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An Open Letter to Frances Abbott

Dear Frances,

First off, I want to say that I feel really sorry for you this week since the news broke about your $60,000 scholarship to study at Whitehouse Institute of Design. As your passion was to study design, you should be commended for following this passion, and for applying yourself to your studies and graduating with Distinctions. Well done. No one is suggesting that you didn’t deserve to graduate with high grades, and no one is suggesting that it was unfair for you to be accepted into the course in the first place. But what people are upset about, including me, just so we’re clear, is the speculation that you got this opportunity to study without paying for it through your dad’s job and his connections. If this is true, we’re upset with your father. And I should imagine that you would be really upset with him as well because of the perception that he put you in this position where you now probably feel that you’ve been unfairly criticised.

I am not naïve enough to think that this sort of ‘favour’ amongst rich people doesn’t happen all the time. Jobs get opened up and opportunities appear all the time for the children of the privileged and the powerful. Your dad has actually been giving lots of his mates jobs since he won the job of Prime Minister too. People like former IPA front man Tim Wilson, who is completely unqualified to be responsible for human rights, is now an Australian Human Rights Commissioner. Former Liberal MP Sophie Mirabella, who is completely unqualified to oversee the building of submarines, is now on the board of the Australian Submarine Corporation.

But what I would like you to understand, and I’m certain that you have the emotional maturity to understand, is that your father has made decisions recently which make your scholarship to the Whitehouse Institute of Design incredibly hypocritical. You see, your father has decided that Australian teenagers and young adults should pay more for their higher education degrees and vocational training AND should pay interest on the HELP loans they get which are the only way most can access this education. With interest of 6%. So where you paid only a fraction of the cost of your expensive private design college, students whose parents don’t have access to favours of the kind you’ve been given are facing a situation where they will finish their degrees with a huge and growing debt, a situation which may lead many of them to abandon their dreams of further education all together. And that is a tragedy for the individuals involved, and for Australia.

I note you are now working at the Whitehouse Institute of Design as a teacher’s aide, and it’s great that you’ve managed to get a job at the end of your study. Congratulations. However, for students who struggle to find their first career roles after finishing their study, and who find themselves in the very common transition period between study and the experience they need to climb the career ladder, your father has made sure these students can’t get a Newstart payment for six months. Six months is a long time to have no money. I don’t expect you to know what this feels like, as you don’t come from a background where you’ve ever had to worry about having money for food. But what I would like you to do is to be able to show empathy for the people who will find themselves in this position due to decisions your father has made. You might even be assisting the Whitehouse Institute for Design to teach these very students who are saddling themselves with huge education expenses, and have absolutely no guarantee of a job on graduation.

These students grew up in a society that promised them a safety net as they pursue their life aspirations. But your father has torn up this safety net and slapped every one of them in the face with his three word slogan ‘earn or learn’. Just like you have done, these students are learning. And then they’ll be doing their best with the earning part. I see no reasonable reason to force these students into poverty while they go through this struggle. Without privileged favours from rich parents and mates of rich parents, life can be pretty tough out there. But poor students are basically being told that it’s their fault they have no job and they should have been more careful about which family they were born into.

Of course your father will defend you, and I’m sure you and the rest of your family think it’s terribly unfair that you’ve had your own personal story dragged through this mud in the media over the last few days. Again, I really do feel sorry for you. But, again, this is really your father’s fault and he’s the one we should all, including you, be upset with. He chose to organise for you and your sister Bridget to accompany him all over the country for as many media appearances as possible during the election campaign.

I often wondered why you and your sister were always there, but never spoke on camera and I guess that’s because you didn’t really want to get involved with politics. But just being there made you involved and your father benefited from this involvement. You got lots of free tax-payer-funded travel and tickets to fun events out of this arrangement too, so it’s not like you didn’t all have a nice time promoting your father’s career. So now that your father is saying he doesn’t think it’s fair to involve his family in politics, he needs to take responsibility for involving you in the first place. Life is like that sometimes. I believe that you can’t have things both ways – all the spoils of privilege and power with none of the repercussions.

At the end of the day, this hasn’t really been about you, but it has affected you. You’ve been caught in your father’s web of perceived hypocrisy and you’re a victim of your father’s terrible decisions just as the rest of Australia is. When your father leads a government who asks that everyone does the heavy lifting, you must understand that it’s really important that the members of that government do the heavy lifting too. And when this quite clearly hasn’t happened in the case of your education expense, it’s only fair that we all get a chance to know whether our Prime Minister is willing to do what he’s asking all of us to do too.

Yours sincerely

Victoria Rollison

Follow Victoria on Twitter

More great articles by Victoria Rollison:

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What does Kenny’s ABC defamation case mean?

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What Abbott Taught Us

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681 comments

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  1. cordannao

    I feel so sorry for Frances Abbott. If my dad put me out there as a tool to be used as he saw fit, I think I might obtain a divorce post haste.

  2. Fed up

    Victoria, there is no story, if dad had done as he should. That is declare the gift he received on behalf of Francis.

    Does not help that thanks to Pyne’s generosity, schools such as Francis attended now are equal with government universities and other learning centres.

  3. halsaul

    Thank you for saying what had to be said, Victoria. I am truly shocked by Tony Abbott & what is willing & capable of doing to be in Government. He & the people that went along for the ride, cannot be rewarded for their actions. Including what was done to Julia Gillard for years. cheers P.Saul

  4. Bill Morris

    Francis received the scholarship, it was not a gift to her father, Sir Tony Liesalot.

  5. Dora

    Interesting. Probably technically corruption. But tempered by the fact that it’s his daughter and it’s in the arts.

  6. Joe Banks

    “…they should have been more careful about which family they were born into”. Victoria, I believe this is the crux of the whole matter. This is the flaw in the understanding and character of people like Abbott, Hockey, Morrisson, Bishop, Pyne etc. Because they have no understanding whatsoever that people do not choose to be born into poor families or bad circumstances or with disabilities. And they have absolutely no appreciation of the LUCK of being born in a country like Australia, into a good family, into a good neighbourhood… They behave as if they chose to be born, chose their country, chose their parents, chose their environment, chose their playmates, chose their teachers, chose their intellect, indeed, chose their entire good fortune… When others chose to be poor or less fortunate.
    These grubs think they are so clever when they are really nothing more than heartless fools.

  7. suz

    The problem is not that there has been policy hypocrisy on the part of Tony Abbott. The problem is much more serious than that.

    It is that there appears to have been serious misconduct by the Prime Minister of Australia. He has received a very very large gift and not declared it. This is no bottle of Grange.

    A scholarship with no open application process and no documented assessment system, which is offered before assessing an individual’s work is not a scholarship. It is a gift.

    This needs to be investigated at the highest level.

    If corruption like this is permitted next we will have the chairman in the Whitehouse Institute giving Frances Abbott thousands in cash “grants” for her artistic work based on “merit”. And these “grants” will not need to be justified with any kind of open application or assessment process.

  8. Don Winther

    Good on ya Fran, give it your best shot hope you do well. Fashion is a good choice. Dont get into politics as you know how women get treated there.

  9. john921fraser

    <

    "I've always said families should be kept out of the front line. That's the way I've always tried to run my political operation – that we play hard but fair. Families should be [left] out of it."

    Abbott lying once more.

    Bit hard to forget the Abbott family hand bag hit squad front and center for all the pimply young masturbaters to gape at, during the 2013 election.

    The demographic for this show is the same as Abbott's IQ.

  10. lawrencewinder

    …and it’s when I hear these mongrels talk about a “fair go” that I want to throw up.

  11. Fed up

    I seem to recall Julia’s father being mentioned more than once. The fact that she was mourning his death did not stop Abbott. Same gees for the partners of Gillard and Rudd.

    I suspect it only counts when it comes to Liberal’s families.

  12. twistie1

    From the articles I’ve read in both the Guardian and New Matilda it appears as though the payment of Frances Abbott’s fees were anything but a scholarship. Although Whitehouse has not responded to the detailed questions forwarded to them by the Guardian, it looks like Frances was pursued by the Institute and was essentially given a grant to procure her enrolment. Former students are saying that they knew nothing of scholarships and no evidence has yet been provided by the Institute of an open call for applications by current or perspective students. The Institute’s website indicates that they currently do not offer scholarships. That the Chairman of the Institute, Les Taylor, is a personal friend of Tony Abbott and has donated in excess of $20,000 to the Liberal Party, should ring alarm bells. So too should the fact that private providers of tertiary education are one of the few groups to benefit from this year’s budget. There’s a very bad smell about this whole thing. If nothing else, it displays how out of touch Abbott and his government are to the lives and struggles of ordinary Australians who now look set to pay many thousands more for tertiary education.

  13. Helen Shanks

    Excellent article Victoria.

  14. Anne

    I hope someone (anyone) puts the tax cleaners through the Whitehouse Institute – the whole thing stinks to high heaven. And for abbott to take the moral high ground is quite simply a joke.

  15. Mick Quinlivan

    this letter is couched well…… Ms Abbott is it appears one to benefit from a favour she did not ask for… but friends of her dad gave it to her….. now to remedy this Tony Abbott should refund the $60k grant to the Whitehouse institute

  16. vilasini

    I just hope she gets to read this. But if she “chose” her family and has accepted this in this environment of taking away from the poor and giving to the rich…well I am sure she won;t give toss.

  17. mars08

    It truly boggles my mind!

    Abbott has been an MP for how long? And he’s been a minister and opposition leader???? Is it wrong to assume that he’s probably quite well off, financially?

    So why on earth would Frances have to accept a $60k scholarship? Hasn’t Tony been saving for his children’s education? Is he on “struggle street” like so many of the fools who voted for him? Is he incapable of being the “man of the house” and supporting his women-folk?

  18. Umberto Ledfooti

    I have no mercy for her. Last September she allowed herself, willingly, to be pimped out to advance the election of what has become the most dishonest and incompetent administration ever seen in Australia.

    The whole matter ought to be brought to ICAC.

    Abbott is a “public official” within the meaning of Section 3 (1) (i) of the Independent Commission Against Corruption Act 1988so there’s no reason whatsoever why this matter should not be referred to it.

    This matter clearly falls under corrupt conduct as defined in section 8 (d) of the Act:

    8 General nature of corrupt conduct

    (1) Corrupt conduct is:

    ….

    (d) any conduct of a public official or former public official that involves the misuse of information or material that he or she has acquired in the course of his or her official functions, whether or not for his or her benefit or for the benefit of any other person.</u

    When the other facts of the narrative already in the public press are taken into consideration, it seems clear to me that Abbott was bribed.

    The question for us is – are we going to allow Abbott to get away with it, just like that reith creature got away with the negligent misuse of Commonwealth property – by allowing his son the unauthorised use of a ministerial phone card – to the tune of $70,000?

    The Abbott junta has to go, and if this is one way of throwing out the trash, do it!

  19. Cath Alley

    You lost me at effected. It is affected. Please know the difference. Good message otherwise

  20. David

    Well done Victoria for your expose. The Pulitzer is within your grasp.

  21. Mick Quinlivan

    ICAC will not cover Federal Govt matters only state ones I think. But We of the anti Liberal forces must have some compassion for Ms Abbott she did not choose her father.

  22. Cam

    Unfortunately this kind of behaviour is NOT limited to members of the Liberal Party… This behaviour has been going on for centuries, ever since the day Kings became Kings, Queens became Queens, Presidents>Presidents and so on. As long as we lowly people allow those in high office to continue this behaviour it will always keep on keeping on! People like these & the privileged must be laughing at our stupidity in continuing to pay our taxes, continuing to vote for some pretty face and curly tongue and living in hope they will change. They will never change, favours will always given to the privileged, people in high office will always be corrupt in some form or another and we’ll just keep on paying our taxes and let them keep on keeping on………

  23. Andrew

    Should privately run institutions be able to offer discretionary scholarships that aren’t necessarily based on merit? Well, I don’t think it looks right, but whatever. Their money, their decision.
    Should an individual accept such a scholarship? Well, it’s $60k, so it kinda seems crazy not to.

    BUT if you do, please be prepared for the inevitable sh1tstorm that will follow. If the Abbott family had given this a moment’s thought, someone should have said ‘hang on, this could look a bit icky, might be an idea to politely decline’.

  24. M-R

    Love to think she reads it. Somehow …

  25. kevin Paige

    Frances is not the only daughter on the take. Bridget is or was BMW” Ambassadress ” at the time of the shameful vendetta by Abbott against Holden. Holden was on a short list submitted to supply armoured security vehicles to replace the aging fleet of Caprices. BMW was NOT on that shortlist and yet was awarded that contract without even tendering for it. (Google www smh Dec13 2013 for the sorry details ). How quickly we forget. The Abbotts are out for themselves.Only Margie and the third one appear to be keeping a discreet distance ….bound to silence by loyalty but apparently without the stomach for the trough.

  26. jessica.kumanovski

    Very well written and discusses pretty much everything I’ve been seething over today! Although I can’t imagine that she didn’t have the sense to realise that an unheard of $60,000 scholarship that her family could not possibly need was unethical to accept.

  27. Anna

    I agree with what you are saying and i also think the whitehouse should be blamed for giving reward on status and not actual achievement….. but Victoria honey, you need a GRAMMAR lesson that was shocking. You can’t put and at the start of a sentence .. and its AFFECTED YOU not effected

  28. Michael Taylor

    Victoria, you can start a sentence with any word you want. It doesn’t affect/effect me one little bit. At least you write a bloody good letter.

  29. whatismore (@SandraC81413369)

    Thanks Victoria for another marvellous article.I hope that this issue doesn’t go away for Abbott. Umberto raises some important matters for which Abbott should be answerable.

  30. John

    When your father leads a government who asks that everyone does the heavy lifting, you must understand that it’s really important that the members of that government do the heavy lifting too.
    Reply :-
    Maybe you should ask the previous government to buy a fork lift, because if any lifting need to be done it needed to be done yesterday not today !

  31. Victoria Rollison

    Geez grammar Nazis! I’ve fixed the typo. For crying out loud 🙂

  32. Victoria Rollison

    Thanks for that video John Fraser. I had completely forgotten that Abbott promoted himself as the guy with the not bad looking daughters. Put that together with the wink and it’s all looking rather sleazy and uncomfortable.

  33. Anomander

    But it’s OK. Tony will simply submit a late amendment to declare it on the register and everything will be hunky dory. A mere oversight – nothing to see here people, move along, move along.

    It just beggars belief that this is deemed an acceptable practice.

    Oh dear! I forgot to mention the $400,000 deposit into my account that bolstered my campaign funds and allowed me to run a series of very expensive TV and newspaper adds that won me the seat over those other penniless candidates, I’ll just declare it now, 2 years later and all is good. Sorry it was an oversight by someone in my office, they were sacked.

    Much like Tony did with his Battleline debacle where he somehow charged the whole book launch road=trip onto the taxpayers and only decided to pay it back after he’d been well and truly caught-out. Let’s not mention the pollie pedal and the fact every aspect of his life has pretty much been paid for from the public purse since he entered politics. Unless the rest of us who have to pay for everything and are lucky if we get biscuits provided during a marathon meeting.

    The sense of entitlement for these people is overwhelming and there seem to be so few repercussions for bad behaviour that in any other industry would see you sacked outright. The fact he didn’t see this as a potential conflict of interest speaks volumes about his his appalling decision-making skills. Add this to the growing pile of abysmal decisions, bad attitude, sexist comments, poor timing and judgement and general lack of empathy and you reveal a man unfit to lead, let alone stand as the prime minister of our country.

    I have zero respect and very little sympathy of any of them – Tony consciously chose to introduce his daughters as pawns into the campaign, to stand in the spotlight of the cameras every day like trophies that showed what a great family bloke he was.

    Sorry Tony, you set the mark yourself and you can’t now change the rule mid-game to suit yourself and claim families are sacrosanct.

    Besides, if you you recall, you were the one who also chose to attack people and talk about their families – I’d invite you to hark back to the day you mentioned Julia Gilliard’s father. Once you introduce a pawn into play it’s fair game.

  34. Meg Smith

    To Cath Alley ‘effect’ is a verb according to the Oxford dictionary, meaning ‘bring about, accomplish’. For those of us over forty it was the correct verb ‘affect’ meant to assume (character) – as in affectation. Of course over the years the language has changed but we oldies tend to use the language that was drummed into us when we were at school, so please be a little tolerant.

  35. whatismore (@SandraC81413369)

    Ha-ha Michael.Yes it’s a tricky one that and I always stuff it up. I just wish I could express myself like Victoria.

  36. Don Winther

    I agree with John921fraser that families should be left out of it and I do wish her well but Fed Up raisers a good point. ” I seem to recall Julia’s father being mentioned more than once. The fact that she was mourning his death did not stop Abbott.” Not very Christian Tony 🙁

  37. Stephen Tardrew

    I just can’t believe it if labor had a fraction of the infractions of the LNP they would be hounded day and night.

    The litany of lies broken promises and straight out corruption in the LNP is a clear indication of their lack of fitness to govern.

    His daughters must be reeling at the way they have been used when they realize the public reaction to Abbott’s complete incompetence and lack of moral fiber.

    The burden of public opinion is going to cause some pain for the family as a whole and Tony brought it all on himself. He will definitely have some explaining to do.

    I am reminded of the courage of Philip Rudock’s daughters challenge to his stance on refugees
    .
    Let’s hope Abbott’s daughters have similar moral resolve.

  38. Can

    Actually you can start a sentence with “And.” It depends on the context of the paragraph. That’s advanced grammar. In primary school they would tell you not to as a general rule though.

    I think grammar nazi’s always seem petty and elitist. Which is ironic, given the content of the piece.

    Brilliant letter Victoria. Well done.

  39. Stephen Tardrew

    Paul:

    Abbott has, and will, sacrifice nothing for his country. His rich mates will see to that. Let’s see him survive six months without income and then live on Newstart. You and your party have lost what little moral standing you had. Sending refugees into the arms of Hun Sen and his corrupt government is appalling. Calling a decent concerned person trash is just the standard of those who so easily abandon citizens who suffer through no fault of their own while you willingly undermine the rights of others to have an opinion. A course in ethics wouldn’t hurt. In fact a course in Christian values may also put you to shame.

    You show yourself for the crass fool you are.

  40. Britt Porter

    I actually really don’t like this letter, and I am all against the actions of Mr. Abbott. I agree that it is a very hypocritical situation, and that it is not okay fora PM to give to his family what he cannot provide to the people he represents.

    I think this letter is attacking the wrong person, and is way too personal. I find this letter to be sarcastic and condescending. I think a lot of people are extremely frustrated at the current situation (as am I) but trying to bamboozle someone because you think their father is a bad man is wrong.

    You also have to take it from her perspective, Frances did not choose her lifestyle either- we have no idea how she feels about the situation and its actually none of our business how she felt/feels about the things her father does.

    It sucks because I really agree with the fact that the poor roll around on the ground and the wealthy are oblivious in the wind, but do we all really know that she didnt deserve that scholarship despite her father’s status? Or are we all feeling super vengeful for this stupid budget that stands on its own merits?

  41. Commonsense

    Liberal shill much, Paul? Seriously, anyone who thinks there’s anything good about Abbott and his cronies is either evil or stupid. No other way to put it. And the saddest thing of all is that the gullible readers of the Murdoch press who believed that this scumbag was their saviour are going to be the worst off for it.

  42. Trevor G Fleet

    If my dad was Tiny Abbort I would move to nz or sth africa.

  43. Jan Dobson

    One of the most appropriate essays regarding the latest Abbott fiasco I’ve read. (The wink was in the news before the scholarship became public knowledge, I think). Astute and clear, but respectful of Ms Abbott.

    I’m a little uncomfortable with some of the rhetoric, aimed at Frances Abbott, surrounding this issue. As the politician, it was Mr Abbott’s responsibility to consider the implications of accepting the offer. At 18, regardless of her father’s occupation, would it even have occurred to her. Who is to say she didn’t believe it was based on merit. How must she feel now, to find that it may not have been. And to hear some of the anonymous comments from fellow students.

    It’s also possible that she wasn’t aware of the value of the prize. If I, for instance, lent you and your family my holiday home you wouldn’t feel the need to pay me because, it’s not in use and I’m out of pocket no more than a cleaning fee and a slightly increased electricity bill. A school leaver, might perhaps consider one more student in a class as no greater cost.

    You, however, as the adult of that family may leave me a box of chocolates as thanks (no wine please, just to be safe). There is a real question here, one you’ve referred to, and one that needs a great deal of attention. What did the institution get from this and what did Tony Abbott give? Federal ICAC, anyone?

  44. whatismore

    Commonsense-Evil or stupid …or both.

  45. Umberto Ledfooti

    Mick Quinlivan –

    Firstly, Section 3 of the Act (“Definitions”) specifies that a public official means an individual having public official functions or acting in a public official capacity, and includes any of the following:
    ….
    (c) a Minister of the Crown; […]

    Abbott is a Minister of the Crown, is he not? The principle of ejustem generis applied to this part of the Act doesn’t exclude a Federal Minister of the Crown who is also resident in NSW from ICAC’s scrutiny. Also, Abbott’s alleged corrupt conduct took place in NSW.

    Also see subsection (5) of Section 8:

    * * *
    (5) Conduct may amount to corrupt conduct under this section even though it occurred outside the State or outside Australia, and matters listed in subsection (2) refer to:

    (a) matters arising in the State or matters arising under the law of the State, or

    (b) matters arising outside the State or outside Australia or matters arising under the law of the Commonwealth or under any other law.

    * * *
    As you can see, I believe ICAC could and should act in this matter, as it has the authority to do so. The fact that it hasn’t been done yet should not stop it being done.

    As to your second point (that she didn’t choose her father) – while that is true, it does not alter the fact that she did choose to allow her father to pimp her out during the election campaign in order to win votes.

    Do you not recall the basis of The Sniveling Grub’s widely-published “vote for me!” pitch to the Big Brother house?

    If she’d stayed out of that campaign, I might have been convinced that this matter should not be relentlessly pursued though the courts.

    But she was, and so it should.

  46. Jan Dobson

    Being a bit verbose here, but just wanted to add a comment regarding Mick Quinlivan’s comment that Tony Abbott should repay the bursary to the school.

    My suggestion is that the original $60,000 with compounding interest (interest on interest, that’s fair Tony?) at personal loan rates (we won’t charge credit card rates, but you can’t get away with mortgage rates either) should be invested as a genuine needs based scholarship. Additional funds to be added to the pool each year, because Tony’s mentioned so many times how he thinks philanthropy is much better than government handouts.

    What do you think?

  47. Hefina Higginson

    How ever you look at it it’s a $60,000 donation to the liberals. It has to be investigated by a Fed ICAC.

  48. sabretruthtiger

    At least he’s not falling for all that man made global warming nonsense. You’d have to have an extremely low IQ to believe in such a blatantly obvious scam.

    The moronic, low-IQ, rabid, liberal religion adherents seem to have no grasp of logic, science, critical thinking or the ability to research the topics that they slot into their ideological framework.

    All the scientific evidence (no, flawed, biased models are not evidence), as in the empirical evidence, which is how science is actually done, shows that Anthropogenic Global Warming is baseless. No sensible person disputes that man made CO2 by itself causes a little bit of warming but crux of the issue is climate sensitivity, i.e. are there positive reinforcing feedbacks or zero to negative ones in the climate system?
    The evidence in the form of satellite and surface temperature data shows that they’re zero to negative.

    1. The Mediaeval Warm Period was hotter than today with much less CO2
    2. It hasn’t warmed for 17 years.
    3. No mid tropospheric hotspot disproves the warmists’ positive feedback hypothesis and proves the models wrong.
    4. No sea level rise increase.
    5. No sea temperature increase (ARGO buoy data).
    6. Outgoing Longwave radiation increases with surface warming cooling the planet (ERBE satellite)
    7. Low level cloud from water evaporation creates and albedo effect reflecting short wave radiation cooling the planet.
    8. Arctic ice was at a lesser extent thousands of years ago with far less CO2.
    9. Antarctic ice is at record levels.
    10. CO2 lags 800 years behind temperature rise in the climate record showing temperature drives CO2 not the other way round. (Vostok ice cores)
    11. GCMs (Global Circulation Models) are consistently producing results at least 3 times that of the observed temperatures, showing the models have their climate sensitivity parameter drastically wrong. In other words there are zero to negative feedbacks in the climate system, not positive as the models assume.

    Of course all this logic and sciencey-wiencey stuff won’t convince the die-hard lefties, they’re devoted to their eco-religious mindset and swallow the banker-owned politicians’ and media’s propaganda hook line and sinker.

  49. Alex

    Victoria, I take complete exception to what you say in your letter. The scholarship was awarded to her by a college, not the government. We dont know what the reasoning behind awarding her that scholarship are but nor should we. Its none of our business at all. The college has no obligation to justify themselves to you and nor should they. It’s incredibly arrogant of you to think you have a right to judge if she should have been awarded the scholarship, if it was offered for the right reason and if she should have accepted it. None of us have that right. If you have a personal opinion on the matter, keep it to yourself because outside of your own head, it is completely irrelevant. You have no right to humiliate this young woman. You are wrong when you blame Tony for what she is going through. It isn’t his fault at all, the fault rests with people like you who have decided that she should become collateral damage in your campaign against the government.

    The fundamental difference between her involvement in her father’s election campaign and what is happening at the moment is that she chose to be involved in the campaign and help her father. I wonder which one of you bothered to ask Frances if you could use her as a tool for your campaign? Did she give you permission? I think not, so what makes you think you have the same right as her father to use her and her private life to further your campaign? You simply use her and humiliate her to suit your own agenda and do not care at all about the effect this has on her life. Even worse than that, you don’t even have the integrity to take responsibility for it. You blame Tony Abbott for the things that you say and write and the humiliation and hurt that this causes Frances. That is how cowards behave. You are the only one that is responsible for what you say and how that makes people feel and therefore you and only you are responsible for how Frances must be feeling. To try and divest yourself of this responsibility is disgraceful.

    Finally, the suggestion that Frances’ scholarship somehow constituted a gift to Tony Abbott is ridiculous. It isn’t really appropriate to term scholarships as gifts at all, but if you must consider them as such, the scholarship was a gift to FRANCES not Tony. Is Tony Abbott meant to declare every gift that is given to his daughters on his pecuniary interests register?

  50. Keitha Granville

    Sadly I think the children of wealthy people believe that they are entitled to things that the rest of us plebs can never have so it probably didn’t seem unusual at all to Frances, just run of the mill normal gifts to dad. If it had surely she would have turned it down and asked him to pay for her tutition and passed this “scholarships” on to a more desreving student. As it didn’t really exist that would have been tricky.

  51. Tone

    So Alex.. If the college gives the Tone Abet girl a scholarship in return for funding in upcoming austerity budget we shouldn’t ask questions? If evidence suggests that she was courted by noted Liberal doners we shouldn’t ask questions?

    If a secret scholarship was a deposit on favorable outcomes then the scholarship is fair game.

  52. Alex

    If you can prove that the college did actually receive additional funding or funding that it would not have got if it didn’t offer Frances the scholarship then there is a conversation to be had about the legitimacy of that. Do you have any proof or evidence that this is the case? if not, then no.

    Even if it was the case, then you should only be going after TONY ABBOTT and may be the college. Thats still no excuse to humiliate Frances or to suggest that she is unworthy of the scholarship. You dont get to decide that. If it turns out that the college did get a kick back from offering her the scholarship, it certainly wasnt Francis, so leave her out of your witch hunt. Go after tony, go after the college and the donor if you can prove they have a secret deal going on, but dont go after Frances.

    If there is no secret deal, which i have seen no evidence of at all, then it doesnt matter why the college offered her the scholarship, it doesnt matter if she had to apply for it or not, it doesnt matter if its a once off thing or if its open every year. As much as some of you think you have a right to tell everyone how to run their own organisations and and much as some of you think that you hold the monopoly on the ‘right way of doing things’ you actually dont. How a college spends its own money and its bursaries is completely up to them and what you think of how they go about this isnt really relevant at all.

  53. Bernard (@_Bernard71)

    “Off with their heads!” seems to be the raison d’État here. The author is at first apologetic to Ms Abbott, then simply uses her personal circumstances as justification to criticise and attack policies of the government her father happens to lead. Are we to assume that opportunity should be denied to children of affluent families in favour of the downtrodden working class battler? It smacks of jealousy.

    University education, with the best intentions in the world, cannot be free. No student pays a dollar up front. The concessional loan scheme, introduced by Labor, is only started to be repayed when you earn more than $50,000 a year. The interest is charged at the ten-year government bond rate (currently about 4% much less than anyone can borrow at a bank) and it never gets above 6% That loan scheme is being extended to more programs, making education more accessible. And degree educated people earn on average $1 million more over the course of their working lives.

    Yes, if the scholarship was proven to be endowed under circumstances that were corrupt, or suspect, then by all means full disclosure and damnation are warranted. If people are just upset because the Prime Minister they don’t like has a daughter who received a scholarship, then that’s disingenuous.

  54. Alex

    Keitha – I am not personally a wealthy person it seems to me that it is actually the so called ‘plebs’ which posses a sense of entitlement. It seems very clear to me from the reaction to this latest budget that us ‘plebs’ believe we are entitled to have our lifestyle and incomes highly subsidised by wealthy people. That is to say many of us seem to feel entitled to be given a portion of someone else’s money which they have worked for. As soon a change to this entitlement is proposed riots seem to break out everywhere.Did you know that something like 62% of all income tax is paid by the top 10% of income earners? This is what majority funds our health and education systems, our welfare system and our age pension system. It seems to me that we ‘plebs’ get a hell of a lot from the ‘wealthy’ people and give almost nothing back in return. I wonder what would happen to us if this top 10% of income earners decided to move overseas to a country with a lower tax rate? we certainly wouldnt be able to afford free education or highly subsidised medical treatment and we certainly wouldnt be able to afford such a generous welfare system. I think that the idea that the wealthy people dont do their fair share is a myth, the wealthy people certainly majority fund the services which we take for granted

  55. Derp

    Alex: we do all have that right, because Abbott, a leader elected by the people, failed to declare this benefit on his parliamentary privilege register. By failing to do so, a clear conflict of interest remained undeclared – a conflict which, in the context of this budget, should be taken very seriously, as this institution, and others like it, stand to gain quite a lot from the deregulation of fees, bringing into question the governments assumed lack of bias in handling things such as the federal budget planning.

    Meanwhile, this article – while honest and heartfelt – verged on condescending in the effort not to be too aggressive. I, too, feel sorry for Frances – it isn’t fair for the media at large to drag her personal life through the press without some kind of invitation from her, especially as she is not (unlike her father) a public figure. However, Abbott has knowingly allowed his family to benefit significantly from his powerful role, and they too have a role in Sydney society, they too gain from that power. Frances – being by most reports at least of above average intelligence – must know how this works, and have at least an inkling of what goes on. What she may not have a handle on, however, is the precise reason why so many are deeply pissed off about her good fortune: we simply don’t get these chances just by knowing the right people. Normal, average everyday Australians might get a job in an office or on a checkout because someone somewhere down the line has given us a good recommendation. We might even get a promotion off the back of favourable responses from referees who know those making the decision… Promotions to floor manager, or team leader. Perhaps. A 60k scholarship to an independent design school without even writing an application, with a job afterwards? That’s something out if a Hollywood chick-flick starring Drew Barrymore and Anne Hathaway – an impossible Disney-dream-like thing. Even those who have the incredibly good fortune to get full funding for a PhD have to write applications of dozens of pages, support themselves for months (even years) during write up and post-submission, and rarely get work immediately, regardless of the fact that they needed to be in the top 10% of the top 10% of their undergrad to get funding.

    We should be furious that someone out there missed out on a chance to attend design school in Frances’ stead. We should be mad as hell that money can be found out of nowhere for a girl from a “good family” to get an education for free when the rest of us may well be paying for our degrees when our kids are her age. And we should be extra mad that a guy who thinks this is ok for his kids, but not for anyone else’s, is the leader of this country.

    What Frances should be asking herself now is whether she is more deserving of that money than someone else’s child – more worthy than anyone who might have applied for that money given the chance. And the answer cannot be known, because that money was awarded without the consideration of any other candidate, or through any formal award process. And yet Abbott does not consider it worth declaring, because it is apparently a scholarship – awarded once only, to the only candidate considered… a gift, at best, a bribe at worst – the fact that it wasn’t declared tells us that Abbott knew it wouldn’t look good if people started asking questions.

    So we ask those questions now: why does Abbott think his child is more deserving of any other? Why, when the family can more than afford to pay for her secondary education, does Frances need a full-fee scholarship for a tertiary course? Why didn’t Frances attend a public university and accrue a massive HECS debt, or pay for her further education like the rest if us? And why, if she’s so goddamned amazing, have we never heard about her designing prowess until now?

    This will likely ruin her career, which I think is really unfair, BUT is it more unfair than the fact that some kids are worth tens of thousands of dollars to a company, just for being born into the right family? Is it more unfair than the fact that some people are summarily incarcerated for stealing something worth 5 dollars, just for the colour of their skin, while other people get handed 60k and don’t even question whether they have a right to that money?

    So sure, it’s a bit shit for Frances, and not really right to crucify her, but we should be really angry about the world in which this kind of thing is routine for many, while pensioners can’t afford toilet paper, and today’s 15 year olds have to contemplate starting their adult life with more thank 100k in debt, just to get a fraction of the privilege Frances was born with. wtf, Australia?

  56. Name (required)

    Paul Stoney
    you always been a jerk ? or does it take practice ?
    as for abbot sacrificing, he’s getting half a million a year.
    his family wont go hungry.

  57. Carlotta

    Hi Francis, I hear things are a but hairy at home!
    Come join us at the Malibu Beach party until today’s papers are yesterday’s bin liners…
    Btw the swim suits you made us need double stitching sweetie, get daddy to buy you a new bikini before you come over
    Hugs!

  58. Alex

    Derp – scholarships are not deemed gifts and do not have to be declared under the regulations regarding what must be declared on the pecuniary interests register. You should probably read up on such things before commenting. There actually is not a problem with Tony not declaring this as the regulation (which is the only relevant consideration as to what should be declared) doesnt require it.

    You make it sound like Abbott awarded his daughter the scholarship. He didnt. Your entire post reeks of jealousy. It is rude, misinformed and unpleasant. You clearly have some kind of chip on your shoulder to do with skin colour and race, but honestly, trying to draw some kind of link between a criminal who is incarcerated (coincidentally for breaking the law and not because of the colour of their skin) and the awarding of the scholarship to Frances (there is no suggestion that skin colour was a factor) is ludicrous.

    Between you, Frances and the College, you are the one with the least valid, (and by least valid i mean not valid at all), opinion on who is most deserving of the scholarship. If it was your personal money that funded the scholarship then you might have a claim to meaningful opinion. Given that it isnt, you dont get a say

  59. Carlotta

    PS umm Francis, over locking alone does not hold a garment together

    Cheers sweetie!

    PPS can I borrow a few extra $$ for the weekend?

  60. Dee

    Regardless of whether it was the PM’s daughter or not – I guess for me is that a very valuable $60,000 supposed Scholarship at an educational college was not advertised to the other students at the college so they too could apply as well – making it an equitable scholarship for all students:

    * This makes the $60,000 payment to cover Fran’s full tuition fees not a scholarship but a personal gift from the owner of College to a student of his choosing with no selection criteria be met or committee to choose the most deserving scholarship recipient.

    * My concern is that Fran got tax free income to cover her degree fees with no need for HECs while other students have to pay tax on their earnings to pay for their degrees and pay back HECs.

    *Her Dad did not pay for her College education because of his relationship with the owner, while being in a position to pay for it as a high income earner and now as the Prime Minister he is targeting university students who are not in the same elite position as his daughter.

    *Did the College claim this scholarship as a tax deduction for philanthropic support to a student when clearly it was a gift to a friend and not a charitable scholarship to an eligible student. I am sure the ATO would be very very interested in this!

  61. Lynda Day

    What a patronisingly written piece. Get over it.

  62. Linda Woodrow

    She’s grown up. Old enough to vote. She chose to be very, very involved in Tony’s election campaign. Unless you think he forced her? She could easily have said, I choose to make my own way in the world, but she chose to accept a “scholarship” she knew very well was unearned, or rather, was earned by doing media in white dresses, working on his media image. So I don’t feel remotely sorry for her, or remotely guilty for bringing media attentipn. She wanted it. She’s got it. This is not a child we’re talking about. It is a valuable life lesson.

  63. twistie1

    Victoria, given that that your comments have been swamped by Liberal trolls there’s a very good chance that Frances and her father (or his minders) have read your open letter. Mission accomplished! Keep up the good work.

  64. Alphonse

    She could easily not have known about the scholarship, believing daddy was paying her fees.

  65. corvus boreus

    Federal ICAC now. There will be little reform in a change in government unless the entrenched corruptions in the political process are addressed and reformed. Laborites, LNPers and PUPpers should pressure their representatives to support the Greens’ call for a federal inquiry. What do you have to hide?

  66. Rebekka

    Those complaining about Victoria starting a sentence with ‘and’ might want to go and have a look at the King James Bible:

    “Genesis 1

    1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

    2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

    3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

    4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

    5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

    6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.”

    etc etc

    That’s what you call a precedent, folks.

  67. Lisa Foley

    I am not a liberal voter. But why pay out on Mr Abbott’s daughter for the mistakes of her father? Even if what you are saying is true, why pull her down and tell her what a bad daddy she has? Is this kindergarten? Your words are full of victimisation and plain nastiness. It appears to me that a smug, condemning ‘open letter’ is no different to trolling. You probably feel that it is.

  68. Jessie

    I am a student at whitehouse, and personally have a class with Frances, and up until now I had no idea who she actually was. Frances is a sweet girl, down to earth and gives so much in the classroom, supporting staff and inspiring students. She’s been a wealth of knowledge and can really relate to our struggles as students. I couldn’t imagine a better person for the position.
    Who cares how she got here, she did the time, she put in the work and she excelled in her studies, why shouldn’t she be able to access scholarships like the rest of us? I’m sorry but Frances is completely deserving of her scholarship and I’m honoured to have her in our class!! I think these posts are just hurtful rants, Frances is a person too, I’m sure she has enough to deal with as Prime Ministers daughter, she doesn’t need to read things like this every time she jumps online.

  69. Amelie

    As a Whitehouse Graduate in 2006 and someone who knows Leanne Whitehouse fairly well, I can guarantee that there is no such thing as a “chairmans scholarship”. There are scholarships but you don’t get them at the beginning of a first year and they only are ever around $2000, aside for the 3rd year scholarship which gets you to Italy to study masters and doesn’t even cover half of those fees.

    I would put large amounts of money on Leanne wooing her hoping it would be good advertisement for the college and as a private school, they would benefit from the political connection.

    I also graduated a distinction student. It wasn’t hard. You just needed Leanne to like you. I beat many students that had far more talent than myself.

    Although I did work my ass off to get through the degree. My parents helped me with the majority of the tuition but the other costs for materials ran into thousands of dollars a year and I work 4 nights a week at a bar to get me through. Which is really hard when you spend the rest if the hours on your collection. Sleep was rare. It was hard enough to guarantee what they preach. Not that I’m surprised by any of this. Congratulations to the employee that leaked it.

  70. Michael Taylor

    Jessie, I don’t think there’s any doubting that. But you must agree there is a lot of anger out there. And in my opinion it’s entirely justified.

  71. Noel Victor Comley

    TO sabretruthtiger. While you comments may be off-topic it is so good to read some facts about man-made global warming.

  72. Noel Victor Comley

    Sorry: TYPO in last post: “you comments: instead of “your comments”

  73. Michael Taylor

    Noel, it’s a good thing you corrected yourself, otherwise you would have received a visit from the grammar Nazis. :mrgreen:

  74. Zathras

    It reminds me of when John Howard’s son was given a job as an intern at the White House.
    It was like Howard offering George W “his first born son” as an offering.
    (Since that job is unpaid, I’ve always wondered who picked up thet tab for accommodation and expenses?)
    That incident didn’t get much media coverage for some reason.

    Unfortunately for Frances, regardless of the merit or validity of this scholarship, it will always be under a cloud.

  75. Amelie

    Looks like I managed to cut out sentence at the end of my last comment, leaving it making no sense. I was saying to sum up, Abbotts should practice what they preach and share the heavy lifting too. It’s funny how the rich get out of it. Not that I’m surprised by any of it.

  76. marie

    Well said, after all everyone is outraged by the hypocrisy of Tony Abbott and his government. I…Well I am beside myself.

  77. Kaye Lee

    When I was little my mother was the librarian at my school. When we went to library class each week, Mum would read an excerpt from a new book to us and always leave the reading at an interesting moment, and then say “Hands up if you would like to borrow this book”. Hands would shoot up as we sat up very straight hoping to be chosen. I never was.

    I asked mum once why I was never picked to borrow the new book. She told me it would look unfair and that I could wait and borrow the book later. I am grateful to my parents for teaching me to consider others before myself.

    Having said that, I actually find Tony’s wife and daughters to be admirable women, the little I know of them. I very much doubt the girls said hey dad, can I please get dragged around holding your hand on the campaign trail and look like a complete idiot. You can put that one down to the Credlin image spin.

  78. Möbius Ecko

    And Noel there was not one fact presented by the misnamed sabretruthtiger.

  79. Michael Taylor

    There has been a lot of defence for Frances, mainly with the suggestion that she probably didn’t know about this. After some deliberation I’ve come to the late conclusion that this is, in a word, bullshit.

    I’ve completed a couple of degrees and I know that students DO talk about their debt and how they’re going to pay it back. I never heard a student say that he or she was lucky enough to say that ‘Dad was going to pay for it’. So my point is this: she must have known. Surely.

  80. fugit60

    The only question is : Did she receive the scholarship because of who she was? The answer is yes ..end of story ..

  81. M.

    She received the scholarship in 2011 – before Abbott was PM and the implementation of any of these schemes had begun. If it’s such a big issue, why was attention not drawn to it 3 years ago? Yes, yes you say the issue is that Abbott has changed the way students pay etc etc. – but it wasn’t like that when she got the scholarship. If she is undeserving of it now, then she would’ve be undeserving of it then – and that should be the issue.
    what is she meant to do now – give the scholarship back and apologise for having a job?

  82. Michael Taylor

    M, why wasn’t it an issue three years ago? Simple, nobody knew about it. It has only just now become public knowledge. Obviously someone who knew about it was rather pissed off with the budget and its impact on students so could contain the silence no longer.

  83. Sue Novak

    I admire the way you have constructed this letter, and I hope Mr Abbott does the right thing, and creates his own scholarship, well, let’s make it 6 scholarships of $10,000 each……share it around a little more, this is an opportunity for him to show how wonderful is really is……excuse me, I need to go an be sick now……give me a break, all the kids who work 2 jobs, live on noodles, and acquire the desire to make a difference in their chosen field, something I feel Frances may never experience…..

  84. Nikki

    Victoria, I salute you.

  85. Lost2

    The same when Howard lost power, poor Tony was relegated to an opposition seat, which cut his pay packet to $145,000, what did poor Tony do, but cry poor, could not live on that sort of sum, what transpired next, Tony took out a loan of $700,000 against his home and failed to notify parliament for over 2 years, this guy has a track record for misleading and lying to parliament, when will enough be enough and he is held accountable.

  86. Kaye Lee

    In my mind, Frances does not bear any culpability here. Machinations such as we are discussing would not enter the head of an 18 year old, so in my opinion she should be left out of the discussion.

    The pertinent points to me are:

    Scholarships should be offered to students who could not otherwise afford to pursue their studies or to very talented people who show enormous potential.

    If the scholarship is being offered because of rare talent, it should have been advertised and there should have been a selection process open to all applicants who satisfied given criteria.

    If the scholarship was not advertised, and Frances did not initiate the application, what was the justification for her being chosen?

    Was this scholarship then a tax deduction for the Institute?

    How frequently are scholarships given? If not regularly, then how is the timing determined? What is the selection criteria for recipients?

    How does fee deregulation affect this establishment? Do they offer Diploma courses for which students can now access a HECS loan? What affect will this have on their enrolment? Will more places go to foreign students? In other words, does the Institute benefit from the current suggested changes?

    I agree that is was Tony’s responsibility to anticipate how this might look in the future, just like my mum did with the library books. Perhaps it’s kosher. Perhaps not. So far the above questions have not been adequately answered to my mind.

  87. Fed up

    Francis is expected to do nothing. The argument is not with her. It is her father that should come out and declare he was given a gift. It is he that needs too prove there was no conflict of 9interest. Would like to know why it was kept so secret.

  88. Mick Quinlivan

    there are two conflicting matters here…. Ms Abbott is not her dad….. nor should she be expected to disown him……..she is under normal circumstances out of bounds as she is family not the politician. no one wishes to harm some one who is a young woman and probably a decent person…….but it appears Mr Abbott could have paid her fees himself….. also it looks like strings were pulled to get her a specially created scholarship….. because of her father’s connections. It seems to me the best and fairest thing to do is to cut those strings…. the way this can be done is for Mr Abbott to pay the $60k himself

  89. Mlaw

    This is a shit letter.

  90. Stephen Tardrew

    Let the cards fall where they may. If necessary there will be legal recourse for Abbott not his daughter. These are legitimate questions for the PM. Am I mistaken or are a large number of our fellow citizens going to suffer extreme hardship unnecessarily and refugees be relocated to dangerous third word countries. The leader of this country is accountable to the people and in a democracy we are free to ask questions and either prove or refute them. It’s called law and justice. Who is going to save the kids who are homeless and forced into poverty? Me thinks there are bigger fish to fry here.

    How many stood by and watched the character assassination of childless atheist Julia, who like all of us, has done good stuff and some bad. Where was the tolerance then? It reeks of double standards.

  91. Fed up

    As for the heavy lifting, I as amaze when I heard Shepherd this morning say we are whingers. When asked what he was contributing to the heavy lifting, he said he sure was paying the 2% levy. He was also paying the co-payment. He sounded like that would effect him, on over $200k, as someo0ne on $20k. Yes, it is the hypocrisy of Abbott and their ilk that is n trial.

    This, plus then seeing Abbott, all serious, saying it is for the good of the country, and he should not have winked, all Faines fault that really raised my ire.

    Yes, Mr Abbott, I want to hear why you did not pay for your daughters education. Was there some concern on how your oldest daughter achieved her job as well.

    I want the same deal for my grand and great grand daughters. Yes, I am more than envious.

  92. loznorbury

    Reblogged this on happy misadventures and commented:
    I rarely, rarely, re-blog anything – but this struck a chord with me. I really, really feel for Frances but I think the whole situation is representative of how the Government is making decisions based on their own values/experiences (getting through uni comfortably and having parent’s help to get jobs) and they have zero understanding of what it is like to genuinely make the choice between electricity and food. Saddling us with massive debts, taking away any safety net, and saying it’s our fault? I have big worries about the students I’m teaching now and the world they’ll be going in to next year.

  93. Victoria Rollison

    Interesting that so many angry Liberal voters are defending Frances, yet I didn’t see any of you defending Julia Gillard when she was being dragged through far more heated media attention over her ex-boyfriend’s dealings with a slush fund 20 years before. Don’t you remember the ‘questions to answer’ campaign? Why does Abbott not have ‘questions to answer’ over this scholarship affair? This is just further evidence of the hypocrisy of the Abbott government and their loyal followers. One rule for them and another rule for everyone else.

  94. Anomander

    Hilarious. Now there are rumours of leadership rumblings in the coalition over Abbots’s gaffes and lack of vision.

    As much as I despise Abbott for the slimy, divisive, dangerous cretin he is. I’m more than happy for him to remain as PM for as long as possible because each day he is there, the more the weight of public opinion is building against his feckless government and the greater the chance this mob will be thrown out in a landslide at the next election.

    Go your hardest Tones! LOL

  95. cocothirtynineebeca Hope

    Well written . Thank you for saying what had to be said. The sad truth is that was no scholarship to apply for. Whitehouse is very definite about this point. No scholarships available for entry into first year design EVER and definitely not on the grounds of merit . It was a discretionary gift that is being called a scholarship. I would assume that Frances didnt even know the facts of the donation. I know its a private college BUT with HECS being granted to students of this college it has to meet standards and abide by regulations. Scholarship programs do indeed come into those regulations and Im pretty sure that discretionary scholarships for $60,000.00 that are not advertised and not open to any students and kept secret for 3 years are not actually scholarships but gifts. The fact that it was kept so quiet for so long indicates to me that the establishment and Mr Abbot knew full well that it was the wrong thing to do. It is very sad to see that a young woman starting out in life has been dragged into such a political storm by her father.

  96. Victoria Rollison

    And by the way, I’m not at all jealous of Frances Abbott, as I said, i do feel sorry for her. I have a university education, which I have since paid off via the HECS system. The people I feel even more sorry for than Frances are the students who will be paying interest on their HELP loans at 6%. They’ll have trouble getting home loans before they’re 40 with that sort of debt hanging around their necks.

  97. Fed up

    Abbott’s government has employed hundreds of media experts to peruse these sites, I am s8re he us aware of what is being written, I am surprise, Victoria, you have not got an email to take this post down. Mr Morrison alone employs 80 experts within his departments.

    So it is what one is going to lose on childcare today. Greens saying $6000 per year. Not up on announcement yet. Just todays revelation.

  98. Kate

    Well, Dear Frances, you can’t be that good at this design thingy. You know the old saying; Those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach.

  99. Anthony

    I don’t even think that is right. I’d say people are more pissed of that during this ‘budget emergency’ whereby people are forced to chip in and help, Frances should have rejected the scholorships financial benefit, and instead offered to pay for the full fee for the course. I don’t think it has anything to do with speculation of anything.

  100. Kaye Lee

    Let’s remember why this is causing such angst. We all recognise the importance of education and opportunity – something this budget actively abandons.

    “The Prime Minister has turned his back on equity in education at the first opportunity, choosing to entrench disadvantage and deny opportunities to thousands of students.

    Lifting overall student performance and closing the achievement gaps between advantaged and disadvantaged students will not be possible without the full implementation of the Gonski school funding reforms.

    By abandoning the 5th and 6th years of the Gonski education reforms, which contain two-thirds of the extra funding, he has ripped billions of dollars out of schools and ended funding based on the needs of students. NSW alone will lose $1.2 billion of funding.

    For children who attend poorly resourced schools, this decision will be disastrous. Existing gaps in achievement will keep growing and more and more children will fall behind. Up to 20 per cent of schools will not meet minimum resource standards.”

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-05-22/gavrielatos-education-equity-abandoned-at-the-first-opportunity/5471116

  101. SuperCycleBear

    High time more people accepted this as fact. That would allow those who were born to rule to take their rightful place without the distraction of misguided ‘wannabe’ challengers. Occasionally, we get periods of despondency in the lower classes, and at those times, everything returns to as it should be.

  102. Jennifer White

    Victoria, I do agree with everything !!! you have said, it is really important i this message is LOUD AND CLEARLY EXPRESSED in multiple forums however I believe you have said it to the wrong person, who did not sign up to enact policy or enter public life.

  103. Anomander

    Oh dear. All this outrage from Abbott supporters over poor old Fran and how she’s an innocent caught-up in the political machinations of her father and his wealthy supporters.

    Where is the same level of outrage for those poor people trying to survive with severe illnesses on a disability pension?

    What about some outrage for the young who will be lumbered with massive debts, which will take them decades to pay-off and seriously affect the remainder of their lives, just so they can get an education and try to get ahead in life. this same level of debt young Fran will never have to worry about due to the backing of her father’s mates.

    And what about Tony himself, who managed to secure himself a free university education, courtesy of the Australian tax payer, and enjoyed his own paid scholarship gained through his private school connections. Again, something future generations will never be able to enjoy, thanks to his short-sighted selfish actions.

    To those Abbott supporters outraged that Fran is being targeted, where is your social conscience and what happened to the old Australian ethos of looking after those who can’t look after themselves? Or has that all been lost in your insular little world where your personal pursuit of money takes precedence over the lives of your fellow Australians?

    Abbott supporters, you should hang your heads in shame that the government you supported is now damaging those least fortunate but giving their wealthy benefactors free rein to massively increase their profits and avoid paying their fair share, for the betterment of our nation. You sicken me.

  104. Allie

    This open letter is succint, to the point and expresses the angst and upset of the Australian electorate brilliantly. It needs to go viral on the internt and get picked up by mainstream media. Well done, Ms Rolison, you have expressed yourself brilliantly.

  105. JimD

    I am sure that Frances is her fathers daughter and firmly believes it is her right to have scholarships thrown at her by all and sundry.
    The ‘All in white’ innocence of the ‘pure public’ family was like the rest, just an act.
    My grandfather who was honoured by King George VI would have been horrified that someone in Abbott’s position should accept or allow a family member to accept such a scholarship. He would have said the offer was a very nice one. Then added something like. Thank you, but I feel there are others in need. This would make a life changing opportunity for them.

  106. Fed up

    Of course university cannot be free, We are not that stupid. The question is who and how it should be paid for.

    What is clear, the nation and industry will not prosper unless there is a highly skilled and educated workforce created. Yes, it is the nation that benefits most. It is the employers that need these highly trained people.

    Yes, the student will benefit , one hopes with higher wages during their life time. Not as high as Pyne seems to believe I suspect.

    With these higher wages, our highly educated university graduates will paid much more tax, than if they did not spends years of their lives studying.

    So who should pay. say the whole country, through taxes. Industry, as they cannot function without this workforce.

    Education is not a privilege. It is a right, so one can take place in the w9rkforce and survive in our society. In fact one could say, each has an obligation to educate themselves to their full potential for the good o9f the country.

    Now Mr Abbott wants to be the infrastructure PM. IF so, he should forget the roads, and turn his attention to providing the human infrastructure needed for us to take our place in the Asian century.

    It appears, that today we see many more thousands being taken from families in freezing of the childcare rebate When will it stop.

  107. Kaye Lee

    And that’s the point Anomander. This government have perfected the look over there strategy. While we look at Frances’ scholarship we must remember what has been done to education in this budget. We have ripped $1 billion out of trades training centres. We have stopped the old age education supplement. We have made uni unaffordable, and we have abandoned needs based funding. We have taken back the pay rise for child care workers and reduced the necessary qualifications. We have stripped funding for research.

    This is an all out attack on education and we must fight it all costs.

  108. John

    I love this view Australians have on those who are better off than them. This is exactly why in an interview a few years ago Greg Norman said he would never buy a Ferrari in Australia. In America, people look at a Ferrari and think ‘Damn, that’s cool! I’m going to work my ass off so I can get one of those one day.’ Yet in Australia, people look at it and think ‘What a show-off, I’m going to key his door and bring him back to our level’. In regards to the budget – if you buy a house, you have to pay off the mortgage. The country has bought the house – now it’s time to work off the mortgage. Grow up.

  109. john921fraser

    <

    @Jessie

    JUst to be certain I have got it right, do you think you could explain what you posted earlier :

    "Who cares how she got here, she did the time, she put in the work and she excelled in her studies, why shouldn’t she be able to access scholarships like the rest of us?"

    Who are the "rest of us" who had access to the "scholarships" in question ?

    According to the reports I have read (including the Whitehouse's) "scholarships" of any variety were not freely available.

    Be nice if you could post a copy of your Application for a "scholarship" or your recollection of what it entailed.

    Unless of course you were using the term "rest of us" in the generic sense.

    Or perhaps one of your friends (the rest of us) could post here and enlighten everyone as to how the Whitehouse Design "scholarship" works.

  110. Deb

    Does this mean daughter Frances won’t be moving to the Lodge with mum and dad as her father predicted – his daughters (at least 2 of them) were going to be living with them until they were married I seem to remember her father saying. A teacher’s aide wouldn’t be earning that much, and living in either Sydney or Melbourne where the Design Institute has campuses isn’t going to be cheap, although there is the family home in Sydney which would take care of the rent issue. Doubt if this earning experience is going to be educative for Frances as to how “the other half lives’, any more than her learning experience would have been.

  111. Don Winther

    SuperCycleBear you must be Tony Abbott

  112. bruce

    The children of the “elite” have benefited from their parents positions and bloodlines since the beginning of history. How funny that people of today can’t see beyond the latest Hollywood trend let alone know anything about the circulative history behind the worlds woes and those behind them. In this “open letter” Victoria Rollison proves little more than what a pack of uneducated whiners we have become choosing pen a tome of discontent as opposed to actually doing something that matters. Australia, and the rest of the so called “developed” world have themselves to blame for the very things they whinge about because they let it all happen in front of their eyes and do nothing but have an opinion.

  113. Geoff

    @john921fraser

    You’re profile picture is of Julia Gillard – your opinion is invalid.

  114. joy cooper

    Jennifer White, it must be remembered that Abbott’s daughters have willingly accepted all the privileges that come with their father’s station in life plus those of his influential backers. They also, willingly & seemingly happily, allowed themselves to be paraded like thoroughbred fillies during his electioneering campaign.

    The daughters are, also, only too happy to be given front row seats at fashion shows, access to the best tents at racing carnivals as well as being on the social A-List & are only too eager to publicly endorse their favourite fashion designers (?free clothing?). Sure, they are also wheeled out for certain chosen & fashionable charity events but seem happy to do this.

    Their ready acceptance of the social standing, & all the advantages, that come with being their father’s daughters , precludes any sympathies re the apparent intrusions into their private lives. Actually, they are lucky they have Murdoch to protect them. If they were the daughters of an ALP leader they would face constant castigation, vilification & mendacious abuse from the Murdoch gutter press.

    Great article Victoria.

  115. john921fraser

    <

    @John

    At the time of Greg Norman's statement the unsophisticated Aussie had no idea what he was talking about when he said "key the door".

    Which is remarkable because 40 years later you have no idea about the Australian economy.

    Looks like you just lost by a sizeable margin ….. which by coincidence is what Norman did at the U.S. Masters.

    Perhaps you should remember the words of Norman's caddie … "I just want to caddie for someone who has heart".

  116. john921fraser

    <

    @Geoff

    You have no "profile".

    But this isn't a dictatorship so I take your "opinion" on board and then promptly dismiss it.

  117. Joel

    Blatant yet entirely predictable example of chronyism among the haves, at the expense of have-nots. Everything this government and their ilk stand for, while voted in by people silly and selfish enough to believe it would benifit their own pocket; maybe somehow make them a little more wealthy, a bit more powerful. But the majority won’t and can’t receive this kind of favouritism. It doesn’t work that way. I feel a bit sorry for Frances Abbott too, but not as sorry as I do for people of her age who struggle to get through without money or connections, and now without proper government support or respect.

  118. Bob Joyce

    This whole affair should be used as a textbook example of entrenched privilege, and the selective blindness of those who benefit from it.

  119. jimhaz

    LNPers have been undertaking measures at State and Federal levels to destroy TAFE.

    The Whitehouse Institute of Design will benefit greatly from this, and from the setting up of a price gouging mechanism for course fee increases, by allowing HECS loans into the TAFE area.

    Companies like the WID will be looking towards expansion and much higher profits. LNP “policies” (read scams) directly and acutely benefit them. The 60k was a payback for polices in their favour.

    To me it is blatant criminality – criminality of the type of a traitor to this country – worse even than Obeid and co due to the number that will be affected by higher education pricing.

  120. fiona

    If such a high achieving fashion guru, why can she not not suggest a different cloured tie for her father. Has anyone else seen him in anything but blue? Had Julia Gillard worn the same outfit every single day, I can only imagine the backlash she would be subject too. AND she didn’t have the luxury of a fashion guru relative….

  121. Anomander

    John. I think you’ll find “tall poppy syndrome” is another urban myth dreamed-up by those weaklings who can’t take criticism.

    Most Australians don’t disparage or discourage success, they welcome and laud people who are innovative and creative and manage to do well for themselves, especially if they pay something back or show themselves to be genuine people.

    What Australians can’t stand is pretence, over-inflated egos and a lack of humility.

    Sure, be successful but expect if you buy yourself a flash Ferrari and minimise your tax through underhanded off-shore tax havens, expect we we’re all gonna call you a wanker!

    Australians work some of the longest hours in the OECD and we all admire success earned through hard work (as opposed to inheriting billions or using your social / political position for personal advantage) but we also expect you to acknowledge that you didn’t get there alone.

    In order to enjoy your success you made use of a vast array of publicly funded infrastructure and services, provided by everyone paying their fair share. The expectation is that you will also do the same – contribute your fair share in return, so others may also enjoy the same benefits you enjoyed. Not paying your fair share is like spitting in our faces. And that is what we don’t like.

    And as far as working hard and paying off a mortgage, how are the young ever going to do that when they face a mountain of debt even before they enter the workforce? Those HECS repayments immediately put them all on the back-foot when it comes to getting a mortgage, a loan for a car or paying their bills.

  122. Frank Hunt

    Cut the crap she knew what was going on and her father is responsible with his double standards and lies.
    I dont want a man like him or a family like yours setting the moral compass when you and your family lost your way thanks to the captain of your ship Abbott. This man did everything in his power to destroy the last government with no holds barred so the same is now being dealt out to him and his kind.

  123. Deb

    Absolutely right jimhaz. TAFE has been suffering death by a thousand cuts, alongside many shonky private providers setting up, all wanting to get in on the act/$$.

    I seem to remember too that TAFE design and fine arts courses were under fire (or have been ‘fired’) too.

    Guess who’ll have a clean sweep there.

  124. john921fraser

    <

    The Duke & Duchess of Surry Hills has a nice ring to it.

    I wonder how long it will be before Abbott bestows this on the Whitehouse's ?

  125. Don Winther

    John we have bought the house and are happy to pay off the mortgage but some-one has sold the kitchen and now we have to buy take-away food for breakfast lunch and dinner. There is also someone digging up our back yard and selling it by the ship load and not paying us for it. There is someone drilling holes in the ground looking for gas so they can get rich but they have destroyed our water supply so now the fruit trees are dead.They have also sold our power stations so we have to pay top price for electricity.
    It is not a home any more it is just a building with a losing business running in it. Oh and we dont have a job anymore due to greedy politics.

    ” Australia its open for business, its all for sale ” Abbott.

  126. guest

    @John

    One problem with Frances’s “scholarship” is that it was not known that such a scholarship existed, not even by the staff at Whitehouse. As for her “job” as teacher aide at Whitehouse, her name appears on the staff list, but no role has been recorded.

    It all sounds a little dodgy.

    Then we have this talk of Ferraris. Some Americans might believe in the American Dream, that one can work hard and get whatever you want. But the reality is that few people actually achieve that, not even in America.

    Are we to believe that having an aspiration to own a Farrari is wonderful ambition? And where would one drive it without fearing that some person might crash into it? Or one might even crash it oneself?

    It is all about bling-bling. Vanity, saith the preacher. Like that Chinese business man who has “three or four” Ferraris – he wasn’t sure how many.

    As for having “bought the house” and having to “pay” for it, the metaphor is rather odd. Is this about setting out to buy a house and a Ferrari, or is it about national debt and deficit? Abbott has the odd image of a house on fire and he is going to rescue it.

    The Great Big Debt idea has been debunked. Abbott is merely indulging in class warfare: “Battlelines” in action.

  127. john921fraser

    <

    @Don Withner

    Very good analogy.

    Unfortunately you forgot to "Lock the gate".

    No doubt Sir Abbott will assist to fix your oversight.

    About the same time you see a photo of Murdoch driving the fire engine to put out the Budget fire.

  128. mike daniels

    Interestingly, the same kind of old pals act also applies to the Rhodes scholarship. One of my daughters was in the final five and we went to govt house to meet the board. It was obvious that several of the candidates were personally known to board members……..i even overheard one commenting on the great dinner they’d enjoyed last week. officially, the whole process is supposed to be anonymous.

  129. Jimmy Tune

    Oh shut up and get on with your lives. Our debt problem isn’t a major concern at present but its pretty dam obvious we will have a major problem when all of the Labour Governments expenses are realized in a few years and we’ll be up sh*it creek. RE the education cuts – how about you look at every other successful funding model in the world and realize we have an outdated funding model. Full stop.

    This budget is tough, but at least it affects everyone. The only fair budget, in that sense, in a long time where everyone has to feel some pain not just a small few. Start getting back the can-do attitude that used to be synonymous with Australians. We are becoming a nation of wingers.

    Pull your head in and get on with it!

  130. JimD

    Jimmy Tune.
    Have you looked at the budget? If so how come you see different words to every one else. You must work in Abbott’s or Hockey’s office. They seem to be the only ones who do not know the ins and outs of what they propose to inflict on the country. They continually correct each other and are corrected by people in areas who are affected by the budget. Doctors being an example.
    You must learn the difference between household and business budgeting and government budgeting. A government does not need to have a surplus or a deficit. It can have whatever it wants to achieve. A balance of 0 is ideal. Or adjust one of the 3 factors to achieve changes in savings, business spending or government spending to make 0
    This budget does not make 0.

  131. Anomander

    Jimmy Tune. The weight of the budget measures are not falling equally on everyone and that is why there is such discontent. If the budget was actually in crisis and everyone was paying their fair share, according to their means, there would be very little whinging.

    But there is no budget emergency – that is a lie made-up by Abbott and co and propagated by Rupert’s newspapers to enable them to institute austerity measures that hurt the poor, the sick and the young but leave the wealthy unscathed. Well.. not even unscathed – they are even better placed to reap enormous sums by virtue of government turning a blind-eye to their concessions, subsidies and tax-rorts.

    Our foreign debt is amongst the lowest in the OECD and our capacity to repay it well within our means. We enjoy a AAA credit rating and interest rates are at record lows.

    Our structural economic problems stem not from expenditure from from our income stream, which has evaporated as we have wilfully encouraged the uber-wealthy to avoid paying any tax, which means the remainder of us, without the same means to avoid taxation, must cover the shortfall.

    So lower and middle classes are are paying more tax and are now facing declines in services and increases in prices and the lowest paid are actually seeing a marked decline in the income while the rich are afforded generous tax concessions.

    THAT is why people are angry, not because they don’t want to pay, but because the load is spread inequitably and because the supposed need to pay is predicated upon a blatant lie.

  132. wildpainter

    This article is absolutely on the money!

  133. Keitha Granville

    Is there anyone out there who seriously still thinks Frances Abbott didn’t know what was what when she got the “scholarship” ? She was a grown woman not a 3 year old. Anyone with shred of integrity at that point would have declined. But of course she is her father’s daughter.

  134. john921fraser

    <

    @Jimmy Tune

    "Our debt problem isn’t a major concern at present but its pretty dam obvious we will have a major problem when all of the Labour Governments expenses are realized in a few years and we’ll be up sh*it creek."

    Didn't you get the memo 5 years ago telling Australia the economy was stuffed.

    Better write to Abbott asking for a Royal Commission as to why you didn't get it.

    And while you are at it , write to Murdoch and tell him he should have been reporting your concerns.

    That's if you can find you way out of the cave you have obviously been living in for the last 5 years.

    If the world goes into another Depression Australia will be one of the ones that owes the least amount of money.

    And you, Jimmy Tune, will be able to tell that to your grandchildren, when they are sitting at the table asking for more to eat.

    Jimmy Tune its embarrassing to watch you sit there and eat your pride knowing that you will go back to Abbott for more ……. and still be hungry.

  135. Chicky

    We all know there is a major budget issue and both parties have really f&@ked up dealing with this issue… But the government should know better than to mess with Education and Health. They are the fabric of civilised society and the moment you mess with it, you can and will certainly face utter disdain and contempt from the people of this country.. And for Gods sake please leave the poor pensioners alone!!!! That is all.

  136. john921fraser

    <

    @Keitha Granville

    Its possible they all discussed it over a 59 Grange and Montecristo cigars.

  137. GeekGirl

    @JimD

    “I am sure that Frances is her fathers daughter and firmly believes it is her right to have scholarships thrown at her by all and sundry.”

    How the hell would any of us know how she feels? Jealous much? People said as much about his sister until they found out she’s gay……..

  138. Lou

    Even though she did not sign up for such a public life the fact remains she has one. She has the ability to use her position as a wealthy and entitled woman to comment on issues of fairness and equality, all public figures do. To sit and do nothing when you have the ability to do something against injustice and inequality is not positive. To take the approach that it has nothing to do with her is not good enough for me.

  139. john921fraser

    <

    @Chicky

    I hope you are not suggesting a mining tax ?

    Or heaven forbid ….. knocking negative gearing on the head ?

    Lordy lordy don't tell me you are suggesting closing the Super tax loophole.

    If you did that you would pay of the (miniscule) debt in 3 years.

    Good thinking Chicky ….. I will go along with that.

  140. Britt Porter

    Victoria,

    I think it is ignorant that you assume that the people that are not happy with your letter are Liberal voters. I am by far not happy with either Liberal or Labour, it is time for a new stance.

    But getting back to your letter, it wreeks arrogance and importance, and as I said SUPER condescending. You have no idea how much of the situation Francis knew about. I’d really prefer it if this letter didn’t speak for me.

    I don’t want to be dragged into a jealous “he said she said” cry for help. I want to fight for equality for all, not to prey on the Prime Ministers daughter. Let’s also not forget that is Liberal in general that is the problem.

    I think your head is in the right place, as you make some really important points, I just think the letter is nasty and poorly executed.

  141. Kaye Lee

    NATSEM principal research fellow Ben Phillips has studied the effects of the budget and says it is “not fair at all”.

    “We’d estimate around 1.2 million families that would be on average around $3,000 a year worse off by 2017-18, whereas the top income groups – so the top 20 per cent of households – would have either no impact or a very small positive impact,” he told PM.

    Mr Phillips found that a single parent of two school-aged children who was looking for work would lose $4,243 a year or 14.8 per cent of their disposable income by 2017.

    And they would still lose that much even if the parent found a job that paid $40,000 a year.

    A couple with two school-aged children who both worked to bring in a combined income of $60,000 a year would lose $6,350 or 10.9 per cent of their annual disposable income.

    And even if their household income climbed to $90,000 a year, the loss would remain the same.

    He said the cuts, linked to the Government’s push to get people off welfare and into work, will lead to lower income families taking a “hit to their take-home pay”.

    The NATSEM research found that the temporary 2 per cent income tax increase for the nation’s top earners, to pay off the nation’s debt, would have a “token impact”.

    “If you’re on $200,000 … your impact would be around $400 per year, and that compares to a single-earner family … who may be losing $3,000 to $4,000 per year by 2017-18, so [there is] a dramatic difference,” Mr Phillips said.

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-05-19/sharing-of-budget-pain-not-fair-natsem-modelling-says/5463008

    And as regards the debt, as I keep saying, the Coalition are lying. The total gross debt according to the budget is $319 billion, the net debt is substantially lower. Cut the crap about Labor left us with a $667 billion debt. We are easily able to service our debt and can move to reduce it slowly whilst still improving life for all Australians.

  142. john921fraser

    <

    @Britt Porter

    In relation to the Whitehouse scholarship I think if it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck then Victoria Rollinson is quite right to refer to it as a duck.

    Would you call it one of Hockey's "rabbits" ?

  143. alaisdairjdewar

    Reblogged this on Alaisdair .

  144. Britt Porter

    @john921fraser

    If it quacks like a duck and looks like a duck, then the duck must be Tony Abbott, not his daughter.

    What do you expect her to do? Did you want the scholarship to be handed to her in the following way:

    “Frances Abbott, we hereby award you with this scholarship because your father is a successful man. You by no means deserved this scholarship, you are actually really bad at fashion designing, but because you are the Prime Ministers daughter we will give you this special privilege. Also, you are the only one getting this scholarship, we made it especially for you! Bottoms up!”

    Seriously?!

  145. Really

    This is the worst ‘Open letter’ I have ever read,
    Aside from the fact that she obviously did a fair chunk of work to get the scholarship. Even if it had been purely based on the fact she’s the Prime Minister of Australia’s daughter, any school would be lucky to have her come study with them, particularly if she has come with passion and grades to back it. The girl has worked hard, Abbott has worked hard in service to the country (whether you agree with his policies or not), he’s hardly paid well for been the head of the largest organisation in Australia. Timber top still hangs it’s hat on educating the Royal family, this is good for the school of course they will offer her position and pay for it.

    There is nothing wrong with this at all, it’s business, it is a benefit to the school more than it is to Frances to give her a scholarship.

    If a few people took a bit of pride in their country and it’s leaders on both sides, instead of writing snide ‘Open letters’ talking as if sprouting facts. ie.

    What are the right qualifications to manage large scale Submarine project, do we get the other MP with experience successful delivery of Submarines on their resume ?

    Is university study going to go up in price ? Or just some courses while others will go down in cost ? Sure medicine might become expensive to study, but you can still put it on your government debt and pay it back when your a well paid doctor (if your degree is worth doing it’s worth paying for). Students should have to think long and hard about going to Uni and what course is right for them, I think it’s utter rubbish that high school teachers instruct students to blanket enroll in whatever course they can for Uni just to make sure they do something the following year, even if they drop out half way through.

    And it’s probably good that no person under 30 gets the dole for months, if you are fit and able (which if your not, you will be protected) and under 30 I see very few reason’s why you can’t find a job washing dishes or mowing lawns, answering phones from home, a day or two a week and make more money than the dole. While still having time to study, or look for better work, manage a baby etc. Anyone who can’t find $250 worth of work a week should start questioning what they call work.

  146. Mr G. H. Schorel-Hlavka O.W.B.

    Hansard 10-3-1891 Constitution Convention Debates (Official Record of the Debates of the National Australasian Convention)
    QUOTE Mr. DIBBS:
    where we are giving the people of the country practically a free education-and it should be common to all Australia-we should instil into the minds of our children the necessity for training, and, as a quid pro quo for that free education,
    END QUOTE

    As a retired 66 year old never having had any university degree but nevertheless came through life’s ups and downs I (being a CONSTITUTIONALIST) holds the vied that universities ought to set the bench mark standards as to what is required to be able to enroll for certain studies. Once a person reaches those standards then regardless of social and financial standards the person is admitted to enroll free of charge upon the condition the person is Australian and also will require to serve at least 10 years within the commonwealth of Australia in the chosen profession.
    Any student who abort studies will be liable to pay back the costs of the studies.
    In this manner we concentrate on those who desire to lean and seek to thwart those who are using up spaces and then abandon it.
    We should promote studies for Australians and having them serving at least 10 years, upon graduation, means we get the benefits in return. Also, why for example have a doctor paying back study cost when he will only have to charge it back in his medical services and so society in the end pay for it.
    Also, education facilities like universities should give priority over Australian students above that of international students, as after all Australians should be first.
    You may notice that in recent times most politicians that have universities degrees obtained that without having to pay for their university studies. And we should ask Christopher Payne as to it is reasonable that those who study should pay for it, when did he and others like Tony Abbott then pay for their studies after completing them? Or is it do as I say but not as I do?

  147. Deb

    Why is it that those who seem to want to shut down debate – aren’t good at it? too lazy to, or incapable of thinking too deeply? or just not very articulate? – use phrases such as ‘grow up’ ‘get over it’ “shut up and get on with your lives’, ‘pull your head in’…..

    For a lot of people in the bottom 20 % of our society, getting on with their lives has just been made a whole lot harder.

    When people complain about ‘whingers and whiners’, I’m reminded of the Thatcher years when the working class Tories, as so well lampooned by Alexei Sayle, were saying “musn’t grumble” to all the things being ripped out from under them. Give me a Whinger any day.

  148. Möbius Ecko

    Really. Really?

  149. Wayne Turner

    These Libs are FASCISTS.

    *Jobs for their “mates” fits this ( (Among at least one example for each point):-

    http://www.rense.com/general37/char.htm

    *13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption – Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.

  150. nettsu

    @bruce
    Apparently the Abbotts aren’t that elite. Hence why he and his family are such pigs at the trough.
    There was something I was reading earlier this week that the Abbotts aren’t the wealthy or priviliged which probably explains why they are jumping on any opportunity a “sponsor” offers them.

    PM for sale anyone?

  151. sarah

    I find this article hilarious. Victoria if the shoe was on the other foot and you had been offered free education I’m sure you would have jumped at the opportunity. I know I would have. Get a grip. Grow up and get over your sour grapes. Unfortunately not all of us get given things in life but instead of whinging about it you just go out and make it happen.

  152. Kenn Raymond

    It’s all so incestuous isn’t it… “WID says on its web site “Prime Minister Tony Abbott Praises Interior Design at Whitehouse”…. and… “Interior Design at Whitehouse Institute is seeing one of its strongest years of student work with Prime Minister Tony Abbott personally commending one of the Institute’s graduating Interior Design students, Elizabeth Upfold. Prime Minister Tony Abbott attended this years Graduate Exhibition and Parade in support of his daughter Frances Abbott who graduates the Bachelor of Design (Creative Direction and Styling) in 2013.On the evening of the exhibition the Prime Minister excitedly suggested that Elizabeth’s Interior Design project be presented and exhibited at her local council to showcase the innovative ideas of the next generation of Interior Designer” – Jeez, “excitedly suggested”…. It makes me wanna spew!!!!

  153. Möbius Ecko

    sarah if this had happened under the previous government, say with Rudd’s daughter, Abbott would have been all over it like a rash and the MSM would have headlined it for weeks in the most negative terms they could muster, Photoshop and all. Jessica Rudd’s innocence or sensitivity be damned.

    Abbott has set the course for this and lowered the standards so can only expect like in return and be judged to the same low level he judges and then attacks others.

  154. para

    There needs to be further restriction on the volume of undergraduate positions available. This needs to reflect the demand of industry.

    At the moment the reason there is this lapse of time between graduation and full time employment is because the universities are putting too many people through. As they are a business at the end of the day, the more students they can enrol, the greater their margins (and you cannot blame them for this).

    As for the case at hand. Whilst this girl may come from a privileged background she deserves the right to a scholarship regardless of her parents financial status. End of story. If you base a persons right to performance based funding based on their parents income, at what level do you determine the cutoff?
    For example if the cutoff is a combined spouse income of 120,000, is it not unfair that a child misses out because their parents make $1000 a year over the threshold, whilst Joe Blow who has lower grades but parents income is $1000 under the threshold is deemed eligible?

    The issue with this country at the moment is we have 2 political parties to chose from. One heavily favours the lowest end of the socioeconomic spectrum, whilst the other favours the upper echelon . The majority of the population sits in between and for some reason it’s this portion of society that seems to have to carry those above and below.

    Someone explain to me how some one can lease government land (owned by the tax payer), mine and sell the resources of the land and keep the majority of the profit. Why during this mining boom has our government not mined and sold the resources itself and then filtered the profits back into the country. It provides jobs within our own country and provides the revenune to address social issues.

    Secondly how can someone comfortably sit on government welfare that pays their food, housing, education without any criticism for their employment status. I know this is very difficult and costly to monitor but many people are unnecessarily exploiting the social welfare system (if you don’t think this is happening you are delusional)

  155. Michelle

    Dear Fed up

    ” I am surprise,”

    Really? I never knew. I thought people could be ‘surprised’, but to be surprise itself – way to go.

  156. randalstella

    Golly,the champers-in-the-boot set are alive and kicking early today!
    Hope no nail polish gets on the Max Mara.
    I know how they feel about the whining plebs.When we drove around in the Silver Cloud we would get all sorts of rude toots from the Datsun 180B types.
    And Greg Norman is an outstanding example to us all. Work hard – play golf. He was not only very good at it, he is also a moral and intellectual giant. He has done so much for this country.
    You do need to know how people think. The woman who received the $60,000 “scholarship” and had to pay nothing for her 3-year course,and could spend all her time on it – she deserved it. The other woman who did exactly the same course and could only hope for a $2,000 scholarship to pay a bit of her way, and had to work nights and sacrifice sleep – she deserved that. What you can get, however you get it, is what you deserve. Simple ‘really’.
    And just in case any dubiousness creeps in about this way of thinking,just throw in “work hard” – as if that has not already been contradicted by claimed privilege.
    And don’t forget this one:’I bet you would do it if you were in her shoes’. No answer to that.

    The responses here will reform the impression that Abbott appeals merely to lower-class mongrels .

  157. twistie1

    Check out the home page of Whitehouse Institute. At the bottom of the home page, under latest news, is the headline – “Prime Minister Tony Abbott Praises Interior Design at Whitehouse”. Naturally there’s no disclosure of the conflict of interest – http://whitehouse-design.edu.au/

  158. Sharon

    Not sure why this has to be addressed to Frances! This OPEN letter with the sarcasm attached form some type of National bullying. Why do some people have to attack. Such an unfair letter that should be addressed to her father NOT her. No wonder young women have a tough time and the end of all those horrible news stories about Suicide they put the Lifeline telephone number. How about people backoff and leave her alone before you see some terrible news story about her!

  159. Ben

    Yo Victoria! What makes you so qualified as to judge who should and shouldn’t be human rights commissioner?

  160. Matt Burke

    What absolute unsubstantioned comments. From a totally apolitical stance, and having my own suspicions, I assume you have access to the short list of scholarship candidates and their respective strengths and weaknesses? Is there any chance that she attained this based on her own abilities – as my own daughter did without me knowing anyone within Architecture? The more recent typically Fairfax reports of his other daughter working within DFAT is a different story.

  161. Kaye Lee

    Matt Burke,

    There WERE no other candidates. There wasn’t even a scholarship to apply for. The school rang Francis to come in and then just gave it to her so she wouldn’t go to a competing college she was going to apply for. They also gave her a job at the other end even though she appears to have no specific role. The school uses Mr Abbott’s recommendation on their website and they have just benefited significantly by the change in rules about fee help for their students.

  162. Em

    Just heard you on 3AW radio Victoria. That LNP host Tom Elliot, met his match today!
    Don’t listen to the critics — you were awesome!

  163. Craig

    Its not what you know, it’s WHO you know! That is how the world has worked in the past and that is how it will work in the future. You don’t have to be a Rhodes Scholar (as Tony is) to see that this scholarship is a gift in return for favor. Very well written letter and you were fantastic on the radio! I’m not sure that Frances Abbott will listen to either.

  164. Möbius Ecko

    And this is what happens when duplicitous politicians like Abbott do favours for the favoured like their family. They in turn get the spotlight put on them.

    Tony Abbott has failed to declare a set of high-tech cycling gears worth about $3000 given to him by the Japanese Prime Minister.

    But this is the cruncher. Having been found out and Abbott’s spokesperson contacted on the matter of his not declaring a gift over $750 within the required 28 days, the spokesperson responded that Abbott had not decided until now that he wanted to keep the gifts. He has now decided he will keep them and pay the difference.

    They will now be put on the register of interests.

    Can you imagine if any non-Coalition pollie had done this, especially anyone in the previous government. Abbott and his MSM mouthpieces would have hounded them out of office. Yet for Abbott it’s nothing more than a byline, another supposed stuff up with him receiving a largesse and because he’s found it a quick assurance to pay and all is forgiven and forgotten.

  165. Kaye Lee

    Some Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade staff are annoyed Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s daughter Louise is working at Australia’s embassy in Geneva, which is headed by former Coalition staffer Peter Woolcott.

    Mr Woolcott was chief of staff to foreign minister Alexander Downer from 2002 to 2004 while on secondment from the department. He had been a career officer for the department since the early 1980s.

    He was appointed ambassador in Geneva in 2010 and Ms Abbott began work as an executive assistant to the Australian mission in September 2012, when Labor was in government.

    There was internal disquiet at DFAT in Canberra about what some staff saw as a lack of transparency in the hiring and how Ms Abbott came to be doing high-level work, such as delivering a public statement on disarmament, when there were up to 14 policy specialist attached to the mission.

    “The position of executive assistant to Australia’s Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva – a locally engaged position – was advertised on the Geneva mission’s website on July 4, 2012, and on http://www.jobup.ch and http://www.seek.com.au on July 5, 2012,” a DFAT spokesman said.

    “The recruitment process was merit based and followed departmental procedures. During that process, a three-member selection committee interviewed five applicants from a field of 28.

    “Ms Abbott’s appointment was formally approved by the relevant delegate, Australia’s then permanent representative to the [World Trade Organisation] in Geneva on September 14, 2012.”

    Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/dfat-anger-over-louise-abbotts-foreign-affairs-job-20140523-zrloo.html#ixzz32VtrMCw4

  166. Mark Cornford

    Who bloody well cares… Just get off your arses and do some work and then you may be able to afford uni also… My son goes to uni and he does not need any hand outs from the government, I’m on minimum wages and pay for him plus also have a house to pay off… You lot with your hands out saying give to me all the time need a long hard look in the mirror, your disgracing Australia with the way you all carry on and we are sick of hearing you all whinge, oh by the way I hate all politics and don’t care if your Labour or Liberal you are all just bludging losers for using my hard earned taxes that I have paid for the last 30 years so you can do nothing but cry. Show some balls and just get on with life…

  167. twistie1

    Kaye, you’ve provided an excellent and succinct reply to Matt Burke. Nothing more really needs to be said, bar for the fact that Abbott didn’t disclose the “scholarship” and is therefore in breach of parliamentary rules.

  168. john921fraser

    <

    @Britt Porter

    Looks like you know nothing about this brouhaha.

    But keep dreaming up situations, it makes Abbott look even worse than he actually is.

  169. john921fraser

    <

    @Really

    "Sure medicine might become expensive to study, but you can still put it on your government debt and pay it back when your a well paid doctor"

    A 17 year old wants to go and see a doctor …. but he can't because he's unemployed, not eligible for the dole, lives in a one doctor town, who by gods grace is an extreme right wing evangelical follower of Abbott and doesn't believe in charity.

    The same town has some pensioners aged between 78 and 100, during their working life they never had the Super that Labor bought in, they are required to do Hockeys "heavy lifting" before they find themselves "leaning" in a grave. The doctor doesn't particularly like them because they don't help him pay of his HECS.

  170. Wayne Turner

    of course Abbott broke the rules by NOT disclose this,because Abbott the hypocrite ONLY believes in rules for “others” that aren’t mates,just ask his ex-mate Peter Slipper…

    http://www.ashbygate.com

  171. PUNKED!

    I’m so sorry to hear you guys… But the fact is I feel even more sorry to hear that you’re here to whinge in the wasteful time you spend writing your stupid whinge comments and feedback about people who work their ass off to get a job and study. Maybe it’s time that you stop reading this comment and spend your valuable time to find a job… if you don’t have the brains… get someone to help you find a job, it’s called a “careers advisor” (if you need further help call 13 11 14 if you can’t cope).

    Victoria Rollison, you need to toughen up big girl. If your daddy wasn’t giving you the same support maybe you should ask him why. Blame yourself for being in a crappy economic state. It is the type of people like YOU that has voted in the back stabbing Gillard and Rudd who has screwed you and this country. I personally think this is what I call prostitution by the Labor (Communist) party…

    It is wrong of you two have an assumption that they are better off because their parents are politicians. I think you should focus on getting a job and ask your company to pay off your studies. If they don’t you’re in the wrong company who doesn’t need a person like you.

  172. john921fraser

    <

    I would like to hear Victoria Rollinson interviewed by Tom Elliott on 3AW.

    If anyone can find a Link.

  173. Nuff Said

    You’ll probably have to wait till it’s archived at the website http://www.3aw.com.au/ Tomorrow maybe. She was great.

  174. john921fraser

    <

    @Punked

    Youre absolutely right.

    I just wasted 10 seconds reading your post.

    Next time try to post something of value.

    Or drink a cup of concrete.

  175. Al

    @ Kaye Lee – I dont know what you base your assertion that someone on $200,000 would only be $400 worse off. Simple maths tells you that 2% of $200,000 is $4,000. This seems like a more appropriate number to be using if youre going to compare. You might also like to acknowledge that the $4,000 or thereabout that a high income earner loses actually belongs to them in the first place as opposed to someone who ‘loses’ a portion of their welfare benefit which was never theirs to begin with.

    Can everyone also please stop accusing tony abbott of breaching the pecuniary interests register regulations. If you bothered to read the regulations you would know that scholarships do not have to be declared. It doesnt actually matter whether or you personally believe that this should be correctly termed a scholarship, the reality is that it is a scholarship. The institution that awards the scholarship is the one that actually gets to decide the form which the grant that they award takes. If they call it a scholarship, then that is all that matters from a regulatory perspective with regard to whether or not Tony should have declared it. Given the college has deemed it to be a scholarship (whether you agree with that or not is irrelevant), Tony did not have to declare it and thus has not broken the pecuniary interests regulations. Stop confusing your own personal opinions of what he should have done with what he is required to do under the law. They are not the same.

  176. john921fraser

    <

    Looks like all the pimply masturbaters have heard that one of Abbotts hand bag hit squad virgins is in trouble.

  177. john921fraser

    <

    @Em

    Thank you.

  178. mars08

    How peculiar!!!

    Weeks have passed with barely a hint of comment from the tory twits. They showed little or no interest in topics discussed on this site. It was sorta nice really…

    But now… this one topic… has them all stirred up. They are positively livid.

    The little darlings are telling people to shut up, or grow up or toughen up. They are outraged. OUTRAGED, I tell you! But mostly they want all discussion of the scholarship to cease. They want people to move on because ahhh… errr… there’s nothing to see here.

    And I have to wonder why there’s this sudden avalanche of tory interest in this blog, and why they’re so keen to defuse this discussion.

  179. Bacchus

    You could then try some elementary maths too ‘Al’

    2% is charged on taxable earnings ABOVE $180000.
    What’s 2% of ($200000-$180000)? 🙄

  180. sam

    So this whole article/rant is going on the basis of speculation. Has anyone confirmed that she wasn’t awarded the scholarship on merit? Or does this boil down to simply a bitter tall poppy witch hunt? Is there innocence before guilt is proven or is there some anti-rich bias going on here?

  181. Kaye Lee

    I like it when the tories arrive…they boost our stats cause they travel in packs…. but it is so painfully obvious that they have an aversion to reading. Every question they ask or objection they pose has been dealt with in either the article or subsequent comments. They are like programmed drones. Whichever right wing site this was linked to has provided their view, the troops have arrived with the prepared script and have not read any of the evidence provided.

    And climate change is a hoax and the earth is flat….just ask Andrew Bolt.

  182. caitlyn

    Since when do undergrad cost $60k?? I did an undergrad and an honours degree and came out under $30K. I am currently doing a Masters degree and that’s onnly $50K!!!

  183. Krycha

    Well written, thank you.

  184. joy cooper

    sam, don’t you people read??? There was absolutely no evidence that this was a scholarship given out based on merit. Len Taylor chairman of Whitehouse Institute of Design & good friend Of Abbott had heard Frances Abbott was interested in doing a design course (his words) so he apparently suggested she be approached & offered a scholarship for their institute.

    Supposedly Ms Abbott had been thinking of attending the North Sydney’s Billy Blue College of Design. Understandable, as she lived in that neck of the woods. The Whitehouse Institute spent a MONTH trying to contact her to offer her the scholarship.. This is a private establishment which normally does not give out scholarships. Now do you understand why people are suspicious about this, especially when Ms Whitehouse, herself, was ecstatic when Abbott won the election allegedly saying that this would be good for the institute. Hmmmm..

  185. Em

    “No scholarships are offered by Whitehouse Institute of Design, whose chairman Les Taylor is a longtime friend of Mr Abbott and a Liberal Party donor.”

    “The institute’s website clearly states that “Whitehouse does not currently offer scholarships to gain a place into the Bachelor of Design”. ”

    “The scholarship that Frances received was a direct scholarship from the founder and owner Leanne Whitehouse. As a private company, Leanne has from time to time awarded it.”

    ‘ “Originally it was called the MD’s scholarship and subsequently the chairs scholarship.
    It is a discretionary award made and funded by Leanne Whitehouse.” ‘

    http://www.news.com.au/national/classmates-express-fury-over-tony-abbotts-daughter-frances-being-awarded-60000-scholarship-to-whitehouse-institute-of-design/story-fncynjr2-1226926934506

  186. Anna

    A true leader would never ask his followers to do something that he himself wouldn’t. I have made the decision to return to study, my HECS debt will be in excess of $100,000, something I will have to deal with when I graduate. Returning to study as a mature ager has not been easy, financially is where it is the most difficult. I am currently surviving (just) on $206 a week, once rent and fuel has been taken out there is not much left over for food, or anything for that matter, i have applied for and been rejected from close to 40 jobs, why pay an older person when you can pay a teenager for less right? Why worry about increasing GST, petrol excise, university fees and the HECS interest when NONE OF IT IS RELEVANT TO YOU, IT DOES’T AFFECT YOU SO WHY DO YOU CARE? If only i got paid more than the President of the USA, got given a house to love in, a car to drive and probably a food and clothing fund… Life would be much simpler than cup of soups and rice cakes. Perhaps I should get in to politics…

  187. sam

    Joy cooper- so you are assuming that it was NOT given on merit, is that what you’re asserting? Guilt before innocence?

  188. AZ

    I’m so sick of people accusing the so called ‘rich’ of not paying their fair share. I am not a wealthy person but i am well aware of the fact that the wealthy are the ONLY ones who pay their fair share. In fact, they are pretty much the only ones who pay anything at all. As someone said before, 64% of all income tax is paid for by the top 10% of income earners. The top 2% of income earns pay over 23% of total income tax. In contrast, a recent NATSEM study found that 48% of income earners pay no net tax at all (that is any income tax that are liable for based on their income is either equal to or less that the welfare benefits they receive back from the government). Turns out then that not only are the so called ‘wealthy’ people paying their fair share, they are pretty much the only ones paying at all. It would not surprise me if many of the people who comment here and elsewhere accusing the ‘rich’ of not paying their fair share sit comfortably in the 48% of people who contribute nothing at all. Its hypocrisy on farcical scale. Youre happy to accept and actually feel entitled to expect to ‘rich people’ to make significant contributions to your life when you contribute nothing at all to their lives in return. Youre so self interested and jealous that you cant even be appreciative of the support which is available to you through the work of others. Youre on a witch hunt for them and yet they are the only reason some of you are to survive. As alex said in the earlier comments, what would happen to the majority of you if all these people you seem to have such a dislike for got fed up and left. Who would fund the welfare that you seem think you have an endless entitlement to? Do you think the government would somehow be able to pull money out their rear end to keep funding your lives? How would you cope if you couldnt access any welfare at all? You would do well to realise that the so called ‘wealthly’ people would survive probably just fine without you but many of you wouldnt be able to survive at all without them

  189. Ri2n

    Is this letter kind of a bullied ? I hope this poor girl though enough to be a prime minister daughter and to received so many lowlife abusive comments and criticals.

  190. Eden

    It is clearly a gift, not a scholarship, since it was not available to anyone else. My father became very wealthy shortly after I was shipped off to be raised elsewhere. My two younger half-brothers have lived privileged lives while I lived below the breadline getting my education, backpacking when I travelled, paying off a mortgage alone. And although it’s unfair, I wouldn’t change it because I know a whole lot more about life than most of these privileged rich kids, I know how strong and resilient I am, I know how to survive. These rich kids can have their gifts and handouts. I make my own wealth and live life to the full while I’m doing it.

  191. Brad Price (Real name)

    I’m not suggesting Francis didn’t deserve this on her own merits. But when did getting a favour or “it’s not what you, but who you know” cease to exist in socialism?

    Pretty sure that all powerful people in Socialist societies get what they have from who they know or who their family is.

    The hypocisy by journalists from the Left is obvious to everyone regardless of who they voted for.

  192. john921fraser

    <

    Bolts nuts are out in force today.

    "The virgin defenders" ….. a book about them would have the nazi grammar people jumping out of windows worldwide.

  193. kelly

    Kate (RE: Well, Dear Frances, you can’t be that good at this design thingy. You know the old saying; Those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach.) too funny. Thank you for that lol moment. And well said Victoria for speak so well for the majority of us.

  194. Linda

    Boy, what nasty people Australians have become if the above comments are anything to go by. By all means protest, write letters, call talk back radio and complain about the budget and the government’s policies. Everyone has a right to do all those things in this country. Cut out the personal stuff, the violence, the condescending attitudes to people who don’t agree with you, the swearing and the t-shirts with foul language plastered all over them. It’s not mature. It’s pretty easy to sit at computers and make nasty comments about people.

    Leave the girl alone. She’s not the Prime Minister.

    We are living in a democratic country. If we don’t like the government we can vote them out at the next election.

  195. Fed up

    No one is accusing Frances of any wrong. The letter points out that many have concerns how the scholarship awarded.

    This concern is accentuated by the ICAC investigate going on in NSW.

    Her father needs to quickly reply to this letter.

    Especially now it has been aired on MSM.

    Mr Abbot is the only one that can clear the matter up, to take the pressure off Frances.

    Yes I is up to Abbott to clear the matter up.

    The problem is, we do not know..

  196. Martin

    boo hoo Victoria, go and hug a tree

  197. Over this 'poor me' attitude!

    Seriously people! How do you know that Francis didn’t earn her scholarship due to hard work, effort & her own merit?!
    There are so many people ready to judge someone they don’t even know (by here say), because of where they came from. Why not accept that she has the skills to study her desired career & get over yourselves!
    My husband & I work hard to provide a good life for our 3 children-no it’s not cheap but it’s worth it, you know why? Because we want our children to have opportunities in life. So they (along with others) may need to have a further education debt but most can work while studying & if given the choice to go into university to study their dream career or not, I’d bet they would take the opportunity they have, pay their share of their own education & graduate as valued contributors to society.
    Are we really saying that someone who desires to become a doctor, a nurse, a teacher, anything, would say no to uni because of the fees? Absolutely not! It has always been the way to pay off you HECS debt after you find employment & now some decide it’s not fair?!
    Of course it’s fair! What will be next? Outrage over having to pay our own petrol bill? Our own food bill? Seriously people, our country needs to come together to get our economy back on track, we all know it but some just don’t like it.
    We are not a rich family but we choose to provide a good education for our children as a priority.
    We must stop crying poor, we live in the luckiest country in the world, how many countries provide health care to their citizens? But now we have people outraged at having to pay a $7 fee to see a doctor! Does anyone realise that anyone that holds a healthcare card, after the 10th visit, all other visits are free? Yes our country will still be providing free health care!
    Maybe those who cry poor should apply to Tafe ‘bridging courses’ (which are cheaper), then get into uni with a recognition of prior learning which would cut uni fees? As you are all aware no matter the government people will always have something negative to say, try thinking about doing your part as most do, instead of critisizing!
    Stay positive & find the avenues that work for you.
    Life is not a free ticket, so suck it up & get on with it!
    Sincerely, over this shit!

  198. Eddie

    When daddy earns $507,000.00 PA and is the PM then it’s his judgement that is on show here. The guys a creep and a greedy one as well. He should have paid for it. The rich are greedy and always want more at the expense of everyone else. That scholarship should have gone to somebody who had the aptitude but not the connections and the money.

  199. Ri2n

    @AZ,
    I do agree with you, and do well know how it works. Because my in law was paying more than half of his hard earning money ( which is more than $500k per year ) to the bloody tax man. So that the low incomers and everyone else on Centrelink still be able to get their fair share. And after the budget he will pay even more as the tax increases. And his not eligible to claim a things.

  200. joy cooper

    sam, you tell me. Was this scholarship granted on the basis that the Whitehouse Institute of Design thought Frances Abbott’s work had merit? As they had never seen her work, nor had they even met her, prior to offering her this scholarship, after chasing her for a MONTH to offer it to her, it does not seem to be a normal grant. This Institute says in its brochure that they DO NOT award scholarships!!! .

  201. randalstella

    Fed Up,
    It is a bunch of trolls doing a concerted raid.
    It shows the gangsters are hitting back.
    They abuse irrelevantly. And they keep asking the same obvious questions time after time; although the answers have given repeatedly.They would know the facts, if the issue itself was their concern. The purpose is to swamp the site.
    It is also a compliment to the article writer and the site that this planned raid is considered necessary.

  202. Eddie

    Hey AZ and Ri2n
    I really laugh when you lot whinge about being taxed when the earnings are six figures. Get real.If you cannot live on that (and live very well) then you are a what the majority are painting you as…..greedy. Try living on a basic wage with kids. You might find the lattes a treat instead of just mouth wash.

  203. Ri2n

    @Eddi,
    No that’s not a sound of whinging, just try to correct what people thinks that the richest doesn’t have a fair share. A matter a fact our family is highly disagree with the budget specially for the youth who have to wait for 6 months before they can get their welfare. We do not mind one bit to pay for extra tax to help the country. And that’s for sure.

  204. alex

    I get what you mean – and I totally agree with it.

    But at the end of the day – what is she supposed to do? She can’t control her fathers actions? And I highly doubt she’s going to come out publicly and say “yeah, that was a really bad call for Dad, Soz everyone” – Not going to happen.

    I’m also going to go out on a limb here and say I doubt she’s going to turn down a scholarship for something she really wants to do either.

    So yes, in essence, everything you said I 100% agree with. But all this is doing is circulating even more ‘flack’ or whatever you want to call it, for Frances who inevitably, doesn’t really have much sway in the situation.

    So basically, even though you say frequently throughout this article that you DONT blame her- it’s her Dads fault – I don’t really understand what you intend on achieving through magnifying the problem even further, and putting increasing emphasis on the girl whom – as you and I have said – is not responsible.

  205. Lee Man

    With great arrogance and ignorance Mr Abbott amplifies the microcosm of an ultra-capitalist regime.

  206. sam

    Joy – I’m not sure, but I’m giving the benefit of the doubt I.e innocence before guilt. It seems you’ve already made up your mind? If you can clearly show me that it was not awarded on merit I will change my mind on this matter as I’m always happy to …. I always try to seek the real truth rather than making judgement from a position of bias innuendo and or existing political beliefs

  207. Mark A

    To all the people complaining about having a crap job or not being able to afford this or that and calling rich people greedy… Think back to when you were at school, were you the ones who studied every night or were you the ones who fked around in class? We get out of life exactly what we put into it. If you’re struggling to make ends meet with 2 or 3 kids, here’s a point “why have 3 kids”. Kids should be planned for not just things that happen. If you have a crap job and are just getting by, why would you bring kids into the world? Stay in school study hard and you will get there. It’s never too late.

  208. Simon

    Randallstella – Yes it’s better to just shut down debate and have a stooge a thon…

  209. john921fraser

    <

    Sorry.

    I should have realised that I have to say this twice …. otherwise the Abbott support team don't understand it.

    "<

    Bolts nuts are out in force today.

    "The virgin defenders" ….. a book about them would have the nazi grammar people jumping out of windows worldwide."

    Sincerely hope they "get it".

  210. Mk

    @Eddie – why on earth should all high income earners have to think ‘oh it’s ok that 50% of my income is gone each year, at least I’m not living on a basic wage’. Not all, but many, high income earners work and have worked damn hard for many years to earn a high salary. Many have completed multiple degrees and worked long hours e.g investment bankers who often work 7am-10 or even 11 at night. It’s unfortunate that so many cannot afford to go to uni in the first place but how can you sit there and try and make ALL high income earners feel guilty for being the slightest bit peeved at giving up half their salary and then being blasted by left wing media every second day as being ‘fat cats’ or ‘super rich better off than hard working Aussies’ – yes they are better off but they too are hard working Aussies! And at the same time not being entitled to most of the benefits or freebies that their money is going towards funding.

  211. jason greed

    Fact check: The rate of interest for student loans will not be 6%. It will correspond to an Australian treasury bond rate and will be capped at 6%. This change from inflation indexation will have an immaterial effect on people earning enough to be required to pay back their student loans.

  212. Perth, Student

    In response to AZ.

    The only reason 64% of income tax is derived from 10% of the population is due to the uneven distribution of wealth in society and the high level of disparity between low and high incomes. Yes, it is our responsibility to ensure Australia’s economy doesn’t collapse, however removing systems like universal healthcare and educational loans (HELP/HECS) is going to have unforeseen consequences for years to come. For once these systems are removed, reestablishing them will be almost impossible. So in years to come when the Australian workforce is under-skilled and the population is generally more unhealthy, how will the economy be affected then…but more importantly what will the social impact be?

  213. Stephen Tardrew

    Oh dear Victoria it seems that your article is causing a wave of palpitating hearts, nausea, rattling vacuous brains, bitter resentment, and huge panic while our kids lose financial security and educational opportunities. How dare you think you have a right to state an opinion when we are trying to subvert democracy.

    Free speech what is that? Reasoned discussion? Well that must be for the educated so we not so bright dogmatists will rant and rave into the night till our spleens burst and brains turn to mush. Oops already happened.

    AIMN I congratulate you on your success in attracting the attention of a grand audience. These conservatives can’t just remain silent and let things pass no they must make a noise and send AMIN io the stratosphere.

    Not too bright really.

  214. randalstella

    Joy Cooper,
    I would not encourage them.
    There is no debate with trolls who keep asking about the obvious facts as if they are not clear.
    How is it that so many new ‘visitors’ are here all at once? All asking the same equally stupid questions,and supplying irrelevant abuse.
    There is a set script to the abuse. And so many are ‘hardworking working class people’ who can hardly afford the time to post about how they totally support unjustifiable privilege.
    It’s bullshit by numbers.

  215. fatdaddy2fitdaddy

    I’ve always thought that “open letters” often say more about the author than the person they choose to attack. I say “attack”, because if it WASN’T designed as an attack, then the author would choose, logically, to contact the recipient privately, as any decent citizen would. Just my opinion, and an apolitical one.

  216. Maur

    Come back to the REAL World Mr Abbott,. Where we have ongoing BILLS and High unemployment !!!!!!!!!!!!

  217. Patricia Nield

    It will be interesting to see what talent Frances really has and how much will be poured into her follow up outcomes but then she may just get married and this will be yet another rich person who really doesnt know what it is like to struggle to the top. Time will tell. An aging designer dressmaker who never got paid what her work is really worth so just use my talents for myself as I am now retired. 🙂

  218. AC Qld

    In response to AZ – regarding your comment “You would do well to realise that the so called ‘wealthly’ people would survive probably just fine without you”. This is the most hilarious thing I have read in a long time. I would love to see just how well the wealthy would cope without the working class out there maintaining roads, digging ditches, cleaning up their messes, looking after their children, transporting goods across the country so they can eat, making sure their toilets work etc. Unless you are living in a dreamland where things happen by magically waving money at them, I dont think you realise just how dependent the country is on the average working Joe.

  219. Clements

    Mark A – too much logic… better to argue with bitter emotions, chip on shoulder resentment and exceptions to the rule.

  220. john921fraser

    <

    Its looking more and more like Abbott would skin a turd to make some money.

    Cadbury on his lycra.

    Claiming expenses from taxpayers while he signs his book.

    Claiming expenses from taxpayers while riding his bike.

  221. Rosco

    Dear VR,

    I sincerely hope you lose your job over this diatribe of an article – what absolute rubbish journalism. If this is the usual quality of your writing , then good luck in your career. To be honest, it is of no surprise you’re here, writing on some no name news site. Having said that, you deserve a gold star for presenting something worthy of a HSC stimulus material in line with Frontline.

    Now, in line of constructive criticism , to aid you in your career if you actually make it out of this hole – what you should have done is completely kept your article on point. That is to say, criticize the government and the man leading it as opposed to potentially inflicting psychological distress to someone’s far removed to the decision making processes of this country.

    Yours sincerely,

    -Anti-moronic brigadier

  222. john921fraser

    <

    @Clements

    Are you one of "Mark A" s " the ones who fked around in class?" or were you "struggling to make ends meet with 2 or 3 kids".

    Because you do not appear to be very highly educated.

    And according to Hockey if you were educated you would be earning in excess of $1 million.

    So you cannot possibly be one of "Mark A"s types.

    Because your "logic" is flawed.

    And so its highly unlikely you will see it.

  223. john921fraser

    <

    Dear Roscoe,

    Check you nom de plume ….. its showing.

    Thereby defeating the "anti".

  224. kieron

    Why is it in any way inappropriate to highlight the way this person has profited from her connections to the prime minister? She has profited from the relationship, and she should be held accountable. There’s really not much difference between this professional virgin and a sex worker, except for the honesty of the sex worker.

  225. Stu

    Sending an “open letter” to score points via the PM’s daughter is pathetic. Where were the “open letters” when Rudd/Gillard/Rudd had thousands dying at sea? But you gleefully attack a talented young woman who has been accepted on merit because she is great at what she does. You people make me violently ill.

  226. Hannah

    As a university student who is studying full time, working three jobs and still struggling to pay for my bills (no, I don’t shop for useless things) many of the above comments are quite insulting.

    Yes I accept that we were always paying HECS once earning a certain amount of money, but now that amount will be at a far higher rate (in comparison). The deregulation of uni fees and the profit made from this is set to go into scholarships for the most needy. This is like a bandaid over a gun wound. I for one never seem to fit this criteria even though I struggle so much (due to the fact I am not considered independent, indigenous or an overseas student), and these scholarships will reach a very limited amount of needy students. Raising the ‘calibre’ of students by hiking the fees? No, wealth does not equal intelligence.

    Tax payers pay for our education? Yes, thank you. Tax payers pay for a lot so don’t just use that pathetic argument.

    Rant over. For now.

    Sincerely yours,

    A hard working, tax paying university student.

  227. Ali

    @Mark A: your deluded attitude demonstrates why the Government’s budget receives any support at all.
    You’re caught up in the mad idea that bad things only happen to bad people, it’s a condition known as the ‘just-world hypothesis’. You have sincerely come to believe that anyone who has worked hard and done the right thing will always be protected by some unseen force in the universe.

    Well I’ve got news for you. All it takes is one misfortune, one accident, and all your hard work means nothing. Until you realise that you’re lacking in true humanity. I couldn’t blame you if tomorrow the company you work for went bankrupt and you lost your job, could I? I couldn’t blame you if you were hit by a speeding car and lost some of the motor functions central to your job, could I?

    But you wan’t to blame others for the misfortune that befalls them. Something has made you so bitter and spiteful that you can only see the those less fortunate than yourself as deserving of their misfortune. To go to your specific example, people who did not do well at school have many reasons and you can’t tarr them all with the same brush. Sure there’s the few that as you put ‘f*cked around’ in school but then there’s those who, though no fault of their own, were not really suited to academic pursuits, and have to find employment in other ways. Then there are those with learning disabilities, such as dyslexia, who no matter how much effort they put in, could not achieve at the same rate as others. All of this is self evident but despite your obvious advantages (I take it you think you did well in school, congratulations on choosing the right genetic makeup and family circumstances for your birth), you feel the need to presume most people just haven’t tried hard enough.

    I guess it’s your protection blanket, deep down you know that it could be you in horrible circumstances tomorrow so you keep telling yourself that you must be safe, you’ve done the right thing so the universe should protect you. Of course, once you make this assumption you then have to blame everyone else for the misfortune that befalls them. Basically you’re insecure and you take it out on others.

  228. Josie

    We left Australia after this moron came into power. Why Australians voted for this man is a total mystery to the rest of the world. We as a couple do not claim any well fair, both work full time and pay plenty tax!!! but we were fed up with the right wing attitude of the current government. The decisions made are fully behind the rich getting richer. its absurd to suggest that all people living in poverty could just work harder. only someone born into wealth woukd be so clueless to say such a thing. Lots of people are on a very slim budget despite working full time, second jobs etc. Many have nothing left over to put into a college fund for their kids even if it was a priority. families are paying redidulous prices for groceries for goodness sake! Ontop of rent, private healthcare etc. Australia does not provide health care??! I had several tests/scans etc over years to get to the bottom of health problems and it cost myself and my partner an absolute fortune! We are lucky we both earn a decent wage or I’m not sure if I’d be we’ll now. We also had a young friend who was diagnosed with cancer and told his treatment was going to cost upwards of $70,000!! What sort of system us that? Disgusting.
    Get rid of this idiot Australia before you turn out the same way as the USA!

  229. Rosco

    > @john421fraiser

    You win at being eloquent at missing sarcasm, wit and the point of my ‘nom de plume’.

    I can only presume you’re probably married to this woman. Or somehow connected as defending her only seems to imply that.

    Enjoy the rest of your night ye of simple mindedness.

  230. Stephen Tardrew

    Now I wonder why these people do not blog on the fact based financial articles that have all the information and figures to support their argument. Easy to bloviate rather than contribute don’t you think. This sight has presented months of well reasoned articles covering all aspects of government and finance and yet some of you think you can attack one article that simply discusses the facts. If Abbott has something to answer for then he is fair game. If his daughter is involved, even thorough inadvertent connections, then it is not harmful for her to learn the facts. It will be resolved one way or another so what is the panic. After all we are a country of laws and it is law that will have the final say.

    Legitimate questions will be asked and reasoned heads will rule the day. Such is life.

  231. Fiona

    Why do people assume that rich people are greedy? Do you think that people who give donations to charitable causes are all on benefits? What’s wrong with having aspirations? What’s wrong with wanting to have a better life than your parents had? What’s wrong with wanting to be able to go shopping and buy good quality products instead of the cheap imports that have ruined our manufacturing industry? Seriously people, seems like we’re a nation who wants to fell the “tall poppies”. I hope my child aims high and is never ashamed to have bettered herself.

  232. Stephen Tardrew

    Fiona:

    Australia has one of the lowest rates of philanthropy in the developed world. Recently there was a program on the ABC promoting the wonderful work of our most generous business people who are absolutely disgusted at the lack of contribution by the wealthy and super rich in this country. Before you make statements try and find out the facts.

  233. Mick Quinlivan

    @Alex a remedy exists…….Mr Abbott refunds the $60k concerned to the Whitehouse Institute

  234. Kaye Lee

    Fiona,

    I hope your daughter aims high and achieves all she hopes to. And what I fervently hope is that when she is in a position to contribute to her country that she will do so willingly, happily, helpfully…realising that the more people we can lift from poverty, the more prosperous the entire nation will be as they contribute back.

    If our poorest have a slight lift in income it can have enormous flow on benefits. Every extra cent will be poured back into the economy, lifting demand, lifting production lifting jobs. Improved health and productivity would follow. It’s easier to get a job when you have somewhere to live and some clothes and food to eat.

    Or we can pretend that by making the rich richer they will just employ people even though there is no demand because 20% of the population can’t afford to buy anything.

  235. dawn

    come on all you wingers out there are you saying that none of the EX Labour prime minsters didnt feather their own nests one way or another you need to look at the past I say good on her congrats

  236. Gilly

    I guess anyone is actually free to pay for anyone else’s schooling if they want to. The issue is whether it was to curry favour, or get Press ( !) or to have special favours done etc. The issue, and the mistake is not declaring it. The revelation about the ease with which such donations or gestures occur in the privileged circles who currently don’t share the ongoing ‘heavy lifting’, is very revealing right now. It just shows us how limiteds the ice experience of many who seek to led because they made money. People of ‘calibre’ rarely get it from money. They had it anyway.

  237. Fiona

    Stephen Tardrew, I believe that this “?” signifies a question rather than a statement. I have worked with some very wealthy professionals, some would say “filthy rich” people and I have first hand experience of their kindness and generosity-not token gestures but meaningful contributions. I’m don’t speak from facts and figures but from personal experience. We don’t live in a communist society, some people are rich and some are poor. I’m not saying I agree with this situation, everyone should have the right to be happy, comfortable and safe, but why should a person who had money or privileges be made to feel guilty about it? A person’s financial situation should not be used as a means to judge their character.

  238. Gilly

    oops – ‘how limited is the life experience of many who seek to lead’ (Love auto correct)

  239. Kaye Lee

    I wonder if any of this onslaught of people who consider us whingers has the courage to say what site led them to here because I would like to visit it to help me understand their perspective. You didn’t all happen here by chance all of a sudden. Anyone got the courage of their convictions enough to tell me what led you here?

  240. Mark bartk

    Looks like an innocent “letter”. But it has incited a lynch mob. What gave you the right to bully this person in such a way? What did she do to you? Would you have her stripped naked, flogged and stoned to death? You have achieved that in internet terms, look in the mirror, are you proud of your achievement?

  241. Stuart Rowland

    I cannot believe some of the commentary I have read to this stage, The poor girl is the meat in the sandwich. Given the pain of the budget and the high income of the PM it would seem only wise that the scholarship would be declined and passed to a more needy person. If this does not occur then it proves the complete lack of judgement of this Pm and his disregard of the opinions of the average Australians.

  242. Michael Taylor

    Kaye Lee, the stats indicate that they most probably came in from Facebook.

  243. Janine

    I guess I would be one of the top 10 percent of earners and I got here totally through merit.

    I have to agree with the poster who asked what would happen if we all got sick of it and walked away – the rich would do fine without the rest while the poor would die without us. They can grow their silly food, build their silly things and do whatever it is they do that keeps them poor and we wealthy will live in a highly-educated enclave without all the whining, paying no tax. Ahh just think of it.

    I know what you’ll say – who will build the roads if you don’t pay tax. But we’ll have enough of our own money to build our own roads.

    If you would all just get a proper education and work a bit you’d be in the same position. My dream is a world with 7 billion billionaires. How wonderful would that be! We’re not trying to keep you poor, you’re doing that all by yourselves. 7 billion monopoly rent-seeking billionaires. Just think of it.

  244. simon

    And why should i pay for your education so that you can think you are better than me, if you want the education and good job you pay for it!

  245. Fiona

    Thanks Janine 😉 I wonder will anyone else see the humour! I’m not rich, I’m not poor and I’m not prejudicial!

  246. Alison N

    The writer of this article is not saying that Frances didn’t earn it…all she is saying that to the public it appears that her father got this for her. And she is pointing out that the rest of young Australians who don’t come from a family who can afford to pay their university or design college or whatever type of institution they wish to go to to further their education and their dreams and their passions, are really going to struggle to do so with the interest being slugged on educational loans and then the gap between finding jobs. She is not accusing Frances of anything. She is merely pointing out that perhaps Frances and the PM should make the details of this particular thing totally transparent so that we, the general public, will know that all the proper channels were followed. And no, we probably shouldn’t need to know their personal business but he IS THE PM and therefore everything he does should be transparent. Stop crucifying journalists for having an opinion for god’s sake. We want to live in a country that allows us to have our say but every time someone does, everyone else just cuts them down and makes them feel like their opinions don’t matter. We all matter, all of our opinions matter. Just because you don’t agree with someone doesn’t mean they should just shut up. And yes, I know that you are only voicing your opinion, but maybe, just maybe you could find a much nicer way of saying it!! Not every argument needs to have name calling involved!! This is not pointed at anyone in particular…just at those who are very strongly and quite nastily disagreeing with the author of this article. I myself agree with everything she has said!!

  247. Ri2n

    Janine that’s spot on, we can actually buy our own island living just with our family and employee islander where we buy the island. Living a quite and nice peaceful life. Away from cruel world.

  248. Fed up

    Does one sense our new visitors do indeed protest to much. All that was asked, was did Abbott accept a gift that should save been declared.

    If they are indeed students, from whatever institution they attend, they are in for a shock. The money Pyne seems to believe all earn, is not there for most.

    I see that one can aspire to be a teachers aid, after spending three years, and $60K degree.

    There does seem to be a awful lot of class envy in this fine land of ours. Yes, those envious that they might miss out on a few handouts to those who are much poorer than them.

  249. Sar

    I’m happy Frances Abbott took the opportunity. I think that people who are perceived to have more money than the average earner should have equal opportunity to receive scholarships. Frances deserves this as much as anyone else who worked hard to get great grades and applied to get a scholarship that has no relevant income cap to the condition of entry. Opportunities do come about from the circles we associate with but that’s how the world works and best of luck luck to her.

  250. jo

    Scholarships have always been designed for the talented and bright WHO COME FROM BACKGROUNDS WHERE THE MEANS TO PAY FOR EDUCATION ADVANCEMENT HAVE NOT BEEN THERE….so yes attacking the PM’S daughter is not the best way forward… however she evidently, and always has, come from a background that can afford to pay for a PRIVATE DEGREE. The Whitehouse Institute is a private college. much like Kingcoppal is a private school. It is bad form on all fronts no matter who you support…ESPECIALLY AS A SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM is NOT the norm. Hypocrisy and entitlement at its best.

  251. Kaye Lee

    A $60,000 scholarship for a “talented” student to end up as a teacher’s aide hardly speaks well about the opportunities for graduates of that college if you ask me.

    A cynical person might think that this is nicely timed to unleash the hounds in defence of Abbott because his budget is indefensible. Look over there.

  252. DanDark

    WOW 266 comments
    hit a bit of a nerve this article
    ohhhh its alright for rich to pick on everybody under their higher selves
    but put shoe on the other foot and hear them squeal,

    Tone’s chose to put his daughters out there to make him look good,
    hanging around his neck, they were prepared to be his bling
    was just another ploy to get votes, so now its backfired, they have to cop it sweet
    soon as he got in, they did a vanishing trick, even Margie mostly too

  253. john921fraser

    <

    When I was young my mother used to tell me little stories, honest , quick and at times startling things.

    Just what stories does Abbott tell his children.

    Don't they read any of his Press releases ?

    How could they possibly stand by and say nothing when their father says this :.

    ""I've always said families should be kept out of the front line. That's the way I've always tried to run my political operation – that we play hard but fair. Families should be [left] out of it."

    Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/tony-abbotts-friend-linked-to-60000-scholarship-for-frances-abbott-at-private-college-20140521-38olh.html#ixzz32XD350pH

    Who were those little virgins being photographed (at every opportunity) with him during the 2013 Federal; election ?

  254. Dora

    Oh leave her alone. As a ‘Woman of Calibre’ she’ll find a nice Liberal bod to marry and start popping out subsidised Young Liberals.

  255. john921fraser

    <

    @Jo

    Youre absolutely right.

    And the Jesuits know that for a fact.

    Thankfully Abbott got away from that mob and now he is just a liar.

  256. joy cooper

    Yes, thanks Randalstella, did know sam was a RWNJ troll & had already decided to ignore them & not continue with any further response to their moronic questions & nonsense. Cannot believe just how many of them have ventured here. Must be coming to the rescue of their Liberal princess who would no more give any one of them the time of day than be seen dead in the rancid sewers they hang out in.

    Victoria’s letter has certainly hit a nerve amongst the cretinous conservative trolls.

  257. Dora

    As a teacher in a Fashion Degree, I saw lots of portfolios from people who had done Whitehouse workshops. Dodgy Bros R Us. Where you go when you can’t get into a proper design course.

  258. ms2sxy

    i disagree with this letter, that girl stands by while her father makes himself the minister for women? She’s not a role model, she shouldn’t be in education, I have no sympathy for her. How about she uses her degree to do some good in the world? Like build a company that donates clothes to refugees? Oh that’s right, Abbott’s don’t give a sh*t about people suffering. The whole family are greedy, good for nothing people. And from what I’ve seen, no one in that family should be anywhere near a catwalk let alone working in the “design” industry.

  259. Amanda

    I don’t come from a wealthy family, left school at 16 and have never asked my parents for a cent. I have always managed to work, pay my bills and rent and also pay my own way to study whilst working full time . Majority of these people on the new start live at home with their parents, have never had to lift a finger in their life and expect money from the government because they expect to walk out into a high paying job from uni in their field which is impossible. Suck it up and find a job (bar work / retail ) that you feel your too good

  260. Stephen Tardrew

    Spot on Kaye its called deflection. The issue is valid and will be resolved regardless of the chest beating. Legitimate questions require legitimate answers.

    The right are very afraid because they have lost the center and there is no going back. The cat is out of the bag and cannot be put back and they know it. This is a disaster for the LNP. Complete misreading of the Australian voter.

    I am sorry but there is no Julia to blame and a minor issue about gifts to Abbott;s daughter is not going to cut it. Sorry fellas. Boy who cried wolf. Heard of him?

    All the screaming in the world is not going to change the failure of the LNP.

  261. little guy

    no-one on 500k pay half in tax ,negative gearing,super cocontributions and other tax writeoffs are all used to lower their tax bill,the middle class is what keeps the economy moving,if u stifle middle class spending u will turn the country into recession.the most tax,gst and other surcharges are paid by the middle class.also abbotts daughter is a pig

  262. DanDark

    Kaye thanks for article,
    just to remind us of how he did parade them out on purpose
    he will use anyone, even his own family for power

  263. Kaye Lee

    Interesting how Tony is saying he has always said keep families out of it.

    New Tony Abbott staffer Jude Donnelly, formerly of Richmond Football Club and the Howard Government, has recently been hired to give Tone some advice on sport and improve his standing with women. But she may have also embraced a more pernicious role. A mole reckons Jude is shopping around dirt on Julia Gillard’s partner Tim Mathieson to a notorious journalist at The Australian. Mathieson is a proud Tigers fan. And Jude’s background means she has the mobile phone numbers of key officials at Richmond who in turn have been getting aggressive phone calls from said journalist.

    “Abbott’s office is leading a dirt campaign against Tim Mathieson using Jude’s former contacts,” one well-placed source told Crikey. “It seems hypocritical for someone who has been very protective of Margie Abbott’s privacy to be going so hard against her opposite number.”

    Tips and rumours

  264. ajay

    wow, gloves off and playing the family? I hope someone does that to you in your professional life one day.

  265. john921fraser

    <

    As the monkey said as he put his hand in the commode, "There's more to this than meets the eye."

  266. Damien

    I have never been more disgusted in all my life. The puerile comments made is this blog are breathtaking. How can you possibly have so much hate for some one you don’t know personally. You have relied entirely on what is reported in the press to form your opinions. Your jaundice serves to depict you descenters’ as people of low intelligence. Basically as surface skimmers with out the ability think a little more deeply to ready to accept the thoughts of others. I despair for the future of this country if this is how the general population think.

  267. john921fraser

    <

    @Damien

    Your knowledge of this event is mind boggling.

    Seek medical help as soon as possible.

  268. PC

    Jealousy, it’s a curse.

  269. Suzanna

    What a brilliant open letter THAT was! Kind but uncompromising … unlike how Tony compromised his daughters in his election campaign to prove he’d DID actually relate to women.

    No wonder the shit-eating grin! He’s definitely beyond the Daggy Dad stuff now … let’s see how he handles the fact that sweet naive Frances will pay a price for her father’s blind ambition by not being taken seriously.

    Arrrggghhh!

  270. Kaye Lee

    It’s like these people have been handed a script. None of them have read the numerous links provided. None of them have discussed the issue at hand. They are like the terracotta army brought to life to repeat phrases in defence of the emperor. They seem to feel it is jealousy because we all would like to have the capacity to rort the system. Interesting take on things. This has nothing to do with envy and everything to do with propriety and the possibility of the perception of a conflict of interest as the budget changes are advantageous to private colleges.

  271. john921fraser

    <

    "I've always said families should be kept out of the front line. That's the way I've always tried to run my political operation – that we play hard but fair. Families should be [left] out of it."

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgNdDQ6W6J8

    Any of the Abbott supporters remember this ?

    Any of the Abbott supporters recognise the Abbott hand bag hit squad "virgins" ?

    More lies from the Abbott.

  272. Damien

    @john921fraser.

    My case rests.

  273. john921fraser

    <

    @Damien

    Stop proving you are an idiot.

    I readily accepted it 10 minutes ago.

  274. Kaye Lee

    I thought Tony said we should vote for him because he had good looking daughters? He was the one who brought them into things. personally I have never understood this penchant that politicians have for parading their families around in the spot light. I have never taken my family to work with me. Them having a family is irrelevant to their expertise as a politician. I so hate this whole image game but if you play that way then accept the consequences Tony.

  275. iand

    Dear Ri2n, I would have to believe that your inlaw is perhaps the only “high earnings” australian paying (above) full tote tax on gross earnings. Perchance the inlaw should seek an accountant that can advise and avail the inlaw of the myriad of legal & lawful tax reduction avenues which would reduce the $500K gross income to a somewhat lesser “TAXABLE INCOME”

    P.S. definitely needs to seek advise if paying more than 45% plus medicare levy.

  276. Gilly

    Amanda,: re ‘Majority of these people on the new start live at home with their parents, have never had to lift a finger in their life and expect money from the government because they expect to walk out into a high paying job from uni in their field which is impossible’:
    You do realise this picture is just the product of your fevered imagination, fuelled by your unhappiness, and resentment at those who have less (?) and and projected on to those people. What research has delivered these facts?? If doing what you’ve done is so good- why aren’t you happy?

  277. john921fraser

    <

    The Nuremberg defence failed at Nuremberg.

    Abbott deliberately used his family to fight of the misogynist claims.

    And they were old enough to know what they were doing and understood the directions they received from Abbotts campaign team.

    So his family sinks with him.

  278. East London Local

    Damien, please can you explain what this sentence means.

    “Basically as surface skimmers with out the ability think a little more deeply to ready to accept the thoughts of others.”

    You’re ranting, dear.

  279. Ri2n

    @iand,
    The $500k+ is the amount of tax we paid to the government every year. Needless to say we have professional accountant. And we just do the right think. Because no matter we find the way to reduce tax payment, we will eventually have to pay it back.

  280. DanDark

    WOW
    This article by Victoria has brought the wingers and the grumblers
    Its hard being privileged, and spoilt. and having everything handed on a silver spoon

  281. Katherine4134

    Chill everybody, go write a comment on something more important than a girl and a scholarship. Oh, and quit with the back and forth abuse of each other – didn’t Mum teach you anything? Have a nice evening

  282. Capitan Typo

    For all those wasting their breath of debating whether Francs Abbott ‘deserved’ the scholarship or not, here are the straight forward reasons why this is an issue.

    Members of parliament are required to declare gifts or contributions made to their immediate family, including any dependent children. To quote aph.gov.au: “The registrable interests of which the Member is aware of the Member’s spouse and any children wholly or mainly dependent on the Member for support must also be included in the statement.”

    Now some people seem to confuse the term ‘dependant’ as meaning ‘someone under 18’, so just to be clear, the ATO defines a dependant as: “Generally a dependant refers to a person who needs your financial or domestic support. These can include a spouse, a de facto, a child, or a person in your care with whom you have an interdependency relationship.”

    Frances was definitely living with her parents at the time of receiving the scholarship, and so Abbott should have declared it. Especially when the institution that provided the scholarship , and individuals in positions of influence within the institution, A) financially contributed to the Liberal party, b) Stand to profit financially from Abbott’s proposed de-regulation of university fees, and c) have apparently been seen lobbying Abbott over these proposed changes.

    If part C of the above especially turns out to be true, then regardless of whether Frances deserved the scholarship or not, there is a strong case to be made for outright corrupt conduct on the part of the PM.

    Who pays what amount of income tax, and whether Frances Abbot’s is actually a skilled designer or not, are entirely irrelevant, and the only reason to engage in these arguments is to spur emotion and potentially direct focus away fro Abbott himself.

  283. IgglePiggle

    I agree you guys must not have enough to worry about in your lives to be worried about this. Fight for the causes that count. This IS NOT the corrupt dealings of a dictator or despot. We can question the ethics of it as a mere mental exercise but there is no point you all getting you knickers in a twist. It’s a democracy if you don’t like the guy don’t vote for him next time.

  284. Dcleigh

    So how does corruption work? Daughter receives a $60000 scholarship and a job at the end of the course. Father then awards private tertiary institutes funding in the 2014 budget. How will this be paid for? Increase the costs of all tertiary courses across Australia, affecting tens of thousands fellow students. So we as a nation must pick up the burden of Abbott’s decisions – including private ones.

  285. Indulis Bernsteins

    Great article.

    As for AZ’s assertion that “The top 2% of income earns pay over 23% of total income tax”, this may be *technically* correct, but as studies in other countries have pointed out, the real story starts when you get into the top 0.1% of income earners (who may in total earn more than the remaining top 1.9% combined!).

    For example, out of 10,000 people if there are 190 millionaires who all pay their way (1.9%), and 10 billionaires (0.1%) who pay nothing, the billionaires are “hidden from view” by the remaining 1.9%. Though they earn $10B in total and pay no tax compared to $190M in total for the honest tax-paying millionaires.

    The other claim of “48% of income earners pay no net tax” is also unlikely to bear up under close scrutiny. The 48% would include anyone who earns $1 a year and puts in a tax return. Carers, stay-at-home parents in single income families, etc. Just to have a bank account would be enough for these right wing think-tank statistics to artificially create the illusion of a welfare state…

    We can look at the same type of twisted statistic which you may hear, like “the top 0.1% pay the same tax in total as the bottom 48% of income earners”. Which is easy if both classes of people pay $0 (or close to it). In fact , if you think about it, this statistic probably proves the point that the top 0.1% pay too little tax!

    By slicing and presenting the data in a creative way- using a % of a population and not investigating the small number of “outlier” individuals in the statistics- it is easy to cover up the real story about the ultra-rich. And the fact that the growth in wealth for the uber-rich has clearly not “trickled down” to anyone else.

    For the US story on the increasing wealth of the uber-rich compared to the other 99.9% search for “The Richest Rich Are in a Class by Themselves”. As far as I know, no-one in Australia has done the same fine-grained dicing of the statistics for the uber-rich class.

  286. john921fraser

    <

    @IgglePiggle

    Are you suggesting we just leave the truth uncovered.

    Seems to me that's what happened before the last election.

    Now its just catch up time.

  287. BsB

    Loud Noises!!!

  288. Fed up

    I go am going to continue to whinge, scream and stamp my feet. I will not be shutting up.

    I, nor this nation can afford this government or budget.

    It is a mean budget that set out to make the on the bottom of the pile pay.

    It takes from the disabled, low income families, pensioners etc. None can pay what is asked of them

    It is sad that some here cannot see that

  289. andygemmell

    Its all getting boring now. Please just start contributing some alternative ideas to improve our country rather than letters like this. No one seems to have done it yet including the opposition or The Greens. Let’s hear the ideas rather than reading the same old boring venting. Victoria…..lets have your ideas. You appear to be a good writer.

  290. Michael Taylor

    Capitan Typo . . . I think you just found the gotcha moment.

  291. Michael Taylor

    Let’s hear the ideas

    andygemmell, have you read our other articles? They are full of ideas.

  292. Gazzy

    Well thought out and written letter Victoria.

  293. Kaye Lee

    ummmm….you need a new accountant if you are paying $500,000 in tax

  294. Stephen Tardrew

    andygemell:

    If you have got a couple of hours to read the general thrust of AIMN articles you will find a wealth of information not readily available elsewhere. In my experience seeing contributors are voluntary the amount of time and effort put into the articles is commendable. Come on board and join in a lively debate but inform yourself first.

  295. Sharron Duce

    Tonight I saw a young girl scraping seven hundred dollars together to purchase a computer to do her uni work,,As her computer died, She asked friends to contribute money for her nineteenth birthday to buy her computer. So this is what makes me angry Mr Abbott that these students scrimp and scrape to follow their dreams to make something of their lives and your daughter receives a sixty thousand scholarship,, When you can afford to pay for her education, It’s blatant use of power and I find quite disgusting,

  296. Al Mac

    Wow! What a bunch of sour grapes. Wake up to the world why don’t you. Stop the jealousy train and get on with your own life before you end of full of regret and bitterness. Your leftie mates won’t be there to tell you how clever you are when you draw your last breathe. That I CAN guarantee you.

  297. Kaye Lee

    Ok now it’s getting messy. Tony gets publicly lobbied about the length of time it takes to get a course accredited. A few weeks later it gets accredited and lo and behold, it’s the course Francis wanted to do. What a fortuitous coincidence

  298. john921fraser

    <

    @Al Mac

    What are people supposed to be jealous of ?

    "draw you last breath" ?

    If your going to be there ………… dig me up and kill me again please!

  299. Leesa D

    Yawn, boring, whinge whinge, let’s talk about Tony’s wink instead, much more interesting. PS, like Bill Shorten doesn’t get any special treatment being married into the former Governor General’s family, ha!

  300. john921fraser

    <

    @Kaye Lee

    “Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action” … Ian Fleming.

    Bring out the dogs of war !

  301. ak

    I remember a young lawyer in our country who was once a senior campaing manager for an Australian PM. I think when he fronted up to a law firm his resume looked very impressive!

    As you can imagine,there were many young people who would have wanted that amazing opportunity which only he got. Many of them were distinguished level students and who came from disadvantaged background. No doubt some would have been balancing more than one job as well as study. ..Anyway it turned out the reason this young lawyer got his job was because he was well connected to that PM

  302. john921fraser

    <

    @Leesa D

    You do know what it means when a mare is winking …….. don't you ?

    You really wouldn't want to know what it means when Abbott is winking …… at another man.

  303. Paul James

    Gutter politics. I wish one of these activists would have the courage of their conviction to make an accusation of corruption instead of hiding behind innuendo and insinuation.

    They won’t because they’d actually have to substantiate their claims, which they cant. Pathetic cowardice.

  304. Margaret Scott

    I understand that if this country is in a fix it needs to be addressed, I also understand that cuts have to be made…..What I would like to know what cuts are being made in the politicians pockets. I have an idea which I think everyone would agree is a good one, is that when politicans leave office and are no longer politicians ALL BENEFITS STOP…..NO PERKS WHATSOEVER ONCE THEY LEAVE…they have to live on their superannuation or the age pension like the rest of us. No one minds cuts and the budget…..as long as it’s across the board and that the politicians share the load……

  305. Kaye Lee

    It’s been an interesting day. This article has already received well over 200,000 views today. The situation is unfolding as we speak on new matilda.

    With the hundreds of articles that we have written about a myriad of topics, a hint of scandal sure brings out the opposing teams. Forget the budget. Who cares about the debt. We all just need to “grow up” according to our army of visitors today. After all, the adults are in charge now (cough).

  306. Matters Not

    Interesting to watch this ‘debate’ evolve. As Stephen Tardrew said:

    AIMN I congratulate you on your success in attracting the attention of a grand audience. These conservatives can’t just remain silent and let things pass no they must make a noise and send AMIN io the stratosphere

    Indeed! Will Miglo one day rival Rupert? Maybe it’s an example of From little things, big things grow. LOL.

    Kaye Lee said:

    It’s like these people have been handed a script

    Actually I hope that’s the case because such a ‘script’ provides both an excuse and an explanation. Otherwise the (private) education system has failed miserably.

    While one could choose any number of contributors to ridicule perhaps I could focus on Janine who stated at 8.15 PM:

    I guess I would be one of the top 10 percent (sic) of earners and I got here totally through merit

    Dear Janine, don’t you know whether you are in the top 10 per cent of income earners or not? As for, I got there totally through merit. Please. Clearly you have no insights into how ‘wealth’ is created and becomes distributed across any given society. Be interested in your comments.

    what would happen if we all got sick of it and walked away – the rich would do fine without the rest while the poor would die without us

    Really? Have you ever entertained the notion that the ‘majority’ poor might rise up and tax the living shit out of the rich? Or perhaps the ‘mob’ might just throw away the ‘rules’ and ‘take over’? It is a ‘democracy’ after all, isn’t it?

    I know what you’ll say – who will build the roads if you don’t pay tax. But we’ll have enough of our own money to build our own roads.

    We have “enough of our own money to build our own roads”. Hilarious! Perhaps dollar coins used instead of cobblestones?

    Again I blame the education system that allows so many to graduate without any ‘insight’.

  307. john921fraser

    <

    Good call Paul James.

    Try this ………. Anthony John Abbott is a liar.

    Will that do it ?

  308. john921fraser

    <

    @Matters Not

    Charles Dickens wrote about them ….. 150 years ago.

  309. Jack

    Why is there such resentment from everyone? Can’t people just be happy for someone!?

  310. andygemmell

    @ Stephen Tardrew….what are getting at? I’m saying it’s getting boring…whats that got do with the fact you think I’m not informed? I haven’t given an opinion on policy here to indicated I’m “not informed.”

    “but inform yourself first”

    Stephen….any ideas. Throw em up…I am keen to hear what your policy ideas are to move us forward. No one is saying anything..why? Surely we are intelligent enough to have a more intelligent debate than the general response we’ve seen for the past 10 days.

    Keep in mind Stephen we do have some decisions to make as a country around reform which requires us saving money rather than the continued spending…off course unless we can raise more revenue to maintain that spending AND pay off debt. Thats the other alternative.

  311. Sam

    john921fraser – why do you assume so much about people? You don’t know anything about the people you claim to judge

  312. Fed up

    “know what you’ll say – who will build the roads if you don’t pay tax. But we’ll have enough of our own money to build our own roads.”

    Takes a little more than money to build roads., You need workers, workers with skills. With all your money, you cannot build nothing without us, the silly buggers at the bottom.

    I have worked, during my life in factories, back when they existed. Know something, if the boss fell ill or went on holidays, the factory would keep on operating, The good would be produced. If his workers took the week off, nothing would be produced. Nothing.

    Pure capitalism needs winners and losers. Also needs booms and bust. Even so, at the end of the day, unless it has workers, workers who wages must be kept pegged as low as possible, it does not work.

    I do hope most we have seen here over the last few hours are reading from a script. If not, the country is in trouble. Cannot survive with so many short sighted stupid people at the top.

    By the way, we all pay tax. Yes even those on pensions and other benefits. We pay more than our fair share.

  313. Ian Joyner

    The Abbotts are the worst kind of spongers on society and this is just another example of the Abbott family corruption, following Abbott’s parents taking advantage of the £10 scheme for new immigrants to Australia when they were returning to Australia (his mother was Australian and his English father had previously resided here).

    Frances Abbott got her scholarship out of the fees that other students paid to Whitehouse. Now Abbott wants to make tertiary education much more expensive for all other students – while poor little Frances escapes the same HECS debt that most have.

    Despicable.

  314. john921fraser

    <

    @Jack

    Sorry mate !

    I'm just feeling sad for someone whose father wasn't the Leader of the Opposition in the Federal Parliament when he was looking around to try and find some money or a scholarship for his son/daughter to attend a design academy.

    Of course i'm as happy as Larry that the current Prime Minister of Australia did not put it on his Register of Interests as a $60k "gift" ……. well I would have to be happy about that, just as i'm happy that Abbott claimed almost $10k on his taxpayer funded expense account and isn't getting dragged through the Courts in the same way that Peter Slipper is for his claim of $900 (nine hundred).

    Happy, happy, happy.

  315. Fed up

    The question the prudent people ask, is not what we cannot afford, but what we cannot afford to spend.

    Not spending can lead to bigger deficits and debt, that spending to invest in human and physical infrastructure for the future. Yes a highly educated and skilled workforce back up by the state of the art technology. NBNCo, fibre to the home for starters.

    This government is not getting rid of debt or spending. It is only transferring it to the private sector and to the individual.

  316. john921fraser

    <

    @Sam

    What's to judge ?

    Abbott made a statement 2 days ago about not wanting his family front and centre in politics.

    A lie.

    Now there is this business with his daughter and Abbott had 2 years to "mention" it.

    A $60,000 "gift" to the daughter of the Leader of the Opposition.

    Looks pretty clear cut to me.

  317. SHUV

    A TEACHERS AID! IS THAT ALL. $60 000 TO BECOME A TEACHERS AID…WHAT A WAISTE. SHOULD HAVE SPENT IT ON SOME REAL LOCAL TALENT. SOMEONE WHO COULD OPEN THERE OWN LINE AND BE AN ENTREPRENEUR, SOMEONE KIDS COULD LOOK UP TO NOT A TEACHERS AIDE…

  318. Fed up

    The questions, why was it kept secret, secret from everyone. It appears most at the school did not know. From articles elsewhere, other staff do not even know at this time, what her job is now. Why.

    As being low politics, yes it is.

    It was Abbott that set the precedent. What more, he

    We have the many inquiries, that are waste of money and not needed, An action that has never been taken by any other PM. We have trolls still trying to spread many lies about Gillard and her relationships over time. We are seeing similar campaign against Shorten., Now it seems, there is a dirt digging campaign going on about Gillard’s partner.

    We have seen this government releaser cabinet in confidence papers, that should be kept hidden for thirty years.

    Abbott is not happy in winning, but seems to have a obsession to destroy those he has beaten.

    Yes, it is Abbott that is setting the rules in how the political games is played. If he does not like it, time fair him to pull back.

  319. SHUV

    DIDNT THE PREMIER OF NSW RESIGN OVER A SMALL GIFT OF WINE RECENTLY WAS IT $3000….

  320. DanDark

    I feel like we are at the msn comments
    Nasty, vicious, selfish, self absorbed know it alls
    That’s why I stay away from there,

    I miss the old AIMN:(

  321. Susie

    I would like to know why no one, especially political analysts and media, have focused on the payouts these pollies get on retirement (which they don’t have to wait until they’re 70 for).
    How much of our hard earned money are they wasting on unnecessary expenses?
    Add up the free flights, limos, chefs and staff and that could probably fix our budget easily.
    Instead they take from those that can afford it the least.
    What does it take to make Australia understand and how do we change this?

  322. Kaye Lee

    andygemmel,

    I think Stephen was suggesting you read some of our other stories while you are here. You want suggestions…here’s a few

  323. iand

    Note: Fed up: Try the new NBNco satellite 0.25 bits per second, and 3 gb a month. Fibre to the node, ha bloody ha. Cavemen had quicker internet. Forget the wealthy or poor and ignore remote and rural regions. Wouldn’t object to a “scholarship/grant” to buy some satellite room

  324. Lesley Ann Porter

    Well I would think she was adult enough not to accept it, as her father is going to make things worse for future graduates who struggle with the rising costs as it is.

  325. mars08

    IgglePiggle:

    …you guys must not have enough to worry about in your lives to be worried about this. Fight for the causes that count…

    Interesting. Soooo… you made the effort to come to here and post on this blog, just to tell us there’s no point having this discussion? Nice of you to worry about us. Quite touching. Really.

  326. jo

    The scholarship in question appears quite dubious. Only ever awarded twice. Not annually, not for humanitarian reasons. The question begs “Who was the first recipient and who did they know”?

  327. beck

    Very well written. Point in case life sux without money, politicians lie and sucked in all those lovely 18+ pple that thought Abbott was going to be a good PM- his strong will may get our budget in order but will set us back in not only research but knowledge to young children as well as Uni and TAFE students, health care cuts and a whole lot more.
    God for bid if u cant find a job straight away, but lets not get our knickers in a knot because we need to realise that no1 can help us, Australia you voted him in now deal with it!

  328. Roswell

    Tony might have harboured some desire that this issue might have deflected from the budget. Oh how it might have backfired.

    This will damage him. Possibly irrepareredly.

  329. Roswell

    That last word doesn’t look right. I’ll try again: irreparably.

  330. bob

    Dear Frances,
    Can your Dad hook me up with a one-off $60k scholarship with a guaranteed job at the end too? I’d ask mine but he has some weird moral objections to nepotism, that people like me & your Dad don’t completely understand?

  331. Wayne

    Let me get this right, it’s ok for Bill Shorten to use his Union connections (some corrupt) to get into Labors leadership but it’s wrong for her to get a scholarship, he will make millions from his dodgy deal with mates yet hers I’d worth 60k…….no double standards here…pffffft

  332. Wayne

    Bob, no need to ask her dad, just get into a union, they will make you leader of Labor and that’s worth millions.

  333. Wayne

    Oh, and how dodgy was Shortens appointment to the leadership, a democratic vote was held, 70% voted for Albanese and 30% for Shorten, but his Union mates made sure he won.

  334. Wayne

    Just wondering, when Bill Shorten arranged for his Mother In law, Quentin Bryce, to become Governor General were you this outraged? No, it ok for a Labor member in power to appoint a family member to a senior government position worth millions of dollars to her but it’s not ok for the opposition leaders daughter to get a scholarship. Now how do we spell Hippocrates

  335. Ross

    This is Bulltish. What gives you the right to attack this poor(not literally) girl because you believe someone was currying political favour with her Dad (AKA the Prime Minister). Attack the people in the Whitehouse for what they have done. Abuse her father for his supposed actions – although I wonder if he did anything to forward her scholarship. How did she even know about it? Did she find it and apply for it without any input from her father at all? I don’t know and I am certain you don’t either. Be responsible and attack those who might be responsible – not her until you get some credible evidence she knew what was going on was not “right”. How can I be sure the job you hold was not due to the fact that your father who had political connections to the Greens got you it as a favour? Seems just as sensible as most of the rubbish I have seen written about this issue.

    Please attack those who you have some credible evidence about “wrong doing” not just those who happen to be convenient targets because they really have no comeback unless they indulge in a slanging match with those who are abusing them.

  336. Julie Lindgren

    Dear Frances, you should really be standing up against your fathers terrible decisions. Im a single mother, not by choice, but by necessity, I had to rescue my child & myself from abuse, something you would know nothing about. My daughter is a highly motivated student, due to go to uni next year, however, it seems unlikely now that she will ever be wealthy enough to enter uni because your father has made it unaffordable. You really should look beyond the young people in your sphere of life, look at at others less fortunate, and have a keen desire to do something constructive to stand up for all the young adults that just want a chance of an affordable higher education. Here is a golden opportunity for you to do something for your country, you go girl…tell dad he’s wrong.

  337. john921fraser

    <

    @Ross

    Are you saying don't attack Francis Abbott because she is not a political figure ?

    This proves your theory wrong :

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgNdDQ6W6J8

    Nothing on Abbott's Register of Interests about a scholarship worth $60k.

  338. scaper...

    Madness!

  339. john921fraser

    <

    @scaper

    Been sleeping it off ?

    Great to have your comment though.

    It shows you have, once again, put in the hard yards.

  340. Jo

    She’s an adult who has earnt a scholarship. Where’s the sisterhood?

  341. Möbius Ecko

    Shorter Wayne in one post. “Quick look over there.”

    What a lame attempt at a diversion. That Abbott supporters need to go to these prosaic lengths to defend him demonstrates how bad Abbott really is.

    ——————–
    @john921fraser. I posted on that elsewhere and the excuse was unconvincing.

    He is given a ~$3000 gift that is over the $750 limit for not having to declare gifts, and he doesn’t declare it within the 28 days as required. Only when someone finds out about it does his spokesperson, not Abbott, defend the corruption that would have seen a pollie from another party thrown out and has seen a State Premier ousted.

    The excuse is that he was thinking on whether to keep it or not, and surprise surprise now he has been caught out he’s going to keep it, pay the difference and declare it for the register of interests.

  342. scaper...

    Only one word is required to discribe this thread.

    “Nothing on Abbott’s Register of Interests about a scholarship worth $60k.”

    Undoubedly the dumbest comment of the thread.

  343. Tynee

    Instead of bitching to each other over this and arguing with each other, I want you to realise (all Aussies) we all are being affected by Abbott, don’t huff and puff and wine about who voted for who I am 100% sure either you or someone you know and or love will be affected by the new budget. Wake up and complain and wine to him not to the people who need to unite against this monster!

  344. Möbius Ecko

    Why is that dumb scaper?

  345. scaper...

    “wine to him”

    Send him a bottle of Grange?

  346. sam

    you are all pathetic, whinging, lazy slobs with dementia…lets go thru what spuses and children of Green party and ALP partmembers receive? , and their spouses ohh and all the slush funds set up for them via union contributions…puleease..get a life

  347. Möbius Ecko

    OK sam, let’s go through them. Can you post them here for us so we can also rightly criticise those gifts?

  348. john921fraser

    <

    @scaper

    "wine to him"

    "Undoubedly the dumbest comment of the thread."

    Keep us all laughing.

    And still the pressure and focus stays on Abbott.

  349. hD

    For those who defend Abbott on this issue – do something useful with your lives, something you obviously don’t do now – read, real books I mean – just read.

  350. scaper...

    “Keep us all laughing.”

    Has it occurred to you that the increase in traffic might be the ‘them’ laughing at the rabid pettiness of the far left, the ‘us’?

    Didn’t think so.

  351. Fed up

    At least it is good for the first time seeing some out defending Abbott, even if it is not direct.
    Taken 8 months for this to happen.

    I also love their reasons for doing so. Yes, they appear to be of the belief, they are superior to us, and that we owe them for living.

    Now maybe hey can turn their focus to proving the country is at t5he point of collapse, that there is indeed a dire budget emergency.

    Then maybe they can explain by forcing the bottom half of the community into poverty helps them and the nation.

  352. Fed up

    Still not about the gift. It is about disclosure and openness.

  353. Fed up

    It is about the political judgement and nous of this PM.

  354. Möbius Ecko

    No scaper @8:49 am, not at all, the exact opposite in fact. There’s no mirth in anything they post, seems to be mostly anger.

    Have you noticed that?

    Didn’t think so.

    Answering your own statements before anyone has a chance to respond? Channelling Rudd?

  355. scaper...

    From what I’ve read, it seems people are defending Frances Abbott.

    Maybe the scholarship was awarded because of her talent and determination to aspire?

    Nah, it is because her father is PM…absolutely pathetic!

  356. Nuff Said

    It’s not about a girl and her scholarship. It’s about whether an education institution paid $60,000 to get itself accredited for masters degrees.

    ———————–
    On January 15, TEQSA awarded accreditation to Whitehouse to launch a new Masters in Design course. Whitehouse had been trying for at least a year for the accreditation.

    TEQSA rejects any suggestion that the timing is anything more than a coincidence. Indeed, the agency is known for its fierce independence, the reason why the Abbott Government has already introduced legislation to parliament aimed at tearing the organisation apart, and dismissing the Commissioners at its helm.

    TEQSA acknowledges it’s in the sights of the Abbott Government, but denies that government pressure has in any way influenced its operations.

    “TEQSA is an independent Agency. TEQSA rejects the suggestion that its processes and final decisions are influenced by government pressure,” a spokesperson told New Matilda.

    “The final decision on the accreditation of the courses for Whitehouse Institute of Design was the culmination of work that began in February 2013 when the Institute submitted their application. The TEQSA Act provides legislated deadlines for accreditation of new courses.”

    But there’s no denying that the timing is politically awkward, particularly in light of the growing number of coincidences that the ‘Whitehousegate’ saga is throwing up.

    Coincidences like these: One of the first beneficiaries of the new Whitehouse Masters of Design Course will be Frances Abbott.

    Ms Abbott announced earlier this year she was relocating from Sydney to Melbourne to undertake the Masters. The course begins later this year.

    Whitehouse Denies Lobbying, PM Can't Recall, and 400 People Saw It

  357. Fed up

    Frances is collateral damage, as the right is fond of saying. We once again have Abetz out saying in Tasmania, the unemployed will not take the jobs available, Where is the evidence for this,.

    There no dole for six months is based on their belief that the unemployed refused to taker jobs, and that they have no training or skills. Where is the evidence for this.

    Last night on the ABC, we have a story of a nurse graduate from WA that has been unable to find work., Yes, she moved to Queensland, and is now moving to Victoria , If she does not find work by Christmas, she is thinking of going back to university, to add onto her nursing degree.

    The reasons given for lack of jobs in this field, is the massive cuts in health by the states, espe4cially Queensland and the numbers coming in on 457 visas.

    Yes, people with skills and degrees are having trouble. Does not one of Abbott’s daughter have a radiologist degree and is still unemployed?

  358. Mignon Mitchell

    and better still when she marries and has a baby she’ll get paid parental leave…what a bonus!!

  359. Claire

    So many of you have gotten off track here. The letter was to make a point of telling people that Tony Abbott is taking away all of the opportunities from the common folk, that have been granted to his own daughter. How Frances has and never will have experienced poverty and the struggle it takes for people to try to achieve their dreams…

  360. George

    Oh get over it! Since the beginning of time there have been people with privilege and people without…you can choose to sit there and whinge and whine that “it’s not fair” and attack those who have what you perceive to the be “easy life” Guess what? Life isn’t fair, never has been and never will be. So, constantly playing the victim and throwing tantrums like a two year will change absolutely nothing.

    Stop worrying about what someone else has that you don’t and focus on getting what you want through your own hard work and sacrifice…yes you might have to do it tough for a while so does everyone else. I am sick to death of the rife Victim mentality that abounds in this country.

    When will people understand the money that comes from the Government to pay for higher education, unemployed benefits, medical treatment for people who have spent their lives abusing their bodies with cigarettes, junk food, drugs and alcohol and list goes on, is not the Government’s money and nobody has a God given right to it – it is money that comes out of the pockets of hard working Australians NOT rich people and most of us get nothing and expect nothing from the Government. What’s with the victim mentality and the demand for hand outs constantly?

    Nobody is entitled to a degree and if you want one work for it, if the rules change then deal with it, if someone else gets a hand up then good on them, they’re lucky you’re not, that’s life suck it up. Same with a job – nobody is entitled to a job…and nobody gives you a job…you need to go get one…if you can’t, then get off your butt and find out why, then fix the problem/s instead of whining and playing the victim. You are not a victim and nobody put you where you are – if you want to stay there then by al means keep up the poor me poor me and get left behind.

    God forbid that you might have to pay for your education…if you have the brains to get to uni then surely you have the brains to realise that you are most likely to be one of the privileged at some stage in your life and the money you paid for your degree (not upfront by the way) helped you get where you are. I bet once you are one of the “the privileged” that you won’t mind your mate getting your daughter a job, or freebie tickets to a corporate box at the Rugby…bet you won’t knock any opportunities back that come your way then will you? I come from a poor family catch cry doesn’t wash when you look at it that way does it?

    Poor me Poor me is the catch cry of the day, Tony Abbot did this to me, Kevin Rudd did that to me…what a load of BS. The social problems within our society are exactly that – social – they are not caused by the government they are caused by our society and communities need to find a way to provide more support…support that is funded by the community rather than the government.

    We are so lucky in this country in so many ways compared to the rest of the world, Instead of looking to the Government for guidance and hand outs communities need to start supporting themselves. Maybe the Catholic Church can pay taxes like everybody else?

    Don’t even get me started on the deficit…just because ours isn’t as big as the rest of the worlds doesn’t make it okay! Why do we need to be like the rest of the world? If we do we’ll end up exactly where they are in the future…with our kids and grandkids paying for the lifestyles and handouts of the past. Sticking our heads in the sand is just going to make things much worse in the future.

  361. Fed up

    ABC is describing it as Abbott’s infamous week.

  362. Fed up

    Tright are saying it is only about q lot of people who do not like the PM. ABC 24 Maybe they should look again, it is his policies and actions that we, on the left are deriding, rejecting.

    Pointed it out it was the same with Gillard. Yes it was, from their side. Trouble is, most was based on lies. With Abbott. sadly, our criticism is based on facts.

    It is not a tough budget. It is a weak budget that attacks the weakest in society. Little will add to the wellbeing of the future.

  363. Arthur

    How hypocritical of you Victoria.You sound like the former government who made promises but then broke them and now you have Bill Shorten calling Tony Abbot a liar. I wonder if Bill Shorten attained his current position because of the privileges attained from his family connections. You think? Its a reality of life for everyone regardless of gender, race and class you may come from. Its like seeing someone jump the queue outside a nightclub just because they know the doornan. This stuff happens.Good luck to those thst can. Everyone should focus on their own strengths and ambitions utilising what resources and support available to them and get on with it.

    You mention how can a young person go without money for six months? True but the system hashas been abused for far to long. Guess what, its time to get a job now when school finishes instead of hanging at the beach and using dole money for booze and running a muck. Maybe compulsory military servicshould be introduced where they can be fed, trained housed and above all have discipline instilled because at the moment its out of control.

    Nothing further from the truth than JFK’s statement.”Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country”.

    Time to fix this joint.

  364. Ri2n

    OMG…. Now I understand even more why all the richest and the high classes people only kept their circle for their own. And when they are heard the ordinary people talk and have their opinion they are just nod then laugh at the end they will have a same comment “how stupid are this people, they have so much on their mouth but nothing on their pocket”. Then the other will reply “AAhhh…. don’t worry about them, do you want another glass of wine ?” Cheers !!

  365. Fed up

    Does one get the impression that the upper crust, the right see our justified outcry as a joke, something we will soon get over.

    No way are they contemplating that the PM and his policies could be wrong. That seems unthinkable to them.

    Not only unfair and vindictive, but harmful to the nation.

    Personally I could not care whether one likes Abbot or not. My focus s on the budget he has put forwarded, and how far he is taking this country back., We need not focus on personalities. We have truth on our side.

    Abbott and Co cannot prove there is a budget emergency, as it does not exist. Not saying, in the near future, he will have manage to create one. That terrifies me. It scares me that my kids and there families are in for a hard time. A unnecessary hard time.

    I see nothing in Abbott’s government that gives me hope. Mayne our new visiors can put all ourmind art rest, by pointing out reasons why we should relax.

  366. Christine Stav

    I’m not saying that Tony Abbott doesn’t end up with his foot in his mouth each time he opens it, but would love to hear a few solutions from people rather than regurgitating the obvious problems. Who has a solution on finding a balance? Australians are fast developing a reputation as a nation of whingers who view life as “entitlement”. Yes, health and education must be the bare necessities of entitlement to all but add everything else into the mix – failed social reform, failed stimulus packages, disability pensions growing in enormous proportions, an ageing population and each sector of the community expecting to receive but balking at having to contribute, – I’d welcome a solution rather than tired cliche

  367. John

    Anyone who believes that they have the right to openly attack someones daughter to get at her father is a utter disgrace to our society.
    She was 18 years of age and regardless of how you class her as being a dependant of her father is simply brainless, nasty and shows all the traits of a writer who just wants everyone to agree with them.

    She received her Bursary at 18 years of age in Feb 2011 and completed her degree in Feb 2014 she gained her bursary under the terms set down to all students who get this award and I cannot see anyone here who has even bothered to see which other children of politicians who also received bursaries.

    This post is all about attacking Tony Abbott the Prime minster of Australia who is a Liberal party member and all the rubbish being posted is from Labor, Green and Puppy members and followers, and their agenda is clear and has been since the election. Attack anything that can bring the Libs down and don’t worry about telling the truth.

    I’ve watched the Uni protests across the country where all the poor uni students creating havoc to get (Their) point across driven by their noble leader Tom Raue. Interesting that his brother is a valuable member of GetUp the well known Labor driven movement and the same faces are seen on the front line of all protests and I will leave you to guess who they might be.

    It is a time like this that I’m proud to be an old Australian Pensioner…NOT

  368. joenormal

    It’s only a wrought if your not in on it

    ….get over it you flogs the worlds a cruel and unfair place nothing new funny how this didn’t mean anything to you in 2011 when this was relevant TBH I’m proud of tony for hooking his family up I would have done it too! And if I agree or not with the budget is irrelevant in my next point but I’m happy our government of Australia has stood up made a plan got on the front foot to defend it right or wrong it’s good to see our leaders try and lead rather then try and people please to stay in power tonys ratings taken a huge beating he knew this would happen and he hasn’t put the breaks on what he thinks is right to me folks this means we have a good leader

  369. Fed up

    No, some at the top are really saying. look at what you can do for us. Labour costs are falling while labour productivity is growing . More of the profits are going to Capital. Yes, it is the so called onus and supplements that Hockey is cutting to middle and l0ower income earners that has helped keep those wages down.

    How much of the pie does capital want. Yes, does the boss want it all.

    At the same time, the responsibility and cost of providing a highly educated and sk9illedf workforce is being lumped back on the individual worker. Both the government and industry are vacating the field.

    Who benefits most from people who have degrees. In fact, the graduate will pay back the cost of the education in the higher taxes they pay during their life time. When does the nation and industry paid for their share, of what they gain from a the graduate, and other skilled workers.

    Most graduates do not earn milli0ns. Yes, a little more than a labourer, but no way in the millionaire class,

  370. Fed up

    Where is daddy’s answer to this letter, on behalf of his daughter, telling us we have it wrong. Pointing out the facts of the matter. That is all that is being asked. Some openness and honesty from the man.,

    Yes, nothing to do with Frances. As I said earlier, she is collateral damage. Not fair, but as Abbott has set the precedence, and is still attacking and putting the boot into Gillard, even though he beat her, we have little choice but to sink to his level.

    Abbott can change the toxic political climate we find ourselves in. Well he could, if he was a statesman and had some political nous.

  371. Fed up

    Has the right given some thought to the fact, that Tony’s budget could be wrong, could be toxic for the nation. Yes, we are looking at what he has put forwarded. Everyone of us are willing to lift our share. Only if we believed it would do some good. This government does not

    If one took ten percent income off the upper income earner, they would barely notice. There lives would continue as it does now.

    Take ten percent off the bottom income earners, and they could lose everything they have. Food becomes a worry for starters. When one lowers ones incomes, it does not lower the outgoings, that are set in stone. There is no margin for safety ,Most live from one wage packet to the next.

  372. Fed up

    We, on the bottom, have been paying our way for years. Yes, we now have record slow wage growth. Wages have been growing slower than inflation for years. We have gave up a share of the pie, economist love to talk about.

  373. Nick

    Affluism in action. While the granting of the scholarship may be semi defensible if you have a twisted point of view the hypocrisy is clearly not.

  374. Fed up

    Over the last few years, Abbott has turned the heat up in the kitchen. Some would say to unnecessary danger levels. If Abbott cannot stand the heat, time for him to leave the kitchen.

    Abbott is reaping as he has sown. He was the most divisive negative and obnoxious Opposition leader. this country has seen. His behaviour has not changed, since achieving his goal of being PM.

  375. Fed up

    When Quentin became GG, Shorten was not her son in law. Does pay to check facts.

    Are you suggesting the woman was not an outstanding GG?

  376. john921fraser

    <

    Oh poor little Frances ….. can't you please stop attacking poor little Frances.

    The moment "poor little Frances" walked out on stage at father Abbotts 2013 Liberal party election launch she put herself in the spotlight.

    Time to pay the piper …… Frances & Abbott.

  377. Terry Charlton

    He is a dope, was always a dope. Those who serve him know he is a dope, so they are dopes. Problem is he is a dangerous dope. A dope who is trying to control the media, a dope with ultra right ring fanatics pulling the strings. A dope with meglamaniacal tendencies. Rhino’s Rabbott.

  378. Nuff Said

    John May 24, 2014 • 9:59 am,

    She received her Bursary at 18 years of age in Feb 2011 and completed her degree in Feb 2014 she gained her bursary under the terms set down to all students who get this award

    Haven’t really been following the story, have we?

  379. Fed up

    I an not sure that Albanese had any great yearning to be Opposition leader. I believe him when he said he stood, so there would be a vote. Shorten was elected, according to the rules at that time. Yes, Labor consists of two arms. The union and the political. Yes, and that is were it’s strengths lays, the power has to be balance, and will always be open t adjustment as circumstances change.

    When one looks to the Liberals, who are really in control. Who has the most influence in that party. What role does big business. At least it is in the open, the roles that the union and the political arm play.

    Labor has been around since the late 1800’s. Yes, it was delivered from the union movement. Over the last century or more, Labor haws evolved, always changing top meets the needs of the day. The Labor party will always be a work in progress.

    Please tell me what the Liberal party is about and means today. Who do they represent. Who pulls their strings.

  380. Fed up

    As usual, the right only defence seems to be, is to go back and attack Labor. Can never argue o defend the actions of Abbott. Please tell me why the scholarship should have been a secret from all, including many in the school?

    At least when one points out the alleged bad of Labor, get the facts right.

  381. Fed up

    Ten days since the budget, and we are still getting nasty surprises.

    On budget night in the past, and the next mornings papers, we pored over pages of graphs, telling us all where we were being hit, or sometime rewarded. This year, no graphs. This year, most of the budget is still hidden.

  382. alidabrazil1954

    Great article. Captures the real essence and sentiment of the issue.

  383. not surprised

    Very tralented these Abbot girls, coould Francis have said no thanks to all these entitlements.

  384. john921fraser

    <

    "Former Whitehouse faculty member Monique Rappell said she did not know the criteria upon which scholarships were offered.
    ''Even when I worked there, it was extremely difficult to find out how the scholarship system worked,'' said Ms Rappell, the former head of interior design, who left Whitehouse in January 2012. ''I attempted to get a scholarship for a very good student who had run out of funding and I couldn't get it, even though she was the top student in her degree course.
    ''None of my students were ever awarded a scholarship. I was aware that they existed and I was aware that Leanne Whitehouse, as the founder of the Whitehouse, felt it was her right to make the final decision.''

    Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/system-that-awarded-scholarship-to-frances-abbott-is-still-a-mystery-20140523-38ue3.html#ixzz32aZrPscV

    Where's Joe Hockey's "heavy lifting" for Frances Abbott ?

    Is she a "leaner" ?

  385. Matters Not

    John, you said:

    She received her Bursary at 18 years of age in Feb 2011

    So now it’s a Bursary. The third name I’ve seen for the $60 000 gift. So let’s look at ‘bursary’.

    Wiki describes it thus:

    In modern English usage, however, the term has become synonymous with monetary awards made by some institutions to individuals or groups of people who cannot afford to pay full fees

    Um . Does that apply to Abbott?

    They go on.

    a bursary is “usually for helping out the impoverished but deserving and those fallen on hard times

    Well he wasn’t impoverished, was he? But I suppose he had fallen on hard times.

    Look, he didn’t declare it and he should have. And he’s a serial abuser in that regard.

    As Hockey said: The Age of Entitlement is over, and that applies to ‘rorters’ as well.

    Have a nice day.

  386. Fed up

    So is the age of enlightenment it seems.

  387. Sean

    Even if she was the greatest student ever and deserved it 10 times over, her father delivered THAT budget last week….how the hell can her father let that happen and have any credibility as a prime minister.

  388. Naomi

    Hmmm this is a bit of an unfair attack. It says many times that she has received favours due to her fathers position but that is only speculation. Also, it’s not her making decisions that hurt Australian students. It’s completely unfair to throw all this at her feet.

    I agree Tony Abbott and his government are making some awful decisions, and I very strongly oppose them, but leave his daughter out of it

  389. jenn

    as we speak my daughter is lost in brisbane, due to rail works on her way to a design course she paid for herself(last day)just to get her portfolio in order for more courses. Two jobs and kilometres of travel ……hope shes ok

  390. Paula Maidment (@Banjo3166)

    okay, we’ve had a ‘change’ of government, but change is on going, so let’s take a deep breath. We can learn from this ‘mistake’. We, the voters, still have the power, but if today’s govt is a reflection of its society, then let us as a society, not react through fear, acknowledge our power and create change by taking responsibility.If we look in the mirror of truth, have we been self serving? inconsiderate?, uncharitable?, self righteous?, and ignorant to the needs of others?As long as we are aware that we have the Power of Choice then we can let change in.
    Let’s face it, this govt charged in like a tsunami, and as such, this force of nature will leave a path of destruction, but if we unite, come together as a caring community, we can rebuild, bigger, better and brighter. Out of the chaos, harmony is restored.
    Let us grow together, and not just assume everything will be taken care off by some one else, that some one else is YOU.

  391. john921fraser

    <

    @Naomi

    Are you saying "leave his daughter out of it" because Frances is not a political target ?

    Abbott agreed to have his daughters on stage introducing him at the Liberal party 2013 election launch.

    Abbott and his political advisers made them political targets.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgNdDQ6W6J8

  392. jenn

    yeh leave his daughters out of it….. let them do it bythemselves….

  393. francescaagosti

    Not speculation by a long shot. Here is an article published in the Guardian where fellow students reveal they were not offered scholarships and claim the awarding of this scholarship was “unfair”. Also the scholarship awarded to Frances Abbott was only the second awarded in the 25 year history of the award.

    http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/22/former-classmates-angry-scholarship-abbotts-daughter

    This incident goes to the heart of how this government operates, i.e. corruptly in every manner doing favours for mates left, right and centre. We elect individuals to serve the country, to serve the people of that country equally, equitably, transparently without favour, or in other words corruption. Tony Abbott has proven time and time again, and especially in this matter, that he is willing and comfortable behaving corruptly in order to look after his mates, be that the fossil fuel industry, corporate Australia, or indeed his own family. And that’s what this matter is about. Do we have a government and a prime minister that can be trusted to do the right thing or do we have a prime minister that acts in response to ‘debts’ owed to campaign contributors?

  394. francescaagosti

    Quentin Bryce was offered the position of Governor General after a long and distinguished career. This comparison is no comparison at all. All other students enter Whitehouse based on merit, based on their portfolio. They must prove they have the goods to study there, the talent, the ability. Frances Abbott was handed a scholarship on a silver platter, because she is the PMs daughter, not because of merit. She did not submit a portfolio as all other students are required to do. Any other student at this college could claim discrimination, and they would be perfectly correct in doing so.

    Read the Guardian article above. It will shed more light on this matter, points that you have failed to consider, Wayne.

  395. Michael Taylor

    yeh leave his daughters out of it….. let them do it bythemselves….

    Do you mean the daughters that Tony Abbott shoved into the limelight at every opportunity whenever he felt his popularity needed a boost?

  396. AC

    john921fraser – reading through this thread, you sound very bitter and resentful with a huge chip on your shoulder. And this is coming from someone who disagrees with the govt, and is certainly not rich or from a ‘elite’ background. I’m from a working class ‘battler’ background, but bugger the government, I’m going to work hard and be as successful as I can be regardless of the budget or the government. It seems that people are happy to blame everyone else for their problems, wallow in self pity and victimhood. Yes its hard, but there’s really only one person you can rely on and you are responsible for getting you to the place you want to be, and that’s YOU. The alternative is to rage/trantrum/sook/complain/protest whatever, and hope the world changes around you. In my albeit limited experience, I don’t see that happening, so I CHOOSE to make a difference MYSELF.

  397. Durick Dobson

    Oh my god, that video above. What a heap of horse shit. “My dad will look after you” Whaaatttevs!!!

  398. john921fraser

    <

    Apparently there are a lot of people who think we should just sit back and eat Cadburys.

    Which by one of those strange coincidences Abbott had their advertising on his lycra sleeve when he went on his (taxpayer, but repaid) funded pollie ride.

    Another "coincidence" was Abbott giving Cadbury $16 million not long after the 2013 election.

    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/aid-and-abetz-coalition-defends-taxpayer-funding-of-cadbury-20140202-31uop.html

    <

    Another coincidence was Abbott not declaring that he was keeping this lycra :

    https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/national/a/23752687/abbott-misses-a-gear-on-gift/

    <

    Oh ! and dam it here's another coincidence :

    http://www.news.com.au/national/prime-minister-tony-abbott-claimed-over-10000-for-family-travel-in-2012/story-fncynjr2-1226735051089

    Peter Slipper gets dragged through the Courts for $900 (hundred) when nothing happens to Abbott who claimed $10,000 that he was not entitled to.

    <

    Abbotts a serial offender and its about time he was stopped.

  399. Wilma B art let

    Sour grapes are in season ,this year ,leave the girl alone ,you must have other things to waste your time on ,

  400. cornlegend

    It keeps on happening
    DFAT anger over Louise Abbott’s foreign affairs job
    “The position of executive assistant to Australia’s Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva

    It is also being reported that In 2012 Bridget Abbott became BMW Brand Ambassador. In 2013 her dad awards $7M contract to BMW without tender

    https://twitter.com/timdunlop/status/469403723785965570/photo/1

  401. john921fraser

    <

    Dear AC

    Good luck.

  402. john921fraser

    <

    Dear AC

    And goodbye.

  403. Stephen Tardrew

    Endless tirades over a matter of legal propriety. The necessary question has been asked and the appropriate answers called for. It has absolutely nothing to do with Francis yet everything to do with Abbott and the Institution. A query and subsequent inquiry is not a judgement it is a prerequisite for scrutiny. This is simply how politics and law works.

    Bloviating is not going to change the requirement for accountability. Noise does not change the necessity for a review. It seems silly to get stress ulcers before the outcome is decided or is there a deeper fear going on here, sort of, like deflection from this political mess Abbott has got himself into?

    As for the claims of ignorance or lack of information on this site it is laughable that such ignorant and uniformed statements rise out of those who claim Francis is hard done by when you have not even bothered to inform yourself of the comprehensive well researched articles and links that provide a large body of cohesive and comprehensive political critique.

    In short practice what you preach.

  404. Fed up

    Mr Abbott said that we have a new government and the country is open for business.

    Well if the shop is open, we all have the right, some would say the duty to scrutinised what is offer. It appears many of us do not like the merchandise.

    Many believed it is badly flawed and a danger to the public. and nation..

  405. Fed up

    Just had a thought, maybe Hockey has not given up his wish to be PM. Wonder why we never think of him, when we look for an alternative, After all, he ran last time, the time when Abbott set him us, delivering the job to Abbott with one vote.

  406. Des Jacobs

    Abbott wants us to leave families out of the mess he created for himself. Didn’t he just destroy the hopes of every middle class Australian with his “fixing” of the budget? Is the man really serious?!

  407. mushdogg

    Give the guy and his family a break, let him get on with his job and see how u like the results when they have time to be realised. Everyone is feeling the pinch and he’s trying to take a strategic route for a better future, you don’t get ahead by living in your comfort zone. And his “mates” he’s employing, they are in governance positions so they don’t need to be subject matter experts, they need to be good strategic managers and people he can trust with a proven track record. So sick of hearing about all this dirt digging, get a life and publish something interesting.

  408. Michael Taylor

    Mushdogg, I like to think that all our articles are interesting. How many have you actually read?

  409. Ian Joyner

    Mushdogg – are you joking – give the guy and his family a break – how about he gives us and our families and break rather than trying to pathologically kill the country.

    We won’t wait around to see what the results are because we can already see what the results will be.

    If people are appointed to steer a course, like his mates, yes they DO NEED TO BE subject experts. Since they are not, they are selling us a crock. They are selling us the prejudgement of Abbott before any analysis or results were in.

    Thing about managers are they are usually wrong – they wreck companies. Management is a waste of time. Give me a subject matter expert any day.

    Abbott has already blown his chance, we need to get this narcissistic fool out as quickly as possible.

    This is a excellent summary of just what is so bad about Abbott – mostly condemned by his own words. He is shown to be a narcissistic psychopath.

    http://www.independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/what-if-abbott-and-his-cronies-are-just-a-bunch-of-psychopaths,6472

  410. Ian Joyner

    No Andy Gemmell. The alternative ideas were in place. Carbon pricing for climate change, Gonski reforms, NBN, Medicare. Abbott is the one who is trying to destroy the ideas. He is the most destructive and dangerous politician this country has ever seen.

    Labor and Greens have the solutions. Abbott has undone them due to ideological reasons, not sensible and compassionate reasons. Abbott is a narcissistic psychopathic parasite. He needs to be removed as soon as possible before he does much more damage.

    http://www.independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/what-if-abbott-and-his-cronies-are-just-a-bunch-of-psychopaths,6472

  411. iand

    Oh dear mushdogg, I thought dear old Mr Pyne was the only one who could believe something must be good and true and wholesome (maybe even trustworthy) based on the purest of concepts that its a liberal party ideology. For example, we need a good strategic manager with a proven track record to manage climate change/global warming. Ignore it, deny it, it will go away and ceased to have existed, if it existed at all.
    Yep makes real sense to appoint someone with no idea about something in charge of that something. We would like to give him a break and let him get on with the job as he was elected to do. If only he was governing as he said he would if elected, then and only then does he warrant a break.

  412. Möbius Ecko

    mushdogg where was all that when Labor was in power? Why the double standards?

  413. VFitz

    All of those who are defining this topic as a left/right wing debate or even worse the reflections of winging resentful lefties, the alternative policies and platforms are there and I urge you to please notice that they are being eroded by this government lead by Tony Abbott. Yes he is a leader but he is leading us in a very bad direction. Yes there are many people on the Disability Support Pension and in response Abbott removes the Disability Discrimination Commissioner from the Human Rights Commission and abolishes RAMP UP the voice of disability on the ABC. Yes there are people who need to go to the doctor and Abbott’s response is to erode Medicare…the list goes on. Yes there are good policies and alternatives and they are being removed or destroyed..and by a lying leader who said he would maintain Gonsky and a form of NBN This leader takes care of the big end of town by removing a tax on the big polluters, abolishes the Climate Commission and renewable energy funding, cuts CSIRO, funds chaplancy but unfunds non religious school councellors, funds ballerinas but cuts the ABC, becomes the Minister for Indigenous and cuts funding to Indigenous, turns back the boats by ignoring international human rights laws, cuts foreign aid and removes benefits for unemployed youth, expecting us to work til 70 without policies to create jobs and courses ……that’s leadership for you. Yep its not about Frances, its about her father, I look forward to seeing Abbott at ICAC. Please Australia don’t call me a winger, wake up!

  414. john921fraser

    <

    Appears the evangelical extreme right wing just love some corruption when they receive it.

    Which seems a bit strange because they jump up and down and criticize other countries and say they shouldn't be receiving any aid.

    Abbott is a serial offender when it comes to receiving things he is not entitled to.

  415. Fed up

    Not very many comforted zones, down here, among the dirty unwashed, the majority of Australians.

    Scaper, I hate to be the one to disillusion you. Your great hope, Mr Blewitt was bough out here, at a time to suit Mr Abbott. They even had to set up a temporary court, to question him. Yes, the RC is far from ready to go. No one has said who paid his fare, but that is just a side issue.

    Now, I hate to give the bad news, but Mr Blewitt, over two days, established himself as a very unsatisfactory witness. So much so, the MSM had little to report, He seemed to have great trouble with his memory and keeping to one story.

    There are still plenty of slush funds connected to Abbott to pursue. Scaper, do you know, here on the Central Coast, all Coalition MPS have stood down. Something about slush funds. Getting closer to Abbott and Hockey as well. Scaper, you have been behaving very prudent and sensible by keeping your head down. Can I suggest, it is not time to come out yet.

    Scaper has it ever entered your head, that these inquiries of Abbotts’ could give your arch enemy and first hate, a chance to clear herself.

    II suggest, after watching for days, the HIP RC little has emerged there. In fact at the end, Labor did not look too bad. Will be interesting to see what the final report is. I suspect it also will not be to your liking.

    Now Mr Hockey has dared Labor to come up with something better. They already have, but many choose not to listen. I am sure when the negotiation’s begin, when Labor begins to put forwarded amendments, they will do that in full.

    It appears that Pyne is ready to negotiate, after discussions with his mate Mr Palmer. What will be interesting, is whether Pyne has changed Palmer’s mind, or vice versus. Maybe Pyne is waking up, that it could be prudent to desert Abbott, before he does the dirty on them. One never knows.

  416. Fed up

    People re ignoring, or do not know. Abbott has been cutting services and bodies since the 19th September 2013.

  417. DP

    Maybe some of the Blame should also go to the Whitehouse Institute of Design. They may be ‘using’ Francis as a drawcard /advertisement , a ‘oh look we have the PM daughter on the records’ on both studying & ‘working’ at Whitehouse Designs. Be good for the institute resume. Which I think now may have backfired .

  418. Ed

    The power of the media. If the girl won a free scratchy they would accuse Abbott of being involved in it. Just leave them alone.

  419. Stephen Tardrew

    NOooooo! Fed up it can’t be.

    You mean to say he lied to me.

    Where I come from a lie is a big bad psychological debt you will most certainly have to pay back.

    Maybe he will let us keep the small change as a reminder what not to do.

  420. lulu2617

    Excellent! I hope Frances reads this. And all those who still think it’s not important. It IS important, and as you say, it’s unfortunate for Frances to get dragged in the controversy. It is a matter of principle and integrity.

  421. Michael Pollard

    mushdogg, we’d all be prepared, even happy, to give these budgetary measures time to take effect, so that we can give Mr Abbott the benefit of the doubt. All reasonable Aussies are prepared to do that.
    But what we, those self same Aussies, are not prepared to do, is sit by and see those in most need in our society, suffer from the budgetary measures which are designed to ensure that all Australians bear the load – supposedly equally.
    Mr Abbott has taken as much he can from a system that is top heavy with the likes of Gina Rinehart and Rupert Murdoch (Now there’s a man you can trust). Mr Abbott seems intent on making the pyramid of power more top heavy – the balance of power will get richer, whilst those further down the food chain – pensioners, low income earners, middle income earners – will do the suffering.
    And yet he finds it ok to complain about mistreatment by the other political parties – who are only doing what he has done for the last 5 years – whinge, bitch and complain. The only difference is that he has the support of the print media, and the likes of David Koch in the visual media, to continue to push a message to the Australian public which differs in reality to the actual truth.
    Mr Abbott, as somebody that was tired of the Labor party’s lies and corruption, I was looking forward to having someone in the supposed top job (that’s PM, not the myriad of other corporate jobs being handed out by YOU to your unqualified old mates) who was prepared to do the hard work required to get Australia back on track.
    Instead, the alterations that you seek to make are harmful to the people that most need help. Your freezing of politicians wages is a start – but I, like many others, think that if you had foregone your increase permanently, instead of temporarily, Australia would have been more impressed. This budget seems to be putting most of the “bearing of debt” onto the shoulders of those that can least afford it.
    The old boys club, with all of its inherent cronyism, is alive and well – and I know that Frances Abbott’s scholarship occurred well before the election – but I defy any right thinking human to attempt to pass this off as anything but a favour. Australia should have had this free-bie disclosed to it prior the election – just another favourable press position. I’d say with this sort of behaviour highlighted, we may have had a different outcome.
    And with Mr Abbott complaining about Australians protesting his intended changes – it’s alright for Australians to protest about a female Prime Minister, but not about Mr Abbott? We seem to be heading back toward the 1950s – in terms of racial discrimination, sexual discrimination, your thoughts on making everything visible to the general public – and thereby YOU being accountable, giving people jobs on the basis of mateship instead of ability.
    The behaviour you demanded of Australians prior to the election, you now seem to be surprised by and disappointed with after the election. To quote a book you should be familiar with – “As you sow, so shall you reap”. In other words Mr Abbott, stop your whinging and complaining. Put up with the same level of shit you demanded be handed to Ms Gillard and Mr Rudd – your performance does not warrant any better.
    You may wonder that I don’t refer to Mr Abbott as anything else – I only call friends by their first name. Mr Abbott has proven to be anything but with this budget
    I hold my breath awaiting the final outcome of this budget fiasco.

  422. Ian Joyner

    Exactly VFitz – it has nothing to do with being right or left wing – it has to do with doing the right thing. I’m sick of the lazy arguments that just dismiss the other side as left or right wing hacks, or being whingers. People need to open up their eyes, see what is really going on and be prepared to switch sides – this is not a matter of just backing your favourite football team who might have just selected the wrong player – this is about a Liberal party that has a pathological liar as leader and people should quickly remove support from him and the party.

    Australia needs a decent conservative party, but the Liberals are not that and really those who consider themselves conservative have no where to go.

  423. andy

    @ Ian Joyner in response to below comment from you

    …seems that’s not so black and white Ian with regard to your response….I recall Labor losing the last election!

    I also recall Gillard and ALP wanting to increase the Medicare Levy (which is not a bad idea in my view) to fill the gap that Labor identified! Wow….although different that seems like a similar problem the Liberal party is trying to fix. Go figure hey Ian. Maybe they both recognise we do have an issue.

    Looks like you’ve become a bit to emotionally engaged here Ian to have any ideas because you are saying the mob that lost, have them all….back to the drawing boards!

    PS I liked Labours response to the problem to be honest better than co-payments.

    “No Andy Gemmell. The alternative ideas were in place. Carbon pricing for climate change, Gonski reforms, NBN, Medicare. Abbott is the one who is trying to destroy the ideas. He is the most destructive and dangerous politician this country has ever seen.

    Labor and Greens have the solutions. Abbott has undone them due to ideological reasons, not sensible and compassionate reasons. Abbott is a narcissistic psychopathic parasite. He needs to be removed as soon as possible before he does much more damage.”

  424. Ian Joyner

    Andy, they can both recognise we have a problem, but it is the solution to the problem. Problems must first be correctly identified. Does government have some debt? yes. Is it a crisis? no. Those who believe it is a crisis have been led down the emotional path. Those who see problems we can fix are not emotional but rational and contrary to your assertion is me, so your point is rather silly.

    And the mob that lost had many things in place that Abbott just wanted to take to pieces – that is the crisis the country faces – an extremely destructive and achieve nothing government.

  425. andygemmell

    francescaagosti
    May 24, 2014 • 12:00 pm
    How’s this for an idea, andygemmell?

    How about elected representatives of The People start behaving with some integrity, honesty, transparency?

    That is the “idea” behind Victoria’s letter, and it’s a pretty good idea from where I sit.

    Perhaps you missed the point entirely? If so, perhaps a re-read is in order.

    Hey Frances…..can you get Victoria to write a letter to a few other poli’s on the other side of the fence as well? We should whilst this your response. Don’t disagree with you by the way. Good luck fixing it though :-)…and I’l re-state the subject is boring…. now let’s get on with ideas for change. Victoria has made her point….but I still don’t see you or anyone else coming up with anything. You have not re-posted any policy that may lie in this site which is alternative outside of what Labor had (in that election they lost).

    Whilst we are there this is what I’d suggest but I have little real idea of the reality:

    Get rid of negative gearing in a “phased out over time capacity” ….it’s a tax scheme which middle income and wealthy use to defer tax….It also inflates house prices somewhat…

    Focus on people who can afford their retirement through their SMSF or super and not use the government pension scheme as well (there will concessions to this no doubt)…

    Increase Medicare Levy and build a medical infrastructure/future fund which focuses on beds, buildings, services and funded pay rises for support staff….

    Increase the fuel excise levy as is or adopt a user pays system on the roads to fund improved roads and infrastructure where roads improve our economic advantage…..the fact fuel excise has not been increased and our country grows is not sustainable….

    Keep the current non-uni policy of applying HECS to diplomas and apprenticeships. It will make these forms of education more accessible if the recipients are in families that struggle to pay for these up front….

    Increase the GST and simplify our current tax system, including implementing tax benefits for projects by private companies deemed “infrastructure” with project life cycles over 4 years…..

    Provide a tax deduction to companies both large and small for 50% “assistance to childcare” that can be used along with the current Family A benefits scheme to fund childcare…..(this is based on the average childcare fees and requires proof of use to encourage mothers back to work if they choose AND allows the private sector some leeway to fund people providing this service)…

    As for education this is a tough one…..needs more thought in my opinion 🙂

    Maybe there are more I’m not saying they are all the right way to go……

  426. andygemmell

    @ Ian Joyner

    So suddenly you are rational and not emotive. didn’t you just write this not so long ago….

    “No Andy Gemmell. The alternative ideas were in place. Carbon pricing for climate change, Gonski reforms, NBN, Medicare. Abbott is the one who is trying to destroy the ideas. He is the most destructive and dangerous politician this country has ever seen.

    Labor and Greens have the solutions. Abbott has undone them due to ideological reasons, not sensible and compassionate reasons. Abbott is a narcissistic psychopathic parasite. He needs to be removed as soon as possible before he does much more damage.”

    I’m confused Ian…one minute the above emotions, the next minute you are the rational one and I’m silly for not recognising that……confused..yes.

    I haven’t been “led” anywhere btw…and don’t assume all the other people who are not commenting have been as well. That’s your assumption and opinion coming to the surface. It’s almost saying if you don’t agree with me you are silly or stupid and you have all been had. Please Ian, people with differing opinions to your own deserve better than what you have dished up in that comment.

    I don’t think we have a debt problem now……but we will one day if it continues…and I don’t mean tomorrow or in a couple of years…..but eventually it will happen if the current status quo continues! And if you don’t understand that then it’s not me who’s silly!

  427. Melissa

    Since when was nepotism acceptable in Australia? All three daughters have been recipients of favours. What’s far more surprising is those Australians who think it’s acceptable here in Australia. Well, it isn’t, never was and never will be.

  428. BH

    Don’t worry people. A double dissolution is on its way. Nothing will sway Clive Palmer and Labour.
    You’ll all get your chance to change your mistake.

  429. mars08

    BH…. are you thinking what I’m thinking? Doesn’t “PM Kevin Andrews”, sound delightful?

  430. brandgamer

    Abbott & Hockey a $80 billion dollar problem, Legal marijuana industries a Trillion dollar+ solution

  431. Sarah

    What a bunch of bullies. Does anyone know that she didn’t deserve the scholarship? If it’s funded by the school then it’s the right of the board to award a scholarship to whoever they please.
    And all you people bagging the budget you have very poor memories. Shall we hand power back to the corrupt Labour Party to continue to dig us into an even deeper hole?
    Use your brains and realise as much as you may have liked it the handouts can’t continue because there won’t be any money left if we keep that strategy up.
    A more sophisticated solution was required as hard as it is for some of you to understand.

  432. brandgamer

    the greens labor and the liberals are all as bad as each other a solution is to abolish their parties permanently and vote with the remaining parties Majoric Political parties an unlimited problem, Legal marijuana industries an unlimited solution

  433. mushdogg

    Michael Taylor, why don’t u write a summary of the budget and what’s changed from the previous budget, detailing pros and cons for different categories of citizen, without bias. That would be interesting. Seems like everyone only focuses on the cons.

  434. mars08

    Use your brains and realise as much as you may have liked it the handouts…

    oh… hmmmm …. handouts. Are we sure?

    Interesting way of looking at things. Has it occurred to you Sarah, that many of us who are disgusted at this budget DO NOT GET ANY HANDOUTS. As in nothing, zero, zillch, zip, nada. We are angry because those who NEED help are getting hurt and those who are very comfortable are going relatively untouched.

    Now pardon my unsophisticated suggestion…. why don’t you f* off to where you came from? Your mindless bullshit will not be tolerated here.

  435. Ian Joyner

    Andy Gemmell, you are wrong and confused. I wrote the truth – it was not emotive or emotional – you are insulting me by suggesting it was so. You speak of respect for correspondents, but it is you who have shown the least respect in your ad hominem and straw man attacks. But that is just how the Liberals argue. Note how they constantly accused Labor of spin when it was they who were the worst spinners. In fact, Labor was absolutely hopeless at spin and was very bad at getting their message across.

    So you admit there is no debt problem, so why defend this solution to a problem that doesn’t exist – a problem that has been cooked up at Liberal party HQ. The solution to which does the country and people much damage. You simply do not make any sense.

  436. mars08

    mushdogg… why don’t YOU write a summary of the budget and what’s changed from the previous budget, detailing pros and cons for different categories of citizen, without bias. Or you could spend your time trying to extract your head from your arse.

    Seriously, are you always such a tool, or is it a persona you reserve just for this blog?

  437. mushdogg

    Very mature mars

  438. Ian Joyner

    Sarah, your understanding of a national economy is very poor. This is a most unsophisticated and disingenuous budget solution just targeted meanly at those who can least afford it. Abbott is showing himself to be the swine that he is. He is also not above receiving handouts as the Whitehousgate affair has shown. Should not his own daughter pay for her education, just like others at Whitehouse who weren’t even given the opportunity of a scholarship?

    But such sponging is in the Abbott DNA:

    Abbott’s parents took advantage of the £10 scheme for new immigrants to Australia when they were returning to Australia (his mother was Australian and his English father had previously resided here). The Abbott family is just corrupt – if he doesn’t like others getting a handout, he should take his own hand out of the till.

  439. Fed up

    mushdogg, why not do it yourself and post it here. Would be interested to see what you come up with.

    Better than telling everyone else what they should be doing, Would contribute to the post, one would think.

    Just a idea.

  440. Ian Joyner

    Absolutely agree Mars08. Like me, I don’t get handouts other than Medicare, which everyone gets. Most of those disgusted by this budget are not spongers or whingers or lefties, etc. They are people disgusted by Abbott’s lies and are people who realise that this creep is totally unfit for any high office in this land.

  441. Fed up

    Still plenty of handouts there. Much bigger than what they have attack. Trouble is, the interests that get them are also big and powerful. Coalition supporters, I believe.

    You are hearing the screams and whines, as you say, because they have only attacked easy weak targets

    It is also sadly true, as Mr Abbott himself said today, they are cutting consumer spending. The ones affected spend every penny they get.

    The bigger targets do not.

  442. Fed up

    Could not care whether the lady deserved the so called scholarship or not., That is not the worry, The worry is, it was not available to anyone else. It was kept secret.

    A bigger concern, is that the school has seen changes in this budget, that gives it many benefits. They have from the Abbott government what they want.

    When it comes to justice and politics, it is appearances and perceptions that count. This issue does not show this government up in a good light. Shows at the very least, lack of political judgement and nous.

    No we are not being bullies. We are only asking for explanations of what could be at the least, a grubby deal.

  443. Fed up

    Ian, where do you live, You do not travel on roads, You do not have police in your area., No fire station, Your kids do not attend school You where not educated, In other words, you have no facilities around you, that you used, that have not been provided by taxpayer, including yourself over the years.

  444. Stephen Tardrew

    mushdogg:

    You are certainly a failure at strategic management and well reasoned critique of facts. Rather than give Michael the tedious job of replying to your inane request please refer to all articles posted by Kaylee for the last two month then get back to me with a well constructed well thought out reply. Your critique is not valid unless you have referred to specific items in a broad ranging political discussion.

  445. Stephen Tardrew

    Opps correction! Kaye Lee my esteemed apology.

  446. BH

    Some study history and learn, some become it.
    Whitlam is now smiling somewhere.

  447. Fed up

    I see where Abbott said Labor was wrong to include losing the school kids bonus in what families lose. Seems they announced that one before the election.

    Sorry Tony it is still a lost to family income..,

    By the way, you also lied about why you repealed the school kid bonus. You said it was being paid out of the MRRT. Tony, as you know, or should, that is another lie. Nothing g to do with the MRRT.

    We had a tax rebate for education expenses. Now we know , rebates of this type give more to higher inc0me earners. We also had the scheme that gave all high school kids a laptop for school. This was only to run for a set period of time, which I believe ran out recently.

    Something had to replaces the laptop scheme, but continuing it as it was, was too expensive and with new technology, not the way to go.

    it was decided to turn the tax rebate into a twice yearly bonus, with regard given to the child’s school needs, Yes, help for the parents to provide a laptop or similar device.

    Yes, Mr, Abbott, you fought the move all the way. Demanding that if the mothers did not supply receipts, they would put the money through the pokies. Mr Abbott, you do not have a great opinions on most of the low income mothers in this country, Why is that,

    Mr Abbott you wanted to turn a simple and efficient scheme into an expensive one by demanding unnecessary receipt’s. Making parents spend the money they might not have first, waiting for your refund.

    The receipts are unnecessary, for there is no way any parent can equip their child for school, without spending much more than the bonus.

    Yes, the school kid bonus is going to hurt many families. It has to be counted in assessing what you have took from these families.

  448. Fed up

    BH, as far as I know, Whitlam is still alive. The last I heard of him, he still has the wits to enjoy what is happening now.

    Gough Whitlam issues some parting advice for the Labor Party

    http://www.theaustralian.com.au/…whitlam…/story-fn59niix-1226766473927

    Nov 23, 2013 – AT 97 and in the twilight of his life, Gough Whitlam still goes to his office high above William Street in Sydney a few days each week

    https://www.google.com.au/search?q=Whitlam&rls=com.microsoft:en-AU:IE-ContextMenu&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=ie7&rlz=1I7GGHP_en-GBAU589&gfe_rd=cr&ei=L2eAU92WGqiN8Qf7xICABw

  449. Fed up

    Funny one still talks about Mr Whitlam who lost power back in 1975.

    What some might not realise, he was only PM for a little under three years.

    During that time he held a DD election, to be defeated after Mr Frazer delayed passing the budget. Yes, the GG of the time demissioned Whitlam, putting Frazer in his place.

    A new election called immediately

    Whitlam was responsible for many reforms, that have lasted to this day. He changed the face of Australian society.

    We see Abbott attempting to get rid of one of his best, Medicare today. He was also responsible for free university study, which Labor later bought in HECSD on/

    .
    Can one see Mr Howard being remembered that long off into the future.

    It is the woman, who have the most to thank Whitlam for. He changed divorce laws for the better, and gave single mothers a living pension, Yes, it gave them the choice of keeping their babies, and it emptied the so called orphanages and baby homes whin months. Babies for adoptions, become like hens teeth.

    I have not even scratched the surface of what Whitlam achieved during those years, is spite of all the allegations of corruption against his government,

    They right still claim he was a failure.

  450. andygemmell

    @Ian Taylor….”I wrote the truth”. No Ian all you are saying is I am right and everything else against what I say is wrong. That is what you are saying. So you are referring to the fact if we don’t agree with you we are wrong or stupid enough not have worked it all out.

    I have never said Victoria was wrong in her views or writing the letter. I have not once said people ranting against these policies re wrong. All I said was lets hear alternatives and ideas.

    I have said Victoria should also keep writing to the the Labor party given the ICAC hearings. Gifts, favours, integrity, perks, using tax payer money…it’s poor on both sides. So to me the topic is becoming boring.

    You obviously haven’t read what ideas I threw up earlier in this post. A list of them. I’ll let you find them.They target a lot of liberal party voters thinking.

    I have never in this post said we have a debt problem…so in theory I have always agreed with you (whoa…thank god for that hey!)…no revelations there Ian. You still haven’t recognised there may be one in the future though I have noticed…but I don’t expect you to when you defend one side of the fence so fiercely.

  451. Fed up

    If one makes the wrong diagnosis, any treatment given will be wrong., will make matters worse.

    This government diagnosis is miles off,

    One can only fear, how the patient will fare.

  452. BH

    Fed Up..
    Thanks for that read 🙂 I knew he was still alive, but smiling somewhere. The general public have very short memories in this country in regards to political history. It should be made mandatory in ALL schools.
    The sad reality is that selfish, ignorant people breed selfish ignorant politicians. They come from a cross section of Australian society and didn’t just fall out of the sky. Sadly, this is the best we can do.
    Call me cynical, but its garbage in, garbage out.

  453. Ian Joyner

    That’s exactly the point ‘Fed up’. I don’t get anymore than anyone else, be they rich or poor. So as far as that I’m completely neutral – I really don’t have anything to gain or lose from this budget. However, I’m not thinking of myself, I AM thinking about the country, exactly what Hockey said we should do, only he was using reverse logic in his exhortation.

  454. Ian Joyner

    Andy Gemmel – you were trying to be smart by asking what the alternatives were. I pointed out they already existed in what the previous government had in place and that Abbott was pathologically taking them apart due to his ideology. You did not like that answer so have engaged in this silly tirade ever since.

    You keep talking about the fact there may be a debt in the future. There probably will, but so what, that’s just hypothetical.

  455. bohomags

    Hmm… I smell Nepotism. Good luck to her but know that this has raised eyebrows and awareness of how money talks and apparently has a great wardrobe

  456. DP

    Gee L, I guess if the scholarship wasn’t such a secret there wouldn’t be so much concern nor bitterness. After all if you let the Prime Minister of the country who is taking from the poor to give to rich get away with so much then I guess you’d have to wonder who is the real gutless one. Easy to be sneaky- and take from the poor- don’t you think?

  457. Matt

    Yawn.

    Does this woman really think that the board of directors actually build submarines? Using this logic, accountants couldn’t be on the board of a mining company because they know nothingn about geology or mining engineering.

    Finished study and can’t get a job using your qualifications, work in retail, food, scrub toilets. Noticed the amount of immigrants driving taxis, running fish and chops? Ask them how many degrees they have.

    And who said the uni’s are going to charge more money? If the competition between uni’s are increased, quality of education will go up and prices will come down. Uni’s are businesses too, if they price themselves out, no one will enrol and they will go bust.

  458. Jeff Marsh

    Reblogged this on I Want To Speak and commented:
    This post articulates, with great authority, what we all feel about Tony Abbott, his budget and his hypocrisy.

  459. Matters Not

    I am sure the sociologists et al are having ‘wet dreams’ re the various ‘common sense(s)’ on display in this thread/post. Take Sarah @ 6:33 pm as an example of confused logic. She says:

    Does anyone know that she didn’t deserve the scholarship?

    Right? LOL. Talk about having to ‘prove’ an impossibility. Sarah I would think that at this point of time, the onus of proof of ‘deserve’ lies with those who ‘gave’, given the odium that surrounds.

    Then we have:

    If it’s funded by the school then it’s the right of the board to award a scholarship to whoever (sic) they please.

    Can only agree! But as a matter of interest, can you tell me whether the Board gave the scholarship/bursary/ or whatever the changing ‘descriptor is or whether it was given by the Chair, the CEO, the Principal or the owner? Why the secrecy? And why the ‘fog’ that surrounds? For some it’s important, given the dollars involved.

    Then we have Sarah with:

    And all you people bagging the budget you have very poor memories. Shall we hand power back to the corrupt Labour (sic) Party to continue to dig us into an even deeper hole?

    Yes Sarah we are in a very deep economic hole, aren’t we? So much so, that the three (3) major credit rating agencies give us a Triple A credit rating, something never achieved by the Howard government. And yes I know that the agencies under discussion are a bit dodgy.

    Use your brains and realise as much as you may have liked it the handouts can’t continue because there won’t be any money left if we keep that strategy up.

    Sarah, I know that this is likely to be above your ‘pay grade’, but think for a minute, (or in your case, perhaps a great deal longer), how is it possible for a country like Australia with its own created (fiat) ‘currency’ to run out of money?

    I await your response. And yes I am an optimist.

  460. Lemonade30

    This is an unfair personal attack on someone who has been adversely affected by her father’s decisions. It is wrong to bring her into it and wrong to make unfounded assumptions about her situation (for example, as a teacher’s aide, it’s highly possible she’s not even being paid minimum wage. Sure, she has a ready financial safety net, but the writer’s claim that Frances “should be more aware” of her own privilege is made without knowing how aware she actually is. Leave her alone, she has enough to deal with from her father. And why should her critique of her father’s policies be more valuable than the next person’s, as the writer seems to imply? Make your own critique. There’s plenty of Abbott gaffes to draw on, and more material every day.

  461. corvus boreus

    To all who decry involving Frances Abbott in public politics, when her father sought her involvement to advance his political career, she did not decline, but acted as spokesperson on behalf of his policies and character. She made this decision this as an adult. She cannot then expect to be insulated from any media enquiry regarding her father’s possible dealings on her behalf.
    The integrity of Mr Abbott and an number of his ministers and their staff have been called into question over a number of matters regarding expense claims, undeclared gifts and possible political favors. This has been partly due to his vigour in demanding the most scrupulous application of standards when in opposition. Any lack of transparency or accountability therefor opens him to accusations of double standards and hypocracy. Repetition of questionable behavior eventually erodes the benefit of the doubt.
    It is a good rule that everyone should uphold the standards that they criticise others for failing to meet, and I think a failure to do this by all major political parties has caused a disaffectation or cynical lowering of standards of expectation among voters, to the detriment of our society.
    The refusal of the representatives of the LNP and ALP to support the call for a federal investigation into corruption(despite the findings in NSW highlighting the problems within both parties at state and federal level), or even countenance establishing an advisory body regarding claims and disclosures, increases my scepticism regarding their honesty and good faith.
    Federal ICAC now.

  462. andygemmell

    Ian Joyner….you have made some huge assumptions such as I didn’t like your answer about Abott’s policies AND I was just being smart…..

    I wasn’t being smart about new ideas…we need them. Labor didn’t have them, I’m sorry to tell you that. Looks like you’ve still got your head in the sand from during the last election. And I’m not supporting how Tony Abbott has rolled out this budget, he’s missed the mark and opportunity to make some useful change to this country.

  463. john921fraser

    <

    Abbotts a serial liar.

    And Frances Abbott stands right behind him.

    So that makes her equally responsible for his lies.

    Margie's nowhere to be seen.

  464. J u d y

    Get A Life Some Of You. Why Dont You Try Living In A World Where You Are Not Dependent On Your Wage Income? It Seems Some Of You Bloggers Have Nothing Better To Do Than Write Replies To Each Other. Stop Whinging Until You Really Are In Dire Straights. As For The Beloved Labour Party, Really, Are Those Members In The Real World Also? How Can You Know What The Man In The Street Needs To Live If You Are Earning More Than $200k . How About Old Farming Couples With A Joint Income Of Less Than $40k.
    As For Frances – Good Luck To Her

  465. mars08

    J u d y… when was the last time you saw a medical professional? You need help….

  466. john921fraser

    <

    @Judy

    "Whinging" is a term more associated with Americans.

    Wouldn't you be better off writing your rant to the octogenarian American Murdoch ?

    Send it via Bolt.

    " How About Old Farming Couples With A Joint Income Of Less Than $40k." …. no doubt they would be happy if their sons or daughters were to receive a $60,000 scholarship.

  467. Denise Cusack

    I thought Scholarships were to help people who COULDN”T AFFORD that education

  468. Carol Taylor

    On the subject of “Frances should be more aware” and “leave her alone”. By way of comparison here are some scholarships available to other students:

    Australian Veterans’ Children Assistance Trust
    Value: $3000 – $5000 per year

    Indigenous Access Scholarship
    Value: $4,702

    The Walter & Eliza Hall Trust Opportunity Disability Scholarship
    Value: $6,000 Duration: 1 year

    Vice Chancellor’s Scholarship
    $12,000 per year

    Given that the Abbott government has canceled (or is attempting to cancel) the Pensioner Education Supplement which is in the majority taken up by people with disabilities and single mothers, and which entails of the princely sum of $62.40 a fortnight, it’s just a tad *poor form* to be instrumental in awarding one’s own daughter $60,000.

  469. john921fraser

    <

    Here's the Author, Victoria Rollinson, talking to 3AW Tom Elliott :

    [audio src="https://media.mytalk.com.au/3AW/audio/letter.mp3" /]

    Right wing Tom Elliott agreeing that the Hockey Budget is harsh.

  470. Kaye Lee

    To me, the point here is did she get the scholarship because she was Frances or did she get it because she is Ms Abbott and it is patently clear that it is the latter. Her talent is immaterial really. The College had not seen her work before they contacted her to secure her enrolment. The College had used the connection both to advertise (using the PMs recommendation on their website) and to lobby the Prime Minister for changes that have directly benefited their establishment like accreditation of the course Francis wants to study next, and extension of fee help to students at private colleges.

    “Former Whitehouse faculty member Monique Rappell said she did not know the criteria upon which scholarships were offered.

    ”Even when I worked there, it was extremely difficult to find out how the scholarship system worked,” said Ms Rappell, the former head of interior design, who left Whitehouse in January 2012. ”I attempted to get a scholarship for a very good student who had run out of funding and I couldn’t get it, even though she was the top student in her degree course.

    ”None of my students were ever awarded a scholarship. I was aware that they existed and I was aware that Leanne Whitehouse, as the founder of the Whitehouse, felt it was her right to make the final decision.”

    A classmate of Ms Abbott said she and other students she had contacted since details of the $60,000 Chairman’s Scholarship came to light were not aware of the existence of an academic award that covered the cost of the three-year undergraduate course. ”We had no knowledge of these scholarships whatsoever. If there was a scholarship opportunity available, we would have applied for it,” the graduate said.”

    Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/system-that-awarded-scholarship-to-frances-abbott-is-still-a-mystery-20140523-38ue3.html#ixzz32gNo41ab

  471. Melissa

    Thanks John. Victoria spoke very well. Why some can’t “get” what she’s saying, is beyond me.

  472. Ian Joyner

    Tony Abbott said last week that there was a fire, and this budget is the fire brigade come to put out the fire. Wrong! The fire was the GFC. Kevin Rudd and Wayne Swan were the fire brigade who put out the fire. The building was saved, but like any fire there was residual damage, and that needs to be fixed.

    That is what this budget should be about – small remedial action, not Abbott and Hockey trying to make themselves out to be super heroes against ‘Labor’s mess’. Abbott and Hockey are now busy trying to finish burning down the building.

  473. Mike

    The Whitehouse Institute of Design, something i’ve never heard of, now has the backing of the PM’s daughter. She will start making a brand out of herself, the institution now has Australia-wide publicity for what? $60,000? Some TV ad’s cost more than that. Stop getting caught up in arms about this whole debacle. All your doing is profiting Abbott, the Design Institute and Frances.

  474. Ian Joyner

    Normally, I’d agree with you. However, this $60,000 is direct benefit to the Abbott family. It is just laundering a funds directed towards them. As has been made clear, other students at Whitehouse were not offered such a scholarship, so Frances did not have to compete for it.

    When you compare and contrast that to what Abbott is doing to other students, Frances is caught up in this, whether it’s fair on her or not.

  475. Ian Joyner

    Well, you responded to what I said, so my response that you did not like my answer is not an assumption. You were trying to be smart saying that Labor had not responded with any ideas of its own and assumed no one would be able to respond to you. Well, I did respond to you, and you didn’t like your silly bit of logic and smartness being blown out of the water.

    No Labor had a lot of good ideas – how about the NBN, or do you deny that as well?

    To put things in context, here is what I have written elsewhere today, and I think it explains why people are upset at Abbot and Hockey’s complete overreaction to the situation, hitting at people who don’t need to be hit.

    Tony Abbott said last week that there was a fire, and this budget is the fire brigade come to put out the fire. Wrong! The fire was the GFC. Kevin Rudd and Wayne Swan were the fire brigade who put out the fire. The building was saved, but like any fire there was residual damage, and that needs to be fixed.

    That is what this budget should be about – small remedial action, not Abbott and Hockey trying to make themselves out to be super heroes against ‘Labor’s mess’. Abbott and Hockey are now busy trying to finish burning down the building.

  476. Ian Joyner

    Really Judy? Don’t you have anything better to do than to write replies to this. And a hint – in English we only capitalize the first word of the sentence and proper names.

  477. Melissa

    So, Mike, croneyism in Australia is just fine with you? If so, then you’re a part of the problem.

  478. Liz

    Shameful letter. Ashamed to be an Australian when I read it, regardless of my political affiliation.

  479. Melissa

    Oh dear Judy. You’re a great example of what’s wrong with Australia and why we find ourselves governed by this simpleton, bunch or crooks.

  480. Stephen Tardrew

    Its fascinating how a the right lay in wait for some minor controversy to build up into a monster. Victoria’s article could have cruised by as just another question of accountability that will eventually be resolved by an inquiry into the facts.

    The mountain of serious issues posed by writers here, and the lack of critical analysis by the right, demonstrates how bereft of ideas they are when it comes to moral issues.

    As far as I can see the banshee screaming is fake indignation for the situation they find themselves in. Many conservatives must now realize they have been sold a lemon and so they vent where and whenever the issue is emotionally reactive without having to answer the hard questions about justice and equity.

    This actually says something about the quality of writing and research by AIMN contributors. Though I do like having a bit of a fun being a bit outrageous using humor and satire the seriousness of the real issues do not escape me.

  481. Melissa

    Liz, Liz, Liz…The shame is, that it ever needed to be written in the first place. How easy it is to overlook graft and corruption. It would do you good Liz, to go and live in Burma for a few years. I think you’d come back not wanting this behaviour in Australia.

  482. scaper...

    Well, it’s been a good week for the far left. Two of Abbott’s daughters have been attacked and I see it is now his wife’s turn.

    Middle Australia does not appreciate the gutless tactic of attacking one’s family members. You must be proud of yourselves but you have won no friends out there. But then again…middle Australia dismisses the extremists at both ends of the political spectrum.

    I would also note that the author of this trash says Tim is unqualified in human rights. Obviously, no research was done but nothing new here.

  483. Fed up

    Ill mannered students. There are many, many photos and videos out there, that show how bad mannered and crude our illustrious PM is.

    Sadly, they have been not only taken in this country, but when he travelled overseas.

    Plenty of him, stuffing food into his mouth. Plenty of him, racing flat out to beat kids. Plenty of bad behaviour within the lower house, abusing the PM of the time across the table. Yes, the ones of him standing on the back of the truck,. say it all..

    It would be hare to find videos with student with such poor manners.

    In democracy, one still has the right, some would say duty to protest.

  484. Fed up

    As we have seen over the last few years apathy is the biggest danger to our democracy.

  485. Fed up

    Judy, where is this Labour Party that you seem so contemptuous of.

    Yes, and this budget is going to leave many of us in dire straights’. Yes, Judy we would be happy to pull our belt in, if one believed it would assist the nation. Trouble is, it is going to send the economy into free fall, we will all suffer.

    We are not happy or foolish enough, to support a budget, that takes from the bottom, the majority to give to the top earners.

    Yes, we will continue to scream, whinge or whatever you want to label it for a fair and equitable society. One that is good for the nations future.

  486. mars08

    Ian Joyner:

    That is what this budget should be about – small remedial action, not Abbott and Hockey trying to make themselves out to be super heroes against ‘Labor’s mess’. Abbott and Hockey are now busy trying to finish burning down the building.

    There has been a lot of discussion about Abbott’s barrage of dishonesty since becoming PM… but not enough attention given to the LIES which got him elected.

    The independent Pre-Election Economic and Financial Outlook (PEFO) report detailed the state of the nation’s finances. The PEFO is part of the Charter of Budget Honesty introduced during first term of the Howard government. It is supposed to encourage governments to follow sound fiscal management. It is also an independent spin-free report on the state of the economy. The LNP should have studies this report as part of it’s pre-election strategy.

    Now… if there were element of the PEFO which constituted an imminent deficit/debt “crisis”…. why didn’t the LNP make it clear before the election that “heavy lifting” would be required from ALL Australians? Why didn’t the “adults” explain the harsh reality? Why did they make promises they could never deliver?

    Two possible answers… there IS NO imminent deficit/debt crisis …or… they intentionally deceived the electorate just to get elected.

  487. Ian Joyner

    I think you’ll find ‘scaper’ that it is mostly middle Australia that is disgusted with the hands in each others pockets of Abbott and his cronies. Then telling us we have not worked hard enough.

    This is not just the left and far left.

  488. Murray.

    What a pathetically partisan letter. It makes all sorts of assumptions to justify what is an envy ridden piece of bullying of a young women with obvious talent and commitment to her chosen field of endeavor. A shameless attempt to discredit her father.

  489. will d

    Bringing politicians children into a debate is gutter level politics. Regardless of the side and the flimsy justification made, this is the pits

  490. Melissa

    Murray. “Assumptions”, “envy ridden,” “bullying,” “obvious talent?” What utter rot.

  491. Ian Joyner

    It’s not an attempt to discredit her father – her father is thoroughly discredited.

    If Abbott cared about education and universities he would be supporting them instead of trying to destroy them and leaving students with an ever increasing HECS burden.

    That is why Frances is well caught up in this situation – it’s just another $60,000 into the pockets of the Abbott family and corrupt.

  492. Ian Joyner

    No, education is a very important topic. Abbott is doing his best to ruin the opportunities of making students future contributors to the economy by putting them heavily in debt. Frances gets $60,000, which effectively goes into the pockets of the Abbott family.

    It is right that she is at the centre of this storm.

  493. Murray.

    Melissa. Right back at you.

  494. john921fraser

    <

    @Murray

    Lets not hear any talk of Presidents of countries getting Australian aid giving "gifts" to their families.

    People would call that corruption.

    Lets not hear any talk of developers giving the Liberal party "gifts" and not declaring it.

    That would be called corruption (see ICAC).

  495. francescaagosti

    I do not feel “sorry” for Frances Abbott. She is not a child. She is a 22 year old woman who knew exactly what she was getting herself into 4 years ago. She is not an innocent victim here “caught in her father’s web”.

    She had a choice, as we all have choices, and she decided to go with the questionable choice of accepting a lucrative scholarship when she could have and should have paid her way, as those not born with a silver spoon in their mouths must pay their way, and now pay dearly thanks to Tony Abbott’s recent budget, for the privilege of an education.

    While I agree with the thrust of this open letter I cannot agree with the tone. Frances Abbott is an adult. She had a choice. She could have declined this scholarship even if her father lacked the intelligence and integrity to do so.

    The Abbott gov is clearly engaging in a ‘favours for political donations’ system that supports the current inequitable, corrupt structure that would see students from poorer backgrounds indebted possibly for decades after graduating, while the children of the “born to rule” class are permitted to study for free, whose parents can write off considerable post-graduation debt with the stroke of a pen.

    Since announcing its recent Budget, the Abbott gov has shown it’s hand, declared its intentions, which are in essence to completely destroy quality of life for ordinary Australians while continuing to look after the highly privileged ‘born to rule’ 1%.

    And it is easy to connect the dots and conclude that the awarding of this scholarship is another case in point of political donations being made in return for favours. Quid pro quo. You scratch mine and I’ll scratch yours, so to speak.

    Les Taylor, Chairman of the Board of Governors at Whitehouse made $20,000 worth of donations to the Liberal Party while Tony Abbott was in Opposition. Taylor is also a personal friend of Tony Abbott, even gifting him clothing at one stage (which Abbott declared on the members’ interest register). A $60,000 scholarship was offered to Frances Abbott, which she accepted (however this was not declared on the members’ interest register).

    Later, after Abbott is elected to government a rather large grant is provided to The Whitehouse Institute, the first time ever such a grant has been awarded to this private college, relevantly a grant made up of taxpayer dollars, yours and mine.

    Les Taylor says he had no influence over the decision even though he freely admits he recommended her for the award.

    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/tony-abbott-says-he-was-not-lobbied-on-government-grants-by-head-of-institute-that-gave-daughter-a-scholarship-20140523-38t42.html

    Information provided by documents leaked from Whitehouse itself indicate that the college specifically courted Frances Abbott and awarded the scholarship after only one interview (not standard practice).

    http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/22/frances-abbott-courted-scholarship-new-matilda

    No other students were offered a scholarship to study at Whitehouse. The college did not publicise details to other students about the scholarship. In fact students were told by college administrators that scholarships did not exist at Whitehouse. One student states her family was forced to take out loans to finance her studies. These students are justifiably upset at what amounts to favouritism and discrimination.

    Frances Abbott is only the second individual in 25 years to be awarded a scholarship at Whitehouse, which speaks volumes, and the veil of secrecy surrounding this scholarship (until very recently) also speaks volumes.

    http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/22/former-classmates-angry-scholarship-abbotts-daughter

    When you examine the facts they are rather damning, and it doesn’t take Einstein to connect the dots.

    The fact that LNP supporters quickly spring to the defence of actions that are irresponsible and unethical at the very least, and corrupt at worst demonstrates an inability to objectively examine and digest the facts, and come to logical conclusions.

    It’s a waste of time trying to debate sensibly when there is a resistance to the facts, the truth, or as close as we can get to the truth considering that all the players involved in this fiasco are lying to some degree.

    And for the record, Tony Abbott brought his daughters into the political arena himself during the the lead-up to Election 2013. Both his daughters were paraded at every photo opportunity, front and centre on election night and post-election, most notably during the visit to Australia by Prince Harry. They have reaped considerable rewards as a consequence of being the daughters of the Prime Minister, including a lucrative promotional deal with BMW, questionable of itself considering the government will shortly be purchasing a fleet of luxury bullet-proof BMW 7-Series vehicles at a cost of $525,000 each, at a time when it has declared the country has a “budget emergency” (another fiction in the long list of fictions by this gov).

    It was their father’s choice to involve them in political life so if there has been impropriety, which clearly appears to be the case, then they need to wear it, just as any other citizen under the same circumstances would have to wear it.

  496. Melissa

    Thank you francescaagosti. You said it all.

  497. francescaagosti

    Pleasure, Melissa.

  498. john921fraser

    <

    @Tony

    You filthy maggot …. venting your spleen on an innocent girl.

    When you get out of …. whose arsehole are you in at the moment , is it Bolt, Jones, Murdoch or Credlins … wipe the shit from your mouth and go back to Pickering.

    Now "Tony" see how easy it is.

    ROFL at you.

  499. Stephen Tardrew

    Tony Victoria is neither dirty or grubby she is exercising her democratic right. Abbott uses his daughters as election material and no one is throwing any accusations at his daughter they are merely asking for accountability. You know that thing you do with calmness and good judgement when there are legitimate questions of propriety. Your immaturity is on show hiding behind your masked keyboard.

    Lets make up the numbers fellas. Where is the limit?

  500. Melissa

    Anyone else think these trolls are all the same person?

  501. Ian Joyner

    Looks like even Tony Maggott is replying here. It is he that is the grub. Frances is not an innocent party in all this – she is in the middle of it. The background is that Maggott is happy to receive a $60,000 education for free while screwing all other students.

    Australia is not ruled by a privileged aristocracy who get privileges that the masses don’t. They are not entitled to such favours as the Maggott family have taken advantage of. Then Maggott and Hockey lecture us that the age of entitlement is over – seems for everyone except them.

    Frances well deserves this flack she is getting.

  502. mars08

    Melissa:

    Anyone else think these trolls are all the same person?

    I find myself wishing that you are right. Mainly because I don’t want to believe that there are so many clueless half-wits out there

  503. Andrew

    As usual, the left attempts to attack the right with mud & various others claim that the sky is falling. How about some maturity and ask yourself why this budget is so harsh. Unlike Gillard who sold her soul to the devil (Greens) to stay in power our PM has to reduce debt. One billion dollars every month in interest alone, our credit card is maxed out.
    Put some ideas forward if you think you can do better.

  504. mars08

    We have a credit card???!!?!?? Cool! Can I see it?

  505. Ian Joyner

    Andrew, you are joking. We have asked why the budget is so harsh and we know the answer. Basically it is because Abbott is a deeply troubled person with some sort of chip on his shoulder. He likes to be as nasty to others as he possibly can, particularly those who might vote against him, being the under classes.

    The Greens are not the devil – they seem the only mature ones in the debate. Here is an analysis of the situation:

    Tony Abbott said last week that there was a fire, and this budget is the fire brigade come to put out the fire. Wrong! The fire was the GFC. Kevin Rudd and Wayne Swan were the fire brigade who put out the fire. The building was saved, but like any fire there was residual damage, and that needs to be fixed.

    That is what this budget should be about – small remedial action, not Abbott and Hockey trying to make themselves out to be super heroes against ‘Labor’s mess’. Abbott and Hockey are now busy trying to finish burning down the building.

  506. twistie1

    Those who decry Frances Abbott being drawn into the spotlight should be mindful that she put herself there. Together with her numerous public appearances with her father during the 2013 Federal Election, it has this afternoon been revealed by New Matilda that Frances was one of eight students from Whitehouse to lobby TEQSA, the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency in November 2013. This lobbying, which occurred two months after the election of the coalition government, was for the purposes of having pre-existing Whitehouse courses re-accredited and the new Master of Design course approved. Frances will be commencing the Masters degree, approval for which was granted by TEQSA in February, later this year. In the meantime she’s employed by Whitehouse in a position that appears to have no title or job specifications. You can read New Matilda’s latest instalment at https://newmatilda.com/2014/05/24/frances-abbott-chosen-%E2%80%98-merit%E2%80%99-help-lobby-fed-govt-regulators

  507. Andrew

    Ian, are you serious? Rudd & Swan had plenty of cash, gave some away and wasted plenty more with the BER scheme that saw expensive canteens etc and so much more could have been achieved. Another failure was people received hot water systems worth $3000 for less than $300. You seem to have a chip on your shoulder, wait for a couple of years and vote him out. Lets see what gets through the senate first.You forgot about the debt, what is the actual debt according to labor?

  508. Andrew

    I cant work out why so many of you are doing it so tough, haven’t your beloved ALP being in power for 6 years. Are they not the party of the little people, the party of the poor and underprivileged. How is it possible that you are all doing it so tough after 6 years of the greatest govt ever. Ive never read so much crap and vitriol. Your all just a jealous bunch of morons.

  509. francescaagosti

    Thank you for your honesty, Amelie, and for shedding greater light on this issue. Clearly the awarding of a $60,000 scholarship was very much out of the ordinary. Your comments support the view that it was a special favour for a special individual, according to the Chairman of the Board of the Governors.

  510. francescaagosti

    Jessie, I think you have completely missed the point. The issue is whether political donations were made to the Liberal Party and favours extended to the daughter of a prime minister in return for taxpayer funding being provided to the Whitehouse Institute. Many people care about this issue and whether a scholarship was unfairly awarded to an individual because of who her father is. Other students were not offered such a scholarship or even advised scholarships existed, and apparently they do not exist for ‘ordinary’ students, students who would be as deserving as Frances Abbott. You say Frances Abbott has a lot to deal with being the daughter of a prime minister. Well it would also be true to say that she lives a highly privileged existence because she’s a prime minister’s daughter, and is provided with opportunities that other women her age might only dream about. During the election campaign Frances was front a centre, perfectly happy to be in the spotlight, a place that she chose to be. She is not a child. She is a grown woman, and in the real world we are all accountable for our personal choices, and Frances Abbott is no exception.

  511. francescaagosti

    I’d like to see a copy of Jessie’s scholarship application as well. It has been reported that the scholarship awarded to Frances Abbott was only the second awarded in the 25 year history of the program. So who exactly are the mysterious “rest of us”?

  512. francescaagosti

    She is an adult. She is responsible for her own choices. She accepted a scholarship knowing full well that she was getting preferential treatment because of who she was. She would also have been well aware that her fellow students were doing it tough having to cough up 60 big ones for the same privilege. She is just as culpable as her father in this matter, and in the real world every action has a consequence. Perhaps this is the first time Frances Abbott has had to live in the ‘real’ world?

  513. francescaagosti

    Britt Porter, you criticise Victoria’s writing as poorly executed yet you cannot string a coherent sentence together. And how is your spelling, grammar and punctuation? Pot kettle black.

  514. francescaagosti

    Well said, Kaye. Programmed drones with an inability to think for themselves, spouting utter tripe in every comment. I think we need to start weeding out the agitators, people who make senseless comments such as “get over it” or “get a job”. These types of comments really do nothing in terms of furthering the discussion. We have the ability to cull mindless commentary and I believe we should exercise that ability forthwith.

  515. Kathy Thompson

    I am so disappointed to find that a scholarship to Whitehouse has cause such a drama. To tell you the absolute truth I am truly shocked that there IS a scholarship.

    In 2009 I attended, with my daughter, an information day for prospective students starting at the Whitehouse Institute of Design in Sydney for the year 2000. At this event we were given information about the 3 year course. At the end the staff invited questions. My daughter specifically asked if scholarships would be on offer and was given a very quick no by the CEO. He stated that Whitehouse never offer scholarships.

    So my daughter graduated with high distinction in 2012 but she is $60000 poorer and without a job offer.

  516. francescaagosti

    Yes, Sar, continue to live in your ignorant little cream puff of a bubble. There are NO scholarships available at the Whitehouse Institute. This is stated clearly on its website. What you have described is how a corrupt world works, favours and special privilege for the daughter of an elected politician in return for taxpayer grants to the college. Your comments are tantamount to an overt acceptance of corruption. Wake up.

  517. francescaagosti

    Hear hear.

  518. francescaagosti

    This is a ridiculous comparison, Wayne.

    Quentin Bryce was appointed to the position of Governor General after a long and distinguished career. It was a well-deserved appointment and she executed her role with skill, grace and dignity.

    Frances Abbott was secretly awarded a $60,000 scholarship to study gratis at the prestigious Whitehouse Institute. Her fellow students were not offered anything of the kind. The whole deal was shrouded in secrecy. This is only the second scholarship awarded in the 25-year history of Whitehouse.

    Frances Abbott was personally courted by the Chairman of the Board of Governors, Les Taylor, a personal friend of Tony Abbott, a man who donated $20,000 to the Liberal Party when Tony Abbott was leader of the Opposition. After being appointed PM Tony Abbott then provides a generous grant, taxpayer dollars, yours and mine, to Whitehouse, the first of its kind ever.

    And you find there is something to compare in these two events?

    Go back and re-read Victoria’s open letter. You obviously didn’t read or digest a word of it. Pay attention. Read. Understand.

  519. francescaagosti

    Another dumb comment.

  520. Kaye Lee

    Andrew,

    “You forgot about the debt, what is the actual debt according to labor?”

    According to the Coalition budget papers

    Total CGS on issue (ie gross debt) as at May 8 2014 $319 billion.

    Net debt in 2014‑15 is estimated to be $226.4 billion.

  521. Allison Ljubic

    Like she gives a shit, she got what she wanted.. Daddy made sure of that..

  522. francescaagosti

    Your brief summary of Whitlam amply demonstrates the bravery and vision of his policies. He was a great leader. Legend then. Legend now. Legend always.

  523. Ian Joyner

    What a ridiculous comment George which you must have spent a lot of time writing attempting to defend the corruption of the privileged. Here’s my general response

    I’m sick of all the comments made on the Open Letter of Virginia Rollinson to Frances Abbott calling Rollinson a grub, but heartened by the fact that for everyone of these, there are at least five supporters of Rollinson.

    This accusation of ‘grub’ about anyone who exposes Abbott’s despicableness has led me to think, let’s dub Abbott Sir Tony Maggott – for it is he and his government that are the true grubs.
    As for the Frances Abbott Whitehousegate affair, Frances is not an innocent party in all this – she is in the middle of it. The background is that Maggott is happy to receive a $60,000 education for free while screwing most other students in the country.

    Maggott has accepted this scholarship for his daughter as if it is an entitlement of the privileged. Meanwhile, Maggott and Mockey’s rhetoric is that the ‘age of entitlement is over’. Australia is not ruled by a privileged aristocracy who have access to privileges that the masses don’t – or is it?. They are not entitled to such favours as the Maggott family have taken advantage of. Seems that the age of opportunity for many is over, so that the age of entitlement of the likes of the Maggots can continue.

    Frances well deserves all the flack she is getting.

  524. Designer

    Hello everyone, reading this made me feel like sharing my own experience.

    Hopefully this whole drama could bring to the forefront the need to better fund and support regular and underprivileged students to complete their degrees. Since I was a child I knew I wanted to be an make and design things. As a girl, a migrant, the child of a single parent, it was really the combination of my meagre $2148 (yearly) design merit scholarship and my newstart allowance, and two part-time jobs that helped me to survive the four years of university. It was a few years ago, but receiving the scholarship bumped my income threshold lowering my newstart payements overall, and increasing the tax had to pay. I wonder if that also happened to Frances.

    HECS aside Art and Design courses are not cheap. They are also very difficult to justify with such a high unemployment rate after graduation. You really need to love it and be willing to sacrifice everything to be a great designer, it really takes more than 60,000 dollars to become one. Although all students must juggle costs of living, fees, and books, I would like to mention that in the fields where we are asked to make objects and artefacts you (as a student) must somehow also pay for materials and at times manufacturing out of their own pocket. For a graduating project in say the field of Industrial Design, at my University the cost of materials were between 10-50K. Remembering that this is the project that will decide if you graduate, how well, and how you enter the design field professionally. It isn’t something you can really skimp on. I had moments where I had to barter for materials, decide if to pay for a train ticket or evade so I could pay for lunch. Others in my course were even caught stealing petrol so they could get to university, because they couldn’t afford to buy any.

    Nonetheless, it all just makes me hope that some day I will design something so beautiful that it helps me support those young designers that are trying so hard to learn a craft but cant afford the tools or materials.

  525. Ian Joyner

    Designer – thanks for your thoughtful response and personal experience. It made me think – why are we educating students anyway? We educate them so they can work for companies and contribute to the system. Apart from the students being beneficiaries in the personal sense of the satisfaction of accomplishment, the financial beneficiaries are the companies they will work for. Some students will get jobs, some won’t.

    Thus since the real financial beneficiaries are companies, students education should be paid for by these companies through taxes. If this is done, education could be free and those who have worked hard at school could benefit, no matter what their background.

  526. mars08

    francescaagosti:

    …She is responsible for her own choices. She accepted a scholarship knowing full well that she was getting preferential treatment because of who she was.

    And then she went on to lobby TEQSA,to have Whitehouse courses re-accredited and a Master of Design course approved. No doubt on merit.. because she was best suited to the job.

    Privilege is an interesting thing. Those who have it very rarely think about it. For them, it’s just how things around them seem to happen. It’s an insulated life. To say that “she accepted a scholarship knowing full well that she was getting preferential treatment” isn’t exactly correct. She may have suspected she was getting preferential treatment… but like so many of the privileged… it would have been life as usual. Certainly nothing to worry about.

  527. Kaye Lee

    I went to uni with Tony Abbott back in the 70s. I had a lot of help. I was awarded a Commonwealth Scholarship for the last two years of high school and a teaching scholarship for university which was basically fee free anyway. The scholarship meant I was bonded ie if they paid me for 4 years, I had to work for them for 4 years or pay the money back. A condition of this bond was that I would agree to go wherever they sent me in the state, but I was assured of employment when I graduated. They had a glut of teachers at the time (bad planning importing them from OS) so I was initially appointed as a Reserve and received my own permanent position not long after.

    I wonder if this sort of bonding arrangement for scholarship recipients could be re-introduced or expanded or modified? I know private enterprise offer some cadetships but there is room for more with business and government encouraged to realise it is an investment for their future. Even a small weekly payment if not full fee coverage can make the difference between making study possible or not.

    We must give every child the opportunity to discover their talent and then invest in nurturing it. This is how to raise productivity and innovation.

  528. Ian Joyner

    “We must give every child the opportunity to discover their talent and then invest in nurturing it. This is how to raise productivity and innovation.” Exactly Kaye Lee.

    If tertiary education is so expensive so many kids at school will just think “it’s too expensive to continue education, so why bother” They won’t find themselves at school. This whole thing of fees backfires. The rich will just think – “Daddy, will pay, or get me a scholarship from his friends”, so they won’t bother either.

    The best way is for territory education to be free and to have competition for the places in the system. However, bad school students can also make very good people after school – look at Einstein.

  529. Kaye Lee

    Ian, we never stop learning

  530. Jackster666

    Whitehouse Institute don’t offer scholarships. She was simply given a free ride.

  531. JohnB

    It is unacceptable that a talentless hack gets a position, be it a job or a scholarship which is way beyond their ability or capacity. I mean, who does Ms Abbott think she is, Wayne Swan?

  532. Möbius Ecko

    However, bad school students can also make very good people after school – look at Einstein.

    And the fact studies here, in the US and Europe have borne out that publicly schooled students tend to do better in tertiary education than privately schooled students. This makes sense where one has to apply themselves and make do with limited resources where the other has most things handed to them to the point the take them for granted.

    That is why it’s galling to put into place a policy that further excludes those in the public education system to favour the well off. In doing so Australia is strategically repressing a pool of future talent in favour of some who will be spoon fed through education and employment. It’s not a strategic policy that fosters the long term prosperity of the nation but a politically expedient one that curries short term reward for supporting a politician.

  533. Terry

    This open letter that you have written to Miss Abbott has nothing to do with the feigned shock of injustice that you all so willingly pull out at any given moment in order to serve your support of Labor/Greens that much more.

    It has everything to do with the rules that you follow as a Labor/Green supporter. The rules are as follows:

    1. Call people idiots for voting for Liberal this time around, whilst you voted for the musical chairs leadership between Kevin and Julia not once, not twice, but a THIRD time…So the alternative that you suggested to Abbott was the Rudd/Gillard circus again? And WE are the idiots for not voting for that?

    2. You shed crocodile tears and have overly dramatized and shallow candlelight vigils for ONE refugee who died in a detention centre whilst Liberal was in charge, but ignore the 1200 men, women and children who died as a result of coming to Australia under a Labor government which opened the borders. Where were you all then? Did the country run out of candles when it came time to remember the 1200 that died under Kevin and Julia?

    3. Call Tony Abbott a misogynist whilst also encouraging the abuse of Julie Bishop by feral university students who, once they finish university, will remain just as feral, albeit with a degree that qualifies them for barely anything in a functioning society, after which they will just become a hard core activist anyway. I’m sure people that take to shoving and abusing a female politician will be worthy contributors to society, particularly to women’s rights. But yeah. We should be doing more as tax payers to pay for their useless degrees.

    Special mention goes to you all for your self righteous Fighters For Women of the Labor party who, especially in this open letter, also criticise Tony Abbott’s daughter for winning a scholarship by saying ‘She only got it because she’s the daughter of the Prime Minister.’ Yeah! Good call, Laborites! She’s a woman! How could she have won that scholarship on her own!? You argue that there were more worthy students. HOW COULD YOU POSSIBLY KNOW THAT. Some students whinged about being left out? HOW UNUSUAL THAT SOMEONE WHINGED ABOUT MISSING OUT ON SOMETHING.

    I can’t believe that you have actually made such a big deal out of something like this, where a father may have helped his daughter out. WHAT A TERRIBLE HUMAN BEING HE IS FOR LOVING HIS DAUGHTER.

    And if that was the case, that Abbott did her a favour by because he’s prime minister of the country? SO WHAT. That’s life. It happens everyday, everywhere, all over the world. Sometimes you deserve to get ahead and you don’t; sometimes you don’t deserve to get ahead and you do. It always balances itself out in some way. But I digress; Why don’t you try speaking to anyone at that works at the same university where Miss Abbott studied? You’d find that she has a reputation as an extremely astute woman who is also an extremely hard worker, so how about you leave your misogyny at the door step for this one?

    4. Organise a March In March, even when Tony Abbott hadn’t made any policy announcements or hadn’t effectively had time to do anything yet. Effectively, it was just a Sookers March, because all it said to the general public was this: We are still sooking about losing the election and we want everyone to know it.

    5. You organised the March In May months before the Federal Budget was released. This was effectively just another sook march, but you just got lucky that the budget was done a few days before hand, otherwise there is no chance in the world you could have organized the march that weekend.

    No matter what happened, if that budget was good or bad, you were still going to march. If it was a budget which favoured you, you still would have found something else to whinge abou and would have marched.

    Because it’s not about political policies to you; it’s just about having Labor back in power, which is why it’s not about political policies to you, because if it was, you’d never have voted for Labor all the times you did.

    I have a question: Do your eyes get sore from all the sooking you do? Do you constantly carry around a hanky because you sook so much? When you were kids, did all the other kids hate you because you sucked at sports because whenever you started losing, you’d take your ball and go home?

    6. Whinge daily about the Liberal government, whilst offering no alternative whatsoever, other than the Labor party, which was voted out for many many many reasons, which I won’t bother going into here.

    7. Ostrasize friends and family who voted for Liberal, calling them idiots, and kidding yourselves into thinking that you’re the intellectuals because you voted for a Labor party which had mismanged the country and it’s finances and played musical chairs with the leadership.

    8. Practice tolerance. BUT ONLY TO PEOPLE WHO AGREE WITH ALL OF YOUR VIEWS. Anyone who doesn’t is a brainless idiot that reads The Daily Telegraph. Haha. There’s close to ten major newspapers that circulate the country; but sure, blame the Telegraph for Rudd and Gillard being voted out. Nice theory.

    9. Whinge about Gina.

    10. Whinge about how The Daily Telegraph won the last election. People voting for Liberal mustn’t have had anything to do with the way that Kevin and Julia kept stabbing each other in the back, as well as the longest list in political history when it came to over spending and poor policy choices, as well as Kevin’s destruction of our relationship with the US early in his tenure by sharing a private conversation with Bush to journalists, which led to us being frozen out at the G20 Summit. But honestly, I don’t have time to write the novel that was the disaster that was Kevin.

    11. Hate the rich, because they’re rich. And you hate the rich because you’re not rich. So anyone that’s rich must have gotten rich because they cheated and scammed! It must not have had anything to do with hard work! Is that why you all refuse to work hard? Because you think it’s evil if you get rich from it?

    12. You whinge about Rupert Murdoch controlling what his press say. Well. Duh. Of course he’s going to influence his views, especially if it helps secure further financial benefits for his business. He has a right to tell them what to write BECAUSE HE OWNS THEM.
    But you’re all saints, striving for equalilty and democracy and freedom of speech, right?
    So I guess if all of you ran the newspaper, you would ensure that it’s an even playing field when it comes to covering politically minded topics, right?
    Yeah. Sure. I can only imagine the hate that you would print in your own papers lambasting the Liberal party. How hypocritical.
    Most of you are so hardcore left that you’d have a difficult time even mentioning Liberal if you ran a newspaper unless it was to sling mud at it.
    This is the world we live in. If you own something, you get to say what it does. So if you want to do somethign about it, make enough money to buy your own newspaper and fill them with your bullshit propaganda instead of bitching about someone else doing it, because you’d be just as bad.

    13. What happened to Climate Change? You’re no longer protesting about that? Did you move on from that fad and propaganda that the media and a multimillionaire US politician in Al Gore made you swallow as a way of distracting you from the real issues? You remember Al Gore, right? He was the guy that said by 2013 certain parts of the earth would be under water due to melting polar ice caps. I know alot of you live in the past, so here’s a message to you from the future: It’s 2014 and we’re doing fine.
    You love being in opposition. Admit it. Why? Because it gives you an excuse for everything that now happens in your life that you aren’t happy with. You can freely blame Liberal for everything that’s happening in your life. He’s your chief scape goat. Slow internet? Blame Abbott. Doing it tough? Blame Abbott, even though none of his budget has kicked in and Labor was just in for 6 years, shouldn’t you be doing it alot better after you party was running the country for that long? Cut your finger whilst cutting onions? Blame Abbott. Onions made you cry as well? Blame Abbott.

    This is the way that you all look to us who support the Liberal Party, and what’s worse, it’s the way that you look to the swinging voters who decide the outcome of each election.

    I have a Labor friend who typifies the attitude that most of you have; he decided to go on the Dole because ‘Tony Abbott owes me for what he’s doing to the country.’ You lot are a clever bunch, aren’t you? Taking tax money off the citizens by pretending it’s Abbott’s money. You’d rather hold out for that dream job whilst raping the country for it’s benefits, instead of contributing to society by actually getting a job. Sorry to say, but nobody starts on a 500K in their first line of employment. But you make an excuse for everything, as long as it supports your self serving, hand out ways.

    I could go on. But living life through the eyes of a Labor supporter is boring. No wonder you’re all so angry. You’re just bored. And without ambition in life. And the worst part is that you pretend that this is about the unjustice that Abbott has done to the people. What a load of bollocks.

    This is about nothing else other than the fact that you hate the Liberal Party, and that you won’t stop your whining and whinging for another three years as a result.

    A three years of which I am looking forward to greatly. So buckle up, children: The adults are now in charge.

  534. john921fraser

    <

    Dear Terry,

    Its quite obvious to me that your knowledge of the Greens/Labor rules means that you are a paid up Greens/Labor party person.

    I do not appreciate this forum being used for your political purposes.

    Go away and think about it while Australia gears up to stop the current Prime Minister lying to Australians.

  535. Nuff Said

    Terry,

    Organise a March In March, even when Tony Abbott hadn’t made any policy announcements or hadn’t effectively had time to do anything yet.

    No-one this ignorant of political events can be taken seriously. Sorry.

  536. Melissa

    Again, when did political nepotism, graft and corruption become ok with (some of) the Australian public?? Do people WANT to live in a country where this is accepted? I sure don’t.

  537. Bacchus

    Feel better now Terry? 😀

  538. Gilly

    Wow Terry. Better read some policy and do some research before you make a dill of yourself.

  539. iand

    Might be that john921fraser’s reply is just a tad too subtle for Terry.

  540. Kate

    I agree with all of what is said in this letter.. Although I am now in my 6th year of study and not once received any payments for being a student. I worked my ass off in crap jobs to make do. For you to say 6 months is a long time to not earn money with the students new start payment is beyond ridiculous. It’s not impossible to get a job and maybe if people actually work while at uni they will be able to attain a job quicker than those who have no interpersonal skills due to never working before. People need to realise that tax payers are giving money to more and more people who CHOOSE to not work and so the government should slow this down. It makes me angry hearing how people go through uni, now complaining about the whole new budget propositions yet haven’t worked a day in their uni lives. It’s those who deserve to pay the price. People are getting lazier by the day. There are jobs out there for people and while at uni who cares where you work, just take what you can get and stop jibbing the system and the tax payers of their money!

  541. Robyn Lewis

    I have nothing against rich and privileged students receiving a scholarship to any institution as long as all the students are given the opportunity to apply for the scholarship. It was revealed at the weekend the other students were not aware of the scholarship awarded to Frances Abbott. A lecturer was not aware of the scholarship either. The other students just presumed Francess Abbott was a fee paying student.
    It is time for the head of the Whitehouse Institute of Design to make a statement and also apologise to the other students who did not have a scholarship. Until this is done there will always be doubt surrounding this generous sum of money saved by the Abbott family.

  542. Möbius Ecko

    You just gotta roll your eyes at the right w(h)ingers who whined long and hard for six years in the biggest dummy spit seen in this country’s history projecting that now.

    Along with their childish antics in parliament there’s no better proof that the spoilt brats are now in charge than Terry’s inane spray in support of that behaviour and the double standards.

  543. Stephen Tardrew

    Terry try a movie cause the book is boring.

  544. Struggling student hoping to get a job.

    It is the height of hypocrisy, or is it? I guess the Abbott government has made it fairly clear that they have no sympathy for anyone who doesn’t have the right connections, or the right start in life. This is just another example of “jobs for the boys”, its just “grants for the girls!”. What astounding greed. In his position, with his salary, Abbott should have told his daughter to leave the scholarship for other less privileges people to have a chance at successfully applying for. It’s sad that her upbringing didn’t give her a moral code. Clearly these people have no boundaries to their voracious greed and self aggrandisement, at the cost of the less fortunate!

  545. Patrick Tracey

    I still can’t understand why this “scholarship” incident hasn’t been referred to ICAC or a similar body. It needs to be investigated, and could well be the downfall of the Prime Minister. Let’s face it, Barry O’Farrell lost the Premiership of NSW over a $5000 bottle of wine. Prime Minister Abbott needs to explain to ICAC why his daughter received a $60k + scholarship to an exclusive college that his friend is Chairman of. He also needs to explain why she was given this scholarship when that particular degree does not have a scholarship attached to it. Also, why did no other student in her class receive the scholarship, when many of them are just as, if not more talented.

    This is corruption at its finest. It needs to be investigated, pursued, and dealt with appropriately! The Australian people deserve answers.

  546. Andrew

    I find it interesting that the people that have criticized Terry have not challenged what he said. I think some parts were spot on and other parts were just his opinion which I fully respect even if I don’t agree with him.

  547. Möbius Ecko

    OK Andrew I’m willing to give it ago. Ignoring the opinion can you give us the bits that are spot on and the sources to them, then we can either discredit or confirm them.

  548. corvus boreus

    Patrick, it hasn’t been referred to the ICAC because there is no standing federal investigative body. A federal inquiry into corruption(and an advisory body regarding politicians’ claims and entitlements) was proposed as a members bill by Senator Milne(greens) but was decisively voted down. The refusal to countenance such an enquiry by ALP senators is another blemish on their recent record and can only fuel voter disaffectation.
    I believe all voters wanting honest and open government should lobby their representatives to support a federal ICAC, and should promote such an idea to the general public. Regardless of alignment, allegiance or ideology, the corruption of politics hurts democracy and society.

  549. francescaagosti

    Is that the most informed, intelligent retort you have, Shane? If so, then please go back to high school, do not pass go, do not collect $200.

  550. Ian Joyner

    Shane writes “Francescaagoti and Ian Joyner. Pls seek urgent medical attention. You both obviously have serious issues which need attending. Ps don’t forget your $7.”

    See this just shows how low the Liberal supporters go. They can’t argue against what has been said here, so they revert to personal attacks. It is you, Shane, who needs help.

  551. Kdub

    Terry,
    I am not surprised the lunatics here brushed over your comment, as it’s clearly struck too close to the truth. In fact, I couldn’t have put it any better myself.
    The problem is it’s like having a debate with a brick wall, or rocking on a rocking chair… No matter how much effort you put in, you won’t get anywhere. Their hands just cup their ears and they scream “LALALALA”. The last few weeks have made me ashamed of our society of entitlement. No debt crisis they say? How about the pwc report that stated the totally UNFUNDED Labor policies (education etc) would put us into a 6.7 TRILLION debt by 2050, if not corrected?…. “LALALALA… But you’re cutting education!”…. Funding is increasing but the pie-in-sky unfunded element needs to be rationalised. So how about opening education funding up to non university education like TAFE and trades? Or is it just your tax payer funded education that should remain untouched and unfunded … “LALALALA… I can’t hear you”. The ALP ostrich protocol… Stick your head in the sand and just spend, spend, spend, but not on anything intelligent mind you.

    The fact is that the spending cannot go on forever, unchecked. It’s the most simple economics and mathematics there is.
    This militant left element has to suck it up. The Libs were voted in and get a chance to fix things thankfully. Economic rationality will rule in the place of some leftist, airy-fairy, socialist garbage, telling people what they want to hear and merely kicking the can down the road.

    And Tanya and Penny have not a leg to stand on between them now when they cry “misogyny!!” What a bunch of hypocrites. If it wasn’t so tragic it would be funny. Disgusting and despicable. I can’t wait to see Shorten dragged into the RC on union corruption… Maybe we’ll get Gillard too. But guess what we’ll hear then??…yep you guessed it, “LALALALA”

    Enjoy the next couple of years lefties. Do me two favours…. 1. Pull your bottom lips over your heads…2. Swallow.

  552. Kdub

    Ian Joyner, you can hardly claim the morale high ground on personal attacks here. LOL Stamp your feet a little harder for me.

  553. Ian Joyner

    Kdub “Ian Joyner, you can hardly claim the morale high ground on personal attacks here.”

    I can actually. Go back and read what I have said. It’s not a personal attack. Responses to personal attacks are also not personal attacks.

  554. Ian Joyner

    Kdub – it’s you who are blocking your ears to the truth. You mention a hypothetical $6.7 trillion debt by 2050. Since the debt was incurred during a downturn in the economic cycle, you can project that debt in any dishonest way you like. The debt was due to the GFC, not to specific Labor policies. Blame the GFC on those who caused it. Don’t punish those who were in no way responsible for it, like the young.

    Well, I suppose that since I answered your nonsense, you’ll just write that off as a personal attack.

  555. john921fraser

    <

    @Kdub

    The debt level in 2050 will not be $6.7 trillion.

    It will be $36.9 trillion because the recession Abbott brought down on Australia combined with 58 flying lemons and the cost to maintain them, as well the collapse of the submarine building program (led by Mirabella), the remediation work required after Rio Tinto, BHP, Rinehart, Forrester,Palmer,Xstrata etc etc walked away from their non profitable holes in the ground.

    The destruction of the Great Barrier Reef …. which is renamed the 4 Barrier Reefs ……plus the degraded water quality in Australia left the Tourism industry in ruins.

    Hospitals across Australia shut down, in part because of the destruction of Medicare wrought by Abbott, and the median age for Australian has dropped to 72 for men and 74 for woman …. Aboriginal death rates across the board has never been higher in the history of Australia.

    Congratulations Kdub ….. your hatred of your fellow Australian & Australia is plain for all to see.

    Everyones prayers are with you and we trust God, in his infinite wisdom, will heal you.

  556. Kdub

    Wow… You’re comment is so chick full of hard facts I just don’t know where to start…. Oh wait… You don’t have any. My mistake.

  557. Nuff Said

    There are some things even God can’t fix.

  558. Kdub

    Actually no, this debt figure is projected, unlike Labor’s figures which just conveniently fell beyond their horizon. It’s debt projected on Labor’s policies. How can you argue that they were funded. They categorically weren’t. Was swan just going to print more money perhaps?

  559. Ian Joyner

    Kdub “Actually no, this debt figure is projected,”

    That statement is truly laughable. Economic things go in cycles, you can take any part of the slope of that cycle as you please and project it to prove whatever you like. Like the current government, that is fundamentally dishonest.

  560. Möbius Ecko

    It is not debt projected on Labor policies Kdub. PEFO, you know that bothersome budget honesty requirement Costello bought in, showed the Labor’s government’s funding, and it turned out to be accurate.

    Hockey took that, added his own spending and forgoing of revenue to it then projected that figure to come up with a phoney debt crisis. It’s not the previous government who are continuing to spend but this current one. Then to reign in their profligate spending that overwhelmingly goes to big business and the wealthy, they propose taking from the lower end.

    They’re doing this all based on lies and deceptions to firstly get elected and then on more lies and deceptions now they have been elected. Lies in deceptions that in many cases contradict what they stated before they were elected and to get around that they lie about lying.

    And Kdub you say others have no facts whilst not posting any facts of your own.

  561. Kdub

    Ok so pwc, the professionals, are wrong and you are correct? Have I got that right? Have you even read the report? Wait, don’t answer that one. The answer is clear. I’m over banging my head against this brick wall of yours. Enjoy the next 3 yrs, good sir! 😉

  562. Fed up

    “the professionals, are wrong ”

    Seems to rely on what preofressiona

  563. john921fraser

    <

    @Kdub

    God is always right and you will someday see and feel His love.

    Go in peace.

  564. Fed up

    “the professionals, are wrong ”

    Seems to rely on what professionals one chooses.

    MYEFO and Shepherd’s Budget audit carry little credit. Nor does a budget analysis that comes out of Hockey’s office.

    Hockey claimed last weekend, that it came out of treasury. Problem is, this treasurer lies too often.

  565. john921fraser

    <

    Please God forgive Kdub and make him a better person.

    <

    <

    And while you are at it could I have a double cone, one side rum & raisin and the other french vanilla.

  566. Ian Joyner

    Do you have a reference to that report. But I don’t need to read it to see the error in their thinking. A conjecture about 2050 based on one slope of a curve is just intellectually dishonest.

    But the Liberal cohort are used to dishonesty in using slopes of curves. Climate change is based on the overall trend of the cycle. However, Andrew Bolt and co decide that since 1998 was a very warm year, they will based their argument on that part of the slope of the cycle.

    It’s a fundamentally dishonest trick, just as you are being dishonest here along with your very snide way of arguing.

  567. Ian Joyner

    Kdub – you have committed the fallacy of appeal to authority.

  568. JohnB

    Terry, May 26th at 10:30. Brilliant, well written, accurate. Well said.

  569. corvus boreus

    Disagree, JohnB, with your assessment of Terry’s post. It’s only real merits were that it didn’t resort to personal abuse, merely derogatory and inflammatory terms, and that it was a superb example of a debating technique known as the “Gish gallop”.
    This is when you throw a rapid succession barrage of unsubstantiated statements presented as self-evident truths, which makes it difficult for an “ópponent” to muster information to present counter argument against all the accusations flung, particularly if you follow the logical principle of collecting information and validating it’s sources before you respond.
    To refute the relevent, on-thread claims by Terry regarding Tony and Frances Abbott: what’s wrong with a father wanting the best for his daughter? Nothing, providing he remains within the framework of legality, and if he is a politician of principles, he should also distance himself from any situations leading to potential conflicts of interest. Mr Abbott has consistently failed to do so, and has only corrected dubious claims when alerted to them by media inquiry. He should at least examine the diligence and competence of his claims staff, and probably look at some reform of the current, self-regulatory system. It’s called learning from your mistakes.
    The irregularities in the processes of awarding this scholarship, deviating as it did from the Whitehouse institute’s established policy, the PM’s non-disclosure of the offer, and Ms Abbott’s subsequent lobbying all rate examination and investigation.
    Terry’s assertion that dubious dealings are entrenched, and thus should be accepted, is fatalistic apathy, deviod of any ethical reference, and invalidates any claims to indignation over misconduct by those whose ideologies he(?) disagrees with.
    Personally I welcome the commission into unions(whatever the motivation to establish it), as weeding out corrupt “grubs” who steal will result in better representation for the members they are supposed to protect. The dealings uncovered by the NSW ICAC(touching as they did on federal involvement) highlight the need to impartially examine the dealings of our governmental representatives(regardless of affiliation) for exactly the same reasons, only this time the affected party is the entire populace. To do otherwise would be a non-application of universal standards(hypocracy).
    As for the accusation of misogyny, I read no attacks on Frances Abbotts’ sex or person, merely a report and comments on her involvement in what seems to me to be a possible perversion of power.
    As a final aside, references to whinging, sooks, lunatics etc are not constructive analysis but are merely childishly insulting terms that contribute nothing to rational discussion, and parroting the hackneyed “grown-ups in charge” line is getting pathetically cliched.

  570. Kdub

    Corvus boreus, you miss the point on the misogyny… The point was if merely questioning gillards intelligence/competence was misogyny then where’s the difference here? Apparently Frances “only got the scholarship because of her dad”. If that was said about gillard there would be a different standard, no? Everyone up in arms over sexist comments. I saw no personal attack on gillard’s sex. Did you? Also, the mentioning of lunatics etc is referring to those evidently not wanting a debate but to just fling insults and call Abbott a “maggot” or anyone who votes liberal as a derogatory name. If gillard was called a maggot I think you know the amount of verbal sewerage that would follow in response, but of course it seems ok here?
    If you want to talk unsubstantiated truths then I’d say that 90% of the crap that is being spouted above is unsubstantiated also. Do you work for white house? No? Then don’t make assumptions and present them as fact.

    This witch hunt of the left is disgusting. An innocent woman’s name is being dragged through the dirt because of jealousy and ignorance.

  571. Stephen Tardrew

    Kbub:

    The only dirt is in your mind. I and others have in no way demeaned or insulted Frances and would not think of doing so. A simple question and simple answers will suffice. Abbott is now the Prime-Minister and should be held to a high level of accountability. Haven’t you notices his honesty has been legitimately called into question and he is fair game. Stop deflecting.

  572. corvus boreus

    No, kdub, I don’t think I missed the point, which was a questioning on the “merit based” justification of this irregular special scholaship, a claim made entirely without reference to her gender, unlike many claims made by the likes of Alan Jones.
    Nor do you make any effort to address the issue of lobbying interests and spurious entitlements, which can corrupt our democracy regardless of who perpetrates it.

  573. Kdub

    I didn’t know Alan Jones was a parliamentarian, comrade. Clutching at straws there. So you agree with calls of Abbott as a misogynist? If so, why? Where’s your factual evidence? I’ll save you the time… There isn’t any. That was the point made earlier.

    Merit based is correct in this instance. So again please tell me, where has Frances or the PM done wrong here? She was granted a merit based scholarship from a private institution. Are your tax payer dollars being misappropriated here? I know a bloke who got a job because of his dad… Shall we have him hung, drawn and quartered? Is this scholarship any of your business? You’re still making assumptions and not presenting facts here.

  574. corvus boreus

    No, I cannot make an evidence based judgement on accusations of mysogyny against Mr Abbott nor have I ever made or defended such claims,”comrade”(?). I personally think he has an unreformed views regarding gender roles, but misogyny, or lack thereof, isn’t the central issue raised here. Nor were my tax payer’s dollars misappropriated in this instance, but the highly disputable claims for triathlons, cycling trips, colleagues and celebrity weddings and profit making book launches, as well as belated disclosure of gifts, make me more than a littlle sceptical of his good faith with regards to his own enrichment at the public purse.
    Nor have I called for any mandatory punishments or presumption of guilt, merely an investigation as part of a wider commission (across all politics) to uncover illegal activities and amend unethical ones.

  575. Ian Joyner

    Kdub “She was granted a merit based scholarship from a private institution. Are your tax payer dollars being misappropriated here?”

    It is very disputable it was merit based because she did not have any competition for it. It was only offered to her and no other students. It is all very connected to who her father is, and you cannot separate Frances from this.

    Maybe the funds for Frances’ scholarship come from the private institution, but that is out of the fees other students have paid. They have every right to feel aggrieved.

    Since it is a private company – the question of corruption arises.

  576. Kdub

    I am 100% behind a comprehensive investigation/commission into all politicians. It’s overdue. But so is the RC into union corruption. Thompson was the tip of the ice berg. Why was labor so opposed to this do you think? All this bleeting about corruption in the Abbott family but all the ALP supporters are terrified to even think about the royal commission into unions and the dirty, corrupt dealings with their party. This will hopefully all come to light and we’ll see where the corruption lies. I’m not naive enough to think there aren’t bad eggs on both sides but the links shorten/gillard and their cronies have with the unions will cast a MUCH bigger shadow than anything the dial-a-crowd ALP plonkers can come up with about abbott’s family members.

  577. Ryeman

    Hey everyone, this excellent article has had heaps of feedback and I must admit I’ve skimmed over a few but not read too much in detail. Another thing I will state is this is kinda not related to what has been discussed and I totally agree with a lot of the comments.
    I’m going to tread carefully here but what I am about to post is some thing I have been thinking for some time. But essentially the crux of my argument is this … Doesn’t the western world have enough “designers”, I mean good design is important but I feel as though most people slightly younger than me all want to seem to do the ‘fun’ job of creating shiny pretty things that we all really don’t need and therefore isn’t really useful to society. And more over it appears to me (and this is a big generalisation) that most of the students that want to ‘design’ fashion, decorate interiors of houses, bars and hotels, and create catchy arty graphics for advertising seem to come from very well off backgrounds, and I thought that the richest people in society made their money from good honest hard work (this is what free marketeers like the liberals make us believe) but these peoples kids just seem to want to buy and decorate shiny pretty things. I mean they don’t really produce anything useful per se. This together with the other reasons pointed out by the author of this article and the other commentators is what disappoints me a lot about Frances – surely she would have had a first class private school education, with all the trims and trappings and extras on top of that that public school folk would be never ever ever have an opportunity to be exposed to or let alone participate in, and at the end of all that she kind of wastes all of that education to study how to make things look pretty. What even galls me more is that this so called tertiary education cost $60,000 – does that seem ridiculous to anyone? I mean 3 years and $60,000 dollars later and you are a designer. Surely this “industry” shouldn’t require some sort of university certificate, it would seem more reasonable to have a master and an apprentice sort of relationship, with some sort of educational advancement years down the track after actually having worked. Anyways I reckon you could learn that stuff from design blogs on the internet and flipping through magazines, and using daddy’s foxtel for the lifestyle and fashion channels … Right. Imagine how much together that $60,000 on top of that wasted private school education for all those years (say $100k) could have been used to educate ordinary kids who may have aspired to be something useful like engineers, scientists, doctors, healthcare professionals, teachers, tradespeople etc
    But I guess when you are brought up in privilege and told how much of a special little snowflake you are then ‘real work’ shouldn’t apply to you and you can work and make a motza doing nothing at all really.
    Apologies if I have peeved off readers (if they even read this at all) who may have a design background- as I stated before good design in everyday life seems unnoticeable and works well but this white house institute place thingy seemed to be about fashion and interior design, nothing else that is really useful … And yes you do need clothes to wear but seriously that stuff designed for catwalks, who really wears it other than models/celebrities and can even afford it.

    Cheers

  578. corvus boreus

    I think Labor opposed it because the upper echelon of unions, inextricably linked to their party, has corrupt elements entrenched. I also believe that corruption through business lobbying has infected all parties to varying degrees and needs to be addressed far more urgently. The call for a federal inquiry was,I suspect, opposed by both the ALP and LNP partially because they fear exposure of suspect(or possibly criminal) dealings, and partially because they are addicted to the sycophancy and gifts.
    For me the most galling thing is that none of them are willing to employ universality of standards, and will not shine the same glaring spotlight on their own dealings as the employ upon others.
    Bdub, the RC into unions is unfolding, enjoy the results, and in the meantime, if you truly support a federal ICAC, start petitioning your representatives to vote for one.

  579. Ian Joyner

    Yes, Kdub corruption in politics and unions needs to be weeded out, but also in business – that is seeking favours, like the favours it seems Whitehouse was seeking.

    Ties with unions does not mean any corruption. People like Craig Thompson should be thrown out and prosecuted. He was thrown out of the Labor party was he not? What obscured the Thompson affair was the Liberal lynch mob, as it was with Peter Skipper, and before that the Godwin Gresch Utegate affair. They cried wolf too often.

    But note Craig Thompson was not PM – Abbott is and this bad egg has risen to the surface as bad eggs do.

  580. francescaagosti

    Thanks, Ian … and ditto to your comments. They’re on the money. This is the general modus operandi of those unable to provide evidence to support their views, or indeed to formulate an original thought.

  581. Möbius Ecko

    Those who railed that Abbott’s daughter should be left out of it as she is innocent and it’s her father who should be attacked, sorry she’s not innocent and deserves all the condemnation she gets.

    Definitely her father’s daughter.

  582. john921fraser

    <

    Anyone watching today's Question Time would have seen and heard the misogynist Abbott telling female M.P.s "don't get excited" and having the "vapours"..

    "In the Victorian era, a variety of conditions which affected women were referred to as vapours."

    On your way to hell "Kdub" make sure you stand behind Abbott or else he will push you.

  583. Carol Taylor

    Victoria, it’s about time that I added my very big congratulations on making this a record post.

  584. francescaagosti

    He is a disgusting misogynist. There is no other way to look at it. Total disgrace. And he calls himself a leader? Pffftt. What an example to set. No wonder we are a nation of redneck misogynist homophobes.

  585. Kaye Lee

    Frances Abbott lobbying TEQSA: “Through completing my major project, I am beginning to understand what I want to do. Many opportunities have emerged, and doors have opened.”

    3 years and $60 grand later and she is beginning to understand what she wants to do? How lucky to have that choice. And I just BET that many doors have opened.

  586. Geoff

    Hi Victoria ,cheap grubby attack on PMs daughter imagine it was your kid! You seem smart enough with some qualified comment why drag family into it ,what does your family do for a crust? How did you manage to survive in such woeful conditions

  587. Matters Not

    And I just BET that many doors have opened

    Really? Are you sure? As I understanding this ‘gambling’ business, given that I’m some what beholden to the daily fluctuations of the share market, there are no ‘odds’ when the outcome is already ‘known’.

    BTW, who pays when this student undertakes this ‘masters’ course? And what does it cost for those not included in the non-competition for this ‘competitive scholarship’?

    My head hurts, metaphorically speaking of course.

  588. Melissa

    Mobius Ecko. Your post indicates the type of person you are. I am only of average intelligence but I have a lot of life experience and I could see through this ugly personality, Tony Abbott, and his ugly ideology well before the election and 8 months later, all I can say is, if you’re still backing this man, you have serious problems with judgement and moreso, your own set of morals.

  589. Melissa

    Apologies. My reply should have been directed at Geoff.

  590. Fed up

    Melissa, you had me worried for a split second.

  591. Fed up

    This man cannot help himself. What was the vapours remark, aimed at Tanya about? Of course we will see many explaining was this is not so. At the very least, it is a highly insulting comments, only aimed at woman, from one that has an low opinion of woman in general. Sadly, this behaviour is not one off, but continues everyday within the house, not only from Abbott.

    The bile aimed at Burke from mainly Pyne and the speaker needs to be shown up for what it is. One should respect the Opposition in any house. They, still represent nearly fifty percent of voters.

    It is about more than the speakers impartiality, it is about her open abuse of Labor, in particular Tanya and Tone Burke.

    I believe she might think, she is behaving thought. Sorry, it shows her as a weak speaker. She is trashing the parliament and the lower house. She is bringing disrespect on the government and hour democracy.

    Since coming to power, Pyne with the assistance of the speaker has set out to gag the Opposition from speaking, in every way. Yesterday, Pyne went to far. Even the speaker had the sense for once, to pull back from the path they were going down., Still did not stop her abusive manner though.

    Pyne, with the assistance of the speaker, is attempting to gag Labor, prevent them from answering questions. Does anyone care???????????

  592. Michaela

    When will people get this through their heads – we couldn’t keep spending the way the Labor government did!!! You think it’s going to be tough now? Well imagine the financial burden and catastrophe we’d be leaving to the next generation if we continued that uncontrolled spending!

    First lay some blame on the actions of the Labor government and the over spending (not including the Billions of dollars saved by the Howard government which was squandered in when labor came into power the firs time round) and then we’ll talk.

    I’m one of the students on a fee-help loa already and that fixed 6% doesn’t seem so bad when I look at the bigger picture. The big picture is this: a higher education that will open up opportunities in the future. Yes I may have to fight my way into those opportunities but I will never stop chasing them. Those opportunities will also exist in a better economy with less debt – thanks to the current measures!

    Yeah it’s tough and the next few years might be a bit rough and unglamorous for Australians especially us struggling Uni students but thanks to the actions of the current Liberal government it’s going to be a better future for us and our children.

    Tony Abbott is basically willing to lose his job to save the country and economy while the opposition is willing to lose the country and economy to take his job.

    So what if Frances got a little leg up from being the Prime Ministers daughter? I assure you there are worse things that could happen. At least she’s doing something with her time. Making her own money and contributing to society, she’s achieving independent success with her results and that should be all that’s focused on. She’s not a disgrace to the country and copes with a lot of pressure and living in the spot light, she deserves every success and reward that comes her way. Furthermore it’s called networking. People do it each and every day. That friend that got a job at Woolies because she knew the manager? Networking. We all use our personal connections to further our own interests.

  593. Möbius Ecko

    Michaela when will people get it through their heads that it was Hockey who was the wasteful spender/forgoer of revenue. He added $68 billion to the deficit in 200 days.

    Howard didn’t save billions, he left a large structural deficit that for the first time is being rightly addressed by this government. Problem is this government is also using that to decimate ordinary families, the less well off, pensioners, students and the sick so as to funnel money to big business and the wealthy.

    Unless you address that you are being disingenuous in your attacks of Labor.

  594. Fed up

    Patrick, maybe the police. as they did Slipper.

  595. Fed up

    This government is, or intends to spend as much, if not more than Labor. It is not the amount, but what it is spent on, They are saying this wealthy country cannot afford liveable pensions, cannot afford the efficient and cheap medical system we have, and worse cannot afford to educate it’s people.

    What is more worrying, one cannot afford NOT to spend/invest in these areas.

    The waste this mob is talking about, is all that is spent, to make this society fair and equitable.

  596. Fed up

    What Abbott is promising the country, if those at the bottom take now and into the future, all will be better off. Another lie, as those at the bottom will still be behind the eight ball in threes years time.

    Abbott, himself said over the weekend, he is willing, and is in fact doing so, cutting consumer consumption to get what he wants, Yes, ready and willing to trash the economy in putting his narrow and mis0placed dogma and ideology into place.

    Arte the small businesses out there, willing to pay Abbott’s price, to see him achieve his dreams, but to most others, nightmare.

    I have seen comments on other sites, where there businesses have taken big losses over the last few months. The polls on business and consumer confidence area record lows, and trending downwards

    .
    Is this the country one wants.

  597. Carol Taylor

    Michaela and,

    When will people get this through their heads – we couldn’t keep spending the way the Labor government did!!!

    An idea might be to research the subject before just blindly accepting ‘news’ from the tabloids as being factual.

    Here’s something which might assist…note that this comes from the IMF and not a ‘headliner’ from a shock-jock.

    Australia’s most needlessly wasteful spending took place under the John Howard-led Coalition government rather than under the Whitlam, Rudd or Gillard Labor governments, an international study has found.

    The International Monetary Fund examined 200 years of government financial records across 55 leading economies.

    It identifies only two periods of Australian “fiscal profligacy” in recent years, both during John Howard’s term in office – in 2003 at the start of the mining boom and during his final years in office between 2005 and 2007.

  598. Fed up

    “UNFUNDED Labor policies (education etc) would put us into a 6.7 TRILLION debt by 2050, if not corrected?…. “LALALALA… But you’re cutting education!”…. Funding is increasing but the pie-in-sky unfunded element needs to be”

    That is projections., Yes could happen, that are not based on treasury figures, but on figures from the wso called audit commission and Hockey’;s office.

    The official PEPO figures putout during the lection are the same as the official projections within the budget papers. Check ABC Fact checkers. They will explain in tpo you. Their conclusion is that Bowen is correct, not Hockey.

    Hockey., over the weekend, released what he claimed came from the treasury, he said proved people are not as badly off, as figures released by Labor. Claimed it was a official treasury document. Another lie, the so called document, came from his office. Another lie.

  599. Melissa

    To Fed Up. I have a small business and since the second week in April, my weekly takings have dropped an average 55%. I wonder how many businesses can keep going under these conditions? I work from home, which is my saving grace.

  600. john921fraser

    <

    Abbott thinks he can get away with anything.

    Looks more and more like Rolf Harris.

  601. Fed up

    Melissa, what you are saying, fits in with what others are saying. Business disappeared overnight.

  602. Ian Joyner

    Michaela “When will people get this through their heads – we couldn’t keep spending the way the Labor government did!!! ” When will you get it through your thick head that your premise is wrong. It is wrong on a number of levels.

    You go on to talk about future generations – well the Liberals don’t give a stuff about future generations – look at their inaction on climate change.

    “So what if Frances got a little leg up from being the Prime Ministers daughter?”

    That’s corruption.

    You just typed a whole load of nonsense for nothing.

  603. Kdub

    John why don’t you just accuse him of ******* and be done with it? This “independent” site is certainly very one eyed and one sided. Can’t find a single non labor biased article. Laters lefties…. Unsubscribe “click”.

    **Kdub, a phrase you used would be offensive to victims of child sexual abuse and has been edited for this reason. (Carol Taylor)

  604. Terry

    This is just fascinating to me. It truly is.

    You all think that you’re starting some kind of revolution, where you think the country is going to get behind you and depose of the Liberal Government currently in power, as though we are being slaughtered in our thousands on a daily basis under some kind of ruthless dictator.

    In the most classical case of Leftist over exaggeration, you have compared Abbott to Hitler. READ THAT SENTENCE AGAIN. You are comparing Abbott to Hitler. How offensive for you to compare your own cushioned existence to that of the millions of Jews who died under Hitler’s regime. You call Abbott a dictator, which is offensive to anyone that has ever lived and died at the hands of a true ruthless dictatorship.

    This over dramatization of things only further alienates you from the everyday voter, because if there is any form of extremism going on in this country right now, it’s you lot with your scare mongering of what the future looks like under a Liberal Government that was swept comprehensively into power by the MAJORITY of this country.

    You can march all you want; You have no movement.
    You can scare monger all you want; the only fear is your own after having lost the election.
    When a team loses, they look at where they didn’t perform well enough.
    That’s never been the case with Leftists, which is why the anger and spite in you is so strong; it’s kept burning by an astounding level of dismissiveness when it comes to what it was that your party did wrong to be thrown out of power.

    You think you’re converting people to your side of the argument? How? With the kind of extremism shown by the university students against Miss Bishop? With your Minority Marches whilst wearing F**K ABBOTT T-Shirts?

    You’re not converting anyone other than just keeping the fire of hate burning amongst your other fellow extremists. Nobody is being converted to your cause, and if they were thinking about it, they’d be frightened off by your overall insidious, sadistic and aggressive approach to politics that spits in the face of the Australians that voted for Liberal, calling those who voted for Abbott all manner of names; how very adult of you.

    What a joke. It’s a reprehensible joke, but you’re not even up for being pitied because your overall anger and hate towards anyone not on your side of extremism dispels any idea of being able to talk to you on a rational level.

    ‘Hey, look! That man/woman is wearing a F**K TONY ABBOTT T-Shirt! Let’s go hear about their cause! I’m sure it’s a mature and rational one!’ Said No One Ever.

    The major problem with your so called movement is this: You don’t have a message, and that’s why you don’t have a movement. In all these posts, marches, whinging online that I have seen, NOT ONE OF YOU HAS OFFERED A HEALTHIER ALTERNATIVE.

    If you were standing here and marching and saying ‘Ditch both major parties and let’s start again!’ Then guess what? People just might start to listen.

    But this short sighted, stubborn ‘I will support Labor until the day that I die, regardless of how bad they perform’ attitude, not only hurts you as an individual by truly ostracizing yourself from what could be otherwise progressive conversations with those that don’t share your views, it hurts the country in general.

    Offer a healthier alternative that is an alternate government to what both major parties have to offer, and people might just start to listen.

    Otherwise: Keep it up, people. You’re doing a fine job of getting nowhere closer to what you want, which is your own under performing party back in power.

  605. john921fraser

    <

    Good lord ! ….. i've upset "Kdub".

    Time to move onto "Terry".

  606. john921fraser

    <

    "Terry" jumps to Godwin's Law in the 3rd paragraph.

    On the downhill slope early.

    "Terry" allows people to march …… thank you "Terry".

    "Terry" not impressed with how people dress.

    "Terry" not converted.

    "Terry" not laughing.

    "Terry" looking !

    "Terry" has a problem.

    "Terry" wants people to march and say what he is telling the.

    "Terry" is a visionary.

    "Terry" is a health freak.

    Oh joy ! ….. "Terry" wants us to "keep it up".

    <

    Sadly "Terry" has no "Comment" on Whitehousegate.

  607. Carol Taylor

    Terry and,

    You’re doing a fine job of getting nowhere closer to what you want, which is your own under performing party back in power.

    Actually we don’t need to do a ‘fine job’ at all (although of course our authors here do precisely that), poor old clueless Tones really cannot work it out how a majority of Australians want Australia to be what it has always strived for, the land of the fair go – reward for effort but compassion for those less fortunate.

  608. Terry

    I have a feeling you get schooled a lot by people above your intelligence, which both the majority of society and on this board so clearly are.

    Reading through your litany and intellectually bereft comments only leaves me thinking one thing: You’re trying to have arguments with those above the substandard intellectual pay grade that you were given in life.

    Example: KDUB argues that we should have an inquiry into all financial political matters, both union and private. To that I say well played.
    My argument is that we need a new alternative from both major parties.
    YOUR argument is…that Tony Abbott looks like Rolf Harris. (May 28th, 9:14am)

    Astounding.

    So let me just keep you in line with your habitual existence of having to be shown the way and led by others who are your superiors : I have plenty to say about Frances’ Scholarship. You see that arrow on your screen? Use your mouse pad/tracking pad and point it to the ‘Older Comments’ section.

    You will find my only other detailed response in there.

    I like to keep my comments more about quality than quantity.
    Perhaps it’d be wise for you to take the same approach.

    And before you retort with something weak like ‘I have upset Terry’ (See how I already have you figured out; Simple solutions for simple people) Let me just say that it’s more a funny annoyance than anything. Kind of like a chihuahua humping your leg.

    Now get back in your box.

  609. Terry

    @John921fraser: The above response is just for you.

  610. john921fraser

    <

    Dear Terry,

    Knowing your superior intelligence is now here for all to see could I just make this little point.

    "An Open Letter to Frances Abbott"

    Fcuk ! …… did you miss that.

    Get help Terry ….. or get a scholarship.

  611. Selina

    A well thought out letter to Ms Abbott and a very kind one as well. To the pseudo-intellectuals who denigrate it as being below par, perhaps you need to understand that often people write from the heart and give their opinion. In fact, your responses are mere opinion and you’ve not referenced anything or backed your arguments in any way. Welcome to social media. Victoria was not writing a dissertation, but merely stating her opinion and in doing so, reflecting the opinions of many.

    As much as Ms Abbott has been unwittingly dragged into this farce, one has to question how an intelligent young woman would not have been aware of the possible consequences of accepting the scholarship. To give some credit, perhaps she was unaware of her father’s plans to cut the welfare ‘safety net’ to people under 30 and to make tertiary education, in many instances, unattainable for prospective students, especially those lacking the financial means and/or those who do not have parents with very strong and useful connections and networks. But, even children in primary school know and understand the concept of “teacher’s pet”, so I fail to see how Frances was not au fait with what *might* happen if the public became aware of her scholarship.

    To the person who said that there’s no evidence of Mr Abbott’s misogyny, I believe the following quotes are enough to qualify. Excuse me for not referencing:

    ‘The problem with the Australian practice of abortion is that an objectively grave matter has been reduced to a question of the mother’s convenience.’

    ‘I think it would be folly to expect that women will ever dominate or even approach equal representation in a large number of areas simply because their aptitudes, abilities and interests are different for physiological reasons’

    ‘I think there does need to be give and take on both sides, and this idea that sex is kind of a woman’s right to absolutely withhold, just as the idea that sex is a man’s right to demand I think they are both they both need to be moderated, so to speak’

    ‘What the housewives of Australia need to understand as they do the ironing is that if they get it done commercially it’s going to go up in price and their own power bills when they switch the iron on are going to go up, every year…’

  612. Bacchus

    Your beloved emporer’s slip is showing Terry 😆

    Tony Abbott’s key attributes were out of touch with ordinary people (67%), arrogant (63%), narrow-minded (61%), hard working (57%) and superficial (57%).

    Since April, the largest shifts have been for out of touch with ordinary people (+11), trustworthy (-11), good in a crisis (-10), hard working (-9) and a capable leader (-9).

    Leader Attributes – Tony Abbott

    Compared to Bill Shorten, Tony Abbott is much more likely to be considered out of touch with ordinary people (+28), arrogant (+27), narrow minded (+26), intolerant (+26) and aggressive (+20).

    Bill Shorten is regarded by more respondents to be intelligent (-14) and a capable leader (-10).

    Leader Attributes – Comparisons

  613. Selina

    Just a couple of points for Terry. No one would suggest that Mr Abbott is like Hitler in so far as genocide is concerned. To say that does give credence to Godwin’s much touted law (or rule), descending into the ridiculous. However, a comparison made in terms of nationalism, the use of propaganda and the removal of personal rights, is a valid one to make, whether you compare to the Nazis, the Fascists (as created by Mussolini), fascism in general or communism. I think one of the most telling things for me is my very good friend, who lived under the yolk of the Pinochet government, becoming very nervous about the direction in which this government is heading. I do agree that we need more viable alternatives because what we have now is merely the lesser of two evils (take your pick as to which one is the ‘lesser’). If people remain ‘switched on’ about their government, then we will always be in a position to avoid repeating the mistakes made by those I mentioned and so, retain our right to free speech and our egalitarian society.

  614. iand

    Well thank you Terry. It’s ever so comforting to have the blatantly obvious explained to me.

    “So let me just keep you in line with your habitual existence of having to be shown the way and led by others who are your superiors :”

    I am so deeply gratified to know that you are amongst those who are my superiors. I cannot probably thank you enough, eternal groveling and sucking up just doesn’t fulfill the superior being’s desire and need to be reminded how superior they are.
    Reading your comments as posted, I ask which level of quality do you think you ascribe to? I suggest your copying Mr Pyne’s style of “debating” may appear to you to be top quality. It does however have a distinct quality of name calling, denigrating, misinformation and on a law of averages (given the volume) may even contain something factual and relevant.
    Again I thank you for pointing out my inferiority to your superiority. Us inferiors do prefer to allow the superiors to maintain their belief in their superiority.
    Oh I do apologise for not mentioning the Hitler fellow, but didn’t really see much relevance to Victoria’s open letter.

  615. Fed up

    Just had a trip on my local bus, for $2.50, which if I lose that concession card will cost me $9.20. Only to my nearest shops.

    Mr Abbott said, that a couple of days ago, he called into the Leumeah MacDonald’s for a coffee. While he was there, he was mobbed with about 40 people. telling him what a good job he is doing, and to keep up the good work. Wonder if that was another figment of his imagination, along with the police warnings not to go to that university.

    Now, I would not advise Mr, Abbott to catch a bus in my area. NO, it was not complementary Though, the kept the real anger fro Bronnie. If I was her, I would keep to my office.

    I arrive home. to see Mr. Dutton spreading his lies. No Mr, Dutton, bulk bill was always for all. Mr Dutton, you are giving doctors more paper work. You promised less. Mr Dutton, you have not in any way justified that $7, which does not go to either Medicare or budget bottom line. Mr Dutton, you are now saying you do not want to deter people going to doctors. If that is so, what is the purpose of the $7

    Mr Dutton,. as a pensioner, I already pay much towards my Medical care. You want me to pay more. It will cost nearly as much to collect it, as the level you have set.

  616. Fed up

    You Terry, we are not launching a revolution. Well Abbott did try that against Gillard. Except for those shocking photos from the back of that lorry, did not work.

    Terry all we are doing is voicing our opinion, saying why we do not like this government., Pray, tell me what is wrong with that.

    If what we say, has no value, why has this government hired over 1000 media adviser, with one job, to peruse the blogs and social sites on the web. They seem to believe we are of wasting our time.

    You are obviously not a history student, or you would know, the only way that social change came about, over hundreds of years, was by revolution and public protest.

  617. Fed up

    Terry, leave the comfort of your computer, go out in public. You will hear anger that is very deep. People are concerned.

    People are sick of the lies. Whether you judge it is justifiable or waste of time, does not change the fact, It exists.

    It is what one has to put up with, when one lives in a democracy,

    If it worries you so, what we say, why come here.

  618. Fed up

    The old bloke I talked to, was very concerned. He told me about his brother in law, who voted Liberal. Yes, he talked about the $1000 electoral bribe Howard handed out to pensioners. Said he got I too. He accuse his brother IL of voting Liberal because of that $1000. Was expecting more. He said he asked him recently, who he voted for. Was told it was none of his business, This from a man, seems was proud to vote Liberal.

    Now I do not understand, why that $1000 bribe of Howard’s was OK, to in an election. While the $900 Rudd handed out to save the economy is bad.

  619. Phil

    Good on you Victoria.Sock it to these insular Hypocrites

  620. Fed up

    Under Labor, that debt was slowly trending downwards over a number of years. It was not been added to. Labor was warned in the middle of the years, to go slower and take the brakes off, otherwise there was a danger the economy would collapse.

    It appears this government has ignored that advice. I suspect, we will all pay the price.

  621. corvus boreus

    People, there’s probably a few things we should keep in mind as we contribute to this forum.
    We should be mindful of the content and intent of the language we use. It is easy to assume an external persona online(I post as a farkin’ raven)but with this in mind we should take care not to post the most vindictive response that pops into our heads. I have been guilty of this, and pulled up gently(cheers randal).
    An online forum gives us the chance to examine, alter and possibly erase a thought before we fling it out into the cosmos. Far less regret (and karma?) then.
    We all presumably come here for informed discussion and that should healthily include a variety of backgrounds and viewpoints. There are undoubtedly trolls, but we should exercise benefit of the doubt until malice is confirmed.
    The quality of the input of a poster of a differing viewpoint, and their openness to the validity of your viewpoint can depend largely upon the rationality and accuracy of your dialogue.
    When I discussed aspect of the posted topic with Kdub, I was unwilling, and unable to post a rational response to the references to intemperate and derogatory language from frequent posters. I feel no need to defend others’ words, nor could I had I wanted to. The point was valid. Universality of standard.
    By the fact that there was no escalation of language in my dialogue, and that I made no claims of which I didn’t feel any mental or moral uncertainty, we had a reasonable exchange of viewpoints The terms Kdub used became less emotive, and they may have left with a good idea in their minds(Terry, to clarify, Kdub did not argue for an inquiry into all financial political matters, they agreed with the need, at repeated prompting, on their 6th posting).
    Those entering this forum with disparate views but honest intent may well descend into the childish insults that are so irritating to decency(sooks, whingers, leftards) if they are greeted with an equally juvenile variation(fascists, libtards). Those pushing for decency should try to hold to it.
    We do all still have to share a land.

  622. Terry

    @ Fed UP
    I’d just like you to have a read of a fine story I have put together to explain why we vote for, who we vote for.
    I always find it ironic that Labor supporters happily label themselves ‘Progressive’, when their own personal lives are anything but. Hardcore Labor or Liberal supporters who stubbornly vote for one party over and over and over again, are so far removed from being progressive that it’s not even funny.

    But here. Take a look:

    The parties, and which one of them you vote for, are actually a fine example of what’s going on in your life.

    Say for example if you and three mates come out of High School/University and can’t find a job or just decide to become a bum and smoke pot all day everyday, waiting for that dream job to fall in your lap; you’ll all vote for Labor, because you know they won’t ask you twice about if you are a good candidate for dole money.

    In fact, Labor is happy to have you sit on your butt, because they know you’ll vote for them because of the money they’re giving you so easily through the dole.

    It’s a year or two later though, and let’s say that you get bored of sitting on the couch with the same mates and going to the beach everyday on the tax payers dime, and decide to do something with your life; you leave those maters behind and go out there and start applying for jobs, and land one. It’s not the one you wanted – the first one rarely ever is – but it’s a place where you can climb the ladder and do well, and you do exactly that.

    The next election, you’re kind of on the edge; should you vote for Labor or Liberal? Liberal looks after your boss and he pays your bills; Labor looks after who you used to be, that guy that decided to sit on the couch with his hand out instead of chasing a job. Hmm. So let’s say for the sake of argument, you vote Labor again.

    You keep going, working your butt off. The mates you used to hang with are still sitting on the couch smoking pot and going to the beach everyday, and you’re getting kind of sick of paying for them every time you go out drinking together. They’re always broke and they take advantage of you now that you’ve been promoted at work a few times and you’re even thinking of starting your own business.

    All those guys on the couch now seem so angry that they don’t have the job that you have; but the difference is that they don’t care how hard you worked for it; they want what you have NOW; but they want it without putting the few years in that it takes to get there.

    You start asking yourself: Why are they allowed to get away with being on the dole for so long? They have been on the dole of FOUR YEARS.

    The next election comes along; You vote for Liberal this time.

    You start your own business, and before you know it, it’s booming. You’re earning more money now, and tax incentives become a reality. Labor doesn’t want to help you. In fact, Labor wants to keep telling you that it would have been better if you’d stayed on the couch, because then they could have counted on your vote.

    The guys that used to be your mates are still on the couch complaining about how Liberal doesn’t give them opportunities, and you tell them that’s rubbish, because a few years ago you were all on the couch.

    They stand there wearing F**K TONY ABBOTT T-Shirts, yelling at you for not being tolerant of their ‘Special Needs’ and that you’re a corporate sell out, and while they’re at it, a few other colourful names as well.

    You leave and never speak to your friends again. The next time you see them, they’re on TV in a March carrying hateful slogans about your Prime Minister. Still broke. Still on the dole. Still angry.

    Now that you run your own booming business, Liberal is the party that will look after your needs as an employer of up to 500 people who’s lives depend on you getting them paid. You care a lot about those people; because giving them jobs is putting food on their table to feed themselves, and more importantly, their kids.

    With a lot of hard work, you’ve done pretty well for yourself. One day as you leave the office, some protester calls you the 1% and says that you’re what’s wrong with the world because you’re wealthy and greed is bad; that it’s because of you that families are suffering.

    That night, in bed, before you fall asleep, you realise something: You realise you’ve voted for both parties throughout your life, and have grown as a result; Both served a different purpose for a different phase of your life; but when you got your life and your act together, you realised there was really only one worth voting for; Liberal.

  623. Fed up

    Tripe in, tripe out. Sorry Terry, cannot take your reply seriously. To long in the tooth Seen to much in my lifetime, to be taken in by fairy tales.

    Yes, come from a farming background, Yes worked in factories and like. Yes, went uni. Yes raised four kids., Yes, and know first hand what sexual abuse of children and domestic violence is. Yes, worked inn welfare, at the coal face.

    You are at the very a sanctimonious p….. You have much to learn. I object strongly to being lectured by the likes of you., Come back when you have a little life experience, and have grown up a little.

  624. john921fraser

    <

    @Terry

    Gee you're a funny guy.

    Coming out with all these exceptionally funny hypertheticals.

    You only bring in people who fit your rather slanted view of the world.

    I suppose some of your people sitting on the couch could be voting Greens …. why some of them might even vote Independent.

    How about the one with rich parents, who by chance is also collecting the dole, went to Kings College and likes his pot ?

    Or say they had a couple of girl friends …… perhaps one of them was originally the girlfriend of the Kings College dropout and went to Abbotsleigh ,because they both moved in the same privileged circles, but now goes with one of your Labor voters because he is a bit edgy, appears to have some talent.

    Now these girlfriends vote Greens.

    Gosh "Terry" ……. your hypothetical is just so shallow.

    But I think you already suspect that ….. but don't have the courage to admit you & Abbott are wrong.

    Notice I am being nice and did not say anything about your IQ.

    But "Terry" ………………….. you are funny.

  625. Ian Joyner

    Terry – such a long post with nothing based on fact or reason. You just characterise those who don’t vote Liberal as sitting around on their butt being lazy smoking pot, but those Liberal voters who ‘work hard’ as being good.

    What nonsense. Your characters are just straw men. With your other posts, it seems like you are like many Liberals who consider themselves to be so superior to others. You have just shown off your ignorance and true colours here.

  626. Gillian McInnes

    There once was a girl who was brought up believing that the good and moral people always voted Liberal. She went to private schools; learned the required behaviours; was grateful for meeting the music teacher who changed her life and for some of the friends she made. She was grateful for an all girls situation where she did science and maths and so did heaps of people. Women were leaders. She felt pleased she had the skills to be comfortable in any social situation; went to balls, dances, dinners, Portsea, regattas.

    Went to teachers’ college, because she really wanted to be a teacher. Even though she could have gone elsewhere. There, she encountered others who did not vote Liberal. Most of them didn’t vote Liberal. She had never met such people much, before. She listened, argued, wondered. The behaviours she was so confident about didn’t help. She was a follower of rituals and behaviours, and an espouser of pre-digested ideas, but she didn’t know much about most things pertaining to how we live together on the planet. She was no one inside. She also read great literature, watched great films and plays, read the newspapers , talked, listened and expanded.

    She was quite disconcerted by the people, at first. She was a fish out of water: Unused to less money; Unused to rougher manners; Unused to the ideas. One day she went to a new friend’s family home, and was terribly uncomfortable. Mother and dad both worked. Low income was obvious in every way. Youngest girl was intellectually challenged, and lived at home, cared for by all. The children respected their mother so much they got together and decided to call her ‘mother’ not ‘Mum’. The father was cutting fruitcake , directly on the table and offered the girl a piece from his knife. She was shocked, but accepted.

    This family taught her humanity. Taught her what people working together could achieve, and about looking after each other with unthinking sacrifice as well. Taught her about belonging to the planet and the community with heart and connection and concern for others. Taught her about volunteering in the community, working hard, listening to ideas and discussing.

    She discovered that the best and most moral people do not necessarily vote Liberal. She discovered that money was a very small signifier of anything better or more worthy or more admirable about a person. She decided this family’s experience of life was, for the most part, far wider, and more thoughtful that that of the lovely families she had known previously. They seemed more considered than that of many of her sweet but naïve and carelessly privileged earlier friends. This family had had to confront basic notions about life and how to live it. They voted Labor.

    When it came to voting there seemed to be a genuine choice of small l Liberal or Labor, then. For a while she really thought about it each election and her vote was not regular.As the Liberal party became more and more insular and showed less and less ability to even imagine the lives of others, her vote settled on the Left. But she still thought about it each time.

    Now the current LNP seem to have lost any connection to the planet, the rest of the population, or anything at all beyond their small and insular coterie of lawyers, business owners, smart investors who create little and share nothing. Shabby victories seem to be the pinnacle of achievement for most. They appear to have enormous disdain for the ordinary Australian. She cannot find anything to admire or even understand any more in the rhetoric or the actions of the LNP. She wonders why the Nationals are with them. They are SO not the party for farmers and the environment or growing and managing our finite resources wisely for the future. And they are not the party for people with heart and intelligence and connection to the community. Or for people who culturally support the teachings of Jesus – Christians or not.

    She finds it hard to consider Labor as well, as they teeter in that direction. But she could not, in any way, give her vote to the current government.

  627. Selina

    An interesting and quite balanced article.

    “It is important to emphasize that the authors do not posit an independent direct causal connection between low I.Q. and more reactionary attitudes towards race and homosexuality. Rather, they start out with a model where low cognitive ability people are drawn (or remain in) to conservative orientation, and this is further correlated with these specific racial and sexual attitudes.”

    http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/gnxp/2012/01/social-conservatives-have-a-lower-i-q-probably/#.U4XIKi_wUb0

  628. Fed up

    Gillian McInnes, I like your comment,. At least you have grown., Nothing is black and white as some believe. At the end of the day, it is not about parties, but what type of society you want to live in, I hope you work your way through and come up with someone you can support. Just remember, in life, there are always compromises. There is no perfect answer.

    Always question, never trust anything a politician says.

  629. David

    Your article is whining, sarcastic and plain bitchy. Sounds like its eminated from some wet behind the ears left wing jouro.

  630. Stephen Tardrew

    And you are a dry behind the ears ex spurt bogon.

  631. Michael Taylor

    Sorry David. We’re not journos here (I assume you meant journo, even though you said jouro – no doubt a typo brought on by your haste to have a go at a lefty), but we’re just a bunch of people who like to have a say. Even you’ll admit that people like us don’t get much of a say in any other media. Now do us all a favour and run back to reading your opinions in Rupert Land, unless of course you have something intelligent to add. Am I too hopeful?

  632. Ian Joyner

    Whining – whatever must you think of Christopher Pyne?

  633. Fed up

    Michael I am amaze that many of our new friends have so little understanding of what is being said, is their belief this is a commercial site, that employs and pays journalists.

    I would say, one should congratulate you for the high standards you have obviously achieved.

    They do not seem this is a social site, a blog, that this government has employed well over a thousand media experts to peruse, and report to the government what is being said, and by whom. Mr Morrison has 90 odd alone in his department. The PM also has hundreds, I believe. Maybe the senate hearings will reveal how many.

    By the way, Mr Cormann believes there has to be great fat in the ABC, as they would not been able to set up 24 hours news, if this was not true. So Mr Cormann believes that the ABC should not ben able to take advantage of digital TV, along with the commercial stations.

    When one looks at what is available on the ABC along with other commercial TV, it was not fat that allowed them to extend coverage, but dumping of many other good valuable programmes. We could be play9ng a big price for the advantages of digital TV,. Many more hours of viewing, but made up mostly of repeats, from many decades, Very little good quality new programming.

    Wonder how many of those media advisers/expert are a part of our new audience,

    Mr Cormann would not have mind ABC 24, when is was condemning the Labor government every day, and when heard every ten minutes, what the Opposition leader “said……..”

  634. Fed up

    No David, most post and comments here emanate from people with life experience, and yes with a good education. People who live in the real world. A world where one does NOT sit on their arses, ripping the system off all day. Yes, a world where most work hard, and each day is a struggle.

    A world where this PM believes are not worthy of assistance and requires his tough love.

    A world that this government believes any money being spent, is a waste.

    A world, whose work and toil over the generations, has made this country the wealthy nation it is.

    Listen to the disgraceful speech that our illustrious PM delivered to the Mining Industry last night, if one wants to hear what real whining is.

  635. Fed up

    “The proposed changes to higher education funding could saddle some students with debt they cannot pay off in their lifetime, our new modelling released today shows”

    Looks like Mr Pyne will have to chase the money beyond the grave. ABC Fact finder, found that Mr Pyne’s beliefs about the benefits of university education arte greatly over blown.

    Over blown in his claims that all get employment, and no where near the wages that Pyne claims. Then why would one expect truth from this government. Have to lie, to put in place their ideology and prejudices beliefs.

    .The proposed changes to higher education funding could saddle some students with debt they cannot pay off in their lifetime, our new modelling released today shows…..

    https://theconversation.com/modelling-shows-more-students-face-lifetime-debt-under-deregulated-fees-27176?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Latest+from+The+Conversation+for+29+May+2014&utm_content=Latest+from+The+Conversation+for+29+May+2014+CID_724b360e995cc913fd2e49d8f5b71952&utm_source=campaign_monitor&utm_term=Modelling%20shows%20more%20students%20face%20lifetime%20debt%20under%20deregulated%20fees

  636. john921fraser

    <

    @twistie1

    And still Shorten will not ask questions.

  637. Stephen Tardrew

    John:

    I choke; I snivel; I drivel; I bivel; l scream; I cry; I laugh; I throw up and yet the air is still, the words are empty and the silence deadening.

    Am I living in a void?

  638. corvus boreus

    Into the void, Christine cries: people suspect shenanigans, we should have an investigation. Tony and Bills’ boys and girls say: nuh, it’s all good.
    Even a wingnut (and fair’s fair her party represent more than 1 in 10 voters) might have something to say worth listening to. If Senator Ricky Muir(Motorist Enthusiast Party representative and student in the aerodynamic qualities of macropod scats) he proposed a “beating children to death is a bad thing” motion, I would hope the Senator Stardust Moonbeam of the Destroy all post agrarian technology and return to subsistence existence party(ficticious straw-person) would not oppose the motion.
    More than anything else, what I hate to see in our legislative guardians, is a disinterest in honesty, ethics and public interest. I suspect the motivations of polititians who oppose transparency.

  639. Selina

    Seems Smokin’ Joe used to be a whinging lefty. 🙂 Interesting and hilarious when you think he was fighting against a $250 (back in ’87) admin fee. The rest of his degree was free… Now he’s suggesting that future tertiary students come out of their studies with a debt the size of an average mortgage. Hypocrisy from a very privileged and “entitled” person.

    http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2014/05/28/video-shows-joe-hockey-protesting-university-fees-1987

  640. Pingback: $60,000 reason I need my dad to stop driving a taxi | Sumeyya Ilanbey

  641. Frank

    Like they say, don’t let the truth get in the way of an opportunity to be cynical. Frances Abbott wasn’t there because of her father, she was there based on merit. This is highlighted by her Distinction academic status. Being awarded a scholarship indicates no hypocrisy on the part of Tony Abbott. She won a scholarship, of which there are many, and will continue to be many in Australia. This has nothing to do with people having to pay for education in Australia – it has to do with Frances Abbott achieving on a high level. So what’s changed that warrants an attack on the PM? Absolutely nothing. It’s just sad that people have twisted the facts to take a cheap swipe at the presently controversial PM, with no facts to indicate that his influence has been exerted. So where you said you feel sorry, correct it, and say that you are sorry. You are the type of person who is robbing Frances Abbott of her hard earned achievements. Shame on you.

  642. Möbius Ecko

    Frank can you then point to us who all these others are that got $60,000 scholarships from the Whitehouse Institute for Design and those others who were told there was a $60,000 scholarship available.

    Can you then explain to us why Frances lobbied for private education institutes to get special funding from the Federal government for the first time whilst all other education was cut?

    Then after lobbying she got a job with no job description at that same institute.

    Sorry Frank it’s shame on you for either being so easily fooled or deliberately turning a blind eye to this corruption.

    I tell you what, let’s have an inquiry into it as Abbott is so find of them. Make the Whitehouse Institute publicise it documentation it’s keeping secret and the chair answer questions under oath. If it’s all above board there’s nothing to hide then is there?

  643. Ian Joyner

    No Frank – don’t dismiss this as being cynical because it is the truth that Frances got her scholarship as a favour to the Abbott family – that IS FACT. No other students were offered the chance to apply for a scholarship. It was just for Frances.

  644. john921fraser

    <

    @Frank

    I'm quite prepared to give you the benefit of doubt.

    Try reading a few articles on the subject you speak of.

    Frances Abbott Chosen 'On Merit' To Help Lobby Fed Govt Regulators

    https://newmatilda.com/2014/05/24/design-college-boss-was-%E2%80%98teasing%E2%80%99-pm-not-lobbying-says-whitehouse

    http://www.mamamia.com.au/social/frances-abbott-whitehouse/#QIM8KBb1lamfWrRC.97

    http://www.independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/parliamentary-rules-and-tony-and-frances-abbott,6507

    Good luck.

  645. Melissa

    Haha Frank, I think you’re putting the cart before the horse there, purporting that she got the “scholarship” based on merit since she did so well in her course. Not sure how that stretch of the truth will go down but it gave me a smile. I think any student, unburdened by debt, and not having to work one or two part time jobs to survive, on top of full time study, would do very well indeed. Even so, I say good on her for doing well but let’s not delude ourselves about how she got in that fortunate place.

  646. kyri

    I have absolutely no sympathy at all for Abbott’s daughter.Rather,my sympathy lays with the actual person who alerted the general public of this potential rort and is awaiting her punishment for her whistle blowing .I also have no sympathy for a man who set a precedent in dragging politicians family members into the public arena. I’m reminded ,of course,of comments regarding the death of the then Prime Minister’s father.These outrageous comments were an exercise ij mud slinging and are a far cry from legitimate questions being asked when a paid up member of a party and good friend of the Prime Minister is involved in awarding a $60,000 scholarship:no small change ,I think you’ll agree: to the said Prime Minister’s daughter.Further that this scholarship’s existence,it is reported,was news to the students she was in the same course as.The questions have been asked and if they arenot answered then the doubts and inuedos will go on until they are.

    Instead, where we stand at the moment is this.the present Abbott administration is quite willing to pedal the line that ‘the age of entitlement’ is over and to go after Julia Gillard and Unions for perceived misdemeanors and refrain from self scrutiny.If the government persists in this line of honesty of all but “our team” then they risk an ever deepening cynicism of a public that is sick of a government that is such a poor role model.

    Meanwhile,the present government may rue the day it made a sport out of attacking the previous government and allies for its perceived mistakes when it finds that the next Labor Government may decide to follow this precedent and decide to properly scrutinise the present government’s goings on in such matters as the serious allegations raised above.

  647. kyr10

    Abbott is so lucky that the Opposition has decided to play by the old rules that Abbott quite happily tore up when he was in opposition…you know the rule about not dragging politician’s families into the political spotlight.The upshot is that there seems to be no talk of an inquiry and Abbott has got away with this . Another observation is that those few that support Abbott,such as the comments above,are left looking foolish as they try to defend the indefencible.

    For others,such as myself,I can only conclude that those that espouse the end of “he Age of Entitlement” do not include themselves in the equation.

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