It is your journalism that is a “dog’s breakfast”, Andrew
At what is rapidly becoming their ABC, Andrew Probyn has labelled Labor’s compromise on tax cuts a “dog’s breakfast”.
“By splitting hairs on splitting bills, the Labor leader will now simply be accused by Scott Morrison and the Coalition of standing in the way of Australians getting a tax cut,” says Probyn.
No economic analysis. No mention of a weakening economy that may not be able to afford to be stripped of $95 billion in six years’ time. No mention of the value of bringing forward the stage 2 bracket change to help provide stimulus and address bracket creep.
Probyn categorises Labor’s offer as a “retreat on their threat” to block some of the changes rather than as a reasonable step towards a negotiated compromise.
“It’s a mess,” declares Andrew who seems unable to understand what Albanese is proposing despite having it explained in detail to him and including that detail in his article.
“Clear? Thought not. It’s a dog’s breakfast,” writes the man who seems far more interested in the optics and political manoeuvering than he does in the substance.
As does the increasingly self-serving Joel Fitzgibbon who Probyn hastens to quote.
“You can’t deny the punters a tax cut from Opposition, particularly so soon after an election where we had our backsides kicked,” Joel said. “And we can’t afford to give our political opponents the opportunity to blame us for a bad economy. The only option then, if we are unable to force a decoupling – which should be our first objective – [is] to support the whole package or support none of it.”
Probyn agrees.
“But Labor’s opted for neither. It doesn’t support the Coalition’s tax package as a whole, nor does it propose rejecting it.”
Since when did negotiation to make something better become a weakness?
And why on earth does a tax cut that will not come into force until after the next election (or two) have to be legislated now?
Why is it considered irresponsible to wait and see how the economy is doing?
Where is the modelling about the economic outcomes of the three stages of the tax cuts?
Where are the questions about what spending cuts will be made to compensate for the loss of $158 billion in revenue?
The Grattan Institute released analysis during the election which outlined the government would be forced into making $40bn in spending cuts to meet its forecast surplus and tax cut promises, which the government immediately rejected yet failed to come up with any evidence to counter the institute’s research.
Whilst commentators like Probyn may revel in the intrigue of the Game of Wedge and thrive on any perceived party disunity, what he serves up is more like a gossip column than journalism.
The Australian people are sold short by the dishing up of such tripe. But as we saw with Emma Alberici, factual analysis is no longer welcome at the ABC.
Did it ever occur to you Andrew, that by refusing to split the tax bill, it is actually the Coalition who is blocking tax cuts?
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27 comments
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Keitha Granville
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Kaye Lee
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Rossleigh
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lawrence winder
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Phil Pryor
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helvityni
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Wam
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David Bruce
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Peter F
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terence mills
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Andrew Smith
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Jon Chesterson
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Geoff Andrews
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Kaye Lee
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Wobbley
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Wobbley
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Patricia
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OldWomBat
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Henry Rodrigues
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Zathras
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Wayne Turner
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whatever
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Florence Howarth
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Florence Howarth
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Phil
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Henry Rodrigues
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Jennifer Demas
Return to home pageAre the real journalists so afraid now to actually report rather than opine? I am so tired of seeing journalists interviewing other journalists, spouting their opinions and not the actual facts of a story.
Maybe they are all to frightened of the outcome.
It is good to hear that the ABC is challenging the police raids, something I suppose.
I read with fear and trepidation that “new chair Ita Buttrose and managing director David Anderson flag possible changes to deal with the perception the ABC can be biased.”
I have a bad feeling about David Speers taking over Insiders. Will we be subjected to Chris Kenny and Peta Credlin on the couch?
I guess it helps to have the tax cuts legislated… somehow L-A-W comes to mind.
Remember when Keating delayed the legislated tax cuts after the 1993 election, and the Coalition talked about broken promises. Of course when Howard got in, he repealed the remaining ones and everyone just thought that was good economic management.
Surely any future government would have the same freedom.
Whatever, I’m still gobsmacked the MSM media seem unable to process that at least some of the public would like thoughtful analysis rather than a repeat of the Liberals’ press releases when dealing with the issues.
Probyn is only concerned with hearing his own voice!
Barely scraping in with the idiot vote, greed vote, donkey vote, superstitious fool vote and various other bursts of assertion and delusion, this rancid and putrid government has been found, as expected, in its own minefield in retreat without decent policy, a home to rats, lice, cockroaches of lies, theft, deviation and cheating, and, a rotten outlook for this nation in times of economic stagnation. The greedy saddle warmers want to use the whip and spurs of partisan economic fortune they can rig and organise. Nothing changes. Why cut receipts just to stroke the rich? Why cut needed services to penalise the less fortunate or disenfranchised? The Great God Greed rises for another thousand days of ineptitude, agony, deprivation, propaganda, distortion, coercion and outbursts of insider greed and accumulation. A more democratic fair go and thought and foresight is what we really need but will be denied.
…and I miss Emma and Yassmin …
There were two good women on Q&A last night….yet I had to turn the TV off when Tehan opened his mouth…( is he our Education Minister???)
Probyn is a pragmatic, not a fair, reporter and suitable to follow the other ratbag conservative, who also gave the lie to ABC left bias, to news Corp.
Ps I am with you Kaye but I thought Cassidy very tempered in his approach to conservative MPs and always found rabid conservative panelists and perhaps a ‘fair’ but never a ‘leftie’. Of course are there any?? Certainly none in main stream media.
pps Phil barely scraping 23 seats to 6?
ScuMo and the Scumbags got their 2% salary increase approved for 1 July 2019. Makes you wonder why the Australian electorate outs up with this? At the same time, the retail services sector lose most of their penalty rates, thousands of people are homeless in Australia and we have so many children living in poverty. I know what Jesus would say and do if He decided to intervene. It may all come to a head around Easter next year…
“Great God Greed rises for another thousand days” Anne of a thousand days was beheaded……. now there’s a thought.
It seems that Conservative governments (they really have to drop that Liberal tag) have one Trump card – pun intended – and that is to cut taxes as that goes down well with punters. But what they never mention is that government services including the funding of infrastructure, healthcare and hospitals, education, pensions and welfare for the poor and unemployed will inevitably have to be cut also.
Their answer to their self-inflicted inability to fund public services is to privatise so that the punters still pay but they end up paying corporate entities and generally paying much more for much less.
For an elected government in 2019 to seek to legislate tax cuts to take effect in 2024 is the height of arrogance : clearly the government elected in 2022 should be given the right to obtain a mandate and to then determine if tax cuts at that time are prudent and affordable.
Libs don’t develop policy but promote radical right libertarian policies imported from the US.
Aside from Probyn, a metaphor for what’s wrong with Australian media can found on the ABC. Visiting NY journalism professor Jay Rosen had Tony Jones huffing and puffing when Insiders (name) was used as a metaphor; oxymoron of media and politics joined at the hip.
Personally one finds little difference between Insider’s political commentary and Offsider’s sports commentary; Murdoch explained to UK’s Leveson Inquiry that news media is part of the ‘entertainment business’.
Totally with you Kaye, It is the Liberals playing games NIGYYSOB – It is the Liberals refusing to give working Australians the tax cut without the big income earners and corporations getting their massive windfalls at the public expense by packaging the bill this way to get undemocratic legislation through – It is political blackmail – The spin, lies and doctrine of the Liberals.
I remember not so long ago legal cases brought before the courts where certain corporations were told to uncouple their product packaging under fair trading, and of course the Liberals have once again cottoned on to a legislative version of this where they can spin the blame on the opposition – It’s dirty politics and a clear indication ABC is now in competition with News Corp for who can bash the opposition, the unions and fair democracy the most effectively with no definitive evidence or argument – Just malicious partisan opinion – Not even worthy of commentary or editorial – Fast becoming the media voice of the Liberals who control it rather than suck up to it like they have to with Murdoch.
Think we’re stupid don’t you Morrison! Think Australians can’t see your game plan – NIGYYSOB. Screw the ABC, screw Andrew upstart Probyn wetting his pants again, screw Morrison – More rubber wet sheets and nappies for the ABC wetting the bed again!
I voted Labor & I gave them the right to oppose stage 3 of the proposed bill.
The Opposition has an obligation to oppose anything that is counter to their philosophy or belief that something is detrimental to the country. They should oppose it in the HoR and in the Senate move an amendment to split the bill into three. Enough of the cross bench might find that an attractive proposition.
I would have thought that Labor’s best option at present is to say nothing except “We’ll wait until parliament convenes before we comment on this poisoned pill of a bill.”
The following story raises many questions….
In 2017, Tony Abbott gave a speech in London on climate change….
“Climate change itself is probably doing good, or at least, more good than harm,” he explained to sceptics, adding: “Far more people die in cold snaps than in heatwaves, so a gradual lift in global temperatures … might even be beneficial.”
Reporting on it, Andrew Probyn said “Tony Abbott, already the most destructive politician of his generation, now intends waging war on what he calls environmental theology. If this tells us anything, it’s that Malcolm Turnbull can’t do anything to appease Tony Abbott on climate action.”
The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) found the ABC breached its impartiality obligations. They ruled that Probyn’s statement was:
“… judgemental, not in language considered as analysis, and one that the ordinary reasonable viewer would have understood as a pejorative descriptor.”
So will the ABC get another reprimand for this piece from Andrew?
Of course not.
Perjoratives directed at the Labor Party are entirely acceptable as ‘analysis’ apparently.
Kind of like Izzy feeling impinging on his right to vilify gays is discrimination against religious people.
How does this sound for the future of Australia? A one party state and two sky news outlets, the real sky shit and the abc sky shit. Get ready because the fascists aren’t finished yet.
Everybody is banging on about arrrogance in relation to legislation of tax cuts that take effect in 2024. Don’t you get it? They’re giving you the inside info, they don’t expect there will be any other parties in opposition in Australia by that time. All outlawed by the present “Liberal” or fascist regime. First they came for somebody else not me. Industrial relation policy review anyone. It’s the continuation of our March, pun definitely intended, to an authoritarian one party state.
““You can’t deny the punters a tax cut from Opposition, particularly so soon after an election where we had our backsides kicked,” Joel said.”
Joel Fitzgibbon needs a swift kick, I don’t care where, preferably where he keeps his brains.
The ALP did not have “our backsides kicked” at the election. They are in the same position as they were in in 2016, they really had their backsides kicked in 2013 but not in 2016 and definitely not in 2019.
Andrew Probyn and the ABC has become just another media outlet of the liberals and nationals. How can anyone take them seriously any more?
The lnp/ipa has one objective in mind: a fully user-pays system where your value as a person is determined by the size of your wallet – if you can’t pay your are worthless. Their forward vision is back to the 1800’s where workers were shit and bosses were gods. It will take a revolution to turn it around – pity those idiots who thought unions were useless.
Folks remember the ABC is now led by a mealy mouthed sycophant, put there by Scummo himself. And all that flows out of the mouthpieces of the ABC reflect that reality. To a man and woman, they are toeing the line, but with an added flourish of their own. The sycophant even got a gong this past long weekend for illustrious services to the media landscape. The rest must be hoping that they might be next in line.
The tax legislation is just a political wedge but Probyn doesn’t seem to acknowledge it.
If Labor passes it all now there’s a real chance they’ll have to renege on the last phase at the next election – unless Morrison can’t scrape enough cuts together to afford it by then in which case he may need to call it off himself.
If he does find the necessary cuts by then Labor can only reverse them by scrapping the tax cuts and taking the blame.
It’s economic sabotage for the sake of future political gain. The only thing that can bring it all down is a drastic downturn in the economy and then all bets will be off and what may seem to be a political strategy may turn out to be an economic blunder.
Let’s wait to see this magical promised surplus before rushing to judgement.
All of the MSM are the promotional wing of the COALition. Including their ABC. The MSM are so lazy and biased,that whatever Labor does now = Wrong. IE: Whatever Labor does they can NOT win.
While the MSM ignores the government.It’s just attack Labor.The MSM treat Labor like the government,and the COALition like the opposition.All attack of Labor,but no questioning of the COALition.
The MSM long ago ruined our former democracy.
Their ABC = Also Biased Crap.
The mediaocracy continues…..
@ Kaye Lee,
Tony Abbott is invoking the Talkback Radio/Tabloid urban-myth about “old people dying of hypothermia in their own homes during Winter”. This is due to the evil Greenies stopping coal-fired power, which would have saved them by providing cheap power.
The behaviour of the media & government makes no sense. Labor can’t pass or block the bill. It does not have the numbers. One would think they were looking for an excuse for not putting the legislation into law? I am confused why Labor is going along with their game. Unless it gives them the opportunity to embarrass the government by putting better options forwarded.
All I can think of it the government is planning to go to elections as soon as possible. Is building up a DD chest to keep all options open.
No way will this government last three years.
Tony, the prices rose under two terms of your government. You removed Labor’s compensation for any price rise caused by the transition to CEF. Your mob allowed the cost of gas to go through the roof. One of the main causes of electricity cost rising.
Your mob privatised electricity in all states bur QLD.
Australian Journalism.
Mrs Browns ginger cat Marmalade has been rescued from her neighbours rather tall gum tree.
The end.
Scummo is already finding excuses for the inevitable downturn in the Australian economy by pointing to the US-China trade war. He was on the news his afternoon, someone said to me. And right on cue, Murdoch and the rest of the bastards will be parroting his every pronouncement. Needless to say the ABC and SBS will be giving his words extra special significance with a whole segment dedicated to the financial genius’s wisdom.
Kay Lee, journalistic/journalism intellectual rigor and integrity has long since left the paddock, Gore Vidal, then “The corporate grip on opinion in the US is one of the wonders of the Western world. No first world has ever managed to eliminate so entirely from its media all objectivity much less dissent” and then JFK, “The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all” informed democracy in free fall and the rest is history, ever widening economic inequality, a people disengaged and disenfranchised from the political sphere, viscerally angry and prejudiced against each other, and so very ready to support Trump in his attack on the democratic institutions and the 4th estate. The 4th estate miserably failed informed democracy and they now fighting a rearguard action for relevance and trust, its way way way too late and would you believe they not half as indentured as over here.
Over here, the corporate grip and the media tsar, decide what, how when and who for Australia, they snookered any semblance of 21st century Australia, no digitisation (chief honcho so very proudly edict of the media tsar 4/08/2013), no better deal for the natural resources, no educating for 21st century, as they also put the knife on all that held together to social fabric that is fair equal and inclusive. This time round the 4th estate played dead ball on everything all round and give you ten to one, it was on the edict of the moneyed corporations and media tsar and now as then it was relentless, toxic, divisive, prejudices to the point of exhaustion and the rest is history. The chosen disciples (journos) make no mistake has the skills and talent unsurpassed talent to make an untruth read/sound/look (print/screen/radio) like the gospel and the aforesaid has/was trained and inculcated to the nth and need to keep open his employability should he be to use an Abbottism “…liberated….” again.
Kay Lee in closing listening today to the so very self absorbed with their own self-importance in the rarefied oxygen tent NPC, on the importance and function of a free press in a democracy, really?, the very mob who took that trust and sold it on the stock market for a song without so much as a by your leave, really?, go figure. So yes a free independent press is a cornerstone of an informed open, fair and equal democracy, but that ship has long since sailed rear vision, then Abe Lincoln, “I see in the future a crises approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country.. corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruptions in high places will follow and the money power of the country will endeavour to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in the few hands and the Republic is destroyed”, in Australia, the media tsar hoovered up print, screen, radio and even venture into popular sports and made an art form of toxicity in the currency of prejudices (creed, colour or other), divisiveness and fear and any opposition, to borrow a Tony Blair phrase, “….. to be monstered..” to the nth as he cornered, perfected that trade mark, from the gutter, down the drain pipe into the bottomless sewerage farm. So on the edict of moneyed corporations and the media tsar the 4th estate has miserably failed informed democracy and a 21st century Australia, journalism/journalist need to own their creation and I give you ten to one as scary as it is, the punters will not march for freedom of the press, as self absorbed journos delusionally think (punters may have in some distant past) as in countries of dictatorship. In dictatorship they know they’ve been had, over here the punters are only waking up how they’ve been well and truly snookered on formed democracy and a 21st century. Viva social media, and viva journalism as this, thank you.