Author: peterimrich

LNP Corruption, LNP Government

‘Dodging up the books’: Labor senator says Pandora Papers show need for reform

The ATO has accused PWC of using inexperienced lawyers to invoke legal privilege to deny access to documents during tax audits.

We saw the Panama Papers, now the Pandora Papers and still the government has done nothing. The ATO even complained, yet the government has done nothing. This again Morrison and Frydenberg will let pass through to the wicketkeeper as if it were a no ball. Their leadership for “some” Australians to be kept safe is our Pandoras box not to be publicly opened.

“[The] onus is on the financial institutions involved to be the first and last lines of defence, whereas lawyers, accountants or real estate agents (the ‘gatekeepers’) involved have little or no education or incentive to deter or prevent the proceeds of crime entering the Australian economy,” FinTech Australia said in its submission. “High-net worth does not mean low [money laundering] risk. This weakness in the current regime appears to be the elephant in the room.” Related Article The ATO has accused PWC of using inexperienced lawyers to invoke legal privilege to deny access to documents during tax audits. Courts ATO accuses PwC of improper use of lawyers to conceal tax affairs However, the Chartered Accountants Australia and Real Estate Institute of Australia (REIA) have warned tranche two could create “onerous red tape” that might not improve the overall system and could lead to “unintended consequences” such as higher costs for consumers.

Source: ‘Dodging up the books’: Labor senator says Pandora Papers show need for reform

Uncategorized

Nationhood and the ‘Pure’ Race (part 3) – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Interest subsequently increased in using evolution theory for justification of a strong state in Australia. It is this racialist concern with a distinctively Australian type that undergirded the White Australia Policy, which was sanctioned by the adoption of the Immigration Restriction Bill in 1901. Pettman comments that the: Imperialist and racist ideology drew on generations of conquest, slavery and exploitation, and on a whole language of black inferiority and white superiority, bolstered in the nineteenth century by the new sciences. This ideology proved useful and flexible in rationalising the bloody violence, dispossession and incarceration of Aboriginal people, necessary to clear the way for the white nation (Pettman, 1988:2). Jan Pettman notes that the Darwinist explanations of evolution asserted that given equal competition, the fittest societies would survive and the inferior would die out, and links the attempted and hastened destruction of Aboriginal societies based on this theory. The British, being industrious and capital driven, accepted themselves as superior to the ‘improvident’ Aborigines and accepted that as racially doomed and undesirable were destined to

Source: Nationhood and the ‘Pure’ Race (part 3) – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Australia's Shame

The Australian ‘police state’ is nothing new

Recent lockdowns have not signalled that Australia is a police state, though other civil rights abuses raise such questions, writes Dechlan Brennan.

Source: The Australian ‘police state’ is nothing new

LNP, LNP Corruption, LNP Government

NSW corruption: Gladys Berejiklian is just the beginning

Berejiklian certainly knew Maguire had been corrupt since he surrendered to the truth in July 2018, but she said nothing, presumably hoping he’d swing by himself while she carried on saving the state from an onslaught arguably caused by her own government’s negligence when it comes to limo drivers and at-risk aircrew. But now, NSW ICAC wants her back for another session. On 1 October 2021, NSW ICAC announced a further inquiry in Operation Keppel would commence on 18 October 2021. Berejiklian resigned on 2 October. Deputy Premier and NSW Nationals leader John Barilaro resigned only a few days later. He says for personal reasons. Gladys will be replaced by the Minister for iCare which has put thousands of injured NSW workers through hell for its own profit. The next session of the NSW ICAC on 18 October will no doubt shed more light on the sorry, corrupt state of NSW. It is not done yet.

Source: NSW corruption: Gladys Berejiklian is just the beginning

LNP, LNP Corruption, LNP Government

The Premier’s Progress: From bags of cash to a concept of integrity

Michael Pascoe

Like Trump Morrison is head down and trying to kill his Party. Trump got hold if the GOP Morrison has merely ensured the rise if Independents, as was the case in Warringah to, rid ourselves of the likes of him and return us politicians who are there to provide a sense of service and not  just a 4 year media photoshoot and spin

Right now we are witnessing a high-speed evolution of political integrity in Australia. In fairly short order we’ve gone from a Premier grabbing bags of cash and selling knighthoods, to a Premier resigning over what might be a matter of diving into the pork barrel to do a mate a favor. The journey from Sir Robert Askin to Gladys Berejiklian represents a tide in the affairs of politics that is gaining momentum. For the moment, the flood is crashing up against a resolute wall shielding the Morrison government’s lack of integrity and its unprecedented exploitation of public money for the benefit of the Liberal and National parties – but that wall can’t last. The disparity between what is expected of New South Wales politicians and what federal politicians flaunt is one of the three core issues driving the rise of the independents’ movement towards the next election.

Source: The Premier’s Progress: From bags of cash to a concept of integrity

Scott Morrison

Morrison rejects NSW-style corruption body

scott morrison icac

We couldn’t expect anything else from our do-nothing leader

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has pointed to the resignation of Gladys Berejiklian as a reason not to introduce a NSW-style federal corruption commission.

Source: Morrison rejects NSW-style corruption body

LNP, LNP Government

Looking for a loophole – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Morrison has made it clear

That the standard you walk past is the standard you accept. While Joyce is probably correct that there is no illegal activity here, the morals and ethics stink to high heaven. If others in the Parliaments around the country see the standards that are acceptable according to the leadership, those will be the standards they aim for.

The lack of accountability is endemic – the South Australian Liberal Government passed laws to emasculate the state’s ICAC in the same week as Joyce was telling the world that Porter would do his time in the ‘sin bin’ and return to the front bench. The laws were passed with indecent haste The bill passed the Lower House on Thursday evening, within 24 hours of the first debate in the Upper House, with no MP from any party voting against the changes. It then went back to the Upper House, where it was unanimously supported again. [our emphasis]

Source: Looking for a loophole – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Informed Comment

Andrew Forrest slams blue hydrogen funding

Foretestcue Metals chairman Andrew Forrest.

Andrew Forrest steps up and calls Morrison and Taylor’s LNP “dithering, and gutless twats with no plan or science to guide where they are going.

Mr Forrest praised countries that are “firmly committed” to green hydrogen including Chile, France, New Zealand, Portugal and Spain, but said “most countries, including my own, are dithering – unsure whether to back green hydrogen or blindly commit to yet more fossil fuels, this time disguised as blue hydrogen”.

Source: Andrew Forrest slams blue hydrogen funding

Israel

Water Justice for Occupied Palestinians is demanded by UN, as Israeli Squatters Use 87% of Aquifers

The UNHCR director of field operations, Christian Salazar Volkmann, adds, “In addition, Israeli authorities treated the nearly 450,000 Israeli settlers and 2.7 million Palestinians residing in the West Bank (excluding East Jerusalem) under two distinct bodies of law. This resulted in unequal treatment on a range of issues, including access to water.” The Israeli squatters on land owned by Palestinian families are, in fact, water hogs. The draft report said, “as estimated in 2014, 87 percent of the mountain aquifer waters were used by Israelis and only 13 percent by Palestinians.” Aquifers are non-renewable underground water resources that are being drawn down, and I think it is clear who is drawing them down most rapidly.

Source: Water Justice for Occupied Palestinians is demanded by UN, as Israeli Squatters Use 87% of Aquifers

White Terrorism

White terror: Millions of Americans say they’d support violence to restore Trump to power | Salon.com

A supporter of US President Donald Trump wears a gas mask and holds a bust of him after he and hundreds of others stormed stormed the Capitol building on January 6, 2021 in Washington, DC. (ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP via Getty Images)

We have found that 47 million American adults – nearly 1 in 5 – agree with the statement that “the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump and Joe Biden is an illegitimate president.” Of those, 21 million also agree that “use of force is justified to restore Donald J. Trump to the presidency.” Our survey found that many of these 21 million people with insurrectionist sentiments have the capacity for violent mobilization. At least 7 million of them already own a gun, and at least 3 million have served in the U.S. military and so have lethal skills. Of those 21 million, 6 million said they supported right-wing militias and extremist groups, and 1 million said they are themselves or personally know a member of such a group, including the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys. Only a small percentage of people who hold extremist views ever actually commit acts of violence, but our findings reveal how many Americans hold views that could turn them toward insurrection.

Source: White terror: Millions of Americans say they’d support violence to restore Trump to power | Salon.com

Fight against Fake News, Fighting Fake News

Old Dog Thought- Morrison is prepared to take us to war if need be to hide his economic & material failure

Fighting Fake News with REAL;5/10/21; Material Economic Physical Reality; Andrew Forrest slams his mate Morrison; Panama Papers now Pandora Papers and still Morrison’s LNP does nothing;

Uncategorized

There’s No Need For A Target Until You Have A Plan For How You’ll Reach The Thing You’re Not Aiming At! – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Let’s imagine a hypothetical person who I’ll call Vladimir because I’m less likely to get sued by some guy who happens to have the same name and recognises himself by the crime I’m alleging. One of the neighbours rings the police to say that the person sharing Vladimir’s house hasn’t been seen in several days and there was a lot of noise and shouting one night. The police knock on the door and ask Vladimir if they can speak to his housemate. Vlad asks them if they have a search warrant and they say no, so he says go away. The police then say that they’re pretty sure they’ll be able to get one. At this point, Vlad goes public telling Sky News that he’s going to leave Australia on the first plane because we’ve reached a point where unelected bodies like the police can just get search warrants and dig up your whole back yard even though they have no evidence and you haven’t been convicted of anything and as such you’re entitled to the presume of innocence, so that means you’re an innocent man… And all right, his housemate was involved with some shady characters and he hasn’t seen him either but there’s no evidence of wrongdoing so it’s completely terrible that the police would quest

Source: There’s No Need For A Target Until You Have A Plan For How You’ll Reach The Thing You’re Not Aiming At! – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Informed Comment

Nationhood and the ‘Pure’ Race (part 2) – » The Australian Independent Media Network

 

Historians suggest that such reports simply confirmed prejudices based on doctrines of evolutionary and intellectual difference. These reports were to lend support to the European scientific discourse of the Great Chain of Being, which arranged all living things in a hierarchy, beginning with the simplest creatures, ascending through the primates and to humans. It was also practice to distinguish between different types of humans. Through the hierarchical chain the various human types could be ranked in order of intellect and active powers. The Europeans – being ‘intelligent and God-fearing’ – were invariably placed on the top, whilst the Aborigines – as perceived savages – occupied the lowest scale of humanity, slightly above the position held by the ape. Such ideas were carried to and widely circulated in the Australian colonies and helped shape attitudes towards the Aborigines. So dominant was the concept that it helped … “develop pre-conceived attitudes towards – and arguably the fate of – the Aborigines even before the colonisation” (Henry Reynolds, 1987:108). Reynolds argues that the image of the Aborigine simply confirmed prejudices based on doctrines of evolutionary difference and intellectual inferiority. These prejudices, he endeavours to suggest, were based on a construction of Aborigines where the Europeans were more credited with knowing more about the Aborigines than the Aborigines knew about themselves.

 

Source: Nationhood and the ‘Pure’ Race (part 2) – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Uncategorized

Frydenberg’s mental health accusations against Andrews exposed as baseless

 

Tawdry attempts by federal Coalition ministers to vilify Victoria’s Premier have now been shown to lack a factual foundation, reports Alan Austin. CLAIMS BY FEDERAL Treasurer Josh Frydenberg that Victoria’s Labor Premier Daniel Andrews harmed the mental health of his constituents gained considerable traction last year. These were damaging to Andrews’ reputation and to his ability to manage the pandemic — which had caused far more deaths in Victoria than in the rest of the country. Data released last week by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) confirms that mental health actually improved dramatically in Victoria as a result of Andrews’ determined efforts. Andrews worked tirelessly last year to control the virus, limit the social dislocation and keep his constituents well-informed.

Source: Frydenberg’s mental health accusations against Andrews exposed as baseless

Critical Thought

Glad All Over – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Cue the sound of one invisible hand clapping – doing nothing undoes everything. The Covid Crusader’s government presides over the baffling mystery of who gave permission to the Ruby Princess to dock in Sydney 19 March 2020 and to let all 2650 passengers disembark. It’s an enigma. At least the ruling elite’s cult de jour, our Hillsong prosperity gospellers, are allowed to come ashore and bring their covid infections with them. No-one is brought to account. What we do is have an inquiry. Normalising corruption is something the Morrison government has turned into an art form, the embossed wallpaper of modern politics. Instead of penalties, Ministers get promotions. Witness sports rorts’ Bridget McKenzie. Back with not one but five portfolios. In the end, Gladys makes a bad exit. Whilst she may appear to enjoy a type of celebrity, this is not to be confused with legitimacy. Indeed, her authority is undermined by the corporate media’s wilful myth-making, in which she is taken captive, made into a type of mascot or trophy wife for appeasing business demands for as little regulation as possible.

Source: Glad All Over – » The Australian Independent Media Network

The World

Road to net zero: What the world thinks about Australia’s climate policy

climate change World leaders slam Australia's climate change policy

Australia is becoming a pariah on the world stage when it comes to climate policy. From initially refusing to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, to remaining dependent on coal, successive Australian governments have repeatedly adopted policies that put them at odds with their foreign counterparts. Ahead of the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, here’s what world leaders and environmentalists have said about Australia’s climate change track record.

Source: Road to net zero: What the world thinks about Australia’s climate policy

Afghanistan

Afghan visa applicants told to get health checks despite security crisis

Australian forces evacuated more than 4000 people from Afghanistan last month but thousands are still waiting for visas to be processed.

Australia accuses the Taliban of being inhumane yet demands refugees perform acts of magic. Our Government’s harshness shames us. Thank you Minister Hawke recently promoted by Scott Morrison for his service.

0 Leave a comment Advertisement Thousands of Afghans married to Australians are in limbo after the federal government said they would still require health checks to finalise visa applications to exit the Taliban-controlled country.

Source: Afghan visa applicants told to get health checks despite security crisis

corruption

Pandora Papers expose offshore systems exploited by the rich and famous

Vladimir Putin is just one world leader whose financial ties have been revealed in the Pandora Papers.

If nothing was done 5 years ago what makes one think something will be done now. The scandal lasted the blink of an eye on the front pages of the Mainstream news back then it didn’t make the front pages this time and its bigger now.

The trove, dubbed the Pandora Papers, exceeds the dimensions of the leak that was at the centre of the Panama Papers investigation five years ago. That data was drawn from a single law firm, but the new material encompasses records from 14 separate financial-services entities operating in countries and territories including Switzerland, Singapore, Cyprus, Belize and the British Virgin Islands. The files detail more than 29,000 offshore accounts, more than double the number identified in the Panama Papers. Among the account owners are more than 130 people listed as billionaires by Forbes magazine and more than 330 public officials in more than 90 countries and territories, twice the number found in the Panama documents.

Source: Pandora Papers expose offshore systems exploited by the rich and famous

Australia

Australia and France international relations: ‘It’s embarrassing to be an Australian in France right now’

France in 2022 may not be so welcoming to Australians.

Scott Morrison Change the world and asked “Where the bloody hell are you?”

When we lived in Paris, the French always loved us once they realised we weren’t British. “Kangoooroo!” they’d exclaim, and it was a compliment. I can’t even imagine what they’re calling us now.

Source: Australia and France international relations: ‘It’s embarrassing to be an Australian in France right now’

Fight against Fake News, Fighting Fake News

Old Dog Thought- Trump too claims he should never be investigated as he’s the President. Those trying should on any other day be arrested lika Julian
climate change World leaders slam Australia's climate change policy

Fighting Fake News with REAL, 4/10/21; World Australia & Climate Change; ICAC, Israel, FOI

LNP, LNP Corruption, LNP Government

Australia told French submarine firm it didn’t have green light to proceed hours before deal cancelled | Australian foreign policy | The Guardian

File photo of a Naval Group submarine during tests in the Atlantic Sea

If there were a Federal ICAC would this be deserving of an Investigation?

Australia cautioned the French contractor – hours before the $90bn submarine deal was cancelled – that its achievement of a key contractual milestone did “not provide any authorisation to continue work”. The letter, sent to Naval Group on 15 September, is at the heart of an extraordinary diplomatic rift between France and Australia, with the French foreign minister telling a parliamentary hearing this week that “someone lied”.

Source: Australia told French submarine firm it didn’t have green light to proceed hours before deal cancelled | Australian foreign policy | The Guardian

Informed Comment

The risky business behind Morrison’s submarine deal

The sudden commitment of the Australian Government to build nuclear-powered submarines is a tale of some skulduggery and a game of high risk/high return. The so-called AUKUS deal has the pudgy dabs of one Boris Johnson, British Prime Minister, on it if you choose to think of business first — a matter of who gets the next submarine contract.

Source: The risky business behind Morrison’s submarine deal

Informed Comment

When I Say We Are Going Round In Circles, Do I Need A Flat Earther For Balance? – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Gladys Berejiklian shows she knows Morrison will push her under a bus.

Well, I could be wrong, but I suspect that any day now there’ll be media articles about what a mistake it would be to have a Federal Integrity Commission when ICAC is responsible for such a great Premier as Gladys having to stand down when she’s done nothing more than have loyalty to her partner and if we’d had a similar one at federal level then who knows how many of the great performers like Stuart Robert or Richard Colbeck would have lost their portfolios over some minor issue like forgetting where they left it.

Source: When I Say We Are Going Round In Circles, Do I Need A Flat Earther For Balance? – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Informed Comment

Freedom from responsibility – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Freedom of Information has been met with a full suite of disabling tactics – defunding, excuses about national security and commercial in confidence, too time-consuming for staff, increasing delays in responding, appealing decisions, stacking the AAT, court action, redactions, and distractions. Scott doesn’t hold the hose and Gladys has always acted with integrity – and if anything went wrong it wasn’t their fault.

Source: Freedom from responsibility – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Australia's pride, Australia's Shame

Nationhood and the ‘Pure’ Race (part 1) – » The Australian Independent Media Network

The Immigration Restriction Act (1901). This Act came to be known as the ‘White Australia Policy’. Literature is examined that contends that this policy confirmed the racist ideology based on white supremacy and was used to deny citizenship to the Aboriginal people.

Source: Nationhood and the ‘Pure’ Race (part 1) – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Australia's Shame

Britannia Turns Back the Boats – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Tony Abbott’s global reach, his pride, influence, and want for a better word a knighthood mirrors his moral position that runs counter to that of his Pope who he simply ignores, disrespects, and doesn’t believe is his Catholic leader. Abbott’s legacy now stretches across the English-speaking world and will shame Australia and our history for years to come for his inhumane influence on Trump and now the UK when it comes down to the desperation of those seeking asylum or in danger at sea.

The (UK ) Bill came into being despite warnings from various Australian lawyers, doctors and former civil servants that their country’s refugee model was hardly the sort of thing that should inspire imitations. In the view of Australian Greens Senator Nick McKim and Benali Hamdache of the UK Green Party, the “New Plan for Immigration imports all the worst parts of the Australian government policy.” This includes the possible establishment of offshore processing (read detention) centres to places ranging from Rwanda to the Isle of Man and the creation of a temporary protection scheme. The Bill takes the battering ram to a range of maritime practices, proposing to criminalise the practice of offering voluntary assistance at sea by targeting “those assisting persons to arrive in the UK without a valid clearance.” That good Samaritan service provided by such bodies as the Royal Lifeboat Institution, which has been accused of being a “migrant taxi service” by its detractors, promises to be roped in.

Source: Britannia Turns Back the Boats – » The Australian Independent Media Network

News

A court just confirmed: To be Dutch is to be white | Opinions | Al Jazeera

With this ruling, the court has lumped together skin colour and nationality – it cemented the idea that to be Dutch is to be white. Of course, this was something racialised Dutch people already knew, but the court ruling made it official. The ruling is the legal, and seemingly sophisticated, stand-in for its uncritical and banal version: “Well, ‘we’ are white, and ‘they’ are Black, is it not so?” As a result of decades of migration and colonialism, thousands of people from different corners of the world – some voluntarily, some not – ended up in the Netherlands. And their presence in the country cracked the notion of “Dutchness as whiteness”. The post-colonial migration from the Dutch East Indies and the Moluccas, and later Suriname and the Dutch Antilles, the labour migration from Turkey and Morocco, and the more recent arrival of refugees from Bosnia, Somalia, Iraq, Iran, Congo and so on, shook up the whole idea that being Dutch equals being white. Or so you would think. But, being “white” or “Black” are not objective indicators of anything. These racial classifications are political, not biological. What we are dealing with here is a colonial legacy.

Source: A court just confirmed: To be Dutch is to be white | Opinions | Al Jazeera

Republicans

It isn’t Red COVID, it is Republican Necrophilia – Creepy Love of Death

The United States has crossed the threshold of 700,000 Americans dead from COVID-19 according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Some 43 million Americans have contracted the deadly disease, which can have long-term health consequences.

Source: It isn’t Red COVID, it is Republican Necrophilia – Creepy Love of Death

Informed Comment

Who Pays for the Manchin? | The Smirking Chimp

So why are you blowing it up, Joe? Is it because you own stock valued at between $1 million and $5 million in Enersystems, a coal brokerage firm you founded in 1988? Last year you made half a million dollars in Enersystems dividends (roughly three times the $174,000 salary you made last year as a senator). Is it because you collect more campaign money from coal, oil, and gas companies than any other senator? (In June, Exxon lobbyist Keith McCoy told the Greenpeace investigative unit that Manchin participated in weekly meetings with company operatives.) Say it ain’t so, Joe — but how do you spell “corruption?”

Source: Who Pays for the Manchin? | The Smirking Chimp

Trump

Trump’s demand to find more Georgia votes looking increasingly ‘unlawful’ as ‘more facts comes to light’: former prosecutor – Raw Story – Celebrating 17 Years of Independent Journalism

Trump's demand to find more Georgia votes looking increasingly 'unlawful' as 'more facts comes to light': former prosecutor

“If you just look at his [Trump’s] conduct on his face, calling state officials, asking them to find additional votes that he needs, you know, that’s the sort of conduct that clearly rings the bell for criminal interference with an election,” Vance explained. “It’s complicated, because there are difficulties involving the First Amendment, involving official power, and frankly, it is a big burden to put on a district attorney in one county in Georgia to ask her to shoulder that burden when others haven’t. But Alex, I still have taped to the wall in my office the exact number of votes he asked for: 11,780. It’s been in front of me all these months, because if you simply think about what he did, asked them to find him one more vote than he needed to win Georgia, a crucial state, there is no way that we can ignore that conduct. Perhaps it’s lawful, but awful. But increasingly, as more facts come to light, it looks like it’s simply unlawful.”

Source: Trump’s demand to find more Georgia votes looking increasingly ‘unlawful’ as ‘more facts comes to light’: former prosecutor – Raw Story – Celebrating 17 Years of Independent Journalism

Fight against Fake News, Fighting Fake News

Old Dog Thought- Gladys’s tearless political posture was calculated. There will be more to come. ICAC after all is a non-partisan “inquiry not a trial”.

Fighting Fake News with REAL; 3/10/21; Abbott and Australia’s global influence shames the nation; ICAC and Morrison’s Federal do-nothing promise; Glady’s political posture

Informed Comment

Wren’s Week: Scott Morrison is destroying Australia’s future inside and out

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has further damaged Australia’s reputation both overseas and from within his own Government, writes John Wren.

Source: Wren’s Week: Scott Morrison is destroying Australia’s future inside and out

Scott Morrison

What could possibly go wrong? – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Why on earth would a climate-change-denying PM who shows 100% support for the filthy, polluting coal-mining and environmentally destructive gas fracking industries attend the COP26 (climate change conference) in Glasgow? Wasn’t this the same fool who dragged a piece of coal into Parliament House and declared – in front of a gleeful Barnyard Joyce – that “there is nothing to be afraid of – it’s just coal! Nothing to see here!” It came as no surprise that the yellow-bellied coward, Sloth Morrison, slunk away and returned back to Australia right before the conference even started! Why? Because he knew that his climate-change-denying ideology will be held up for ridicule on the world stage at any international summit on the emergency to address important issues on a subject the LNP do not believe in! That is exactly the type of disgraceful, cowardly behaviour we have come to expect from a useless, non-achieving PM who expends more energy trying to get out of work and totally avoiding any of his responsibilities as one of the highest paid “leaders” in the free world!

Source: What could possibly go wrong? – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Uncategorized

As a NSW premier falls and SA guts its anti-corruption commission, what are the lessons for integrity bodies in Australia?

The NSW ICAC is celebrated for exposing corruption across politics, including the now-convicted former Labor ministers Eddie Obeid and Ian Macdonald. But as the third Liberal premier to resign as a result of ICAC scrutiny since 1992, Berejiklian’s demise is almost certain to provoke a backlash. The news followed the South Australia parliament passing sweeping amendments to its own Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) last week, narrowing the scope of its operations and reducing its transparency. Get news curated by experts, not algorithms. Both events bring sharp focus to the right balance of powers for all such bodies, especially the long-awaited federal integrity commission, still in the works over two years after being promised by the Morrison government. However, South Australia’s reforms in particular point to why a political backlash against these important agencies would be extremely unwise.

Source: As a NSW premier falls and SA guts its anti-corruption commission, what are the lessons for integrity bodies in Australia?

Informed Comment

Whither the WestConnex cash? Berejiklian buries tracks on Transurban’s $11bn toll road windfall – Michael West Media

WestConnex, Transurban

Just how good is the WestConnex mega-deal which toll road monopolist Transurban has struck with NSW? Where is the that $11b going and what is this mysterious new “WestInvest”? Wendy Bacon investigates the deception around Australia’s biggest and most secretive infrastructure project.

This week, more stories highlighting the pain of tolls have emerged from another Parliamentary Inquiry into tolling regimes. Big trucking company Toll recommended that its trucks avoid tollroads where the benefits are not clear. But late this week, there is more diversionary spin. Channel Nine reports that the NSW government has announced 19 new bridges at the St Peters Interchange and five kilometres of motorway which will cost $2 billion.

Is this the same Sydney Gateway project that was first announced 7 years ago and announced again in 2018? Is this old money spun into another upbeat announcement or has the $2 billion project morphed into an even bigger project to feed traffic into Westconnex? Unbelievably, the same old PR line of drivers saving 40 minutes from Parramatta to the airport, as has been constantly used since 2012, has been recycled again.

The question is not how the profits from the sale of WestConnex will be used but rather how much WestConnex will cost the public now and in the future.

Source: Whither the WestConnex cash? Berejiklian buries tracks on Transurban’s $11bn toll road windfall – Michael West Media

LNP

Gladys Berejiklian backed some huge projects, but two Wagga Wagga grants are in ICAC’s sights – ABC News

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian resigns

Berejiklian spat the dummy and resigned from “Everything” when she didn’t have to. This isn’t the toughest issue she’d faced and didn’t step down.

Later this month, the watchdog will probe whether Ms Berejiklian was in a position of conflict when grants were awarded to the Australian Clay Target Association and Riverina Conservatorium of Music between 2016 and 2018. Both groups are based in the seat of Wagga Wagga, which Ms Berejiklian’s former lover, Daryl Maguire, held at the time.

Source: Gladys Berejiklian backed some huge projects, but two Wagga Wagga grants are in ICAC’s sights – ABC News

Uncategorized

Zoe Daniel: Americans now think Australians are crazy

Zoe Daniel

But while many Australians have seen uniformed officers enforcing COVID restrictions as an overreach, especially in poor and culturally diverse communities, some Americans are more outraged than we are. Just as Australians don’t understand the American psyche when it comes to things like gun rights, many freedom loving Americans just do not get why most Australians have tolerated such harsh limits on their liberty during the pandemic. That’s despite the huge disparity in infection and death rates between the two countries.

Source: Zoe Daniel: Americans now think Australians are crazy

Israel

Dozens of masked Israeli Black Shirts attack homes in small Palestinian Town, Injure Residents, including a Toddler

Palestinian rights organizations said that on Tuesday, 60 armed squatters with clubs and handguns and stones went berserk as they attacked the small town, with unprecedented ferocity. It began when twenty masked individuals attacked a shepherd and slaughtered several of his lambs in front of his eyes and those of his two children. Then dozens of masked squatters joined the first group of attackers, all of them carrying batons, and they started throwing stones at the houses and slashed the water pipes of house after house. They then invaded the homes and broke up whatever was in them and beating the people inside. Several residents were injured, one in the head. Eyewitnesses told the human rights organizations that Israeli occupation troops stood by behind the attackers the whole time without stopping them. Instead, they fired tear gas canisters and rubber bullets at the Palestinian residents.

Source: Dozens of masked Israeli Black Shirts attack homes in small Palestinian Town, Injure Residents, including a Toddler

Israel

After Palestinians Buried Their Martyrs, Western Media Buried Israel’s Crimes

Hammam Chott is famed in UK media as the Tunis cemetery where Jeremy Corbyn supposedly laid a wreath to terrorists. But “wreathgate” was a lie — and it erased the real crime that happened here on October 1, 1985, when Israeli jets murdered 60 people.

Source: After Palestinians Buried Their Martyrs, Western Media Buried Israel’s Crimes

Uncategorized

Under Oath, Rudy Can’t Remember Where He Read Election Was Stolen | Crooks and Liars

John Lithgow As Rudy Giuliani Is Our Favorite Thing Today

It seems the Real Rudy was on the Late Show while John Lithgow was playing him under oath. Rupert Murdoch played the same role when giving evidence under oath in the UK following in the steps of Aland Bond before he was sentenced to go to jail. Did they all have the same legal team?

So Rudy used the “I can’t recall” strategy that guilty lawyers often use to avoid admitting guilt. “I read some stuff — I think it was maybe on Facebook — I laid it out to the public as what we knew to be the facts, and no, I had no idea if it was true or not. I didn’t even try to check. Why would I try to check? You wouldn’t have a story then.” Said. The. Then. President’s. Lawyer.

Source: Under Oath, Rudy Can’t Remember Where He Read Election Was Stolen | Crooks and Liars

Fight against Fake News, Fighting Fake News

Old Dog Thought- ICAC = Idependance and Tranparency. The LNP hate ICAC. The ALP would do what Morrison promised but hasn’t after 1030 days. The LNP hate the ABC too and have shredded it.
May be an image of 2 people and text

Fighting Fake news with REAL 2/10/21; Subs and the French backlash; Morrison rejects hospital funding, Berejiklian and ICAC;

Informed Comment

Mainstream Media running propaganda for PM
France

French submarine builder to send Australia $66bn invoice for axed deal – CGTN

“Australia terminated the contract for convenience, which means that we are not at fault,” Pommellet added. “It is a case that is planned for in the contract and will require a payment of our costs that were incurred and those to come, linked to demobilization of infrastructure and IT as well as the redeployment of employees. “We will assert our rights. This decision was announced to us [France] without any prior notice, with unprecedented brutality.”

Source: French submarine builder to send Australia $66bn invoice for axed deal – CGTN

Informed Comment

$66 Billion Reasons: did Scott Morrison get the French submarines right? – Michael West Media

French submarine, AUKUS

Technology might have moved in leaps and bounds over the past 900 years but corrupt and inefficient political systems remain de rigeur. It is now the media rather than the Church which deliver credibility to the political system, a system which governs in the interests of corporations rather than people. Yet it is people who are going to have to pay for government, if Budget paper estimates are any guide – as corporate tax receipts are not tipped to rise too much. We will pay for the useless military expenditures, for a patently unfair political and economic system which diverts wealth from ordinary people to corporations, which rewards corporate and political fealty above good government and fairness.

Source: $66 Billion Reasons: did Scott Morrison get the French submarines right? – Michael West Media

LNP, LNP Government, LNP Tactics

Treasurer says cutting COVID payments will encourage states to open faster

covid payments

Despite lessons from Singapore, the UK, and others where public health is crashing despite 80-90% vaccination all that really matters to the LNP is they are wasting money on people and need the effen states to get out of their way. There is an election coming and they need some short term “seeming success” like Singapore initially did after they reached 80% vaccination of “all” their citizens. So who gives a fuck what happens in the long term as the election will have been done and dusted?

Meanwhile those individuals in real need of assistance or on the verge and teetering will be “stranded” but then they aren’t LNP votors or donors. Only those small businesses  that don’t “snap back” will be coupled with those that were always at the bottom of the pecking order anyway. So, tough luck according to Frydenberg but he will have saved those organizations that pay the LNP to be the LNP and run their fiefdom Australia. Unfortunately the stock market has hit and iceberg before Frydenberg could save it a sign of worse things to come.

The federal government’s plan to cut off COVID-19 payments is partly to encourage states to open up faster and remove more rules, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said, despite business and social groups warning lockdowns may continue beyond 80 per cent vaccinations.

Source: Treasurer says cutting COVID payments will encourage states to open faster

Capitalism

Australian Universities Are Finance Investors With a Side Hustle in Education

Thanks to neoliberalism, Australia’s universities have become profit-seeking businesses. But they don’t just sell education: University executives are increasingly transforming their institutions into financial speculators and real estate investors.

Source: Australian Universities Are Finance Investors With a Side Hustle in Education

Informed Comment

The US Considered Kidnapping and Even Assassinating Julian Assange

As the US government fights to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, a bombshell new report has revealed just how far the CIA contemplated going in its war on the Australian journalist. It weighed not just kidnapping but assassinating Assange.

Source: The US Considered Kidnapping and Even Assassinating Julian Assange

Julian Assange

WikiLeaks: what’s it like to be targeted by the CIA and its mates?

Julian Assange bail

America’s relentless pursuit of Julian Assange, up to and including planning to kidnap or murder him, also affected people brave enough to support him. So why is the Australian government remaining silent?

Source: WikiLeaks: what’s it like to be targeted by the CIA and its mates?

Informed Comment

The Government’s Disturbing Treatment of the Proud Boys Is a Clear and Present Danger | The Smirking Chimp

Trump was a dream come true for the Proud Boys. God only knows what messaging he might have continued giving to white supremacist groups had he secured another term. Biden needs to now break up the dangerous groundwork that was laid for groups like them. And ordinary Americans need to push him. The safety of tax-paying Americans, and American democracy itself, is depending on it.

Source: The Government’s Disturbing Treatment of the Proud Boys Is a Clear and Present Danger | The Smirking Chimp