via Scott Morrison is completely out of touch – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Category: Informed Comment
Working Class Middle America voted and wereconned into this. No cuts Abbott did the same in Australia. (ODT)
Trump and his appointees are on a binge of deregulation that masks another kind of trickle-down economics, in which the gains go to the top and the rest of us bear the risks and losses.
They say getting rid of regulations frees up businesses to be more profitable. Maybe. But regulations also protect you and me—from being harmed, fleeced, shafted, injured or sickened by corporate products and services.
So when the Trump administration gets rid of regulations, top executives and big investors may make more money, but the rest of us bear more risks and harm.
Yesterday we were subjected to a disgusting abuse of parliamentary privilege by a man who feels his actions should be beyond scrutiny.
Peter Dutton, outraged at what he calls a “personal smear campaign” against him, stood up in parliament and had what could only be described as a hissy fit, launching a cowardly and very personal attack on witnesses providing evidence to a Senate committee.
He also carried with him, every time he stood up, two large folders very obviously labelled with the names Chris Bowen and Tony Burke – the implication being ‘come for me and I will go for you’.
Asked to explain the rationale behind granting some people visas whilst rejecting others, his role in securing jobs for mates, and a possible conflict of interest regarding his businesses, he went into head-kicking mode.
All of the questions asked of Mr Dutton related to his actions as a Minister and his eligibility to sit in parliament. None of those are personal smears. They are legitimate questions.
Unfortunately, our Minister for Home Affairs does not think he should be held accountable and views any questioning as a personal affront. If he has done nothing untoward, why is he so angry? Why does he feel the need to impugn others?
via Gutless wonders – » The Australian Independent Media Network
This is what ultra-Conservatives rail against and want our universities to be rid off HASS Humanities and Social Science degrees. They were poison to the Nazis as well the Catholic Church which banned Catholics from studying or reading Sociology it’s too dangerous for them the Curch that is. In fact the social sciences can cause individuals to break down. Sociology likens social life of men as sitting on a mop bucket and caught by the balls. When trying to stand putting ones foot on the pedal each time trapped. By revealing the mop buckets of our social life social science has the ability to set one free and that for conservatives is dangerous. (ODT)
It makes no sense. As Senator Arthur Sinodinos said while minister for industry, innovation and science, “the advancement of the Australian economy relies on robust research from physical science and social science alike.
Not being ones to boast, the social scientists would like you to know their former students pretty much run the world. They’ve produced the majority of ASX-listed chief executives. Probably just as true of the public service and politicians.
Add the arts and humanities, and most of the tertiary-educated workers in Australia have HASS degrees. Almost three-quarters of university students are in HASS courses. Most of the overseas students paying full freight for their degrees – and now constituting one of our top export earners – do HASS courses, particularly business courses.
When Tony Abbott first put his hand up for the Liberal Party leadership back in 2007 (withdrawing before the ballot), Paul Keating called him the “young fogey” – an apt description of an anachronistic man whose personal beliefs are out of touch with those of the majority of Australians.
Scott Morrison assures us that he has installed a “new generation” of leaders but it is increasingly apparent that what we now have is a government full of young fogies.
One lesson we should all take from the Royal Commission into Insititutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse is the horrific ongoing damage caused by the veil of secrecy drawn by the Catholic Church, and others, over the crimes that were being perpetrated on innocent children in their care. That enabled the abusers to continue.
That same veil of secrecy has been drawn by the government over the plight of people who came to us seeking asylum. Instead of offering sanctuary, we incarcerated them indefinitely causing irreparable damage to children and their families once again.
via The corrosive decay caused by secrecy – » The Australian Independent Media Network
The tipping point’s been reached: renewable energy is now a cheaper source of power for Australia’s future electricity needs than coal.
Surprised? That’s understandable, given the plethora of politicians in Canberra who keep saying that coal is the key to cheap electricity and renewables drive up prices.
When their meaning is represented by their style (ODT)
“They’d been sobbing in shock and disgust at the threats and intimidation they’d been subjected to by the goons and knuckledraggers trying to gather the signatures on Dutton’s behalf.
“One of them purports to be a conservative family man of traditional Christian values. To those women now, he is just a pig.”
Dumped Minister for Small and Family Business, Craig Laundy, also spoke of the intimidation used by Dutton’s camp in an interview with 2GB.
“Some of the behaviour this week… I’ve had one female senator and two female members of the house, when it came to the letter – the petition, that were physically stood over to sign it, and they refused. That sort of intimidation and bullying is something you can actually file a claim against.”
via He’s just a pig – » The Australian Independent Media Network
When Abbott went into the mode that I recognised so well from our uni days – the personal attacks, the bullying, the need for an audience, the misogyny, the homophobia – I got worried and figured I needed to do my bit to show the real Abbott because it seemed others couldn’t see it.
But it wasn’t Abbott I should have been focusing on. The Labor Party imploded and handed this inadequate man the reins of the country.
via Australia, you asked for it – » The Australian Independent Media Network
The Malsplaining has to stop!
Some of the dire problems we are currently facing include:
vast swathes of the nation suffering extreme drought conditions;
growing homelessness;
rampant domestic violence;
people literally starving on welfare — when they are not being punished by this Coalition Government;
the Great Barrier Reef in trouble;
increasing youth unemployment;
kids in danger and dying in offshore camps; and
a gap that is not closing, it is getting worse.The list goes on. How are these things addressed? They aren’t! None of this is being addressed — none of it!
So Turnbull rolled the dice with a spill, being half-smart as he normally is. Funny thing is he only won by seven votes (48-35). Dutton didn’t have time to prepare and still got 35 votes? That will have emboldened Turnbull’s enemies, so my money is on three more weeks of turmoil before we see #LibSpill2 — at the most.
As the saying goes, piss or get off the pot!
Call an election now!
via #LibSpill, NEG or NBN? It’s not poor MALsplaining Malcolm Turnbull’s fault
The APS explicitly excludes four “Area of Practice Endorsements” (AoPE) categories from providing MBS rebated services for “Severe and Chronic/Unremitting Disorders”, recommending, and thus inferring, that only practitioners holding endorsements for Clinical, Counselling, Forensic, Health or Education and Development Psychology are competent to treat clients with complex health issues. These endorsed psychologists make up less than 34% of all registered psychologists in Australia.
In the words of Noam Chomsky; “Corporates lobby politicians for legislation that favours corporates and corporates donate to election funds in return for favours and corporates are experiencing record profits at our expense.” It’s called the money/power loop and that is how western capitalist democratic society is run. It runs on lies, deceit and corruption hidden from the people by mainstream media.
[1] Corruption can only be contained if exposed to investigation and a legal process. Something lacking at a federal level. I couldn’t believe it either – there is no federal corruption watchdog in Australia. With hard evidence of corruption and with the prompting of Transparency International and some prominent QCs, Bill Shorten has promised the establishment of a national independent commission against corruption (ICAC) if he wins the next election. So that’s a starting point.
[2] It’s our ABC, not theirs … “Turnbull government hits ABC with $84m funding freeze” (Sydney Morning Herald). Because they didn’t like the editorials – first of all the Liberal government makes Pauline Hanson a political prisoner and then they impose censorship – so much for democracy. Second step is to reinstate the ABC’s finances and promote editorial independence. Have a section on the ABC that runs through what’s happening on Australian Independent Media so that all Australians can be well-informed.
[3] Human rights equate to freedom. Take away human rights and you take away freedom. Australia is a co-founder and signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and yet, there is no provision for human rights protection in Australian Law. When it comes to corruption, someone always suffers so there is always an element of human rights abuse woven into it. The UDHR needs to be written into the Australian Constitution and a Human Rights Court set up, accessible to all Australians. We, the people of Australia, can tackle corruption head on.
[4] Gee, no human rights protection and no federal ICAC in the land of OZ! We are getting screwed! The public demand transparency in government – no more corrupted decisions behind closed doors. If a federal minister or senator is asked a question they don’t like, the strategy is to ignore you and stick their head in the sand. We want answers and no more lies and deceit by omission. If politicians are held to account and the decision-making process is open to scrutiny, we have more chance of a better outcome for the bulk of Australians.
via Human qualities v animal behaviour – » The Australian Independent Media Network
This whole debacle can be sheeted directly to Tony Abbott.
Then the wrecker won in 2013 and threw out any certainty the industry thought they had. Investment in new generation ground to a halt. No-one was going to invest in coal and the rest of the world were more than happy to accept their investment in renewables.
Emissions started rising again for the first time in a decade and energy prices continued to rise astronomically, much higher than any increases due to the carbon price.
But Tony couldn’t care less about that as his tweet this weekend showed.
“To have a chance of winning the next election, the Coalition must create a policy contest on energy, not a consensus.”
Tony Abbott is a narcissistic anachronism who seethes with anger and resentment at being dumped by his own party less than two years into the gig he felt he was destined for.
Any idea that he gives the slightest shit about energy prices, or anything other than himself and his all-consuming desire for revenge, is laughable.
via Tony Abbott is responsible for our high energy prices – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Informed Comment on the ignorance of Sky News efforts to equate Socialism and Fascism in an effort to promote the latter. Why appearing to be “nice” is dangerous. (ODT)
Fascism can only thrive if the streets are flowing with the blood of working-class militants and socialists.
That is why the lies conflating Left and Right being spread by Professors of Political Science are so insulting to real socialists and to anyone who actually understands the dangers of flirting with fascists.
You only have to read this poem by the German Protestant priest, Martin Niemöller, to know that van Onselen and others who promote the “Left are just like the Nazis” golden lie need to be challenged over every stupid tweet and mis-statement.
First, they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out —
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out —
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out —
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me — and there was no one left to speak for me.
via Fascism claims another victim: Snowflake tantrum over misjudged tweet
Christian Porter and Zed Seselja added a joint message.
This statement recognises that cultural diversity is one of our greatest strengths; one that equips us to build a future where everyone belongs and has the chance to live a great life. It upholds the centrality of our democratic institutions and the rule of law, it highlights the importance of citizenship in our national identity, and it makes clear the responsibility we all have to respect our fellow Australians.
The above information comes from the Department of Home Affairs webpage.
I thought I’d share it before Prime Minister Dutton has it erased.
Yes, there is a sinister group (gang, if you like) well practised in the dark arts of moving quickly on the vulnerable for personal gain. They are the politicians who jumped into this debate with the subtlety of a belly flop in a wading pool.
Internal police figures show that of Victoria’s 15,000 “serious” crimes ranging from murder, serious assaults, rape and armed robberies to carjackings, around 200 are committed by offenders of Sudanese descent – which means you are 74 times more likely to be attacked by non-Sudanese.
So what do these statistics prove? Absolutely nothing, other than that you can always find a set of numbers to justify an argument.
Piss Weak on Law and Order Look No Further than Peter Dutton
The issue of law and order is squarely in Dutton’s domain, and while he has no responsibility on state matters, he has a major one on federal ones, particularly border protection. Which makes it all the more galling that while he wastes his energy on matters that are not his concern, he has been derelict on one in his own backyard. The problem is not that Dutton is too tough – it is that he is not tough enough.
For nearly 12 months the state government, at the request of senior police, have asked their federal counterparts to change the law to make it illegal to import Bute without a legitimate reason and still the loophole remains large enough to drive a truck (filled with drugs) through it.
So while the Feds can legitimately brag they have stopped the boats with asylum seekers on them, they have done stuff-all to stop the boats filled with 1,4-Butanediol. And make no mistake, more people are hospitalised from Bute than from being bashed by Sudanese crime gangs.
Yet we do have a serious black crime problem. In Australia, an Indigenous youth is 24 times more likely to be imprisoned than the community average for that age bracket. It is a national disgrace.
Rehabilitating young offenders is not the soft option, it is the smart one. The alternative of policies driven by anger, fear, half-facts and the pursuit of headlines or votes leads to more crime and more victims – and history shows that if you shut the door on people, they eventually want to kick it down.
Tony Abbott is being widely dismissed in the media as having little influence in the Liberal Party today but I beg to differ.
Abbott is, in fact, very much the architect of today’s Liberal Party strategy.
Malcolm had a go at telling us there was never a more exciting time to be us and that innovation would solve all our problems.
But he failed dismally to excite the nation. Talk of entrepreneurs and venture capitalists and innovation hubs meant nothing to an electorate struggling to get by with stagnant wages, insecure employment and inadequate welfare.
So Malcolm ripped up the science playbook and adopted the well-honed Abbott strategy of going for character assassination instead, with a fishing expedition hoping to find some mud that would stick.
Markson won the Kennedy award for breaking a story that been said she didn’t break(ODT)
According to the Liberal letterbox, Sharri Markson, “The Turnbull government will underwrite multi-billion dollar investments to build new coal-fired power stations…The Daily Telegraph understands Mr Turnbull will announce his support for the ACCC recommendation at [today’s] party room meeting.”
Except the ACCC didn’t recommend that at all Sharri.
Here is what they actually said:
via Is the ACCC being verballed or has Sharri got it wrong? – » The Australian Independent Media Network
It is easy to lie and cheat and steal and exploit. But infinitely more rewarding to know that you have done the right thing by others. We have to set our own standards. We have to honour our obligations, not because of fear of punishment, but because it is the right thing to do.
When you shake someone’s hand, whether physically or metaphorically, it should mean something.
via When handshakes and reputation meant more than money – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Politicians stoking malcontent, shock jocks firing up audiences, their message is simple: if you want to fix traffic congestion, crowded trains, housing affordability, inappropriate development, even African youth gangs, then just pull the handbrake on immigration.
via It’s getting crowded around here, and that’s a good thing
We would have been none the wiser, were it not for an article published by the Financial Review (23 July 2018), which has brought the affair into public view.
August 9 2018
On the same day that Indian-born migrant Akshay Venkatesh was receiving the prestigious Fields Medal in mathematics, the Australian born son of Dutch immigrants, mediocre columnist Andrew Bolt was publishing an article full of racist gobbledygook to titillate those on the extreme-right of Australian society.
The piece titled; “The foreign invasion” claimed that a “tidal wave” of migrants was “changing our culture.” In it he pointed out the proportion of Chinese, Cambodian, Indian and Jewish people living in various suburbs.
He has, as a consequence of his rather thoughtless, some say racist observations, been referred to the National Press Council.
Importing what’s already home grown. Making hay and being Alt-Right it’s a Gold Rush.(ODT)
As for paying up to $750 to see Ms Southern, close-up, and speak? Please.
Save your money, my friends. Turn on Sky News After Dark any day of the week. You can watch hours of that kind of stuff, from the comfort of your own home. You can call Bronwyn Bishop “Butter,” ’cos she’s always on a roll, on those very subjects. And don’t forget Ross Cameron. And that other fellow, someone-or-other Hargraves. On Sunday night, and I am not making this up, they even provided a platform for Blair Cottrell – previously notable for his criminality, and for advocating that every Australian classroom should have a portrait of Hitler on the walls – to give his views on immigration. I am not making that up, I said! And tell us, Blair, given your boast about using “violence and terror”, to get what you want from women, your views on feminism?
Yes, Sky News costs a bit, but if you divide the cost of subscribing by the number of cans of Pissed-Off they serve up, it is, seriously, as cheap as chips.
via No need to import alt-right nutters, we have plenty of our own
Conservatives in this country have made it impossible to have a sensible discussion about anything.
Population is a topic we should be discussing. Infrastructure planning depends on it. Allocation of finite resources depends on it. Town and environmental planning depend on it. Education and training depend on it. Health services depend on it.
Immigration must be part of this discussion.
The statistics show that immigration is good for the economy but it is reasonable to question the effect it is having on employment, housing affordability and urban congestion.
It is also necessary to consider what can be done to assist people to become active and productive participants in the community and to recognise impediments to social cohesion.
Andrew Bolt is one such impediment.
In true Hansonesque style, Bolt has written a column headlined “The foreign invasion”.
Andrew Bolt is a threat to our social cohesion – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Five years ago, when I began my term as Race Discrimination Commissioner, I wouldn’t have said it was likely that we would see the resurgence of far-right politics. I wouldn’t have expected that the biggest threats to racial harmony would come from within our parliaments and media.
Race looms large. It’s there in the panic about “African gangs”, the warnings about multiculturalism veering into “ethnic separatism”, the questioning of a non-discriminatory immigration policy, the alarm about foreign influence by China.
Debates about such issues help set the tone for our society. They have made some groups in our society more vulnerable than ever to racism. In Melbourne, for example, Sudanese-Australian leaders have spoken about how members of their communities fear being targeted. Many are fearful about leaving their homes.
This is how racism works. It creates doubts and divisions – and it forces its targets into retreat. And where the seeds of racism are planted in political speech, they bear bitter fruit in society.
And it’s false to charge that calling out racism is an act of national disloyalty. Anti-racism is in fact an expression of patriotism. We fight racism because it diminishes our nation. We fight it because it is an assault on our values and our fellow citizens.
Security agency ASIO has confirmed it has started seeing a drop in the number of Australian youngsters pursuing violent Islamist extremism.
The agency has told a hearing in Canberra that the number of children and teens being drawn to jihad on the wave of the so-called Islamic State’s previous success in the Middle East has passed its peak, though it warns Islamist terrorism remains a significant threat.
Two things stood out during the by-elections. Firstly the importance they made of the constant flow of polls, and secondly, the “Kill Bill” campaigns.
Murdoch news continued to push them as though they were God’s gift to determining the winner – and they didn’t.
Again, despite having run the same course many times the “Kill Bill” campaign by Newscorp and others, yet again fell flat because Australians don’t like “playing the man.” The naming of Bill Shorten as a liar every day by the PM doesn’t cut with a lot of people, and he would be well advised to stop.
The importance of reporting factually what was said, or the truth or otherwise of it, seemed to take second place to whatever controversy could be manufactured.
The media do it because they like to think they alone have the power to elect governments, forgetting that it is the public that votes them in or out.
Finding the truth and reporting it should be more important than creating a narrative where controversy matters more.
But Newscorp has started its pre-election propaganda in earnest. Not even the failure to influence will stop them.
So the average punter would be well aware of the many national issues that the country faces. The first question they might ask is:
Annual government expenditure is over $450 billion per year making it, by far, the biggest business in the country.
They decide what percentage of our income they will take and how they will spend it. They have total control over our common wealth and the ability to sell our assets as they please.
They make our laws. They can send us to war. They can choose to ignore existential threats like climate change.
Capitalism never fights for fairness or equality of opportunity, only for what it can wring out of those who have not, in order to make richer those who have.
Sports people no longer play for the sheer joy of it. In local competitions they demand to be paid for their unexceptional talents.
Large companies screw down wages and ask their suppliers to supply for less than a fair price then try to pay as little tax as possible, if any at all.
via Society versus Capitalism. And the winner is … – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Making the pie bigger for who?
“Any administration would tout a strong GDP report like today’s, but if it’s not reaching workers’ paychecks, which it isn’t, then cease the applause.”
OUR GOVERNMENT IS PREACHING OXYMORONs (ODT)
We read in yesterday’s online Guardian that “Australia will consider adding a “values test” for those considering permanent residency in order to protect its “extraordinarily successful” multicultural society.”
In London the Citizenship and Multicultural Minister Alan Tudge, last week, in a speech to the Australia/UK Leadership Forum was suggesting a “values” test to fend off “segregation.”
“Segregation,” I thought to myself. we have practiced for as long as immigration has existed and is as natural as life itself.
When the Italians came to Melbourne they gathered together in Brunswick, the Greeks in Carlton and the Vietnamese in Springvale and now Box Hill. And so on. Then over time they disintegrated and neatly integrated into general society.
I observed the advent of Asian immigration and all the recycled hatred only to see it vanish in the same way the Greek and Italian animosity did.
Now we are confronted with yet more odious loathing. This time it is directed at those from the Africa. It doesn’t matter what their country of origin if they are Muslim they will suffer the full thrust of minorities xenophobia. Just as 99 per cent of Muslims want peace so do 99 per cent of Australians.
We have a long history of finding fault with things we don’t understand. At various times we have blamed communists, Jews, women, the devil, indigenous people and witches, even God, for all manner of things.
I have been privy to the ignorance that history has recorded on these matters and I am angry with the likes of Pauline Hanson, Peter Dutton and our Prime Minister who would seek to deny Australia of others who desire to, not only seek their personal freedom, but also the opportunity to give of themselves to the advancement of this great nation.
When I sit on the platform at Flinders street Station and watch the passing parade of ethnicity I can but only admire a country I could never envisage from the same seat in the 1950s.
via We cannot let racism win – » The Australian Independent Media Network
We cannot eliminate emissions entirely so we must be very selective in our activities so we can try to get back to a level that can be managed by the natural carbon cycle instead of powering on past saturation point.
The fools who say Australia’s contribution is negligible have obviously never done any titration – it’s that last drop that causes the reaction to happen.
In comparison, reliability and affordability of energy are miniscule issues.
via We are not facing an energy trilemma – » The Australian Independent Media Network
For years now, the OECD corruption watchdogs have been recommending that Australia improve its protection for whistleblowers. In their latest report last December, they pointed to some work that had been done towards this but still expressed concerns.
And with good reason.
via Lesson one – don’t dob on the government – » The Australian Independent Media Network
It’s not new where there is money the Gravy Train follows currently it’s focusing on the NDIS services. fraudulent child minding an example. Easy money whenthe government caps NDIS staff, budget and offers an IT system that doesn’t work. The LNP is bent on watching it fail and is doing the same to the ABC (ODT)
The challenge of doing things with people, not to them, means having to assume Indigenous people have a sense of agency and then actively embracing and engaging that capacity at a local level rather than sub-contracting those profoundly important relationships out to those gravy train charlatans.”
And there have been plenty of those.
via Gravy train charlatans – » The Australian Independent Media Network
ABC radio and television broadcasts focus on genres that are far removed from commercial output. We have no interest in reality TV formats, chequebook interviews and the music genres of commercial FM – programming that draws the biggest and therefore most lucrative audiences for commercial media. Nor are we in competition for rights to any of the marquee sports events. Instead, we complement the market as the trusted, independent source of Australian conversations, culture and stories.
via A move to curtail the ABC would only ‘punish Australian audiences’: Michelle Guthrie
“In the short term, it’s a formula in keeping with the Institute of Public Affairs’ prescription for a new Australia – an Australia with less government, richer rich and fewer controls on markets – especially the labour market.”
He goes on to say, “The IPA has emerged as not just the favoured right-wing think tank, but the government’s guiding light. It is too tempting to not again repeat one of John Kenneth Galbraith’s many golden quotes:
“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man’s oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.””
via WEALTH AND POWER KEEP ON WINNING – » The Australian Independent Media Network
For all its flaws, I love this country. If you have been born an Australian, or have become one, you have been hit by the lucky stick. But we are squandering that good fortune as surely as Steve Smith destroyed his baggy green.
Much of the mainstream media are on the same bandwagon, chiefly at Murdoch’s News Corpse, where vendetta journalism has become an art form.
Kelly is an improvement on her two predecessors in the role in that she is a woman and also a feminist. (Mind you, it would be hard to find someone worse than Abbott and Cash)
Meanwhile, family benefits have been cut, funding for legal aid has been slashed, refuges have closed, men’s help groups have folded, early intervention community programs have been defunded, over 100,000 are homeless, elder abuse is rampant, anti-bullying programs have been attacked, and women continue to be beaten, raped and killed.
It’s all very nice for high-flying women to empower each other but what about those women who are struggling to survive? They don’t need investment advice. They need a way to put food on the table and a roof over their children’s heads. They need to know that they have a place to be safe.
I agree that economic independence is a desirable goal that provides choices but Kelly seems to think that the only reason many women are not financially independent is because they just don’t understand how the system works.
We understand well enough, it’s just that the majority of women do not have enough left over to worry about whether to put it into superannuation or a negatively-geared property or shares.
Single parents don’t need lessons on economic literacy – they need practical help.
Victims of domestic violence don’t need advertising campaigns – they need safe havens, legal help, and paid DV leave.
It isn’t women that have to get smarter, it’s society that has to change.
via Our Minister for Women misses the point….again – » The Australian Independent Media Network
One of the most important roles of government is to prioritise. They must identify the challenges facing us and the consequences of inaction. They must rank the urgency of responding to problems and decide on the most efficient use of resources to address them.
The current debate about energy policy is a prime example of a government failing to do that.
via If Abbott and Kelly want to cross the floor, let them – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Key points:
Trust peaked under Barack Obama, hits low with Mr Trump
Mr Trump ranks low in world leader confidence
Poll shows Australians put faith in other Western allies
Political analyst says Washington will note the loss of trust
Wondering what’s happening with Adani?
Well there have been a few developments of late.
Adani’s original plan was to use the coal from the Carmichael mine in its own generators at the Mundra power plant in Gujarat, India. Except Adani Power Mundra is on the verge of bankruptcy.
Faced with mounting operational losses, they have already started scaling down generation from the Mundra plant. The average plant load factor in the January-March 2018 quarter dropped to 37%, from 73% a year ago.
Currently Adani Power has debts of about $US7.4bn, having lost $US927m last year and $US317m this year. They tried to give the government a 51% stake in the Mundra plant for a token amount of Re 1 but they weren’t interested.
via Shifting sands in the Galilee Basin – » The Australian Independent Media Network
In 2011, opposition immigration spokesman, Scott Morrison, urged the shadow cabinet to capitalise on the electorate’s growing concerns about “Muslim immigration”, “Muslims in Australia” and the “inability” of Muslim migrants to integrate, telling the shadow cabinet meeting on December 1 at the Ryde Civic Centre that the Coalition should ramp up its questioning of “multiculturalism”.
Fierravanti-Wells says the various waves of immigrants since the early days of European settlement have all been “targeted” – from the Chinese, Irish and Germans, through the postwar cohort of Italians and Greeks, the Vietnamese and Lebanese in the 1970s and, more recently, Muslim groups – but we should not let their positive contribution to Australia be forgotten due to the actions of “a few rotten apples in our community”.
Perhaps she needs to have a word to Peter Dutton who suggested that the former prime minister Malcolm Fraser should not have let people of “Lebanese-Muslim” background into Australia back in the 70s – citing as evidence a handful of individuals of Lebanese descent who have been charged with terrorism offences.
Dutton also infamously claimed that Victorians are “scared to go out to restaurants” because of “African gang violence”.
via They know it is wrong but, if it works, who cares? – » The Australian Independent Media Network
“A consolidation of Australia’s border services has the potential to generate significant savings by removing duplication, better integrating and improving operational systems and practices, reducing staff, as well as consolidating back office functions and rationalising property. Savings could also come from greater efficiency in visa processing.”
However these benefits have not materialised.
A review published by the Australian National Audit Office last week into The Integration of the Department of Immigration and Border Protection and the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service highlighted significant and persistent departmental failings and no discernible benefit from the merger.
The report stated that the department “is not achieving commitments made to government in relation to additional revenue, and is not in a position to provide the government with assurance that the claimed benefits of integration have been achieved.”
Despite many previous criticisms and recommendations, “The department’s record keeping continues to be poor.”
“The audit found that the department did not maintain adequate records of the integration process. This finding repeats the outcomes of a substantial number of audits and reviews going back to 2005. The department’s own assessment is that its records and information management is in a critically poor state. The problems and their solutions are known to the department, and it has an action plan to address them, although numerous previous attempts to do so have not been successful.”
we had the saga of George Brandis’ refusing to fulfil a freedom of information request for his diary to see if he met with community legal aid stakeholders before making controversial cuts to the sector in the Coalition’s 2014 budget despite a Productivity Commission report that found it needed a huge boost in funds to meet growing demand.
The Administrative Appeals Tribunal subsequently ruled Senator Brandis should process the request. He again refused, taking it to the Federal Court who also ruled he must hand it over. Eventually, after 1039 days and over $50,000 of public money wasted, Brandis finally handed over a heavily redacted copy of his diary.
Michaelia Cash is waging a similar battle to avoid answering questions regarding tipping off the media about an AFP raid on union headquarters. The Federal Court has issued a subpoena requiring her to give evidence but she has instructed her lawyers to fight it.
via The law should not be a plaything of the government – » The Australian Independent Media Network
“Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the global nuclear watchdog, continuously monitor Iran’s declared nuclear sites and also verify that no fissile material is moved covertly to a secret location to build a bomb. Iran also agreed to implement the Additional Protocol to their IAEA Safeguards Agreement, which allows inspectors to access any site anywhere in the country they deem suspicious. Until 2031, Iran will have 24 days to comply with any IAEA access request. If it refuses, an eight-member Joint Commission – including Iran – will rule on the issue. It can decide on punitive steps, including the reimposition of sanctions. A majority vote by the commission suffices.”
via Top 8 Ways Iran Deal was Way Better than Trump’s North Korea Commitment
Speaking to a captive audience of roughly evenly divided people who had firm opinions about him when they walked in I wondered how many might have changed their view after hearing him talk about basic wages, unemployment, apprenticeships, housing affordability, negative gearing, aged care, and power bills, and using economic fairness to make his points. Then he turned on the Turnbull Government’s association with big business and the big banks.
“This is more fair dinkum to me than half the rubbish we carry on with in Parliament,” he uttered as the curtain fell on a very revealing Q&A.
Recent history has taught us two things – that the United States of America and its sickening clique of yapping chihuahuas are serial warmongers – one look at the countries they have interfered in leaves no doubt; the second being that a Treaty, for Washington at least, is meaningless.
So whatever President Trump says to Leader Kim Jong-un’s face, let time tell whether his platitudes are sincere or just another round of empty lies. One thing the USA and its yapping chihuahuas are good at – very good – is appearing credible and trustworthy, claiming the moral high ground and using the media to deride anything different as dark, dangerous and threatening.
But let us take a close look at their track record.
My take-home message from the omission of CVID from the joint statement is confirmation that North Korea under Kim Jong-un is never going to willingly denuclearise.
In “working toward complete denuclearisation,” North Korea may agree to a nuclear weapons and ballistic missile testing moratorium, decommission obsolete nuclear facilities, or even promise to freeze production of new nuclear weapons, without ever having to compromise its nuclear weapons capability.
via US-North Korea summit agreement is most revealing for what it leaves out
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