the best examples of bias on steroids.

    The government is right, and within it’s rights, to deny the contract to Murdoch.
    The Australia Network is about soft diplomacy and should remain that way.

  54. Maurice Newman a loss to ABC by: A CERTAIN SCRIBE: ERROL SIMPER From: The Australian December 05, 2011 12:00AM
    http://www.theaustralian.com.au/media/opinion/maurice-newman-a-loss-to-abc/story-e6frg99o-1226213576288

    SOME fairly well-credentialled observers are faintly surprised Minister for Communications Stephen Conroy didn’t reappoint the ABC’s outgoing chairman, Maurice Newman, for a further term. There are those who say only Newman’s age, 73, was against him.

    Well yes, it must be because of Mr. Newmans’ age. It couldn’t have anything to do with the Murdochracy that used to be ABC news and current affairs !
    Or maybe it had a bit to do with Mr. Newman’s speech to ABC staff about their attitude to climate change.
    Mr. Newman has been reported to be a good friend of John Howard, and was a Howard appointee.
    No doubt the new Chairman will cop a spray from the conservative end of town as a Gillard appointee!
    That’s how it goes.

  56. Newmans eulogy reminds me of the story of the gravestone inscription:

    Sacred to the memory of MAJOR JAMES BRUSH, tragically killed by the accidental discharge of his pistol in the hand of his orderly.
    14th April 1831″
    Well done good and faithful servant

    So Maurice, as you put up your feet, you can feel proud that you dumbed down a once great public broadcaster.

  57. Pip
    The phone hacking scandal may have been the elephant in the cabinet room but waiting outside was the herd, yes the UK email scam which is only just coming to light.
    There has been commentary that our telephone system can not be hacked but email protocols are the same world wide.

  58. ” The Australia Network has a sensitive diplomatic role”

    Yep that about sums it up
    phone hacking
    email hacking
    police corruption
    pansy

    an so it goes

  59. 22 November 11
    Real ‘Climategate’ Scandal:
    UK Police Spent Measly $8,843 In Failed Attempt to Identify Criminal Hacker

    http://www.desmogblog.com/real-climategate-scandal-uk-police-spent-measly-8-843-failed-attempt-identify-criminal-hacker

    Richard Black at the BBC points to the real ‘Climategate’ scandal that needs further investigation – why the UK police have done such an astonishingly poor job investigating this criminal hacking, as evidenced by their tiny expenditures to date this year. From Climate Emails, Storm or Yawn?:

  60. News Corp and the Hacked Climategate Emails:
    Time for an Independent Investigation
    By Joe Romm on Jul 19, 2011

    http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2011/07/19/272361/news-corp-hacked-climategate-emails-time-for-an-independent-investigation/

    But we still don’t know who hacked the emails! And now we know that one of the key investigative bodies tasked with tracking down the hackers — Scotland Yard – were compromised at the time.

    How were they compromised? Neil Wallis — the former News of the World executive editor — became a “£1,000 a day” consultant to Scotland Yard in October 2009. Last week he became the ninth person arrested in the metastasizing News Corp scandal “on suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications, contrary to section 1(1) Criminal Law Act 1977.”

  61. Tuesday, November 24, 2009
    Climategate hack used open proxies

    http://erratasec.blogspot.com/2009/11/climate-hack-used-open-proxies.html

    More details are emerging about the “Climategate” hack. It appears that the hacker used an “open proxy” in order to hide the origin of the attack. However, the hacker may have made a mistake, and a review of the logs at RealClimate and ClimateAudit may reveal his/her identity.

    As this post describes, the hacker made a comment to a ClimateAudit blog post from IP address 82.208.87.170. If we Google that IP address, we see that it is indeed an open proxy. We don’t know the hacker’s real IP address.

  62. An amusing read. at northcoast voices is the saga of the Port Paper.
    http://northcoastvoices.blogspot.com/2011/12/port-paper-nsw-north-coast-national.html

    “The Port Paper was until the end of August 2011 allegedly one of the NSW Nationals political propaganda and campaign broadsheets masquerading as a print and online community newspaper.

    Once found out it ceased publication and has idled online ever since under a new address; http://portpaper.publishpath.com/.

    Whois Privacy Protection Service Inc. is also listed as owning a male m@sturbation website.

    It would appear that The Port Paper and the North Coast Nationals have finally found their natural home.”

  66. Caught on camera: top lobbyists boasting how they influence the PMCaught on camera: top lobbyists boasting how they influence the PM

    Special undercover investigation: Executives from Bell Pottinger reveal ‘dark arts’ they use to burnish reputations of countries accused of human rights violations

    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/caught-on-camera-top-lobbyists-boasting-how-they-influence-the-pm-6272760.html

    One of Britain’s largest lobbying companies has been secretly recorded boasting about its access to the heart of the Government and how it uses the “dark arts” to bury bad coverage and influence public opinion.

  67. Pip, that is quite frightening..from your link:

    Suggesting that the company could manipulate Google results to “drown” out negative coverage of human rights violations and child labour;

  70. Pip, I also read some things floating around Facebook demanding that this young lad not receive any money for his story as these would be ‘proceeds of crime’. All the wheels set in motion for the next piece of sensationalist journalism.

  71. For those interested in the possibility of extraterrestrial life (hi Roswell :)), then you’ve doubtless been following the story about the ‘new earth’. Love it 😀

    THE ‘New Earth’ has a temperate climate, liquid water and is probably teeming with unbearable arseholes, scientists have claimed….

    Professor Brubaker added: “We could set up some kind of inter-galactic social network bullshit so that we can trade disturbingly violent opinions about Doctor Who and whatever excruciating piece of shit they have instead of Grey’s Anatomy.”

    But Professor Brubaker also stressed that as Keppler 22-b is 2.4 times larger than Earth it could easily out-arsehole us in an arsehole war.

    http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/science-&-technology/'new-earth'-probably-full-of-arseholes-201112064631/

  73. Tom, just maybe the fact that the Herald Sun’s tally is 90% of it’s articles on the subject were anti, just might have something to do with this ‘illusion’ of bias.

  74. Tom R,
    Good closing statement from Dave Gaukroger “Let’s help Andrew out by suggesting some courses that he’d be uniquely qualified to teach in the comments”.

    Gutter journalism and how I perfected my technique.

  75. malcom in the drivle

    http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/3719482.html

    What sort of democracy, what sort of society will we have if there is no Age, no Herald Sun, no Sydney Morning Herald and no Australian – can the great newspapers which have formed the foundation of newsgathering, reporting and analysis be replaced by a sea of blogs and tweets?

    A far better one I reckon 😉

    The problem therefore is not lack of readers, but lack of revenue.

    Perhaps they need to change their model. Talk to google or facebook, don’t just disparage them

    So it is galling that the two current giants of the online world – Google and Facebook – create very little content of their own.

    Google Maps, API, Sketchup. There is quite a list.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google#Products_and_services

    And let’s not ignore the plethora of useless games developed for facebook. 😦

    I don’t know, but he sounds like another harvey norman, bemoaning that the model that made him money has moved on, and he is too slow or too redundant to move with it.

    No wonder he hates the NBN

    I haven’t read it all, it is a monumental waffle of ‘poor me’. I don’t think I will finish it. It just reinforces that some are refusing to move with technology, and blaming this on the technology, rather than themselves.

  76. As is pointed out by many of the comments, Turnbull in the rather long winded whine makes a very good case for the NBN.

    Is this another stab in Abbott’s side?

  80. A major suck-up to the MSM by Malcolm Turnbull:

    We lament the death of many newspapers and the loss of thousands of journalists’ jobs. But just as the craft of the journalist is as enduring and important regardless of the medium by which it is practised – print, radio, television and now the whole converging digital domain – so too is the importance of journalism, honest and ethical, fearless and independent, responsible and accurate journalism; for without it we will struggle to remain a free society, struggle indeed to remain a democracy.

    Yes Malcolm, if the MSM were honest, ethical, fearless, independent and accurate then you would not have to lament the possibity/probably of newspapers “dying off”.

    http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/the-survival-of-ethical-journalism-should-be-frontpage-news-20111207-1oj52.html#ixzz1fu1QCb9x

  81. Miglo @ 11.04am, if you can stand it …

    http://www.malcolmturnbull.com.au/

    http://www.malcolmturnbull.com.au/media/releases/australia-network-tender-another-victim-of-the-gillard-rudd-feud/

    At every stage, what should have been a straightforward, businesslike tender for an important national interest broadcasting task, has been poisoned by the deep personal and factional conflicts within this dysfunctional Labor Government.

    MT is following the Coalition/ltd news meme, but the comments show a different opinion.

  83. Something to look out for in 2012

    Monica Attard.The Global Mail

    The Global Mail is her first move online. Wotif.com entrepreneur Graeme Wood is helping to bankroll the completely not-for-profit venture in investigative journalism, which will be similar in model to the US’s Propublica. High-profile Global Mail staff include Ellen Fanning, Michael Maher, Eric Ellis, Stephen Crittenden and Sarah-Jane Collins

    http://www.crikey.com.au/2011/11/30/the-quality-journalism-project-scouring-the-globe-with-monica-attard/?wpmp_switcher=mobile

  84. Sue, our own ‘Pro Publica’ style online investigative site will be very welcome, and in very capable hands.

  85. Government releases emergency phone app
    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-12-08/government-releases-smartphone-emergency-app/3720824?section=justin

    Photo: The app gets a direct feed from emergency response teams in each state and territory. (AAP) Map: Australia
    The Federal Government has released a smartphone application to provide quick and easy access to information about emergencies and disasters across the country.

    The DisasterWatch app can be downloaded for free and contains the latest public information via a direct feed from emergency response teams in each state and territory.

  86. Now how is this for stupid.

    The right wing dummy, On the Drum, said the ABC online should be made to go behind a paywall. Gee things must be bad at the oo, when they get that desperate.
    In other word we have F***ked Up, now you should join us. The “balance” argument..

    lol

  87. Want some evidence the ABC has move way right.

    Look at the sell job they are doing on Newt Gingrich at the moment.

  88. ME
    And what bloody annoys me is that 7.30 just had a segment on NG. Bloody hell has any body done a program on the abbott challengers, robb, hockey, turnbull and then sent it to the USA for viewing, like who would give a s***t.

    ABC just wait till the USA chooses a president and then do a profile.

  93. Pip, according to the article Lachlan is only there until January when James Warburton takes over as CEO, however Lachlan stays a Director.

  96. “more skin in the game ” / gina and discipline kinda gives me thoughts of Han Solo being disciplined by Jabba the Hutt.

  97. POWER PLACES
    Aussies Cafe: paradise for political people watchers
    http://www.thepowerindex.com.au/power-places/aussies-cafe-paradise-for-political-people-watchers/20111209834?utm_source=The+Power+Index&utm_campaign=6351ea4736-The_Power_Daily_7_Dec_2011&utm_medium=email

    Every Friday, The Power Index profiles a place where powerful people wine, dine and travel. Today we continue the series with the cafe where democracy gets its caffiene fix, Aussies.

    There’s nary a power player in Australia who hasn’t passed through Aussies – the legendary cafe that lies deep inside Parliament House in Canberra. It’s where our top politicians, lobbyists, journalists and bureaucrats go to get their daily fix of caffeine and, just as importantly, gossip.

  101. Right now, the US Congress is debating a law that would give them the power to censor the world’s Internet — creating a blacklist that could target YouTube, WikiLeaks and even Avaaz! Free speech champions in Congress say our outcry will help, and one Senator is even going to block the vote by reading out our petition names for hours! Click here to build an unprecedented global petition for a free and open Internet:

    If you’d like to have a say you can …

    Sign the petition
    To all Members of the US Congress:
    As concerned global citizens, we call on you to stand for a free and open Internet and vote against both the Protect IP Act and the Stop Online Piracy Act. The Internet is a crucial tool for people around the world to exchange ideas and work collectively to build the world we all want. We urge you to show true global leadership and do all you can to protect this basic pillar of our democracies worldwide.

    http://www.avaaz.org/en/save_the_internet/?cl=1448020152&v=11535

  103. Migs, I’m not sure but this is in the Congress and Obama might not have much say in it.

    I’ll have to go searching again 🙂

  104. turnbull falls for the oo’s spin in regards to the NBN

    In addition Mr Turnbull said the NBN Co’s corporate plan indicated it still may need to spend even more to cover operating costs which could take the total to $29 billion, compared to the $23 billion quoted in the NBN Co’s corporate plan.
    …………….

    A spokesman for the Minister for Communications, Stephen Conroy, dismissed the attack saying it was irrelevant to compare the cost of maintaining the network with its original cost.

    ”Any suggestion by Malcolm Turnbull that replacement capex should be considered part of the original asset cost is either intellectually dishonest or financially illiterate, and his analysis of operational expenditure is in the same vein,” the spokesman said.

    http://www.smh.com.au/it-pro/government-it/turnbull-says-broadband-network-could-be-heading-for-6b-blowout-20111206-1oh99.html

    Actually, I don’t think he is falling for it, just spreading it

  105. Rupert Murdoch Lobbies Congress To Restrict Internet

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/07/rupert-murdoch-stop-online-piracy-act_n_1135452.html?ref=fb&src=sp&comm_ref=false

    WASHINGTON — News Corp. honcho Rupert Murdoch threw his weight behind Congress’ attempt to restrict the Internet, personally lobbying leaders on Capitol Hill Wednesday for two measures that purport to combat piracy.

    Murdoch’s media empire is among some 350 large corporations that have come out in favor of the Stop Online Piracy Act in the House, as well as the Protect IP Act in the Senate.

  107. A sideshow Sam exclusive

    what I find amusing is that according to Sam,” large group, press gallery, journalists” are her source yet None of the sources have themselves written the article. BUT the sources have given the story to Sam of the Tele.

    How Stupid Do You Think The Readers Are / Do The Tele Know How Stupid Their Readers Are

    “The Sunday Telegraph can reveal Mr Rudd joked with a large group of journalists in a Sydney bar that the Prime Minister’s decision to “airbrush” him from history — during her speech to the party — reminded him of North Korea’s dictatorship.

    “Mr Rudd also joked about the Prime Minster’s “Labor Says Yes To The Future,” speech, literally flipping the bird in front of the group of press gallery correspondents as he laughed as he said, “f . . k the future”.

    Read more: http://www.news.com.au/national/rudd-wont-be-sacked-despite-bad-behaviour/story-e6frfkvr-1226219090343#ixzz1gAC57vh8

  108. Tom R @10.19

    I read your piece on the 6th at delimited. so yep you are right that Turnbull is spreading it and worse still he is as deceitful with the public as the oo.

  109. Although the Man hunt is serious, the way the Tele has written the story is hilarious, take a look at these snippets

    “For operational reasons, The Sunday Telegraph has agreed to police requests not to reveal the technique used to pinpoint the location of the fugitive. (pinpont? )

    Two officers from the tactical operations unit, and their trained police dog, were the ones who found Naden’s campsite on Wednesday morning.
    (first news of a dog on hand)

    The near perfect checkmate move to nab Naden failed when the bush bandit shot a police officer and fled. (where is the dog?)

    The entry wound of the bullet that struck the 33-year-old senior constable would later be examined to determine its trajectory and Naden’s location.
    (did they use laser guides) (maybe they need a blood hound , like in american crime shows)

    Sandra Cartwright, wife of police officer Senior Constable Michael Cartwright, the only officer in the village for the past five years, told The Sunday Telegraph the discovery of Naden’s lair had been the result of months of tireless work by her husband. “What you see here is the culmination of months and months of intelligence work that my husband’s done

    (hang on earlier in the article you said it was a years of tactical planning, see here is the bit

    …on December 2 after years of careful police planning to trap and capture the accused killer. Tactical operatives found Naden after he made a critical slip-up.

    Read more: http://www.news.com.au/national/how-clever-trap-nearly-got-accused-killer-and-fugitive-malcolm-naden/story-e6frfkvr-1226219095109#ixzz1gAMNqs6p

  110. Sue @7.02am, precisely..what behaviour. Some speculative piece from the DT does not make it so.

    I think that the real reason for this story is the impending Cabinet reshuffle. As Gillard stated, she has no intention of ousting Rudd as Foreign Minister due to the fine job he is doing.

    This will be the usual tactics of how to turn a non-story into ‘a story’ thereby trying to take the gloss off any reshuffle. For example, it seems that Shorten is to be promoted and deservedly so.

  112. Sue, indeed..the amazing psychic ability of Sam Maiden. I believe that what we’ve seen recently is the Murdoch media trying to exert it’s ‘power’ over the government – to put pressure on Gillard to get rid of Rudd and also recently the ‘faceless men’ quip about Shorten.

    As if that is going to happen…Julia get rid of two of her best performers? Wouldn’t Tony Abbott love that.

  113. Sue & Min
    The Sideshow Sam article whilst dated today reads as a virtual duplicate of what she wrote last week. Taking Joe Goebbels at his word, just keep repeating it.

  115. Nimue
    I like the way it’s all strung out- “fresh details have emerged” sounds pretty dramatic & implies that Sam’s in there ferreting stuff out for you & me. I doubt that’s really the case.

  118. I’m forever amazed of the power or the hard right wing media in being able to get Labor pollies to rat out and say things to them in secret they won’t say to any left wing or center media, believing the rabid right wing journalists won’t make public their secret conversations.

    Yet these same right wing journalists can’t get right wing pollies to be loose lipped on anything whatsoever, no matter how menial.

    Their power over Labor and Green pollies is truly astonishing, and should make an episode of the Twilight Zone.

  119. I thought Mischa Schubert was better than this.

    Even so, Gillard managed to turn much of her agenda into law, thanks to the hotchpotch of crossbenchers and Greens who stick by her still, no matter the public’s trenchant hostility over the election that no one really won and the carbon tax she told them would never come to pass.

    The ‘hotch potch’ is a legitimate, working, minority government.

    The ‘public’s trenchant hostility over the election that nobody won’, was/is furiously fanned by the main stream media, including the ABC.

    ‘and the carbon tax she told them would never come to pass.’

    No Mischa ‘she’ told them no such thing. It’s all been written about thousands of times, and rated a mention in every speech and ‘door stop’ in the last year and it’s still not true.

    There’s even a mention of the PM’s ‘continued love affair with white jackets’, which was done to death by the likes of ‘Slugger’ Maiden.

    2012 can’t possibly throw up any worse from the meeja, surely!

    http://www.theage.com.au/national/floods-follies-and-a-great-big-tax-that-was-the-year-that-was-20111210-1oov3.html

  120. That was an interesting read.Pip, It amazes me how over the top the Right becomes, yet they complain about the Left being bullies.

  123. In the OO

    “Labor sources are tipping”…

    “has been the subject of intense speculation”…

    “Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said”…

    “Mr Abbott told Sky’s Australian Agenda program.”

    In the ABC
    ” Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has told Sky television the Prime Minister needs to remove Mr Rudd from Cabinet.”

    “There is also speculation that …”

    In the Courier Mail
    “one Labor figure says.”

    “All of this is based on a series of suppositions, …”

    “Another scenario does involve Rudd,…”

    ****
    “THIS is my last column for the year.”

    GOOD!

  124. Sue, speaking of the wimmin being the target, if it’s not ‘the white jacket’, it’s not very subtle comments and cartoons about the figure, or the hat the PM wore to the royal wedding, but the absolute worst was the ‘Julia and Tim’ show on the ABC.

    There’s no way that would have ever been made about Hyacinth and Bonsai.

  125. Pride and regrets as ABC chairman Maurice Newman heads for the exit

    http://www.theaustralian.com.au/media/pride-and-regrets-as-abc-chairman-maurice-newman-heads-for-the-exit/story-e6frg996-1226219437809

    AT the end of a five-year term steering the ABC through a period of rapid technological change and platform expansion, ABC chairman Maurice Newman has strong views about its successes and failures.
    While he believes the public broadcaster strives for balance and gets it right most of the time, he regrets he was unable to get the network to merge with SBS, bemoans the lack of pluralism in reporting, and recognises the ABC Charter is out of date.

  126. Mr Newman is well known in ABC circles for his forthright views on the reporting of climate change, a topic he believes is not covered from every angle.

    He once angered ABC staff by saying the media was guilty of “groupthink”. And he believes the media failed to predict the global financial crisis.

    I’d remind Mr. Newman that the ratings agencies also missed the oncoming GFC.

    We now have Murdoch Lite/ABC News thanks to Mr. Newman’s idea of ‘balance’.

  127. Thanks Maurie for the contribution, rather than your”group” think we have instead “murdoch says”.Good to see to the end he kept his faith to the Murdoch group with the glowing story and smiley face picture.

  128. Maybe I’m being hopeful, but if Justice James Spigelman gets the job we might be seeing some changes at old Auntie – former principal private secretary to Gough, a Bob Carr appointee to the Supreme Court of NSW, but he also has a background in film and the arts.

  131. Just watching ABC mid-day news story about the outrage concerning the “faking” of footage of a polar bear giving birth.

    Meanwhile, in the real world, polar bears are facing extinction because the same ABC is giving support to the faked anti-climate change message.

  132. luna, program’s website apparently explained that the birth footage was taken in a zoo because in the wild the mother bear would have eaten either the bear cubs or the camera man!

    Makes sense top me 😯

  133. Where does Lynda Curtis (ABC Political mouth piece) get off constantly referring to our Prime Minister as “she”.
    The Liberal Party of course do this as a “put down” is Lynda just reading the approved script?
    Disrespecting the office of Prime Minister by a public broadcaster – not a good look Lynda.

  136. An ABC opening sentence
    “Nicola Roxon has been accused of “crusading” against tobacco companies as she is set to begin her new job as Attorney-General.

    But the ABC doesn’t name the accuser or are they inferring that Brandis is the accuser

    “Shadow attorney-general George Brandis says Ms Roxon has got her priorities wrong and should pay more attention to issues such as people smugglers, transnational criminals and terrorists.”

    If it is not Brandis then who is it? Is it the unnamed writer of the article?
    Is it the headline writer? Is it just another right wing attack on the reshuffle?

    Roxon denies ‘crusade’ against tobacco firms
    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-12-13/roxon-denies-legal-crusade-against-tobacco-firms/3729288

    Just another example of our pathetic ABC.

  137. Sue, from your link as pathetic as those sort of obtuse accusations are, I do love Roxon’s response: I believe that I can do more than one thing at a time.

  138. Min
    now that i have vent my spleen i thought what Brandis said was pretty funny. what of importance has he as shadow attorney general had to say in the last 4 years

    Except of course phoning the NSW police, the nsw police minister and best of all declaring one person guilty before any charges have been laid and that another should never have be charged although found guilty by a magistrate.

  139. Now that is an excellent thought Sue…the ineffectual Brandis against Roxon. Of interest, to me at least is that Roxon was employed by then High Court Justice Mary Gaudron. I read one heck of a lot of Gaudron rulings while studying criminal and constitutional law..especially Mabo for the latter.

  140. sue, I liked this:-

    Ms Roxon has rejected the criticism.

    “I believe that I can do more than one thing at a time. I think it’s very important for us to be taking this fight up to big tobacco; it will continue to be a priority,” she said.

    “I will absolutely continue with the strong record our Government has in making sure that counter-terrorism measures, national security laws and others are in order.”

    Pity those in the Opposition can’t do more than one thing at a time 😯

  141. Pip, not only can the Opposition not do more than one thing at a time but it seems that they can’t think of what to do in the first place.. 😉

  142. Senator Conroy will no doubt be the subject of many an article about his
    slip of the tongue at the National Press Club, they’re working on it already,
    embroidering it with the media inquiry of course.

    A strident critic of the media and the chief backer of internet filters to stop children being exposed to pornography and bad language, Mr Conroy recently launched a $4 million inquiry into media behaviour.

    In the daily smelly, by Tracey Spicer,
    WHAT the @#$% was Stephen Conroy thinking?
    The man in charge of Australia’s broadcasting standards – the same one who tried to censor the internet to “protect our children” – drops the F-bomb on live television during children’s viewing hours.

    Dropping the f-bomb at a National Press Club speech is not related in any way with ‘protecting our child”.

    Silly moo. The ABC code of ethics states that during 12pm and 3pm the classification of programs is M – over 15 years.

    We can expect to see much more of this rubbish.

  143. A different point of view here:-

    If the lawyer and lexical enthusiast Julian Burnside, QC, had his way, Conroy’s slip would be polite chatter.

    ”F— is a very good, sturdy, versatile and descriptive word. If our social masters could reconcile themselves to the idea that sex is a legitimate part of human existence … it may be that f— will eventually be accepted in polite use,” he wrote several years ago in The Vocabula Review.

    However, he told the Herald: ”It’d be nice to still have some words that really go off like a hand grenade.”

    Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/ministers-tv-gaffe-starts-a-twitstorm-20111213-1ot7h.html#ixzz1gQAbSwOv

  144. I read this little exchange about Conroys pretty pathetic display (yes, we should expect more from our leaders)

    I particularly liked this in the comments

    Peter didn’t learn his politics from grassroots politicking, meeting people face to face and having to work with those who don’t necessarily share his views. He learnt his politics from books and from other cave trolls who like the idea of power but don’t like actual people. That’s why I made the tweet about public service after your exchange: the whole public service aspect of his job, from which basic courtesy would come, is absent. I don’t think he wants to engage with the community. I think he’s one of those politicians who just wants to impose things, and himself, upon the community.

    Apart from going to the toilet, social media is the only activity he can do without seeking permission from David Clarke

    And yet it is all about Labor’s ‘faceless men’. When in fact, it is pretty standard across both parties. It’s just that the libs are more faceless.

    http://mrtiedt.blogspot.com/2011/12/phelps-of-afternoon.html

    Thanks to Grog and his list of blogs 😉

    http://grogsgamut.blogspot.com/2011/12/australian-political-blog-roll-call-for.html

  145. Ten claims Sarah Murdoch will no co-host new breakfast program. I would be amazed if she did co-host with the nutter that hubbie Lachlan signed. All the work Sarah M has done for Breast Cancer would be jeopardised.

    “SARAH Murdoch is expected to turn up on television at the Ten Network next year – but not, as hotly rumoured, as the co-host of Ten’s new breakfast show.”

    Read more: http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/television/sarah-murdoch-not-on-shortlist-for-ten-networks-new-breakfast-show-but-could-replace-carrie-bickmore-on-the-project/story-e6frfmyi-1226221478051#ixzz1gSIEjmZg

  149. According to Maurice Newman, Barrel of Lies has a job for him with the NSW govt. The perfect marriage for the man who insisted on the Climate Denial being featured on the ABC. Now can the ABC get rid of the IPA.

    Bye and good riddance

  150. Min, that is quite astounding news. I would have thought that is anyone was going to be sproinged that it would have been the Murdoch media…for Fairfax, et tu Brutus.

  151. Is Maurice Newman now, or has he ever been associated with the Liberal Party?

    During his tenure at the ABC, what percentage of senior appointments were people associated with the Liberal Party?

    In his farewell discussion with Joe O’ Brian he made it clear that all those progressive university trained intellectuals needed to be exorcised from the ABC.

    Dumb it down Newman also wanted to take over SBS, no doubt to “sort out” all those new Australians (as part of the Howard doctrine).

  152. Now that Bonsai’s mate is leaving, the can ABC stop making things up!

    I wasn’t dudded: Minister McClelland
    http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/8390111/i-wasnt-dudded-mcclelland

    Mr McClelland did not feel like he had been “dudded” in the reshuffle, and praised the woman who took over his job.

    and
    Labor backbencher Nick Champion said there seemed to be a disconnect between what happened in the real world and in the pages of newspapers.

    and

    Over at the ABC Jeremy Thompson has done a ltd news version of events,, quite removed from what Mr. McClelland said.
    In other words Jeremy has made an assumption and ‘made stuff up’.

    I deserved place at Cabinet table: McClelland
    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-12-15/mcclelland-talks-about-reshuffle/3732488

    “all but confirmed”…..”reports have indicated”……etc., etc.,

    “Disappointed” has been reported as “dudded” probably after he read about the speculation…by another journalist.

    ABC Fail

  153. Enhanced learning as students access ABC’s archive via new NBN education portal
    http://www.minister.dbcde.gov.au/media/media_releases/2011/299

    Australian students will be able to access exciting, new innovative and interactive educational resources for teachers and students via a new $19.94 million National Broadband Network-enabled education portal.

    The portal will also provide access to, and allow the use of, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s (ABC) comprehensive database of contemporary and archival content which will be digitised and linked to the Australian Curriculum under a funding arrangement with the ABC and Education Services Australia (ESA).

  154. lol Pip, from your nine news link

    the report in The Australian newspaper was simply speculation.

    I speculated this morning that the story was speculation.

  155. Tom and Pip, and this morning I speculated on Tom’s speculation on the speculation that the OO’s story was speculation of a speculation.

  157. Tom, I take umbrage at that comment that your speculation of my speculation on your speculation that the OO’s story was speculation of a speculation was mere speculation.

  158. I’m speculating that this story won’t be highlighted by the chief speculators.

    Federal Government supports high-speed digital Australia
    http://www.minister.dbcde.gov.au/media/media_releases/2011/298

    The successful round one applicants under the Digital Hubs and Digital Enterprise programs were announced today by the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy.

    The programs, which provide $13.6 million and $10 million in funding respectively, will enable local communities to take advantage of the National Broadband Network (NBN).

    “The Australian Government is committed to assisting communities to take full advantage of our world class NBN,” Senator Conroy said.

  160. Meta’, that is something that we here at the Café have likewise noted..how the headline does not match the text.

    As per your example:

    Headline: Senior cabinet minister refuses to back PM

    Text: “It’s about continuing to do the job I have responsibility for. I’m not going to respond to press speculation.”

    His response echoed the equivocation used by both Ms Gillard and Mr Rudd in recent days about whether they liked each other.

    For some strange and unknown reason, I don’t whether Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard liking each other is particularly relevant and nor whether they do or they don’t…gawwdd…

    Meta’ I’ll just go with your 2nd link to Maxwell Smart…

    http://www.news.com.au/national/the-sharks-are-circling-julia-gillard/story-e6frfkvr-1226223497107#ixzz1gg9b4pIB

  161. Well here’s something that’s not speculation. Rob Oakeshott’s opinion of our Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, whom he meets every week during Parliamentary sessions with Tony Windsor, and maintains contact with at other times.

    . “I think everything’s a roller-coaster in any relationship, but even though polling doesn’t show it and community sentiment doesn’t show it, the prime minister’s got some very impressive skills. There wouldn’t be too many individuals who could handle this situation, and she’s handling it.”

    http://inside.org.au/not-drowning-waving/

  162. “There comes a point when you start to think how much longer can this go on,” the minister said.

    Read more: http://www.news.com.au/national/the-sharks-are-circling-julia-gillard/story-e6frfkvr-1226223497107#ixzz1ggou4zDR

    I assume he is referring to the incessant ‘leadership challenge’ meme being pushed by the liberal parties media arm.

    I also like the way they have declared this as ‘Ms Gillard’s bungled reshuffle ‘, soon to be entered into the ltdnews lexicon along with ‘pink batts fiasco’, BER rort’, and ‘Carbon Tax’

    Own the news, own the history

  164. A slow morning at work, so I was able to glance once in a while at the ABC News channel trying so very, very hard to find someone to blame the reduction of Indonesian cattle purchases on Labor. The day subsequently picked up a bit & I didn’t see any more, I suppose they’ve found someone by now?
    No mention of the Victorian govt’s broken promises, though it was on ABC radio.

  165. On Thursday, the 15th, Resources Minister Martin Ferguson was asked if he
    backed the Prime Minister.
    He said that he was “loyal to the Labor Party”, which to some people, other than journalists looking for their next hook to hang their story on, simply meant that he wasn’t taking sides.

    The journalists, mostly as a group, declared that:-
    This apparent snub to Ms Gillard heightened speculation about shifts in allegiance in the aftermath of this week’s ministerial reshuffle.

    But this afternoon, Mr Ferguson issued a statement saying his comments had been misconstrued.

    “As I have said, I am loyal to the Labor Party, and contrary to media speculation, the Prime Minister has my support,” Mr Ferguson said.

    “She is doing a remarkable job.”

    Will that be the end of it? Not a chance.

    Ferguson reaffirms loyalty to Gillard
    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-12-16/ferguson-reaffirms-loyalty-to-gillard/3735508

  167. What CRAP from Phil Coorey,

    “In an end-of-year interview with the Herald”

    But what interests Phil, not the PMs words, but his creativity with bits like this

    “..Martin Ferguson, issued a one-line statement supporting Ms Gillard, saying she was doing ”a remarkable job”. Mr Ferguson, who has been associated with Mr Rudd, pointedly refused to endorse the Prime Minister on Thursday, saying his loyalty was to the Labor Party. It took him more than 24 hours to clarify and it is believed it followed a call from her office.

    The Prime Minister ends the year with a cloud over her leadership, exacerbated by the fallout from Monday’s ministerial reshuffle. At least five of the 30 ministers now back Mr Rudd.

    Ms Gillard told the Herald her only motive was to put key people in ”the key areas of work for the government in 2012”, including disabilities, aged care and industrial relations. ”That is what is driving me.”

    THEN TOP OFF THE BS PILE WITH OLD FAITHFUL THE GILLARD SUPPORTER
    “Fearing a campaign of destabilisation over summer, a Gillard supporter said: ”Kevin has to decide how many favours he wants to pay to Tony Abbott.”

    Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/defiant-gillard-im-here-to-stay-20111216-1oyry.html#ixzz1gjJcVBjI

    Take a break Phil, you didn’t listen to the PM you haven’t been listening all year.

    “Don’t write crap. It cannot be that hard”

  168. It’s so obvious that Ltd News did not get the Labor leadership challenge they predicted every three months since the last election, so put all their bets onto a November spill they attempted to engineer through fabricated stories.

    They are mightily pissed off because this government is not going the way of their scripts, and they are unable to manufacture any calamities even when they continue to make things up, like the supposed muddled reshuffle, which wasn’t muddled at all.

  169. Abbott in Darwin (grandstanding yet again) directly blamed the Indonesian proposed reduction in the live cattle trade next year onto Gillard and her (mis)handling of the cattle slaughter there.

    Abbott has a real problem in this line of attack as Indonesia have been saying for years they are working towards becoming self sufficient in beef production and had tabled this reduction slated for next year around two years ago, that’s well before the cattle slaughter revelations.

  170. And of course this how they do it, per per Tom:

    I also like the way they have declared this as ‘Ms Gillard’s bungled reshuffle ‘, soon to be entered into the ltdnews lexicon along with ‘pink batts fiasco’, BER rort’, and ‘Carbon Tax’

    Own the news, own the history.

    And yet more this morning..

    JULIA Gillard has dismissed leadership speculation as part of the surface froth and bubble of politics – but yesterday forced a senior minister to issue a statement of support for her.

    And just who pray tell ‘forced’ Ferguson to issue the statement. The Prime Minister? Did Ferguston tell The Age that he was ‘forced’, or it is just typical newspaper and now somewhat predictable rhetoric…adds to the suspense of anotherwise mean-nothing story.

    I’m with you on this one Julia…””You name them and get them on the record and then we’ll have a discussion. In the absence of that I can’t be bothered.”

    http://www.theage.com.au/national/leader-speculation-froth-and-bubble-says-gillard-20111216-1oyvq.html#ixzz1gjZrq4OS

  171. Mobius, as is bleedin’ obvious IF this reshuffle had been supposedly ‘bungled’ which of the promotions do the media believe should not have happened. A bungle infers wrong decisions made. Perhaps Roxon should not be Attorney General, perhaps Plibersek should not be Health Minister.

    This is a bungle minus any bungle…

  172. Apparently, Prime Minister Gillard is defiant; of who, or of what, remains yet a mystery; but, the ‘forcing’ has been solved, it is believed….

    “Mr Ferguson, who has been associated with Mr Rudd, pointedly refused to endorse the Prime Minister on Thursday, saying his loyalty was to the Labor Party. It took him more than 24 hours to clarify and it is believed it followed a call from her office.”

    http://www.smh.com.au/national/defiant-gillard-im-here-to-stay-20111216-1oyry.html

  173. Meta, and also..as per Pip @12.09am “Mr Ferguson issued a statement saying his comments had been misconstrued.”.

    Quite right…’it is believed’..coming from yet another unnamed source…

  174. Is not this a reasonable answer.

    Do Labor politicians have to answer all questions put to them, no matter how stupid or out of place. Is it reasonable for the media to come to the conclusion that refusing to answer means yes.

    How would one feel, having to defend your loyalty every hour of the day. Is the question as whether one likes their work mates material to how one does their job.

    Is there anyone who has worked anywhere, wherer all like everyone. It is my experience over a long life time, that likeing ones boss and all workmates never happenes.

    “Quizzed on whether she would get over the problem of the apparent destabilisation next year, she said, ”You’re possibly in a better position to answer that than I am. My view about government is that it is about doing the important things … And in a 24/7 media age there will be any amount of froth and bubble and speculation on the surface. That isn’t what I direct my eyes to and it’s not what I’m concerned about.”

    Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/national/leader-speculation-froth-and-bubble-says-gillard-20111216-1oyvq.html#ixzz1gk0vo5og

  175. How can the PM get people to take her seriously when the media continues to discount all she and her ministers say, and continue with their own fairy tale.

    “What we see over and over is the inability of the prime minister to dismiss this question. All week, she tried, without success. She can’t kill it with derision. She can’t ridicule it with humour. She can’t counter it with argument. As is so often the case, she simply doesn’t sound believable. The prepared lines don’t wash.

    Most of all, we keep seeing that whatever skills and talents she has, Gillard doesn’t have the sure political touch her job needs. It ought to be a compliment but she lacks the guile and the roguishness that a prime minister needs, that capacity to lie if she has to but to make us believe she isn’t – or if she is that it doesn’t matter all that much. Howard could do it and so could Hawke. When she tries, Gillard sounds artificial.”

    http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/3734826.html

    Anyone have any suggestions what the PM can do to get her message across, over a media that is only interested in bringing her down.

    We know when the media turns against you, nothing you say makes any difference. This happened to Mr. Howard in the dying years of his reign.

    It also happened to Mr. Keating.

  176. By the way, the Martin Ferguson I have known over the years, would never take directions from anyone on what to say.

    The same man would also be reluctant to answer questions that seem to obsessed the media at this time.

    A media that twists whatever one says. A media that puts their own interpretation on all utterances.

    A media that is not interested in what Labor is or intends doing. A media that has it’s own agenda and puts their own spin on everything.

    Like the cattle sales to Indonesia yesterday. For most of the day, those in the know said it has been the country’s policy for years to become self reliant on beef production. All accounts dismiss the suspending of the cattle sales earlier as having anything to so with the action taken by Indonesia.

    Then after Mr. Abbott comes on with his spiel, all reporting switches to blaming the PM.

    Mr. Abbott demanded that Mr. Rudd immediately go to Indonesia and get the action reverse. When do we have the right to tell another country how produce it’s food.

  177. CU, that article is so full of contradictions and outright ridiculous statements (apparently a good PM should be able to lie convincingly??), but in itself is a marvellous window into our current media landscape.

    The part that stood out for me was how an answer, repeated enough to a media who ask the same frigging questions over and over, becomes ‘stock phrases’

    Sorry, but when the questions are the same, is it the respondents fault that the answers are the same.

    This speculation is the most inane, rabid and nonsensical I can recall. Every time the date comes around, the timeline simply moves. It reminds me of a certain preacher who predicted the end of times earlier this year (or, if not then, later)

    Bruce put it best

    Another prophet of disaster, who says this ship is lost

    Of course, one day, they will be right. Although, it may well be when Gillard retires of old age, who knows.

    Meanwhile, in real news, is anything happening?

  181. TomR, my father was born 1900. He spent most of his life predicitng another world wide depression. He died in 1996, many years before this occurred.

  182. If the PM is panicking, she sure hides it well.

    I wonder if the media and Opposition realise that they are now appearing a little incompetent and inept.

  183. Pip at 12.54
    I just clicked onto the Carney thing, landed halfway through it where he says that if Gillard had answered a question in a certain way “that would have been the end of it”. I didn’t see much point in reading beyond that. No answer she gives to any question will be “the end of it”.

  186. Pip at 2.11
    I did get through it by sheer force of will. Actually I’m a bit proud of myself, I didn’t think I had that much determination in me.
    It’s just a slushy swamp, you wade around trying to make sense of it. I think if you managed to drain it you’d find a standard “criticism because we can” using the usual lines.
    P.S.
    Sorry, who’s the new Board member? I think I’ve missed something.

  187. Bob, I was going to say ‘the girl with the pearls’, but she’s now a Channel 10 Board member. My mistake. 😳

  189. I am sure she cares the same way her father did in his asbestos mines.

    There was one time when he said that someone had to mine the asbestos, as it was needed for industry.

    It was not his responsibility if they became ill.

    A very caring daughter, I am sure.

  193. Adelaide ABC Local listeners, excluding the Liberal supporters, will be very pleased to know that Abraham and Bevan have been found guilty of bias.
    My only query is, why did it take so long?

    Abraham thinks he’s a comedian and Bevan is a pseudo intellectual; they are both mistaken…they are really just big frogs in a little puddle!

    ABC radio presenters Matthew Abraham and David Bevan found guilty of bias
    http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/abc-radio-presenters-matthew-abraham-and-david-bevan-found-guilty-of-bias/story-e6frea83-1226225731746

  194. Pip

    And the other query, will anything be done about it?

    Proof of that “true balance” of the ABC is the infiltration of right wing nutters.

  195. Good on Foley
    “FORMER South Australian treasurer Kevin Foley has sought legal advice on suing ABC radio stalwarts Matthew Abraham and David Bevan over a “robust” interview that he says hastened his decision to leave public life. ”

    And as an answer to my previous question, will anything be done about it?

    “But the ABC rejected the findings, saying its own investigation found the interview was strongly in keeping with ABC editorial policies and the code of practice and that no breach had occurred.

    It is understood Abraham and Bevan had the full support of ABC managing director Mark Scott. Abraham yesterday said he and Bevan were never interviewed by ACMA during its investigation, but nevertheless gave their permission for the report to published.

    ACMA spokeswoman Emma Rossi said the authority was liaising with the ABC to determine “appropriate remediation”
    http://www.theaustralian.com.au/media/foley-set-to-act-over-abc-interview/story-e6frg996-1226226194441

  196. Pip, and my question is the ramifications for the rest of the ABC. The ruling included:

    The Australian Communications and Media Authority has found the pair broke “impartiality requirements” of the ABC code of practice in the April 5 broadcast.

    Shall we say that one again and in BOLD…

    “impartiality requirements”

  197. Sue, ah yes the good old “robust” – robust does not mean “loaded questions” and “disparaging language” aka humiliating and offensive.

  198. Pip and Min

    From the link for adelaidenow and kevin foley interview, the Murky news was ” able ” to reuse the offending comments by reprinting the question in ” quotes “.

    If an interview has been deemed offensive why is it allowed to be printed? Or is it allowed to be printed, may be a point for Foley and the lawyers.

    Another poison aspect of the adelaide now article was the reporting that the radio interview had received numerous complaints. Yet the one complaint against Foley was chosen for the report.

    “The investigation was launched after several public complaints, including from one listener who said Mr Foley was “often unnecessarily aggressive and offensive”.
    http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/abc-radio-presenters-matthew-abraham-and-david-bevan-found-guilty-of-bias/story-e6frea83-1226225731746

  199. Sue, reprinting an article using quotation marks would be classified as fair comment for example, commentary about the Andrew Bolt racial vilification case would be “fair comment”.

    This comes under defamation legislation, however at present the only ‘crime’ that Abraham and Bevan are guilty of is ‘bias’ under a Code of Practice.

    As per the article from Adelaide Now, Foley is yet to take any action for defamation, but intends to do so.

  200. I just fired off an email of complaint to the ABC.

    In the Midday News Bulletin they aired a one minute blatant propaganda piece of Barry O’Farrell. I think it was to promote some anniversary of his win at the last election, but it was nothing more than an uncritical piece in which O’Farrell sat in an obvious promotional video and not one question was asked.

    He was allowed to freely spruik of the apparent great job he’s doing and how’s he’s getting on with the job of improving NSW.

    Everything shown, from environment, hospitals, law and order, and transport have gone backwards under O’Farrell, yet you wouldn’t know it from that promotional piece aired on ABC News. According to O’Farrell not only is his government working hard at fixing all these things he’s creating a sustainable budget as well.

    Yet not once was he asked to show how he is achieving all this without actually doing anything except getting his head on TV every chance he can and allowing his ministers to keep blaming Labor for the constant failings of his government.

    At the end of the propaganda piece I expected a counter from the opposition in balance, but no, the ABC let it stand and continued on to the next news item as though O’Farrell’s agitprop was a credible news piece.

    Pissed me right off.

  201. WTF is happening at News.com here is the headline

    “Tony Abbott said ‘no, no no’ to new border talks ”
    then the story covers what Minister Bowen said at a news conference .

    There was not one reference to: But Tony Abbott says or Scott Morrison said.

    How did that pass the editors. Read and be amazed

    http://www.news.com.au/national/julia-gillard-offered-to-recall-parliament-to-pass-border-security-laws-but-says-tony-abbott-said-no/story-e6frfkw9-1226226534990

  202. Saying “NO” is a reaction, in this case Abbott’s dog in the manger attitude.
    Any responsible business person, politician or leader of any worth, is prepared to negotiate. Abbott is the wrong guy for the job.

  203. Sue, and is typical of the technique used the moot point was hidden down the very bottom of the article. From your link:

    Mr Bowen said the government was keen to arrive at a joint position with the opposition negotiated in a cooperative way.

    He insisted an offshore processing centre on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea was unlawful following a High Court ruling.

    The government’s legal advice was that the ruling also would make very difficult the reopening of a processing centre on Nauru.

    WHEN are the media going to wake up to the fact that the Liberal Opposition are bull-shizzing about Nauru being an option.

  204. Press conference now taking place in Darwin with Swan and the role out of the NBN across the NT.

    Swan went on about how Abbott refused to allow the two Immigration Ministers to sit down and work out a solution. Morrison’s response is that the government has to put something concrete on the table that the opposition will accept before they will talk with the government.

    Picks jaw off flaw and intones… WTF.

    In other words the opposition are saying you will do as we say and run the government the way we tell you to.

    Shorten in another conference about a review into IR.

    What was this about the government doing nothing over the break. I think you will find it’s the opposition who are on holidays at the moment.

  206. Mobius Ecko,
    Naturally Abbott wouldn’t let Morrison sit down and discuss a solution with the government then he wouldn’t be able to run his scare campaign and keep on with his lie that Nauru is the only solution.

  207. Prepare for the media t run with the line that the Government is ‘playing politics’.

    They will ignore the fact that the first request was sent days before the recent tragedy.

  208. Tom, one thing that I’ve found surprising is that with the recent asylum seeker boat tragedy that the media have almost completely ignored the part of the Greens.

    I tend to disagree with the Greens, you cannot just let the boats set sail and say we’ll take all of them by increasing our refugee intake. It has to be realized that people smuggling is a money making venture and illegal or open borders, as many people as possible are going to be stuffed onto the boats.

    The Greens appear to be also refusing to compromise as their only policy is onshore processing.

  209. I think this is the reason the govt has released the letters between PM and Abbott

    7.30 last night:

    “CHRIS UHLMANN: And what you could do is pick up the phone to Chris Bowen and see whether or not there’s any compromise that’s possible, because aren’t you morally obliged, if you believe that you could save one life by negotiating, to negotiate?

    SCOTT MORRISON: Well, it’s for the Government to put a proposal to us….”

    And today Morrison was bemoaning the fact that they the Coalition treat correspondence confidentially. But last night Morison implied the Govt had not been working on the Boat refuges issue.

    Why did none of the journos at the Morrison press conference challenge Morrison on the Coalition record of reneging on deals. The Coalition reneged on the Turnbull/Rudd negotiated CPRS. The MSM could have asked Morrison why would the government write to Abbott, as he requested, with options when he cannot be trusted to go through with a deal?

  210. Sue,
    Well picked. So did Morrison lie, it looks like it the inference was that all the government should do is to pick up the phone when Abbott had already been sent a number of letters. Or perhaps Abbott had just forgotten to tell Morrison about these.

  211. So, the Government have called morrison on his bullshit. Now, he complains they are breaking confidence.

    I await with anticipation the media holding morrison to account (sarcasm)

  212. Wonders never cease..from David Speers quote: “Tony Abbott will always find a way to keep the politics alive.” And it’s Speers’ emphasis.

  213. Whilst searching for the Abbott/Tanner Lateline interview I’m coming across some gems in regards to Howard’s incompetence.

    Try these on for size:

    New figures point to slowing economy
    A surge in imports has seen Australia record its second biggest trade deficit on record. The trade blow-out comes on the eve of a Reserve Bank board meeting where an interest rate increase is very firmly on the agenda. But the board’s decision will not be an easy one, with a raft of new figures also suggesting the economy is already slowing.

    Yet Howard did nothing to address the slowing economy but kept implementing the wrong economic policies. Costello knew this only too well and saw the next thing coming a mile away, a spate of interest rate rises on the back of Howard’s wasteful profligacy.

    Treasury Secretary issues economic crash warning
    The Prime Minister is at odds with Treasury Secretary Ken Henry about whether America’s budget problems could trigger a global economic crash. Dr Henry fears the US is at the mercy of foreign investors who may stop funding its huge budget and trade deficits. John Howard says this is exaggerating America’s true position.

    2005 and the Treasury saw the crash coming, warned Howard, yet Howard did worse than nothing to address it, he implemented the wrong economic policies based purely on buying votes.

    Skills shortage threatens rates, Reserve Bank warns
    Federal Cabinet has discussed ways of tackling the potentially crippling skills shortage that is confronting key sectors of the economy. The Reserve Bank warns labour problems could force up interest rates as desperate employers bump up wages to attract skilled workers. But some believe the Reserve Bank is overstating the risks.

    Howard was almost continuously warned from the end of his first term until his last year in office about the Australian skills shortage. Warnings he deliberately chose to ignore for nearly the entire decade plus he was in office. When skills shortages started making front page headlines and big business complained then Howard bought in Trades Colleges as a solution. They went the way of most of his ill thought out policies, failure.

    That’s only three of half a dozen or more of his failures for just 2005. Look at any year after his first term and you will see it littered with ignored warnings and policy failures. Lucky times and circumstances got Howard through his miserable stewardship, not his leadership or policy sense.

  214. ME – I hope you find your “holy grail”. Until then keep the comparisons between Howard and Rudd/Gillard reporting coming – its instructive. I wonder if the comparison could be the basis of a complaint . . .

  215. Morrison’s states that Bowen must put any proposal in writing before the opposition will consider it. No round table discussions possible. And how long would it take for the opposition to leak this to the media and start attacking.

  216. I always though the object of a discussion was to create a proposal that both sides can “live with” even if they aren’t ecstatic about it. So how does Morrison expect to create a proposal the political tribes can live with if a proposal has to be presented prior to the discussion. Methinks the cart is before the horse (or the LNP are in an alternate universe).

  218. Melbourne’s Herald Sun has taken to referring to ‘boat migrants’. They know what they’re doing! Disgraceful! newspaper owned by one of our infamous emigrants.

  219. In an otherwise good piece from Lenore Taylor, she begins her article with:

    IT’S pathetic. The asylum policies of the Labor and Liberal parties are not that far apart. But the politics is so putrid they can’t even sit in the same room.

    Given that Julia Gillard wrote to Abbott on 3 occasions requesting that Bowen meet with Morrison, exactly whose fault is it that “they can’t even sit in the same room”.

    And this statement..

    There is a growing view in senior Coalition ranks that Abbott should allow [immigration spokesman] Scott Morrison to negotiate something, making it clear if the talks reach an outcome that is imperfect, and asylum seekers keep coming, Labor will get the blame.

    I don’t hold out much hope for this one because, will Abbott risk a meeting which might produce a solution? No of course not, Abbott wants Labor to continue to “get the blame” and if he refuses any meeting that is exactly what will happen.

    Of course stuff lives lost at sea, but what is the loss of human lives worth to Abbott in his march to the lodge.

    I think that some are finally waking up to the grub which is Tony Abbott. Even Ruddock has come out stating that Abbott should work towards a solution. There are some things bigger than politics, but not for Tony Abbott.

    http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/political-pointscoring-seems-to-have-taken-precedence-over-policy-20111220-1p424.html#ixzz1h6jDuxbq

  220. Kevin, “boat migrants” thereby perpetuating the myth that these ‘migrants’ are coming to Australia for the scenery..not because in the vast majority they are found to be genuine refugees who are in genuine fear of persecution.

  222. I see that Sky is still calling it as two former Howard Ministers trying to forge a compromise, to get the TWO PARTIES to talk..that THEY should stop playing games. It is not the Gillard government which is refusing to talk, but the MSM will have the Liberals coming up smelling of roses one way or the other.

  223. But the politics is so putrid they can’t even sit in the same room.

    I think in this, both parties are to blame though Min. Labor has used the ‘boat people’ when in opposition to harass the libs, and, when they did get Government, even though their actual policy was far more humane than the libs, the rhetoric was just as pathetic. (or almost so)

    It has improved under Gillard (the rhetoric), although, only marginally. And, the Malaysian ‘solution’ has much going for it. Most importantly, the approval of the UNHCR, which kind of weakens the libs constant refrain about signing a treaty. They didn’t care about that when in Government (although, to be fair, Labor were just the same when they were in opposition). The UNHCR even went to the lengths of condemning the Pacific ‘solution’

    However, if Labors rhetoric on this is bad, then the libs is purely reprehensible.

    And the Greens are still off in noddy land, refusing to compromise on anything. I admire their tenacity, but, sooner or later, they will need to wake up into the real world.

    I don’t believe it, but I actually agree with ruddock, from Sue’s link

    ”In my view the government should seek to formalise its informal arrangements with Malaysia that people who are found to be refugees should not be returned to places of persecution … that might be a way they could reach a compromise without Malaysia being a signatory,”

    Forget about working something out with tabot, we know that won’t happen. I would have thought after the ETS fiasco, and his refusal to negotiate on anything since, the Government would have a far better chance of dealing with the Malaysians than with an irrelevant DickieNoDon’t

  224. Tom, agreed the rhetoric has been bad on both sides. I believe that it was a big mistake of the Labor government to try to out-Liberal the Liberals and in doing so have bled to the left.

    And I agree with you about The Greens, just to say No to anything other than onshore processing is unrealistic, for example how do they intend to control the people smuggling trade. As I mentioned previously, this is a money making venture, therefore overcrowded boats will still come irrespective of increasing our humanitarian intake.

    Abbott is playing his usual game, trying to set the government up so that he can once again say No.

    And in probably a first from me, I likewise agree with Ruddock. Therefore what Ruddock is saying is that with additional conditions the Malaysia solution will be equivalent to having signed the United Nations Refugee Convention.

    ”Malaysia was found unacceptable by the High Court in large part because those arrangements were informal,” he said, suggesting the parties look for a different way to secure the ”purpose” of the refugee convention.

    I think that the Gillard government should quickly agree with Ruddock because as a consequence the game will be thrown back onto Abbott.

  227. After what I said about the Greens, this might seem a bit hypocritical, but, I also don’t agree that this would work of itself (considering there are currently something like 90 thousands refugees in Malaysia alone (I don’t know how many are in Indonesia). But it would be a good start

    But there is a way of deterring them from getting on a boat in Indonesia. We can introduce a substantial annual quota of refugee resettlement of asylum seekers in Indonesia. If we took 10,000 refugees each year from Indonesia, and took them in order of lodging an application in Indonesia for protection, the incentive to get on a boat would disappear. We would save many lives. But we would have to accept a larger number of refugees than we do now.

    http://theconversation.edu.au/if-were-serious-about-stopping-the-boats-we-must-take-more-refugees-4820

    The bolded bit would be difficult in the current political climate, which is all the more reason to do it. Break the shackles, the current system is rotten. Leave the libs to be the party of inhumanity, and take back the Labor ideal of a fair go for all, and to hell with the redknecks and their selfish opinions.

  228. Tom, one problem that I can see is that the $s from the people smuggling industry in Indonesia goes straight to the top. It has taken Rudd years to convince the Indonesians to take people smuggling seriously and only now is Indonesia allowing our patrol boats to enter their waters, plus allowing further cooperation with the Federal police.

    If we took 10,000 from Indonesia, there would still be another 10,000 in Indonesia willing to pay the people smugglers.

  229. If we took 10,000 from Indonesia, there would still be another 10,000 in Indonesia willing to pay the people smugglers.

    Yes Min, that is the major flaw in the plan, and why the Greens steadfast refusal to consider any other option is so disappointing.

    Having said that, I have nothing against taking in more, particularly considering our role on the global stage in causing some of the situations that has led to this predicament. (Iraq war anyone?)

  230. Tom, which is why if the Malaysia plan can be amended to include the recommendation by Ruddock, it’s by far the superior plan than anything anyone else has so far been able to come up with.

    I do know that it’s a matter of public perception especially the MSM running hot with faux horror about ‘people swapping’, therefore it is up to the government to sell it and sell it big time.

    And you get me back to why Howard’s demonisation of asylum seekers was so wrong..these people were our allies (Iraq, Afghanistan) with a genuine fear of persecution.

  231. Next weekend in Canberra,
    So all the papers say,
    Tony Abbott, Rupert’s boy,
    Will work on Christmas Day!

    Journalists and cameramen,
    Dare not disobey.
    They must record his every word,
    And just for normal pay.

    Hark how all the media sing!
    A man at last! Hooray!
    That’s how PMs in Oz should be!
    At work on Christmas Day!

    Recorders hum and mobiles ring.
    The shock jocks yack away.
    This is how a leader’s born!
    What master power play!

    And where will Julia Gillard be?
    Where else but in SA,
    Spending time with her mum and dad,
    At home on Christmas Day.

    She’s written her instructions down.
    It’s there in her “Out” tray.
    Whatever Tony Abbott asks,
    Meet him more than half way.

    She’s long gone, having set the scene
    For Tony’s shadow play,
    When News Ltd’s messiah
    Appears on Christmas Day.

    Bells ring out and children sing,
    Awaiting Santa’s sleigh.
    Before sun’s up they’re out of bed
    And on the beach to play.

    Headlines shout and emails ping!
    Who’s reading what they say?
    That Man will be known for evermore
    For spoiling Christmas day.

  232. I think I read that the smugglers lined up the passengers for the the boat that sunk in places as Dubai and bought them to Indonesia a month before it sailed. Most were men.

    If that is correct, this lot are not from those stranded in Indonesia.

    Maybe those in Indonesia are too aware of the dangers.

    Maybe some journalist out there could give us a back ground run down.

  233. Patricia, I believe that is your best effort.

    Mr Abbott thinks himself so smart for thinking up a Christmas day stunt.

    My advice for a child demanding attention, ignore him.

    If he genuine, he will take the gag off his shadow minister, Mr. Morrison and let him meet up with Mr. Bowen tomorrow or Friday.

    Leave Christmas day alone.

  234. Bravo Patricia.

    I’m certain there’ll be a Christmas Day photo of Tony Abbott somewhere in the media.

    Some poor cameraman will have to give up lunch with his family because the boss will want a vote scoring photo of Abbott.

  235. Now we know what two thousand or so years of Christianity was for. A use would eventually be found for it, & Tony’s managed.

  238. Thanks Patricia. Miglo it is not hard to have wit when the target is a clown

    The man has out done himself in the last couple of days. He is indeed the greatest of the great pretenders. Maybe we are being to kind. Maybe the title should be ‘would be if could be’ is more appropriate.

    The PM takes two weeks holiday in a period that includes many public holidays and business is quiet.

    Every day the public is reminded she is on holidays and the man is hard at work, dealing with protecting our borders.

    This is the second break the PM has taken since taking over from Mr. Rudd. The first holiday was curtailed by disasters.

    Now the man wants meeting on Christmas Day so the government can put in place his demands. Demands that most say will not work.

    News this morning that the Indonesia army is involved. They ferried the people out to the mother ship.

    It appears the people are being bought from the middle east and the boats are the last leg.

    Is this new. I was under the impression that most come on the boats after being a long time in Indonesia.

  239. Miglo it is not hard to have wit when the target is a clown.

    Thank you, I need a laugh. I’ve been in the office since 5:40 this morning and I’m tired and grumpy. 😦

  241. Mr Abbott is demanding the PM breaks her holiday.

    Why ? The PM will be back in the Office after the New Year.

    Ten days cannot make that much difference.

    Talk about stunts, as he is also offering nothing.

    The limb that Mr Abbott is placing himself on is getting weaker.

  243. Todays scare headlines.

    “.AUSTRALIA is on the brink of an unemployment catastrophe, with up to 100,000 jobs set to be slashed in the months after Christmas………….”

    In the body of the story we find that things will not be that bad,

    “……..But the news isn’t all bad, with economists suggesting the nation’s wobbly economy could drive the official cash rate as low as 3.5 per cent by the end of 2012, The Daily Telegraph reported..”

    Read more: http://www.news.com.au/money/australia-in-the-grip-of-a-jobs-crisis/story-e6frfmci-1226228043716#ixzz1hCpZzsfP

    I believe it was normal for staff to be put off after Christmas.

    Yes report the story but go easy on the scare headlines.

    “…..

  244. I think someone should throw a dictionary at Abbott suggesting he look up the word bi-partisanship, rather that belligerently trying to reintroduce a Liberal party policy just to score points against the goverment. It seems to me that in trying to destroy the goverment he is going to destroy a lot more, after his refusal to discuss the other day and we see more than 200 assylum seekers die at sea, another word he should look up is morality, and get off his F&*^ing high horse.

  245. Mr. Abbott is now demanding talks between him and the PM.

    I suggest to Mr. Abbott he had his chance last week and knocked it back. He is to late with this demand.

    I further suggest to Mr. Abbott that he allows Mr. Morrison to meet with Mr. Bowen to discuss if there is any common ground worth pursuing.

    If there is anything positive from this meeting, then it will be time for the PM to meet with Mr. Abbott.

    It is imperative that Mr. Abbott is not allow to turn the negotiations into another stunt.

    It is too important a matter to allow that to happen. The PM has better things to do with her time.

  246. Thirdly, I suggest to Mr. Abbott, unless he is willing to negotiate in good faith, he shut up and get on with enjoying his Christmas break.

    I am sure his family can cope with him for a few days. it might be a welcome change for them.

    I know many of us would welcome a break from seeing him whinge every day on the TV and elsewhere.

    Maybe after a short rest, he might be able to come up with something new to say, though I do not hold out much hope of that.

  247. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when I read your link about everyone being laid off in the new year CU. Until I got to this quote

    “One in five Australians now think they are going to lose their jobs in the next 12 months,” Mr Inwood said.

    I went with PMSL 😉

    Could anyone perhaps point me in the direction of where people might get the impression they are about to lose their jobs? 😯

  249. Still PNSL, although the tears are welling

    “That’s great that the Prime Minister has finally woken up to the fact that her stubbornness was getting Australian nowhere, but if she wants the Opposition to sit down and talk, we need to have a proposal in writing,” he said.

    Mr Abbott ruled out doing a deal which would include offshore processing in Malaysia and said he also wanted the Government to adopt his temporary protection visas policy.

    He said any talks should be between himself and Julia Gillard, not between Mr Bowen and his Coalition counterpart Scott Morrison.

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-12-22/abbott-welcomes-possible-crackdown-on-nauru/3743294

    😯

    And Gillard is the ‘stubborn’ one??

  250. Maybe the man is just pigheaded.

    One thing for sure, whether the PM is stubborn or not is beside the point, the reality is that the man has not been able to shift her.

    The PM appears more cemented in than she did at the beginning of the year.

    Mr. Abbott has been a complete failure in moving her on in anyway.

    He reminds one of the three pigs that blew and blew but could not blow the house in.

    This can only mean that the PM’s house is on solid ground, not sand and built of stone.

  254. Joe Hockey’s Gross Incompetence
    http://stephenkoukoulas.blogspot.com/2011/12/joe-hockeys-gross-incompetence.html

    From an economic perspective, I’m actually scared about the prospect of a Coalition government after 2013 with Joe Hockey as Treasurer. The unrelenting display of ignorance on basic economic and market issues should be enough to scare away international investors and undermine decades of great economic management.

    Mr. Koukoulas has a point to make about the main stream media:-

    There is an obligation on The Australia or indeed Bloomberg, Reuters, Dow Jones, the AFR, Business Spectator or any other group with an interest in this issue to do a survey market economists, regulators and if possible the RBA and Treasury to get their take on Mr Hockey’s and the Coalition’s threat to block the rise in the gross debt ceiling.

    I can’t preempt what they would find, but I’d be shocked if the findings weren’t a humiliation for Mr Hockey and his understanding of how to manage gross debt the Australian bond market.

    I wouldn’t be holding my breath waiting for the above learned journals to do a survey of anything prior to publishing their opinions.

  256. Pip

    i wonder if there is there any penalty for misleading/inaccurate assertions, probably not. other than the fact that tele readers who believe the rubbish they write are dumb to hand over cash for it.

  259. While you’re here, Eddie, I too would like to wish you a merry Christmas. I’ve enjoyed reading the great links you’ve provided us.

    Now to show my ignorance, what is CQ? 😦

  260. Thanks for the link to Stephen Koukoulas, Pip. I just tried to comment there, but had problems as I always do with wordpress sites having mty URL accepted, or any form of ID for that matter. Can anyone help me with that?

    Anway, what I wanted to do was congratulate Stephen on doing what mainsteam media should be doing in questioning Hockey’s economic views and credentials. I also think the public should know more about his real character. I was grateful for the opportunity to do something about that here at Cafe Whispers well over a year ago.

    I think the media are too kind
    To Tony Abbott’s not so little mate,
    Suggesting he’s just disinclined
    To malice and therefore too straight
    To efficiently repeat the line
    The Liberals have on interest rates.
    Let me explain what’s on my mind.
    Hockey’s a man I learned to hate
    As he once nastily declined
    When asked, at an Amnesty fete,
    For a petition to be signed.
    I stood alone there at the gate
    As he let loose with ‘f’s ‘n blinds’
    Which showed him not just overweight
    But as big a bully one might find.

    THAT IS WHY……..

    I loathe Joe Hockey!
    He’s not just fat
    And not just sloppy.
    He’s a nasty rat
    Who gets me stroppy.
    I’d love a bat
    To wham that floppy
    Big bully flat.
    So, don’t be soppy.
    Don’t be a prat.
    Send in your copy.
    Let’s wallop him and Abbott SPLAT*!*!*!

  261. Hi Jedda.
    I found this on the SBS site.The Media and Divercity Debate.
    Presented by Anton Enus along with guests from the media, politics, academia and the community, this forum debate will look at the media’s role in reflecting Australian diversity. Ten years on from Tampa and the September 11 terrorist attacks, it asks how the Australian media are shaping and describing the debate about diversity in Australia. With asylum seekers dominating debate around immigration and multiculturalism, can Australia have a debate about diversity without polarising people? (An SBS Production) (Special)

  267. But would not it have been difficult to get into bed in the first place?

    I’m sorry. I’m just too logical.

  268. Roswell, what actually happened is that you got into bed first. The elephant then came into your room and got under your bed thereby levitating you and the bed skywards….

  274. While watching the News Breakfast TV presentation of ABC News 24 on 27th Dec, I was struck by the lack of balance in the reporting and the amount of time devoted to denigrating the Labor Government in particular and the Prime Minister in particular. The program exhibited most of the techniques of bias ranging from the replaying of past news events containing opinion denigrating the Prime Minister in program advertising. The grab select has been replayed several times and gives a derogatory opinion of the PM’s motives in conducting a cabinet reshuffle. It seems that News 24 believes in the power of repetition that if a message is repeated often enough the statement of opinion will become fact. In house advertising of this type demonstrates the skewed balance of News 24.

    This ‘promo” was followed by a news item which was aimed at demonizing interest rate cuts. The story would have us believe that interest rates cuts are bad because they were depressing house prices. There was no mention in the story that it could be good to buyers seeking to buy a home or owners paying off a mortgage. The message seems to be that rate cuts are good under a Liberal government and bad under a Labor government. This is another example of the skewed balance of News 24.

    This was followed by an item introduced as a story of an exhibition of some 80+ cartoons published in Australian newspapers during 2011. In fact the story was a character assignation of the Prime Minister as the conversation between presenter and expert only discussed cartoons about Julia Gillard. Apparently there were no other cartoons amongst the 86 about other political figures worth discussing which suited the ideologies of the presenters. This also demonstrates the skewed balance of News 24.

    It seems to me that Professor Ian Lowe was correct when he stated on 20 Dec 2011 that , “Howard stacked the ABC Board with ideologues.” We certainly see much evidence to support this statement particularly in the program structure of News 24 and backed up in the pages of The Drum where commentators from the IPA and Liberal commentators such as Peter Reith get more of the share of coverage that could be judged as balanced.

  275. Welcome to the Café Ebony and thank you for your very astute observations.

    The techniques which you have described sadly seem to infest most of the media – derogatory comments about the PM in the collage of clips used as an introduction to ‘the news’ – anything negative played over and over and over, whilst news positive to Julia Gillard and the government are either not mentioned at all, or quickly disappear – a 10 miniute interview with a government minister is promptly followed by a 20 minute interview with Tony Abbott, with the later then replayed at (monotonously) regular intervals.

  276. Spot on, Ebony, and the bias in the ABC has been evident since mid 2008. They turned overnight, so to speak, almost as if it was a policy call. A board decision, perhaps?

  280. Sound commentary from Ebony there. I’m sure she’s already let the ABC know how she feels. Maybe we can help by making similar observations to their feedback line too.

  281. That is something which I haven’t kept up with as much as I should have, but now on thinking about it…of course Murdoch doesn’t want the NBN as it will mean a reduction in his power and influence. Might an example be that those who now rely soley on the Murdoch biased media for their ‘news’ will, in the future be able to more readily access other and alternative views, because of the NBN.

  283. Greetings everyone… 🙂

    Min, Murdoch would prefer that people pay to subscribe to his Foxtel, rather than being able to download whatever from the intenet.. that’s already happening of course but it’s spoiling his grand plan to own the world!

  284. Very telling of the ABC.

    The commercial news networks have featured the latest Newspoll showing yet another shift towards Labor and Gillard, even though a couple have attempted to spin it as still being disastrous for the government.

    Yet the ABC News Breakfast, who always headline negative polls for Labor and are strident in their reporting of how bad this is for Labor, have not mentioned this poll at all, not even in their ticker.

    It is more telling that when they did their usual look through the newspaper headlines, there in an on screen picture of the front page of The Australian, at the very top dominating the front page, was a story on the poll with a graph spinning the negative for Labor, yet the ABC picked a small story at the bottom of the page, ignoring the poll and not even mentioning it in passing.

  286. What got me was a comment that though Labor is improving, they would have to improve quickly and dramatically to have any chance of winning the next election because of NSW and Queensland.

    It appears things are not too bad in WA and SA. I see no evidence that the state governments in NSW and Vic are loved or respected.

    Mr. Abbott biggest gains were in Queensland. He had patchy success in NSW and little in Victoria.

    I do not agree, as a small but continuous improvement is all that is needed. The next election is still two years away.

    Australia generally does not put all it’s eggs in one basket. States government’s are often of a different political colour to that they elect Federally.

    What is deliberately ignored by the media and maybe the Opposition is the fact that the allegedly unpopular legislation introduced by the PM have positives as well as negative sides.

    There are many goodies coming. Increased super and raising of the tax free barrier for a couple.

    Two years is an eternity in politics.

  287. SA got into serious trouble in the late 80s for having all its investment eggs in the one basket. Funds were ripped out if SGIC and state super to invest in the local economy, in particular into the State Bank. If ever a lesson was learnt there was a need to diversify it was then. The state went broke as a consequence.

  288. What is not Labor Policy? What would you not spend?

    What did the likes of Harradine, Democrats, Dlp and even the National Party cost us in the past.

    The story IMO is just another media beatup that makes little sense.

    “COST

    ITEM

    PARTY

    $150m

    Rescinding budget cuts for solar and rent programs

    The Greens

    $10b

    Clean energy fund

    The Greens

    $20m

    High-speed rail study

    The Greens

    $5.2m

    Multi-party climate change committee

    Greens and Tony Windsor

    $4.4m

    Problem Gambling Taskforce

    Andrew Wilkie

    $33.4m

    Extending tax arrangements for ethanol

    Tony Windsor

    $500,000

    National Advisory Council on Dental Health

    The Greens

    $2.6m

    Effective Carbon Prices in Key Economies study

    Tony Windsor

    $900,000

    Tax forum

    Rob Oakeshott

    $335m

    Connecting remote renewable energy to power network

    Bob Katter

    $500m

    Education Investment Fund – regional priorities round

    Rob Oakeshott and Tony Windsor

    $109.9m

    Higher Education Regional Loading

    Rob Oakeshott and Tony Windsor

    $100m

    Defer abolition of withholding tax to get MRRT through

    Greens

    $20m

    Annual hit to budget by lifting MRRT threshold

    Andrew Wilkie

    $150m

    Independent scientific body to provide advice on coal-seam gas projects

    Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott

    $50m

    National deal requiring states to amend planning laws for CSG

    Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott

    $125m

    Reward payments for regional schools

    Rob Oakeshott and Tony Windsor

    $15m

    Local school control

    Rob Oakeshott and Tony Windsor

    $41m

    Primary infrastructure grants

    Rob Oakeshott and Tony Windsor

    $35m

    Pacific Highway (planning and pre-construction work)

    Rob Oakeshott

    $800m

    Priority regional infrastructure program from 2015

    Rob Oakeshott and Tony Windsor

    $573m

    Regional Infrastructure Fund

    Rob Oakeshott and Tony Windsor

    $66m

    Critical skills investment fund for regions

    Rob Oakeshott and Tony Windsor

    $19.1m

    34 Regional Strategists to develop regional skills and jobs

    Rob Oakeshott and Tony Windsor

    $1.8b

    Health and hospitals fund for regions

    Rob Oakeshott and Tony Windsor

    TOTAL BILL $14.95 billion

    Revenue

    $950m

    Fringe benefits tax reforms for driving less

    The Greens”

    http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/pms-power-bill-full-list/story-e6freuy9-1226231433387

  289. Cu, the first thing that came to mind is: Which of the items would the Murdoch media want deleted from the budget?

    It’s all very well to repeat over and over ad nauseum Tony Abbott sound bites about waste, but eventually one must back up the statement with facts.

    One that was previously brought up here was the ‘waste’ about hospitals, pardon but WTF.

    Here is some detail about what this ‘rort’ will provide for Tamworth…

    “There will be seven new renal dialysis chairs, six new chemotherapy chairs and the number of dental chairs will be doubled, to eight.”

  290. Have been listening to ABC24. They appear to have come to to the conclusion that the last year of minority government has been one that all do not understand or accept.

    They appear amazed that the PM is still in power. It is seen as lurching from one disaster to another.

    I do not agree and I am sure the PM will see the year as being productive.

    Mr. Abbott is seen as amazing and surprising most.

    i suggest that Mr. Abbott has been a failure and has not achieved anything he set out to do.

    The PM has achieved most of what she planned to do. The main disappointment is not being able to bring in the Malaysian Solution. Many are not disappointed that assessment of refugees is once again onshore..

    The PM is now in a stronger position now than she was at the beginning of the year.

    This is mostly due to Mr. Howard interfering and stirring up the Slipper hornet nest.

    Many do not accept that the Coalition lost the last election, and the Gillard government is legit, according to the Constitution.

    Mr. Abbott with his numerous censure motions has not been able to dislodge this legitimacy.

    Every time Mr. Abbott suspends question time for a censure motion, more that any other Opposition since Federation, reinforces the PM legitimacy. It proves she has the numbers where it counts, on the floor of the lower house.

    Popularity polls are of little consequences. Being popular does not mean one is correct.

  292. Min, it is amazing that the provision of such basic medical needs, renal dialysis make such news.

    They have also provided many in the NT for the indigenous community.

    Something that is not that expensive but keeps people alive.

    We need to remember that the money that is being spent on the Pacific Highway is also seen as a bribe,

    The problem with the Coalition is that they were masters at pork barrelling and assume that others do the same.

  293. The penny just dropped. If it’s Labor money it’s waste. If it’s Liberal it’s much needed funding that Labor neglected.

  294. Roswell, how can any of the money spent be considered waste.

    Now some of the promises that Mr. Abbott made to Mr. Wilkie could be seen as waste.

    What about the money that has been wasted in Mr. Abbott buying Mersey Hospital in Tasmania.

    It has put the whole Tasmania health budget and planning out of kilter.

  295. I have always found it funny at the Coalition defending money to the needy in borderline Coalition seats, while ignoring many Labor seats where poverty is the norm.

    Oh, I know the answer, the Coalition only rewards the worthy poor.

    Those in Labor regions are definitely unworthy, it is their own fault that they are poor.

  296. I’m completely astounded how the Daily Telegraph could even contemplate that money spent on country hospitals could be considered ‘waste’.

    And perhaps while we’re at it, we should also forget about upgrading the Pacific Highway..it’s only a decade or so behind schedule.

  297. Min, there is no waste there. Only over due projects.

    Mr. Abalanese has been very busy in the last few weeks opening some of the Pacific Highways new work. Opening, not promising, over and over.

    I am sure the holidays makers are enjoying the new roads.

  298. A decade behind schedule or an election behind schedule?

    It was another piece of necessary infrastructure ignored by the previous Liberal government.

  300. VIP for all bloggers…

    Welcome to the world of hate blogging. A reported defamation payout of $13,000 by the TV book show celebrity Marieke Hardy gives us an inkling of the dark side of the blogosphere.

    http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/google-and-ilk-cant-shirk-responsibility-for-ranters-20111229-1pe93.html#ixzz1hzgZD4MH

    Now confirmed by the Australian justice system that defamation is defamation and that hiding behind an anonymous entity does not save one from liability.

  301. Catching up,

    Interesting that the Daily Telegraph should include the one about coal seam gas exploration when it’s the farmers who have been screaming out for independent scientific advice. It doesn’t seem that the Daily Telegraph knew what to do with the article, they list valid government projects but provide no comment about any of it.

  303. Thanks for the George M link, Eddie. Not that he did a good job of following up on that research he cited showing how little respect he and his media mates enjoy from the public these days. He still managed to blame the pollies and Julia Gillard in particular for being their victim. When will he or any of them have the self respect to admit that they owe their souls to Murdoch and that’s why they’re doing such a lousy job these days. They don’t deserve a a happy new year.

  305. I find this comment from George Megathingy quite odd:

    Obviously, the fence-sitting professionals at The Australian, the ABC, Fairfax and elsewhere should not have to answer for the celebrity hecklers on commercial television and radio.

    Not at all George, you have a voice, you have a computer why not put these into action and WRITE ABOUT ‘the celebrity hecklers’ – bring them to account. Pick the guts out of their opinions.

    And yet our weakness contains a paradox. I have never covered a group of politicians so easily intimidated, and belittled by the media.

    And I have never come across a worse media who are prepared to use every dirty trick in the book. George’s use of the word ‘belittled’ by the media is odd. Isn’t this blaming the victim? It’s akin to saying, I’ve belittled you and so it’s all your own fault.

  306. With thanks to Jenny for the link via Australians for an Honest Media Facebook group.

    This is a ripper..Crikey’s Best in the Australian Media:

    http://www.crikey.com.au/2011/12/21/the-2011-crikeys-the-best-in-australian-media/

    The Daily Telegraph has gone feral this year under Paul Whittaker, and is disqualified on grounds of frequent ridiculousness,

    Yet The Oz’s in many ways excellent record is marred by its nutty campaigns, at times impenetrable news judgment and narcissism, including the inability to tolerate attacks on its large yet essentially fragile ego. As well, there is its bemusing air of martyrdom. Too often, all this weirdness has meant the paper has failed to play a straight bat when it matters in reporting state and national affairs.

  307. Question – if the Daily Telegraph (in common with most Nonews papers) is against the MRRT, how can it be a failure of Government if the starting level for the imposition of the tax is raised to a higher value? It doesn’t make sense.

  308. I once posted what I thought was a quite legitimate question to Megalogenis in his blog, which he, on egging from a poster we all know but will remain unnamed, brushed aside.

    Megalogenis had written a fairly comprehensive article on what the new Gillard government should do since it had gained power. Problem for me was, and what I attempted to highlight and have him answer, was that at least ten other prominent political journalists/commentators had also written fairly comprehensive articles on what the new Gillard government should be doing, and everyone of those articles conflicted.

    It was impossible for the government, any government, to be able to meet the requirements of all those articles and the priorities in all of them were vastly different.

    Some of those articles were written by stablemates, so I simply asked George what made him right and all those others wrong on this one thing about what the Gillard government should now be doing since it had gained power.

    Why were his priorities correct and the conflicting ones written by others, some with vastly more political experience than George, wrong? Why was he right whilst his stablemates in Ltd. News writing on the same subject wrong?

    Problem is that to point out and justify where he believed he was correct whilst pulling apart and explaining the errors of the others would have required considerable time and effort plus put him in direct conflict with those others, some who are probably friends. So instead I was brushed aside.

    So even with reputable and lucid political commentators there is the tendency to blame all outside of the media without the slightest bit of introspection, and thus maybe exposing the one thing they don’t want revealed.

    The problem may lie with them and not the government.

  309. Möbius, I remember that incident well. It was disappointing to see your valid comments brushed aside by GM and the ensuing sniping from RWDBs.

    GM was not prepared to lay any blame for media incompetency at the feet of the media.

  310. Yes Migs. As good as Megalogenis is, and I would even say great, he has the one outstanding lapse of not willing to put the blame at the feet of the media when it’s warranted, and I blame that directly on who employs him, no matter how much George says he’s independent from them.

  311. I think you both have missed the point.

    In my opinion, the media should not be spending all it’s time writing what the PM and the government should be doing.

    After all the answer to the differences are personal opinions and carry little weight.

    What they should be writing about is what the PM is doing.

    This should be factual and not what they believe the PM is doing, or what it really means..

  312. Mobius and Migs, yes I remember that one too. I haven’t much trusted George Megathingy since then. From memory it wasn’t just a brush aside that Adrian received from George, it was actual support of this person who thankfully no longer blogs (at least not under that name). The comment accepted/supported by George is something that neither Matty Price nor Tim Dunlop would have tolerated.

    I guess that it gets down to the nitty gritty – the job or the principles. Many have to make that decision, do a job that you know is dishonest because the money is good.

  313. Slightly disagree Cu.

    They should not be writing about what the PM is doing but what the government is doing, using facts and information.

    By focusing on the leaders of the parties the media turn politics into a clash of personalities, which leads to distortions and ingoring what is actually being acheived or what is failing, which is exactly what the media wants.

    Time and again it has been shown to only report the facts and information in politics is boring to media consumers and they will mostly, with some rare exceptions, stop utilising the media outlets that do this.

    Plus facts and information on government takes lots of research, lots of investigation to get round the government blocks and firewalls and takes many boring pages of newsprint, webpages and TV scripting to explain correctly.

    I would rather that the media leave government and the parties alone to only report legitimate waste, political failings, rots, corruption etc. The people will be the judge of policy success or not and reward or punish the goverment on that at the polls.

    Constant media driven polls and beatups is not reporting politics or government.

    This is a pipedream of course. The media have always and will always report personalities, parties and manufacture conflict. Government policy/program detail and outcomes be damned.

  314. Cu, of course the media should be writing about what the government is doing, for public information if nothing else.

    The fact of the matter is that the media has become unbalanced. It should be 50/50. The facts are introduced – they are given a critique. At the present point in time it’s all critique with very few facts.

  315. But it’s not even critique Min, it’s often distortions, embellishment and (ideological) personal opinion (poorly) presented as critique.

  316. Mobius Ecko,

    But what do we do about it. The media bias is well documented. From a previous discussion here it was pointed out by yourself I believe, that not only do the press distort the facts, but that opinion equals facts. And not only, but then everyone in the media then runs with the original distortion.

    By this time it’s all too late, it’s stuck in the brains of people who do not question what they read in the newspapers that things such as the BER was a rort.

    As an aside, whenever Tony Abbott says that this is a baaadd government he reminds me of a goat. I believe that there is some truth to this rumour too.

  317. Mobius, once again you have shown to be wiser than me.

    It is the government and the opposition they should be writing about.

    The PM is not the government, she is a part of the government and it’s leader. Nothing more.

    The government consists of elected MPs and what they are proposing and doing, should be what interests us.

    The same applies to the opposition. Mr, Abbott is only one member and leader of the Liberals
    .
    Anthony, we must be careful not to tell people what to think. What I feel is that we need to encourage all we have influence with to question everything the media puts out.

    My daughter, who thinks and maybe right, that I am a Labor fanatic, ask me why I always support Labor. (I did not tell her that she is incorrect and I have supported others over my lifetime).

    I told her it was more that I did not and could not support the beliefs, ideology or political actions of the Coalition. This answer did take her back a little. I believe she thought I based my feelings on personalities of the people involved.

    At the same time I do not have much time for Mr. Abbott or Mr. Howard, they have twisted and devalued so called Liberal beliefs. At least the Nationals have stayed true to form.

    Both are egoistic, arrogant, populists of the worse type. Neither care for Australia.

  319. Catching up,

    “Anthony, we must be careful not to tell people what to think.” However the media do it all of the time.

    It’s not good enough to say naughty, naughty you shouldn’t do it.

  320. I would agree absolutely with Roswell. The evidence is the fact that Tony Abbott has only ever been an obstructionist.

    Tony Abbott isn’t stupid, although he tries to give a great impression that he is. Stupidity is often mistaken, when the reality is cunning and sly.

    Tony Abbott does have a vision for Australia, but he knows that this would be palatable to few. Therefore with the assistance of a compliant media and those who thrive on sarcasm and the JuLiar rants..Tony gets a free ride.

  321. No, Antony, we are more likely to change things by getting people to question the media.

    Running the other side down or attacking personalities is playing the media’s game.

    It is the media that is at fault, not the politicians.

    We all have our own preferences and beliefs. We will all judge others by our own prejudices.

    We do not need others, as the media to twist the facts for us. We will all do a good enough job of that ourselves.

    We also need to be aware that there are many myths aboard about both sides of politics. These myths need to be untangled.

    Some that come to mind.:-

    This is a high taxing government

    Mr. Howard’s government was low taxing.

    The GFC did not exist

    The PM lied about there being a carbon tax

    There is a carbon tax

    Mr. Howard did not mention the GST before the election of the government he introduced it.

    Mr. Abbott did not lose the last election.

    This government is not legitimate.

    This government has been a failure. The country is rooned.

    Mr. Abbott has been the greatest Opposition Leader this country has seen.

    The list goes on and on……………..

  322. “Stupidity is often mistaken, when the reality is cunning and sly. ”

    Which is always dangerous for all around those who are sly and cunning.

    They do not have vision or concern for others.

    Their own desires is all that count.

    I suspect that MR. Abbott’s view of the world fits in with Mt. Howard’s.

    We know from Mr. Howard’s days. that world is not a very nice place.

  323. Catching up,

    I respect what you say, but isn’t that all in the past. I know that we need to listen to the lessons learned from past life experiences. However, I think that the way now is forward.

    We all know that the Murdoch media is corrupt, but why keep harping on about it.

    I think that it’s bums on seats time where we all need to work out strategies for the future.

    I personally am sick to the back teeth of all the negativity from BOTH sides of politics.

  324. And while I’m at it. I am also sick to death of the holier than thou attitude from some elements of the left. It’s wrong to call the PM JULiar so how come you can justify calling Liberal voters LibTards. Just sayin’…

  325. My personal belief is that Abbott isn’t all that bright and is not cunning at all. He is nowhere in Howard’s leaque of political acumen and deviousness, and he and the party know it.

    Abbott is a puppet and can be manipulated like one because he isn’t all that intelligent, Rhodes Scholar MA in Politics and Philosphy be damned. He shows time and again he is no master in politics having little grasp on the concept of democracy and political machinations, and none on diplomacy and tactfulness.

    To support my contention you might remember the first part of Abbott’s takeover as leader and how he was constantly suffering foot in mouth, brain farts, contradicting party lines and many other almost daily stuff ups that were in part why the opposition lost the last election polls told them they should have won.

    The faceless men of the Liberal party pulled Abbott from the spotlight for long periods, often he was not heard of for many weeks on end. After many months of this he emerged as Mr. No, Dr. Negativity and The Wrecker.

    So narrow is his mantra and scope that whenever he wonders even slightly out of his controlled path he always stuffs it up. That is not the indications of a person with intelligence or cunning, in fact the opposite, it indicates to me low intelligence and no initiiative to the point he must be steered from the shadows.

    Look how he as ired the power brokers and shakers of the Liberal party when he has strayed from the path.

    And he only has gotten as far as he has not by intelligence or cunning but purely because of a MSM that rarely hold him up to account for anything. That is not intelligence or cunning, again to me that is an indication of the opposite, that he must rely on compliant partisan media to be able to survive.

    Abbott is many things, all simple almost to the single cell level of nous, but for mine the one thing he’s not, and that is intelligent.

  328. Mobius and And he only has gotten as far as he has not by intelligence or cunning but purely because of a MSM that rarely hold him up to account for anything.

    You are right, you have it.

    It is not Abbott who is pulling the strings, it is the Liberal powerbrokers (and more than likely Howard is in it up to the hilt), and their friends in the media – and for their own personal gain, which more than likely consists of the billionaire’s club.

    Abbott is but a pretty face, a marketable object hence the HUGE PR job done on him.

    Exactly, Abbott exited Lycra Boy and re-entered Mr No. Hence the reason we no longer see pics of Tony in lyra..because the PR people decided to kill off that personna.

    Bloody brilliant Mobius!!

  329. Min at 8.36
    The second line you quote from G.M. is a case of placing the blame on the victims, & selected victims at that. Control “information” & you control society, which is what the media as a whole is doing. To know that you stand a chance of receiving the treatment Cate Blanchett got, for example, is enough to deter most.
    The first line is more than a wee bit disingenuous, methinks. Literally correct, but in the grand corporate scheme they’re all components in a machine doing a particular job.
    Just rattling on, the late great Hunter Thompson used to refer to the ethic of total retaliation, which is what can easily happen in dealings with current media. You don’t take on a reporter, you take on a newspaper, & you don’t take on a newspaper but a media conglomerate.
    Which is why I’m concerned about defamation laws for bloggers. “Hiding behind the cloak of anonymity” sounds a pretty dastardly thing to do, & some of it’s pretty wild leading one to think some sort of control might not be a bad thing. But the people most interested in bringing in controls hide behind the cloak of the legal, financial & straight out bullying resources of vast organisations with aggressive agendas of their own.

  330. The rewards for the Murdoch empire and other right wing media moguls along with the billionaires club are huge under Abbott, and they know it.

    ABC will be commercialised and then sold off, to we know who. Australian diversity will be poorer.

    The media will be completely deregulated. We know who will benefit from that. Australia won’t.

    The NBN won’t be fully scrapped. Under the excuse that it’s gone too far to be scrapped, but the government can’t afford it, they will givesell it to a commercial entity. We know who. Australians will pay a lot more for a poorer services whilst falling behind the rest of the world.

    Trickle down tax breaks will be given out, and we know who that will benefit. Most Australians won’t.

    Australia’s environmental laws will be weakened and authority have their teeth taken away, as is happening in the new Liberal States. We know who will benefit from that. Australia won’t.

    And Australia will go the way of the US and we know who the media will blame. Not Abbott or the Liberals.

  332. Antony, it is not OK to call either names. It is stupid to do so, as it takes from the message one is attempting to convey.

    Yes politics today is all presented as negative and is bleak. .

    Yes Howard is from the past but he appears to be still around, carrying some weight within the party.

    The Liberals do not seem to be putting out any policy except that from the past.

    Even if it was right back in the past, it is unlikely to be so in today’s world.

    Politics should not be seen as all negative, there has been many good things achieved in the last few years.

    All one can do is correct misinformation, attack the myths and hope people start listening again.

    This is not going to happen if we resort to stupid name calling.

    We also have to get the message across that there is many positive things happening in this country. Yes, there are negatives and mistakes but that is not the whole story.

    Honey still attracts more than vinegar or something along that line.

  334. A lot of that is not uninformed speculation BSA.

    For example Abbott has stated he would look at selling off the NBN if he won government and not long after News Corporation saying it would be interested in the NBN.

    Howard hinted at ABC commercialisation several times and Abbott was all for it when he was in government.

    Complete media deregulation has always been a goal of the Liberals.

    Considerable tax breaks that substantially benefit the wealthy and big business whilst leaving most others with a milk shake have always been Liberal economic policy. That this form of economic management is a proven failure world wide has never deterred them from wanting to implement it. It was their answer to the GFC and if they had been in government, Australia would have gone the way of the US and those other countries that implemented tax cuts to the wealthy and big business.

    You only need look at what Barnett, Bailieau and O’Farrell have done to environmental laws to know that Abbott will follow suit and trump them.

    You only need look at O’Farrell and the reverse direction he is taking NSW to portend the direction Abbott will take the nation. Where goes O’Farrell goes Abbott.

  335. Mobius
    I think it’s remarkably well informed, & more a sure prediction than speculation.
    And in line with the basis of this thread, we’ll be able to watch the media tell us all how wonderful it is.

  336. Well it is bleak, ME and BSA Bob. With a bit of luck what these conservative State govts are getting up to will put the wind up more and more of the electorate who have already made clear they don’t trust the media to report things straight. We should be seeing this reflected in the polls, or maybe many people will come to their senses in the polling booth itself on the day that counts!

    Min, your media topic here is having a parallel discussion over at TPS
    http://www.thepoliticalsword.com/post/2011/12/27/What-makes-a-good-political-speech-Light-on-the-Hill-speeches.aspx. I find what you have to say here supplements the thread there and v/v the media, especially re Megalogenis.

  338. This has to be the most stupid effort the media has come up with. Please tell me how the PM can answer what is going to occur in the future. The most the PM could say, is that I intend to be.

    The PM has made the right decision by refusing to answer stupid questions.

    It appears that nothing is to change in the coming year.

    I wonder if it is also to hard to stop asking ridiculous questions.

    “…..
    JULIA Gillard won’t say if she’ll still be PM at the end of 2012, arguing she is more focused on the economy as asylum seeker negotiations continue.

    With Labor’s Newspoll ratings consistently at 30 per cent or below, speculation continues that Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd will be reinstated in his former job if the polls do not improve.

    “I think you’ll find I answered those questions in 2011,” Ms Gillard told reporters at Smithfield in Sydney’s west on Sunday.

    “So have a look at the transcripts.”….”

    http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/pm-julia-gillard-refuses-to-be-drawn-on-her-future/story-e6freuy9-1226234247455

  339. I would like to point out that media is making an attempt to present the extension of the benefits that one now gets for a 15 year old to continue until the child leaves school or other education facilities, until they turn 19 years, as a new tax.

    A new tax to keep children at school. It may fulfill this role but in reality it is only fixing a anomaly that existed.

    If it is OK to pay for a 0-15 year old, why not a 18 year old. I

    It does not make sense to discontinue the benefit at this age, when it is no longer legal for a child to leave school.

    I am sick of the argument that many children are not suitable for school. Why does this suddenly matter at 16 years.

    I am sick of people saying many millionaires managed without education.

    May be so, but that was in another age.

    A child cannot get a job today without a basic education. That basic education should be aimed at preparing the child for life and work.

    There is next to no chance for a 15 year old to find a job., Manual labour whether in the field or factory has disappeared.

    Higher school education is no longer restricted to preparing a child for university education. It is aimed, I hope at giving children the choices in life, now and in the future.

    If a child is rejecting school because they cannot cope or is not their thing, it is as likely will reject the workplace for the same reason.

    Keeping them at school gives one the chance to help them. The more that can be turned around at this time, the bigger the savings later on.

    Sitting in the classroom, no matter how rebellious is preferable to them sitting at home, in front of a TV or games machine all day.

  340. As the Get Gillard machine cranks into life for the 2012 season, & while drawn like a moth to a flame by the 60 Minutes piece on the export cattle industry that I knew would be both biased & inaccurate & didn’t disappoint on that score, I fell to musing on one of the media’s anti Labor techniques that particularly pisses me off.
    This is the ritual insertion of the “Of course….but….” moment that gets the load of moral responsibilty off the critic & allows them to get back to whinging.
    Last night it was “Of course I don’t condone cruelty to animals but….”
    A favourite is “Of course the Liberals have similar problems/ faults/ deficiencies/ issues to confront/ whatever but….”
    I suspect the careful observer would detect a lot of these, do youse reckon?

  341. Bob, the one that got to me about the live cattle export furore was a snippet that I caught down the bottom of one article. That the live cattle export industry was a necessity to many villages who have no reliable method of refrigeration.

  342. Min
    My recollection is that the initial critical ine (there has to be one, of course) was that the Government was sitting on its hands on the cattle issue. However, it acted quickly & that of course was then the focus of the attack.

  344. I did not watch but I assume that they forgot to mention that it has been Indonesian to become self sufficient with their beef production.

    Also that the Indonesians are aware that the present import of live cattle displaces their own small producers.

    We do know that every negative outcome in the world lays at the feet of the PM.

    I wonder how many actually support the governments action. Not a small number, I suspect.

  345. Philanthropist funds Australian public interest journalism site
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2012/jan/03/digital-media-australia?CMP=twt_fd

    An Australian philanthropist is funding a not-for-profit online start-up that is pledged to publishing public interest journalism.

    Internet entrepreneur Graeme Wood is prepared to spend more than A$15m (£9.9m) on The Global Mail, which is set to launch next month. It will not charge readers, will not sell ads and is not seeking more donors.

    It was born from a dinner party conversation between Wood and former Australian Broadcasting Company (ABC) journalist Monica Attard, who is the site’s editor-in-chief.

  346. Pip, that reminds me..have you heard any news on how the OO is going since it went behind the pay wall. I used to read it every day but now no longer hardly ever bother.

  349. Min, I’m having a hard time finding anything on paywall stats for the OO..
    maybe they’re not for public viewing !

    AntonyG
    I had to read that one twice to make sure that I wasn’t dreaming.

    Me too.

  351. Min I don’t think you will get any figures on that as apparently it’s very easy to get past the paywall for nothing. I haven’t checked myself but I think there are places that tell you how to do it.

  352. Ricky Ponting scored his century five minutes ago. News.com’s live interactive commentary still have him on 99. Old Rupe’s mob need to keep up with the times.

  353. Mobius, this one is courtesy of Patricia. To get behind the paywall, click onto the article, copy the URL and paste into a Google Search. Bob’s yer uncle, there is the full article.

    Even though one can get behind the paywall I would be fairly certain that their readership numbers will have dropped and possibly considerably.

  354. This is how it is done, at least the way the right see how to do it. Maybe twqo can play the same game.

    “…A set of rules for winning elections by those representing the right side of the political divide have been synthesised in this very insightful article published in the US. It is written with the American election in mind but once adjustment is made for our different political systems, ought to have direct application in Australia. Here is the last of their “Rules for Republicans”:

    Rule 10: Go all in…. Do not pull your punches, especially in a vain and benighted effort to curry favor with the media. The days of neutral media, if they ever existed, are over. The media are partisan, as in the early days of the republic; they have chosen sides. You must​—​or at least your campaign and surrogates must​—​take on Barack Obama directly. When you are criticized for doing so, know that you are having an effect. Double down on it. Your media critics are not your friends​—​they are on the other team. Be absolutely insensitive, even impervious, to any and all media criticism. Your market is the electorate, not the media. And one more thought: The most devastatingly effective form of negative campaigning is ridicule. This is liberalism’s tool against Republicans, and the left hates it when it is turned against them. That’s why the Paris Hilton ‘celeb’ video was the most effective ad of the McCain campaign. Ridicule exposes how joyless, humorless, and brittle is today’s political left….”

    http://www.blogotariat.com/node/218220“

  355. Menzies House is saying today that it is time fro them to take back Australia and they need every ones help.

    Why does one have the feeling that we are hearing the exact sentences and words that we hear form the Tea Party.

    Surely the Liberal Party has the ability to come up with their own ideas and words to express the ideas.

  356. Cu, surely one does not ‘take back’ a country. This being a democracy it’s all to do with the better party and better policies, plus as the Independents expressed, those who are the more likely to keep their word.

    Take back gives the impression that something was stolen…

  357. Min, I agree wholeheartedly.

    It is sad that after all this time, they cannot still see this government as legit, and they were beaten.

    Mr. Abbott has taken himself to the flood areas in Queensland today. Io am sure they will be glad to see him.

  358. Cu, the comment below is courtesy of the Tony Abbott Will Never Be Prime Minister Facebook group. Someone caught this tweet from Tony:

    Twitter / Tony Abbott: Got my heavy combination l …
    twitter.com
    Got my heavy combination licence over the break. Just taken a load of melons to Brisbane to show that the Lockyer Valley is back in business..

    One of the responses I really enjoyed, also from TAWNBPM:

    He took a load of melons to Brisbane?? Well that’s a cheap way to transport his shadow cabinet around!

  359. I hope that Mr. Abbott took time out to explain to the people he voices so much care for, why he opposed the flood levy.

  361. Cu, there is certainly a good deal of irony about the situation. The ego of the man, to think that he can do and say what he likes..but unfortunately he continuously gets away with it, which only encourages him to make repeat performances.

  362. I was just surprised that he passed the test, given his previous road sense such as when he nearly caused an accident during the election campaign.

  363. Next week there are memorial services. It appears that Mr.Abbott will not be attending.

    “Mr Abbott said he would not be returning to Queensland for anniversary events next week because he ‘had another schedule’.”

    http://bigpondnews.com/articles/National/2012/01/04/Abbott_visits_Qld_flood_area_703693.html

    Wonder what is so important that he cannot attend.

    On Project Ch 10 Mr. Abbott is reported as saying ” He was talking about insurance companies being made to pay up His words. “Local member and national leaders need to be aware of this. They need to know they can light a fire under those who are dragging the chain”.

    Mr. Abbott was dead serious when he said this.

    I was under the impression that new laws are in the pipe line to make it clearer what the insurers are responsible for. Mr. Abbott, takes no interest in parliament would not be aware of this. Once again, Mr. Abbott is behind the times.

    Mr. Abbott continues to spruik, while the PM is busy doing.

  364. Cu, at 5.05pm, it’s no surprise that Menzies House is applying Tea Party tactics,

    Cory Bernardi admits to providing web hosting and domain name for menzieshouse.com.au
    http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/cory-bernardi-admits-to-providing-web-hosting-and-domain-name-for-menzieshousecomau/story-e6frg6n6-1225823058140

    and – Grass roots anti carbon tax campaign ? No, it’s called astro-turfing.

    Bernardi busy behind anti-carbon tax movement
    http://qcl.farmonline.com.au/news/nationalrural/agribusiness-and-general/political/bernardi-busy-behind-anticarbon-tax-movement/2325587.aspx

  366. Heard somewhere today that the Tea Party is not doing too well in the USA. Their nominees are failing.

  368. Mitt Romney claims narrowest of victories in Iowa caucus
    Republican race in disarray after Mitt Romney’s hopes of decisive victory were shattered after beating Rick Santorum by only eight votes
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/04/mitt-romney-victory-iowa-caucus

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/04/mitt-romney-victory-iowa-caucus

    The turnout was a record 122,255 for the Republicans in Iowa. But it was only up by a few thousand, not enough to worry the Democrats. A big increase would have suggested the Republican base was fired up for the coming general election.

  369. Pip, American politics is frightening. None of what we are hearing rings true.

    It is becoming the same here.

  370. I agree Cu, there it’s the wealthy and their wealthy backers who have an opportunity to run for POTUS, here we are seeing the Big Shots conducting a different but equally distorting campaign on behalf of the Coalition.

    Joyce/Qantas, and now Corrigan is back in the game…not that he ever left it…and the list goes on… ltd news…

    DP World to lock out port workers
    http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/dp-world-to-lock-out-port-workers/story-e6frea83-1226235061752

    Corrigan makes his mark with POTA acquisition
    by David Sexton
    http://www.lloydslistdcn.com.au/archive/2011/04-april/19/corrigans-company-makes-new-acquisition

    Former Patrick boss Chris Corrigan has moved a step closer to re-establishing his presence in the Australian ports business following a major acquisition.

  371. Mr. Abbott’s new career.

    “…The Courier-Mail obliged with a report and photo (here).
    In 2012 we can expect to see a bit of Tony the Truckie on the evening news—and not just participating in convoys of no confidence.
    Whether you reckon this is good news probably depends on your attitude to Abbott generally.
    Tony might have more time on his hands to pursue hobbies like this, because he probably won’t still be leading the Liberal Party next Christmas
    ….”

    http://blogs.theaustralian.news.com.au/mumble/index.php/theaustralian/comments/tony_the_truckie/

    His second prediction that the PM will be joining him, I fear will end the same way as all the oredictions for her demised during 2011.

    .

  372. Do we need to do away withour labour laws at the behest of big business?

    Do we need to head for laws that worked in Mr. Hawkes day, and gave us our biggest producitivity rises in our history.

    Why do we believe the boss knows all. Do workers have any rights?

    “…He said productivity was one of the objects of the act and that the review’s terms of reference were broad enough to consider the issue. He challenged workers and management to “roll up their sleeves and put some effort into negotiating” improvements.

    “The Fair Work Act includes reference to promoting and achieving productivity, and as an object of the act this clearly brings the question of productivity within the scope of the review,” Mr Shorten said.

    He also hit back at concerns expressed about the industrial relations system by three of the nation’s most powerful corporate chairman, saying they “don’t have a monopoly on wisdom”…………

    ………..Australian Mines and Metals Association chief executive Steve Knott called for the review to address how the Fair Work laws continued to allow the monopoly unions had in making agreements for new projects.

    “This has resulted in excessive cost blow-outs and delays on major projects, with some resource employers wearing wage increases of 40 per cent in the past 12 months…………..”

    http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/industrial-relations/shorten-defends-fair-ir-review/story-fn59noo3-1226236853380.”

    We do need to deamnd that employee organisations are made to prove their outlandish statements. As a blond said in the past, they would say that, wouldn’t they.

    There are over a million small contractors in this country. Are they real cotractors or glorified worker,s who are classified as contractors to get around the labour laws or avoid paying proper taxation.

    Many of these work for one employer only.

    When a employer says the laws are not fair, we need to ask “why?”

  373. Cu, the IR campaign by Big Business continues it’s drip feed of commenters.

    IR reform must be top priority: business
    http://www.businessspectator.com.au/bs.nsf/Article/IR-reform-must-be-top-priority-business-pd20120103-Q6LPS?opendocument&src=rss

    The warning came from BlueScope Steel Ltd chairman Graham Kraehe, who is also a department board member of the Reserve Bank of Australia, Westpac Banking Corp Ltd chairman Lindsay Maxsted and Qantas Airways Ltd chairman Leigh Clifford.

    Clifford was the union buster for Rio Tinto.

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