Media Watch XIX

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 Media Watch pages are archived after 400 comments (or thereabouts), as beyond that they can be slow to open if accessed by some mobile phones.

427 comments on “Media Watch XIX”

  2. This exchange last night about Gillards destruction of a room full of guttersnipes is interesting, more for the way in which a couple of these snipes point everything at ‘the internets’ while avidly ignoring the fact that they might as well have been talking about themselves.

    TONY JONES: Phil Coorey, let’s go to the other part of things, this apparently unscripted real Julia moment where she sort of broadened her attack to make the suggestion that a sort of Tea Party-style campaign from – in the blogosphere against her. How did you read that? Because she broadened it out to sort of say this is a serious problem for Australian politics.

    PHILLIP COOREY: Look, I think she wouldn’t get any disagreement from anyone in the building on that, any of other politicians, whatever party. You’ve only got to look at what’s happening with the media at the moment, the rapid rise of the internet and so forth. I think we’re getting to the stage where we have two tiers at the moment. You’ve got the old newspaper style of the large organisations like myself’s and Sid’s where we’re still bound by things like defamation and libel laws, we still have to strive to be seen objective and have balanced stories and try and write news rather than opinion. And then you have essentially – not every blogger, but you have people like Larry Pickering and stuff who just can fly off the handle and say what they like and dress it up and put a bit of licence in it and just go for it. And they operate on a completely different plane now. And everyone with a website now is a publisher and it’s just – and it’s – you know, you’ve got this divide between the mainstream media and the bloggers. At the end of the day, though, I guess you just got to be credible. But by the time credibility is established, a lot of damage can be done along the way. And I think Gillard was articulating what a lot of people – a lot of politicians in this building are saying, that, you know, you can run with half a fact. Well nowadays you can choose what facts you want to read, depending on your view on a subject and, you know, the middle ground’s harder to establish.

    http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2012/s3574819.htm

    That bolded bit was what got me. It is very much the case that, if the facts aren’t right-wing enough for you, go to ltdnews for their version of the ‘facts, cos their ‘facts’ always have a more right wing lean to them.

    And these all sit there and point their fingers at ‘the blogs’, as if they are the only purveyors of all that is right and good, ignoring the fact that it is the oo who went around trying to find any drip of new material that would enable them to rehash the whole affair, and ended up with a recorded document that basically re-inforces what the PM has claimed since day dot, and pretend that it is all valid cos ‘it was interesting stuff’. It may have been ‘interesting stuff’, to voyeurs and political tragics, but it was entirely unrelated to the Governing of our country, and should really have been then in the entertainment section, rather than masquerading as ‘political analysis’. Hypocritical, obsolete anachronisms is what they are. The sooner they realise that, and take steps to rectify it, the better for us all, and their ‘broken model’.

  3. Burke blasts Newman as project feud heats up.

    It now looks like Newman has been caught out lying as well, but that was not new news at all.
    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-08-24/burke-blasts-newman-as-project-feud-heats-up/4220178
    And this letter to Newman from Tony Burke.
    ”
    In your interview you reportedly stated that there were number of projects which I was “sitting on” and I should “get out of the way” on any projects that are coming forward.

    I have sought advice from my department to ask which projects are awaiting approval where the companies have completed their assessments and the next step falls to me.

    They have advised me there are no such projects. Given you have told the people of Queensland that there are a number of projects which I am currently delaying, it would be appreciated if you could let me in on the secret.”

    http://www.environment.gov.au/minister/burke/2012/mr20120823a.html

  4. Damn the Liberals would be stuffed if they were made to adhere to a charter of honesty.

    Hang on didn’t Howard try that to commit to an election promise and then lost so many ministers within a short time breaking the charter he threw it out the door?

  6. That’s a Charter of Budget Honesty and didn’t the Coalition get themselves in a pickle by insisting Labor stick to it in 2007, which they didn’t, but ignored it in 2010.

    Hypocrites.

    I was referring to a charter of honesty bought in by Howard in his first or second term from memory, which promptly saw a number of his ministers having to resign one after another, so he quickly scraped the charter instead of holding his ministers to being honest.

  7. ME it was called Ministerial code of conduct.
    The coalition campaigned on a policy of “clean government”[18] as a contrast to the previous government. A “Code of Ministerial Conduct”[19] was introduced in fulfilment of this pledge. The code required ministers to divest shares in portfolios that they oversaw and to be truthful in parliament.[18] The code eventually led to seven cabinet ministers resigning following breach of the code. Jim Short and Brian Gibson both resigned in October 1996[20] as both held shares in companies that were within their ministerial portfolios.[18] Bob Woods resigned in February 1997 over questionable ministerial expense claims.[21] Geoff Prosser resigned in July 1997 following the disclosure that he was a shopping centre landlord whilst he was responsible for commercial tenancy provisions of the Trade Practices Act 1975.[22] John Sharp,[23] David Jull[24] and Peter McGauran[21][25] resigned in September 1997 over irregularities in the use of ministerial travel allowances in what became known in the media as the “Travel Rorts Affair”.[26][27][28] John Moore and Warwick Parer survived revelations about his shareholdings.[28] Parer however was not reappointed to the Second Howard Ministry.[29] In early 1999, the government announced that ministers would no longer be required to divest themselves of shareholdings.[29]

  8. Memo to Tony Abbott

    ”
    ‘I haven’t had a chance to read the transcript; I haven’t had a chance to compare what has precisely been stated or is known to be a fact with what the prime minister said about it,’’ you explained.
    ‘‘I’ve got a lot on my plate.’’
    Tony, we all have a lot on our plates. Here is our advice to you. Never forget Rule 1 of Job Interviews for Dummies: the best prepared candidate is the one most likely to succeed.

    http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/memo-to-tony-abbott-20120824-24qm4.html

  10. Give him a break paulwello, he’s working on Fifty Shades Darker now 😉

    Little things like finding out the facts before blowing yer mouth off can always wait til’ later. 😉

  11. Elisabeth Murdoch has warned that ‘profit without purpose is a recipe for disaster’ in a wide-ranging speech to television executives.

    She became the third member of her family – following father Rupert and brother James- to give the celebrated MacTaggart lecture at the Edinburgh International Television Festival.

    She’s also warned of the threat to press freedom from ‘enemies within’ – a remark that will be widely seen as a criticism of News International employees caught up in the phone hacking scandal that has rocked the business.

    Speaking at the annual industry get-together overnight, she said News Corp is currently asking itself some significant and difficult questions about how some behaviours fell short of its values…

    http://bigpondnews.com/articles/Finance/2012/08/24/Murdoch_warns_over_enemies_within_787205.html

  12. Yes, that charter did not last long. Was it after losing up to eight ministers, it was dumped.

    How many has the present PM lost. One I believe, a FM is my memory is correct. of Gillard s..

  13. The Coalition do not give up.

    From the article ” But opposition frontbencher Christopher Pyne said Ms Gillard should still explain herself to parliament.

    “I think there are still questions that need to be answered by her and I think if she wanted to make a statement to the House, then the House would be able to test the efficacy of her answers,” Mr Pyne said.

    He did not say what the questions were.

    Ms Gillard said if the Coalition had wanted answers, it should have asked her a question about the matter in parliament.

    “How pathetic is this?” she said.”

    PM dismisses Coalition call for statement to parliament on the Slater & Gordon controversy. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/pm-dismisses-coalition-call-for-statement-to-parliament-on-the-slater-gordon-controversy/story-fn59niix-1226457382290

  14. Tensions within the world’s most powerful media family were dramatically laid bare last night when Elisabeth Murdoch set out her own vision of media leadership, emphasising humanity over profit and criticising her father’s News Corporation for operating with an absence of values.
    Giving the keynote MacTaggart address at the MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival, Rupert Murdoch’s second daughter also explicitly contradicted her brother James, chose to praise the BBC, and argued that the Olympics experience demonstrates that television is a force for storytelling rather than a route to political power.
    Speaking in public for the first time about the phone-hacking affair, which prompted her to fall out with her brother a year ago, Elisabeth Murdoch said that News Corp had to ask “significant and difficult questions about how some behaviours fell so far short of its values” in the wake of what happened.
    She said the lesson from the affair was that any organisation needed to “discuss, affirm and institutionalise a rigorous set of values based on an explicit statement of purpose” – in contrast to News Corp’s traditional mode of governance based on executives second-guessing what Rupert would do.
    The cri de coeur from the 44-year-old, who runs Shine Television, the News Corp-owned maker of programmes such as MasterChef and Merlin, will be interpreted as a bid for power at her father’s company – although her friends insisted she had no desire to lead the company her father built, which spans from Fox News in the US to the Sun in Britain.
    Elisabeth Murdoch took aim at her younger brother James in an extended passage that referred to his own controversial MacTaggart lecture given three years ago.
    That speech ended with James – weeks before the Sun switched to the Conservatives – observing that “the only reliable, durable and perpetual guarantor of independence is profit”.
    Elisabeth said that while loss-making media organisations had their independence “massively challenged”, her brother’s statement nevertheless “left something out”.

    http://www.yourdemocracy.net.au/drupal/node/20494

  15. Turnbull’s policy on there NBN, sure makes a big gaff on this. Another big problem for the coalition to sort out.

    “Turnbull’s unfortunate French connection.

    That will be just one of the many challenges that the Coalition will potentially have to face post-election, but for now Turnbull’s globetrotting fibre journey suffered an unexpected hiccup. The shadow communications minister may tout the efficacy of BT’s fibre deployment but when it comes to investing he is a fan of France Telecom’s FttH approaach.

    Unsurprisingly, it didn’t take long for the government to exploit the situation, with Communications minister Stephen Conroy gleefully accepting this gift.

    Here’s what Conroy told the chamber during Senate question time on Tuesday.

    “You might ask why didn’t he mention France – France is building a fibre to the home network to 15 million French homes by 2020.”

    “Did he invest in British Telecom? No. Has he invested in New Zealand’s Telecom Chorus? No.”

    “Did he invest in France Telecom and its fibre to the home network? Yes, yes, yes.””

    http://technologyspectator.com.au/coalitions-nbn-collision-course

  16. The story was supposed to have been killed by Julia Gillard’s press conference on Thursday. But Fairfax’s Peter Hartcher today gives Sydney Morning Herald readers a sober analysis – the first many will have read – of the AWU scandal and how it became news again.

    And he makes this tip:

    With an entire ecosystem of anti-Gillard activists, dedicated promoters of the Wilson scandal like Nowicki and Blewitt, a split and bitter Labor caucus, and the anti-Gillard agenda of The Australian, this affair is not going to fade away. Indeed, Gillard has now turbocharged this affair. She has elevated it to a legitimate subject of prime ministerial scrutiny. She said she would not lower herself to answer any future questions. But no matter how resolutely she tries to tough this out, new material and new questions will not stop coming.

    Oh, and Hartcher is not a Murdoch hack, “nut job”, “misogynist” or “sexist”. Nor, is the Sydney Morning Herald’s David Humphries, who helps to bring Fairfax readers up to speed with the main issues, still unresolved:

    As a Slater and Gordon solicitor in Melbourne, Gillard advised her then boyfriend – an Australian Workers Union rising star, Bruce Wilson – on constructing a union facade, the Australian Workers Union Workplace Reform Association, from which Wilson and his AWU sidekick Ralph Blewitt allegedly misdirected hundreds of thousands of dollars. [Note: unknown to Gillard, she insists.]

    The association’s stated purpose – at least according to a 1992 public notice – was to promote and encourage ‘’workplace reform’’ in construction and maintenance. But it wasn’t used for workplace safety and training. Gillard acknowledged this week she thought it was intended as a union leadership re-election fund where levies on union officials, and the proceeds of fund-raising dinners and so on, could be safely deposited.

    In 1995, she confided to senior colleagues that the association was a ‘’re-election slush fund’’.,,

    http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/fairfax_tip_the_awu_scandal_wont_go_away/

    …and I am sure the media will report the so called allegations in a fair and truthful manner.

    I am sure they will point out were those raising the allegations are wrong.

    I am sure they will remind one that these matters were dealt with by the relevant authorities and police.

    I am sure that Peter will ensure this happens. I am sure he will question the allegations, not take them at face value.

    We all know how hard our media delves for the truth.

    Yes, they will rise again. That is not the problem.

    The problem is the way the media deals with them.

  17. I know many would rather not visit this site, but sometimes we need to remind ourselves of where they come from.

    All the journalists are lies except him, Hedley and I assume Pickering.

    …Hedley Thomas of The Australian is right to accuse many in the media of covering up for the Prime Minister:

    On the ABC and in Fairfax newspapers, senior and influential commentators spent days trying to reposition the revelations by conflating them with the ugly campaign in the blogosphere or pretending there was little or nothing new.

    Influential media leaders such as Michelle Grattan from The Age, and Fran Kelly of the ABC, appeared reluctant to engage on a story about the most powerful politician in the country… Less experienced journalists took their cue… Crikey.com’s reporter Andrew Crook wrote a story suggesting a grand Liberal Party conspiracy because Styant-Browne’s nephew’s de facto sister-in-law (whose name he could not immediately recall) works in social policy in a Liberal Party office.

    A number of journalists betrayed their political colours and connections … and prepared a counter-narrative: the evil Murdoch empire was at it again. ……

    http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/the_awu_scandal_how_the_media_failed/

  18. Of course everyone else is wrong. I noticed there were a comment or two, negative to Bolt.

    Insiders host Barrie Cassidy has made the elemental mistake of (again) trusting Julia Gillard’s spin on the AWU scandal. And having made a mistake, should he be dumped as he dumped Glenn Milne?

    Here’s what Gillard falsely claimed on Thursday:

    The Australian newspaper republished a false and highly defamatory claim about my conduct in relation to these matters 17 years ago. It is a claim about me setting up a trust fund. A claim was first published by News Limited in relation to me and funds during the election campaign in 2007. On that occasion, the claim was retracted and apologised for. The claim was made again by Glenn Milne, a then columnist with the Australian newspaper, such a dim view was taken of his conduct in relation to that matter his employment was terminated.

    Cassidy believed it – and even said this mistake was why he’d stopped using Milne as a panelist – until reminded that Milne never made the mistake Gillard falsely claimed:

    http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/casidy_and_the_perils_of_trusting_gillard/

  19. ‘Mugged by the truth’: Labor goes for Abbott on carbon tax
    I especially like this in the article.

    “Liberal MP Bruce Billson described his leader as a “very gifted and intelligent person” and probably the most academically qualified economic mind in federal parliament

    “He’s also a journalist and you would know the discipline in your profession of taking complex ideas, analysing them, understanding them and then being able to communicate them to people that might not be as involved in the policy debate as we are,” Mr Billson told Sky News.
    “That’s a great gift.”

    😆 😆 😆 😆 😆

    Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/mugged-by-the-truth-labor-goes-for-abbott-on-carbon-tax-20120826-24u6i.html#ixzz24dvmkOAW

  22. “GRAVE fears are held for as many as 150 asylum seekers missing in waters between Java and Sumatra in Indonesia. ”
    http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/national/indonesia-responds-after-asylum-boat-scare/story-fndo2j43-1226460902553
    “The latest incident comes in the wake of the deaths of about 300 asylum seekers since December along the same route, in the Sunda Strait between Java and Christmas Island.”

    What a surprise from News ltd not one mention of TAXI unlike the following 2 articles, the first quoting Scott Morrison , 9 August 2012, the second as recently as Sunday 26 august , an article by Samantha Maiden on “opposition claims”

    “Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison said: “More than 22,000 people have now turned up on 379 boats under Labor, and this latest arrival is the largest.

    “There are two Navy vessels being used in this latest water taxi operation, due to the large number of passengers on this latest boat, putting even more pressure on an asylum budget straining under the pressure of almost daily arrivals,” he said.
    http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/record-211-on-asylum-boat/story-e6freuy9-1226447158678

    “SOS from asylum seeker boat for Navy ‘taxi’
    “Amid opposition claims asylum seekers are using the Navy as a “water taxi” service, officials confirmed yesterday that HMAS Melville was en route to Christmas Island with 80 suspected asylum seekers after they phoned Australian officials fearing they were lost off Indonesia and needed assistance.”
    http://www.news.com.au/national/sos-from-asylum-seeker-boat-for-navy-taxi/story-fndo4bst-1226458005735

  24. Sue and,

    There are two Navy vessels being used in this latest water taxi operation..

    Morrison is certainly going to endear himself to our enlisted personnel with that one… Navy personnel often have to deal with people who are dehydrated, sick children, pregnant women. To label their efforts as “a taxi service”..well, words fail me.

  25. Min
    included in that list, the navy personnel have also retrieved bodies, but somehow News ltd and Morrison do not headline “hearse” sent to fish bodies from sea.

    So why is it okay by News Ltd and Morrison to throw about the term “taxi” and not be pilloried by other news organisations

  26. George Megalogenis and Mr Denmore had an interestiong exchange on twitter the other day

    (I’m not sure how this will come through as I paste the link?)

  28. I also followed that Tom and put in a Tweet.

    As much I respect Megalogenis and have for a long time there are one or two things in which he’s unreasonable, and the biggest one is his defence of the MSM and especially Ltd. News.

  29. Well, they do pay his bills ME 😉

    Actually, I don’t think that is it with GM, he comes across as not being that shallow. I think it might have more to do with his base belief in the role of the media, one which I don’t fully agree with, but he does argue his side sincerely. I just find it flawed.

    His comment “what else is the threat of regulation but bullying?” is a clear example.

    Regulation of itself is not bullying; in this case it is merely acknowledging that self-regulation has failed, comprehensively. To reduce the argument to this simple name calling is what I thought was below him, but, I guess we all have topics which we view through rose coloured lenses.

    Except for me of course 😉 😆

  33. Kohler has a good effort at re-writing history.

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-08-29/kohler-bugger-of-a-policy/4230514

    The centre left party, the ALP, also did something quite strange. Instead of just introducing an ETS, like Europe, it started with a tax on emissions for three years,

    No it didn’t, it started with a fixed price term, just like under Rudds ETS, except it was 3 years, not one. Calling it a tax was something that never happened then, only in the aftermath of the election and Gillards fateful ‘there will be no Carbon Tax’ (and no, there still isn’t). Changing your semantic definition does not change the actual contents.

    a decision that has never been satisfactorily explained

    Yes, it was, but the media were too busy redefining what a fixed Price on Carbon was, to miss the explanation for the need.

    Actually the reason for the three-year tax is probably quite simple: it provides certainty of revenue

    And now they pretend they came up with that all by themselves.

    tie our ETS

    Considering only a minuscule amount of credits will be traded with EU, then yea, tied, with Dental Floss perhaps.

  34. Apple users and others?

    i wonder what big brother is up to? more technology devoted to getting us “back” to 1984 ?

    the structures being put in place seem to be good preparation for the emergence of a “police state” given sufficiently corrupt and venal politicians at the helm.

    the likes of the loto and his army of supporting trolls (the green army ? :lol:) getting anywhere near government becomes increasingly sinister, imho

  36. An interesting interview with the current Chairman of the ABC. He is concerned that an incoming Abbott Liberal Government would slash ABC funding.

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-09-05/abc-chairman-jim-spigelman-discusses-the-future-of/4245466

    It is clear that the Howard plan is going to be successful. Let’s just look how this outcome was be achieved:

    (1) stack the ABC management with pro-Liberal managers from the top down, if anyone complains just remind the viewers that the (fictitious) left wing intellectual is still operating at the ABC. For recalcitrant ABC staff, just remind them they are luck to still have a job in the current media environment.

    (2) dumb down content to turn off loyal niche viewers (those with room temperature and above IQs (fahrenheit of course))

    – this is done by imitating channel 10’s moron based reality TV shows.

    (3) get the tacit agreement of the other major political party and major MSM players.

    After watching the slow demise of the commercial media and now the public broadcaster I find myself in the scary position of agreeing with this Liberal strategy (and the IPA).

    It’s time to review if we need a moribund public broadcaster, let it slip off into history and refund the taxes I pay to support these right wing arse’oles.

  41. From the ABC Chairman interview, I now understand why the ABC refused to go anywhere near the great series of stories published by Wixxy on the behaviour of Lawler from Fair Work Australia.
    I believe the ABC Chairman would not countenance any public criticism of the judiciary.
    Such is the corrupt state of our Public Broadcaster.

  42. 3…

    Just joking. Wondering if I could get the 600,000th post, but Migs rigs it so he always has the milestones.

  44. But I agree with the rest of the post lunalava. I see so many people who rail about the dramatic drop in journalistic value of shows like 730, lateline, and the vapid way Q&A has steered itself lately, many venting that be done with it and just privatise it. That is exactly what howard wanted.

    The aim is to go back to doing what the ABC is supposed to do in its charter. Abandon the crappy ‘balance’ shit. Just focus on accuracy and truth, the balance will take care of itself, and, if it is ‘unbalanced’, then perhaps one side needs to more closely adhere to accuracy and truth

  45. @ Tom R

    The aim is to go back to doing what the ABC is supposed to do in its charter.

    -seems obvious doesn’t it?

    i see no possible virtue in allowing howard’s and murdoch’s goal to be realised, by destroying privatising the ABC.

    perhaps a more appropriate response would be to adopt a bit of board stacking, along with a “night of the long knives” as howard proved so adept at , in order to ensure that the organisation returns to its charter? after all, it seems that howard’s interference is considered “acceptable”, so why not corrective action to return to “our” ABC to it’s charter? and (thanks Tom)
    [blockquote]Just focus on accuracy and truth,[/blockquote]?

  46. Hear, hear…. I hardly watch Telly these days SBS and ABC have become pallid versions of what they once were… the boundries are no longer being pushed… the pursuit of truth and excellence have vanished, replaced by confirmation bias poop and the inanity of real TV.
    RIP free TV…

  47. The dilemma is, Labor has committed to an arm’s-length approach to Board appointments. Still, if it restrains a future conservative government from repeating Howard’s tactic, there is a benefit. Meantime we’re stuck with the results flowing on from what he did. I thought things might be on the improve as the Howard plants gradually dropped off the Board, but looks like the rot has been sowed very deep, as the rodent intended.

  48. I heard a very funny introduction to Michelle Grattan on RN this morning. Fran Kelly is on holidays and the presenter obviously didn’t use the quivering respect to Grattan.
    Michelle G was introduced this way: “Gee Michelle it must have really alarmed you to hear that one of the owners at The Age, Gina Rhinehart, thinks workers should be paid $2 per day”

  49. HAHAHAHAH! Any person that construes Gina’s latest to suggest she is advocating $2 a day for Australian workers is a fucking idiot! But I suppose your narrow ideology dictates bad comprehension of the whole video.

    Same with the “get out of the pub” that was so badly reported but it fits into the narrow niche of the left and you swallowed it whole. Did anyone here actually read the Australian Resources and Investment article? I doubt it because it’s behind a paywall and it was so badly taken out of context by the love media but feeds your jealousy and hatred of the person.

    I received a transcript before it was published and there was nothing in it regarding pubs, the paranoid left took the whole article out of context but why complain here about that? It’s OK for the MSM to completely lie…when it favours the left.

  50. scraper…

    She also says the minimum wage is too high. Put two and two together.

    If you can’t see that there are forces afoot who envisage a bold new world where your grandkids work for $2 per day, then you should take up a pastime not related to political commentary.

  51. How unsurprising, Gina’s unknown little bow wow lapdog comes piddling to her defence.

    Wonder where the explosive revelations of Gillard’s time at Gordon and Slater are.

  52. I don’t do lapdog, unlike Gillard’s smarmy army here. Proves one thing though…you greatly accept lies as truth if it fits your narrow ideology you left wingnut! Still laughing at your take on GDP. No wonder you failed at running your own business, lol.

    Blewitt is doing a deal to spill his guts so it is far from over. Might not need it to get rid of Gillard, she is doing a fine job on her own. I will enjoy the Royal Commission into the unions in the future.

  54. “unknown little bow wow lapdog piddling to her defence…….”

    I need another free coffee, i just spluttered the last one

  55. Wow, a three word slogan! I’ve called you a filthy liar in the past and not much has changed. You are still a filthy liar in support of your heroes…what a lapdog!

  56. Möbius Ecko: little bow wow lapdog

    scraper…: what a lapdog!

    There it is again, folks: #RightWingProjection!

  57. Direct quote: bold mine

    In the United States, there are many people willing to work for US$9 per hour…
    …
    Why not ask small and medium businesses what it would take to get them to invest more, train and hire more – and this time really listen? They’ve already told the government this year that cutting red tape – and green – is critical. Action please!

    Furthermore, why not ask whether lowering the minimum wages and lowering taxes would make employers hire more people?
    …
    If you’re jealous of those with more money, don’t just sit there and complain – spend less time drinking or smoking and socialising, and more time working.

    Click to access ARI.pdf

  58. World’s media pan Rinehart’s $2 a day African miner comments

    Hidden transcript or bullscript, that is what she said to camera and the whole world’s media, I guess all right wing haters, are panning her.

    I note she hasn’t used her media influence to correct the context, as the context is she wants special economic exclusion zones for her interests and as cheap a labour workforce as she can badger a government into giving her, and Abbott will roll over faster than a bow wow lapdog in his eagerness to please her.

  59. 😆 scaper has come out swinging in support of his meal ticket, and almost knocked himself out 😆

    Nice one Bacchus 🙂

  60. Meal ticket??? This place is comedy central! I actually pay my own way in this world, due to the frequency of posts by the usuals here I would say the Treasury is your meal ticket. Parasites!

    Even the lizard of Nowra posts on his employer’s time. Back to work, wage slave.

  62. She that is really catty of you to draw attention to this shocking fashion disaster. Just because her dress makes it appear that gravity has been unkind to her bosom, she is an old woman after all.

  63. More on Gina

    “The BBC estimated that, while Mrs Rinehart was talking about pay rates for African workers, she was earning $600 a second.

    The Los Angeles Times reported Mrs Rinehart was “back with some more helpful advice” a week after she told poor Australians to work harder and drink and smoke less.

    “Yep, it’s getting harder and harder to be a job creator,” the article said.

    “Rinehart knows what it means to pull yourself up by the bootstraps. She inherited a fortune now estimated to be worth about $18 billion. That’s a heavy burden to bear.”

    Newser covered Mrs Rinehart’s speech under the headline “World’s Richest Woman’s New Idea: Wages of $2 a Day”.

    “Gina Rinehart, that charming Australian billionaire who last week advised the world’s ‘jealous’ poor to stop whining and drinking so much, is back with more priceless advice.

    “The world’s richest woman, who amassed her family fortune via iron-ore mining, thinks Australia’s struggling mining industry should look to Africa for inspiration.”

    Mrs Rinehart’s speech was widely covered by outlets including The Huffington Post, New York Daily News, Britain’s Daily Mail and America’s National Public Radio.

    Read more: http://www.watoday.com.au/business/worlds-media-pan-rineharts-2-a-day-african-miner-comments-20120906-25fpq.html#ixzz25h4c2j7E

  64. How to become a billionaire. Easy. Inherit your billionaire daddy’s fortune.

    She also says the minimum wage is too high

    CU, don’t you just love Silver Spooners like Rinehart sinking the slipper into people who actually work for a living? If she’d started from scratch to make her fortune instead of bludging off her father, you could have a little more respect for her opinion.

    As it is, she has done absolutely nothing to give her the right to pontificate about how others live their lives. I think she should be invited to live on her idea of an adequate minimum wage for a few years.

    I wouldn’t mind betting that the people this bitter, grasping hag is berating have families who love them, unlike her. What a success she is. Not.

  65. Lol, from your link Sue

    “The world’s biggest troll”

    I really hope that doesn’t mean that our more local ones are not going to try and reclaim that crown (sigh)

  67. Far from loopy, Rinehart espouses standard economic and liberal theory

    As one Tweeter said, wank, wank, wank.

    Creighton, in putting out this little piece of wank, overlooks so many truths and facts it’s unbelievable, like the big one of Rinehart becoming the richest woman in the world on the back of her father’s wealth under the supposed too heavy tax and regulatory regime.

    Or the other one of low unemployment under the terrible tax and regulatory regime.

    Or the high living standards of Australians.

    No surprise it come from someone who writes for The Australian and again so aptly illustrates why that organisation is held in such low regard and is dying.

    Can someone tell just what universe these people live in?

  68. Hartcher has not written his usual theme, Rudd/Gillard, and in doing so is worth reading. The article about Joyce, shines a light on the Joyce ambition.

    “Joyce playing politics? But of course he is. Joyce is in the career cul-de-sac known as the Senate. He is an ambitious politician and wants to move to the House.

    Once there, he would like to take the leadership of the National Party and, assuming the Coalition wins the next election, Barnaby would become deputy prime minister.

    But to get there, he needs a seat, and the one he covets is his local Queensland seat of Maranoa. This seat, which covers a land area larger than France, also happens to be home to Cubbie Station.”

    Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/abbott-cuts-joyce-loose-20120907-25jos.html#ixzz25pNf6p7W

  69. Driving this morning and heard a discussion on Radio National on education. Sorry don’t know the name of interviewer or the names of any of the three interviewees, one was a principal and the other two had something to do with the education system I think.

    This is an illustration of how bad journalism has gotten at Aunty.

    The interviewer asks one of the people in education about the onus of teachers to perform.

    The interviewee gives a very good answer with lots of facts, figures and sources about teachers being about 30% of the influence with other factors being as important, if not more so, like home life, peers, the school as a whole etc.

    He goes on to say that in the past it was whole of school that was judged as the top criteria, but somehow that’s been turned around to one of the least important with teachers elevated as though they are the most important and telling influence, when the data shows this isn’t the case.

    The interviewer then says. “Well that’s your view…” and changes tact.

    No fuckwit, that wasn’t his view. He just spent around a minute giving you a bunch of facts and figures, so dispute them, but don’t accuse him of giving his view when he did no such thing.

  74. Yep, they’ll only criticise a Liberal government when the stuff ups and outrage become so great that the public demand to know why the media aren’t highlighting it, and even then they will attempt to play it down as much as possible.

    WIN South Coast News went along the lines that the 1.7 billion education cuts were necessary for education to meet the budget. There was no analysis of the cuts or a single criticism of them.

    If the previous Labor government had done this, all hell would have broken lose across the media with O’Farrell and as many of his shadow ministers as possible across all the news cycles for weeks if not months heavily canning it.

    O’Farrell in government is allowed to get away with hiding from the media and his education minister is allowed to runaway from the questioning when it got just a little too tough for him.

  76. For us outsiders, some of the reporting and commentary out of Canberra is confounding. That’s putting it mildly.

    We assume that the significant, if dwindling number of journalists who make up the Canberra press gallery are there to inform us punters about what’s happening in federal politics.

    That’s a broad brief but the press gallery is home to some of the country’s best journalists – veterans and up and comers – so the task should not be beyond them.

    We can assume that they are based in Canberra and spend most of their waking hours in Parliament House because that gives them great access to politicians, political staffers and even public servants.

    That access, we suppose, means they can provide us with news, analysis and commentary that is informed, accurate and fearless. We are also entitled to assume that they are telling us everything they know.

    http://www.businessspectator.com.au/bs.nsf/Article/Canberra-Rudd-Gillard-Labor-Abbott-polls-journalis-pd20120918-Y8RTD?opendocument&src=idp&utm_source=exact&utm_medium=email&utm_content=104821&utm_campaign=kgb&modapt=commentary

  77. Is this true? Michelle Grattan did say in a piece on the controversy that, having known Abbott for decades, she didn’t think Abbott was an angry, bad guy with a problem with women. But there has been virtually nothing from other journalists who have known Abbott for a long time and who surely should have something worthwhile to say about all this.

    The rules of engagement in Canberra need to be re-examined. It would be good to feel that we are being told what’s really going on in national politics.

    http://www.businessspectator.com.au/bs.nsf/Article/Canberra-Rudd-Gillard-Labor-Abbott-polls-journalis-pd20120918-Y8RTD?opendocument&src=idp&utm_source=exact&utm_medium=email&utm_content=104821&utm_campaign=kgb&modapt=commentary

  78. When I wrote the story I was working on The Australian, so I offered it to the paper. I had titled it, “Old friends”, but it was changed to “Watch out for the punchline” when published on 11 January, 2001.

    As far as I can remember it did not attract one letter. Nobody rang me to complain about it. A few colleagues in the office said they read the story and it gave them a giggle. I should point out I do not know if Sheridan read the story, he never mentioned it. Maybe he missed it, but as it was in The Australian where he works it would be very surprising if nobody brought it to his attention. Our friendly association continued unaffected in the office and on social occasions. It did not affect the friendly association that had evolved with Abbott either.We did bumped into each other from time to time and there was never a hint of trouble.

    Nothing more was said or written about that story. I was happy to leave the matter alone. I didn’t even think of revisiting it when the publicity about David Marr’s Quarterly Essay, “Political animal. The making of Tony Abbott,” started.

    http://newmatilda.com/2012/09/18/getting-facts-straight-abbott

  79. The letter read:

    “I have known Greg Sheridan since the 1970s when he started as a journalist on The Bulletin. It was Sheridan who introduced me to Abbott a year or two after that. It was in the first floor bar of Castlereagh Hotel in Sydney when Abbott was still at Sydney University. It did not end well. Sheridan had to intercede to calm Abbott down — who at the time was threatening to punch my head in because I was not opposed to abortion. It was a serious incident and was witnessed by a number of journalists who were at the time working for The Bulletin.”

    “Several years after that night, Trevor Kennedy (then the editor of The Bulletin) asked me to have a drink with Abbott to establish if I could work with him. I did have a drink or two with him that afternoon in the Kings Head hotel. It ended well and Abbott soon started work at The Bulletin.”

    “I have known both Sheridan and Abbott ever since on a friendly basis and while disagreeing with them on politics have always enjoyed their company. However I am more than surprised Sheridan could write, ‘I knew Abbott very well and he was never, ever violent’.”

    “While some people may say there is no proof any of this ever happening, I would like to point out that I did write about the incident in the pub some time ago. It was published in The Australian and nobody has ever suggested I made it all up.”

    Not a nasty letter, but maybe a little too long for the letters column. I do not know why it was not published, nobody bothered to contact me about it. Fair enough. That was the choice of the letters editor. However I still wanted to put on record the contents of the letter. So I incorporated the letter with the original story and forwarded it on to New Matilda.

    After it was published no one co…………..

    http://newmatilda.com/2012/09/18/getting-facts-straight-abbott

  80. He Said, She Said, and the Truth

    I like to believe that the Café in it’s own small way has contributed to this change in the media.

    It’s a change that can’t come quick enough for my liking but I don’t hold out any hope that Limited News will in any way increase fact checking before publishing.

    What this article particularly applies to in Australia is the ABC, where indeed in the name of balance it airs and publishes stories that may not be untruths originated by Aunty, but it allows these untruths to go by unchallenged in the name of its balanced reporting.

  82. Just watched Tony Abbott “man of principal (sic)” showing just how caring and sharing he can be by mentioning the carbon “tax” at a Bali Bombing memorial.

    Political opportunist that he is, he called for the government to provide compensation to victims of the Bali and 911 bombings despite not doing so when in government. Then when on to say the NDIS was a waste of money, oh and by the way he disagreed with compensation to flood victims in their hour of need.

    Look up “hypocritical bastard” in my dictionary and there is a picture of Abbott. The spin doctors are working hard at his “image” but his track record just keeps coming back.

  83. Sue, his first question was to use the victims in demanding the PM give them more money. PM kinda reminded, that those people were dealt with in Howard’s day. or words to that effect.

  86. Pyne once again telling the chair what to do. Lie is now out in all forms and usage.

    Combet attacking Abbott for lying about what other countries are doing.

  87. Bishop not happy. It appears now that countries have to have Nation wide schemes, To them, it must mean that state schemes do not count.

    100 new jobs in Whyalla. Word mendacious getting a good workout.

  88. Robb asked a question on jobs within the mining industry, after Combet announced new ones.

    PM is also telling Robb that facts do count.

  90. You know for certain the opposition are an utter joke when Barnaby Joyce says Tony Abbott doesn’t get a fair run in the media.

  94. Just watched QandA, what a waste of oxygen Kelly Odwyer is. No wonder Abbott and co are dead in the water. Loud, ignorant, rude and completely stupid and they are her good qualities! 👿 👿 👿

  96. Does it get any dumber than this?

    Hard to say lunlava

    Having fiercely criticised as ”irresponsible” the government’s $5.5 billion cuts to defence spending over four years, announced in its last budget, the Coalition leader will use a speech to the RSL today to declare that he will also be looking for savings in the defence bureaucracy.

    Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/abbotts-defence-plan-less-manpower-more-firepower-20120924-26hi0.html#ixzz27QvN2Ksw

    Perhaps there will be a ‘dumb-off’ closer to the election 😉

  98. Tom, re cuts to defence bureaucracy, this reminds me of when son and partner went through Cyclone Yasi..it took approximately 4 months for the clothesline to be replaced in their defence department house..so let’s just cut more bureaucracy shall we. 😦

  99. Min
    It’ll be ok. Abbott wants to sack beaureacats and by equipment. Now he hasn’t said who will have or keep the budget but maybe the personnel will be moved back to offices to do this or offices will just get their own credit cards for the non manned planes and stuff.

  100. Sue, it’s clearly populist claptrap. It’s lazy/crazy thinking that by sacking admin that the job is going to get done. Guess what, bureaucrats are needed to administer..it doesn’t all just happen all by itself, there has to be people who do the organising and coordinating. Abbott’s idea seems to be to give the army more bullets but minus the people who order and deliver the bullets.

  101. Just saw an interview by Lyndal Curtis with Gary Grey.
    She opinied that when Howard sacked public servants, the sackees then set up small businesses to do the work of the public service. So if the government continued with their efficiencies and did the work in-house these small businesses will lose work. So the Curtis logic was “you cannot say that no jobs will be lost because these small businesses will put people off”.

    Ding dong, Lyndal, when Howard originally sacked 20000 public servants, it didn’t mean there wasn’t work if according to your own research the sacked public servants were still needed.

  104. What am I supposed to do? What am I supposed to do with Mr Turnbull, when he appears on national television and cannot give core details of his rival NBN policy, yet demands that level of detail from the Government? What am I supposed to do with Mr Turnbull when he backflips over whether the Coalition’s NBN policy is costed or not? What am I supposed to do with Mr Turnbull when he won’t comment on the single biggest government policy that the technology community is concerned about, Nicola Roxon’s data retention and surveillance proposal? This is one Shadow Minister who appears to be trying his best to use his portfolio to hang himself. All I can do is continue to report on how tight the rope is getting.

    http://delimiter.com.au/2012/09/26/turnbull-wont-disclose-rival-nbn-policy-details/

  105. ABC news 24 just had a piece about Gillard at the UN and Australia’s bid for a seat on the UN security Council.The news reader than had an expert to discuss the bid and the analysis of the expert was that the bid was a waste of government money.

    Now the true waste was the ABC in having an “expert” from the Centre for Independent Studies. The CIS a “true liberal ” think tank with the prime philosophy of small government. Like doooohhhh what else are they going to say about the UN but waste!

  106. Rupert Murdoch at it again.

    “The Wall Street Journal has been criticised by senior US journalists for failing to disclose that 10 of its op-ed writers are Mitt Romney advisers.

    According to an inquiry by Media Matters, 23 pieces in the WSJ’s op-ed pages attacked President Obama or praised Romney without the writers acknowledging their political connections to Romney.

    Max Frankel, a former New York Times executive editor, called the lack of disclosure “shameless.” He added: “They ought to put a banner saying Romney has approved of this page… It looks like the Wall Street Journal editorial and op ed pages have enlisted in the campaign. They should be disclosing that.”
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2012/sep/28/wallstreetjournal-mittromney

    Media Matters may like to look to Murdoch publications in Australia,as Australia is the template

  108. “We must bear in mind that this is a company which is heavily involved in eight of nine NBN roll-outs around the world,” Mr Robb said.

    http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/opposition-slams-nbn-exclusion-of-huawei-20120326-1vtly.html

    Incompetent bloody Labor

    OOPS

    CHINESE communications and technology giant Huawei has been branded a threat to United States national security.

    Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/national/chinese-telco-seen-as-security-threat-20121006-276dm.html#ixzz28hkwXvpq

  109. Watching the ABC coverage of the Slipper political story I notice that their ABC is running with the Liberal propaganda narrative (Gillard baaaaad) instead of the more responsible reporting of why the government voted not to remove Slipper when a Judge had reserved his decision on the case.

    I expect this sort of behaviour from commercial media who have a political agenda, however the ABC has an obligation to inform the Australian public (remember it’s us that pay their wages) of how government works.

    Very few people appreciate the conventions and separation of powers that are the foundation of our political system. Just because you can not see the foundations does not mean they are not important.

  110. Hi Lunalava. The ABC is getting a pasting on the social media sites this morning over their reporting of yesterdays events.

  111. Miglo

    they deserve a pasting. i note the abc online this morning was running with the headline
    “a day of shame”
    As I was interested on who had the story I clicked on the article but it had a different headline.

    So that headline was definitely the editors choice, so our abc headline writer shares the values of alan Jones and Tony abbott, now why am I not shocked by this.
    good one Mark Scott.

  112. I don’t think the ‘procedural fairness’ is about the outcome of the court case itself lunalava, it was more about how a Speaker was attempted to be used as a political football, and in the most hypocritical manner possible.

    The Speaker himself had done nothing to reflect poorly on the chair, except to have a vile ‘personal’ conversation made public, which, to my knowledge, hasn’t impacted on his performance as speaker.

    As the PM pointed out, while she found the messages disgusting, to throw someone out for ‘alleged’ misogyny is rich when considering who is calling the motion. She provided evidence that tabots past is just as checkered as Slippers in that regard, and, if he was honest about the motion, he should therefore resign himself.

    Otherwise, it is just the opposition using the Speaker as a political football, something that no Parliamentarian should be doing, given that the role of Speaker should be above the day to day politics.

    What the opposition attempted to do was politicize the position, by treating the Speaker to a different standard to that available to the TOTO.

    Our Parliament came close to a laughing stock yesterday, luckily, Labor and the Indies prevented that.

    And the media are still pretending it all something else, well, the local one anyway 😉

  113. TomR @ 10.09
    Yes, that’s a funny one. You won’t see it picked up on. It served its purpose on the day. The Perpetual Present.

    Australian isolationism alive & well I see from the reporting of Gillard’s speech. Or, contrariwise, the lack of it.

  114. And if text messages have a life & a soul my heart bleeds for them. What a mighty culling of the species must be occuring even as I type this.

  115. I believe this story has gone worldwide, and I mean world wide, including Africa,

    The PM is seen as a hero in some reports. None see,positive for Abbott. It is a little like a husband running up the street, squealing help me, my wife punched me.

    (My ex did this, after years of physical, I punched him in the nose. One punch, but one that caused bleeding. Pulled up a truck going by for protection. Nearly busted my side laughing) That is the normal action of bullies. Give it back, and they disappeared.

    PS That was the last time he bashed me. Sadly could not shut up the mouth.

  116. What our expert journalists do not report/see with abbott

    “last week, supporters of President Obama, watching Gillard cut through the disingenuousness and feigned moral outrage of her opponent to call him out for his own personal prejudice, hypocrisy, and aversion to facts, might be wishing their man would take a lesson from Australia

    Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/blogs/the-pulse/politics-live-october-10-2012-20121010-27c4h.html#ixzz28qxHdLi5

  120. and summed up in

    In Canberra, press gallery members can stick around for years covering the same patch. It’s no surprise, then, so many of them – like Peter Hartcher above – have such lousy news judgement.

    In this case, a passionate and thrilling speech by a prime minister about sexism and the low-level tactics of a political opposition leader beyond cynicism attracted world attention. But our gallery are too clever to see that.

    http://thefailedestate.blogspot.com.au/

  121. One wonders. Do we have a nation of men, that values concerning women are rooted back in the middle of last century.

    Gillard reveals true nature in playing gender card

    Paul Sheehan

    Julia Gillard’s ‘misogyny’ speech in full
    In this fiery speech that has been reported around the word , Julia Gillard accuses Opposition Leader Tony Abbott of sexism and misogyny.
    Autoplay ONOFFVideo feedbackVideo settings
    The dictionary defines misogyny as “hatred of women”. It is an ugly word, an ugly accusation and an ugly fact of life. It is now the word that has driven Australian politics to its lowest point in decades. Yesterday, the mask fell away, the curtain dropped, the real driver of the politics of personal abuse was revealed.

    After sending out two attack dogs, Gutter and Sewer, to do the dirty work, after hiding behind two political zombies, Insufferable and Unspeakable, to stay in power, after using the Minister for Innuendo and the Compromise-General to play the gender card, the mask has finally dropped away to reveal the driver of the politics of hate in Australia.

    The mask fell at exactly 2.42pm in the House of Representatives. Looking on were the member for Gutter, Anthony Albanese, the member for Sewer, Wayne Swan, the Minister for Innuendo, Tanya Plibersek, and the Compromise-General, Nicola Roxon, and the independents who will do anything to avoid facing their electorates, Mr Insufferable, Robert Oakeshott, and his fellow regional zombie, Mr Unspeakable, Tony Windsor.

    Prime Minister Julia Gillard replies to Opposition Leader Tony Abbott’s motion to dismiss the Speaker Peter Slipper at Parliament House in Canberra on Tuesday. Photo: Andrew Meares
    Someone had to set Gutter and Sewer loose. Someone directed Innuendo and Compromise to play the gender card. Someone paid the bill for Insufferable and Unspeakable. Someone’s authority still rests on the vote of Craig Thomson. And someone had to approve making Peter Slipper the Speaker despite his being manifestly disrespected by either side of the house, a low point of political opportunism.

    Advertisement
    At 2.42 pm on Tuesday that someone rose to speak. The mask fell away. Julia Gillard came out snarling. The Parliament had before it a great issue, the dignity of the house itself, which had been traduced by the scandal that had attached itself to Slipper.

    Instead of directly addressing the issue of a discredited speakership which had become engulfed in an expensive and degrading legal action that did no credit to anyone involved, least of all the Attorney-General, the Prime Minister wasted no timing in using misdirection and personal abuse.

    She even invoked the name of dead father: “My father did not die of shame!” she thundered across the dispatch box.

    No one in the Parliament ever said he did. Tony Abbott had said exactly the opposite when he spoke of her father.

    http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/gillard-reveals-true-nature-in-playing-gender-card-20121010-27cnq.html

    I cannot come to any other belief than out in the community, we have a large group of people who do believe that any woman is fair game in this country, if she dares to seek position of power.

    They believe they have the unfettered right to abuse her in anyway they like. The same group believe that no one has the right to criticise them.

    How else can one explain what is occurring now,

    I have been howled sown in the past, when I have said, women have no way of fighting or defending them from this type of abuse.

    The treatment the PM is now getting, for taking a stand proves this.

    The only way it will cease, is when the community comes together, and says enough is enough.

    We now no longer accept domestic violence and abuse of children, it is time now to extend that to women everywhere.

  127. Don’t usually go to Murdoch sites…but i think this might be another nail in Abbott’s coffin:

    And it has been revealed the Opposition bungled the use of a Perth woman’s electricity bill in Question Time during a renewed attack on the carbon pricing scheme and the boost to household expenses.

    The pensioner’s power costs doubled and Mr Abbott yesterday blamed the carbon scheme. However, the main cause was that the woman’s consumption of electricity had doubled.

    http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/national/gillard-abbott-showdown-looms-over-slipper-texts/story-fndo48ca-1226493324452?fb_action_ids=10151127173023505&fb_action_types=og.recommends&fb_source=aggregation&fb_aggregation_id=288381481237582

    N’

  128. Thnx for link Mobius…remember yesterday on another thread I, then others, picked up on Abbott’s electricity bill stuffup in parliament…yet, what did we hear in the MSM for hours…bugger all.

    Now they are forced to go with the story.

    Tim Dunlop is spot on:

    As anyone who has a Twitter account or a Facebook page has noticed, the media’s interpretation of the Alan Jones’ affair, or more especially, their interpretation of the Prime Minister’s speech in Parliament about Mr Abbott’s sexism, is rejected outright by many people.

    Social media has been full of people interpreting these events in ways that are at odds with the media’s view. People are simply tired of any professional view that pretends to be authoritative, let alone definitive.

    They can see through the groupthink that dominates so much political coverage and they know something is wrong.

    When you have the likes of Michelle Grattan, Peter Hartcher, Peter van Onselen (paywalled), Jennifer Hewett (paywalled), Geoff Kitney, Phillip Coorey, and Dennis Shanahan (paywalled) all spouting essentially the same line in attacking the Prime Minister – a line at odds with the many people’s own interpretation of events – people wonder what the point of such journalism is.

    What is particularly telling in the case of the way the PM’s speech was reported is that – also thanks to the internet and social media – people were able to see the very different reception her speech received overseas. As blogger Mr Denmore noted:

    In this case, a passionate and thrilling speech by a prime minister about sexism and the low-level tactics of a political opposition leader beyond cynicism attracted world attention. But our gallery are too clever to see that.

    They instead took the bait fed to them by the spin doctors on the other side of politics that there was some moral equivalence between the private text messages sent by the Speaker (when he was still a member of the Opposition, by the way) and the overwhelming climate of personal denigration and misogyny created by the Opposition Leader and the tabloid flying monkeys that cheer him on.

    The public can see this, obviously the global media can see it. But a press gallery that spends more time getting “briefed” by spinners and reading each other’s copy completely misses the story. Again.

    Paul Colgan, news director of news.com.au, noted on Twitter that four times more of his audience was reading about the overseas reaction to the PM’s speech than were reading about Peter Slipper’s decision to resign.

    And yet, nearly every mainstream media outlet in Australia led the day with the Slipper story.

    None of this simply to defend Julia Gillard. In fact, one of the most telling pieces on the day’s events came not from the mainstream media, but from the blog of the Overland journal, and it was far more incisive, eloquent and devastating in its criticism of the PM:

    If winning or losing in politics was merely a matter of who had the best one-liners to throw along with their stones, then Gillard won yesterday hands down. But politics is not simply about whip-smart wisecracks and cutting speeches. It’s about policies and practices, legislation and social organisation.

    Yesterday, the Gillard Government also passed welfare reforms through the Senate that will cut single parent payments by between $56 and $140 a week. This is a measure that will disproportionately affect women, and particularly those in the sectors of society that the Labor Party is traditionally supposed to represent.

    … If we want to stand up for women, let’s start by standing up for these women.

    The point is, the reaction of ordinary people on social media shows in a glaring, almost cruel way just how out of touch political reporters have allowed themselves to become.

    This reinvention of the audience as media critic and content shaper causes angst in the journosphere, and much of their reaction to this new dispensation is the reaction of an industry who have not only had their authority and prestige stripped from them, but of one that is struggling to find relevance in a scary new environment that threatens their very livelihood.

    We can see it in the Daily Telegraph’s recent moral panic over so-called “trolls”, and 2GB’s ridiculous response to protests over Alan Jones’ comments.

    Each is an instance of a media organisation trying in vain to define the terms of participation in the national conversation, of trying to assert their control over who does and doesn’t participate.

    Their resort to terms like “cyberbullying” and “cyberterrorism” and even “trolling” is indicative of a desire to define the terms of engagement by controlling the language used to describe it.

    But more and more, people are rejecting this sort of language, language that attempts to define democratic participation as deviant.

    Yes, we all know there are ratbags online, but we are not prepared to accept the media’s interpretation of what is and isn’t acceptable, especially when the mainstream itself is full of its own highly paid ratbags.

    The bottom line is this: we no longer trust the media to tell us the story of our lives. We no longer have to settle for the narrative they impose on events. We are no longer passive observers, but active participants in the way our news is shaped.

    ——–
    Indeed.

    Keep up the great work all. Speak to truth. Make the MSM earn their bucks.
    N’

  129. And it has been revealed the Opposition bungled the use of a Perth woman’s electricity bill in Question Time during a renewed attack on the carbon pricing scheme and the boost to household expenses.

    The pensioner’s power costs doubled and Mr Abbott yesterday blamed the carbon scheme. However, the main cause was that the woman’s consumption of electricity had doubled.

    From nasnas link

    The only way this will get through is if Labor make an issue out of it in QT today.

    The ball is in their court. The gloves came off the other day. It’s time for a follow through.

  130. Won’t be getting any of this from our rusted on media acolytes

    Watching a widely circulated video of Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard skewering the leader of the opposition party, Tony Abbott, left the impression that Australian politics is barely a notch above a Wall Street trading room circa 1990 in terms of its enlightenment towards women—which makes Gillard’s presence at the top of it even more remarkable.

    http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-10-10/gillards-picture-of-sexism-misogyny-looks-familiar

  131. Well said Tom R.

    The govt must pursue this. Even before parliament.

    Abbott’s carbon tax fight is a shambles…based on lies and bad research and hyperbole and using elderly and others to do his fearmongering.

    N’

  133. Abbott insults EU/Europe…another diplomatic stuffup…and more NO NO NO:

    The lower house will vote this morning on legislation that ditches the carbon floor price and links Australia’s emissions trading scheme to Europe.

    Climate Change minister Greg Combet wrapped up after more than six hours of debate on the suite of seven bills on Wednesday.

    He said many of the opposition speakers had put ‘‘ridiculous propositions’’ that appeared to come from a common set of talking points.

    ‘‘I repudiate every single one of them,’’ he told parliament.

    ‘‘We have a public responsibility to reduce carbon emissions at the lowest cost.’’

    The bills will link Australia to a carbon price which is common to that in 30 other jurisdictions, covering hundreds of millions of people, the minister said.

    ‘‘It’s an extremely important achievement from an environmental and economic standpoint,’’ Mr Combet said.

    ‘‘Since we introduced a carbon price last year, more and more countries around the world say they are too moving to carbon pricing.’’

    Earlier, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott moved an amendment that would halt the legislation’s passage through parliament.

    He said Labor wanted to put the Australian carbon price in the hands of ‘‘Eurocrats’’.

    ‘‘You wouldn’t put the Australian dollar into the Eurozone but what this government wants to do is to put our carbon pricing scheme into the European system,’’ he told parliament on Wednesday.

    ‘‘I have nothing against Europe, but I tell you what, they’re hardly economic or environmental models for anyone.’’

    As well as linking the scheme to Europe, the legislation dumps the $15 floor price that would have applied once the carbon price moved to a floating market-based mechanism in 2015.

    Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/…/…or-price-20121011-27eam.html

    Abbott, like Romney, is a big mouth…puts his foot in it each time.

    Bad for future relations. Demonstrates irresponsible leader(s).

    Last thing we need after big mouths affecting foreign relations like GW Bush…and here, Pauline Hanson.

    Amazing Abbott went after Hanson…he’s so much like her in the unthinking big mouth category…volatile.

    Tho, I notice he doesn’t mind doing interviews with the One Nation BLOKE.

    Abbott is an embarrassment to the Liberal party.

    N’

  134. Also I note the media haven’t picked up the hypocrisy of Abbott on that. He’s saying he doesn’t want Australia to link to Europe because Australia has a good economy and they don’t, yet he keeps telling the media and anyone else here that Australia’s economy is a basket case and ruined because of the government.

  135. It appears that Mr. Abbott was insulted at a dinner last night. PM asked what she is going to do about it. Also what was her opinion. Answer, I have already been in touch with the union and told them what I think. They have apologised.

    I also think the words used were shocking and not appropriate or words to that offence, The PM took action at the first instance.

    Unemployed figures up Cutting of PS and others by three eastern state governments would not add to figures. Figures a little higher than expected but not all bad. Expect Hockey and Co to be out, rubbing their hands in glee.

    Would love to be a fly on the wall when the PM and Abbott, and I think, Howard fly to Bali together. How many hours is that.

    Carbon price linked with the assistance of Slipper.

    My main comment this morning,is if anyone had any doubts and wanted to think better of the MSM, they are left with no doubt, that they are a arm of the Coalition Opposition.

    First they unashamedly support the Coalition and Abbott with the overblown exposure across the media of Abbott’s family. Now they have represented the last few days in a manner to make the PM look as bad ad possible, while building up Abbot.

    One cannot believe that the media’s quest, and only quest from where I sit, is to bring about the demise of this government.

    The question I pose for them. WHY?

    One could understand a little, if Abbott and his crew had the answers and would lead to better governance. There is no evidence that support that proposition.

    In fact the opposite is true. They want to replace a PM who builds, with the Opposition leader who only skill appears to be, demolishing.

    He destroys all in his path to get what he wants. What he wants, not necessary what the nation needs.

    A message to young and some older women out there that believe feminism has had it’s day, think again.

    The media, politics and many comment made in recent times is letting us know, the battle has a long way to go.

    There are many men who appear to still have the men’s club mentality, supported by women who are happy to be second class citizens, still setting the environment, women, if they are ambitious, have to survive in.

    What is coming out of the media and the Coalition is not about politics but about the right of women to compete in.

    I do not believe these men hate women, but they sure do not like competing with them. Says more about the Coalition men lack of ability, that it t does about the women in the Labor team.

  136. :f winning or losing in politics was merely a matter of who had the best one-liners to throw along with their stones, then Gillard won yesterday hands down. But politics is not simply about whip-smart wisecracks and cutting speeches. It’s about policies and practices, legislation and social organisation.:

    if this comment is true, then Mr.Abbott is in trouble. All he has is three words slogans, repeated over and over and throw away lines. (have noticed he has stopped repeating things)

    If that is the case, it appears the PM is also better in the use of throw away lines.

    What has Abbott got left.

  137. Noticed that the voice of the PM was not very cordial when thanking Peter Corey for a question earlier today. It was quite cold, unusual for her. It is obvious they are going to get treated, in the same manner they habd out.

    Newsline on Sexism and misogynism. ABC 24

  138. I also agree fully with the PM when asked why she made that speech. on misogyny.

    The PM said in words to that effect. It is time to stand up against sexism and misogyny. It is time to draw a line in the sand no my behalf and and the women in this country.

    It is time to draw a line in the sand. “Enough, is enough”. Her words.

    Yes it is.

    It also appears that the PM is not going to tolerate sexism remarks throw at her at all. I feel that there might be a o tolerance line set. Mr.,Abbott had one attempt yesterday in QT. PM dealt with it in a timely manner, not just saying she was offended but repeating the offensive words. This needs to be done. The insults have been there since day one of Abbott’s reign.

    We hear the chair diresticg withdrawal but nevfe hear what the offensive words are.

    That needs to change,

    I will be emailing the Speakers Office pointing out that this needs to occur. If the MP says the words, they need to own them.

    The leader of Opposition business in the house is the worse offender, followed by Ms. Mirabella. Bishop, the younger puts a few in, but is more likely to make meowing noise, while clawing motions with her fists, as well as that renown stare.

    A little of this behaviour could be seen as funny. When it occurs all the time, every day, every QT, it is not. It shows lack of respect for the house, chair and PM.

    Mr. Pyne has now taken to, talking over the chair. I feel this might not be deliberate but frustration on his part, that his actions are being ignored, as they one does ignore such childish and stupid behaviour. I wonder if there is some one in his party, game enough to tap him on the shoulder, pointing out he looks a fool. Which I suspect he is, a pompous one at that.

  139. “It also appears that the PM is not going to tolerate sexism remarks throw at her at all. ”

    Alan Jones comments were not sexist were they?? They were offensive but I do not think Jones offensive remarks had any sexist overtones. His comments could have been said to a male or female.

    Gillard and her supporters are milking this topic for political purposes. ALP supporters are the masters of diversion and deceit.

  140. CU
    With Coorey at the media event. even though he asked whether he could ask a domestic question, i got the feeling that the pm was less than impressed with this. with the pm of singapore present, the australian media should have been polite and respectful enough to ask a relevant question of the visitor.

  141. Does creating fear work in this country. It appears so.

    You see, I think Jones’ appeal is all about fear. More precisely, Jones listens to the fears of his listeners, and that is why many are so very loyal to him. I suspect that there are a certain group of people who have fears about a variety of issues in modern society, and who feel that their fears are brushed off by mainstream politicians (particularly, perhaps, by the incumbent Labor government). But Jones listens to them sympathetically. He agrees with them. At times, when convenient, he fans the fears. Many of these people would have probably been part of Labor’s traditional voting base, but became John Howard’s “battlers” because they felt that Labor no longer represented them.

    http://skepticlawyer.com.au/2012/10/10/alan-jones-feminism-and-australian-politics/

  142. Phil Coorey has lost it as far as I’m concerned.
    ——
    Mobius wrote:

    Also I note the media haven’t picked up the hypocrisy of Abbott on that. He’s saying he doesn’t want Australia to link to Europe because Australia has a good economy and they don’t, yet he keeps telling the media and anyone else here that Australia’s economy is a basket case and ruined because of the government.
    —–
    Good catch Mobius. Spot on.

    N’

  143. Combet on fire in parliament earlier…having go at guilty Abbott over electricity bill. Really got stuck into him…showed Abbott up for the deceitful, lazy, incompetent fear-monger he is. Go Combet!

    PM got stuck in well too. Love the “wrecking ball” comments.

    Abbott looked very uncomfortable, caught out…tried to cover with glasses and smug smile of an adolescent.

    Tony Abbott…dead leader walking.
    N’

  144. If people don’t like single parents being under Newstart because it’s too low, then call for it to be put up.

    Hopefully this will deter those young women we know in our area from having babies so they don’t have to work…the Howard govt incentivised the mindset that becoming a f/t baby machine was the way to go…propagandising young women…who oft didn’t finish grade 12…saw their careers and job prospects go down the tube…too many become shopping and flat TV and fast food addicted…neglecting the kids sometimes…a disaster.

    Sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind…to right a wrong…perpetuated by a Liberal party more concerned with creating dumbed down consumers, future cheap labour, potential christian crusader babies…and future taxpayers.

    Disgusting!

    Go Labor!

    Breaking the back of the Howard govts’ welfare dependency policies.

    N’

  146. My partner Stacey just commented:

    “I’m sick and tired of the news and politics in particular being filtered through mainly men who appear to eat too much crap, drink too much, act like a boys’ club…are grumpy…probably because they are hungover all the time…

    they have the nerve to go on about women and PMT…but how many men are turning up to work hungover because alcohol is a brain toxin?”
    ———–
    But as the press gallery pundits (mostly middle-aged men, it must be noted) scribbled and spoke, something very different was happening on the internet and in the community.

    They were absolutely loving it. Gillard’s speech, conveyed through embedded video and quotations in blogs, quickly went viral. Stripped of its context, the speech stood alone as a triumphant, long-awaited howl of indignation and fury against sexism and misogyny.

    Women went nuts for it. Fairfax’s women’s website, Daily Life, posted the speech on its Facebook page and within minutes was inundated with air-punching comments and ‘Likes’ from its female readers. Twitter exploded in delight and websites around the world, from US political blogs, to feminist sites and even the conservative British Spectator, cheered Gillard in admiration. One movie website even ran a piece about the top five Oscar-winning actresses who should play Gillard in her biopic (the casting of Tony Abbott would be such a treat…but I digress).

    Anecdotally, women I know outside of Canberra have said their workplaces were mesmerised by the speech, and one friend said her 86-year-old grandmother even rang her especially to discuss it.
    Meanwhile, Sydney Morning Herald columnist Paul Sheehan wrote a scathing anti-Gillard piece which ran on this website yesterday, prompting a large number of readers to berate him for getting it flat-out wrong.
    Cue negative reaction against the mainstream media generally, and the Canberra press gallery in particular.

    I have received numerous (courteous and well-argued) emails from readers saying the press gallery is “out of touch” and saying this divergence between real-world reaction and press gallery reaction is the “reason” newspapers are failing. I think a lot of that is probably true. At least so far in the press gallery being out of touch.

    http://www.watoday.com.au/…/…rong-20121011-27eqg.html

    N’

  147. naskingnasking, I agree with you on that comment, In the community where I live, there are young girls that just get pregnant just so they do not have to work or go to TAFE. When one child reaches a certain age, they again fall pregnant, get there baby bonus, unwed mothers payment and they’re happy, and when that child reaches that certain age, pregnant again, it is a vicious cycle that needs to be broken.

  148. Well said paulwello,
    it is a sad and vicious cycle…

    it’s why it’s so important to have young women return to school to finish up their year 12 and other training…

    and get free classes on parenting…

    and be offered pre-job training courses by govt, via centrelink etc…

    and get the affordable opportunity to attend uni as mature age students…

    GO LABOR
    Breaking the back of the Howard govts’ welfare dependency and women career crushing policies.

    N’

  150. I have to go out so will miss it but Channel 7 News promo had something about disgraceful Gillard comment to Abbott, replete with footage showing Abbott bent over in his seat and Gillard standing up seemingly lording over him.

    And so the rescue and resurrection of Abbott by the MSM goes into full swing. Make Gillard out to be disgraceful and mean whilst poor now feminist Abbott is the victim.

  152. ME. They tried very hard to make a story out of the comedian’;s joke concerning Credlin. Did not succeed, though Riley cannot see much difference.

    Sadly I have to say, that is Riley’s problem.

    One the PM was told early this morning and took appropriate action. Emerson did walk out in distrust. Mr. Swan admitted he should have raised complaints last night not this morning.

    Every Labor person approached has condemned the words of the commenience.

    Labor has taken responsibility for the outburst.

    No comparison to the actions of Abbott and the Liberal party,

    ABC. PM forced to distance herself. FORCE, where is evidence that she was forced. Listening to the PM, it seem that she acted because she thought the remarks were not on.

  154. Neither News Ltd nor Seven should be allowed to buy Consolidated Media…

    we need more diversity:

    Seven’s pay TV bid blocked, News in box seat
    By online business reporter Michael Janda
    Updated 7 hours 15 minutes ago

    The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission says it would oppose a proposed acquisition of Consolidated Media by Seven.

    http://www.abc.net.au/…/4307182

    ENUFF IS ENUFF

    N’

  155. Silly me I watched part of the Drum, sure they had on Corinne Grant who had written an article in the Hoopla, called the Vagina Diaries. However, there was this twat who declared that the blogosphere cheering of Gillard was no more than a “kony” and would be soon forgotten. Wasn’t it fortunate that I was lucky to have tuned in for that lesson in how silly I am.

  156. sue, have made similar comment elsewhere. That twat also said that the PM’s speech was contrived and that she did not show genuine anger.

    Went onto say, social media only represents a small narrow band of people, The lady suggested he had it the wrong way about, it was the MSM did not represent many.

    Later she pointed out, that those who used the social media also reside in the general community. She added that they have found a way of being active within the media, not just passive observers.

  157. ‘Quick to act in the best interests of advertisers this week, 2GB wasn’t so quick to act when allegations were made against afternoon presenter Chris Smith for sexually harassing four female staff members at a Christmas party in 2009. It took a series of reports in this column to move management to act but not until then program manager Ian Holland denied the claims before saying there was no need for disciplinary action.

    Owner John Singleton simply laughed it off as standard Christmas party behaviour.

    Only executive chairman Russell Tate took the matter seriously, though not enough to send Smith home for good.’
    http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/entertainment/sydney-confidential/radio-needs-to-dump-boys-club/story-e6frewz0-1226494661088

  158. In a fairly bland Insiders that did the usual.

    Right winger on panel bloviating and repeating opposition lines like government is illegitimate, Gillard is illegitimate and all giving Abbott a tick the one revealing thing was a LNP member saying he would be sacked if his text messages were made public.

    Hockynomics on display again. He rolled out the previously stated Less Revenue = More Income for the government line and praised Newman as being brave as the latter cut more services, one I recently mentioned and announced more job cuts.

    In other words Hockey has just shown what a Liberal Federal government will be, and it it’s not good.

  159. Mobius Ecko
    glad to see Cassidy pull up Stutchberry for his language
    “Gillard knifed Abbott”
    “No Mike, the party replaced their leader”

    That was a first!
    And I have just understood what Cassidy was banging on about with Combet. All those questions about “did someone in the party talk Slipper into not resigning?”

    the questions are based on an article by Sideshow Sam, who said Slipper decided not to quit parliament because it would mean he would hand his seat to his arch rival Mal Brough
    http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/national/rudd-and-slippers-tearful-night-together/story-fndo1uez-1226494962441

    Hard to decide whether Slipper had even considered resigning, as Sideshow displayed great creativity in her review of that book she never read. But with so much to be revealed about Ashbygate why would Slipper help Brough? You don’t need the Labor party in any conspiracy it is all LNP muck.

  162. Further to the Newman induced upward unemployment trend.

    Queensland vs Rest of Australia

    Now again think of what that graph would be like if Abbott is PM. Within his first 12 months the blue line will be where the Queensland red line is now and the Queensland red line will off that chart it will be that high.

  164. Now if you are a woman in Australia this graph illustrates why you should be very worried about Abbott becoming PM. And as Abbott has praised Newman and openly endorsed everything Newman has done and is doing it’s more evidence of Abbott’s anti-female stance.

    Queensland Female Unemployment Trend vs Rest of Australia

    Again it would not take much to picture the blue line trending where the red line is if Abbott were in power.

  165. Mobius, one outburst of Mr. Abbott’s sums last week up. It was when he said that Labor, or was it the PM, needs to stop hyperventilating over what Jones said.

    I follow that up with the concentrated media spray this weekend, that a woman who complains about sexism, only proves she has lost the argument, or words to that effect.

    What they are saying,that a woman should accept their place in society, and can never complain.

    Sorry, those days are gone.

    Young women over the last few years have had not much respect for feminism, believing it is not needed, that they alone hold the power to achieve.

    Yes, that is true, but what I believe many will now realising that to achieve in a man’s world, one is expected to take the abuse handed out by men, who are mostly their inferior.

    It is the word inferior that will annoy many young woman.

    Maybe those men, including the Opposition do not hate women. Yes. many love them. That is as long as they do not become their rulers. As long as they do not aspire to rise to the top.

    No the PM does not have trouble with men. Sadly there are still to many men in our society that have trouble with women, who move out of the home, into the outside world.

    I say to young women out there. The feminism war was hard fought but there are many battles to be won.

    To where I sit at seventy one, the biggest gains have been within the home. To most men’s surprise. I suspect, they like the modern day concept of relationships, including marriage. Each contributes to the best of their ability or desire, not sticking to gender concepts.

    It is time to take gender out of politics. I have a feeling that they are moving faster in the business world. There are many women across the world at the top of the tree in most organisations. Women who are highly capable and respected.

    Women appear to be achieving more on a equal footing in Labor, Look at the present cabinet. Never so many women, never so many in the most powerful positions. The same is occurring in the Union movement.

    It is only when we come to the Opposition, that this is not true.

    Ms. Bishop crowed yesterday, that women rise in their party by ability. If that is so, what does it say for women in the present Opposition. Only two have the ability to be in the Shadow cabinet.

    If Bishop and Mirabella are the best, what is the ability of the rest on the Opposition backbench.

    What has become evidence, IMHO, is that it is time for the Liberal Party to come into the twenty first century.

    I have heard retired women from that side of the fence, in serious interviews make similar pleas.

    It was Mr. Abbott hat labelled Mr. Slipper misogynist, that raised the word. It was not the PM.

    It is a long bow to call Slipper that. Yes, a long bow. He might not be the nicest man. There is nothing in what was released that says he is. Yes, crude, not the best of taste, not nice. Yes, it was smut, that one would not expect to hear outside a boys school playground.

    Yes, Slipper position was untenable. How much is Slipper’s fault we will only discover when the court case is finalised. What will people’s feelings be, if the position that the case is an abuse of the legal system and thrown out. That is, it is proven, that Ashby has been encouraged down this track to bring down a legitimate , duly elected government. Yes, that could happen.

    By the way, Andrew Kroger was once again on the Insiders, claiming this government is not legitimate. We are back to where we started two years ago.

    What is also true, the PM has not rolled over and died, In fact is standing as strong as ever, no matter what the MSM is trying to portray. It is not in chaos, it is functioning as a government should. Bad press and the media claiming so, does not make the claims of dysfunction true. They need to name just one incident of failure of the government. I do not mean them doing something you do not like or disagree with.

    I bet the first will be the boat trade. Is that not being address, and would be solved quicker with a little bipartisanship. That is up to Mr. Abbott. One could say it is because of the failure of the Opposition, that the problems in relation to asylums seekers continue.

    Yes, it is time we moved on. It is time that Mr. Abbott looked in that mirror and took some responsibly for his behaviour. Yes, he might not be a misogynistic, but he sure sounds and behaves like one.

    I would like to add that Slipper turned out to be a good and effective speaker. So good, that the Opposition had to bring about his removal.

    Proof of this was the reaction of Abbott and Mirabella to his rulings.

  166. The best quote on the Insiders was the one, that the media and everyone else has it wrong.

    It was put forwarded that society out there, I assume like the western suburbs of Sydney are made up of families like John and Janette Howard.

    I do hope with all my heart that this is not true. What the speaker is inferring, whether he realises it or not, the people who do not fit in with this concept are not worthy of being heard, do not count and I suspect in his mind, do not exist..

  168. Does anyone really believe that Slipper would even consider hand the government to Abbott on a plate.

    I believe not. He was not even going to let him win on the speaker-ship, until the attack became more than any man could continue to impose on his family.

    No, Tony just has to learn to wait, allowing normal procedures to hold sway.

    Putting on tantrums, destroying all in his path is just not going to work. This PM is made of sterner stuff.

  169. And finally the Polar Bear in the room was never mentioned. The Arctic is melting at a frighteningly rapid rate, America has been frying, Barrier Reef in big trouble, and yet reducing greenhouse gases, the whole reason for putting a price on carbon was never mentioned. Nor has it been very often during the last couple of years in this context. So for the public the government has inexplicably introduced a “great big new tax”, apparently for no other reason than to ruin antique shops, wipe towns off map, and kill pensioners, because they are such nasty people. And still, today, the carbon price was discussed without this frightening context.

    Australian journalism, like American journalism has a history in recent years of this kind of acceptance of what Lakoff calls conservative “framing”. Perhaps, to give them the benefit of the doubt, unknowingly, but I suspect often in full awareness of what they are doing.

    Watch out for it.

    http://davidhortonsblog.com/2012/10/14/just-fauxing/

  170. Now of course, no one has to agree with me and, as a public figure, I accept that I am going to cop some criticism. That’s fine. What I didn’t expect was that I would be prevented from expressing my views.

    I printed 2 million copies of the magazine. Both Fairfax and the Kerry Stokes-owned West Australian agreed to run it without any changes. They gladly took my money.

    I was quite amazed when the chief executive of the Murdoch press in Australia, Kim Williams, made it clear he would not run the publication as a paid insert in their newspapers. Later, the Murdoch press stated it wouldn’t run anything that questions its organisation or management.

    http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/free-press-is-a-slave-unto-itself-20121013-27jml.html

  171. Murdoch tweeted: “Told UK’s Cameron receiving scumbag celebrities pushing for even more privacy laws. Trust the toffs! Transparency under attack. Bad.”

    The comments sparked a storm of disapproval, with Mr Murdoch repeatedly asked to apologise for the remarks and remove the tweets. Hames hit back at the head of News Corporation, tweeting: “Never let the facts get in the way of a good story eh Rupert. Happy ..

    ……..Mr Murdoch also engaged with another Twitter user who said: “Scumbags”? And your journalists and executives are what?”.

    Mr Murdoch replied: “They don’t get arrested for indecency on major LA highways! Or abandon love child’s”.

    http://www.smh.com.au/world/rupert-murdoch-labels-hacking-victims-scumbag-celebrities-20121015-27lqz.html

  172. Everything that is wrong with this media environment

    Parliamentary precedent says that if MPs are subject to charges – civil or criminal – they have continued to sit in their place until these matters are adjudicated.

    There is no such luxury in the world of the hung Parliament. Now these issues are fought to the death with a no-one-gets-out-of-here-alive sensibility. Due process and procedural fairness are hitch-hikers in this new political normal and they seldom get a lift.

    It was always a matter of time for Slipper and now it’s a matter of time for Thomson.

    http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/opinion/party-games-labor-must-cut-losses-in-peter-slipper-and-craig-thomson-affairs/story-e6frerc6-1226496672117

    The question is. WHY?

  174. Gasp, shudder!!!
    Even poor people like Turnbull

    “Just about everyone I know loves Malcolm Turnbull. This is especially weird since my sample, though broad and random – greens and Christians, professionals and hobos, poets, Buddhists, anarchists, atheists, engineers and random reprobates – takes in few Liberal voters, if any.”

    I thought can this get any better, than this:

    “I don’t solicit the information. It just crops up. In voices….”

    Now that, I thought sounds right. Here is the remainder of that statement:

    “….tinged with gentle surprise, as if they can’t quite believe it themselves, they confess. Well, in fact, yes – if Malcolm stood for prime minister, they would vote for him in a flash. It’s love.”

    The opinion piece continued on but that was enough for me.

    Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/our-clintons-why-australia-needs-the-turnbulls-20121017-27qht.html#ixzz29XheqwOc

  178. This article asks a question that I have long pondered. Why does the whole MSM in this country push for Abbott.

    ……………The subliminal way in which they promote Abbott over the PM is not easy for all to notice, but it’s there ― day in, day out.

    If they just wanted to rid Australia of a minority Government and advance just one particular party to rule in its own right, one would expect they would write fair and balanced articles weighing up arguments and writing comparisons on the policies of both sides.

    But they don’t do that.

    They blatantly support Abbott no matter how sexist, idiotic, inept and policy-free he is.

    Again, I ask why.

    It can’t be because Abbott has superior policies ― no-one knows what they are.

    It can’t be because he is a Statesman ― he isn’t. He is a fool and a mouse on the world stage.

    It can’t be because he is an honest, positive, forward thinking politician, either. For he has used the lie of fear-mongering to frighten the electorate into believing the world would come to an end if a carbon price was introduced. Like he has used the lie of “illegal boat people” to petrify the electorate into believing we are being over run by Muslims

    And, most often of all, he has used the viciousness of personal sexist verbal and visual assaults on the Prime Minister to disgracefully denigrate her in the eyes of the public.

    The mainstream media must want to see and report on the financial damage winding back the carbon price and the MRRT will bring.

    They must want to see and report on the regressive policies he will introduce to dilute women’s rights ― which he will do through his ideological religious fervour.

    They must want to see and report on the furore that will occur between Australia and Indonesia when he “turns back the boats” without Indonesian approval.

    Mainstream journalists see their jobs becoming extremely tenuous as the Fifth Estate becomes increasingly influential with ordinary every day people finally being able to have their say be it on Twitter, individual blogs or reading independent online news and opinion websites.

    The only reason I can think of why mainstream media want so desperately for Abbott to be Prime Minister is so that they can voraciously report on the chaos and destruction he will bring down on the Australian people through their dying media in the hope that they can regain their influence over the minds of the people and try to reignite the people’s preference for mainstream media,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

    http://www.independentaustralia.net/2012/politics/the-msm-versus-the-fifth-estate/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-msm-versus-the-fifth-estate

  180. Yesterday, the article by Michell Grattan of the PM falling over in India had the heading

    “PM plays Cinderella again”

    Today that same article has a new headline

    “Gillard takes a tumble as heels dig in”

  181. This morning on RN, Grattan said about comments in Australia on the PM’s fall

    “anyone can have a cheap shot”

    Yes Michelle that’s what I would call yesterday’s headline!

  182. Sue, what is ignored is the importance of the visit to India. The PM has spent many days in the country. Has led a big team of businessman.

    From all accounts her visit has been highly successful

    Cannot allow any positives out.

    Cannot give the perception of

    The PM could have been seriously hurt in that fall. Having had a similar one, I suspect she was more than she let on. If not, that grass must have been really soft.

  183. At the moment on Channel 7, commentators railing against Macquarie definition of misogyny in order to defend the Libs’ failing flailing support of Rabbit. They just had Stephen Conroy on, a Catholic, who defended traditional definition.

  184. Sorry, it was Channel 9, with the gold Logie award winning Karl Stepanovic. They were condemning elements of the media for picking on Gillard for tripping over yesterday, and then Stepanovic steps in it and makes a joke about her tripping over. I wouldn’t have minded if Channel 9 had gone bankrupt, just to get rid of this douchebag.

  185. “At the moment on Channel 7, commentators railing against Macquarie definition of misogyny…”

    The BBC were also covering Macquarie’s redefining of ‘misogyny’ in their 6pm news last night (4am here) with some more audio of Gillard’s scaling, gutting and filleting of Abbott last week.

  186. What is wrong with some. The original definition still stands. There has been the added definition, that has been used for at least thirty years. The dictionary is just catching up.

    Heard Macquarie representative talking.

    The word came from the Greeks. It was described as a pathological or clinical definition, one that you would find in psychologist books. One that it was suggested one needed treatment for.

    The person went on to say, the word has taken on a new meaning over the last twenty to thirty years, since feminism came into fashion.

    The word was not changed to suit the PM, not in recognition that usage has changed.

    It appears this happens all the time with words.

    After all no word is common usage is set in stone. The meanings change over time, sometimes, as with this one, the meaning is extended.

    Language is not static, otherwise we would still be using the language of the sixteenth century or earlier.

    Much is written, and I posted elsewhere on this site, the definition and signs of misogynists in feminine and other writings over the years. Those definitions or signs, mirror the added definition of entrench prejudice against women.

    If Macquarie has got it wrong, a new word needs to be created.

    Watching the sorry statement from the Tasmanian parliament for women who were forced to give up their babies. There is a fine example of how language and society culture changes.

    Babies born to unmarried mothers are no longer called bastards, mothers fallen women.

    Premier having problem with the speech. Is near tears. There are many women, as mothers, and middle age children who are still in our community. Many of these mothers are still living with the secret. Spare a thought for them. Many are in their seventies and eighties and older.

    ABC24

    .

  187. The best I have heard. The PM scripted that fall yesterday, it was not an accident. If the PM did, she has a career after politics in film.

    Also on ABC 702, it was pointed out that the only time the media acknowledge the PM in India, on an important mission has been mentioned, was when she tripped. It was added that unlike the Opposition Leader, the PM manages herself well and appears human in these situations. They did not believe that Mr. Abbott has the same skill.

    The announcer on ABC 24 was wrong, they also made a great thing of the PM being asked whether she likes the Opposition leader or not. In this, the PM gave a diplomatic answer..

    Seen some other shots during the night, where the PM was surrounded by the big team of businessmen, who are accompanying her. Quite impressive.

  190. “”factual accuracy” training and employ a fact-checker after the media regulator”

    So at his age, he needs training in how to tell the truth. So, can one now call him Aliar.

  191. The SMH has a really stupid opinion piece about the Gillard
    Government achievement of winning a seat on the UN security council.

    “The question is, how will Tony Abbott use all this diplomatic clout?”

    Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/australia-must-now-make-its-global-voice-count-20121019-27uo2.html#ixzz29h1UNRLB
    T

    So Abbott, who has achieved nothing, is supposed to be given an opportunity to continue to fuck up, but now on a world stage.

    With smarts like this, Is it any wonder the SMH is going broke?

  193. Morrison and Bishop say that the no disadvantage test means five years.

    There was one question I would ask of them, what happens after five years.

    Mr. Morrison has a new word. Their policy is based on it, and nothing else. The word is deterrence.

    So, Mr. Morrison believes we can make the conditions so bad, they will not get on the boats.

    Does he really believe they are going to sit quietly in Indonesia and Malaysia, where the conditions are bad and there is no place for them.

    Are they going to sit patiently in those camps, while the numbers grow, biding their time, with no hope.

    No Mr. Morrison and Ms Bishop, the whole of the Experts plan. All of it. The part that deals with deterrence, while we take more in and get that imaginary line or process to work and give people hope.

    It is not just an Australian problem, nor indeed the problems of any individual country in this region.

    It is a regional problem, that has to be dealt with on a regional basis.

    These people know when they get on those boats it could mean death. What could be a bigger deterrent than that.

    Never seen such bas grace as the opposition and Mr. Murdoch to the vote Australia got at the UN.

    Five million a year over five years does not buy much. This has been money well spent. I am sure the miners would believe so, as most of it went to Africa and South America, both continents that they mine in.

    Yes, it is temporary, but some see important. Yes, the UN is far from perfect. Until something better comes along, that is all we have.

    The Liberals cannot see it in their genes to congratulate others on anything.

    That is narrow thing and self centered behavior that should scare many.

  195. tom R
    I see that absolute tool and raise you one absolute tool.

    Joe Hockey on Australia getting seat on UN security council:

    “Maybe now the UN can help Stop the Boats”
    ABC news 24.

  196. I wouldn’t be surprised if the ABC received a few complaints on Emma Alberici on Lateline. Emma sounded a bit racist with her comments on Rwanda.

  197. In what I have started to call “lapdog journalism”, Peter Hartcher has produced a really nauseating piece “We heart Howard: both sides want to be like the Little Master”

    Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/we-heart-howard-both-sides-want-to-be-like-the-little-master-20121019-27wqu.html#ixzz29mKN6qOu

    This bit of crap really turned me off my breakfast with shite like “(Howard)…the second-longest serving prime minister finds himself the gold standard in politics”

    Perhaps Hartcher might have missed the fact that he was the one of only two Prime Ministers who lost his seat (and government) when rejected by the Australian electorate.

    Maybe the recent US Court finding that Howard was wrong to support the jailing of David Hicks has prompted this attempt to rewrite history.

    Hartcher you are a clown.

  198. Actually lunalava if you ignore the obvious gloss over of Howard’s considerable failures in his obsequiousness to report glowingly on the divisive Howard, Hartcher is actually actually canning Abbott, and rightly so. Read the last couple of paragraphs.

  199. I believe one of Mr. Howard’s failure was his attempt to get a temporary seat on the UN.

    I believe this is the fourth time we have achieved what happened yesterday.

    What were the colour of other governments that has success.

    I could be wrong, but I believe that Mr. Hawke also failed.

  200. “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.”

    OK here’s the thing. Until recently the MSM have IMO dishonestly glossed over the matter of Gillard’s involvement in the AWU scandal. Indeed Michael Smith lost his job as a result of his investigations. Now this dishonesty may well have been tempered by a Fear of Finkelstein factor but nonetheless they have been dragged kicking and screaming to the position today. Even The Age has had a dabble with it and this week we have the explosive allegation that “A senior forensic accountant, John Lourens, who is analysing account records and legal documents related to the slush fund, states in a newly released report that “at a minimum, the AWU financial swindle involves a misappropriation of $880,663″.”

    Waiting for a barrage of wailing and gnashing of teeth here, as whisperers attempt to discredit The Oz and Hedley Thomas.

  207. Talk about media creating news.

    Lawyers for federal independent MP Craig Thomson are planning to take legal action against a Health Services Union (HSU) member who accused him of being a liar.

    Katrina Hart, who is contesting HSU elections, was given seven days to retract comments she made about Mr Thomson or face defamation action.

    That deadline expired on Monday.

    Mr Thomson’s lawyer, Chris McArdle, says he is serious about taking legal action against anyone who makes defamatory comments about his client.

    “We will commence proceedings at a time of our client’s choosing, but most likely after we have achieved dismissal of the defective and wrongly based litigation that has been commenced against him,” Mr McArdle said in a letter to Ms Hart.

    “The claims against him, made by you in the article in the Telegraph, are false.”

    The letter was sent on October 22 and offers to drop the legal action if Ms Hart apologised within a seven-day period.

    But Ms Hart is refusing to budge, arguing she feels as though she is being forced into an apology.

    “On top of that, I mean the evidence has been published in the papers,” Ms Hart told ABC News Online.

    “They can try (to sue me), but I’ve had three sets of legal advice – all separate – and everyone has actually laughed at that letter.”

    The legal threat was prompted by comments Ms Hart is quoted as having made to the Daily Telegraph newspaper on October 19 that Mr Thomson was not telling the truth in relation to claims he used HSU funds to pay for prostitutes.

    Mr Thomson, who was the HSU’s national secretary before entering Parliament, has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing in relation to the accusations.

    Ms Hart had publicly dared the federal MP to sue her.

    Asked by ABC News Online whether she regretted making the comment, Ms Hart replied: “No, I don’t.”

    “I’ve also had media actually offer to pay for my legal fees if Craig Thomson wants to go ahead and sue me.”

    Ms Hart, who was encouraged to contest the HSU elections by stood-down national secretary Kathy Jackson, refused to name which media company had made the offer, but said it was not Fairfax nor the Daily Telegraph

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-10-30/thomson-lawyer-planning-to-sue-union-member/4342388

    Michael Willamson in court tomorrow.

    http://wixxyleaks.com/2012/10/30/karma-police/#comment-3128

  209. While we’re at it, Adam Morton deserves a goof kick in the arse for being a mouthpiece for alarmism.

    “How climate scientists conduct their affairs has received a lot of attention since late in 2009, when the original Climategate emails surfaced, but the role of their enablers in the press has gone largely unexamined by the press itself. It is a topic that screams to be explored, and a splendid local starting point for that inquiry might be the editor’s office at the Age, where this question or something like it needs to be put to the newspaper’s environment editor:
    “Adam, sorry to bother you, but do you think you might be too close, and far too sympathetic, to your fellow believers in global warming? And while we are on the subject, why didn’t you contact Climate Journal to make sure you weren’t being spun silly by your mate Karoly?”

    http://bunyipitude.blogspot.com.au/2012/10/karolygate-iv.html

  211. All the Jones figures prove, there are a small number of similar arseholes within reach of his broadcast area. It does not prove him right.

    As for the lack of response by the public to 17 year old allegations, that in spite of intense investigations by a team of media investigators, still has not found the smoking gun.

    Most do not go along with guilt by association.

    It says something for Abbott, that all he has in his arsenal, is these rumours, a fail attack on the GEF and attempts to label the PM a liar.

    Even the attempts to link her to the Williamson saga and the allegations that the PM is responsible for the HSU losing money has failed. It was pointed out the legislation was lifted Holus-bolus from the Liberal Fairwork leglisation. Also that the Liberals voted for the bill. It was also pointed out, that the loopholes have already been plugged.

    Today, the PM is continuing with government business with the introduction of the poker machine legislation. No wonder Hockey and Pyne are complaining they cannot keep up.

    Anyone have a list of what they have achieved this week alone.

    By the way, the PM is now being assisted by MP’s breaking ranks within the Coalition.

    Yes, trolls, you do indeed have your work cut out for you in the coming months.

    We have an Opposition leader that has ranted on about the sky falling once too often.

    Yes, there are many more, in fact over 80% who do not listen to Jones. It is interesting that he is attracting the 10 to I think 16 audiences. Says a lot about the level of the programme.

  212. CU,

    It is interesting that he is attracting the 10 to I think 16 audiences. Says a lot about the level of the programme.

    Yes, very odd, that one. Kids of that age group don’t listen to the radio LET ALONE talk radio LET ALONE the ravings of old Liberal whingers.

    Opinion polls (Newspoll, etc) come with published ‘margins of error’. They frequently throw up ‘outlier’ polls, sometimes called ‘rogues’. I’m guessing radio surveys are similar – ‘twould have to be a rogue poll that shows a rising number of primary schoolers tuning into Radio Liberal.

  213. LOL – Trollman once again demonstrates the paucity of intellectual capacity rife in right-whingers 😆

    A self-selecting, online poll that comes with the warning,

    Disclaimer: These polls are not scientific and reflect the opinion only of visitors who have chosen to participate.

    is no evidence of anything. Which right-whinge site directed you (and 8000 others) to that poll?

  214. Yep, as expected, it was Bolt that directed his rabid, slavering sycophants in the direction of that Age poll.

    Surprise, surprise 🙄

  215. Hurricane Sandy in perspective…calling bullshit on media claims that AGW had anything to do with it.
    http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204840504578089413659452702.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

    “Hurricane Sandy left in its path some impressive statistics. Its central pressure was the lowest ever recorded for a storm north of North Carolina, breaking a record set by the devastating “Long Island Express” hurricane of 1938. Along the East Coast, Sandy led to more than 50 deaths, left millions without power and caused an estimated $20 billion or more in damage.

    But to call Sandy a harbinger of a “new normal,” in which unprecedented weather events cause unprecedented destruction, would be wrong. This historic storm should remind us that planet Earth is a dangerous place, where extreme events are commonplace and disasters are to be expected. In the proper context, Sandy is less an example of how bad things can get than a reminder that they could be much worse. In studying hurricanes, we can make rough comparisons over time by adjusting past losses to account for inflation and the growth of coastal communities. If Sandy causes $20 billion in damage (in 2012 dollars), it would rank as the 17th most damaging hurricane or tropical storm (out of 242) to hit the U.S. since 1900—a significant event, but not close to the top 10. The Great Miami Hurricane of 1926 tops the list (according to estimates by the catastrophe-insurance provider ICAT), as it would cause $180 billion in damage if it were to strike today. Hurricane Katrina ranks fourth at $85 billion. To put things into even starker perspective, consider that from August 1954 through August 1955, the East Coast saw three different storms make landfall—Carol, Hazel and Diane—that in 2012 each would have caused about twice as much damage as Sandy.

    While it’s hardly mentioned in the media, the U.S. is currently in an extended and intense hurricane “drought.” The last Category 3 or stronger storm to make landfall was Wilma in 2005. The more than seven years since then is the longest such span in over a century.”

  216. Editor-in-chief, The Australian

    Born in:

    Friends: Paul Whittaker

    Foes: The Greens

    Home Town: Sydney

    If Julia Gillard scores an unlikely victory at the next election, there’s something she can look forward to during her next term as prime minister: Chris Mitchell retiring from his post as editor-in-chief of The Australian.

    At least that’s what Mitchell predicts. The paper’s 50th anniversary in mid-2014, he sa would be the logical time to begin the handover to his heir apparent Clive Mathieson.

    http://www.thepowerindex.com.au/journalists-a-editors/chris-mitchell?utm_source=The+Power+Index&utm_campaign=fc3799841a-The_Power_Index_6_November_2012&utm_medium=email

  217. That article on Chris is below everage, especially the opinions of disgruntled past employees that could not cut the mustard at The Australian.

    Have had dealings with Chris and he has been most helpful over the years. He has been called a far right wing extremist…I laugh at the idiots that think such. I suppose Rudd would be laughing too as he is the god father of the right winger’s youngest son. And who did The Australian endorse at the 2007 election?

    This left/right thing is so childish. If one critiques a side then their dog loyal supporters attack with the usual…troll or party member because the abusers can not even grasp that their side can do no wrong. This place is a classic example as can’t comprehend that an ever growing demographic won’t stand for bad governance by either party in power and will call out bad policy and the such.

    I would call it the class of political savvy voters that swing to ensure the less worse don’t get their votes. We decide who governs, not the mangy loyalists that would defend their lot no matter how bad they govern…I’m looking at you!

    When the next government is in place and stuffs up I will be calling them out because I can and have before like I did in 2006-07. Hard to believe, CU? Well, a few old hands here could attest to the fact.

  218. “This place is a classic example as can’t comprehend that an ever growing demographic won’t stand for bad governance by either party in power and will call out bad policy and the such.”

    HEAR HEAR

  219. More on the failing MSM and the growing influence of social media as a news source.

    Good blog.

    Screening out facts?

    There is no better example of a significant moment that damages the mainstream press’s authority and credibility than the almost unanimous reporting in the lead up to this week’s US election that the race was ‘too close to call’. This information was handed to us from a platform that is so tainted by the crisis of credibility that it’s no wonder so many of us flood social media to ask each other ‘what’s the real story with this election?’ And we are perfectly justified in our mistrust.

  220. http://www.skynews.com.au/showbiz/article.aspx?id=815571

    Network Ten has axed Breakfast and Ten Morning News due to poor ratings, with the shows winding up at the end of the month.

    A Ten spokeswoman says Breakfast and Ten Morning News will be screened for the last time on Friday, November 30.

    Ten’s breakfast show is hosted by Kathryn Robinson and New Zealand presenter Paul Henry, who is reportedly on a million dollars a year.

    Breakfast has been a very distant third in the early morning slot this year.

    The Seven Network’s Sunrise has averaged about 365,000 viewers each day in 2012 and the Nine Network’s Today has averaged around 330,000.

    Meanwhile, Breakfast, which debuted in February, has an average daily audience of about 40,000.

    Might have been better to sack the NZer first. Could not stand him.n No ability whatever. The women would have been better on their own.

    It is a shame. I have no love for TEN news but do believe in this regard, we need competition.

  221. Is Jones protecting the back of his best mate.

    …………..Turnbull’s vision for the future of the NBN, should the Coalition win the next Federal Election, would see the Coalition ask the Productivity Commission to investigate the best way in which next-generation broadband should be rolled out to Australians. It is then likely that the Coalition would modify the NBN rollout to focus on fibre to the node instead of fibre to the home technology, as well as stopping the closure of the HFC cable networks operated by Telstra and Optus, and using satellite and wireless technologies to serve rural areas.

    However, much of the policy detail has not yet been disclosed, and it remains unclear whether Turnbull’s vision is fully supported by the Shadow Cabinet, with several senior Coalition politicians expressing views of broadband policy that may diverge from Turnbull’s vision – such as Abbott’s statement last week that Australia’s broadband situation was best addressed by the competitive market. In addition, The Australian newspaper has reported that there is “widespread” concern within Liberal Party ranks about how effectively Turnbull has made the case against the NBN, with some reportedly believing that Turnbull’s policy platform was too close to Labor’s own vision.

    Perhaps the most unorthodox part of Jones’ interview with Morgan was the telecommunications consultant’s comparison of the NBN project to the Tanganyika Groundnut Scheme promulgated by the British Labour Government in the 1940’s in East Africa. The project was intended to develop the region’s agriculture potential but failed. “If you go out into the bush in Southern Africa, now Tanzania, you’ll find all these rusting tractors, all this junk from this project,” Morgan told Jones. And then, with reference to the NBN: “You’re going to have fibre hanging off power poles, incomplete sections of this network. The Labor Government, if they’re returned, will have to revisit this, have to say this is nonsense.”..
    http://delimiter.com.au/2012/11/12/alan-jones-slams-turnbulls-nbn-performance/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Delimiter+%28Delimiter%29

  222. ROFL

    shanana off the wagon again/still

    http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/columnists/labors-negativity-pays-off-in-the-short-run/story-e6frg75f-1226515463703

    In one of the true ironies of modern political campaigning, a relentlessly negative and obsessive campaign is being run to portray an opponent as relentlessly negative and obsessive.

    I don’t think ‘irony’ is what it is called dennis. Right Wing Projection perhaps ❓

    2+ years of NO!, and it is Labor who are negative?

    ……and has talked more about him than its own achievements or record.

    I call bullshit. They have talked about their achievements for 2+ years. just cos you lot were too busy waiting for them to fall to tabots negativity doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.

    ………..he’s no more sexist or old-fashioned than he was in December 2009

    That isn’t really saying that isn’t he any less sexist or old-fashioned than he was in December 2009 either, is it dennis?

    Meanwhile, Dennis doesn’t mention this in that article, although he does briefly in his other one. I recall when they would emblazon the results in large font on the front page. Now, you need to scan the articles to find them lol. If only they weren’t so obvious with their barracking, it might not be so embarrassing for them.

    Newspoll: 51-49 to Coalition

    http://blogs.crikey.com.au/pollbludger/2012/11/12/newspoll-51-49-to-coalition-2/

    The narrowing continues, and apparently it’s all about Labor’s ‘negativity’ ROFL

    No wonder the ‘business model’ is broken

  223. Bushfire Bill (who I am led to believe was once known around the traps as AussieBob?) has his inimitable take on dennis the mendace referred to in my above post

    Abbott hasn’t changed in 35 years: a boofhead then and a boofhead now. A quick Margie Makeover and some “kinder gentler” lines isn’t going to cut it. He’s still the man who’s first resort is the nastyism and who accused Bernie Banton of not being pure of heart, a few weeks before he died. Classy, eh?

    http://blogs.crikey.com.au/pollbludger/2012/11/12/newspoll-51-49-to-coalition-2/?comment_page=6/#comment-1470561

    Some people just have a way with words 🙂

  227. It has just been said on radio national that the Australian has 3 pages of smear against the PM. One article even says there is no allegations of wrong doing.

    BUT the gripe of the Australian is to attack the ABC because they will not attack the PM. The Australian noted the only coverage by the ABC was Fran Kelly and Michelle Grattan.

    Smear, smear, smear.

  228. It’s worst than a smear Sue, it’s nothing more than a bunch of aging old coots lamenting, in public, that they can’t find anything the PM has done wrong. It’s quite embarrassing really.

    “It’s inconceivable that I could forget that. Maybe I’m wrong – I mean, no one is infallible.”

    from the article titled

    Union official who first raised Julia Gillard renovation claims now doubts his own story

    http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/investigations/union-official-who-first-raised-julia-gillard-renovation-claims-now-doubts-his-own-story/story-fng5kxvh-1226516991591

    The story rakes over, in detail, all the old slurs, as the old coots take stock and go ‘well, maybe she did, maybe she didn’t’

    It’s a national embarrassment.

  229. I could not believe the words I heard out of Mr. Lewis mouth yesterday, on ABC radio.

    He said that there were no allegations that the PM had done anything wrong. Yes, that is what he said. He then went on to say, the information would help the Opposition in their attack in parliament. Must have been too early in the morning.

    Has one noticed how aggressive are the voices of those who are pushing this line at PC..

  230. One needs to remember, these people recalling memories from up to twenty years ago. Even what is written on paper might not have the meaning one reads into it today. One needs to know the context, that note was written in.

    Most of the so call new allegations are from a man that was a puppet of Wilson, known as a little dense, weak and proven liar. One who has a reputation to try and get back. If we are to believe what was written then Wilson found it easy to use him. Not the most reliable witness.

    It will be interesting to see what the new police investigations come up with. Could charges arise, of making false allegations, wasting the police time.

    Could a charge emerge, of creating and publishing false information. One never knows.

    The Australian is no longer bothering to conceal their agenda, to bring down a PM.

  231. PM rattled by story that will not die
    BY: NIKI SAVVA From: The Australian November 15, 2012 12:00AM

    ANY reservations the opposition had about pursuing Julia Gillard over her abrupt departure from her old law firm Slater & Gordon following a secret internal probe evaporated on October 9.

    That was the day Gillard made her infamous speech in parliament, branding Tony Abbott a sexist and misogynist when he sought the removal of her preferred Speaker, Peter Slipper, whose text messages to a former male staffer have given rise to claims that he actually is a sexist and misogynist…
    ..Parliament rises on November 29 and Bishop has only four sitting days left to directly quiz the Prime Minister. Thanks to the continuing revelations, particularly by Thomas, she has a wealth of material to draw on.

    This story simmers and boils, and Bishop has shown so far she is more than capable of framing the questions and getting under the Prime Minister’s skin.

    Abbott should leave her to it and concentrate on the economy. That is where he needs to focus his efforts to build credibility for himself and his party.

    http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/columnists/pm-rattled-by-story-that-will-not-die/story-fnahw9xv-1226516930976

    Rattled?? I thought that she was justifiably angry, and showed it,

    It is good to see the media sees their role as giving the Opposition advice on how to roll the PM.

    Wonder why the story will not die?

  232. Gerard Henderson and Terry McCrann make up facts to damn Labor, nah never according to Neil. The right are as honest as the day is long and it’s only “you lot” that are dishonest and untrustworthy.

    Yet the media so implicitly trusted by the right can’t even do basic accounting sums when the data is right there in front of them, and this is the same media outfit who alleges malfeasance on the part of the PM without a skerrick of evidence.

    Gerard Henderson and Tonto McCrann – The latest

  233. ME, what this article also shows, the money being spent, over many years by the way, is tiny, when compared to total budget outlays.

  234. Laurie Oaks last night also stated the story won’t go away and has the PM rattled with some in her party now becoming nervous.

    No elucidation other than that statement, which glosses over the fact that the story won’t go away because one right wing news organisation keeps pushing it, otherwise it’s a non-story.

    It appears the PM isn’t rattled.

    Who exactly are those nervous in the Labor party?

    You must put these Ltd News and opposition attacks in the context that they have done exactly the same thing in the past; kept a non-story of smear alive, claimed the PM was “rattled” and Labor party members were nervous.

    In every case the storiessmears came to nothing.

    All this reeks of sheer desperation by the opposition and their mouthpieces as they see their show pony begin to lose it’s shine and spring, being revealed as a faltering nag who hasn’t a clue without being led by the nose every step of the way.

  235. I thought it was interesting that Radio National highlighted that The Australian was miffed that the ABC was not running with “their stories on the PM”. Up to now the Australian has “led” and the ABC has then run with it on-line, in the repetitive news24, on radio and shows such as the drum.
    It will be interesting to see how much purchase the Australian and Tony Abbott can get without the other “news” media, especially if the other news media want facts and allegations rather than politics of smear.

  236. Oh I should have said that Oaks prefaced that statement with one saying the PM was right in her statement on smear and that there’s no evidence behind the allegations being made.

  237. No, the story won’t go away ME, but I get the feeling that this story is more an obituary to murdochs failed ‘business model’ than anything else.

    They have now openly exposed themselves to be those ” misogynists and the nut jobs” on the internet the PM referred too in her public press conference on the matter all that time ago.

  238. One issue that has to be put to bed. What Are we doing with our media. Must admit, there does seem to be a little, tiny?, the balance now. That is when one moves away from the Australian. Maybe it is just wishful thinking on my part.

    Has one noticed, this government makes new announcements everyday.

    …The Labor government’s plans to introduce wide-ranging media ownership reforms may be delayed – and ultimately split into two packages – over differences within the Labor cabinet, according to The Australian.

    Splitting the reforms would allow the government to move ahead, perhaps as early next week, with reforms that would force TV networks to broadcast more Australian programming in exchange for a permanent cut in licence fees that would be worth hundreds of millions of dollars to TV network owners, the report said.

    That would allow the government to continue debating controversial changes to media ownership rules and delay a public interest test for prospective owners of media companies that would also be geared towards preventing market concentration.

    Labor ministers have abandoned plans for a government-funded News Media Council watchdog, which had been loudly opposed by media owners. The government has said it will instead tighten rules governing self-regulation of news reporting…

    http://www.businessspectator.com.au/bs.nsf/Article/Labor-plans-to-split-contentious-media-reforms-pd20121115-23QHZ?OpenDocument&src=eiw&ir=3

  239. Would be nice.

    THE federal government has given its strongest indication yet that it would be willing to cut commercial television licence fees permanently in exchange for a guarantee of more Australian content.

    Speaking at the Screen Producers Association of Australia conference on Thursday, Arts Minister Simon Crean suggested that the 50 per cent reduction in licence fees granted by the government in 2011 could be made permanent.

    But in return, the networks would be expected to increase their first-run Australian-made drama, documentary and children’s programs across all their channels.

    Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/australian-content-crean-signals-fee-deal-for-networks-20121115-29fat.html#ixzz2CL3EPUla

  243. EG

    did you read that SMH article! the man you admire was putting price before public health!

    It was Howard that heard the cries of dismay from the public and acted.

  245. To me, this sums up the media all too well


    THE government has gone on the front foot against     what it describes as the ”smearing” of Julia Gillard, with a counter-smear against Deputy Opposition Leader Julie Bishop.

    Read more: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/opinion/political-news/labor-turns-the-tables-on-bishop-20121118-29kar.html#ixzz2Ccbysrhe

    So, the two plus years of unsubstantiated muck raking from the opposition and their media mates is only a ‘smear’ according to the ALP, nobody else, but the smear against bishop is just that.

    Why do they phrase one sides smear as ‘according to’, but when the ALP do it, it is just s smear?

    Fair and balanced, our papers should use that line too.

  246. Is an oasis of Progressive content about to be made available in Australia’s democracy-dessicating right-wing media desert?

    Watch the heads of Bolt and fellow travelers explode!

    Guardian may launch Australian print edition

    According to today’s AFR, the left-leaning newspaper, which is owned by a not-for-profit trust, “is believed to be eyeing an expansion into Australia with plans to potentially establish a small print edition as well as an online presence.”

  247. Award for the most crass article this week goes to Simon Crerar of News Ltd.
    Crerar has decided to put a sexual side to his opinion piece on Gillard and Obama. So that you won’t be let to think it is not a sexual article, the article comes with especially chosen pictures of previous meetings of Gillard- Obama. Then just in case you still may not think he is pushing a sexual angle, the lead to the article implies Mathieson is uncomfortable by these words “left adjusting tie”.

    Just more smut and smear from News Ltd towards our PM , you may think, but then I suppose Murdoch’s mates have to attack the US President for winning, as well.

    http://www.news.com.au/world/flirting-and-joking-gillard-and-obama-seal-special-relationship-over-dinner-in-phnom-penh/story-fndir2ev-1226520043939

  249. “I hope the Guardian does launch in Australia”

    Good let’s have Moonbat as well so we have real wingnuts and fruitcakes to bounce a few ideas around!

  253. Sue:

    I hope the Guardian does launch in Australia

    I’d bet money the astroturfers would be assigned to ‘work’ the comments sections. A couple of recent stories at The Guardian on Julia Gillard’s triumphant misogyny speech brought out the astroturfers in a frenzied spam offensive.

  257. FORMER prime minister Kevin Rudd and former opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull can still draw a decent crowd. ….
    .The pair appeared on the ABC’s talk show Q&A last night and propelled the show into the 10 most-watched programs for the evening.

    With 840,000 viewers tuning in to hear the popular disposed leaders of the two major parties, Q&A finished ninth – making it the ABC’s highest-rating show for the evening……………

    ………..The penultimate show of The X Factor was in the ratings penthouse after pulling an audience of 1.667 million across the five-metro market……..

    ..After The X Factor, five of the next six spots in the Top 10 were taken by news and current affairs programs.

    At No 2 was Seven News (1.144 million), followed by Nine News (1.133 million) and ABC News (1.092 million).

    Seven’s soapie Home And Away broke the sequence with 1.049 million viewers for fifth spot, and then came Today Tonight (981,000) and A Current Affair (964,000).

    Crime drama Castle, which certainly had a boost in the ratings due to X Factor running overtime, was eighth with 920,000 viewers and Four Corners (829,000) was 10th…………

    http://www.theaustralian.com.au/media/kevin-rudd-and-malcolm-turnbull-can-still-draw-a-crowd/story-e6frg996-1226520313311

    Where did QandA come. Eleventh I believe, after Home and Away. If this is true, what does the headline means.

    As one right wing so called journalist said today, elsewhere, do not believe the headlines.

  259. Media has reached a new low. Now the PM’s partner in in their sights.

    ‘First Bloke’ Tim Mathieson has been tried and found guilty of not living up to the manly stereotype, despite all his work in sheds.

    Back in your man cave, houseboy. Pic: Kym SmithBack in your man cave, houseboy. Pic: Kym Smith

    You didn’t hear about Therese Rein running former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s baths, or about Janette Howard pouring the bubble bath after former Prime Minister John Howard had a hard day.

    …….Let’s hope it wears off soon. It’s patronising (or should that be matronising?). Columnist Andrew Bolt said he was like “the old-fashioned wife”:

    “Now, the first bloke Tim Mathieson has been trotted out for an interview and he sounds like the old-fashioned wife. If there was a male prime minister with his wife like this, there would be screams of outrage.”

    Any “screams of outrage” should be reserved for that phrase there – “old-fashioned wife”. Spouses get ‘trotted out’ all the time. By Prime Ministers and wannabe future Prime Ministers, as it happens. …..

    http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/why-men-cant-blow-dry-and-women-can-fight-tough-stains/

  260. So their QandA came eleventh. Shows the public isn’t very switched on to politics. Which must be a bit of a worry to the media with their regime change agenda.

  262. Cuppa, that is how I read it. 11th. What the headlines are about is beyond me.

    The show has become very boring lately. Even I am disincline to watch.

  263. CU,

    I watched a few minutes of their QandA once, caught more Young Liberal presence than I could stomach, and haven’t looked at it again since. In fact, come to think of it, I haven’t turned on the ABC – radio or TV – for more than two years now, though have brushed up against it at times when someone else had it on in the room. There was a time when I couldn’t have lived without the ABC, so I guess whoever’s plan is to alienate their core support base is working, bigtime.

  265. Mr. Blewitt, flanked by Smith and a lawyer writing a book. Yes he has a little guilty conscience.

    Once again, I cannot help but feel this man is once again being used, as he was by Wilson.

    Mr. Blewitt on ABC 7.30

    Was having trouble with his memory After being shown documents, his memory has improved.

    Has been over seas 15 YEARS.

    Robert Galbraith, solicitor.

  266. CU

    did you hear him say he was concerned about “freedom of speech”. that comment was very important to smith as well. funny how blewitt’s memory has cleared, once lots of documents were placed in front of him and also that he himself had not “knowingly” done anything wrong. he also was putting out a call for anyone with knowledge to come forward. lets hope he puts himself in front of the police quick smart.

  267. Sue, I do not know who was the most unbelievable, him or the lady with the stare.

    If I was sitting in an interview of a child, or doing the interview, getting those answers, in the manner he gave them I would immediately come to the conclusion, the child had been primed. I suspect the police will reach that conclusion very quick.

  270. I know Vexnews had a pretty scathing article about Blewitt and his Malaysian interests. Not a person of integrity.

  271. I wonder if any investigative journalist will see who paid for his air fare and accommodation, or would that be too hard an assignment?

  272. Sue, maybe he is taking the chance to come home. As someone said, what do you make of someone who lets one crook off, to bring down a PM.

    I do not believe he would know much anyway He was never more than a puppet for Wilson.

    Wilson seemed to have a habit of using people. Would be surprised if any knew more than was necessary.

  278. The Greek builder? it has already been settled the PM paid for her own renovations, even the guy who claimed she hadn’t has recently retracted, saying he had no information was only repeating rumours. The ABC report is interesting. even Blewitt says he knows nothing about things in Victoria, only WA but wants to talk to Vic police. His criminal lawyer won’t be cheap.

  279. Sue, I suspect he is not paying, no more that Ashby, and maybe Jackson is. If it is the paper, shareholders should start complaining about excessive legal bills the company is amassing.

    Even Blewitt said, if the police take action.

    Not sure what crime the PM is supposed to have committed.

    I read somewhere that the most that could come out of this, would amount to no more than a misdemeanor, with little of no punishment.

  280. Lateline.Story is getting wilder. Bullets and bashing etc. Bill Shorten being questioned. Denying the stories.

  281. Have you seen this
    “Lord Justice Leveson is to take an all-expenses-paid trip to Australia to give a £620-a-ticket lecture on controlling the media – days after passing his judgement on the future of press regulation.

    The High Court judge will make the 10,000-mile haul with his wife to give a key note speech at Sydney’s University of Technology entitled ‘Privacy in the 21st century’ on December 7.

    He will make the address just eight days after the official publication, on November 29, of the first part of his long-awaited report from his epic probe into press standards and amid the likely firestorm that will ensue its publication.

    He will then jet to Melbourne five days later to deliver a second oration on ‘News Gathering in a Time of Change’. Tickets for this event, which are free so long as audience members book in advance, have already sold out.

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2236618/Leveson-head-expenses-paid-trip-Australia-speech-media-freedom-press-standards-report-published-week.html#ixzz2DK0OoDTM
    Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

  284. What an interesting development, the Drum tonight has a Murdoch free panel, an IPA free panel.
    It totally surprised me, enough that i stayed and found an interesting discussion.

    I hope it was not a one off show.

  285. Sue, the interview before with Lydal Curtis was also as good. Capital Hill was not bad, When they bypass what I would describe as trolls, they do very well.

    It was not that there was no criticism of Labor, there was.

  286. Agree CU

    I hope the 2 shows have reacted to criticism and the ABC is going through change. Or is that wishful thinking?

    But it would be wonderful to think of the ABC living up to its charter especially with next year being an election year.

  287. After Scott flew to Tasmania and announced 16 redundancies and the closure of Tasmanian productions, the Union took the ABC to FWA. Scott then telephoned the Union to say nothing was settled “it was only in the consultation stage”. And now talks have begun . However:

    “Scott and ABC director of television Kim Dalton last week travelled to Hobart where they told staff of the decision to end production there. That decision was met with condemnation, including from communications minister Stephen Conroy, who urged the ABC to reconsider.

    “I call on the ABC board to ensure that the broadcaster upholds its clear obligations in relation to cultural diversity and local programming,” Conroy said last week. “Cutting production facilities in Tasmania could result in a dramatic reduction in the telling of Tasmanian stories, something that diminishes the ABC and short-changes the people of Tasmania.”
    http://www.theaustralian.com.au/media/union-suspends-fwa-move-as-abc-holds-off-tasmania-decision-for-consultation/story-e6frg996-1226526964655

    After reading about the intervention of the Minister talking with his new Chairman of the Board., I wonder whether the Board is looking at other areas of the ABC Charter and Scott’s interpretation of it.

  288. Channel 10 is having its Xmas party it is fancy dress..

    Bolt goes as a Minstrel, the Black and White type

    Paul Henry goes as Andrew Bolt

    Lachlan Murdoch goes in drag as Rebecca Brookes

  289. Things not happy at the station. Had one ever watched that NZ. He was shocking.

    Wonder if Gina went.

  290. I must admit I wondered who were the ‘stars’ of channel 10. the ads were enough to turn me off ever watching their morning show.

  291. If Gina attended she could recite her poem for them and in the tradition of Xmas give them all a piece of coal to remember the occasion.

  292. I see that the Telegraph not only didn’t report on the Essential poll, it has decided to ignore it. So today the Tele is continuing its smearing of the PM by rehashing AWU stuff.

    As the media and coalition shared results, the Tele is catering to its market. A diminishing market at that.

  293. The Tele journo’s won’t read this

    The Joke that’s journalism

    “Mark Latham

    It just won’t go away. The misrepresentations, the lack of research skills, the inability to understand basic facts and report them in a logical and coherent way. If the Slater & Gordon affair proves anything, it does not concern the professional standing of Australia’s Prime Minister. It highlights, instead, the professional incompetence of its media.”
    http://www.afr.com/p/opinion/the_joke_that_journalism_oZw1G6JALonTpZbXFOZ2nJ

  294. A great summation of the media

    “A decade or so ago, I recall Alan Ramsey telling me journalism was a dying profession.

    I thought he was exaggerating, but the great man was right. Journalism as we know it is dying, choking on its own incompetence. It is going the way of every commercial organisation which takes its customers for granted, offering low-grade services.

    For the sake of our democracy, this cannot happen fast enough. One of the reasons the Australian people are so disengaged from politics is their deep-seated distrust of journalism.

    The public has seen too many errors and too many smear campaigns masquerading as “investigative reporting” to take the media seriously. Unable to get reliable, independent information about politics, they see little point in following the public debate.”
    http://www.afr.com/p/opinion/the_joke_that_journalism_oZw1G6JALonTpZbXFOZ2nJ

  295. Rupert Murdoch was protected from police, claims MP
    News International may have stopped co-operating with a police investigation into alleged criminal behaviour by journalists because it found evidence that could implicate Rupert Murdoch, an MP claimed last night……..

    and

    ….He also used parliamentary privilege to claim NI destroyed a laptop computer to get rid of evidence of “criminality” over The Sun newspaper’s payment to a US soldier for pictures of Saddam Hussein in jail.
    Speaking during a Commons debate on the Leveson Report, the Labour MP for Rhondda who was also a victim of phone hacking by the News of the World, said he believed Rupert Murdoch could face criminal charges and urged NI to hand over all emails he had sent to staff about the Saddam pictures…..

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/phone-hacking/9720534/Rupert-Murdoch-was-protected-from-police-claims-MP.html

    Too close to home. Pity he did not take after his mother.

  296. Capitol Hill Once again words of Mr. Swan being quoted out of context. What is new. The quote they are using from the era of GFC, that we now have an emergency low rates.

    The difference is that the economy was different then.

    Kelly, the one that replace Mr.Costello is one of the most arrogrant from the right.

  298. Lyndal challenged O’Dwyer a couple of times.
    first when O’Dwyer was saying the NDIS is 3 elections away, who knows where Julia will be. Lyndal stopped her short with the bi-partisan acceptance of NDIS

    then on the ’emergency levels’ lyndal challenged her with quotes from the RBA that banks weren’t passing on full reductions, so margins were wider. o’dwyer wasn’t having the rba quoted at her, but insisted on swan quotes from the gfc. o’dwyer wasn’t accepting of any of the good economic news.

    the question to the pollies at the end, about advice to the media was interesting.
    methinks the ABC is doing some reflection or having some reflection forced upon them.

  300. Cash/Odwyer are both full of themselves and continually talk over the top of the other guest.
    however my skin crawls when cash talks and but if i look at her my mind wanders thinking she has used too much fake tan

    that’s the end of pollies for this year on capital hill.

  301. they are tweeting that newman is interested in the deal that barry got with pm on ndis.
    trouble for newman is that pm has already said he isn’t spending enough. so he has to bring his state up to nsw standard.

    sounds as if what kate carnell said on the drum , the premier last to do a deal is the one that gets the least.
    and nathan rees said that all the other premiers would have a very bad headache tonight, knowing that barry has scooped them by doing a deal.

    other good quote from nathan rees: “Don’t be mistaken the PM OWNS the NDIS”

  303. Another great article by David Donovan with a template letter that can be sent to the AEC.

    One thing I didn’t pick up in previous articles was the fact Mark Scott ex liberal staffer was Editor at Fairfax, who dropped Margo Kingston’s stories on the Abbott Slush Fund and lying to AEC. No wonder the Drum didn’t accept her article last week

  304. they are tweeting that newman is interested in the deal that barry got with pm on ndis.

    Good on you, Fatty. You’ve finally done something right for a change.

  305. The Murdochs’ don’t practice the BS that comes out of their mouths, so why should anyone trust what they preach. Murdoch claims he read his speech to his granny the night before she died. Geeezz I wouldn’t being admitting that, especially if granny had read about Milly Dowler and all the other victims of the Murdoch news empire that led to Leveson.

    “Network Ten chairman Lachlan Murdoch has evoked the memory of his late grandparents, Dame Elisabeth and Sir Keith Murdoch, in warning against further media regulation

    “It is in the public interest that news media not be fettered, not be controlled, by any elite, be it social, political, or economic.

    “As Sir Keith wrote, ‘it must always be our readers’ interests, our listeners’ interests, our viewers’ interests that are paramount’.”

    http://news.ninemsn.com.au/sitecore/content/news/news/national/2012/12/06/22/00/tributes-paid-to-dame-elisabeth-sir-keith

  308. Capitol Hill Once again words of Mr. Swan being quoted out of context. What is new. The quote they are using from the era of GFC, that we now have an emergency low rates.

    They’ve probably only just found out about the GFC, CU. Dingbats are a bit slow off the mark, you know. We have to make allowances; their synapses are on the copper network. 😆

    “It is in the public interest that news media not be fettered, not be controlled, by any elite, be it social, political, or economic.

    “As Sir Keith wrote, ‘it must always be our readers’ interests, our listeners’ interests, our viewers’ interests that are paramount’.”

    It sure is in our interests that the media isn’t controlled by any elite, Lachlan. Particularly one which starts with Murdoch and ends with Family

    Pity you and that wizened foreigner you call Dad haven’t taken a blind bit if notice of dear old Grandad’s words. If you had, you and Daddy might still be relevant. :mrgreen:

  309. Jane, it appears that mum generally knows best. The grand kids, instead of trading to her, would have spent their time listening to her, along with dad..

  310. Notice Max Wilton Moore is the Chairman of Today FM. That is one of the two men that Mr. O”Farrel install to advise, tell him what to do. Along with Mr Griener.

  311. The headline is meant to be MISLEADING

    “NBN contractor to lay off 160 workers”

    that sounds a worry, NBN contractor laying off staff BUT the story aside from the headline is that the company that has NBN contracts has lost a maintenance contract with Bluescope steel, western point site and will be laying off workers associated with this contract.

    No wonder the media is suffering from lack of trust.

    http://www.smh.com.au/business/nbn-contractor-to-lay-off-160-workers-20121210-2b5rm.html

  314. Margo Kingston’s investigation into Tony Abbott’s own slush fund. Here she explains why the story needs to be pursued as strongly as the AWU case against Julia Gillard

    I blame the ABC for my initiation to Twitter. Or rather, I thank them, because the experience has been refreshing for this disillusioned ex-journo and long-time internet refugee. …………..

    http://newmatilda.com/2012/12/11/abbott-slush-fund

  315. I really need help here.

    For the last 2 years I have been concerned why the Labor Party are so crap at media presentation. Sure the MSM dis them all the time, they are in the media market and like Channel 10 suffer the result of their own decisions.

    That does not excuse the ABC (who run on my tax dollars).

    Today I watched the ABC News 24, a speech by the Prime Minister. The audio quality was so bad that they cut the coverage off (I agree it was really bad audio and should have been cut). My question is, who was responsible for the coverage, in particular the audio visual feed?
    Was it the ABC? Does the Labor Party not understand that the PM has something I would like to hear and not bother to organise a technician so that it is possible that I can hear her?
    Does the Labor Party understand that they can not rely on the ABC to provide adequate technical (audio) support? (ABC of course can blame budget cuts).

    Of course. according to Emerson and that other crazy, Mark Butler, there is no problem with the media.

    Why is it that the Labor Party can’t get their message across?

    Dunno I have an IQ of 130+ and can’t figure it out.
    Over to you.

  316. Uhlmann on 7.30 had Tanya Pilbersek as guest. A question from tonights program on female genital mutilation, then a question on eating disorders, then came Uhlmann’s gotcha.
    Kinda went like this.

    Yesterday the PM had a private function for women, why just for women, why a private function?. YOUR real problem is with the wider electorate and you are only polling at 32%!

    Poor Uhlmann he thought by the rush of questions come statements that Pilbersek would ask for mercy.

    But no, poor Uhlmann, Pilbersek smiled and replied

    “Ah Chris, now i understand why you have been jumping about, to get to this point.
    The PM had a small gathering with a few selected guests and these guests have a much wider reach than traditional media”

    Uhlmann,” thank you Minister, no time for further questions”.

    Now that’s a Gotcha. I wonder if Uhlmann realised it had happened.

  317. Sue, that was a pathetic grovel by ulman last night. He’s such a light weight, and an obvious barracker.It’s going to be a long summer for 7.30 viewers

    This comment was what stood out for me when I went and looked at it just now in regards to tabots position on RU-486

    CHRIS UHLMANN: There’s no indication that those are views that he holds now or he’s going to do anything to try to roll these back, is there, really? It’s just another shot across his bow when it comes to the misogyny argument?

    http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2012/s3652539.htm

    That’s Tanya Plibersek’s point you drongo, he hasn’t indicated to anyone that he has changed. You saying he has doesn’t make it so, he needs to. It isn’t misogynistic or sexist to ask if he has changed his view on position on RU-486, and it definitely isn’t your job as a reporter to try and hide him behind this facile blanket of name calling. Every question tabot receives now he runs behind his wall of misogyny. Well, it’s not a misogyny attack, it is simple questions. And, if it looks like it is because of his misogyny, it could just be that his views are misogynistic,rather than a deliberate attack by the Government. Gillard, when she made the speech (in retaliation to tabot using misogyny to attack Slipper let us not forget) , used a long list of examples, which the media largely ignored, to support her case, and yet now everything is an ‘attack’.

    It’s not, it is simple questioning over a real problem with tabots make-up. And the sooner the media start accepting that, instead of constantly defending that, the better. ulman, your job is to question, not defend. Fucking learn it!

  318. Tom R

    RU486, yes you are right. It was a great example of what the govt is up against with the media. The journalist projecting their own views and attacking the government as trying to get at Abbott. I wonder why the government would think that it was up to the media to ask Abbott his views?

    So next year as has started with the PM, we will see the government going straight to the electorate through new media, not depending on old media.

  319. we will see the government going straight to the electorate through new media, not depending on old media.

    That’s probably true Sue, but will only be successful to a degree. I would still think that a remarkably large proportion of voters still rely on the OM for their ‘news’, and most just soak it in as they go about their normal lives. Mind you, if the PM can pull off a few more ‘misogyny’ speeches that the sheer number of new media viewers force the OM to take note of then it will influence.

    A big task though.

  320. On RN this morning Fran decided to continue the bad polls for Labor + wipeout theme. So she had on George Hasanakos of Poliquant for his predictions. Well apparently George had predicted back in May that Abbott would get a majority of 70 seats, he is now predicting a win of 28 seats, but could be more if west Sydney gives labor a wipeout.

    So I thought i would do a bit of my own research and look at a George prediction. I picked the easy one in the Melbourne by- election. No Liberal only Green v Labor. George has a thorough analysis and came out with this Green 51.9% :Labor 48.1%
    http://poliquant.com/melbourne-state-by-election-assessing-the-par-score/

    But as they say the election wasn’t won on a past poll, the result was the exact opposite. Or 100% wrong.
    Labor 51.37% Green 48.67%
    https://www.vec.vic.gov.au/results/stateby2012resultMelbourneDistrict.html

    So who decided that Fran Kelly should continue the Newspoll theme Fran or her producer? If they are going to have these special guests who speak with such authority, how about a bit of balance or even some fact checking on recent predictions, it’s not hard.

  322. The oo is in makeshitup mode again

    http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/in-depth/a-billion-chinese-to-get-an-nbn-for-a-third-of-the-cost-of-ours/story-e6frgaif-1226535736511

    A billion Chinese to get an NBN for a third of the cost of ours

    A billion for a third the cost? I wonder if there is a catch

    IT may be a little slower but China’s national broadband network will reach 10 times more households than Labor’s rollout at less than one-third the price.

    Oh, so it’s slower, in fact, further down the story, we find out it is considerably slower.

    The plan shares striking similarities with the NBN but is so far costing China’s state-owned telcos only $10 billion.

    Labor’s NBN will cost $37.4bn, with plans to reach 12.2 million households across the country by 2021.

    Well, that looks like a pretty major catch. So, rather than a total price for their NBN which matches the total price of our NBN, the oo is equating a figure used to get theirs going with a complete figure for ours. Apples and Oranges are even more similar than that.

    Another 388 million Chinese access the internet using mobile devices. And China is also ramping up investment in mobile broadband, which includes smart phones and tablets, with plans to spend about $75bn in the next five years to satisfy the nation’s sharp rise in users.

    Wow, so, their NBN is only $10 billion, but they plan to spend $75bn in five years on mobile?

    Well, mobile is included in our NBN too, if we want to compare in the manner the oo do. What complete fabrication. A story about how the Chinese are also building an NB simply becomes an attack on our NBN, with no basis in reality. typical oo

  323. Tom, I saw another headline in the OO complaining about the low take-up of the NBN. I didn’t read it. My internet’s a bit slow at the moment.

  324. Tom, China could connect 25+million simply by covering Shanghai…. 1 city!

    And a communist regime with a low wage base should be able to get things done a bit cheaper you’d think.

    Apples and oranges certainly come to mind

    Cheers 😀

  326. This speech was interesting. Nothing about the going ons in the UK, as he is not free to talk about that.

    The head of the British phone hacking inquiry, Brian Leveson, has called for tougher laws to ensure online journalists are subject to the same legal obligations as mainstream media.

    Less than a fortnight after handing down his report into British press standards, Lord Justice Leveson is in Australia to discuss the changing face of journalism and how it affects the law.

    Speaking at the University of Melbourne, he said in the future the established media would compete more directly with bloggers and tweeters.

    He said the result would be a wider variety of news than ever before….

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-12-12/leveson-calls-for-stronger-media-laws/4424574

  327. He said the result would be a wider variety of news than ever before….

    That’s not going to be difficult 😉

  328. Mr Denmore ‏@MrDenmore
    @JaneCaro @MrDenmore @profsarahj A possible criminal conspiracy to topple a government through calculated smears sounds pretty juicy to me

  329. Mr Denmore ‏@MrDenmore
    Seriously? George Brandis is suddenly sensitive about sub judice contempt when he spent months prejudging Slipper in & out of parliament?

  330. The media ignore all stories, and just make their own up. Further to the NBN rubbish I posted above

    I want to say something that will shock you: a story in The Australian about the NBN is rubbish.

    what appears to have prompted Murdoch’s “exclusive” story is a Powerpoint presentation by the ministry responsible for the initiative, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, nearly a month ago, which describes the progress of the “Broadband China” strategy in some detail.

    So, China isn’t getting an equivalent to the NBN, the cost comparison is meaningless, the story is a year old and the headline is point blank wrong.

    http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=2015334&p=65#r1295

    It’s times like these that I wish I was a paid up subscriber to Crikey

  331. “Justice delayed is justice denied” is a legal maxim meaning that if legal redress is available for a party that has suffered some injury, but is not forthcoming in a timely fashion, it is effectively the same as having no redress at all.

    So it appears that Alan Jones may be forced to apologise for calling Lebanese Muslims “mongrels” and “vermin” seven years after the event.

    I guess Alan must quake in fear at the very mention of the name Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA).

    I often wonder what the 600 staff employed at ACMA actually do all day.

    Perhaps the reason they don’t look out the window in the morning is because they won’t have anything to do in the afternoon.

  332. Perhaps the reason they don’t look out the window in the morning is because they won’t have anything to do in the afternoon.

    It’s no wonder our media can run outright lies like the NBN garbage above with impunity lunalava

  333. WOW, just wow

    Under the Five-Year Plan, the Chinese government will focus heavily on developing the telecommunications infrastructure, with total investments reaching 2 trillion yuan (roughly $300 billion), around 80 percent of which is allocated for broadband development. The big plan? To cover every city in China with the fiber broadband service in three years and convert all copper lines to fiber, China Daily reported.

    http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=1791924

    So, the oo has outright lied to its readers

    AGAIN!

  334. Tom R

    Not telling the truth, to destroy what is a brilliant infrastructure for our future, by the opposition is no surprise with the current mob.

    Have you sent your link to Malcolm Turnbull so he can show Tony Abbott and tell him they have to stop telling lies.

  335. Have you sent your link to Malcolm Turnbull so he can show Tony Abbott and tell him they have to stop telling lies.

    I sent it through the liberal website. It told me it would be sent with the next pigeon available

    The metadata said it was received yesterday 😉

  337. ANALYSIS

    Not proposed for reinstatement … Peter Slipper.
    IT’S a classic way to avoid answering a question – pretend you’ve been asked a different one.
    When Coalition frontbenchers were asked about the ramifications of the scathing federal court judgment for their former ministerial colleague and candidate in next year’s election, Mal Brough, they answered as if they had been asked something else entirely.
    Here’s an example.
    Reporter: ”The government has called on the LNP to disendorse [Mr Brough’s] candidature for the seat of Fisher. Where do you stand on that?”…..

    Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/question-so-difficult-coalition-cant-hear-20121213-2bcih.html#ixzz2F09Cu4JA

    When are they going to begin answering the questions they are asked.

  338. My emphasis. Why we are bothering to reply to visitors comment that do not keep to this point, that is , the judgement bought, down is beyond me.

    Shadow treasurer Joe Hockey: ”Look, the government is hyperventilating about this … let me say this, if the Labor Party believe that Peter Slipper is such a man of integrity and honesty then they should put him up for Speaker again.”
    But the government isn’t proposing to reinstate Mr Slipper, he has already paid a price for his horrible text messages by being forced to resign, and no one is defending the text messages that became public as a result of the case, in fact in his judgment Justice Rares described them as ”vile”.
    But Justice Rares also said of Mr Brough that he acted ”in combination” with Mr Ashby and a second Slipper staffer ”to cause Mr Slipper as much political and public damage as they could inflict upon him” in a bid to advance Mr Brough’s political interests and those of the LNP.
    Mr Brough has said it ”would have been a poor reflection on my values as a human being” if he had not talked to Mr Ashby about his sexual harassment claim or helped him get legal advice.
    But Justice Rares said Mr Brough was unlikely to have been offering to assist Mr Slipper’s staffer Ms Karen Doane and Mr Ashby in seeing Mr Russell, QC, for advice or looking for new careers ”out of pure altruism”.
    ”Realistically, his preparedness to act for them was created and fed by their willingness to act against Mr Slipper’s interests and assisting Mr Brough’s and the LNP’s interests in destabilising Mr Slipper’s position as Speaker and damaging him in the eyes of his electorate.”
    And the case Mr Ashby brought as a result of that ”combination” with Mr Brough has been found to be ”scandalous” and an abuse of judicial process for political purposes.
    It’s hard to reconcile that part of the judgment with Mr Brough’s statement; ”I reiterate that I have at all times acted appropriately in relation to this matter”.
    That’s why Mr Brough, and the Coalition should answer the real question.

    Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/question-so-difficult-coalition-cant-hear-20121213-2bcih.html#ixzz2F0AbCsuW

  339. Justice Steven Rares’s judgment on Wednesday in the Federal Court made for gripping reading.
    The interplay of newspaper reptiles, the unlovely Speaker of the House of Representatives, his duplicitous staffers, desperate Liberals grasping for power, a no-win, no-fee flack merchant and over-the-top lawyering – was all too much enjoyment for one day.
    As has now been widely known, the core finding of the judge was the manner in which the sexual harassment proceedings were brought by James Ashby against Peter Slipper were an abuse of the court’s process……..

    Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/ashby-case-a-shocking-spectacle-20121213-2bcgg.html#ixzz2F0LthYqX

  340. Are not they outside the wrong home. Should it not be Mr. Bough, Mr. Ashby, Mr, McIver, Ms Doane, and many others of the same ilk, should they be seeking answers from. Even Mr. Harmer.

    …………………..There has been no sign of former speaker Peter Slipper at his Sunshine Coast home.
    Mr Slipper was widely tipped to have returned to Queensland on Tuesday after a Federal Court judge threw out a sexual harassment case brought against the Member for Fisher by a former staffer, James Ashby.
    Media spent much of Tuesday outside Mr Slipper’s Buderim home which is guarded by a metal gate with a printed out sign reading “NO ENTRY TRESPASSERS

    Read more: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/no-sign-of-slipper-on-sunshine-coast-20121213-2bcjr.html#ixzz2F0Mhanyl

  341. …………………….What should Ashby do, now that his shakedown has failed, and he’s been landed with a whopping costs order against him?
    Already, there’s a looming conflict issue. He might sack Mr Harmer and get separate legal advice, which could urge him, within the seven-day deadline, to apply for an order of the court that Mr Harmer pay these costs.
    The judge already has prepared the ground.
    The case was brought, it seems, without ”genuine steps” being taken to resolve the dispute. Instead, the tactic was shock and awe ambush with headlines, in a manner that used the court as the plaything of one of the litigants.
    There’s plenty of precedent for costs against lawyers in other abuse-of-process cases – the most famous in recent memory is that of Flower & Hart, another escapade uniquely populated by Queenslanders, including the then High Court judge Ian Callinan…………

    Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/ashby-case-a-shocking-spectacle-20121213-2bcgg.html#ixzz2F0Q8n1Lc

  342. …………..Justice Goldberg awarded costs against Flower & Hart for the conduct of this spurious case. It was made all the more fascinating because Ian Callinan, QC, before his elevation, had been counsel advising Flower & Hart on the litigation.
    Then we have the latest ignominy for the shadow attorney-general, Queenslander George Brandis.
    Throughout the Ashby versus Slipper case he has been volunteering his foot-in-mouth observations, which bring little hope that in an Abbott government we’ll have an attorney with dignity, let alone acumen.
    Brandis has been the author of much posturing and silliness on legal issues.
    In this instance, he objected to the Commonwealth settling its case with Ashby, which was done in the expectation proceedings could be long and expensive………

    Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/ashby-case-a-shocking-spectacle-20121213-2bcgg.html#ixzz2F0Qwrw86

    Yes, the media slowly getting into the real story. Much better reading. One that has naught to do with Slipper or the actions of the PM. All to do with the Coalition.

  343. One needs to be careful in what they post. Being on the web, does not put one above the laws of the land.

    ……………….When asked if he really wished Ms Gillard was dead, Mr Dirix replied: “I don’t have any faith in the politicians and I don’t care one way or another if she is alive or dead in my life.”
    The AFP confirmed they had “activity” in Battery Hill but would not go into details as the matter is still under investigation.
    Mr Dirix said he had been charged with seven counts of using a carriage service to “menace, harass or cause offence” and one charge of assaulting police.
    “I came home and one car waiting just up the road and I pulled into the driveway and the next minute it was actually five cars that turned up,” he said.
    “About 12 AFP police were there, I opened the door to let them in and they barged in, I actually pushed one of the police officers and he charged me with assault as well.
    “It was unbelievable.”……………………

    Read more: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/gillard-threat-sees-sunshine-coast-home-raided-20121212-2b9s9.html#ixzz2F0eqsYxx

  344. Craig Emerson MP ‏@CraigEmersonMP
    Daily Telegraph ranks Ashby-Brough-LNP scandal behind ABolt anti-Labor diatribe & a story about Bundy the Dog riding on a motorbike #auspol
    Details Reply Retweet Favorite
    13 Dec margo kingston ‏@margokingston1
    @CraigEmersonMP Didn’t The Tele go hard page 1 with the Ashby writ? Their scoop? Hardly fair to readers to downplay the result.
    Details

    Following

    Craig Emerson MP
    ‏@CraigEmersonMP
    .@margokingston1 Any further back in today’s Telegraph and the Brough-Ashby-LNP scandal would have made the sports section. #auspol
    Reply Retweet Favorite

  345. Well we’ve now got through yet another shameful episode in Australian politics over the Peter Slipper affair, but it’s not a government that has “died of shame”, rather it is the Coalition that looks scandalous.
    One hopes that this will finally signal the end of Abbott’s ridiculous campaign of drama and exaggeration on matters better left to a soap opera than our Parliament.
    Instead we might finally get some focus from his party on policy detail. This might include, for example, how Australia will address its appalling performance on energy productivity – something that is being largely ignored at present by both sides of politics.
    In reading through the judgement from the court on Slipper’s request to have Mr Ashby’s sexual harassment case dismissed as an abuse of process, one has to think it would come as a wake-up call about the dangers of engaging in sleaze rather than policy.,,,,,,,

    http://www.climatespectator.com.au/commentary/abbott-s-slippery-slope?&utm_source=exact&utm_medium=email&utm_content=148604&utm_campaign=kgb&modapt=commentar

    y

  346. From the “No, no, no and no” thread.

    https://cafewhispers.wordpress.com/2012/12/14/no-no-no-and-no/#comment-124015

    Silkworm wrote:

    On The Project, Waleed Aly has said that this is the scandal of the year, and he has castigated the rest of the media for failing to cover it.

    He’d have to include his employer in that? I don’t watch Their ABC, but from what I read in complaints made online it has pretty much turned in a shocker with the try-to-avoidance of this scandal. No surprises in that, of course, for those who know what Their ABC is like but there it is. I’ve taken notes and clippings of dozens of complaints about the ABC every day this week alone.

    An example was about Uhlmann on their 7.30 program this evening. Blogs and Twitter lit up with cries of outrage and anger over his biased segment. “Makes 2GB look left wing”… “bad smell”… “grub” being some representative comments.

  347. ….Government.
    “The man who holds the highest parliamentary office in Australia is accused in court documents by James Ashby of making ‘unwelcome sexual advances’ and ‘unwelcome sexual comments’,” Lewis wrote.
    So is the judge right? Do Steve Lewis and his employer, News Ltd, emerge with clean hands from this sordid business? Certainly the judge did not believe all that Lewis said about his own gathering of material for his articles. Specifically he rejected Lewis’s explanation for a now well-publicised text message exchange between Lewis and Ashby after the pair met in a Sunshine Coast café to discuss Ashby’s allegations against Slipper.
    This was two weeks before Lewis published. Lewis had travelled from Canberra for the meeting:
    Lewis: “Ta Abt to hop on plane Will call later We will get him!!”
    Mr Ashby: “Great Thanks for coming up”.
    Mr Lewis: “I am here to help!!!”
    The judge rejected Lewis’s claim that he had been referring to a hire-car driver who had information about Slipper in his ‘we will get him’ text to Ashby. Further, Lewis’s second text implied the reporter was collaborating with Ashby to damage Slipper.
    The judge wrote: “I am not satisfied that Mr Lewis was texting Mr Ashby, while he was boarding a plane, about “getting” a driver. It is difficult to see why Mr Lewis would use the words “get him” rather than “find him” if he was talking of locating a driver. Moreover, Mr Lewis’s next comment: “I am here to help!!!”, in response to Mr Ashby’s thanks for his visit, again suggests collaboration with Mr Ashby and Ms Doane in damaging Mr Slipper. I find that on 4 April 2012, Mr Lewis referred to Mr Slipper when he wrote: “We will get him!!”.
    If, as the judge finds, the whole of the Slipper affair was a calculated effort by James Ashby to politically damage Peter Slipper by abusing the court process, then some might say that Steve Lewis and News Ltd were remiss for going along with it by relying on the protection of court filings for their stories; that indeed Lewis should have seen through Ashby’s motivations from the outset.
    But that would be naïve. More likely was that Lewis was well aware of Ashby’s motivations and those of other players, such as Mal Brough. Sources have all sorts of motivations for giving up information. What matters to the reporter is whether the material offered is newsworthy, factually correct and can be defended once published. The facts of the various sexually charged exchanges between Slipper and Ashby aren’t in question (what can be drawn from this most certainly is). And Lewis had waited to publish with the legal cover that came once Ashby had commenced his court action.
    News Ltd paid Ashby’s hotel accommodation in Sydney while Lewis was researching his story. Again, that’s defensible. Any prudent news organisation might well have done the same.
    What matters to the reporter is whether the material offered is newsworthy, factually correct and can be defended once published.
    What we didn’t get from News Ltd and Steve Lewis was anything like the full story. All Lewis reported was that the Speaker was being accused of sexually harassing a staffer.
    The bigger story is tightly told in one paragraph — number 138 — in Justice Steven Rares’ judgment: “I am also satisfied that Mr Ashby and Ms Doane by about 29 March 2012 were in a combination with Mr Brough to cause Mr Slipper as much political and public damage as they could inflict on him. They believed and hoped that Mr Lewis would publish unfavourable stories about Mr Slipper concerning whatever they could help Mr Lewis find in relation to Mr Slipper’s use of his travel entitlements in the areas of Mr Lewis’s curiosity. That is why each of Mr Ashby, Ms Doane and Mr Brough were anxious to provide Mr Lewis with the diary entries he sought. It is not clear whether Mr Brough had passed on to Mr Lewis Mr Ashby’s foreshadowed complaint of sexual harassment in late March 2012. They also believed that Mr Lewis, and the media generally, would report on any legal proceeding against Mr Slipper in which Mr Ashby alleged sexual harassment. At this time, Mr Ashby and Ms Doane saw Mr Brough as their means of obtaining favour from the LNP in seeking new employment. It was obvious that once what Mr Ashby was then planning became public, he and Ms Doane could no longer work as members of Mr Slipper’s personal staff. The relationship of trust and confidence (if it still subsisted) between Mr Slipper and the two staff members would have been destroyed by their acts of calculated disloyalty.”
    We can thank Justice Rares for a judgment that took us inside the shrouded political backrooms of in Canberra and Queensland, exposing the real grubby self-interest of those who made the allegations against Peter Slipper.
    And we thank Steve Lewis. He didn’t get the real story. But without Lewis it would never have been told….

    http://www.theglobalmail.org/blog/judge-theres-a-grub-in-my-scoop/521/

    So Mr. Lewis is going to show us what a great journalist he is by going after the story revealed in Justic Rare’s judgement.

    Why did he not publish the story as Ashby and Slipper, where getting together, to bring down a government in the first place.

    It appears that Lewis ignored the story of the conspiracy. A story he could have printed at any time.


    On The Project, Waleed Aly has said that this is the scandal of the year, and he has castigated the rest of the media for failing to cover it.

    Yes, Mr. Lewis had at his fingertips, the biggest scoop of the year. He chose not to write it up.

    Wonder why????????

    😀

  348. …………………………..IF EVER the case needed to be made for why the Prime Minister is circumventing the mainstream media and reaching out directly to key groups in the community, you only had to look at the reaction to Julia Gillard’s hosting 20 women to late-afternoon drinks at Kirribilli House on Monday.
    This was one of just dozens of drinks functions the Prime Minister is hosting this holiday season but it is the only one to have attracted media attention, and scornful or patronising attention at that.
    ”PM cosies up to mummy bloggers”, said one headline. A News Ltd columnist referred to the gathering as ”a coven of female bloggers”. ”Isn’t the Prime Minister displaying signs of misogyny … by not inviting men to the blogger drinks?” a commercial radio host asked one of the women who had been there………….

    Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politics/gillard-working-her-womenfocus-mojo-20121214-2bfgo.html#ixzz2F5HNxxN7

    Our wonderful media.

  349. Why would not the PM talk to them, and many millions more through them.

    ………..Between them, Priestley wrote the next day, the 20 women at Monday’s drinks have a combined audience estimated by the market research company Nielsen to be 3½ million. No wonder the Prime Minister was keen to talk to them.
    ”It’s easy to dismiss ‘mummy bloggers’ as hobbyist writers bemoaning parenthood over a glass of wine and a keyboard, but the numbers signify something: we’re no longer niche,” wrote Amber Robinson last Tuesday. ”We represent sizeable online communities whose needs are not entirely served by the mainstream media, which has traditionally not been female-friendly, and which has stifled criticism and vigorous debate.”.

    Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politics/gillard-working-her-womenfocus-mojo-20121214-2bfgo.html#ixzz2F5I2f2OL

  351. ABC still playing their right wing games with the latest poll results, stating that personal numbers are “ugly” for Tony Abbott, as a result of the backlash about the AWU so called scandal, but only briefly saying that the Noalition still have election winning lead, when last week they were all over the numbers of the no-news poll.

    They did not mention that the latest numbers were back where they were before in the previous polls, and when discussing the results of the backlash against Abbott stated that the lessons were for both parties, that they should return to discussing policy….. WTF.

    on the ABC website the TPP was 51-49, but on the Today show they said the numbers were 52-48….. again WTF.

    Will the real numbers please stand up?

  352. Ltd News is really becoming desperate and irrelevant when they publish crud like this bit sourced by Tim Dunlop on Twitter.

    Desperate PM’s war has failed her own gender

    I’ve only read the snippets on Twitter and the scathing put down of the piece so if anyone can access the full bit it would be appreciated.

    No surprise rubbish like this comes out on the back of bad polling for Abbott.

  355. ME, just read Gordon’s article, and, sorry, but I can’t say I share your enthusiasm for it. He tells us to stop criticizing jounos and just wait for the conspiracy to become apparent. Not good enough. Our anger against the journos who do not cover Ashbygate is justified.

  356. OK was about to comment but the links I put in 17 Dec @12:49 and 18 Dec @ 9:17 have been screwed. They are pointing to an IA article on Gina Rinehart I never linked to in either post.

    silkworm seems to have been taken to the correct site.

  357. The media are not even telling us why that Judgement did not let Slipper off the hook. Are not telling us why they support Ashby and Bought. The media is just ignoring it.

    I suppose they believe, being Christmas, it will just fade away.

    The question maybe would be nice to see asked, is when did Slipper decide to go after the Speaker’s job and why.

    Was it after Mr. Ashby put the idea into his head. Did he approach Labor or was it the other way about.

    When did Bought and Ashby, get together to hatch up the conspiracy. Why did Ashby befriend Slipper in the first place, long before he became Speaker.

    I know the path I am going down sounds far fetched, but everything we get from this Opposition is in that ballpark.

  358. Now that was weird, the links have gone back to the way they were. I clicked on them several times and did many mouse overs and they definitely pointed to a page I hadn’t linked to.

    silkworm I’m not certain if that’s exactly what Gordon is saying. Where I agree with him is that we can shout and demand all we want for the MSM to be fairer and to cover the corruption and failings of the opposition but as we have found, and Gordon sources in his piece, this doesn’t change the MSM, in fact I will go further and contend it invaginates them more, but as nearly always happens with these things the truth of it sooner or later will come out, and often in the very media we were lambasting for not raising it at the time.

    I will contend though that sometimes this delay in the truth outing is often too little too late and the damage is done, in this case potentially to the Australian people with an Abbott government in power.

    You need look no further than the concerted attacks by the State Liberal governments on workers pay and conditions to see the damage Abbott would do if in power.

  359. I think it’s inconsistent for progressives to get angry at “the media preferring to cover the sideshow rather than policy issues” and then complain that this Ashby story isn’t being covered in the media when the interview is focused on the shadow minister’s policy portfolio.

    I think it is more inconsistent that for the past year, policy has been ignored for malicious gutter dwelling about Slipper, and yet now, when that navel gazing has been exposed as a deliberate conspiracy to bring down the Government, the journos are suddenly focused entirely on policy. It is so transparent it’s embarrassing.

    Sorry, yelling about it is all we have at the moment, so I’ll bloody well yell.

    A simple question is all it takes. Bishop ran away after she got caught lying about blewitt, and has never been challenged. She is now found to be wanting in this, but not one bloody question, It’s all now about policy apparently. Until the next frigging smear anyway.

    pffft!

  360. Truth Seeker
    an explanation on the 51:49, 52:48

    the fairfax /nieslon poll said that if preferences were distributed based on the 2010 election than the result would be 52:48. However they asked the participants about their preferences and that would lead to a 51:49 result.

    TS , it’s taken me awhile to find this bit, I read it yesterday but has disappeared in today’s articles
    “If preferences are instead calculated by how respondents say they will allocate them, the gap between the parties is narrower, with the Coalition on 51 per cent and Labor on 49.

    Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/abbotts-handling-of-awu-backfires-20121216-2bhmh.html#ixzz2FMHsUroV

    Interesting thing i did see was that vote for independents has gone up compared to 2010, in fact that Independent vote has really increased its percentage and not varied.
    Check fairfax poll 2010 to present on this link
    http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/swan-attacks-abbott-with-poll-20121217-2bi6y.html

  362. Yet every news bulletin I saw on this poll stated the Coalition would easily win the election if it were held now based on those poll results.

    Even 48:52 to the Coalition would more than likely see a close election if held today.

  363. Oh the irony. It would be laughable but for the damage it does to the country for no other purpose than to get a gormless puppet into power.

    Ltd News has spent the last two years shitting on our economy.

    It has run a $500 million loss and blames “negative consumer sentiment”.

    A negative consumer sentiment it has been in part fostering through its constant negative and false reporting on the economy.

  364. Mo, maybe if they stopped writing crap then people might actually buy their newspapers.

    Any company that makes a $500 million loss would change direction. Not this mob though. Expect heaps more crap.

  367. Can someone tell Mr. Morrison and Ms Bishop the younger, it’s not the Govenmet they are trashing today, but Australia.

    Their shrill outburst saying that Australias has broken its word to the UN, to gain a seat at the table, is pure politics, nothing more.

  368. “Bishop ran away after she got caught lying about blewitt, and has never been challenged.”

    What lie was this???

  369. Dear Florence,
    Good governments don’t play games with the country’s reputation.

    Last night, we saw Labor as its worst, with the revelation that Julia Gillard and Bob Carr have secretly redirected $375 million in foreign aid funding to pay for its border protection blow-outs.

    The government that lied about the carbon tax to win an election, just did the same thing again, by lying to the world about Australia’s aid budget to win a seat at the UN.

    And then Bob Carr tried to be tricky and hide what he did.

    Click here to see Bob Carr’s tricky response.

    This action is another breach of trust, another example of Labor’s inability to manage the budget and another consequence of Labor’s border protection failures.

    To date, Labor’s failure to secure our borders has resulted in:

    Over 31,000 arrivals on 540 boats;
    Hundreds of deaths at sea;
    $6.6 billion budget blow out; and
    Incalculable damage to Australia’s international reputation.

    Australians, along with the rest of the world, cannot have confidence in a government that repeatedly breaks its word, and lets people smugglers determine the foreign aid budget. The Gillard Government is now the third largest recipient of Australian foreign aid.

    The Coalition has a plan to make our borders safe and secure again. We will:

    Give the Navy instructions to turn the boats around where safe to do so. Just like they did under the Howard Government;
    We will re-introduce Temporary Protection Visas and deprive the people smugglers of their business model;
    Work more effectively with Indonesia to stop people coming into our region. Tony Abbott will visit Indonesia within a week of an election;
    Support Sri Lanka to stop people leaving their shores and returning those coming on boats from Sri Lanka before they reach our waters; and
    We will abandon Labor’s half-hearted approach to border security and restore the proven resolve of the Howard Government.

    Regards,

    Julie Bishop

    This is the letter I received from Ms. Bi9shop. Do not ask me how I as on her mailing list.

    Here is my reply.

    Good Oppositions do not trash Australia. Good Oppositions do not talk down the economy.

  371. “Good Oppositions do not trash Australia. Good Oppositions do not talk down the economy.”

    Let me translate. The Abbott Opposition is not aloud to say anything bad about the Gillard govt.

  372. True colours there Tony? I haven’t heard anyone make fun of a person’s given name like that since I was in primary school 🙄

  378. scaper, surely that is not the first time you have seen my name., If pops up regularly.. Good solid old fashion name. This time I decided to leave it. Second name is Emily, another old fashion, solid name.

    Hate to think what yours is.

  379. Emily? LOL! I had you picked for a Madge, Daphne, Mabel or Emily. At least I had your second name in the mix. My middle name is Gayniggerjew. The litigation keeps the wine fridge full.

  381. So Bishop is saying governments should keep promises, even if circumstances beyond their control changes.

    So, they should keep the promise, even if economical conditioners have change, They should keep the promises, even if to do so at this time, is the wrong thing to do.

    At least Bishop is getting some good questions. It is a shame she has not answered one. 7.30 Uhlmann. Why are we getting so much of Bishop at this time.

  383. It is OK Migs. It keeps him amused. Never been that rapped in the names myself. The saving grace is that I was named after a wonderful woman.

  384. Listening to the police being interviewed about the shooting at Punchbowl.

    Have never heard start stupid and inane questioning. 99% were just not relevant.

    It was like they were asking questions for the sake of asking them, and had trouble coming up with any that were appropriate or dealt with the issue.

    By the reaction of the police officer and his body language, he had the same thoughts.

    Questions, like what did the mother do. How did she react. It went on and on in this train of questioning.

  385. Just saw a Tweet that states that News Ltd has been significantly messing with the polls. If true this will not be of any surprise to us here as we know how low the Right and their media mouthpieces go in their support of the dishonest and inept Abbott.

    I can’t access the Reddit sight at the moment because of the company firewall on social media so if someone can access this site and give a precis as to what it’s about that would be appreciated: http://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/151pur/i_spent_three_weeks_fixing_polls_on_newscomau/

  386. ‘News Ltd has been significantly messing with the polls.’

    Yes, there has been some disquiet for awhile. Couldn’t figure out why they were different to other polls.

  387. Also the roller coaster they were getting into el gordo.

    News Poll used to be the steadiest of polls and have been fairly accurate in the polls running up to an election. Different story a three months or more out, but that’s true for all polls.

    The roller coaster Newspoll polls could be explained by them being messed with.

  389. It pushes opinion when run in conjunction with other negative articles against the party they want put down.

    A bad poll, shit even a slightly negative one for the government, makes headlines and is read in just about every news bulletin in the country, often as the leading news piece.

    This all feeds into the propaganda being run that this is a bad government and if you say and report it often enough, even if not true, then it becomes true.

    Note that Abbott has come out after his self inflicted hiatus saying “bad government” in every statement.

  392. Just caught up with this one Mö (December 19, 2012 @ 10:06 am)

    He was talking about self-selecting online polls run on the Ltd. News sites, rather than Newspoll.

    I actually wrote a program where for each option someone voted, my program would vote once for every other option, thus maintaining a deadlock.

    Every now and then, they reported on poll results as if it were actual news. After emailing them alerting them to this, they are yet to retract any of their articles.

    I blogged as I went: http://www.ubermotive.com/?p=68

    My personal favourite: http://www.news.com.au/national/divided-nation-maybe-we-should-call-it-foccer/story-fndo4eg9-1226536877358

  393. Whilst the Morgan poll was completely ignored, and I mean a total and absolute black out, Newspoll pops up with this gem elucidated by the now totally irrelevant Shanahan and only in a way Shanahan can distort things.

    Behind the Ltd News paywall but it was repeated by the news bulletins this morning but not one figure was given.

    ALMOST one in two voters believes a federal minority government has delivered “worse government” since the last election, and half of those voters believe it has been “a lot worse”.

    Only 13 per cent of all voters believe having a minority government has been “better”, according to a Newspoll survey taken exclusively for The Australian this month.

    Note the ALMOST in capitals. The other way this can be credibly stated is that more than one in two voters believes a Federal minority government did NOT deliver a “worse government”. Also note Shanahan putting worse government in quotes.

    13% of all voters, note Shanahan’s disingenuous term ALL voters, not all poll respondents, believe a minority government has been “better”. Well doh, it doesn’t mean the 13% believe it was worse than a majority government either.

    Ltd News are really getting desperate for Abbott that they are pulling poll stunts like this.

  394. Actually ME, I would have voted that it has delivered a worst Government. It would have been far better if Labor had won outright. You have to admit, the past two years have been probably two of the worst, politically speaking, ever. And, that is due almost entirely to an opposition teetering on the verge of stealing their rightful place through any means at their disposal.

    No accusation is too low, no stunt to brazen, and no policy …… well, no policy 😉

    Yes, I would have voted that a minority Government has delivered “worse government” since the last election, but probably not for the reason ltdnews wants to think.

    Mind you, the outcomes at the end will be an impressive list, so, perhaps looking back it will be seen in a far better light. But the lived experience? I truly hope we don’t get another one in the near future. It has been an ugly, unedifying experience. And the media and the opposition should hang their collectives in shame.

    But, this is precisely what their game has been. To make people so sick of it they just want out. It is all turning around on them now, and I really don’t think they know what to do about it.

  395. Just a reminder, in spite of what Newspoll says, all they are measuring is perceptions.

    In no way does it prove that the government is not performing or a failure.

    All data available points to the perceptions being wrong.

    All it proves is the MSM and the Opposition have been successful in creating these perceptions.

    What surprises me, is in spite of all the facts to the contrary available, people still see things this way.

    What do we have this week. A concentrated attack on the ABC, alleging bias to the left. All from the Austarlian.

    That has to be the biggest laugh of the century.

  396. What do we have this week. A concentrated attack on the ABC, alleging bias to the left. All from the Austarlian.

    That has to be the biggest laugh of the century.

    It’s a great big lie of course.

    In many instances the ABC rivals News Limited for right wing bias.

    Lies, lies and more lies.

  397. What surprises me, is in spite of all the facts to the contrary available, people still see things this way.

    I think that ‘perception’ is slowly turning, as actual facts emerge proving that everything we have been told by the conservative forces over the past few years is all, well, BULLSHIT!

    And yea, to accuse theirabc of ‘left bias’, when they have toolman and libtika posturing as journalists is laughable.

    Apparently, while even the major stations were revealing tabots inability to read a crucial document he has been vehemently disagreeing with, their abc didn’t appear to find that newsworthy, although they never fail to provide us with his ‘insights’

    I also read on PB last night that an ABC24 reporter in London asked tabot a couple of pointed questions on Ashby last night, at which point, he turned for his normal runaway, to which the reporter grovelled that she wouldn’t ask any more about that matter and please hang around. It was up on the abc site, but the video has apparently been spliced down to remove the last bit.

    He will decide what questions are asked, and the manner in which they are asked. She should have simply said ‘too gutless then?’

  398. Channel Nine news this morning noted the results of the survey that said that Penny Wong would make the best baby sitter, Bob Katter the best to have a beer with, and Tony Abbott the most annoying in-law to have around. The newsreader make a comment: “I think we’ll leave that one alone.” Ha ha ha ha ha!

  401. The Australian trots out the ABC bias attack on a regular basis. Never holds up to the slightest scrutiny though. I mean if Howard and a stacked enquiry found slight Right bias in Aunty then the utterly compromised Australian surely won’t have any credible facts to back up their contention of left bias.

    I believe, and it’s nothing more than a conspiracy theory of mine, that one of the reasons Murdoch is pushing so hard for Abbott to win is that Abbott will commercialise the ABC or completely sell it off, and the Liberals have hinted at this several times. The ABC journos under a Howard appointed right wing management and board members are looking at higher paid jobs in the near future under a Murdoch organisation, so they appeal to that by slanting their reporting to the right.

    This opens the way for Murdoch to have a free to air right wing Australian Fox News channel, especially if he also get a great chunk of the NBN, which was revealed having been discussed between Abbott and Murdoch.

  402. The ABC to soothe the concerns of left wing bias have the IPA, Chris Berg with the lead story on The Drum.

    Funny, his article is titled “2012, The Year in political outrage”

    Funny isn’t it, the IPA is the base promoter of political outrage for all of 2012.

    I won’t be reading Chris’s article I don’t want him to boost his count rating

  403. Tom. Have to be fair to Laika, every time she was on ABC24, she pointed out that Abbott had not read the judgement. By the way, Abbott calls it a document.

    I read that Abbott did a runner to that interview yesterday. Only came back when the reporter said she would ask no more questions down that line.

    Are they saying we got the best of what he had to say. If so, it was a shocker, on par with his last visit to London.

    Then we had the jet lag statement, this time too busy to read the judgement, because he is doing important things for Australia.

    WHAT IMPORTANT THINGS?

    Catching up with old Oxford mates.

  404. The time has passed for James Ashby to appeal the court judgment against him. I went looking for a news item that would tell me whether or not he had appealed, and I found this, posted around midnight last night.

    “We have assisted James Ashby in that same way, as an individual who could not act otherwise to run very expensive litigation in our courts,” Mr Harmer said. The well-known employment lawyer also said he would appeal the decision.

    http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/in-depth/slipper-lines-up-ashby-lawyers-to-pay-costs/story-fndckad0-1226540712348

    It’s not clear from this when Harmer made this statement, and whether or not he has made the appeal. The article also did not say that the judge had set a seven-day deadline for appeal, and that the time for appeal had just elapsed. Very confusing, and in this case, the confusion aids the Opposition.

  406. And the grounds for an appeal would be what? Justice Rares judgement on the case was a Federal court decision and a damning one against Ashby and his lawyers.

  408. M.E. @ 8.24
    Agreed about Murdoch’s & Abbott’s plans for the ABC, long standing right wing strategy. Also the media as a whole wants to get its hands on the NBN to stop long term competition & score a little earner for themselves in the meantime.

    Another thing, it’s a bit late in the year, but there’s time before Leigh gets back for a swag of coalition figures to come on 7.30 for a massage from Chris. Anyone reckon this’ll happen?

  409. There will be no appeal. It would mean those wh have gone to ground would have to answer questions. Suspect more than the four named by Rares.

    As for the Thomson matter, could a judge come to a similar decision in the first week of February. Nothing would surprise.

    In these types of conspiracies, the govenment is suppose to fall, before the matters are heard in court. Most would then just fade away.

  410. >“Bishop ran away after she got caught lying about blewitt, and has never been challenged.”

    What lie was this???

    That she had never met or spoken with Blewitt, when she had had a lengthy phone conversation with him and was sprung in that lie.

    Oppositions can criticise governments all they like if their criticism is factual and is truthful, Neil. As the only things vomited forth by this opposition are smear, lies, innuendo and bullshit, they should shut their lying gobs until they have something worthy of attention to say.

    Rubbishing this country on the international stage only highlights how vacuous, weak, pathetic and unworthy of office they are.

    …..because he is doing important things for Australia.

    Staying the hell out of this country is a good start I reckon, CU.

  411. The ABC has been cleared of accusations of bias over one of television presenter Leigh Sales’ interviews with Opposition Leader Tony Abbott.

    In a decision published on Thursday, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) found the broadcaster did not breach its own impartiality code during the 7.30 program on August 22.

    Ms Sales’ questions led the opposition leader to the embarrassing admission he hadn’t read statements by BHP Billiton on why it suspended its Olympic Dam project, after he had blamed the carbon tax for the stoppage.

    The interview caused a stir on Twitter and Mr Abbott was forced to defend himself in parliament the following day.

    ACMA received two letters complaining of bias by Ms Sales.

    One said her treatment of Mr Abbott was ‘very bad’ and ‘she made it very obvious that she does not like him and is a Gillard supporter’.

    The other said Ms Sales’ ‘left-wing views’ showed through in her interviews.

    In a response to the ACMA, the ABC said Ms Sales had used a ‘devil’s advocate’ style of interviewing.

    ‘We do not believe that posing testing questions to an interviewee and then allowing them to respond to those questions is biased or bad mannered,’ the ABC wrote.

    ‘It is in fact a recognised standard of objective journalism.’

    In its decision, the ACMA said Ms Sales used a ‘robust’ questioning style but Mr Abbott had been given a fair chance to respond.

    The presenter ‘demonstrated an element of scepticism’ but the questions were reasonable given Mr Abbott’s own statements, the authority said.

    ‘The ACMA does not consider that the presenter conveyed a pre-judgment about Mr Abbott…rather, she presented to Mr Abbott material suggesting what appeared to be differences between current events and his public statements and asked him to respond, thereby permitting viewers to evaluate the issues raised.’……..

    http://www.skynews.com.au/national/article.aspx?id=828526

  414. We still have this going, while they cannot find anything to write about that other alleged scandal, involving Mr. Bough and Mr. Ashby.

    When one goes behind the pay wall, one finds that that the culprit is likely to be Blewiit. Nothing else new.

    We put $300,000 in AWU slush fund, says Bruce Wilson’s brother-in-law Joe Trio

    http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/investigations/we-put-300000-in-awu-slush-fund-says-bruce-wilsons-brother-in-law-joe-trio/story-fng5kxvh-1226542152787

    ……………….ays he married Mr Wilson’s sister while Mr Wilson was still in high school. When Mr Trio returned to Perth from the US to work for Thiess in the early 90s, he says he “discovered” that Mr Wilson had become an official with the AWU.

    He had “very little involvement” with Mr Wilson during the Dawesville Cut project because the union boss was transferred to Melbourne with the AWU.

    But Mr Trio did have plenty of dealings with Mr Blewitt, Mr Wilson’s key ally, who has since admitted his part in the fraud.

    He believes Mr Blewitt and other “union thugs” are behind many of the allegations that have circulated against him.

    The WA fraud squad declined to comment on its investigation.

    http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/investigations/we-put-300000-in-awu-slush-fund-says-bruce-wilsons-brother-in-law-joe-trio/story-fng5kxvh-1226542152787

  416. The Daily Telegraph, the newspaper the right nutjobs love so much and is their main source of “facts” has named a horse Sportswoman of the Year.

    This has to be a low point for the print media in this country.

  417. Nick Cater in the Oz

    ‘AS contemporary social media campaigns go, it was a very civilised affair. After the ABC’s final Insiders program for the year, a handful of letters arrived at The Australian complaining of the program’s bias. The following day the trickle turned into a torrent that, three weeks later, is yet to abate.

    ‘The letter from Ken Schmack in North Gosford, NSW, was typical, a cry more in sorrow than anger: “I have rarely missed Insiders since its introduction, but I have finally come to the conclusion that among my new year resolutions has to be one to give the program the flick. The pro-Labor, anti-Coalition bias exhibited by its presenter and, generally, two of the three guests has become ingrained.”

  418. Just watched a repeat of Capitp; Hill with Lyndal Curtis, Chris Bowen and Arthur Sindonis.

    They were debating now politicians communicate and such things as spin.

    What was nice, was the civil manner it was conducted. Both sides listened, mostly agreed and was informative.

    Why cannot we have more of this.

  421. El gordo can you please stop sneaking in climate articles into other threads?

    I know the climate thread has been hijacked on occasion but that is no reason to increase climate posts in other threads. I have noted that more often you are posting climate related articles and statements into threads like this one.

    I could go into why a horticulturist in this case has it wrong but will not discuss it here.

  424. I was sailing close to the wind, it was just a coincidence that the increase in sharks became a weather story.

  427. Is News Limited a Political Party?

    Note that Abbott has come up with identical phrases to the Tea Party. He hasn’t the brains to come up with anything original. Another reason of the long and growing list as to why he would be such a terrible PM.

    Good piece and glad to see more attention being paid to Murdoch and the social media backlash over his latest attempting to justify torture.

    It is a travesty due to him being the powerful owner of a media corporation that most of the time this decrepit and morally corrupt man is allowed to get away with things like this so soon after global Xmas messages of peace and goodwill.

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