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Premature congratulation

The Abbott government suffers from a bad case of premature congratulation.

We have had a parade of Hockey, Cormann, Frydenberg, Abbott and others telling us that they have halved Labor’s debt – which is a rather bizarre claim considering the gross debt has increased by $83 billion (and counting) since they took office.

Joe Hockey tells us that “job creation across the economy is running at around 15,000 new jobs a month. This is three times larger than the average of around 5,000 jobs a month last year.”

Aside from the fact that there is no measure of “new jobs” (job ads do not differentiate between new and existing jobs), comparative figures show that, in the 19 months from August 2013 to March 2015, there was a rise of 52,300 in the number of people employed and a rise of 56,200 in the number of people unemployed.  The aggregate monthly hours worked fell from 1,647.3 million hours to 1,628.7 million hours.  In other words, employment has not kept up with population growth and those who are working are working less hours.

Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister Christian Porter informs us that cuts to red tape have delivered $2.5 billion in savings in compliance costs since coming to Government.  To arrive at this figure they have done some very creative accounting.

People buying prepaid mobile phones will only have to go through the identity check once, not twice, saying that will save $6.2 million.

He said rejigging the e-tax website so the data entered the previous year shows up would save time and cut costs by $156 million and he said there was a $17 million saving in scrapping regulations that banned people using mobile devices on take-off and landing in planes.

The costs were partly calculated by working out how much time people or businesses would have spent complying with the rules and then what their time was worth.  Who would have thought that turning off your phone for a minute would have cost so much?

Andrew Robb has been showered with praise for completing several free trade agreements.  The secrecy surrounding these negotiations makes it very hard to understand the full implications but the FTA with Japan alone led to a $1.6 billion write down in revenue.  One must wonder why these countries, after years of negotiation, were all willing to sign off so quickly all of a sudden.  I fear our Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme will be under attack very soon, along with our plain packaging laws, and that manufacturing will have no future in this country.

We have also been barraged by a litany of self-congratulation for “stopping the boats”.  Whilst the number of boats is less, they certainly haven’t stopped, even under the threat of incarceration and torture at the other end.  But more to the point, what has this policy achieved in helping the growing tide of displaced people around the world?  We pretend to care about deaths at sea but apparently don’t give a toss about what is happening to those we turn away.

The gold award for premature congratulation, however, must surely go to Greg Hunt who, in one day, would have us believe that he cut our emissions by 4 times what occurred under carbon pricing and for 1% of the cost.  This unbelievable statement is so wrong on so many counts it is hard to know where to begin.

A study by the ANU showed that emissions reductions directly attributable to the carbon price in the electricity sector alone had achieved an abatement of between 11 and 17 million tonnes over its two year life while raising around $6 billion in revenue.  Abatement would have been even higher had the industry believed the carbon price to be permanent.

Whilst it’s true that demand has been falling for some time, 2013’s 0.8 per cent economy-wide fall in emissions was the largest annual reduction in the 24 years of monitoring. In the power sector, the industry most directly covered by the carbon price, emissions fell 5 per cent.

Hunt’s ridiculous statement that the carbon price was $1,300 per tonne has been lambasted by experts for the lie that it so obviously is.  The real price was in the 20-odd dollar range, and if the carbon tax had been allowed to develop into an emissions trading scheme, which it would’ve by now, the price would be linked to the European system which is trading at around the $10 mark.

Hunt’s other glaring omission is that while the Coalition’s policy is a cost, the carbon tax raised revenue.

What the government has actually done is spend $660 million of taxpayers’ funds buying a possible 47 million tonnes of carbon abatement – 25% of their total budget for 15% of the required abatement.

As reported in New Matilda, there’s also no guarantee the contracts companies won in Thursday’s ‘reverse auction’ will be discharged before the 2020 deadline. Many of them extend for seven or 10 years, and the government has not provided information about when the abatements need to be achieved.

“The experience with grant-based mechanisms is some of the projects proposed or actually contracted don’t happen in actual fact,” Professor Jotzo said. Even if they do, the types of projects contracted so far are largely land-fill and agriculture abatements, many of which may have been occurring already under ‘carbon farming’ initiatives, or would have occurred anyway.   Hunt is very much counting his chickens before they have hatched.

A very excited Andrew Robb also informed the Mines and Money Conference in March that “Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt has quickly approved 145 projects worth over $1 trillion in economic value; the majority of which are in the resources and energy sector.  Federal project approval times have been slashed to below 200 days from an average of 470 days in 2012.  We have created a ‘one-stop shop’ for environmental approvals that eliminates duplication between states, territories and the Commonwealth, saving business $426 million per year.”

The trouble with fast tracking approval is that companies lie and it takes expensive court cases to prove it.

A Queensland court has heard expert evidence from Adani’s own witness that the Indian company which wants to build Australia’s largest ever coal mine has drastically overstated the project’s benefits to the Queensland public.  And in other explosive evidence, a senior company official said he “could not comment” on speculation the company had been structured to siphon profits off to Singapore, Mauritius and the Cayman Islands, to avoid Australian company taxes.

Adani’s claims about the number of jobs the project will create have already been referred to the Australian Consumer and Competition Commission by the Australia Institute, which argues they have been inflated by 300 per cent.

Adani has also claimed that the mine would generate “$22 billion in mining taxes and royalties in just the first half of the project life”.   Even their own expert belies this claim, estimating that royalties will actually amount to just $7.8 billion and corporate taxes will add around $9.96 billion over the 30-year period under consideration.  This too is being challenged as they apparently used a company tax rate of 32% rather than 30% and have been actively structuring their company to “optimise” their tax obligation.

Earlier this month, as part of the Land Court proceedings, the mining giant argued that the world is on track to a 3.1 degree temperature rise and if they don’t dig up the proposed 60 million tonnes of coal annually, another, potentially foreign, company will. Such a rise in temperatures, Adani’s expert witness conceded, would ultimately destroy the Great Barrier Reef.

When Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, considered to be a close friend of Gautam Adani, attended the G20 conference in Brisbane last year, he announced a $1 billion loan for the Adani project from the State Bank of India.  Apparently, this offer is being withdrawn, adding to the growing list of banks and financial organisations refusing to offer finance for the proposed mines.

So despite all the back-slapping and self-congratulation indulged in by the Coalition, it is hard to find any tangible benefit from having the adults back in charge.  The reality is that the debt and deficit are worse, unemployment is worse, our sovereignty to make health and environment laws is at risk, our emissions are increasing, investment in renewable energy has ceased, we are endangering the Great Barrier Reef, and we have done nothing to help asylum seekers.

But rest assured, by keeping your phone on during take-off and landing, you are saving the country millions.

39 comments

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  1. kezz

    Great read. Thank you for great research and report. The blatant lies diss us all.

  2. Rosemary (@RosemaryJ36)

    When is a lie not a lie? When a politician says it is the truth.

  3. donwreford

    Simply put jobs have been exported to overseas to in crease profits of the rich, our hypocrisy in making all our health and safety rules and punishment if not adhered to, do not get exported, this ploy is and has the effect of bringing down workers wages to the third world, the growing gulf between the rich and the poor endorsed by governments throughout the world, the government is concerned with reduction of taxpayers money in the way of reduction of health and education all designed for reducing taxpayers costs, the peculiar outcome is nothing of the sort the cost of living actually keeps rising with punitive cost against the people as a society except the rich and the politicians income which is designed to create more hardship for the general public.
    It will be noted by some the increase in fraud, theft or misdemeanors in rort’s by our main high street banks little has been done for those who have lost their savings, finance companies such as Banksia, that were reputable when taken over by the CEOs soon went bankrupt with depositors losing their money, what this company once offered was loans to those who were on low doc paperwork, we see throughout the western alliance increase on expenditure on military, and collusive activities of these same governments on military action on mythological subversives that tend to create terrorism, altogether the widespread use of media propaganda by the media contributes to world fear which is what our politicians are instilling and a widespread alliance to right wing conservative and repressive doctrine.
    Although the public at large are subject to indoctrination their are many that no longer believe in the good will of our so called governments altogether from the 1960s have become increasingly repressive and have followed a regime of becoming for most difficult in surviving in a dignified state of being which to my mind is all part of what I and many others see as all part of the plan, to erode the state of the self.

  4. Kaye Lee

    Australia needs to cut its CO2 emissions by 236 million tonnes to meet its official target. At a price of $13.95 and a budget of $2.55 billion, we could only afford 182 million tonnes of CO2 so we are already short.

    This auction attracted emissions-reduction projects that are easy or cheap to implement or already under way. In future, the number of “emissions-reduction-ready projects” may decline, and the cost per tonne of emissions reductions increase.

    Only 1.5% of the contracts (by volume of CO2 to be reduced) are set to end within 3-5 years, within the target deadline of 2020. Meanwhile, 40% of emissions reductions are set to be delivered over seven years, and the remaining 58% over ten years.

    It’s estimated that only 28 million tonnes of emissions at best – around 60% of the 47.3 million tonnes lauded as the outcome of this first auction – will be have been cut by 2020.

    Almost half of the projects (by emissions volume) involve “forest protection” – paying farmers to not clear land – so it doesn’t actually reduce current emissions instead paying them to avoid activities that may release emissions in the future.

    https://theconversation.com/on-these-numbers-australias-emissions-auction-wont-get-the-job-done-40761

    I would hate to be the person trying to sell this at Paris.

  5. Loz

    Lies, lies and more lies from this government.

  6. townsvilleblog

    The LNP would tell us that black was white if they thought they could get away with it, as they are doing, because apparently they can get away with it and still their is no opposing view from the silent opposition.

  7. Möbius Ecko

    “Almost half of the projects (by emissions volume) involve “forest protection” – paying farmers to not clear land – so it doesn’t actually reduce current emissions instead paying them to avoid activities that may release emissions in the future.”

    Straight out of the Howard book of dirty tricks. Howard also claimed vegetation that was not cleared or felled was a carbon reduction, and this was after he got an increase in polluting on the back of Downer’s constant annoying whinging being so grating to the other delegates they gave it to him to make him go away.

  8. Anomander

    I’d like to congratulate the government on being the worst in living memory. And my memory of Australian politics is very long.

  9. Terry2

    Abbott has just announced that Australian Taxpayers will be spending $100 million for a visitors’ education centre at Villers Bretonneux on the former Western Front. We’re a generous lot aren’t we !

    So glad that the budget emergency is over.

  10. Anomander

    The government won’t even try to sell it at Paris Kaye.

    Their strategy will be to coat themselves in Teflon and send someone like Robb along, ready to ignore the efforts of the rest of the world, making pathetic excuses and denying all the science, embarrassing us yet again on the world stage.

    They simply don’t care because their pockets are being lined with money from the miners.

  11. stephentardrew

    Great article again Kaye. Very informative.

    Anomander is absolutely right they are as thick as a brick and do not give damn what anyone thinks of them as long as they achiever their IPA goals. (Thanks to Ian Anderson)

    They most surely have a strategy for the coming election which they are sitting on while Labor tries to play the daft mute. The L-NP will come out screaming and lying as usual supported by a dozy media while Labor plays the silent long shot.

    Don’t Labor realise they do not have the same sort of brute conviction driving them as the L-NP. Shorten cannot play hard or convincing enough to appear creditable to many.

    If these were just political issues then not so bad. The fact is there are so many moral issues of critical importance to this nation that demand an ethical stand even if they choose to be short on policy detail.

    Kaye’s excellent articles provide the fodder for a full frontal attack which is definitely going to be needed. Abbott ran for four years on the liar mantra. Well where the hell are labor when Abbott has broken all records for deception. He even makes Howard look like a beginner.

    Where the hell has the left gone. Even the Greens can’t get a handle upon the failure of supply side economics and embrace the very facts Modern Money Theory proves beyond doubt.

    Damn you so called progressives if you can’t challenge traditions and support revisionary insight then move over and let someone else take your place.

    Things are just getting worse while there is no coherent challenge to neo-conservatism and supply-side economics.

    Shift the deck chairs once more and we will most certainly see another financial crash as the US wind back Dod/Frank (which Elizabeth Warren so clearly demonstrates) and we end up with a real estate bubble.

    The silence is deafening.

    Soon, my dear head in the ground ostriches, it will be too damn late.

    Has anyone heard of accelerated change supported by Ray Kurzweil’s research.

    The gaps between cycles are shortening so watch out time is of the essence.

  12. Kaye Lee

    If we save the nation millions by keeping our phones on for a minute, how much are they costing us by keeping us on hold for an hour every time we try to ring Centrelink or the ATO due to their staffing cuts?

  13. Dee

    Great research and a great article, Kaye. The ALP opposition has so much to work with and still does and says nothing.
    As mentioned by Terry2 above, Abbott continues to spend like a drunken sailor on perpetual war celebrations and terrorism but its a “sacred cow” and again the opposition is silent. How much war can one have in 18 months of LNP leadership? Whoops, I forgot, its their tried and true poll booster. Unfortunately, if we do have a change of government they will be committed to this “education centre” in France and probably bound by the current popularity of war celebrations and war museums. Spare me from more of this hypocrisy please!

  14. Aortic

    The picture says it all really. Idiots gloating over the repealing of a perfectly effective and functioning carbon tax to be replaced with a scientifically disparaged policy. I agree with Anomander this is by far the worst in my memory and I go back a long way too.

  15. mars08

    Australia … open for business. And a damn thorough rogering …

  16. Annie B

    An excellent article Kaye. ….. Has me almost speechless actually.

    But not quite. …. I occurs to me ( and no doubt to many ) that we are a country that does not, in reality, have a government. ….. which is a dangerous state of affairs.

    What we do have is a bunch of peurile creatures occasionally sitting for a fortnight here and there, in leather chairs in a Federal Parliament chamber, dreaming up nasty schemes to throw about, in order to have some wicked glee at watching the general populace squirm and suffer. Nasty little creatures, they are.

    And outside of that chamber, grabbing any microphone handy, and making infantile statements – which inludes fanciful and mysterious mind-wanders and imaginings, such as Hunts’ ridiculous ideas about emissions cuts. …. every single one of the males in that group ( barring perhaps Turnbull – who is clever at avoiding putting his foot in mouth ) … has made outrageous claims and statements, while thinking the public will swallow it. … Julie Bishop speaks with dignity, but I ain’t particularly a fan of hers either. … She’s doing a job that I honestly believe the toxic one thought she might not handle, so he put her there. ….. Turns out she makes a mockery of him, by being able to stick to points, without embellishment or obfuscation. ….. have to wonder how he will get rid of her – and in the long run, he surely will. ….. Susan Ley is in much the same boat.

    We may as well co-opt a few kindergarten groups to make up the numbers – and replace the lot, for all the good they ( proclaim ) to do. …. In fact kindergarten kids might at least speak the truth – ( kids are renowned for uttering painful truths at the wrong times -” out of the mouths of babes” and all that ). …. they could do no worse than this mob — the self proclaimed ‘adults in charge’. …. I think that cloak was created to make the LNP feel capable, when they know, deep down, they are not.

    Meanwhile we plod on – without being governed – and without an effective opposition to the said mythical government. ,,,, For a long time, I thought Shorten was playing a long and hard game, and would come through … but am now, sadly, changing my mind. … He is but a little ‘friend’ sitting on the shoulders of a devil and whispering ” How high do you want me to jump, sir “. … at least that’s how it appears.

    However, we still have hope remaining – – – just.

  17. Brad

    And what makes it even more ridiculous is that they think they can get away with lying.
    So many lies, it’s only a matter of time before things start to unravel (if they haven’t already).

  18. diannaart

    27th April 2015, premature ‘good riddance’ to the LNP mob (and take Shorten with you).

  19. corvus boreus

    Kaye Lee,
    The paragraph on the possible repercussions of the ‘free-trade agreements’ got me pondering exactly how many of the points on the IPA ‘radical plan’ could circumvent parliamentary process by being included in (confidential) international signings.

  20. stephentardrew

    Point Made by Roy Morgan .

    Time to freak out Labor.

    Australians support Tony Abbott as PM over Bill Shorten – but neither leader much liked

    Despite neither Federal Leader having positive ‘job’ approval, Prime Minister Tony Abbott 44% (up 3% since January 2015) now leads Opposition Leader Bill Shorten 39% (down 4%) as the ‘Better PM’ according to a special telephone Morgan Poll conducted over three nights last week April 21-23, 2015.

    http://www.roymorgan.com/findings/6207-better-prime-minister-tony-abbott-bill-shorten-april-2015-201504260535?u

  21. tet02

    The science is in, there is basically nothing to debate. We need to work on reducing emissions yesterday if we are to avoid disaster. I cant understand their thought process, surely these denialists have children and grandchildren. Are they so self absorbed that they would risk the future of their own progeny. Or do they think the extra dollars they are making can buy them a ticket off the planet.
    We have been a sentient species for 0.0001 % of the time that life has been on the Earth. We are very likely the only sentient species on the only planet with life in the universe. And what have we done since we, the ‘adults’, have been in charge? In the last 500 years alone we have been responsible for killing off at least 322 types of animal, not counting plants, insects, marine life and in all probability, things we didn’t even know existed. So whether by some kind of twisted fate, accident or divine providence it has fallen to us to be either the harbingers of the 6th and perhaps final mass extinction, or the saviours of what life remains.
    Yes, it’s a good thing the ‘adults’ are in charge

  22. Annie B

    “Are they so self absorbed that they would risk the future of their own progeny.”

    You just betcha they are !!

    As long as they can feel personally comfortable, enjoy the fruits of their NON-work / endeavours at the expense of the taxpayer, and with a giant pension payable to the end of their lives – what the hell do they care ? …. they are set up for life, and that’s ALL they care about.

    A prime pack of bastards … all of them.

  23. stephentardrew

    Spot on Corvus.

    I have not looked at it that way.

    Very insightful comment.

  24. Annie B

    Wondering what’s going on ?? …. ref. this article which I have had to access a different way.

    Received the following in my Gmail account :

    ” Be careful with this message. It contains content that’s typically used to steal personal information. Learn more…. Report this suspicious message … Ignore, I trust this message”

    There was no way it would allow me to connect through ” See All Comments “. … To access it I could have clicked on ‘Ignore, I trust this message’ … but ????

    Are the LNP gremlins at work ?

    ( this is not a joke – it actually happened – I connected by going to another article, and clicking on this one in the AIM Network header ), just to be sure.

    The techie bods here, might be able to figure this one out ???

  25. Kaye Lee

    So almost all of the abatement to be delivered before 2020 from this first auction appears to be from projects that were already in place sometime before the ERF came along, or rely on a one-off land clearing permit regime. In addition there’s considerable uncertainty surrounding whether the abatement delivered is actually a meaningful change from business as usual.

    Hardly a “stunning result”.

    http://www.businessspectator.com.au/article/2015/4/27/policy-politics/stunning-mediocrity-minister-hunts-abatement-auction

    cb,

    It seems anything you don’t want to talk about can now be considered “commercial in confidence” or ” operational matters”. It’s really starting to piss me off. It’s our money they are spending, it’s us that will have to wear the consequences of these deals – we have a right to know what’s going on. I do not trust these people enough to have no oversight as they have not shown good judgement on their own and tend to ignore experts. Unless it is that other no talkies, “national security”, I can’t see why we shouldn’t know what’s going on in trade negotiations or infrastructure projects.

  26. Terry2

    The Department of the Environment summarized the situation thus:

    “Australia’s cumulative abatement task from 2013 to 2020 has fallen to 236 Mt CO2-e.
    This is a reduction of 185 Mt CO2-e compared to the abatement task of 421 Mt CO2-e in the 2013 Projections due to a range of factors.

    lower electricity demand forecasts due to uptake of household solar, energy efficiency and higher retail electricity prices;

    worse than expected agricultural conditions due to drought;

    lower manufacturing output due to industrial closures;

    weaker growth expectations for local coal production due to a fall in international coal prices; and

    two additional years of historic data and improved estimation methods that have been applied to the National Greenhouse Gas Inventory and these projections.

    To achieve Australia’s 2020 target of five percent below 2000 levels, Australia must reduce its emissions by 126 Mt CO2-e in 2019–20.
    Emissions are projected in accordance with the international accounting rules. The Government has committed to the Kyoto Protocol second commitment period of 2013 to 2020.”

    Source : http://www.environment.gov.au/climate-change/emissions-projections

    The reductions include the impact of increased electricity prices : drought : closure of industries : falling commodity prices : the one positive feature being the increase in household solar uptake.

    Offshoring our industrial output has also been a factor welcomed by Greg Hunt much as the Abbott government rejoices in turning back boats – it comes back to the same thing,we solve a problem here to create a problem elsewhere : the whack-a-mole principle.

    So the challenge for this government is to see how much more industrial output we can offshore !

  27. Lance

    I’m confused. Are we being governed by corrupt incompetents or lying idiots?

  28. paul walter

    That is a disgusting photo, by the way.

  29. robertvincin

    Minister Hunt sold”credits at $13.95 Tonne Carbon. 1 Tonne Carbon is equal to 3.67 TONNES CO2. One UNFCCC international Tonne CO2 is $20.00 certified therefore 3.67 is $51.00 in CO2 UNFCCC terms. If the Minister meant $13.95 CO2 then this will not cover audit baseline, seeds, planting verification register with UNFCCC. So, is the Government expecting emitters to actually commit to $13.95 carbon. Trees are Greg Hunts choice, every published science study “trees are a source CO2” taking carbon from soil and do not meet UNFCCC 100 yr safe storage of “CARBON”. Who is advising Government on soil and climate change and emission trading business? Let the buyer beware. Without prejudice

  30. Rossleigh

    Actually, Lance, I have a strong suspicion that we are governed by corrupt, lying incompetent idiots!

  31. corvus boreus

    Rossleigh and Lance,
    I have a personal perceptional/evidential certainty that we are currently being mal-governed by corruptly lying anti-competent idiot-iologues.

  32. Divergent

    “Premature congratulation” I luv it.

  33. crypt0

    “Are they so self absorbed that they would risk the future of their own progeny.”
    You just betcha they are !!
    All the evidence supports Annie B.

    Meanwhile, the LNP appears unconcerned by their extreme unpopularity with voters, with an election about 18 months away.

    What are the odds they have an industrial strength bucket of dirt, primed to tip over Shorten re his union activities back in the day, or whatever?
    murdoch press in particular, and other MSM standing by and ready to let fly when the moment arrives.

  34. Annie B

    crypto0 – – –

    “and other MSM standing by and ready to let fly when the moment arrives.”

    AND / OR …. when a command from the high priest of dictatorship – the ‘ Captain ‘, DEMANDS it.

    I think in April, he has managed about 3 days when his mug wasn’t plastered across our TV screens, for one reason or another. …. He must have camera crews on stand-by.

    You are probably right about the union days of Shorten, being fodder for this rabid mob – but I kinda think that mightn’t be such a wise move on their part. … but then, when have they EVER made a wise move in anything ???

  35. Möbius Ecko

    Look no further than the constant snow job re the NBN lately. Hardly a day goes by where I don’t see a good news story on the NBN rollout, the opposite of what occured under the previous government, where not a day went by without multiple attacks against the NBN rollout.

    And this is just start of the inevitable ramp up leading up to the election where propaganda like this will be a flood.

  36. Möbius Ecko

    Damn I shouted long and loud at the car radio this morning until I realised I was shouting at the wrong thing. I should not have been shouting at Abbott as he yet again did a massive back flip and wimped after months of chest beating and bravado, but I should have been shouting and yelling at the media who yet again allowed him to do this without recrimination.

    Before the executions of Chan and Sukumaran Abbott and Bishop the younger were threatening all sorts of reprisals and consequences against Indonesia if they carried out the executions.

    So what did I hear this morning? Abbott recalling the Australian Ambassador, which will negatively impact Australians in Indonesia, not Indonesia, and Abbott completely backing down on his chest beating and calling for calm, after weeks of calling for outrage, and saying now is not the time for recrimination. WTF, really WTF.

    Please media why aren’t you for once holding Abbott to account for his false bravado before an event and then his total back down after it as though he had been reasoned and circumspect all along?

  37. diannaart

    @ Möbius Ecko

    The response of the mass media has hardly been consistent or stellar on reporting the Bali 9 travesty these past 9+ years, starting with:

    For example, The Daily Telegraph broke news of the two men’s death sentence on February 15, 2006, with the banner “NO SYMPATHY”.

    Whereas as today:

    Wednesday’s “please don’t shoot” cover stands in stark contrast to some of News Corp’s past newspaper front pages when reporting the Bali Nine.

    http://www.buzzfeed.com/markdistefano/bali-nine-news-shifts#.tagXA7dxX

  38. Annie B

    The media … does, and always has done ..,, the big ‘beat up’. …. It’s what and who they are. By their own admission in free lance journalism, or because they are told to do so by an over-riding editor in chief – or just the underling bloke who screams directives at them via mobile phones – to do as they are told – which is – – –

    ” Beef it up ” …. ” Expand it” … “Fill it out” …. and so they do – obediently ( to earn their quid ).

    A time ago ( whenever ) the ‘big’ story was what abbott would do ( the chest beating ) if these two men were murdered ! …. today, it is what abbott has done …. ( withdrawn the Ambassador – big deal ). …. the MSM do NOT go back to old articles. … they just go on with new stories.

    Specifically, todays’ new story is what abbott has said in the past 24 hours ( phffft ) and what he has done – ( wooowww ).

    Instead of screaming at the radio – we should all take what the MSM say, with a grain of salt. !! Cos that’s about all it’s worth.

    ,,,,,,,,,,,,,

  39. peever

    This country is doomed. Abbott is killing off everything that and is Australian. Selling our souls to the stinking Chinese, more and more people from war torn countries (that is what we are led to believe). Most who are not refugees in the first place and who are only using our country to further their own political views and brainwashing our children into their world of hatred and war. This needs to stop now! Terrorism is on the cards with all the Eastener’s we allow into this country, allowing overseas companies buying up our lands, businesses, homes, jobs, the bloody list goes on and on. Putting more and more indignities on already struggling families in Australia with their restrictions on welfare in all facets. I’m sick of all the pain that low income people have to suffer just to make the bloody rich richer. The abuse of our politicians with taxpayers monies into the millions all the while our low income families suffer. I’m sick of all the refugees being allowed into this country, they are raping our businesses, our jobs etc. And we wonder why there is racism in this country! How many Asian shops in this country are run only by Asians? where is the fairness of employing White Australians as well. If it was the other way round they would be screaming racism. But we all know racism only goes one way, now don’t we? This country is a pathetic joke and it’s not going to get any better ever. We have run our race and now, through politics, our country is being bought and sold to the highest bidder and it doesn’t matter to any politician today because the only thing they are worried about is saving a few bucksand trying to score points with everyday Australians only to be lied to over and over again. The only thing politicians are in the game for is to see how much they can rort off the system into their own greedy pockets and to hell with the rest of the country! If you think I am pissed off, you had better believe it! Politicians are ruled by big spending corporations, media moguls and the like.

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