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Day to Day Politics: Enough to make you sick.

Thursday 9 February

Author’s note.

Here I am in bed trying to shrug off a virus, wondering what I might write about when I’m well again. But as things stand, my mind can only absorb information from my iPad and television. So I write down my thoughts as they come and go.

Having observed our Parliament over the last couple of days I can only conclude that our MPs have not heard the voice of the Australian people saying so emphatically, they don’t like the way we practice politics. Dumber than dumb.

1 I wonder why it is that politicians cannot be upfront with us and tell the truth. For example employment is going to become increasingly more difficult to attain. 50% of existing jobs in America, similarly in Australia, will be lost to robot technology and 3D printing over the next 20/30 years. Why not explain the difficulties we face as a nation and how we might adapt. Making promises that cannot be kept is just lying by omission.

2 I’m watching question time in the House of Reps on Tuesday and it’s apparent that the Coalition intends making the cost and availability of electricity an issue to attack Labor’s renewable energy policy. What I have always found remarkable about the debate on Climate Change is the proposition by politicians that we can clean up the planet for free. A ludicrous proposition if ever I heard it.

Barry Jones raised the question of Climate Change over 20 years ago. People listened with understandable ignorance. With the passing of time science has unequivocally proven the danger it poses to the world. However, decisions are being made by people with no knowledge of the science. Despite all we have learned, we still remain dumb.

3 At long last the Gold card has gone. It didn’t cost much. Around a million dollars a year but it was symbolic of the way in which politicians rip off the taxpayer. Speaking on matters of expenses I note that the Coalition party room meeting was extended by an hour to accommodate discussion on the proposed changes to MPs entitlements.

4 Donald Trump may visit England but he won’t speak in its Parliament. So it was announced rather robustly by the independent speaker. Perhaps the use of the word robust was a bit light on. He sounded like he hated Trump with a vengeance.

5 The Vatican’s long-held view that it is not obliged to release evidence it holds from the Australian Royal Commission into child abuse, should be looked on as a sin of the Catholic Church and its leader. As usual, it is more interested in the institution than the flock.

6 I have decided that everything I read that I don’t agree with, is just fake news.

7 The Essential poll came in at 53/47 to Labor. How is it possible l ask myself.

8 It is unsurprising that a government who seeks to install, at horrendous cost, a second-rate NBN, would want to invest in dirty coal rather than invest in renewable energy.

9 Talk about robbing Peter to pay Paul. Child care is being paid for, by cuts to family payments. It will enable women to get jobs that don’t exist. $2.7 billion from family payments to pay for child care. You work it out.

10 It’s a pity more Australians don’t have the opportunity to see Bill Shorten when he is in full flight in the parliament. Impressive on Wednesday. On the other hand Turnbull got about as personal as you can get. Deliberately so.

The PM yesterday performed at Question Time like a footballer who had been told that if he doesn’t find form shortly he won’t see out the season.

11 Is the CEO of Australia Post-paid too much? Is he value for money? Entertainers are paid in excess of that and no one blinks an eye. What a joke.

12 The politics of everything is diabolical, says economist Chris Richardson.

13 I’m reading a piece in the SMH. The headline says, ‘Donald Trump reminiscent of Stalin says chief scientist Alan Finkel.’ Science is always under attack, I think to myself, if it confronts the greedy capitalists.

Science has, in my lifetime, made the most staggering achievements and they are embraced, recognised and enjoyed by all sections of society. The only area that I can think of where science is questioned, is the religious fever of climate change doubters, conservatism and unconventional religious belief.

14 Someone sent me this without putting a name to it. My mind goes back to when I met Pastor Danny Naliah. I put my hand out and instinctively knew that I was about to shake the hand of an evil man.

”Is it possible to sink any lower than the ‘’Rise up Australia’’ party and its leader Danny Naliah .

Following the tragedy in Bourke st last week in which 6 innocent people were mowed down by a person with mental health issues and addicted to Ice, Danny found something to celebrate before the victims were even cold.

Despite the police determining that the tragedy had no connection to any form of terrorism, Danny and his despicable followers decided that Dimitrious Gargasoulis a person of Greek origin now charged with 6 murders was in fact a Greek ISLAMIC KURD’’

Never let the facts get in the way of this enormous tragedy Danny, of 6 people dead and many others still in a critical condition

Not satisfied, you and your feeble-minded toadies have weaved Islam into this tragic tale. It says a lot about how the dregs of society see yourselves.

I am surprised however that knowing how your mind has been poisoned by your Christian teachings you have not called for all people of Greek origin to be deported or maybe that’s on the cards to.

Hatred of the unfamiliar is what’s drives the toadies in your organisation the absolute hatred, you accuse others of.’’

It’s a sad day in this country when people filled with such hatred are even regarded as Christian. That seems like an oxymoron but I will try to keep it simple for you and your lot.

Fanatical Christians filled with hate and ignorance, seem a like what you claim to fight against.

I’m not one to play the racist card, but take a long hard look at yourself Danny. You are Sri Lankan, a fanatic, a new arrival to this country and you are brown to boot. Be careful what you wish for you loathsome man !!”

On this day in 2016, I wrote.

”It’s all but confirmed. If didn’t know already Tony Abbott is the biggest liar ever to have walked the halls of Parliament. Border Force officials told a Senate committee last week that 23 vessels have been turned around since Operation Sovereign Borders commenced after the election of the Abbott Government.

The most recognized slogan in Australian political history, used by Tony Abbott to perpetuate a myth that his policies had ‘Stopped the boats’ has been blown out of the water. He had not stopped them at all. They continued to come and according to the commander of Operation Sovereign Borders, Maj Gen Andrew Bottrell, there remains a persistent number of attempts, all of which have failed over the last year and a half.

In other words they are still coming. We are just paying the people smugglers to take them back. The boats have never been stopped.”

My thought for the day.

“Negativity is like rust, it never sleeps.

35 comments

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  1. oldfart

    and Peter Dutton a member of the LNP, a political party that believes in small government, wants even more power over visas. I think the LNP idea of small government is a government that is all powerful, but with little or no outside interference thereby making scrutiny small

  2. 1petermcc

    Ah. Pastor Danny. I wonder if his web site still has the claim he raised a girl from the dead? I thought his claim that God told him John Howard was going to win the Election would have killed off his cred for good. I should have known true believers have faith.

  3. Ella Miller

    “having observed Parliament over the past couple of days”
    Mr. Lord…What a waste of time and money is Question Time?

    Let us not forget to mention the fact that the Senate was recalled early despite the fact that it had no legislation to consider…so what did the Senate do to earn their keep…..speaker after speaker..wasted the day talking rubbish.

    I could not bear to listen any more and turned it off in disgust. So, could someone tell me why exactly did the Senate sit early?

    I noticed a mantra change of the LNP …affordable, dependable power.What a bunch of fraudsters. So SA’s power issues are Labor’s fault…really? What a collection of shysters.

    The SA Premier this morning pointed out that ,”this is what happens when States no longer own the power generation”

    Then the shysters continued to try to tell us that the child care legislation was to “help hardworking Australians…get more work”

    Really…where are the jobs?

    They tried to convince us that they were presenting such a worthwhile, socially just bill.

    BUT forgot to tell us that this bill as all their bills was nothing more than a TROJAN HORSE. Can someone remember what were the cuts hidden in the Bill?
    At the end of Question time MT morphed into TA ..the attack dog…..is the far right’s transformation of MT complete??? Another Tony Abbott.

    When the LNP have no policies to speak of, no way to justify the lack of social justice in their d&a they turn to personal attack.

  4. Kaye Lee

    First lady Melania Trump is seeking $150 million from the Daily Mail newspaper, The complaint from Melania Trump’s attorney, Charles Harder, seeks legal redress for “the commercial harm done to her, her commercial brand and her business opportunities.”

    “Plaintiff had the the unique, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, as an extremely famous and well-known person, as well as a former professional model and brand spokesperson, and successful businesswoman, to launch a broad-based commercial brand in multiple product categories, each of which could have garnered multi-million dollar business relationships for a multi-year term during which Plaintiff is one of the most photographed women in the world. These product categories would have included, among other things, apparel, accessories, shoes, jewelry, cosmetics, hair care, skin care and fragrance.”

    http://www.npr.org/2017/02/07/513970871/melania-trump-lawsuit-argues-once-in-a-lifetime-chance-to-make-millions-is-lost

    The Department of Defense is seeking to rent space in President Trump’s New York skyscraper, Trump Tower, a move that could directly funnel government money into the president’s business interests.

    The U.S. military agency is “working through appropriate channels . . . to acquire a limited amount of leased space in Trump Tower,” Lt. Col. J.B. Brindle, a Pentagon spokesman, told The Washington Post in a statement late Tuesday.

    “The space is necessary for the personnel and equipment who will support the POTUS at his residence in the building,” Brindle said.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/department-of-defense-looks-to-rent-space-in-trump-tower/2017/02/07/6dec7252-edb0-11e6-9662-6eedf1627882_story.html?utm_term=.8de09912b017

  5. Kaye Lee

    Ella, one of the bad things in the omnibus bill is making young unemployed wait four weeks for the dole. How they can pretend to care about homelessness whilst trying to push this through is beyond me. It’s all very well for those who have rich parents but Malcolm doesn’t seem to realise that’s hardly anyone. Get your parents to help. What if you have no parents? What if your childhood home was an abusive place? This is just cruelty.

    “The increase to the Family Tax Benefit Part A for families with children by $10 a week does not make up for cuts to the supplements. A sole parent with two children aged 13 and 15 will still lose between $14 and $20 per week, or around $1,000 a year.”

    “Abolishing the energy supplement will cut between $4-$7 a week from people on the lowest incomes, including pensioners, students, families, and people locked out of paid work.”

    http://www.acoss.org.au/media_release/acoss-urges-parliament-to-reject-latest-attempt-to-cut-incomes-of-poorest-in-new-omnibus-bill/

  6. Ella Miller

    One more thought on the Senate Cross Bench….they, like Judas … would sell us for 40 pieces of silver ….I think we need to look carefully at how our Senators vote before the next election.

  7. jagman48

    Ella we surely do need to watch these Senators. To here lovely Pauline nearly say yesterday that we need to tighten the purse strings, and the need to cut pensions made me wonder who she represents. Maybe somebody from One Notion can tell me.

  8. Ella Miller

    jagman48

    I agree…Pauline ranted about what she got when she was bringing up her four children…she ignored the fact that rent was cheaper, she could buy a house,cost of living was less….

  9. Möbius Ecko

    The PM yesterday performed at Question Time like a footballer who had been told that if he doesn’t find form shortly he won’t see out the season.

    The very worst of this is the MSM, and again that includes the ABC, making this inane rant from Turnbull as being something great, showing he has leadership and a spine.

    Right wing of his party in revolt = Silence
    Abandoning long held principles = Silence
    Banking industry investigation = Silence
    Business corruption = Silence
    Massive tax avoidance = Silence
    His tax avoidance = Silence
    His wife’s illegal conflict of interest = Silence
    Climate change = Silence
    Marriage equality = Silence
    Growing societal inequality = Silence
    …and this list goes on.

    One off vacuous attack against an opposition leader = Greatness.

    One political commentator (Channel 7 so you already know who it is) likened Turnbull’s tirade to Paul Keating’s parliamentary attacks. To liken Turnbull’s almost mindless 10 minute tirade, which mostly contained the same two words of sycophant and parasite repeated, is to do the witty and cutting attacks of Keating the greatest disservice. The reporter should be made to publicly apologise to Keating and the Australian people.

  10. Kaye Lee

    Pauline has always been a welfare basher. In her first speech in 1996 she slammed Aboriginals saying they weren’t any more disadvantaged than anyone else and shouldn’t get any special assistance. In her 2016 version she said

    “I support the government in wanting to stop school leavers going immediately onto welfare. What message are we sending them? Teach them how to apply for a job, rather than encouraging them to become dependent on money they have neither earned nor worked for. Then we have the single mums having more children just to maintain their welfare payments, and Muslim men marrying multiple wives, under their laws, then having multiple children at our expense while they collect thousands of dollars a week from the taxpayer. How many have ever held a job? Why would anyone want to work when welfare is so very lucrative?”

  11. wam

    hahaha Lord the virus hasn’t affected your search for truth. SA ‘outages’ is great for we ‘conspiracy’ theorists and the truth is variable but the attack points are clear SA Labor and renewable energy. Which truth is winning, Lord?

    I love question time, including dorothy, because a look at the surrounding faces can be hilarious, especially as the answers are often risible. During the rant who could resist a giggle at the tomato or the oval with a gash (successor to costello) or the table thumping supporters?

    WOWOWO CONGRATULATIONS BILL you have hit the bigtime on sunrise and today. The 9 autocue twit’s throwaway was as expected but sounded hollow. Now set the questions to ask.
    ps
    Loved the dill dutton using ‘mendacious’ about Neumann. I can see burl ives in the guise of katter’s mate george intoning ‘obnoxious odour of mendacity’.
    Disingenuous is the word for ‘birmingham and porter ‘the bill is the result of long period of consultation’ and labor is playing politics everyone knows shorten is a fake.

  12. helvityni

    Turnbull’s Toddler Tantrum yesterday will be something he will be remembered for. And that’s not all that much, is it….

    No musicals will be made of this. For that you need Keating’s wit, and his impeccable comedic timing…

    Poor man lost once, wait, for Abbott, now he has lost Bernardi, I feel a moment of pity.

    My real concern is for people who have lost their jobs, for people who have lost their homes, people who are indefinitely detained, who have lost all hope…

  13. Jack Straw

    Turnballs hand waving and gesturing shows a man who’s never really had to fight for anything in his life.And if he did wave his hands around in some circles like he did yesterday; they would knock his block off. Yesterday was all about Malcolm’s hurt ego.The mirror doesn’t lie Malcolm; you are a wanker.

  14. helvityni

    Möbius Ecko, I agree, the reporter ought to apologise to Keating… 🙂

  15. Haks Brian

    “11 Is the CEO of Australia Post-paid too much? Is he value for money? Entertainers are paid in excess of that and no one blinks an eye. What a joke.”

    But entertainers usually deliver what the punters have paid for. The service ‘delivered’ by Australia Post, especially the Parcel Post, is atrocious. Frequently cards are left in letter boxes for customers to collect a parcel from the Post office, and not always the closest one, with no attempt made to deliver the parcel to the door, which is the service advertised and paid for.

  16. Kate Ahearne

    Thanks John. That’s quite a depressing list for just one day. Can I add to it, please? This goes back a day or two, but the Melbourne City Council has now made it illegal for homeless people to sleep.

    Kaye, About Melania. She has already received one payout from a blogger who said she had been an ‘escort’.And then there’s Trump’s tweets about Ivanka’s clothing range being so unjustly dropped by Nordstrom’s. (Apparently people haven’t been buying her stuff. I think it’s called a boycott.)

  17. Egalitarian

    Just heard Labor minister Tom Koutsantonis explain South Australian Electricity issues on RN. That’s why some types of privatisation doesn’t work.

  18. Harquebus

    John Lord
    I hope that you get well soon.

    “The more you observe politics, the more you’ve got to admit that each party is worse than the other.” — Will Rogers

    Cheers.

  19. Terry2

    Dutton : Peter Dutton already has broad ministerial discretion on the issuing or denial of visas, he needs no more power. Have a look at how broad his power is already : http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Former_Committees/minmig/report/c02

    Fracking/Joyce : I believe I hear Barnaby Joyce saying this morning on ABC am that landowners would have or already have absolute rights on whether their land is accessed for mineral or CSG gas extraction and if they agree to such mining they are entitled to participate in the profits generated.
    Is this correct, I had understood that in Australia, coal, petroleum and mineral resources are generally the property of the Crown, rather than the landholder ?

    Trump : Trump’s challenge to the courts over his Executive Orders includes, in his view the royal prerogative that Presidential orders are beyond review by the courts : wasn’t this the reason that the Americans had a war with Britain when George III expressed the same view ?

    Trumble : Trumble’s spray on Shorten was unhinged and was supposed to be an answer to a question raised by Shorten in Question Time about the Omnibus Bill – the question went unanswered . Where was the Speaker, he should have called the PM on relevance.

    Get well soon, John

  20. Jaquix

    Yes, a depressing list, John Lord. Made worse by the endless stream of shockers from the US. I watcged BillvShirtdn giving Mslcolm znd Co a well deserved serve in QT yesterday, yet as others here have noted, itcwas studiously ignored (so far) by the nedia, including ABC. Shortens reply on 7.30 was excellent, shows he isnt easily rattled, and by “feeling a bit sorry” for Malcolm, that will enrage Turnbull all the more!! However I was pleased to hear on ABC Breakfast a clearcut report that they had checked the comments on FB (I think it was) and they were, without exception, negative about Turnbulls tantrum. The thing is, Turnbull had spent the hour of QT avoidingc answering questions. The public are entitled to answers, esp. when they find out (from eagle eyed Labor Party) the Coalition you-beaut childcare package is designed to be funded by whacking vulnerable young people over the head AND “save” 2.7 BILLION dollars to the budget bottom line.

  21. Oscar

    A vacuous soul is Malcolm.

  22. paulwalter

    Re power generation outages, the truth is that the regulator won’t switch the extra power on.

    Privatisation works?

    Nah!

  23. helvityni

    …and Ms Sales was gloating; different strokes for different folks…

    Earlier on I tried to watch the Drum, some ex Queensland Senator, Sue something, made it impossible to watch; she even interrupted the host of the show.

  24. wam

    Good on you weatherill show the pelican point bastards up and go for nsw/vic/qld on water (abrogate???)

    Private enterprise continually shows it cannot be in charge of power, welfare or medicare.

    Good onya bill go for the slimes.

    Spot on Helvityni, the drum, certainly, is no longer tight.

  25. Kaye Lee

    Sue Boyce, and she annoyed the shit out of me too. It’s not question time lady where raucous interjection is encouraged. I couldn’t hear what anyone was saying. Why they have her as a commentator is beyond me. She is just a Liberal good Labor baaaad sheep.

  26. Egalitarian

    Yes Paul Profit vrs public good doesn’t work.

  27. guest

    Jack Straw, you are right about Turnbull. Any vestiges of respect I might have had for the Fizza were lost in that rant in response to Shorten’s attack on the family payments bill.

    For a start, Turnbull did not at any time respond to Bill’s accusations.

    Turnbull’s personal attack with accusations of “social-climbing sycophant” and “parasite” was appalling. It was a desperate display of hubris from a man in big political trouble.

    He parades the fact he and Lucy paid for their Harbourside Mansion, but Shorten is aspiring to live in a harbourside mansion paid for by the taxpayer. This is class warfare at its worst. As Shorten said, he is paying for his house, he has a mortgage, and lives in Moonee Ponds where he is proud to be. So Bill is a “parasite”.

    Meanwhile, Turnbull stores his money in a tax haven.

    Turnbull’s taunt is that Shorten is a “social climber” for mixing with billionaires. Presumably, Turnbull would not allow commoners to mix with him. No “social climbers” please. Know your place, Bill.

    Turnbull also attacked Shorten’s work with unions and big business. But he does not mention that business made deals with Shorten and the unions. Turnbull prides himself as a deal maker. Like the NBN, for example. Like the Centrelink debt collection. Like his transport of asylum seekers to the USA as if they are cattle.

    I have no respect for Turnbull. He has abandoned all his principals and adopted opposing positions in order to achieve his ambition. But the easy retirement as PM is for him turning into a nightmare. Hence the deranged outburst.

  28. Harquebus

    In regards to Turnbull’s attack on Shorten.
    The reality is that our “representatives” represent their parties and not their constituents. Nevertheless, an insult directed at a member should be considered an insult delivered to the thousands that that member represents.
    I sat aghast watching mister tomato head’s euphoria induced bobbing and mirth.

    The house of reps. is now just a chamber to hold the metaphorical passing of motions.

    Ella Miller
    Hear, hear.
    Vital infrastructure should never be allowed to fall into private hands. The private profit motive always outweighs public benefit.

    Cheers.

  29. Ella Miller

    helvityni, I agree about last night’s Drum. Wonder if it is worth an email to the producers to demand “rules of engagement” for guests.
    My letter to them on a previous issue …to me ..a waste of time .
    But ,I will not give up and again ask why?

    Kaye Lee, I concur, Sue Boyce seemed to me to show NO respect to the host, to others on the panel…..it was disgraceful….and said more about her and her ignorance than the topic under discussion.

  30. Wayne Turner

    The LNP’s MSM painted Turnbull’s rant as a “positive” win for Turnbull.And a “negative for Shorten. Compare that to how the MSM treated Gillard for her famous speech in parliament.

    The MSM are undemocratic and biased scum.

    Showing yet again how the MSM have destroyed our former democracy.The mediaocracy continues….

  31. silkworm

    How many excuses can you make for doing nothing? The coalition has run out of excuses. All they are doing now is kicking up dust to cover their tracks. Turnbull is trying to prove to his backbench that he can be as angry as Abbott. The MSM was whooping it up, labelling Turnbull as good a “performer” as Keating. The public is having none of this. Every single comment on the ABC FB page was condemning Turnbull’s performance.

    Turnbull is a dead duck floating in the water. The Libs and the Nats are doomed, and they know it. All this cackawing in the background behind Turnbull as he unleashed his fake angry barbs against Shorten was empty bravado. They can only hope that some calamity strikes so they can do some more posturing, but the only calamity likely to happen anytime soon is their own demise.

  32. Florence nee Fedup

    Pauline somewhere along the line manage to salvage from her marriages money for fish shop & other property, Second husband own plumbing business. Fish shop they say sold for around $700,000

  33. roma guerin

    I too was shocked at the PM throwing a tantrum in QT. It wasn’t even a vey good one. For someone with his upbringing, one would have expected him to have a much better grasp on the English language. All I heard was a man who is under attack from his parliamentary party colleagues, notwithstanding Mr Trump, and lashing out at the one person who has not caused any of it. Disgraceful, unprofessional, and childish. I long for the day when someone of the calibre of Cheryl Kernot is back in Question Time.

  34. win jeavons

    There is one thing to be said to the far right , and said endlessly until a reply is forthcoming ” WHAT JOBS?” Even graduates are finding life harder than it was for these twits, and many of these pontificators did not have to pay for their degrees .

  35. paulwalter

    Neat summary, win jeavons.

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