OK, I know it’s obvious, but I want to know why Justice Heydon can say that there was absolutely no reason for him to disqualify himself for accepting an invitation to be the guest speaker because – as he points out in his sixty seven page justification – it doesn’t demonstrate that he agrees with the politics of the organisation where he’s going to speak.
So there’s no problem with him accepting the invitation. Got it! Except now the question is why he felt that he had to change his mind about speaking there. It might be perceived as bias. But now his ruling on apprehended bias is that a “rational” person wouldn’t see it as bias.
I guess, from that, one could infer from that as Heydon decided to change his mind about speaking then he isn’t a “rational” person.
We also learn that Justice Heydon is famous for not reading emails.
Which seems a clear link to the Liberals who have a reluctance to read anything (as Kaye Lee pointed out in “Less Shovels And More Reading” a few days ago).
While not reading emails or anything going to their office has been a popular pastime for Liberals since Peter Reith and the children overboard fiasco, I suspect that it may become popular for unionists in the coming days.
“Sorry, Justice Heydon, but I’m well-known among my colleagues for not reading emails, opening letters, checking bank statements or anything else you wish to question me about. I wasn’t aware of any of this and I don’t see how any rational person would expect me to keep track of what I’ve been doing when – as a union leader – everyone knows that I’m a bludger who never does anything but wage war on those poor multinationals who are providing jobs for Australians as part of their charity program.”
But I’m more concerned about the Fairfax “jihad”.
Yep, that’s right. Minister for Not Reading Press Releases, Mr Peter Mutton told everyone that Fairfax were waging a “jihad” against the Abbott Government. Which if you look up almost any definition of the word, is a wee bit confusing. For a start, surely they need to be Muslims to wage a “jihad”. Although Waheed Aly does occasionally write a column for them, so perhaps he’s converted Amanda Vanstone and Peter Reith to the cause. And Paul Sheehan. None of those columnists ever show the Abbott Government in a positive light.
Yes, yes, I know. Allowing such people to give you their thoughts does make the Abbott Government look bad. Anyway, the Petester wasn’t finished, obviously concerned that he didn’t have anyone at “hello”. Or “jihad” for that matter.
PETER DUTTON: I think it would be helpful if some of the commentators in the area, in this space of politics, started reporting on the incidents, as opposed to being players themselves.
I think there’s a huge move by Fairfax at the moment to try and bring the Government down, that’s fair enough. But they aren’t, they aren’t….
They aren’t supposed to be political players, they’re supposed to be objective reporters of the news and I think many of them have morphed into frustrated politicians themselves.
Yes, they should get back to simple reporting of incidents the way the Murdoch Press does. Then we can see simple reporting of incidents like the fabulous: “We Need Tony” or “Kick This Mob Out”!
Although I seem to remember that we were told that News Limited were a private organisation and that they were allowed to be biased. Fairfax, on the other hand (sorry Andrew Hastie but that wasn’t directed at you!), should stick to reporting the facts because, well, they’re being “helped by the ABC” according to Pete the Insignificant.
But I find it strange that he thinks that “commentators” should stick to reporting “incidents”. I thought the whole idea of commentators was to commentate, but I’ve always been a bit funny about words and their meanings. You know, I’m one of those that thought that when Abbott said that there was no difference between him and Rudd on Education, I thought that meant that he was saying that he’d implement the same policy, not that they both had a university degree. Or that no cuts meant that he wasn’t going to reduce the funds to pensioners, not that he wasn’t going to take a knife to them.
Still to be fair, all our Minister for Operational Matters actually said was that “it’d be helpful” if they stuck to reporting incidents. Objectively. You know, factual reporting. Using last Friday’s events maybe he’d be happy with something like this appearing in Fairfax.
“Operation Fortitude was called off when a clumsy worded press release caused people to compare the Abbott Government with Hitler and Stalin and to make comparisons between the Border Force’s black uniform with the Nazi SS. The press release wasn’t read by the Minister’s Office because they don’t have anything to do with the day-to-day operational matters, so they didn’t think that it was worth reading something sent to them. The Prime Minister assured us that he knew nothing.”
Yeah, that should make him happy.
That, and a decision by the media to stop reporting that there’s disharmony in the Liberal Party, because it’s not really news. People leaking. As Dutton himself told us, people could have a pretty good idea who was doing the leaking, and they’re doing it for their own ambitions and they should be sacked. But there’s no disharmony, and any attempt to report disharmony is just due to the Labor/Green/ABC/Fairfax/socialist/Jewish/alien/Islam/foreign/World Trade Centre conspiracy to bring down the natural rulers by refusing to mention that all they think about is Jobs and Growth And Security, and if you think about something often enough, then it happens. We all know that, we’ve all seen “Field of Dreams” and we know that if we build it they will come.
Mm, perhaps I should apply for a job as Tony Abbott’s speechwriter.
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Only if you stutter.
But remember, the pay rate is for original sentences. Repeats don’t attract a trailing commission.
Seriously, Dutton is comedy gold. Beyond parody.
Repeats don’t attract a trailing commission?
So after you’ve written “jobs and growth” that’s it?
Why there’s less money in that than coal mining!
Lovely work. Enjoy your take.
Nowhere near the mark. The current mantra is jobs, growth and community safety.
You seem to think that there’s three words involved in the current mantra but the truth is there’s five. An improvement of some 66% (approx).
With those figures I am sure you will be able to negotiate a much higher fee. You know a much higher fee. Much higher fee. Much higher fee. Much ….
Now we know why the border farce press release wasn’t read by dutton, he was busy ready Fairfax.
Satire – like a hot knife through butter – nicely written Rossleigh.
Yes Phil – could not have thought of a better description of Rossleighs latest contribution.
And again Rossleigh – well said.
.,,,,,,,,,,,
Am now wondering what the Oz guv’mint thinks about Obamas’ latest offering. ” In language unusual for a diplomatic setting, Obama contended, “Any leader willing to take a gamble on a future like that, any leader who refuses to take this issue seriously or treats it like a joke, is not fit to lead.” ( ref. climate change – “Obama on Climate Change” )
See …. http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/obama-climate-change-act-now-or-condemn-world-nightmare-n419071
No doubt the collective arrogance of this current guv’mint here, will sweep it all aside as a leader ( Obama ) ‘politicising’ for the sake of it, while at the same time, they will be deciding which of the myriad of ideas from the U.S. they ( our guv’mint ) will agree to now or in the near future. So Rossleigh, you could add Obama to the naysayer list against guv’mint, you have quoted in your article
Talk about two faced ? …. the Australian Government is 100% THAT.
There could be no question as to who that remark by Obama was aimed at – although ( all smiles and sweet nothings ) … he would dispute that if asked. …. Still and all he said it, and the abbutt must be squirming over his hors d’ouvres as I type. !! …. Might even make him puke a bit – to be put down in such a way.
Well hell – the abbutt deserves put downs – BIG TIME.
Mr. Popularity – he ain’t.
,,,,,,,, as for Dutton – do NOT get me started. !!!
Paris is going to be very interesting. Gillard had taken action on carbon pricing, education, fast broadband, disability insurance, marine parks, water buybacks etc etc. Obama admired her and they got on well. I don’t think Julie Bishop will get the same reception. He isn’t susceptible to flirting or death stares and won’t be fooled by obvious manipulation of rubbery figures. There are a lot of Abbott quotes that Julie is going to have to explain – “coal is good for humanity” is not going to go over well.
So the Immigration minister, an ex Queensland cop, not only seeks super-judicial powers on top of his incompetent command of the new paramilitary ‘border’ force, but also reckons unfavorable (but accurate) media coverage constitutes a form of “jihad”.
Another sub-moronic demagogue seeking a dictatorship.
http://media.guim.co.uk/86d3469bfbfc8fa8f611e307a2e1952f953bafbe/0_0_2500_1500/master/2500.jpg
https://denstormerpresents.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/smiling-puffer-fish-patrick-theiner-size.jpg
Desperate situations call for desperate measures. The question is only “How far will they go?”
As Annie B says….’Dutton, do NOT get me started’.
“Another sub-moronic demagogue seeking a dictatorship”
Isn’t there an island off Tassie somewhere that is unpopulated by humans?
Let’s pack the entire guvmint (and the Alternative Libs as well) to that island and let them dictate to their hearts’ content.
I’m pretty sure the mutton birds wouldn’t mind and they might even enjoy the company.
PDud Has been referencing Joh’s book on idiotic quotes
Gillard had taken action on carbon pricing, education, fast broadband, disability insurance, marine parks, water buybacks etc etc
Carbon pricing is the only thing in that list Gillard can take credit for. Fast broadband? What did labor do in 6 years?
Marine Parks? The Marine Park network is a creation of the Howard govt.
As someone on twitter said yesterday – I bet the Qld Police look at Dutton’s performance & think to themselves “Phew we dodged a bullet there”.
Jobs and growth – for whom?
http://www.news.com.au/national/politics/government-official-proposes-new-hiring-laws-by-eliminating-australian-workers/story-fns0jze1-1227508468291
A great article listing some of the contradictions and ironies being played out by this Government.
The comedy of a judge writing 67 pages of justification for attending a Liberal Party meeting while conducting a Liberal Party Royal Commission is anchored on the claim that he cannot read or send emails. The whole 67 pages are contradicted by the fact he declined, in the end, to attend the meeting.
We have Coalition media supporters chortling that only a couple of hundred Twitterati turned up in Melbourne to protest the proposed actions of the Border Force, actions which even the relevant Minister did not know about – yet the ‘must-do’ operation is postponed.
We have Dutton complaining of “jihad” by a newspaper, completely forgetting, apparently, the sustained attacks from a certain newspaper and media group against Labor. And the Coalition’s own “jihad” against Labor. They are still in Opposition and have forgotten about governing!
It is obvious these people have some problems. It is not just what they say; look at what they do!
OMG. Neil said one thing good about Julia Gillard. Next he’ll be saying something bad about Tony Abbott.
Neil is having difficulty with arithmetic again.
Here’s a comprative look at the rate of rate of acts per day, based the total acts for each PM, party, and parliament, using the number of days in office for each PM, and the number of days each parliament and party governed- which accounts for different lengths of prime ministers’ or governments’ terms.
http://cf.datawrapper.de/VOBn8/
Julia Gillard had the highest rate of passing legislation with a rate of 0.495, followed by Bob Hawke at 0.491.
More on all of that here: http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2013/jun/28/australia-productive-prime-minister
And as for the marine parks…yes Howard did start the ball rolling. This video will bring you forward a few years to Abbott’s private member’s bill opposing their expansion.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7f4_7cM10YQ
And as for the move to fibre for the NBN….
On 15 November 2005 Telstra, the owner of the national copper network, announced a plan to upgrade its ageing networks, including a rollout of a fibre to the node (FTTN) network. At the time, the Federal Government was the majority shareholder of Telstra, but the plan did not involve any additional government investment. The rollout was later put on hold after the Howard Government refused to exempt the new network from laws requiring third party access.
How forward thinking of Howard. We could have had fibre replacing copper for the last ten years with NO additional government spending. But Howard thought there should be more competition so wouldn’t approve it.
As long as we’re digressing into the NBN:
“Australia’s National Broadband Network (NBN) has received heavy criticism from MyRepublic co-founder Malcolm Rodrigues, as it continues to rollout the $41bn project.
The head of the Singaporean-based ISP says the nation’s benchmark of 50Mbps by 2020 is insufficient compared to rising global standards. Rodrigues says the plan to connect fibre to a node, which relies on slower copper phone lines to connect homes to the network, rather than fibre to the home, will be a detriment to the nation’s long-term economy.
“I don’t know what [the government] is doing on the other policy fronts but on this they’ve completely stuffed it. More and more Australians will leave the country looking for jobs and you’ll continue to be a resource based economy – the hope of building IT jobs and a digital economy will kind of be more difficult to achieve.”
http://www.neowin.net/news/australias-41bn-national-broadband-network-labeled-as-s-by-myrepublic-ceo
And as for the marine parks…yes Howard did start the ball rolling. This video will bring you forward a few years to Abbott’s private member’s bill opposing their expansion.
The Howard govt created 1 million square kilometers of marines parks. And the Coalition thinks that is big enough.
You gave Gillard credit for marine parks for some reason.
With latest woeful economic figures under this government, which Hockey lied about in a presser this morning, the cost of living is always higher under a Liberal government.
Just another broken meme of Abbott in opposition who bashed Labor as being a high cost of living government and it would be lower under a Coalition government. Lie upon lie keeps piling up on top of each other to the point that most dismiss nearly everything this government says. All the lies have become a blur.
If you think the cost of living has gone up now, just wait till they increase the GST. How gullible are people who voted on the basis of the carbon tax.
So Neil’s still going on about marine parks. I guess he’s got no choice. I mean, what else do you talk about when your head’s too far up your arse to see how pathetic the government are?
I mean, what else do you talk about when your head’s too far up your arse to see how pathetic the government are?
Well they havn’t trashed anything yet. Everything got worse under Rudd/Gillard and markedly so. Govt is not easy.
But Rudd/Gillard trashed everything they touched. How anybody could want Labor back is beyond me.
Möbius: As dismal as the GDP figures were at .2% have a look at these leading indicators- paying particular attention to the trend line:
http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/5625.0
By the looks of it, Australia will techinically be in recession by March (just as Harper’s Canada is as of today).
Common theme & take home lesson: dysfunctional right wing ideology will trash even the most resilient of economies.
But Jexpat that can’t be. According to Hockey this morning everything is going swimmingly just as he predicted. Then again he did predict there would be a surplus in his first term of government and for every term after that, now modified to 2021 on what everyone agrees are nonsense projections.
By the way Hockey hasn’t mentioned that by scrapping the non-existent Bank Deposit Tax he’s forgone $2 billion in revenue and he used that revenue as part of his projection in the last two budgets.
Also look at this horrifying data, just as it was for Howard who relied on unsustainable public debt, but now its souped up: http://tinyurl.com/ohekqko
That part of the article might seem good for the government and it would be if it was government spending on infrastructure, social welfare, health, education etc. The nation building stuff. But sadly a large chunk of that spending is on Defence and Security.
So without that spending we probably would have had negative growth. Wow.
Of course it’s beyond you, Neil. Everything’s beyond you.
Möbius:
Spot on.
What’s worse, as you imply, is that the lion’s share of the public spending isn’t directed into investments that will pay dividends and create savings and efficiencies for Australians down the track.
Instead, we’re being propped up by what Paul Krugman termed Weaponised Keynsianism.
So much for cost-benefit analysis. This war is costing us a bucket load. To what end? For what purpose? I understand and agree that ISIS is an abomination but we have no solution. They cannot last – beheading is hardly a way to build a nation – but their culture is different to ours. We should not be interfering in a civil war.
I am actually happier with the reporting in the MSM at the moment than in the past few years. It has gone past the he said/she said reporting with no analysis of who was correct which was just perfect for the people who were willing to say anything and not care about the truth behind the statements. The ABC was extremely bad for that. Now at last I am seeing some checks against what is said, by both parties.
Just read that Hockey in opposition worked with the government on the Bank Deposit Tax and said he would support it. Time ran out for Labor to implement it because of the election. Hockey was intending to implement the tax and said so as little as three weeks ago. Because of Canning Abbott told Hockey to can the tax as the banks would make trouble. It’s the second time Abbott has overridden Hockey on the say so of big business via Abbott.
Nobody should have any doubt about who is really running this country, and it’s not the Abbott government.