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The insidious takeover by the IPA

When Leigh Sales asked Malcolm Turnbull why Section 18C was getting more attention than things like “out of pocket medical expenses, the fact that suicide rate among teenage girls has gone up 45 per cent in the past year, the fact that the average Australian female worker loses nearly all of her take-home pay in child care”, Turnbull blamed the ABC.

“Leigh, this is a question you should address to your editors at the ABC – very seriously. 18C is talked about constantly on the ABC, talked constantly in what’s often the elite media.”

What Sales should be asking is why the IPA, the only people who care about this pointless crusade, have such disproportionate representation and influence both in the media and in Parliament.

In their 2016 Annual Report, the IPA boasts that, during the year, they had 1,378 mentions of IPA research in print and online media, 451 radio appearances, 155 television appearances, and were mentioned in Federal Parliament 75 times.

As Elizabeth Farrelly wrote last year, “The IPA is usually described as a “radical libertarian think tank” but it’s not libertarian, since its freedoms for the few spell oppression for the many. It’s also not-thoughtful and so not-public it’s almost clandestine.”

The IPA is all about protecting the wealth of the privileged few and they will use whatever spin and misinformation they need to to do so.

Featured in their 2016 Annual Report is a “research” paper by Mikayla Novak titled The good news on poverty: Things are getting better for the poor in Australia.

What follows is an astonishing attempt to pretend that the rich aren’t siphoning off more of Australia’s wealth into the pockets of the very few, or if they are, it shouldn’t matter because more people have fridges nowadays than used to and they work a few minutes less to buy some milk.

“The key concern in the inequality debates should not necessarily be to what degree are the rich more wealthy than the poor, but whether we have witnessed an improvement in the degree of uplift in living standards experienced by the poor and disadvantaged.”

What Ms Novak completely ignores is that the gap between the lowest and highest groups is increasing as ACOSS points out:

  • The wealth of the highest 20% wealth group increased by 28% over the period from 2004 to 2012. By comparison the wealth of the lowest increased by just 3%.
  • Over the 25 years to 2010, real wages increased by 14% for those on lower incomes (10th percentile), compared with 72% for those on higher incomes (90th percentile)

According to the Conversation, a reasonable estimate is that, currently, the poorest 40% of Australian households effectively have no wealth at all: about half of them actually have negative net wealth because of their personal debts. At the opposite pole, the wealthiest 10% have more than half the nation’s total household wealth. The top 1% alone have at least 15% of the total wealth.

There is little question that the IPA is now driving Liberal Party policy as they work their way through their 75+25 demands. They have, with the help of George Brandis, Mitch Fifield, Michael Kroger and others, installed James Paterson in the Senate and Tim Wilson in the lower house.  David Leyonhjelm is also a member as was Bob Day.  The Speaker Tony Smith is a former research assistant and the new leader of the WA Liberal Party Mike Nahan was executive director for 10 years.  Janet Albrechtsen (director), Tom Switzer (adjunct fellow) and Chris Berg (senior fellow) have the media covered, with Alexander Downer’s daughter Georgina (adjunct fellow) and Andrew Bolt’s son James (Communications Coordinator) being groomed in the wings.

They are currently running their climate change denial/fossil fuel promotion program at full steam with their annual report mentioning four “research” papers:

  • Ensuring a Future for Australian Coal Fired Power Stations
  • Section 487 of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act: How activists use red tape to stop development and jobs
  • Southeast Australian Maximum Temperature Trends, 1887-2013: An Evidence-Based Reappraisal
  • The Fossil Fuel Subsidy Myth

They are rabidly anti-red tape, wanting all regulations done away with, and invariably anti-union because an organised work force is anathema to their plans.

Elizabeth Farrelly’s advice should be heeded.

“Ideas themselves are not dangerous, but when money and “ideas” hold hands, get suspicious. Then get cracking. Fight for our freedom to see the strings and who’s at the pulling end.”

At July 1, 2016, the IPA had cash reserves of over $3 million after receiving donations of almost $5 million during the year including 13 separate donations over $50,000 each and a further 21 in the range $10,000-$50,000.  Reportedly, 91% of their revenue came from donations by individuals.

When they finally achieve their aim to destroy, privatise, or takeover the ABC, and to allow founder Keith Murdoch’s boy Rupert to take over the entire media with no accountability for accuracy or requirement for balance, Australia will truly be theirs.

52 comments

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  1. Roswell

    It’s all coming together quite nicely for them isn’t it, Kaye?

  2. Kaye Lee

    I could have added so much more…..it’s frightening. A not-for-profit with charity status that ends the financial year $3 million in surplus?

    Legal aid and environment groups can’t use their money for advocacy but Gina’s kids sure can.

  3. diannaart

    “Leigh, this is a question you should address to your editors at the ABC – very seriously. 18C is talked about constantly on the ABC, talked constantly in what’s often the elite media.”

    Wishing Leigh Sales had replied, "Indeed, Malcolm, the ABC is constantly abuzz about 18C since so many people from the IPA began working here. One would they have more important issues, like thinking outside the tank for a change.

    Andrew Bolt’s son James (Communications Coordinator) being groomed in the wings.

    Andrew

    Bolt

    has

    procreated?

    Where are the daughters and sons who rebel against their parents? Maybe we should investigate… what happens to a daughter who says to her father, “Daddy-Donny, I don’t want to work for you, I want to go discover land mines in Syria.”

  4. John Richardson

    I don’t want to sing out of tune & I have always been a supporter of well-funded & independent ABC … until I moved to regional Australia. Now my wife & I are challenged every morning by the local ABC “pap” of Storybook, word games, Mrs Smith’s new shoes, why is there air & could someone – anyone – please ring or text & tell us that they are listening to this drivel.
    Along the way. local government politicians & the state liberal member enjoy unfettered & uninterrupted access to the airways, without the inconvenience of troublesome questions, in this “journalist-free” zone we often refer to as “Council Radio”,
    Talk about fake news.
    Is it any wonder our kids are growing-up with the same level of awareness of others & world affairs as the knuckle-draggers in Idaho or Canberra?

  5. Terry2

    I notice that Georgina Downer, Adjunct Fellow of the IPA , was on ABC’s Q&A panel in November 2016 at the same time as James Paterson : surely that is overdoing IPA representation.

    Somehow Downer also gets a guernsey on ABC’s The Drum – 23 March 2017.

    What’s going on when somebody who is obviously being groomed for federal politics by the IPA is given a platform on by national broadcaster to air her simplistic Conservative views, in the same way that Tim Wilson was given a platform before her.

    ABC needs to get its act together, there is all too much IPA influence and I include Tom Switzer who is not a particularly talented presenter.

  6. Jaquix

    Perfect subject for Four Corners to investigate. That would prove the ABC hasn’t quite been taken over.

  7. John Lord

    And they never disclose who the donations come from.

  8. Ella Miller

    As I see it, the IPA and the LNP seem to be able to cannibalise not only our social safety net but OUR ABC…
    It feels almost like a flood without a levy to stop it.

    Is it because most of the Australian community is too apathetic ?
    How can we become more proactive as opposed to reactive and fight for;

    our democracy,
    our social welfare safety net,
    our ABC?

    Kaye Lee wish we could clone Ted Mack.

  9. Andreas Bimba

    Institute for Phucking Australia

  10. guest

    The ABC has been accused of bias for a long time despite the investigations which have refuted such accusations. One can understand why the Murdoch press would want to attack what it sees as a publicly funded rival, but the extent of the Murdoch infiltration of the MSM would suggest that the Murdoch stable protests too much. – especially with so many right-wing people on the ABC board and beyond, from the CEO down.

    A variation on the accusation of bias is the charge that it is not so much the bias as the list of topics chosen for discussion, such as climate change, SMS, 18C, etc. Presumably the Murdoch crowd is concerned that the public is hearing information and opinion which does not match their own special ideological obsessions – or in ways the public would not see in the Murdoch media.

    So, for example, we get the notion expressed in the Murdoch media that CO2 has nothing to do with climate change. This also expressed by a Senator who was a coal-mining CEO. And the same view is expressed by a correspondent who claimed that water vapour was the real culprit – omitting to say that there is a mixture of gases which contribute to the Greenhouse Effect. Such a technique of expressing views from biased vested interests and also omitting important details is very much a Murdoch technique. Their climate change correspondent quotes frequently, almost exclusively, from deep south Bible Belt US deniers.

    The influence of the IPA is seen in the Coalition policies of small government , lower taxes, market forces, less welfare to the poor, less regulation, yet has a Nanny State attitude to subsidies to the wealthy, to the fossil fuel industry – and to numerous political think tanks holed up in cocooned echo chamber feeding off the public teat. “Those IPA policies, ‘ow are they workin’ out forrr ya?” Chaos.

    So we come to Section 18C, criticised as opposed to “free” speech and poorly drafted, I have never seen any explanation about why it is poor even though some decades old (1975). All we get is some reference to the QUT fracas and the criticism of Bill Leak and an occasional oblique reference to Andrew Bolt. Otherwise nothing.

    The aim is to replace “offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate” with “harass”. When we look at the meaning of harass, we see: vex by repeated attacks; trouble, worry. But when we look at the original word we see a range of meanings: wound feelings, cause outrage; treat with scornful abuse; lower the dignity or respect, mortify; inspire with fear, cow esp. in order to influence conduct (an interesting meaning especially as it might apply to criticising clothing or saying Go back to where you came from!

    Neither the original wording nor the suggested replacement involves outrageous talk or action. Even in the word “harass” has the notion of “slight or petty annoyance”; “offend” involves “wound feelings”. “Vilify”, if introduced, means: “defame, traduce, speak ill of”.

    Critics of 18C tell us to toughen up, fight back, etc. But what a picnic lawyers could make of it. See the costs imposed in the QUT case. I have still to learn why the case ever went to court; Trigg was clearly not convinced of its merit. Did Cindy Prior make it a private claim – or is Trigg entirely to blame? Or is it merely a matter of process? What are the politics at play here?

    I read that Section 18C was passed in 1975 at the time of the Whitlam government. Is this just another case of eliminating all Labor legislation in the same way that all photographs of Trotsky were doctored in order to eliminate him from history under Stalin?

  11. Kronomex

    The IPA is the dirty little shop in a filthy back alley that handles all the grubby things the LNP don’t want us to know about.

  12. Freethinker

    Yes guest, it is a long history about the IPA and ABC.
    Those among us that were following ABC may remember Stuart Littlemore and his Media Watch program.
    Here, in youtube is an old video about IPA and Stuart. Good to watch.

  13. Kaye Lee

    Ella,

    I’m glad you agree about Ted Mack 🙂 If only there were more like him.

  14. Terry2

    Freethinker

    That video was 2001 and the chilling thing is that the IPA have strengthened their campaign against the ABC in the intervening years : gotta give it to Littlemore, a consummate presenter.

  15. totaram

    Thanks Kaye. I keep saying these people in this govt. are not stupid and incompetent, as many people seem to think. Just see how far they have come. They now even “own” the ABC. Instead of Rupert-funded media, you have a state-funded entity pumping out your propaganda! Even Kim-Jong Un would be proud!

    And the sad part is that, even in the six years that Labor was in power, they did not remove a single one of these “plants”. So the infiltration has been growing by leaps and bounds since the Howard years. And now I wouldn’t be surprised if most of the Labor party has got itself completely brainwashed. Witness Chris Bowen’s “dismissal” of the Buffet tax (was it simply because the Greens adopted it? If so, how stupid). I don’t think I will see any sensible major policies from the Labor party in my lifetime. Some fiddling at the edges, and the same promise to “bring the budget back to surplus” which so plays into the neoliberal and IPA hands.

  16. Freethinker

    Totaram, It is nice to see that another fellow blogger think the same as me, The present government it is not stupid, they are doing an effective job to suit their agenda.
    Give them couple years more at this level and their “achievements” will cause us a formidable damage.
    It is time for the ALP to start organizing meetings in all towns in Australia if they really like to do that.
    As it is now with Bowen remarks we even do not know what they are going to do if they win.
    More of the same with a bit of “sugar & cream” at the top? Will see

  17. Ella Miller

    Freethinker, “they are doing an effective job to suit their agenda”
    That may be the case ..BUT is their agenda good for our environment or our nation as a whole NOT just their vested interests?
    A further question is are they enhancing or demeaning our democracy?

  18. philgorman2014

    Once upon a time there was a mythical land known as “The Workers’ Paradise” or “Australia Felix”. Officially and proudly it was “The Commonwealth of Australia”. This commonwealth genuinely aspired to become an inclusive social democracy. The people actually believed that governments could and should should govern for the common good. How quaint!

    After much trial and error it was eventually agreed that a Keynesian style platform of progressive taxation was essential to a sustainable economy. A properly regulated mixed economy would ensure equitable distribution of the country’s vast wealth. The mighty beast of capitalism would be nurtured, and safely harnessed, to serve the good of all.

    But, best beloved, not all was goodness and light. Not everyone was happy to share the bounty. Some spoilt children who already had more than they needed simply wanted more. They just did not want to share. They really believed they were entitled to more, much more, than anyone else. So, during a time when everyone else was really really busy working together to ensure the survival of democracy, a small group of very very rich children had a great idea. They financed a very special club dedicated to influencing governments, taking over the media, and convincing the people that they and their children really were entitled to have it all. And bugger the stupid old “Common Wealth”.

    They laughingly named their private club “The Institute for Public Affairs” (IPA).

    We all know how that turned out don’t we. Goodbye Commonwealth! Hello Corpocracy!

  19. John Lord

    Guest. Hawk and Keating used to accustom the ABCof bias.

  20. Matters Not

    In many ways I admire the IPA. They (members of the IPA) know that they want in sociopolitical terms and are determined to achieve same. That they do so successfully and are still on the march is obvious. Thus there’s a lot more to come.

    Philosophically united. Will never be defeated. Unless …

  21. Freethinker

    Ella Miller they do not care about our democracy the idea it is create division, misinform, bring the education system to the masses to a lower level.
    The only way for a minority to rule over the majority it is to use greed as a tool for creating division which make the majority weak
    By controlling the media they have a big tool and the rest is just cultivate ignorance in the electorate.
    Worked in many countries and will work in the future.
    If people start waking up it is simple, just create an international conflict and people in the name of patriotism will forget about the domestic issues.
    Small domestic issues, just introduce a new controversial law when people are entertained with a big event and easy done.
    The UK conflict with Argentina for the Malvinas is a good example used by both country governments.

  22. Zathras

    I recall ticking items off the “IPA Wish List” published during Abbott’s campaign as Tony implemented each one after his election.

    I also recall IPA boss John Roskram as a guest on Q&A referring to the Government as “mine” as if claiming ownership.

    Like all bogus “think tanks” they don’t come up with new solutions to new problems, they wait to attach their pre-planned solutions to any new problem that comes along. As well as effectively controlling the Liberal Party they are just another shop-front lobby group for certain interests groups and financial sponsors.

    See http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Institute_of_Public_Affairs for an overview – including funding sources, if you want to know who really runs this government.

    The 18C fiasco was really about the Government trying to distract attention away from critical issues by manufacturing a meaningless one for people to focus on.

    “Ignore the man behind the curtain, keep your eyes on the bunny rabbit.”

  23. totaram

    Matters Not: I completely agree with your point of view. The “so-called progressives” have been losing for half a century, because they simply cannot understand what their stand should be. And the Blairites and the Hawke-Keating Labor gave a “cover” for neoliberalism in its early years, talking about “aspirationals”, without understanding that the aspirationals were there only because of the success of the previous social-democrat policies. By the time people (some) realised the problem, it was too late. The neoliberals had infiltrated every nook and cranny of intellectual and cultural life. Even Labor had drunk deeply of the Kool-Aid. Now, everything the govt. wants to do is met by “how will you pay for it?” as if it is a household. And a Labor govt would have no answer. Tony Abbott went around talking about how the govt. had “maxed out the credit card” which is pure nonsense, but many voters swallowed it and they still do. So until the “progressives” unite on a common economic and ideological platform, the chances of doing anything useful are very dim.

    On the other hand the IPA and its backers have been slogging away for half a century, in a very disciplined way, and so they are winning. Simple.

  24. helvityni

    Many people work hard,and are disciplined, and of course if they work for the betterment of peoples’ lives,if they work for a good cause, for the common good, I’ll admire and thank them, but IPA…???

  25. Matters Not

    totaram, re your post at 5:25 pm.

    these people in this govt. are not stupid and incompetent,

    Indeed they’re not! They have a well developed ‘view of human nature’ and have a well developed view of the ‘good society’ – the relationship between same – and therefore have a well developed view of the ‘role of government’.

    even in the six years that Labor was in power, they did not remove a single one of these “plants”.

    Yep! But as an aside, in the way of explanation, Rudd will go down in history as being politically naïve (and annoyingly so). Even when he was driving the political bus in Queensland under Goss he (effectively) appointed Ken Wiltshire to review education in Queensland. (For those who don’t know – Wiltshire, a long time member of the Liberal Party, was later appointed by Pyne to review the national curriculum.) How dumb was Rudd? Very – At least in political terms.

    Rudd ‘proposed’ an independent outside body to make ABC Board appointments. It never happened! He never got around to it. He just moved on to another ‘brain fart’. On the other hand, the LIBS never ‘proposed’, they just went ahead and stacked the ABC Board.

    Until Labor makes promises and follows them through, it will happen again.

    Enough!

  26. Freethinker

    When you see how this group of people that also control the media are acting I think that Noam Chomsky hit the nail on the head with his quote:
    “The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum”

  27. Matters Not

    totaram at 7:20 pm

    The neoliberals had infiltrated every nook and cranny of intellectual and cultural life.

    Indeed they have. Noticed that Sally McManus, when questioned at the Press Club re the role of Hawke and Keating, and their promotion of neo-liberalism, neatly softened her response by pointing out that it was an ideology whose time had been – and now gone. Her response was perhaps ‘accurate’ in the intellectual sense, except, it hasn’t gone in the day to day lived political reality. Politically, all sides accept the ‘household budget’ analogy when it comes to ‘economics’.

    Perhaps someone could point me to any significant player on the Australian political landscape who is prepared to ‘come out’ and endorse MMT? In contrast, I can point to any number of significant political players who believe there’s someone up above who looks over them on a day to day basis and puts them on the path of righteousness.

    The position of Bowen and Shorten et al is understandable. Until the MMT theorists develop realistic political arguments then …

  28. Freethinker

    Matters Not, Bill Shorten also agree with Bowen and ALP members like Tim Ayers already said that the Buffet rule it is not out of the question.Pat Conroy, Andrew Giles, and Terri Butler also are in favor of it as part of the reforms
    It is time for the left to do something about with their position in the party even if it means walk out of it.

  29. totaram

    Matters Not: “Until the MMT theorists develop realistic political arguments then .”

    That is why I say forget the political arguments. The simple one is the 3-sector financial identity. No theory, no politics – simple arithmetic. Budget surpluses lead to increasing private sector debt unless there is a trade surplus, which Australia rarely has. Currently private sector debt is around 200% of GDP and growing. If the housing bubble bursts, we will have a financial meltdown. Govt. debt is not a problem. “Returning the budget to surplus” is a complete distraction, designed to ensure that the govt. does not do useful investment in employment, health, education and infrastructure. End of story.

  30. Matters Not

    Freethinker, there’s ALP policy and then there’s the (theoretical) Shorten Government’s ‘priorities’. A glance at the historical record will show that ‘priorities’ trump ‘policies’ all the time.

    Take Gonski as an example. Anyone with a basic understanding of ‘education’ knew what the problems were – and how to fix them. The ALP policy was great – claps all round. Except it wasn’t a ‘priority’ for Rudd. Something to do in the next term.

    Gonski only entered stage left when the curtain was descending. Even then Shorten the Education Minister at the time f@cked that up as well.

  31. Matters Not

    totaram at 9:19 pm

    While I’ve read MMT until I’m ‘blue in the face’ as it were, I don’t claim to be an economist or necessarily a denier of that what MMT has to say. Much more positive than that. Indeed I don’t even subscribe to the ‘dismal science’ descriptor/slur re ‘economics’.

    I should add that there are those who believe in XY and Z but until that ‘belief’ is shown to have political relevance, then I remain just an (interested) ‘observer’.

    What fascinators me nevertheless is the claim:

    No theory, no politics

    That’s probably where we part company. Just one question. How is it possible to count ‘red’ objects without having a ‘theory’ re ‘red’? How is it possible to operate in the world without ‘mental constructs’ otherwise known as ‘theories’?

    Theories ‘suggest’ methodologies which generate facts folowed by the attribution of meaning.

  32. wam

    WOW Freethinker, littlemore was excellent.
    Sadly, my facebook has never ‘heard of’ IPA but they all know of their propaganda. they do not watch the ABC but know the far left bias know nothing of economics but know labor puts us in debt.
    Labor can wait on everything except the debt.
    for the next two years labor has to counter the IPA propaganda by shaming these rabbottian liars everyday even on butcher paper on the windows of shopping malls. they should avoid the ABC like the plague and expose every government error on the 5 second grabs on the morning shows

    The words the shorten needs, comes from john kennedy
    don’t think do something DO DO DO

  33. Christian Marx

    The IPA are a grotty bunch of psychopaths. Their philosophy is called classical liberalism. Basically social Darwinism.
    According to Wikipedia, in the 19th century classical Liberals believed it to be beneficial for the poorest to starve to death,
    thus thinning out the working class… they believed this was natural selection at work. These monsters are the lowest of
    the low. On a par with paedohiles, rapists and murderers, imo. Their ideology kills, as can be seen in the U.K with free market austerity directly responsible for over 2,000 deaths. Their ideology should be a criminal offence and outlawed in any civilized society. It speaks volumes that these maggots are infesting the government and the media like cockroaches.

  34. ausgronk

    A great article about a stain on our society and appears or feels to be ever increasing it’s tentacles around the throats of our wonderful country.
    Ella & Kaye with regards to Ted Mack he certainly was not a “career ” politician even more so by comparison to the long conga line of gravy train style politicians who are definitely not in the game for the benefit of all Australians. My family had the unfortunate experience of having to deal with TM over a long extended period and his manner of dealing with people who were fighting for a sensible and fair outcome was not anything close to being a fair and decent process but very much brutal,underhanded and was very much like being stood over by a person akin to a mafia boss.

  35. Johno

    Yep, there are plenty of reasons more people could have marched in March 2017.

  36. Kaye Lee

    I am sorry to hear that ausgronk. I had no personal dealings with Ted Mack but have appreciated much that he has written. I am disappointed that perhaps the reality was not quite as good as his words?

  37. totaram

    MattersNot: I didn’t mean “theory” in a technical sense. I meant it in the “everyday” sense as a “hypothesis” that isn’t quite proven, which is what one could say about the “true” nature of fiat currencies. The 3-sector identity is pure financial arithmetic. In common parlance it is not “theory”.

  38. Alan Baird

    Damn good post and comments. I also particularly applaud the above comments as to dragooning of the ALP into a solution to the ABC takeover. They do not stand up for the ABC and don’t stack it so shamelessly as the Libs. They don’t squawk about Lib “plants” either. Rudd was a hopeless romantic about bi-partisanship which was returned in the form of vitriol and ridicule. As it is, the sale of the ABC will soon have little effect on the state of politics reporting in Australia, bias-wise.
    PS. The other night there were two lefties and one right winger on the drum! Boy was he heavy going. Tax cuts = jobs. Repeat repeatedly.

  39. Kaye Lee

    Alan I saw that. When Ian Verrender asked him for the evidence that tax cuts create jobs, he replied “Where’s your evidence that it doesn’t?”

    I was reminded of my children arguing – am not, are too, prove it

  40. Sean Stinson

    What people seem to miss is that the IPA is not just some Liberal Party think tank. Quite the contrary – the Liberal Party is actually the political organ of the IPA.

  41. Terry2

    Sean stinson

    Spot On !

    The reason why the repeal of 18C of the racial discrimination Act has dominated the political and parliamentary time of the Liberal Party is not because it is important for the good governance of Australia, it is because it is demand No 4 of the IPA :

    4 Repeal Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act

    These are the government’s riding instructions courtesy the IPA : http://ipa.org.au/publications/2080/be-like-gough-75-radical-ideas-to-transform-australia

  42. Roswell

    I think you may well be right there, Sean.

    It would explain why the Liberals always carry on that the unions own Labor: it’s a deflection.

  43. Matters Not

    “Where’s your evidence that it doesn’t?”

    Pardon? Just imagine A making the claim that the moon is made of green cheese and then asking B to disprove that claim. Takes ‘logical’ argument to a new level. And it ain’t a higher one. Then again what would one expect from O’Doherty.

    In 1992 O’Doherty was elected as a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for the seat of Ku-ring-gai. In 1999 he was re-elected to the seat of Hornsby following a redistribution of electoral boundaries. From 1995 until 2002, he held a number of portfolios in the NSW Opposition. He was Shadow Minister for Education and Training, Shadow Minister for Community Services, Disability Services and Ageing, Shadow Minister for Small Business and Shadow Treasurer.

    In January 2002, O’Doherty resigned from the Parliament to take the position of Chief Executive Officer with Christian Schools Australia, a national association representing Christian schools

    If Ellen Fanning wasn’t the ‘host’ she would have jumped all over that type of bullshit. Having to ‘entertain’ Rebecca Weisser one night and Stephen O’Doherty the next requires the ability to bite one’s tongue, particularly when one is not well versed in ‘faith based’ reasoning. (If that’s what they call it.)

  44. Kaye Lee

    In Scott Morrison’s speech yesterday he said “Unlike Labor, we don’t need convincing about the merits of having an internationally competitive corporate tax rate.”

    Who needs evidence? Who cares that the vast majority of foreign investment in Australia comes from countries with a lower corporate tax rate than ours? Who cares that it is the demise of unions that has led to record low wage growth despite record profits?

  45. Matters Not

    Believe! Have faith! This race to the bottom re taxation levels must have benefits. And it has – but not for the average punter in Australia.

    Perhaps, we could sacrifice a few virgins with the coming of the next full moon? I ‘know’ that works. Might have to experiment with the numbers though. Perhaps we could start with two or three and ratchet up each full moon till the economy improves.

    Of course, it’s up to you to prove me wrong. Until you do, I am sticking with my ‘belief’ and when in power I will action it. My good ‘intentions’ are my guiding principles. (And my escape clause.)

  46. diannaart

    Spot on, Matters Not.

    Now how to counter this nonsense? Reason just ain’t gonna do it, not when these IPA stooges et al, simply flail their arms in the old ‘windmill deflection’.

    Do we have to wait until everything is wrecked?

  47. Matters Not

    diannaart at 4:09 pm

    Spot on

    Yes, the notion of sacrificing virgins, in ever increasing numbers, every full moon, was road tested in the LNP Party room. Also with the current driver of the economic bus – Pauline Hanson – she of the flat 2% tax.

    Pauline welcomed the idea with some provisos. And suggestions. Being an avowed multiculturalist she insisted that the number be in multiples of five and representative of the current threats facing white Australia – that there be 2 Muslims, 2 Asians and 1 Aborigine and multiples of same in that same ratio.

    Malcolm Roberts, looked for attention, and insisted that they be burned on a pyre of Adani coal.

    In response, Morrison ‘spoke in tongues’.

  48. Kaye Lee

    Everyone always forgets Pauline’s 2006 contribution.

    “We’re bringing in people from South Africa at the moment. There’s a huge amount coming into Australia, who have diseases; they’ve got AIDS,” Ms Hanson told AAP.

    “They are of no benefit to this country whatsoever; they’ll never be able to work.

    “And what my main concern is, is the diseases that they’re bringing in and yet no one is saying or doing anything about it.”

    http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/hanson-turns-on-diseased-africans/2006/12/06/1165081010724.html

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