Saturday 16 June 2018

Introduction

This week ended much like the last: boringly quiet. The big event of course was the meeting of Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un. The Donald added to his personal embellishments of himself by describing himself as brave.

He seemed to create the impression that because he now likes the fellow he didn’t a few weeks ago, that peace is now inevitable. His self-adulation seems to have no end and it wouldn’t surprise if he declares himself God in the next few months.

But a road to peace is a good road to follow even if the instigator might be in his grave at the time the treaty is signed.

Locally, without surprise Brian Burston resigned from the red-headed party making it harder for the Coalition to secure the votes it requires to pass legislation.

On top of that with the Prime Minister declaring that he would be making an apology speech to the children who suffered abuse by Churches and other institutions on 22 October. My prediction of a September election looks rather forlorn.

My thought of the week

“You cannot expect that when you place people in a theatre of war to at the same time think that they will always act rationally.”

Comment of the Week

Russell Green:

To avoid the misconception that the LNP are the better economic managers. This perception is, like all perceptions, the result of opinions expressed continuously i.e. PROPAGANDA. If there is one piece of legislation that I would pass if I could it would be that anything that is either printed, broadcast, narrowcast, published physically or on the Internet. It has to be backed by verifiable facts. If you can’t verify what you assert it can’t be said. I know this would have a profound effect on how the interactions between politicians, the media and the general public. It would, if nothing else, slow down the news cycle and that would be a very good outcome. It would allow for greater scrutiny and reflection of policy, claim and counter-claim.

It would indeed be novel if we the public had confidence in what we are being told instead of being bombarded with statements, whose veracity, we have very little chance of verifying for ourselves.

Democracy has not been well served by the current arrangements, which of course is what those that has the most to gain, do so well!

The Scandal Sheet

1 Strong economic growth but no trickle down. More like tickle down.

2 Is Victoria headed for another extended drought.

3 Why is there any need to cut taxes? Companies are making enormous profits.

4 Why isn’t Julia Gillard involved in the Apology to abused children function?

5 Last week Australia debt reached $568 billion and the Libs reckon they can manage money.

6 Listened to Craig Kelly on ABC24 last Saturday and I have to pose the question has he been guaranteed pre selection for his seat. Remembered he threatened to resign if he wasn’t.

7 The online survey of 2026 Australian news consumers found 41% say they tend to think very carefully about expressing their political beliefs openly on the Internet because it could get them in trouble with authorities. 45% worry it could change the way their family, friends, colleagues and acquaintances could think about them.

On this day in 2015

John Lord wrote:

Prime Minister Tony Abbott was certainly out and about yesterday. He described wind farms as “visually awful and a danger to people’s health. Of course there is no scientific evidence to say people’s health is affected and no doubt he finds the sight of coal stations spewing their filth more aesthetically pleasing.
A study conducted by the government’s own National Health and Medical Research Council recently found that there is no “consistent evidence” that wind farms damage human health.
On top of that he wishes a RET had never been implemented. His ignorance of the way the world is headed in terms of renewable energy is breathtaking in its arrogance.

His newfound frankness contradicts claims he and his ministers made before and after the election about how committed they were to renewable energy.

The Poll Bludger

52.1 / 47.9 Labor in front.

Two new polls this week, a particularly strong one for Labor from Essential Research and a stable one from ReachTEL, produce a 0.4% shift to Labor on this week’s reading of the BludgerTrack poll aggregate. Labor gains two on the seat projection, those being in Victoria and Western Australia. Essential provided a new seat of leadership ratings, and these conformed with the existing impression of an upswing in personal support for Malcolm Turnbull that has so far done little to improve his party’s voting intention.

Top Tweets of the week

1 ™ = Σταυρoς©Bill Shorten spoke from the heart today about the apology to child sex abuse victims. He called for former PM Julia Gillard to be included when the apology is made. HEAR! HEAR!

On the other hand, our current PM Turnbull read from notes when announcing the apology.

2 Tom in Oz:

Shorten has: 1 – genuine conviction 2 – sense of humour 3 – ability to relate to ordinary folk 4 – can do attitude 5 – ability to explain policy.

Turnbull has: 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – empty promises

3 Dave Donavan:

Twiggy Forrest is going to build a new LNG import terminal in NSW. Apparently, we have a shortage of gas on the East Coast now. Could that be because we export almost all of it? Well-done Malcolm!

4 Lynlinking:

PM’s lack of care evident Mr Turnbull should take his own advice. The last time the Prime Minister was in the Northern Territory was September. Even then, he attended only CLP functions — he was here in his role as party leader, not as prime minister.

Best read of the week

Malcolm Turnbull and ‘the $100 Billion Porker’ by Michael Griffin.

“Despite his semblance of training in economics at NSW University, albeit in economic geography, Treasurer Morrison seems to have underestimated the cost of his government’s proposed personal tax cuts to the bottom line of the budget over the medium term by nearly $100 billion.“

Tim’s titbits

1 Shorten did well last night on Q&A although mostly speaking to progressive voters. But made his points well.

2 Women tend to represent marginal seats. The safer the seat the more likely it is to be represented by a male. Generally speaking but there have been exceptions on both sides.

3 Richo said the libs had to change to Turnbull. Abbott was leading them to defeat.

4 Richo said he had to help knife Hawke. It was the only way to give labor a chance. That was correct. Hawke would have lost the next election.

5 Makes more sense for AEC to receive and distribute political donations. They would ensure. Real-time disclosure.

6 Poll bludger is saying LNP vote in Longman at the election was 49 per cent 2pp. Subtract 5 per cent. Which is the size of the anti LNP swing in Qld. You get 44 per cent 2pp. So no hope of winning that by-election. But as a friend said polling shows libs leading in Braddon and Longman.

7 Attorney general said he supports change to make it compulsory for priests to disclose abuse heard in the confessional.

8 Article about get up. It should be listed as a political party really. There should be a right-wing one for balance.

9 Ms sharkie is right. ABC. Journalists are afraid to speak out against the government for fear of losing funding. Funding should be restored.

10 That’s true re Bob Ellis – accused of pedophilia. Do have to be careful making serious allegations against dead people. Who can’t defend themselves?

11 Malcolm Turnbull has reaffirmed his belief that Robert Menzies saw the Liberal Party as centrist and progressive, and that his government has been faithful to this tradition.

12 Pm will deliver an apology to child sexual abuse victims on 22 October. Means election likely next year now.

13 Our economic growth is a bit over 3 per cent. More than the OEDC. UK. USA.

My clown of the week

The President of the United States of America for displaying a naivety beyond belief.

My thought for the day

“We all incur a cost for the upkeep of our own health. Why then should we not be liable for the cost of a healthy planet?”