Category: LNP Government

LNP, LNP Corruption, LNP Government, LNP Tactics

Historian Explains Why Far-right Extremists Are the Future of the GOP | The Smirking Chimp

Currently, the LNP in Australia is importing their ideas from the US Republicans who have given up on the great experiment of  Democracy. We have seen their Australian clones adopt a carbon copy of the culture wars from U.S. From rumblings that the election is being “rigged” to multiculturalism being the scourge that’s dividing this nation from a mythical and heroic one they claim once united us. The increasing drift to the right is taking us away from from a representative Democracy and driving us towards Mussolini’s dream of a Corporate State and in the long term to the death of the Liberal-National Coalition as a political party. Their current short-term agendas carries with them the long-term consequences of the board taking over the company..

“Overall, Greene’s position within the Republican party seems secure. That’s partly because the Republican leadership is surely aware that most of the energy and activism in conservatism is in the far-right wing that stands behind Greene. In fact, Greene is the poster child of a rising group of rightwing radicals: in Congress, she likes to present herself and like-minded allies such as representatives Lauren Boebert and Matt Gaetz as the future of the Republican party, and they aren’t shy about their intention to purge whatever vestiges of “moderate” conservatism might still exist within the Republican party.”

Source: Historian Explains Why Far-right Extremists Are the Future of the GOP | The Smirking Chimp

LNP, LNP Government

Federal Government faces pressure over $18 million charity funding

In response to Labor Senator Tim Ayres’ questions, a First Assistant Secretary in PM&C Department, John Reid, stated that he believed the Australian Future Leaders Program did not yet have a physical office, phone number, website, nor had it employed any staff.

Source: Federal Government faces pressure over $18 million charity funding

LNP, LNP Corruption, LNP Government, LNP Tactics

Government grants: A broken system failing every taxpayer

Morrison, Turnbull, Abbott

It’s no longer “what can we do for you, but what you can do for us in terms of $$$? In the end many of these announced promises will simply go the way of vanashing bubbles even if the LNP government wins. Morrison has been only doing one thing for the past 3 years,and that’s rehearsing the reselling of his massively expensive waste. It’s like a replay of Sunset Boulevarde “Action Lights your on Scotty” with not a voter invited on to his very “on set party” for the crew.

The system under which billions of dollars of grants are handed out to communities across Australia is irretrievably broken. There’s no other conclusion to be drawn from the figures compiled by The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age that, grant by grant, electorate by electorate, show a community’s ranking on the electoral pendulum dictates its financial support.

Source: Government grants: A broken system failing every taxpayer

LNP, LNP Government

Ex-lover of Liberal frontbencher Alan Tudge slams PM as ’liar’ | news.com.au — Australia’s leading news site

Alan Tudge with Rachelle Miller. Picture: ABC/Four Corners

Morrison says this $500K payout is a “private matter” of which he “knows nothing” and he’s laughing because Albanese made an error. One that didn’t cost us nearly a million dollars all up when said and done.

Morrison insists Tudge is still a member of his Cabinet, is Education Minister, is just on leave, and is still being paid? Meanwhile we the taxpayers are, still, silently it should be said, forking out mega-bucks to clear up the still Education Minister’s  “private matter” of which PM Morrison says he knows nothing. Why don’t we have an ICAC?

“Channel Nine’s host Karl Stefanovic then interjected, “If he didn’t do anything wrong though, what’s the money for? If he did, why is he still a Cabinet minister?”

Ms Miller noted that in December, the Prime Minister insisted that Alan Tudge had “stood aside from the Ministry”.

In March, ”“Alan Tudge is still in my Cabinet?,’’ Ms Miller tweeted.

“Scott Morrison, which is true? Only thing we can believe is you are a liar.”

Labor leader Anthony Albanese said the prime minister’s promise of his frontbench return was “extraordinary”.

“It just shows the chaos that is there. Even when people step aside, they’ve still got the job,” Mr. Albanese said after Mr. Morrison confirmed Mr. Tudge was still in his cabinet.

Scott Morrison has revealed there’s “nothing to prevent” Education Minister Alan Tudge returning to cabinet despite the negotiation of a “private” taxpayer-funded payout of over $500,000 to his ex-lover and staffer.

Source: Ex-lover of Liberal frontbencher Alan Tudge slams PM as ’liar’ | news.com.au — Australia’s leading news site

LNP, LNP Government

Slashing development aid harms our security and the destitute abroad

FOR DECADES, advocates have claimed foreign aid is critical to Australia’s defence and foreign affairs preparedness. They have warned that cutting aid – which all coalition governments have done since the Fraser years – trashes Australia’s global image and risks regional security.

Now it has actually happened. The Government of China is snatching from Australia the mantle of the strong, protective regional power partnering with our Pacific neighbours.

The Solomon Islands Government signed a security pact with Beijing late last month, generating shock and dismay in the USA and beyond.  

Colleague Dr Binoy Kampmark was quick off the mark with astute analysis. The spineless mainstream media in Australia, of course, downplayed the debacle.

Source: Slashing development aid harms our security and the destitute abroad

LNP, LNP Government

Ukraine latest: Zelenskyy warns of horror in Borodyanka; Russia admits ‘significant’ casualties; some Ukrainians return to Kyiv – ABC News

A man stands in from of a large damaged building, in which many walls are missing.

Meanwhile, despite the increasing revelation of atrocities, the Australian government is cozying up to the  Indian government which isn’t committed to any sanctions against Russia and trading with them in the same manner as China despite knowledge of the widespread butchery committed by Putin’s forces against Ukraine citizens. That transactional act alone is reason for kicking Morrison out because in a two faced manner he’s supporting Putin.

UN suspends Russia from top human rights body

Source: Ukraine latest: Zelenskyy warns of horror in Borodyanka; Russia admits ‘significant’ casualties; some Ukrainians return to Kyiv – ABC News

LNP, LNP Government

Scott Morrison is dangerous – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Morrison shows all the characteristics of a fanatic cultist who just moves on if faced with any opposition. On to achieve the goal god chose for him. Yes if questions are too difficult he just moves on. He knows what he says is bullshit but that doesn’t matter the goal is more important. The difference between Morrison and Trump is that Trump isn’t religious ratings are his goal. But that’s  fundamentally the only difference. Trump made a list of promises that just faded away. Morrison doesn’t even believe in the ratings he did make it harder to get rid of him requiring a 66% majority. He knows he has 9 Pentacostalists on side and he moved Right as soon as he was elected. The LNP has become the autocratic party that’s pro a Kleptocracy and it’s why there will never be an ICAC.

Like QAnon and Trump Morrison can and will accuse the ALP or any opposition of being children eaters in the basement of a  pizza shop if it helps to achieve God’s destiny. Logic can never trump his faith and faith, not fact, is Morrison’s fuel. He is a member of God’s given  “elect” so it doesn’t matter if what it is he says is bullshit as long as it draws us away from the Godless Democracy and its Separation of Powers in his Christian country. He along with members of his Church are saved and don’t need to face judgement at the End of Daze. That’s why he can do and say anything, and it’s not a lie or transgression of any sort. He just needs to control the media.

Scott Morrison is dangerous because he is driven by a fantastically flawed personality, mixed with a deranged political ideology, with the added bonus of crazy end-of-times religious lunacy. In Australia we presume the good faith of our political leaders. It has held to be true for over a century, but Morrison has picked up certain traits from his role models overseas, which are foreign to us. The predominant trait I speak of is shamelessness, and an ability to instantly forget anything politically adverse; to instantly move on, in the naïve belief that we have no memories.

Source: Scott Morrison is dangerous – » The Australian Independent Media Network

LNP, LNP Government

Albanese.com.au taken down over ‘misleading’ Liberal Party redirect

LNP’s  Dirt Brigade in Action

Australia’s internet domain name regulator has pulled down Albanese.com.au after it was found to be redirecting visitors to the Liberal Party’s homepage. The unexpected redirect was no accident. Information provided by the regulator shows the Liberal National Party of Queensland registered Albanese.com.au in December, with Brisbane-based LNP adviser Sam Jackson, who did not respond to TND‘s request for comment, listed as the main contact.

Source: Albanese.com.au taken down over ‘misleading’ Liberal Party redirect

LNP, LNP Economic Management, LNP Government

Questions raised over millions in federal budget funding for charity with no office or staff – ABC News

An office is seen with a long white table with black chairs on either side, large windows behind it and a plant on the right.

Australian Future Leaders Program is set to receive $18m over five years and an extra $4m a year after that The Prime Minister’s department says the organisation has no office or staff it knows of However, the department insists it had followed due diligence in awarding the funding

Source: Questions raised over millions in federal budget funding for charity with no office or staff – ABC News

LNP, LNP Corruption, LNP Government, LNP Tactics

Cash defends appointments to tribunal

Michaelia Cash

Straight from Trump’s Playbook or Steve Bannon’s appoint as many of your friends to positions that will hamper any new government. There’s no ICAC to investigate the corruption that this government has delivered and wielded on the Australian electorate. Economic and Cultural Crimes done dirt cheap.

The Australian Federal Police Association, which represents 4,000 AFP members, has placed the establishment of a “far-reaching anti-corruption body” among its highest priorities ahead of the federal election, alongside improved support for officers suffering post-traumatic stress disorder, greater resourcing, and stronger firearms regulations.
The anti-corruption subject has raised its head once again. Now the Australian Federal Police are calling for a commission with far reaching arms. I thought the AFP were a voice for the LNP, however this report in the Guardian tells me something different. This commission must have retrospective powers. The Scummo team doesn’t want that. One has to wonder why? Could it be that the vast majority of them are corrupt?
Labor has already committed to an anti-corruption commission with the strength and powers of a standing royal commission, including the ability to hold public hearings.

Attorney-General Michaelia Cash has defended the appointment of ex-Liberal MPs and coalition staffers to high-paying roles on the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, saying they are “qualified”.

Source: Cash defends appointments to tribunal

LNP, LNP Corruption, LNP Government

Everything Scott Morrison says is … – » The Australian Independent Media Network

There is absolutely nothing good one can find to say about the LNP. This diabolical, self-serving regime is made up of the worst type of political misfits ever seen in this nation! The LNP has degenerated into an internationally condemned pack of smug, totally ruthless, unconscionably cruel gang of lying, conniving, misogynistic bible-thumping hypocrites who don’t give a rat’s behind about anyone but themselves and their multi-millionaire, non-taxpaying donors in the Top 1%. Wake up, Australia and kick these smug, corrupt and self-serving parasites to the gutter at the next federal election – they do not care about you and never did!

Source: Everything Scott Morrison says is … – » The Australian Independent Media Network

LNP, LNP Economic Management, LNP Government

Josh’s Jobless Jargon – » The Australian Independent Media Network

five claims he tweeted recently.

TESTED

Unemployment has dropped to 4% in Feb,

77k jobs created

The participation rate is at a record high

Female unemployment is at a 48 yr low of 3.8%

375k more Aussies in work than pre-COVID

Source: Josh’s Jobless Jargon – » The Australian Independent Media Network

LNP Economic Management, LNP Government

Ukraine has become a graveyard for Russians — and for modern weapons systems | Salon.com

A destroyed tank likely belonging to Russia / pro-Russian forces lies amidst rubble in the north of the ruined city. The battle between Russian / Pro Russian forces and the defencing Ukrainian forces lead by Azov battalion continues in the port city of Mariupol. (Maximilian Clarke/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Peter Dutton just bought 121 new tanks OOPS! Will the LNP cancel that order like the one they canceled with the French that cost $5bn and returned NOTHING? How much would canceling the useless tank contract cost us.The cancellation of the subs cost twice what the ALP pledged to fix Aged Care with. Would canceling the tanks cost another $5bn is that why Reynolds needs to strip the NDIS  just in case?

It’s clear as the sixth week of the war begins that his apparent plan was to send a column of tanks rumbling into Kyiv, blow up a few things, send Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his government scampering away in fear, declare victory, install a puppet president and go home. Evidence that his plan was a strategic, tactical and political failure is showing on your television screens around the clock. If there is one image that will symbolize forever this war, it will be a blown-up Russian tank, its treads sagging and its turret tilted, rusting by the side of the road in Ukraine.

Source: Ukraine has become a graveyard for Russians — and for modern weapons systems | Salon.com

LNP, LNP Government

White and might is right: the secrets which push us into other people’s wars – Michael West Media

War powers

How often do we see on the news “500 people are hiding in X theater” only to see it bombed by the enemy. Or, “we are going to Syria to bomb the mother fuckers”. Governments may hold some secrets but they sure as hell more often than not telegraph their punches for domestic currency to the enemy. It makes you wonder whose side their on.

Currently, Peter Dutton is sending promised “armored vehicles” to Ukraine. In reality reality “Peter Dutton doesn’t know how to get promised armored vehicles to Ukraine.”  The government announced it was sending 70k tons of coal to Ukraine. It might get there sometime next year if they can find a ship. However, Poland exports coal and is Ukraine’s neighbor and could get it tomorrow. Dumb is what Morrison is but always the ad man selling pet rocks, or cans of fresh air and advertising “fake news”

For decades, minor parties in Australia have introduced bills seeking to give parliament greater control over military deployments. In the debates and inquiries that have followed, a wide range of objections have been raised. We are told that, as military deployments are often made on the basis of confidential information, this information cannot be publicly disclosed to the parliament. Another common objection is that parliamentary decision-making would reduce the flexibility and speed needed to carry out military operations safely and effectively. Most of the opposition to war powers reform, received as part of Michael West Media’s ongoing survey of politicians, follows similar lines. You can see myriad responses here. However, some experts think there might be another reason — one that Australian pollies may be uncomfortable acknowledging.

Source: White and might is right: the secrets which push us into other people’s wars – Michael West Media

LNP, LNP Corruption, LNP Economic Management, LNP Government

Abolition of advisory body criticised after Morrison government promises $5.9bn for Queensland dams | Queensland | The Guardian

Anthony Whealy QC at a press conference

Barnaby Joyce abolished Water Advisory Board and made a promise of $5.9bn to invest in a Qld dam with no business plan. Yet, Josh Frydenberg dares to say after 8 years “We have no evidence Victoria’s biggest infrastructure program will be a success”. What a pure political betrayal of Victoria his own state when experts were consulted, reports, and due diligence done and all he did was not be bothered to read them. He inherited the blackmail offer left by Abbott of $4bn withheld unless Dan Andrews capitulated and did what the LNP demanded. Victoria was the growth state before the pandemic and kept the nation afloat when the Federal LNP were dragging us backwards.

The costs of the federal government’s commitment to fund dams in Queensland without the scrutiny of a now-abolished national advisory body should be a cause for concern for the community, a former supreme court judge says. Deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce disbanded the National Water Grid Advisory Body this week, claiming it was “an appropriate time for it to conclude its work”. The body had been established by Joyce’s predecessor, Michael McCormack, in 2020 to scrutinise and provide advice on major water infrastructure projects.

Source: Abolition of advisory body criticised after Morrison government promises $5.9bn for Queensland dams | Queensland | The Guardian

LNP, LNP Corruption, LNP Economic Management, LNP Government, LNP Tactics

‘Historic’ trade agreement with India signed after decade of negotiations – ABC News

India's trade minister holds up a signed document. In other screens, Tehan does the same and Morrison and Modi applaud

Ten years in the making of an agreement signed just weeks before an election smells of a scam. One needs to ask what Morrison actually sacrificed in order to gain this politically advantageous signing at such a fortuitous moment. The Indians are known for their bargaining skills and ability to take commercial advantage. They are one of the few countries currently refusing to criticize Putin and are not employing sanctions against Russia. Furthermore, they are happily buying their cheaper oil and so offering indirect and questionable support in their war against Ukraine. Morrison is rewarding India a nation for its questionable ethical and contrarian stance to ours and his associated  media propagandists are supporting him in this less than perfect moral stance. he’s indirectly siding with Russia. In fact he directly sided with Putin at the last Climate summit in Glasgow.

The Morrison government has hailed the agreement as a significant step in its efforts to diversify export markets and reduce Australia’s economic dependence on China.”This is an economic agreement that has strategic might to it,” Mr Tehan said.

Source: ‘Historic’ trade agreement with India signed after decade of negotiations – ABC News

LNP, LNP Corruption, LNP Government, LNP Tactics

Melbourne Suburban Rail Loop doesn’t stack up, says federal government

‘Massively expensive’: Can Victoria now afford the suburban loop?

Morrison punishes Victoria a Labor State he knows he simply can’t win. Smoothing the path for Matthew Guy in November his only hope. Morrison has to go!!

Even more interesting is The Age’s opinion section. It  is currently promoting the witholding of funds by the Morrison government. It’s a biased opinion and plain to see written by an member of none other than the Victorian LNP. No surprise now that Ch9 owns the  masthead and is run by Peter Costello. We must in the long term SAVE AND REVIVE OUR ABC

The Morrison government says Victorian Labor’s multibillion-dollar Suburban Rail Loop does not “stack up”, raising questions about the state government’s ability to pay for the project if forced to go it alone. Urban Infrastructure Minister Paul Fletcher also hit back at attacks from the state government, which has criticised the Commonwealth for only allocating 6 per cent of the budget’s infrastructure funding to Victoria, which is home to 26 per cent of the nation’s population.

Source: Melbourne Suburban Rail Loop doesn’t stack up, says federal government

LNP, LNP Corruption, LNP Government

Out of the Frydenberg and into the fire ahead of the budget, with debt and deficits for at least another decade – ABC News

Ongoing deficits graph Verrender column

In 2012 We were in Bad Shape  the Sky was Falling in. In 2022 We are told we are in Good Shape because of the LNP has taken our debt from 10% under the ALP to 40% of GDP. Claiming no fault of theirs how is it possible because Morrison doesn’t lie? Oh easy, throw facts out and simply say }it would have been worse under the ALP and call that a predictable truth.

When Tony Abbott was elected prime minister, our net debt sat at around $200 billion, or about 10 per cent of the size of our economy. He proclaimed it a disaster. It wasn’t. Our debt had doubled by the time the pandemic hit and, at just under 20 per cent of GDP, it still wasn’t a problem. It’s due to hit 40 per cent within the next year or so — at around $1 trillion —

Source: Out of the Frydenberg and into the fire ahead of the budget, with debt and deficits for at least another decade – ABC News

LNP, LNP Corruption, LNP Government, LNP Policy, LNP Theft

Questions raised over government scheme that left foreign workers with just $100 take-home pay – ABC News

Two men walk through a field of farming land.

The Australian Government has done nothing and as such has been a coconspirator in a blatant act of wage theft. Any prosecution of participants in this criminal might lose them potential regional voters while the victims have no voice as they are ineligible to vote.

But it doesn’t appear to be a small cohort and it has been allowed to happen under the Australian government’s very own labour hire scheme. The government’s Seasonal Worker Program (SWP) sets no limit to the amount of money an employer can deduct from a worker’s pay for costs incurred as part of that employment.

Source: Questions raised over government scheme that left foreign workers with just $100 take-home pay – ABC News

LNP, LNP Corruption, LNP Economic Management, LNP Government, LNP Tactics

Weaponizing Coal: Australia Gives Ukraine a Gift – » The Australian Independent Media Network

The King of Clowns,

Little by way of logistical or pricing detail was given. We know who benefits the most from this. A triumphalist Whitehaven Coal will supply it, and the cost to the Australian taxpayer will be in the order of AU$31 million. Given that Whitehaven Coal has been a Liberal Party donor – AU$98,000 has been given over the last five years – the whiff of something rotten in the land of coal is strong.

The Morrison government has made a habit of celebrating the announcement rather than the execution of detail. Mendacity and incompetence are twinned in this government’s insignia, and Ukrainian officials best ready themselves for disappointment.

 

Source: Weaponizing Coal: Australia Gives Ukraine a Gift – » The Australian Independent Media Network

LNP, LNP Government, LNP Tactics

Morrison’s madcap plan to send coal to Ukraine just another “announceable”? – Michael West Media

Russian navy, coal to Ukraine

If the Morrison government really wants us to believe it will ship 70,000 tonnes of Australian coal straight by the Russian navy in the Black Sea, bang through a war zone, it is proving very reluctant to share even the slightest detail of how it might accomplish this feat of ridiculousness. Callum Foote and Michael West report.

Source: Morrison’s madcap plan to send coal to Ukraine just another “announceable”? – Michael West Media

LNP, LNP Corruption, LNP Government

School students tripping up on Australia’s uneven playing field

Acting Education Minister Stuart Robert.

Proud graduate Captain Stuart Robert MP of Australia’s Noted College of Bastardisation and Sexual Abuse became the promoter and overseer of Australia’s worst-ever Social Welfare debacle ROBODEBT. He is now Minister in Charge of Education and blamed “dud teachers” in our government schools of dragging Australia down when compared with comparable results in the rest of the world. One can only suggest Robert was talking about himself having attended that now famous  Government College known as Duntroon. The “dud teachers” of  Duntroon it seems resulted in his ranking as the most corrupt MP among current LNP ranks and possibly the decade if not longer.Robert it seems was trying to explain why he’s such a corrupt and incompetant shithead.

Robert has a history of foot in mouth disease that is legend and ranks as the most self-serving and incompetent MP’s in LNP ranks standing shoulder to shoulder in that competition with ex-cop Peter Dutton. Dutton wins simply because he’s been there the longest.

The acting federal Education Minister Stuart Robert surely assumed he was chatting confidentially among friends last week when he told a private schools conference the sustained decline in the academic results of Australian 15-year-olds relative to their international peers is because of “dud teachers” in government schools. The “duds” were defined as the “bottom 10 per cent of teachers” who graduate from initial teaching courses notwithstanding they “can’t read and write”. But private schools are dud-free zones, the acting minister purred to his audience, because principals have the power to hire and fire and are naturally intolerant of dud educators, and if the government could only “bottle” the success of these schools, the nation’s youth would rise beyond mediocrity.

Source: School students tripping up on Australia’s uneven playing field

LNP, LNP Government, LNP Policy, LNP Tactics

Australia wants a space industry. So why won’t we pay for the basic research to drive it?

Dutton TALKS  the TALK but never WALKS the WALK

In the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, India, South Korea, China, Russia, and United Arab Emirates – to name a few – basic research in space and planetary science, and science missions, are key elements in strategies to grow their sectors. In Australia, this kind of fundamental work only gets around A$2 million a year. It hasn’t budged in a decade.

Source: Australia wants a space industry. So why won’t we pay for the basic research to drive it?

LNP, LNP Government, LNP Policy

Michael Pascoe: Federal and NSW Liberal Party delivering for developers

housing

No, you couldn’t make this up: With mud still being hosed out of destroyed houses, the NSW Planning Minister scrapped a two-week-old requirement to consider the risks of floods and fires before building new homes. Yes, the minister does have a reputation for listening to the property development industry which, unsurprisingly, endorsed his decision. Well, you know, it was “red tape”.

“The committee chair decided that the report would focus primarily on ‘market housing’ with ‘non-market’ housing for the growing number of ‘individuals and families who are unable to fully afford market prices’ relegated to a single chapter. That chapter was strongly influenced by the blanket statement that ‘the government should avoid being one’s landlord’.”

Source: Michael Pascoe: Federal and NSW Liberal Party delivering for developers

LNP, LNP Government

Morrison’s green light for Queensland’s Hells Gates Dam threatens Great Barrier Reef, experts warn | Queensland | The Guardian

There are concerns the health of the Burdekin River catchment in north Queensland could be compromised by proposed dams such as Hells Gates. The Coalition has given $5.4bn to the dam, which would be four times size of Sydney Harbour.

Totally designed Electioneering Scam. This has been announced in total desperation fuck the responsibility for any long term consequences. LNP planning and management style.

Earlier feasibility studies have prompted serious questions about the project’s stated economic benefit. Hells Gates also has no environmental impact statement, and no environmental approvals – a process that could take several years on such a large and complex project. Advertisement Some locals leaders, including the Burdekin mayor, Lyn McLaughlin, have expressed concern that dam proposals in the Burdekin River catchment – including the Urannah Dam that also has federal support – have been pushed without studies about their long-term impact on the river system. Jami Webster, a water quality expert from the Australian Marine Conservation Society, said the announcement was “electioneering”.

Source: Morrison’s green light for Queensland’s Hells Gates Dam threatens Great Barrier Reef, experts warn | Queensland | The Guardian

LNP, LNP Government

Government support lower than at bushfires – Michael West Media

Like Monty Python’s Black Knight Scott Morrison is mustering his Media Forces and Dirt Brigade to keep Albo tarnished in the view of the electorate. Kimberly Kitching vs the “Mean Girls” has been his current attention grabber to keep the brutal defeat of the LNP in South Australia off the front pages. Peter Dutton’s promise of a space force sometime next century is intended to add some spit and polish  to Scumo

Coalition support is lower than it was during the Black Summer bushfires, a study has found. Just 32.2 per cent of respondents said they would vote for the government if an election was held in January, compared with 35.4 per cent in January 2020. It is also a sizeable drop from January 2021 at the height of the pandemic, when 40.3 per cent of respondent said they’d vote for the Liberal-National coalition. Lead author of the Australian National University study Professor Nicholas Biddle said with less than one in three respondents to back the incumbents, things did not look good for the coalition. “This is significantly lower than the 37 per cent who said they would vote for Labor, who would appear to have been in an election-winning position,” he said.

Source: Government support lower than at bushfires – Michael West Media

LNP, LNP Government

Leaked documents reveal scope of tax reform Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison rejected

When Scott Morrison was Treasurer

Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison walked away from Treasury proposals for sweeping tax changes that could have put more money in voters’ pockets and eased booming house prices, according to leaked Treasury documents. The documents, marked “protected” and “cabinet”, and obtained by The Sun-Herald and The Sunday Age, were written in October and November 2015 when Mr Turnbull and Mr Morrison replaced Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey as Prime Minister and Treasurer.

Source: Leaked documents reveal scope of tax reform Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison rejected

LNP, LNP Government, LNP Tactics

Weaponising Senator Kimberley Kitching’s death is vile and distasteful – » The Australian Independent Media Network

This week I witnessed the worst character traits of human behavior play out on my television screen as a Prime Minister in dire straits regarding his, and his party’s, popularity tried to weaponize a death for political gain, assisted by some elements of a partisan media which commenced with an article written by Shari Markson and published in The Australian on Wednesday, 16 March 2022. To my knowledge, Ms. Markson has never written a positive word about the ALP, and of course, the Murdochracy which owns The Australian has pinned its political colors to the mast supporting the Liberal Party since about 2009. To say the article and Mr. Morrison’s behavior was vile and distasteful is an understatement. Some of you may be feeling inclined to say, “Michael, you’re an ALP member”, which I am, and I am proud of it, but hear me out as this is an important statement I make for the future of our entire democracy, including for the Liberal Party.

Source: Weaponising Senator Kimberley Kitching’s death is vile and distasteful – » The Australian Independent Media Network

LNP, LNP Economic Management, LNP Government

‘Real venom’: federal government extends NSW flood relief after pressure from local MPs | NSW and Queensland floods 2022 | The Guardian

Liberal MP Catherine Cusack at Parliament House in Sydney

Morrison NEVER LEADS from the front. He has to be dragged shoved pushed threatened to act. His own party is sick of him opening up a window of opportunity not only for the opposition but for an even bigger loser Peter Dutton.

The delay in extending the funding prompted an outpouring of criticism from Liberal and National MPs in NSW, with one upper house Liberal party MP, Catherine Cusack, announcing her intention to resign from politics altogether, telling Guardian Australia her decision was not a protest but “me not wanting to fight the machine any more”. Scott Morrison last week announced extra financial support would be available for people in Lismore, Richmond Valley and Clarence Valley local areas. Those regions all sit in the federal seat of Page, held by the Nationals. But other local government areas including Ballina, Byron and Tweed – all located in the electorate of Richmond, held by Labor – were initially excluded from receiving the extra funds. That prompted outrage from Liberal and National MPs in the NSW government.

Source: ‘Real venom’: federal government extends NSW flood relief after pressure from local MPs | NSW and Queensland floods 2022 | The Guardian

LNP, LNP Government

Putin-linked Russian oligarchs with Australian assets escape Morrison government sanctions | Australian foreign policy | The Guardian

Vladimir Putin with Viktor Vekselberg during an award ceremony at the Kremlin in 2017. Vekselberg has not been sanctioned by Australia over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

Why is Morrison applying a feather duster to the Russians and Australian Corporations still doing business with Putin’s State? Are they L-NP donors?

 The Morrison government is facing questions over why it has not included two Russian oligarchs, who have assets in Australia, among those it has imposed sanctions against over the invasion of Ukraine.

Source: Putin-linked Russian oligarchs with Australian assets escape Morrison government sanctions | Australian foreign policy | The Guardian

LNP, LNP Government

Michael Pascoe: Scott Morrison set precedent for carbon levy

carbon levy

Doublespeak : “This isn’t a Carbon Tax”, Just as the  “No cuts to the ABC”. Morrison the Ad man spends more time with his spin doctors, playing with words than he actually does doing the things he was elected to do. Because actually doing things might seem as if he’s riding on the coattails of the ALP

There is a recent precedent for the federal government to introduce a $1-a-tonne levy on fossil fuels – and it was set by Scott Morrison. As Treasurer in 2017, Mr Morrison successfully legislated a new industry-specific tax he forecast to collect $6.2 billion over four years. Of course he did not call it a “tax” – governments are rather allergic to that word, much preferring fee/levy/surcharge/toll or whatever other euphemism comes to mind. In this case, it was called the Major Bank Levy.

Source: Michael Pascoe: Scott Morrison set precedent for carbon levy

LNP, LNP Government

Don’t expect much – with climate disasters you will largely be on your own – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Who saved us during the GFC disaster? It wasn’t Morrison he was yelling “Nope Nope Nope” along with Abbott and encouraging inhumanity while politicizing Ethnicism, Racism and stopping boats

The Australia Institute has a popular proposal that suggests taxing the fossil fuel sector to fund an emergency body that will have the capability to support Australians wracked by the succession of crises we face. That is certainly an important idea that must be discussed. The sector has prevented us from transitioning to renewables back in the 20th century when we could have done so with little pain; the time has come to make them compensate us for the suffering that has only just begun.

Source: Don’t expect much – with climate disasters you will largely be on your own – » The Australian Independent Media Network

LNP, LNP Economic Management, LNP Government

Five years on, Snowy 2.0 emerges as a $10 billion white elephant

Snowy Hydro 2.0 ... it’s an uphill climb for the water pumped from the the Talbingo Reservoir. Three life-size white elephant statues in Royal Flora Expo in Chiang Mai Thailand Stock Photo - Alamy

The LNP delivering yet another FAILURE. A Herd of White Elephants,

The nation-building vision was for a big battery to be added to the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme. It was to be completed in four years (that is, by last year) at a cost of $2 billion without any taxpayer subsidy, bring down electricity prices, generate renewable energy and incur minimal environmental impact on Kosciuszko National Park. Inspiring stuff. But not one of these grand claims has turned out to be true. Worse, Australian taxpayers and NSW electricity consumers will be up for billions of dollars in subsidies and increased electricity costs, all while Kosciuszko is trashed. Let’s have a quick recap.

Source: Five years on, Snowy 2.0 emerges as a $10 billion white elephant

Informed Comment, LNP, LNP Corruption, LNP Government

Crown v Shannon: bigwigs off the hook, small fish fried – Michael West Media

ASIC, Crown Resorts

This isn’t splashed across the front pages of our MSM why? It certainly however indicates their right-wing, top-down propaganda bias. Morrison’s promised ICAC has been discarded and a stained promise remains. Australia’s international corruption index has blown out and the pigs are ripping the guts out of everything that remains. Super and wage theft have been gouged, while workers and their families have lost billions. $8 companies were given contracts that now values them at $340M. Mates have jobs doing sweet FA and earn $600K and grants well we saw the grants they came and went in some cases like Bridget McKenzie.

Nine years ago we were voted best economy on the planet and our Treasurer then voted the world’s best and we had just faced the GFC and won governed by the Gillard ALP. Bills were passedbut then along came 9 years of listening to “nope nope nope” of LNP government with Frydenberg still telling us we are the worlds best economy when the world says we are not.

Our privately owned MSM Murdoch the largest is proving to be the Australian equivalent of Russian State Media a propaganda machine loved by Putin. It might well be criticizing Scott Morrison but it sure as hell isn’t criticizing the L-NP for dragging this country down economically or reputationally on every social metric. They are after all the worlds best promisers who do nothing and when and if they do it’s so late its a useless token gesture. Yes Morrison promises to make the NBN the best in the world and liberate Christians from discrimination. What criticism there is in our MSM, is minimal and isn’t calling for a necessary change of government. Quite the opposite in fact, they are still branded the best economic managers by corporate Australia while government debt blew out to almost $1Tr and filled the pockets of their donors. The truth is staring us in the face. Are we better off under a Morrison/LNP than we were under a Gillard lead ALP?  Is our material Economy, Health, Education, Wealth, Housing and Welfare better? Have Corruption, Broken Promises, Discrimination, Racism, and Climate action improved? Let’s be the honest judges and not simply accept the word of the worlds worst salesman!

One guy prosecuted for allegedly running a company while bankrupt, ten Crown directors off scot free for washing $70bn through casinos for Chinese Triads, drug and sex traffickers and other assorted criminals. One rule for rich and powerful, another for the rest. Michael West reports on the world of deluxe double standards.

Source: Crown v Shannon: bigwigs off the hook, small fish fried – Michael West Media

LNP, LNP Economic Management, LNP Government, LNP Tactics

Government denies that flood funding allocation is ‘political’

Image

Thousands of flood-stricken residents in the NSW northern rivers region have been cut out of flood relief payments, forcing the government to deny allegations the emergency funding has been allocated politically.

Following catastrophic flooding, Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Thursday announced a plan to provide two additional $1000 Commonwealth disaster payments to residents in the council districts of Richmond, Lismore and Clarence Valley.

But three other council areas in the region, all struck by the floods, were not granted the two additional payments: Tweed, Byron and Ballina shires.

Source: Government denies that flood funding allocation is ‘political’

LNP, LNP Economic Management, LNP Government

Government incompetence and lack of planning: it never rains but it pours – Michael West Media

National Severe Weather Outlook

The skies opened and the rains fell, hammering communities up and down the east coast. So how good is Australia in another time of tragedy? An FOI reveals that the government was warned about the increased likelihood of floods in November last year, and failed to properly prepare for the disaster, writes Callum Foote.

Source: Government incompetence and lack of planning: it never rains but it pours – Michael West Media

LNP, LNP Economic Management, LNP Government, LNP Policy

National security debate submerged under waves of bluster and spin

 Australia is “13 years and $3 billion” into the project and all we’ve got to show for it Peter Dutton is “a study into getting a nuclear submarine and now a study where we might put them”.

Source: National security debate submerged under waves of bluster and spin

Informed Comment, LNP, LNP Economic Management, LNP Government, LNP Tactics

Twelve more things revealing Australia’s poor economic management

There is plenty in last week’s quarterly national accounts that the Coalition Government does not want voters to discover, as Alan Austin reports. THE SHARE of Australia’s income going to workers is now at an all-time low. The big corporations are getting the highest share ever. These are two pretty important facts that the Morrison-Joyce Government and the mainstream media – who are all big corporations – want concealed. They are well-hidden in the extensive files published last Wednesday by the Bureau of Statistics. But they are there.

Source: Twelve more things revealing Australia’s poor economic management

LNP, LNP Government

How Good Are Rain Bombs and Megafires? Morrison Damns Us to Climate Hell

Climate Crisis

 

Prime minister Scott Morrison has governed the country during a time of unprecedented catastrophes, which he’s repeatedly shrugged off as if they have no connection to the fossil fuel industry, of which he sits in the pocket of.

Source: How Good Are Rain Bombs and Megafires? Morrison Damns Us to Climate Hell

LNP, LNP Government

Bill for NSW and Qld flood damage now at $1.2b and rising fast

The LNP government signed the country up for the equivalent  cost of x8 of these disasters and at the time claimed they were cheap. 8 Submarines at only $80Bn was nothing but now when the estimated cost of flood damage in two states is $1.2 Bn it’s a disaster. It’s the cost of a single sub. So shouldn’t that money be easy to find  just cancel one sub. After all delivery isn’t expected until 2040 and the flood damage could be attended to immediately. That National Disaster Fund is $4.5 Bn  only returns 5% interest or $200 M of which the L-NP are so proud. Cancel 4 subs the fund would have $9Bn at 10% the average rate of return of an Industrial Super fund they’d have almost a $1Bn to spend. So much for their money management.

Premier Dominic Perrottet will visit the devastated northern city of Lismore, with six people dead as a result of the NSW floods disaster and insurance payouts expected to soar into the hundreds of millions. The cost in NSW alone is now more than $240 million, according to the Insurance Council of Australia, while estimates taking in Queensland claims as well peaked over $1 billion on Friday.

Source: Bill for NSW and Qld flood damage now at $1.2b and rising fast

LNP, LNP Government

Josh And The Incredible Economy And Other Just Not So Stories… – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Strangely, Mr Frydenberg’s broken promise wasn’t the front page of “The Herald-Sun” in Melbourne today. No, there was a much bigger one. The Independent challenging him for the seat has a secret. She doesn’t like the government and, even worse, she once declared her love for some Labor politicians on Facebook. Now, given that it came out that she was once a member of the Labor Party a few months ago, I wouldn’t have considered this front page news, but I guess that’s why I’m not likely to ever be asked to edit any of the Murdoch propaganda sheets.

I would have presumed that the announcement that Josh doesn’t intend to demonstrate his commitment to recycling by using the same car park policy that he took to the previous election would be an indication that he feels completely safe. However, when the papers feel the need to do a hit job on his opponent and not some Labor person in a marginal electorate, the polling must be closer than I thought.

Ok, well, it’s only a matter of weeks before Morrison has to either call the election or else we’ll all know that it’s on May 21st. Unless he really is intending to have a half-Senate election and hold off the House of Representatives so long that all the newspapers running Clive Palmer’s ads become viable businesses again.

 

Source: Josh And The Incredible Economy And Other Just Not So Stories… – » The Australian Independent Media Network

LNP, LNP Government, LNP Tactics

Guns still point to China: Ukraine a backdrop for national security panic merchants – Michael West Media

The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) is busy not so much with a conflict on the other side of the globe but finding a way to spin the misery of the people of Ukraine into anti-China propaganda. It’s just the kind of propaganda Scott Morrison wants, and the prime minister clearly thinks he needs, in the run up to a likely May federal election. For years ASPI has suckled at the teat of the weapons industry; but far and away the most generous of ASPI’s benefactors is the Morrison government.

Source: Guns still point to China: Ukraine a backdrop for national security panic merchants – Michael West Media

LNP, LNP Government

Media Malpractice and Information War in Ukraine | The Nation

Press conference with President Volydymyr Zelensky

Scott Morrison announced “Ukrainians were automatically “refugees” and would go “straight to the top of the ladder” shows he;s a recist ethnicist and elitist. Iraqis , Aghanis, or Africans and definitely those who arrived by boat are different. They are “illegals”, first and even if “asylum seekers” they will never be settled here or even make it to Morrison’s ladder in total contravention to the International convention which we signed. Even the ACL the Australian Christian Lobby took umbrage at Morrison’s un Christian, Racist and Ethnicist announcement that suggested Ukrainians are somewhat an exception when it came to need. But that’s Scott Morrison who picks up a ukelele and can’t play. He  has a history of takink on jobs he simply hasn’t the DNA or capacity to do and it’s readily ovbious for all to see.

This double standard is all the more apparent in how prominent journalists have discussed the war. CBS reporter Charlie D’Agata apologized after describing Ukraine as “civilized” compared to places like Iraq or Afghanistan, but he is far from alone. Others have similarly expressed shock that a war could happen outside a “third world nation” to people who “seem so like us.” In response to such examples, the Arab and Middle Eastern Journalists Association released a statement condemning “orientalist and racist” rhetoric and demanded that newsrooms apply the same consideration to all victims of war.

Source: Media Malpractice and Information War in Ukraine | The Nation

LNP, LNP Government

The “She’ll Be Right, Mate” Syndrome: Australia’s Doomed Koalas – » The Australian Independent Media Network

When struggling for answers, those in power find it best to defer matters to a committee or working group. Not wishing to buck this tendency, Ley announced that the Threatened Species Scientific Committee would be considering “the status of the Koala.” The language of the announcement was a jarring mix of promotion and doom, with the doom element – namely, declaring the koala as endangered in three jurisdictions – buried in over the rainbow promises of protection. “Together we can ensure a healthy future for the koala and this decision, along with the total $74 million we have committed to koalas since 2019 will play a key role in that process.” Such empty displays of political theatre are acts of distraction and denial. The koalas may have been offered “a nice new word,” huffed Deborah Tabart, veteran chairwoman of the Australia Koala Foundation, “but behind all the photo opportunities and political rhetoric they continue to approve the destruction of the koala habitat.”

Source: The “She’ll Be Right, Mate” Syndrome: Australia’s Doomed Koalas – » The Australian Independent Media Network

LNP, LNP Government

Russia-Ukraine conflict: Australia will slap direct sanctions on Vladimir Putin. In fact, the Minister is seeking advice from the department

Marise Payne, Foreign Affairs Minister, speaks about Australia’s personal sanctions against Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

‘He has lied, deceived, fabricated’: Australia to slap direct sanctions on Putin

Let’s not take things at face value too quickly Marissa Payne. John Howard, along with Bush and Blair, lied, deceived, fabricated, and took us into Iraq. The Americans allied themselves with Osama Bin Laden to get the Russians out of Afghanistan and install a puppet government. Weren’t they doing what Putin is? Or is Putin doing what is the American norm. Under the Monroe Doctrine and the “Domino Theory”, they ” took care of their interests” anywhere on the planet?

Finland is a Socialist Democracy bordering Russia but is not declaring it wants to be a part of NATO. It’s not threatening or being threatened by Putin or being invaded. It too historically was once a part of the Tsarist Russian Empire. The Russians took missiles to Cuba and there was an immediate and imminent threat of nuclear war as a consequence America has sanctioned them for over 60 years.

What seems significant is that governments that aren’t “servants of their people” and lead from the top down all suffer the same disease the paranoiac fear of the personal loss of power. The very opposite of any real Social Democracy, any real democratization of power. When the shit hits the fan they then ask why didn’t the people do anything? Where do Morrison and Albo lie on that continuum of power, servants of or servicing Australian citizens?

Australia will look to impose direct sanctions on Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, while Australia’s top diplomat Marise Payne has left the door open to the possible expulsion of Canberra-based Russian diplomats. Senator Payne said Putin was being targeted because he was “personally responsible for the deaths and the suffering of innocent Ukrainians”. Marise Payne, Foreign Affairs Minister, speaks about Australia’s personal sanctions against Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

Source: Russia-Ukraine conflict: Australia will slap direct sanctions on Vladimir Putin. In fact, the Minister is seeking advice from the department

LNP, LNP Government

Still under the bed? Red-baiting’s long history in Australian politics – and why it’s unlikely to succeed now

The Reds are back. Scott Morrison’s Liberal-National government has recently launched an offensive of “red-baiting”, a practice long thought consigned to the history books, in preparation for an anticipated May 2022 election. Last November, Defence Minister Peter Dutton hounded Shadow Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong, charging her with “not standing up for [Australian] values” in comments on the China-Taiwan dispute. This week, News Corp has targeted Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese after the Chinese Global Times offered him some backhanded compliments. A video also emerged of Albanese speaking Mandarin at an economic summit, and he was found to have participated in a forum for Tribune, newspaper of the defunct Communist Party of Australia. (This interview, it should be noted, was 31 years ago.) Such claims have long plagued the progressive side of politics. Since the first news of the Bolshevik victory in the 1917 Russian Revolution reached our shores, fears of Australia following Vladimir Lenin’s lead have been used and abused by conservative politicians for electoral gain. But, how successful have these “moral panics” been? And do they still pass muster with today’s electorate?

Source: Still under the bed? Red-baiting’s long history in Australian politics – and why it’s unlikely to succeed now

LNP, LNP Government

Russia-Ukraine: How Scott Morrison will use crisis to shape 2022 federal election outcome

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison talking tough after Russia invaded Ukraine.

1% of the global sanctioning of Russia by Australia is a flea on an elephant’s back. The bellowing roar is however is for Morrison’s political sake folks. Our 1% only as a global emitter of CO2 was his excuse for doing nothing about being one of the biggest exporters of carbon. He wanted to be as quiet as a church mouse. That again has been for his donors interests and his domestic political sake. His even bigger silence at present is not to sanction but to reward Rupert Murdoch whose media org Fox is the biggest Putin lover and Russian propagandist in America and that silence is also for Morrison’s own political sake. Because as I write he’s dishing out a share of his current advertising war-chest of $680M on News Corp, Foxtel and Sky News. The Putin lover Murdoch’s are in fact the LNP’s media voice in Australia and he has the gall to call Albo “a Red under the bed”!

As Russia’s attack on Ukraine unfolds dramatically, Australia is in the choir stalls, not centre stage, when it comes to the West’s response. But Scott Morrison is determined its voice be loud. His denunciation of the Russian “thugs” and “bullies” has been cast in the most forceful language. After announcing sanctions on Wednesday, he assured Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal that Australia, working with its partners, was prepared to do more.

Source: Russia-Ukraine: How Scott Morrison will use crisis to shape 2022 federal election outcome

LNP, LNP Government, LNP Policy

Australia condemns Russia’s ‘brutal and unprovoked’ invasion of Ukraine | Ukraine | The Guardian

Scott Morrison

Not a word that Morrison’s media ally Rupert Murdoch is in America supporting Trump and Putin or that Morrison continues to follow GOP policies down the autocratic road. His cultural war on trans-gender children is straight from the GOP playbook. Meanwhile those he aligns with are actively supporting Russia.

The Australian prime minister has promised “further waves of sanctions” against Russians including hundreds of members of parliament as he condemned Vladimir Putin for the brutal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

Source: Australia condemns Russia’s ‘brutal and unprovoked’ invasion of Ukraine | Ukraine | The Guardian

LNP, LNP Government

Government advised to accept ‘sunk’ NBN costs

Remember the LNP and the “no interference in the “free market”. Now they expect us to pay for their mistakes. It’s called a INDIRECT SNEAK TAX don’t you think?

The Government has ordered NBN Co to recoup all of those losses through the subscription prices to the users. In the end, the NBN users are paying for party politicking that has been taking place over the last decade.

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) chairman Rod Sims has mentioned during a recent Senate Inquiry that it would be “bad economics” to seek to recover “every last dollar spent” on the rollout of the National Broadband Network.

He clarified:

“Obviously, the NBN was built by the Government and now that it’s built, I think it’s appropriate to treat its costs as sunk — what matters for Australia is getting the best use out of the NBN.”

 

Source: Government advised to accept ‘sunk’ NBN costs

LNP, LNP Corruption, LNP Government, LNP Tactics

Remember the Warringah Motion? Neither do the Liberal Party! – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Let’s not Forget

Ironically, the Warringah Motion was promoted as broadening the democratic processes within the Liberal party which in turn it was thought would boost branch membership, a win win it was suggested. The question is, when the executive of a political party are prepared to scrap their own democratic principles and processes to appease threats of blackmail from a person like Craig Kelly, is that the sort of party with which you would wish to associate yourself ?

Source: Remember the Warringah Motion? Neither do the Liberal Party! – » The Australian Independent Media Network