92 comments

1. hemingway13May 18, 2014 at 12:24 am

   This is an incisive analysis of just one example of a plethora toxic eruptions from Murdoch’s media outlet this week. The widespread Murdoch empire will continue to undermine our democratic society unless sagacious and cogent writers such as Mr. Taylor speak for those of us who have no voices. We are now in clear and present danger of moving so far down the path to American levels of income inequality that there will be no turning back. Then the majority of families in Australia will constitute what Noam Chomsky terms “the precariate”.

2. Fed upMay 18, 2014 at 12:29 am

   It is my belief, we would have accepted pain for gain, Trouble is, there is no gain in this budget.

   Further more, there is no budget emergency, therefor no need for pain

   The anger is because this government is conning us.

   What gets me, is the whine coming from this mob because we dare to call the budget out for it’s deceit. So deceitful, that it is still emerging, how deep the cuts have gone.

3. Willow88May 18, 2014 at 12:29 am

   Hear Hear

4. lawrencewinderMay 18, 2014 at 12:33 am

   Perhaps the Oz better send some journos into private hospitals where it seems that patients recovering from ops are discussing, unprovoked the budget and “Rabbutt-the-Hun’s” ineptitude with their nurses…. interesting anecdote.

5. Peter ValentineMay 18, 2014 at 12:34 am

   Not sure I approve of even publicising the gutter press. Leave it to the idiots who pay Murdoch to read this rubbish. Having said that I endorse your comments.

6. DanDarkMay 18, 2014 at 12:39 am

   I just rang said paper after reading that total Nazi propaganda,
   and told them, over their answering machine,
   cos first bloke didn’t want to speak to me after answering phone,
   he put me through to an answering machine, smart arse prick

   Sooo I said “If you keep this shit up by helping Tony and Co inflict their master plan
   of genocide the slow form on this countries people, you will pay in some way,
   and leave the labor party alone, no more excuses the adult gov have been in power 8 months,
   back off with your lies, your paper will go down, after Tony and co
   and this is not a threat its a promise, and your papers just shit anyway”

7. MarkHMay 18, 2014 at 12:44 am

   The true confected outrage is from the right over an economy that largely does NOT have the problems the Commission of Audit thinks are there.

   It’s they who need to be rage filled in their determination to be as ‘fiscally tough’ as their ideologically driven rantings can muster.

   That The Australian feels DISAPPOINTED that the government didn’t go hard enough says more about what is wrong with the country than any speech from Bill Shorten can.

   Holding those who need support the most in contempt is par for the course…the grand mission of the right in this country to reshape Australian according to some form of modern version of Victorian era Dickensian style dystopia requires it.

   Thanks for this analysis.

8. bobraftoMay 18, 2014 at 12:58 am

   Can they get any lower? Yes they can.

   I was browsing the Courier Mail and clicked on a single’s mother’s story of what $7 meant to her and it took me to a News site. The story was plucked from the net and it was a gut wrenching story of hardship.

   When I reached the comments section,I came to the realization that News journalist descended to the lowest cesspit.

   They held this single mother’s story up for ridicule for it’s readers. When I tried to comment to call someone a pompous, condescending prick I was deleted to ensure that pure vitriol in it’s entire collectiveness was contiguous.

   It is hard to imagine that there are people out in our community who are devoid of any compassion and judging by the number of comments, there are plenty out there and being groomed and manipulated by Murdoch’s cesspit journo’s.

   This morning I was in the supermarket and I heard one of 2 young ladies near me say, ‘Get the Australian’
   To which I immediately replied, “Reading trash, are we?” and thank god, we all laughed.

9. DanDarkMay 18, 2014 at 1:17 am

   I am a single Mum, and I would not even think of feeding the monsters,(journos)
   They are using the vunerable, telling them it will help them to get their suffering out there
   Because now she is the fodder, and every other single mum,,who are then stereotyped
   by the monsters and ridiculed,
   we are people, humans, just like them, and should be treated as such by these reporters,journos

10. Michael TaylorMay 18, 2014 at 1:18 am

    Bobrafto,

    I also read a couple of the comments below that article you mention of. I could go on. Two was enough. News.com appeals to the lowest type of slime in the community.

11. The DocMay 18, 2014 at 1:19 am

    We no longer buy or read the Australian, I have given up on the press, I get my news from ABC TV and SBS. i have found the deterioration in the ethics of journalists appalling over the past 20 years. It’s not just mad man Murdoch, It is other media too.I enjoy the AIMN for commentary, but even this medium does not provide news – however, keep up the good work that you do.

12. Stephen TardrewMay 18, 2014 at 1:34 am

    Michael these are not even opinion pieces anymore they rate as hate mail. From journalism to opinion to strait out abuse of innocent people simply trying to find their way through the world.

    They are my brothers and sister, my fellow travelers searching for some security trying to survive in a wholly unequal world. To despise fellow human beings for nothing other than hardship brought on, more often than not through no fault of their own, is despicable.

    Every living creature is essential to the universe otherwise they would not be given life. When reverence for life and our fellow humans fail we are left with hate, judgement, blame and retribution. What these immoral fools want is their pound of flesh. Shakespeare would have nodded in recognition of the modern day Christian Shylock vultures gloating over the carcases of the poor.

    They have no shame and little, or nil, moral standing offering the worst aspects of human depravity and exploitation.

    In my work I have seen the results of LNP greed and selfishness in the faces of my clients and it is heart breaking and despairing that they are being placed in no-exit situations. Climb your way out now sunshine. Deprive people of opportunity and see them fall into depression, anger, hurt, confusion, homelessness, misery and despair. Then tell them to be positive put a smile on their faces and look for non-existent work in low wage slavery.

    I dare you Joe, Tony and the rest of the heartless LNP try spending a month in a homeless refuge for families or youth and discover the actual contributing causes of suffering, or otherwise, try to survive on youth allowance or Newstart for a month and watch how quickly you run back to your bastions of wealth and opulence to avoid real suffering. Spend a month with aged support staff and see what real hardship is.

    Insensitive cowards one and all.

13. RobMay 18, 2014 at 1:39 am

    Go on, call me a bleeding heart, I know there’s blood in mine.

14. John of W. AustraliaMay 18, 2014 at 1:50 am

    Well done, Aust Indep Media Network !

    From John C. Massam, 46 Cobine Way, Greenwood (a northern Perth suburb), WA, 6024, Australia. _www.johnm.multiline.com.au _ _constans@multiline.com.au _ Tel. 08 9343 9532; Mobile 0408 054 319 McAfee anti-virus

    ===============================================================================

15. John C. MassamMay 18, 2014 at 1:52 am

    Well done! I have e-mailed my comment entitled “Budget quite wicked, and so unnecessary” of today’s date, 17 May 2014

16. juliefarthingMay 18, 2014 at 2:28 am

    We stopped buying newspapers two years ago – this is exactly why. Good on those of you who made the effort to contact them – and thanks ABC and AIMN for telling it like it is.

17. puffytmdMay 18, 2014 at 2:29 am

    I put the quote and link to this article on Facebook.

18. DanDarkMay 18, 2014 at 2:41 am

    I clean cop shops, did a 3 months stint in a fairly large country town called Sale
    last year, its high unemployment, crime rate is huge since they built the new prison there after ,pentrige in melb closed bout 20 yrs or so ago now, was a nice country town once

    I over head social worker, say to another
    something like, “its getting worse, especially young people with families
    the parenting skills are dropping in standard to what it ought to be”
    The other one said back
    “if we can get them before they fall through he cracks, they do really well
    its about educating them, they will respond if we respect them, treat them like adults
    and they will become a willing participant, to help themselves and families”

    Mostly young people locked up in holding cells, facing up to the front desk twice a week, to sign, or get locked up, for not adhering to their bail etc
    I was a bit shocked, I had only done small country cop shops up until then
    We have had social problems for years, lack of education, lack of jobs,
    and a generation is already paying for this sadly

19. xiaoechoMay 18, 2014 at 5:09 am

    The more threatened the Government feel the nastier the #vichypress will become.

20. randalstellaMay 18, 2014 at 6:33 am

    xiaoecho,
    “vichy press” – gets across the idea that the enemy from within have taken over.
    Switching nations, but on the same theme, “budget deficit emergency” is the Libs’ Reichstag fire.

21. MichaelMay 18, 2014 at 6:45 am

    Rupert’s ‘The Australian ‘ turns 50 this year, and already there is an orgy of self-gratulation about to infuse its pages in coming months. In 1965, a national newspaper was a positive venture, and for just a few years it was a newspaper of some worth.

    However in the hands of the three decades long citizen of the US, its owner Rupert Murdoch, has turned it into a propaganda tool for promoting the financial interests of News Corp, at the expense of the Australian people’s collective interests. Sadly for this nation, the most powerful individual in Australia in the past 50 years is not any politician, but this unscrupulous, financially obsessed and politically ambitious man.

    Murdoch has learned that while governments and political leaders come and go, News Corp goes from strength to strength. Within this context, he has also learned that he can powerfully influence political outcomes, and that this is ultimately, the true source of state power.

    Grafting into the very worst of American ultra-conservative culture, he wants to fashion Australia in his image. While not buying his newspapers will hurt him a bit, he or his sycophantic writers
    cannot be ignored. In the quest ofAustralian nation-building, he is a highly destructive force, and the personification of this is his latest achievement, the election of the Abbott government. Essentially, Abbott is Murdoch’s ingratiated political puppet. He owes Murdoch big time, and if he doesn’t adhere to Murdoch’s line, he”ll be replaced.

22. PeterFMay 18, 2014 at 7:31 am

    It seems that Abbott’s technique of creating such a negative opinion of politicians during his time in opposition has succeeded in turning the majority of Australians away. He is now able to do whatever he wants because not enough people are interested. He will go down in history as the great destroyer of our country.

    i am not surprised.

23. Melissa DorMay 18, 2014 at 7:32 am

    This is the reason I haven’t read the Australian for some years. It lost its way to right wing neo-liberlist ideals that reminds me of the UK in the 80’s. Its because of this type of thinking that we’ve ended up with the worse government in my memory. There are many Australians out there with the same small minded mentality; sociologists would call them egocentric. I have other names for them!

24. corvus boreusMay 18, 2014 at 7:51 am

    The “strayan”, like all murdoch press operates with a combination of rabid, hateful editorialism, selectively aired reports in loaded language, and sometimes(witness IPCC stories) repeats fabricated stories from even less credible sources(the daily mail ffs). The policy of bold print front page lies followed by small print page 15 retractions means a person only has to glance at a headline to be misinformed.

25. Kaye LeeMay 18, 2014 at 7:52 am

    It’s not only the Australian. On the Drum they have a piece by Terry Barnes who used to be an adviser to Tony Abbott as health Minister. He is now a consultant for private health industries. he accuses Bill Shorten of being a liar.

    “As parliamentary theatre, Shorten’s speech impressed. In its honesty, it was far less impressive. Now the Prime Minister, Hockey and Dutton urgently need to nail their opponents’ lie that its new co-payments are anti-Medicare”

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-05-16/barnes-shortens-war-cry-over-medicare-is-misguided/5456678

    And then we have Chris Uhlman telling us how Joe Hockey has saved so much money, reducing the debt. What these journalists fail to point out is that, in MYEFO which used Coalition policies and decisions, the debt and deficit blew out hugely from PEFO. After inflating the debt by hundreds of billions, Hockey is now claiming credit for reducing it.

    But the real bitch comes when you realise that he inflated the debt with his spending on defence, PPL, gifts to the RBA and polluters, then he reduced the debt by ripping money out of health, education and welfare. Make no mistake, you are paying for Tony’s war games with your children’s lives.

    You, Joe Hockey, are a lying bastard and the sycophantic journalists who repeat your bullshit should be sent to the trash heap where they belong. When journalism becomes propaganda it needs to be countered with truth yelled from every mouth and heart of Australians who care for their country.

    The Australian should be forced to change its name just like the Australian Vaccination Network was forced to do. Der Stürmer would be more appropriate.

26. corvus boreusMay 18, 2014 at 7:53 am

    Don’t get me started on the telecrap.

27. John LordMay 18, 2014 at 8:04 am

    That editorial showed scant regard for the facts and was gratuitous nonsense.

28. Terry2May 18, 2014 at 8:09 am

    I had read the Australian since its inception in 1964 and, with various overseas postings during my working career, I had assiduously sought out the Weekend Australian to keep in touch with home; on occasions in Asia I had to point out to newspaper hawkers that half the bloody paper was missing; he seemed to think that the Magazine was advertising fluff to be discarded..

    All of that has changed: as I mentioned in another post, I cancelled my online subscription to the Australian last week even though it was pre-paid (they will give me a refund they say). The lady who phoned me to ask why I was cancelling was very polite but didn’t seem to understand my frustration at no longer getting impartial news reporting with sometimes provocative and thoughtful commentary. Instead I get heavily biased reporting the warped opinions of neocon trolls like Gerard Henderson and a heavily censored Letters page.

    One of us has changed: Australian, I think it’s you.

29. Billy moirMay 18, 2014 at 8:17 am

    I think it was an honest budget from the amoral rabbott. He believes and cannot be wrong. He knows and cannot be wrong. He lies for a purpose and cannot be wrong.
    Rupert is merely immoral and his Australian is by his charter dishonest. His journalists constricted or compromised and his editors zealous in their efforts to please him. They know negatives sell, sex sells, spin sells and they cannot be wrong if people buy or fly.
    Between them they can and will fool the people all the time.
    The income management that treats all Aborigines at the level shown by ch9 has a natural abbottians end point. Sugar, tea and flour for all the elderly and unemployed with a beer and a smoke on Sunday after mass.

30. Ange KenosMay 18, 2014 at 8:18 am

    Rupert Murdoch employs the trash of Australia. People who are as up themselves as is Joe Hockey. I have neither read nor encouraged this paper to anyone in many years NOr anything owned by Herr Murdoch. And do not worry, come to the next they will again bag the shit out of Labor while beatifying Tony as a saint

31. Helen ShanksMay 18, 2014 at 8:31 am

    Many in this country have become so brainwashed. The same people (readers of Murdochs trash and selfish spin) will be critical of other countries, and how their governments are “doing over their own people”, without any understanding of what is happening right here to them in their own back yard…and how we are all being done over. Even my young granddaughters “get it”, and at 8 and 9 years realise that most of our right wing politicians are not sincere, and that it is about greed and creating a class system. I stopped buying / reading all Murdoch papers, including the local paper here where I am in the West a long time ago. Is there not some way that journalist peers can get journos back on track to report with integrity and honesty? I am so worried about what we are leaving for the next generations that it is almost make you sick to the guts. Let’s hope there are a high number of people out marching today, and that it gets reported on properly.

32. Kaye LeeMay 18, 2014 at 8:38 am

    I hear so many Coalition voters buying the spin. Tradesmen and the blue rinse set parroting the “we have to live within our means” line. Have these people never taken out a loan?

    I have been debt free several times in my life. I have then chosen to go into debt again at the right time for various reasons, all of which have either improved my family’s quality of life in the short term or been an investment for the future. When making those decisions, I have looked at the value of the purchase (current or future), I consider my asset base, and the deciding factor is my ability to service the debt, which has often been a 30 year loan meaning I am potentially signing up for 30 years of deficit.

    Gina Rinehart just borrowed over $7 billion for her new mine. Why would she do that when she has the money herself? Because borrowing to invest is a wise strategy when done for the right reasons.

    Aside from that, we print the money. The government doesn’t have to plan for retirement. They have an ever increasing revenue stream that they can increase by policy decisions any time. I cannot understand how this bullshit line of living within our means is being swallowed. The government debt is far less as a percentage of assets and income than people’s private debts or businesses’ debts. Hockey is stressing the “interest is wasted money” line. Well anyone who has ever taken out a loan, including Gina, knows that is the wrong way to look at it. The interest is the price you pay for the investments you make. It is part of that investment. Not dead money.

    Enough with the bullshit advertising spin perpetuated by people in the media to fool the citizens. That is treating us with contempt. What the Australian people want is truth and integrity – something we do not get from our government or the Murdoch propagandists.

33. Möbius EckoMay 18, 2014 at 8:43 am

    Another good article from AlterNet that is pertinent to the discussion here.
    
    5 of the Most Dangerous Delusions of the Far Right
    Conservatives are outdoing themselves with the crazy on issues like climate change and abortion.

34. Lyle BurnettMay 18, 2014 at 8:57 am

    LOL, God Help him when the Internet falls over and he can’t get his millions out of the bank and the Barter system comes back into play. I won’t be helping him.
    Then the Minority will rule the world again as these sorts of people will have no idea how to live in such a world where money is useless.
    You won’t need a $40 million picture of a Blue Stripe on White Canvas or a $5000 bottle of wine.
    You’ll need knowledge of the land and how to use it. Only us “whiners and whingers, the grifters and grumblers, the loonies and looters‘ of our country ” will know how to survive in it.
    That’s what we’ve been doing for ages, but we’ve woken up to you now and won’t forget it later.
    See you in the gutter, in a few years ……

35. mikestasseMay 18, 2014 at 8:59 am

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-05-17/budget-2014-new-zealand-hands-down-very-different-budget/5459904

    It is hard to imagine the contained New Zealand finance minister bopping in his office ahead of delivering the nation’s budget, as Joe Hockey apparently did.

    But the Australian Treasurer’s dance song Best Day of My Life would have been more appropriate for his New Zealand counterpart Bill English, who has served up one of the rarest of economic dishes: a forecast budget surplus of $NZ372 million ($340 million) in 2014-15, after a $NZ2.4 billion ($2.2 billion) deficit this financial year.

    Also on the menu were election year sweeteners including extended parental leave, and free doctor’s visits and prescriptions for children up to 13 years old.

    Maybe it’s time to abandon the unlucky country…….. my son’s even considering moving to Norway to further his Uni studies, and it makes me wonder whether Hockeynomics will result in a brain drain……

36. Kaye LeeMay 18, 2014 at 9:08 am

    Ka mate, ka mate! ka ora! ka ora!
    Ka mate! ka mate! ka ora! ka ora!

    Tēnei te tangata pūhuruhuru

    Nāna nei i tiki mai whakawhiti te rā

    Ā, upane! ka upane!

    Ā, upane, ka upane, whiti te ra!

37. vivienne29May 18, 2014 at 9:13 am

    It’s not just the pain inflicted on all the less well off. It’s the wholesale attack on Australian society. It’s trying to bring about a change for the worse. Dumbing down the country, selling us out, the corporatisation/privatisation of our good things, the very things which government is actually there for. I’ve downloaded the Budget Paper No.2 – it’s a vomit inducing read.

38. edward eastwoodMay 18, 2014 at 9:17 am

    Most interesting that the editorial should use the word ‘looters’. ‘Looters’ and ‘moochers’ are among the most frequently used nouns by Ayn Rand throughout her turgid prose to underpin her twisted and hateful polemic.

    By the tone of the editorial, it’s more than likely that whoever wrote it, is devotee of Rand and her ‘philosophy’ of Objectivism (plagiarised wholesale from from Friedrich Nietzche and grafted Frankenstein like to Adam Smith’s ‘Wealth of Nations’ and then worked into fiction on a plot stolen from ‘Little Orphan Annie’, a popular comic strip from the 1930s – Rand knew a great deal about ‘looting’ and ‘second-handing’!).

    What these devotees fail to realize, perhaps due to the tin foil hat that they wear over the points on the top of their heads, is that followed to its logical conclusion, in Rand’s dogmatism there is not room for democracy and ultimate goal of this Marxism for millionaires is that 99% of the population, and this includes the writer of the editorial, slave for subsistence wages while powerless to do anything about it.

    Is this starting to sound familiar?

    Abbott and Hockey’s budget is Barratry (fraud or gross negligence by a ship’s master or owners at the expense of the crew) pure and simple.

39. Rob AlanMay 18, 2014 at 9:31 am

    We are not alone in our collective contempt for the bill o’reilly cloning industry,

    ‘May 16, 2014 – This week Rupert Murdoch acquired Harlequin, the publishing outfit known for those incredibly steamy softcore porn, housewife-fetish books. Well, now that Murdoch owns it, Bill Maher suspected the books might take a rightward turn, and read an excerpt of what sounded a lot like some conservative fetish porn.’

    http://youtu.be/1KszuxrbzLg

40. scaper...May 18, 2014 at 9:31 am

    “Joe Hockey’s first budget has brought out the whiners and whingers, the grifters and grumblers, the loonies and looters.”

    Yep

41. Michael TaylorMay 18, 2014 at 9:47 am

    Scaper, I thought you were better than that.

42. Pingback: As I was saying yesterday… | Neil's Commonplace Book

43. Fed upMay 18, 2014 at 9:55 am

    If I could have got to the march today, my banner would be “ABBOTT: WHY??????????????????”

    Yes, why why why why

    The biggest whingers appear to be the government that cannot accept any criticism of what they are attempting to do. Whingeing about being accused of lying. Do not hear what is being screamed by the citizens, that you are wrong.

    NO, their reaction, is to further abuse those who are objecting to their actions in the budget.

    Problem is the action taken will not repair the budget. It is all pain for no gain, Pain that continues into the far future for those on low incomes, of all ages.

44. AuricleMay 18, 2014 at 9:57 am

    “The widespread Murdoch empire will continue to undermine our democratic society unless sagacious and cogent writers such as Mr. Taylor speak for those of us who have no voices.”

    Well, kind of. How many people actually read sites like this and what’s the demographic? While we’re all engaging in a leftie circle-jerk ( don’t get me wrong, I enjoy it as much as anyone here ), the vast majority of people will never see such views. That the lying racist misogynist homophobic fascist slags we rail against day after day haven’t come after us for defamation indicates just how far under the radar we are.

    The only thing that will force a change is if Murdoch and News are taken down. I’m not holding my breath for Lachlan to do to the family firm what he did to One-Tel and Channel 10.

45. scaper...May 18, 2014 at 9:57 am

    Why waste your time writing about another media outlet? It is no secret News backs the right, Fairfax backs the left and the ABC has a watermelon tinge.

    That so called editorial looks like it was designed to cause outrage and you fell for it. Thought you were wiser than that.

46. BrianMay 18, 2014 at 9:57 am

    I’d only ever consider using the Australian in the loo but I’ve to much respect for my arsehole.

47. Fed upMay 18, 2014 at 9:59 am

    Why do many sound like they are saying double disillusion when they mean double dissolution.

48. AuricleMay 18, 2014 at 10:00 am

    “Scaper, I thought you were better than that.”

    Scaper can’t even run a website. That link around his name gets a 404 Not Found.

49. Fed upMay 18, 2014 at 10:12 am

    “I think it was an honest budget from the amoral rabbott. He believes and cannot be wrong. He knows and cannot be wrong. ”

    I kinda agree. Abbott sees himself as a loving father, who knows what is best for his kids,. He sees himself as handing out tough love.

    Om only has to go back to that article he wrote for the Bulletin after he left the seminary The story of the job he was given, to take trays of food to ill and aging priests tells us all.

    Yes, he refuse to carry out the role he was given, because he believed if they were that sick, they should be in hospital;. He was very clear in the article, he believe they were malingering. Same goes for his attack on Bernie, days before he died.

    He sees all unemployed as not wanting a job. That lower income earners will always rort the system, if seen to be free. Stay at home mothers, as lazy ands self indulgent, Worsen of all, he sees all that have to depend on benefits as being unfit, and unable to manage the little money given to them.

    This allows the, to walk away from government responsibility to care for the poor, weak and vulnerable.

    To them, any help, only encourages them to rely on the system more. They do not see government help, as a means for these same people’s ability to lift themselves out of poverty.

50. Kaye LeeMay 18, 2014 at 10:15 am

    Can ‘The Australian’ stoop any lower?

    “Minister’s gift to couples

    The relationships of Australia are about to get a free tune-up, courtesy of Kevin Andrews. In July this year he will introduce a program whereby couples of all persuasions — those about to be married, the already married, the unmarried, same-sex couples, those hoping to soup up a sagging sex life — will be able to apply online for a $200 counselling voucher. The $20 million pilot will allow 100,000 couples to take that voucher to an approved provider, a marital mechanic, for a service.

    Andrews hopes that through his scheme he can make a dent in the separation rate and, by extension, improve the lives of children. He claims, rather boldly, that the direct cost to the taxpayer is at least $100,000 for each divorce.”

    http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/ministers-gift-to-couples/story-fn59niix-1226920043508#

    I would say Kevin Andrews and his wife are about to see an increased demand for their marriage counselling.

51. Fed upMay 18, 2014 at 10:18 am

    Kaye, it is my experience that many couples stay to gather too long. Many children and even wives would be better off, if they made the move to separate many years earlier. The damage to all last a lifetime.

    Very much so in my case.

52. Fed upMay 18, 2014 at 10:22 am

    By the way, I was always told, marriage counselling is not about keeping couples together. In fact, in many cases, it is about assisting couple to separate, to call an end to the marriage. More useful in reminding couples that they are still parents, and give assistance in making the separation work for the kids.

53. fryaduckMay 18, 2014 at 10:30 am

    The Revolution is coming.

54. guestMay 18, 2014 at 10:40 am

    The Australian newspaper is always full of bile and anger, especially when its views are threatened. Nevertheless, in the past it has seen the writing on the wall and has turned against its champion. It is difficult to believe that Murdoch can continue to support Abbott if his sales continue to decline. Remember that sometimes his news is the only news in town and if it goes on the nose he will lose money – so why would he support a loser?

    What interests me is that the Coalition claims it can achieve a surplus in 2017-18. My understanding is that Labor makes the same claim for its own economics. There have been claims parroted by critics that Labor offers no vision, no “narrative” for the future.

    Can Labor’s economic position be explained? Can Labor achieve a surplus without the pain the Coalition promises us?

    Meanwhile, Labor will continue to hammer away at the Coalition; the cracks in the Coalition are growing into chasms. Can they it do without appearing too negative and at the same time offer an alternative?

55. Kaye LeeMay 18, 2014 at 11:05 am

    guest,

    PEFO, which was independently prepared by treasury and finance, showed Labor with a net deficit of $38 billion over the forward estimates, reaching a surplus in the 4th year.

    Hockey’s MYEFO was a joke. His so-called savings are from his own blown-out figures.

    Reaffirming Australia’s AAA rating, the two analysts from S&P pointedly noted that the latest budget indicates a slower return to surplus than was projected a year ago.

    They also highlighted the budget may be vulnerable to further revenue write-downs, given Canberra’s reliance on the terms of trade.

56. kathysutherland2013May 18, 2014 at 11:05 am

    Nailed it. Glad I don’t bother with The Australian any more – bad for my blood pressure!

57. Rob AlanMay 18, 2014 at 11:21 am

    ‘The Revolution is coming.’

    Already happening and it’s global this time.

    Consults a dictionary:
    1) A drastic and far-reaching change in ways of thinking and behaving
    2) The overthrow of a government by those who are governed
    3) A single complete turn (axial or orbital)

    Seems to me we folks of Oz can get from 1 to 3 skipping the NGO riddled militia opportunities come with 2 in part, by supporting cooperatives where able. I often wonder what an oz map of good people with unwanted skills, too young, too old, not mind numbing obedient enough to fit in, are out their with no useful works to do. Next thought is how can we get these people connected to those needing help locally or collaborate on nation befitting operations.

    ‘The Revolution is coming.’

58. AdamMay 18, 2014 at 11:40 am

    Puerile stuff? Have they seen the behaviour of Christopher Pyne at all? How dare people expressing their fears be slandered in this way. The paper obviously needs a name change.

59. StephenMay 18, 2014 at 11:47 am

    Regarding use of the word ‘looters’ – Nice to see Rand rear her peculiar head in The Australian.

60. AdamMay 18, 2014 at 1:55 pm

    The best thing they ever did at the Australian was introduce the subscription fee.

    Things are changing in this world of ours, yes that’s right ours, it does not belong to the high end of town. I feel deeply for the young & the poor, but it’s hard for me to shed a tear for the pensioners who I know will do it hard under this budget too, they should be asking themselves who they voted for, and should you believe everything you read in newspapers or hear on the radio.

    “Refugees get twice as much per fortnight than pensioners, and free private medical for 4 years” this from the mouth of my own mother. I asked her where she heard that, and does she really believe it’s true, she told me she heard it from a friend who had heard Alan Jones say it on the radio, my reply was “ahh right, got any of that nice fruit cake left in the fridge”

61. margaret MillarMay 18, 2014 at 2:11 pm

    I would call this a coward’s budget–it hits mainly at those who do not have the means to retaliate ! This Budget gives the rich an easy go but decimates the poor and the young! Does the Treasurer know that there is no ‘Trickle Down Effect? that that idea was disgraced in the late 1800’s .The Rich stay Rich and The Poor get Poorer! IT IS Not Good ! Hockey probably thinks that is as it should be!! But it is not! And by the way Hands off OUR ABC!! WE Australian citizens LOVE OUR ABC and SBS–So Hands Off –Fund the ABC Properly and Fully!

62. o1dbh8kristobelMay 18, 2014 at 2:51 pm

    Thankyou. As a Sole Parent/Carer, I was already unable to afford a cancer drug to prevent my white cells dropping to nothing after chemotherapy. Subsequently, I nearly died due to an infection acquired in hospital, pneumonia and four allergic reactions to antibiotics. I cannot have more chemo unless I can afford this drug, so that isn’t likely to happen, as the time frame has run out.This malediction of people like me, who were forced onto the dole and then stripped of all safety nets is far too common. We do not deserve this vilification. I don’t know how long i have left to live, but I can assure you, I will be spending this time fighting the neoliberal campaign against human rights and social justice until the last breath.

63. mars08May 18, 2014 at 3:43 pm

    It gets so confusing!!!

    Wasn’t it the Coalition who, not so long ago, was RELENTLESSLY banging on about ordinary Aussies “doing it tough” and how they needed relief from the cost of living. Wasn’t it Abbott who RELENTLESSLY whined that the “great big new tax” was going to harm ordinary Aussies who could barely make ends meet? Wasn’t it the LNP who insisted that ordinary Australian families deserved a fair go?

    Sooo… what happened? Perhaps Australian families are NOT “doing it tough” as previously stated?

64. eagoodlifeMay 18, 2014 at 4:12 pm

    Reblogged this on The Life Of Von and commented:
    “Yes, Joe, it is an easy budget to criticise. You knew that your budget would make millions of peoples’ lives more appalling. You deserve the criticism”

65. austriaalMay 18, 2014 at 5:00 pm

    The Australian is so openly unsubtly and gut-wrenchingly biased that Papa Stalin. Goebbels and the like could take a few notes home about the level of unwavering brown-nosing to be found in that shit-rag.

66. Fed upMay 18, 2014 at 5:30 pm

    Poetic justice>

    Conservative columnists taxed by political climate change

    Rant fuel running low: Andrew Bolt and others have been forced to rethink their stance on broken promises. Photo: Justin McManus

    As dawn broke over Australia’s new federal budget on Wednesday, it found some interest groups reeling at the new and straitened circumstances under which they will henceforth be obliged to live.

    Among the hardest hit are firebrand conservative columnists, whose crucial supply of rant fuel has been cut off abruptly by the newly released national fiscal blueprint.

    The suffering of such opinion leaders is twofold. Not only will most be obliged personally to pay the deficit levy on Australians earning more than $180,000 a year, but they have also effectively been stripped of two subjects – class war taxes on the rich and the reprehensibility of broken campaign promises – on which many had formerly relied heavily for rhetorical ballast.

    Former prime minister Julia Gillard’s broken promise on the carbon tax provided a rich source on which such commentators were able to subsist comfortably for years – even after the defeat of her government, it was not unusual to see entire columns reminding readers of how pusillanimous an act it is for a politician to say one thing before an election and do another afterwards.

    But the budget has largely stilled the .

    Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/comment/conservative-columnists-taxed-by-political-climate-change-20140516-zreyq.html#ixzz323AMHGWZ

67. Fed upMay 18, 2014 at 5:32 pm

    More of above

    ….In the days before the budget, when the Coalitions’s plans to raid fuel excise and stiff millionaires was but a rumour, News Ltd columnist Andrew Bolt urged Prime Minister Tony Abbott to issue a general public apology for even entertaining the idea of breaking his “no new taxes” campaign promise.

    But when the dreadful truth was confirmed, Bolt dashed off a column at 6.30am moodily commending the overall direction of the budget, then spent the rest of the day attacking the ABC, Manus Island refugees, Gillard, Adam Goodes, Kevin Rudd’s insulation scheme and demanding to know exactly where Barack Obama was when the diplomatic compound at Benghazi was attacked.

    Once upon a time, a budget that sprung not only petrol price increases but also a new tax on rich voters would have been an opportunity for Bolt to spend day after day in ceaseless, pleasurable thunderation. The scarifying effects of the budget here are obvious.

    Piers Akerman, likewise, for whom election pledge chicanery and petrol tank thumping has provided an invaluable income stream in recent years, warned Abbott passionately before the budget to abandon any thought of excise increases or new taxes.

    But, on budget night, Akerman, too, climbed resignedly aboard the tumbril, issuing a blog post so riven with inner conflicts that it struggled, at times, with both syntax and spelling: “Forget the predictable cries of anguish from the ABC’s trained troupe of rent-seekers,” he gasped bravely. “There is not that as much suffering (sic) as they might have you believe.”….

    Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/comment/conservative-columnists-taxed-by-political-climate-change-20140516-zreyq.html#ixzz323AjsPfu

68. Peter JohnsonMay 18, 2014 at 5:32 pm

    We must get people to stop advertising in the Murdock press that will hurt him more than a few people not buying his rag I will not get his toilet paper and refuse to watch his news on TV as for Alan Jones he should never give people advice after he was caught in Hyde Park (London) hanging around the male toilet and he thinks that everyone should act like him,no thank you.It is time the public were told the truth about the LNP and their scare mongering campaign.

69. mars08May 18, 2014 at 5:57 pm

    Seriously … what happened to the Coalition’s courtship with the infamous Aussie battler? It has been their shtick for years…

70. Peter Garcia-WebbMay 18, 2014 at 7:14 pm

    OK. So we agree, or at least most of us do, that the Australian is what it has always been and the budget is what it should not have been. Meanwhile, back if the real world as I Tweeted this morning, opposition to the budget is beginning to crumble. Clive Palmer says “We’ve got to see how we can have a win-win situation for Australia and for Australian students”.

    No, it seems he does not mean that the only way to achieve that is to wind back the clock a few days and introduce a totally different budget. It means he’s looking for a compromise, whatever that might mean.

    Op Leader Bill Shorten surprised us all by being coherent in his Budget reply speech. Sadly that does mean all that much as far as defeating the stupid, the cruel, the environmentally dangerous and the anti-science anti-education and anti-health care aspects of the budget is concerned.

    We should be angry; Tony Abbott has done Australia and Australians a huge disservice. My anger is that I can see no way of removing him.

71. GinaMay 18, 2014 at 7:33 pm

    If everyone stopped buying The Australian in protest, it might change their tune.

72. brickbobMay 18, 2014 at 8:09 pm

    My wife gets the Brisbane Sunday Mail for the television guide or whatever,and i just decided to read the editorial and surprise surprise it was predictable, but still set me back a few paces from my cornflakes. It said the budget was ‘ Courageous”,yes they said it was a responsible,” courageous budget and despite Labor’s scaremongering,Australians will thank the PM in years to come.”’ SWMBO has banned me from reading any Murdoch editorial for life as setting fire to a newspaper in the kitchen is detrimental to our health.

73. sir pistofalot-MoreMay 18, 2014 at 10:58 pm

    Apart from The Australian emphasising that it is absolute Tripe, And the Budget Was an evil piece of work( Which is what we expected) Can anyone enlighten me HOW Our PM (One Term Tony ) Has seemed to think he can Lie and Mislead the Australian People Promising No This NO that and here we are 8 Months later and He Decides to Do a total backflip and Eliminate Everything he PROMISED Not to touch. . Any Fool /Galah / clown can promise everything will be Wonderful Just to get your Vote, How can He claim a Mandate when he Has trashed Everything he took to the Election, Fair Minded Liberal Mps must wonder WTF with their Leader, They have to go face to Face with their voters and tell them to trust us. Pathetic. No right Minded Person can do that with a straight Face,, “Trust Me” says “One TERM TONY ” Your Credibility Is Shot and you are A Proven Liar , BUT as you are Nowhere Being a Decent Man , You haven’t the Guts to fall on your sword Pyneoccio is proving (yet again) Just how Pathetic he is , Swearing in Parliament and Then Telling More Lies trying to defend Himself , Tut tut Twistipher, Which brings me to Bronny, For a while there we all thought she had lost her Marbles ( Probably Has ) But I think she KNOWS what she is doing and is working for her Party No ONE can be so stupid and Apparently oblivious to Everyones complaints, The LNP are Treating the Parliament of this Country as a Circus , Pyneoccio Giving Bronny signals to stop Proceedings, I stopped buying the OZ years ago now and seriously believe that we should Boycott ALL Murdoch Papers, And Finally I managed to get to the March in Sydney today, Great to see so many Anti Abbott people there Everyone with that one Focus The whole Affair was Managed so well.

74. DanDarkMay 18, 2014 at 11:14 pm

    Tony Abbott celebrating with murdochs minions the night of budget,
    was on face book, but was taken down, but ppl got copies,
75. DanDarkMay 19, 2014 at 9:15 am

    Thought I would share this link,
    My eyes were burning, my stomach churning
    But I kept reading the crap

    How do people become so sick?
    But people need to know the types
    Of one of Abbotts, cheer leaders
    I just stumbled across it last night,
    and left a comment about what I thought
    About his thoughts…

    http://theredandtheblue.org/2014/05/16/budget-reply-shorten-high-on-emotion-devoid-of-honesty/#comment-13392

76. AdamMay 19, 2014 at 12:10 pm

    On the positive side, my students are studying persuasive langauge, and emotive, divisive articles like this and today’s Daily Tele are great examples.

77. DanDarkMay 19, 2014 at 1:03 pm

    KNOWLEDGE IS POWER

    Our educators can be our saviours……

78. Buff McMenisMay 19, 2014 at 3:02 pm

    Ohhhh, dear gods and goddesses .. Shonky Joe got something right for once!! He said “This will be a very easy Budget to criticise” and guess what … he’s right! It’s bloody appalling, sez this disabled, wheelchair-bound Age Pensioner who lives on her own and exists from fortnight to fortnight with one blessing .. I am now a Lessee of a deteriorating State Housing Unit which is suitable for wheelies but is, according to Department of WA Housing, not going to receive any alterations or improvements even though they told me they would do exactly that when I first took the Lease! I still thank my lucky stars that the Rent is much easier than the private market. But it’s still hard and getting harder.

79. LeeMay 20, 2014 at 4:24 pm

    I haven’t given Rupert any of my money for several years now and never will. How anyone can work for him, write this trash, put their name to it and then hold their head up high is beyond me.

    How does every divorce cost $100,000 of taxpayers’ money? I had to pay $405 for the divorce – which was amicable so no appearance in court – and about $10,000 for some furniture, whitegoods and moving house. I’m a taxpayer and it was my (post tax) money. That’s the closest my divorce came to using taxpayers’ money.

    I saw that hideous photo of Kevin Andrews and his wife that was due to be published in The Trashtralian on the weekend. She was leaning slightly away from him and he looked like he couldn’t escape the sofa quick enough. They did not look like a couple in love at all. The photo was devoid of any sense of togetherness. If that’s what counselling does for a relationship I’ll give it a very wide berth and recommend that everyone else does the same.

80. jo maximaMay 21, 2014 at 11:27 am

    This is hilariously independent (NOT!). Independent thinking is dead – this is just the dog whistle call of faux public moralising. I’m a good person because I can get really riled up about the poor and downtrodden. When did you last give up a cent of your life to help the poor and the downtrodden (a cent which wasn’t tax deductible that is? Get a grip. In the end nothing is free – every society has to pay its own way and make decisions on where it’s resources will be directed. There will always be winners and losers. But truly, can you really raise this much emotion about the losers in Australia – who will always be a gazillion times better off than even the well off in about three quarters of the rest of the world. You have lost your perspective and your capacity to rationally discuss what we as a society are going to pay for and where are the funds going to come from. A huge rant about who should get more with not ONE SINGLE WORD about who is going to get less is just assuming the magic pudding really does exist.

81. Michael TaylorMay 21, 2014 at 11:53 am

    Speaking of rants, Jo, yours wins the cigar.

    I’m so pleased to hear that the destitute Aboriginal Australians – who I spent nine years of my life working with – are better off than the well-off.

82. Fed upMay 21, 2014 at 1:53 pm

    Abbott’s statement this morning, re his not keeping his appointment at Deakin, is that one should not give publicity to protestors.

    Mr Abbott; why not. Surely all have a right to be heard.

    Maybe you should listen, and be clever enough to give them some answers.

    I believe that Chris Bowen did well at the NPC. I love the look on the face of the last questioner.

83. Fed upMay 21, 2014 at 1:56 pm

    Michael, it is a long time since we g=have been faced with the trolls definition of “Independent”

84. LeeMay 21, 2014 at 2:33 pm

    Wow Jo! It’s a tough job cramming so much ignorance into one post but you managed to pull it off. Congratulations on a sterling effort.

85. Fed upMay 21, 2014 at 3:30 pm

    Love the video of the students in Victoria. More police than students one could say,

    Have not seen any sign of violence.

86. nekomancerMay 23, 2014 at 11:56 am

    A well written piece, Michael. It’s good to know there are still some compassionate journos batting for the underdogs.

87. Michael TaylorMay 23, 2014 at 12:06 pm

    Thanks nekomancer. Much appreciated.

88. Murdock is a maniacMay 31, 2014 at 12:19 pm

    Rupert Murdock needs to be put down sooner than later. The Australian is good for one thing: Propaganda.

    It’s time for his empire to go broke, and his little prostitutes of journalists be jailed for being liars.

89. scaper...May 31, 2014 at 12:25 pm

    Put down? You are advocating murder and the incarceration of people for lying. A left wing extremist who can not spell Murdoch!

90. Fed upMay 31, 2014 at 2:46 pm

    Nothing about killing in that post.

91. Matthew OborneJune 1, 2014 at 7:32 pm

    Joe Hockeys appearance on Q&A was largely refuted, his repeated insistence showed he either doesnt understand or cares not to accept his own budget. What happens to the under 30’s?

    If you are under 30 and the boss wants to fire someone what would you do to continue the luxury of feeding yourself?

    locking 20 billion away from people who need it now is just sick.

    every wedge issue promise broken.

92. catJune 19, 2014 at 7:44 pm

    Reading this some of these comments, Has given me hope. As a sole parent/full time carer to one of my adult kids, I cannot do fulltime work. (Long story and to do with my disabled kid) But this budget has me worrying so much i have not slept well for over the past month. I constantly feel ill. But I know there are still people out there with compassion. Thank You from the bottom of my heart