Category: LNP Government

LNP, LNP Government, LNP Policy

Coal plan in draft COP26 may be ‘rude shock’ for Scott Morrison

Scott Morrison coal stance will cause G7 regrets

Australia’s plan to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 does not involve a phase-out of coal, and ( PM Morrison says): “Australia’s coal and gas export industries will continue through to 2050 and beyond, supporting jobs and regional communities.”

“The pressure on Australia, both international and domestic, is just going to keep growing. And the cost will be felt not just in the loss of international reputation, but economic damage as the rest of the world moves faster, and starts to impose border tariffs on Australian exports.”

While Morrison says there is “no line in the sand”

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly said he hopes the event will be a line-in-the-sand moment that would see “all the countries in the world … move off coal”.

Source: Coal plan in draft COP26 may be ‘rude shock’ for Scott Morrison

LNP, LNP Economic Management, LNP Government, LNP Tactics

Secret figures reveal Coalition’s cut-down NBN tech three times more expensive than forecast | National broadband network (NBN) | The Guardian

Malcolm Turnbull at a national broadband network photo opportunity in 2016

Thanks Tony Abbott you legacy of putting the brakes on Australia with your “Nope Nope Nope” policy approach now “Slow Slow Slow” govenments don’t do progress style maintained by Scott Morrison is coming into relief and the skidmarks self evident. Climate, the NBN, the ABC, Welfare, Health, Education are just among some areas spiralling down since 2013. Yet, domestically the fix is still in with Murdoch and Ch9 domestically blowing smoke declaring us great and going in the right direction. Is it any wonder Morrison hates going overseas because when he does that fake greatness is laid bare for all to see. We were lauded and admired the 2nd best economy on the planet during and post GFC, and then in 2013 along came the L fucking NP and put an end to that progress felt by all Australians.

The technology in the Coalition’s cut-down version of the NBN cost up to three times more than originally forecast and was closer to the initial estimated cost of a revised version of Labor’s full-fibre plan, according to figures the government has sought to keep secret for almost a decade.

Source: Secret figures reveal Coalition’s cut-down NBN tech three times more expensive than forecast | National broadband network (NBN) | The Guardian

LNP, LNP Government, LNP Tactics

Religious freedom laws: Morrison’s Christian majority does not exist – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Morrison’s “Christian Majority ” in Australia is under 10%. It’s a false flag flown by the LNP to ensure that though religiously divided the active Christians, Muslims are there for him. Religious freedom exists and has improved in our Secular State which under our Constitution guarantees the Separation of Powers. Protestants no longer battle Catholics who today dominate our politics but are still an Australian minority. While historically Christian Replacement might be real its hasn’t been by any other religion but who gives a fuck agnosticism. Any “protection of religion in legislation is is a return to the flip side, and a license for the return of systemic bigotry”. The title sounds fair but it sure as hell is looking like Texas is coming to Australia.

71% of Australians say religion is not personally important to them and 62% do not belong to any religious organisation. Only 23% say they do belong, and only 15% are actively involved.

Source: Religious freedom laws: Morrison’s Christian majority does not exist – » The Australian Independent Media Network

LNP, LNP Government

Calls for former Australian PMs to stay silent are hypocritical examples of conservative cancel culture | Kevin Rudd | The Guardian

Malcolm Turnbull and Kevin Rudd

 

I don’t see our democracy as a political plaything preserved for Morrison, the Murdoch monopoly and their mates behind the scenes. They cherish the notion of “quiet Australians” because listening to hard truths is inconvenient. My view is different. If we value our democratic rights, we should all be very noisy indeed.

Source: Calls for former Australian PMs to stay silent are hypocritical examples of conservative cancel culture | Kevin Rudd | The Guardian

LNP, LNP Government

Australia ranked last for climate policies, 58th overall out of 64 countries

Australia’s climate policies have been ranked last out of 64 countries and the nation among the worst offenders for emissions, renewables and energy use.

Source: Australia ranked last for climate policies, 58th overall out of 64 countries

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

Scott Morrison reaffirms coal commitment

scott morrison coal hydrogen

Prime Minister Scott Morrison wants to use hydrogen to prolong coal-fired power as Australia is blasted by a key ally as “a great disappointment” on climate change.

Source: Scott Morrison reaffirms coal commitment

LNP, LNP Government, LNP Policy, LNP Tactics

The plan to tighten Australia’s voter ID laws is just a clumsy uptake of US culture wars | Jason Wilson | The Guardian

Australia polling place

With nothing but scandal after scandal not knowing what to do this government is following the footsteps of Trump’s Republicans and it’s obvious. Cobble the vote whereever possible and ensure the most vulnerable who the won’t help can’t vote. They are desperate to appear like a government rather than what they are, a ship of fools.

But while requiring IDs may materially help them in some close electoral contests, this is better read as a symptom of the Australian right’s stunning lack of imagination.

Australia has no voter fraud problem but the Coalition wants to look like it’s doing something

A proposal to tighten voter ID laws emanated from the Liberal party room last week.

It resembles many initiatives of the Morrison government, and most of the ideas which have emerged from Australian conservatism more broadly in the past decade or more, in that it is opportunistic, unoriginal, and so unnecessary as to be baffling.

It does not appear to be a response to anything that is actually happening in Australia.

There is no evidence of widespread voter fraud in Australia, where compulsory voting and universal electoral enrolment make voter fraud at scale almost inconceivable.

Source: The plan to tighten Australia’s voter ID laws is just a clumsy uptake of US culture wars | Jason Wilson | The Guardian

LNP, LNP Government

Correction, Minister: democracy’s roots are neither Christian nor Western

Minister for Education and Youth Alan Tudge during a doorstop interview at Parliament House in Canberra on Friday 22 October 2021. fedpol Photo: Alex Ellinghausen

Unlike Tim Smith Alan Tudge survived his car crash moment simply by refusing to go. Is it any wonder he supported Smith to stay because it once again reminded us just how self serving a prick he was. A man with little class morals or manners Tudge was appointed as Minister for Education by Morrison.

Tudge now also believes in greater Voter ID just as he believes history shows there are people out there in his electorate who want to “steal” his position.

History recognises distinctions between fact and fallacy. Tudge tells us he wants history teaching that “recognises our democracy is based on our Christian and Western origins, with a reference to the importance of the values of patriotism and freedom”. Any well-educated history student would know that in the first part he is simply wrong. The origins of democracy lie in classical and pagan Greece, not Christianity or the West, both later inventions. In the second part, he offers his opinions and, as he says, his values, but not historical understanding.

Source: Correction, Minister: democracy’s roots are neither Christian nor Western

LNP, LNP Government, Uncategorized

Trump shows no sign of going quietly

Back on the trail: Donald Trump speaks during a Save America rally in Iowa last month.

What a surprise that Australia’s LNP are pushing for the same policy here. Do they have an original thought among them?

This year, Republicans have used these seeds of doubt to push through more than 30 laws in 19 states to restrict voting, which in many instances largely impact Latino, African-American and Asian citizens.

Source: Trump shows no sign of going quietly

LNP, LNP Government

IPA targets key Coalition seats with net zero Facebook ad campaign described by experts as ‘fear mongering’ | Institute of Public Affairs | The Guardian

Bodangora wind farm near Wellington, New South Wales

The LNP, IPA, News Corp and Sky News  are part of a global Murdochian franchise and can be found in many forms in the UK and USA. The form a marriage to keep new barbarians, clean and cheaper energy from the gates. The planet, well that’s a secondary thought that can always be tweaked with money and spin spin as long as independent rational scientific information is kept under control. Information isn’t free but today it needs to be kept divided and anarchic. That’s their Art of the Deal. They sell division.

The Institute of Public Affairs paid to push targeted Facebook ads based on a “faulty analysis” claiming net zero would cause massive job losses in key Liberal and National seats during last month’s Coalition infighting. Last month, as the Coalition debated a net zero 2050 policy, the IPA paid for a series of Facebook and Instagram ads targeting the electorates of Nationals Barnaby Joyce, David Littleproud, Mark Coulton, Ken O’Dowd and Anne Webster, as well as the Liberal trade minister, Dan Tehan. The ads warned the policy “will destroy” huge numbers of jobs in each electorate. In Flynn, O’Dowd’s electorate, the ads warned “net zero emissions will destroy one in four jobs”. Other electorates would lose one in five, one in six or one in seven jobs, the ads claimed.

Source: IPA targets key Coalition seats with net zero Facebook ad campaign described by experts as ‘fear mongering’ | Institute of Public Affairs | The Guardian

LNP, LNP Corruption, LNP Government, LNP Policy

Morrison Government continues to trash Australia’s reputation on climate

The Government’s refusal to sign up to the global methane pledge is another example of how it’s a laggard on climate change, writes Dr Graeme McLeay. THE GLOBAL METHANE pledge which 104 countries have agreed to in Glasgow, including the European Union and the United States, aims to cut global methane caused by human activity by 30% this decade.

Source: Morrison Government continues to trash Australia’s reputation on climate

LNP, LNP Corruption, LNP Economic Management, LNP Government

Josh Frydenberg was alerted less than three months into JobKeeper that unqualified companies were receiving support – ABC News

Josh Frydenberg opens his mouth to speak

The Treasurer knew billions in JobKeeper were going to businesses with increased turnover Businesses that no longer qualified for JobKeeper continued to receive support for six months Josh Frydenberg said Treasury did not advise on any changes to JobKeeper at the time

Source: Josh Frydenberg was alerted less than three months into JobKeeper that unqualified companies were receiving support – ABC News

LNP Economic Management, LNP Government

Australia is about to be hit by a carbon tax whether the prime minister likes it or not, except the proceeds will go overseas

Ten years ago, in the lead-up to Australia’s short-lived carbon price or “carbon tax” (either description is valid), the deepest fear on the part of businesses was that they would lose out to untaxed firms overseas. Instead of buying Australian carbon-taxed products, Australian and export customers would buy untaxed (possibly dirtier) products from somewhere else. It would give late-movers (countries that hadn’t yet adopted a carbon tax) a “free kick” in industries from coal and steel to aluminium to liquefied natural gas to cement, to wine, to meat and dairy products, even to copy paper. It’s why the Gillard government handed out free permits to so-called trade-exposed industries, so they wouldn’t face unfair competition.

Source: Australia is about to be hit by a carbon tax whether the prime minister likes it or not, except the proceeds will go overseas

LNP, LNP Government

Religious discrimination bill: The devil is in the details

Imagine what it would be like if that minority of actively involved Christians didn’t vote LNP… Yes, Australia just might be Proud Again

The first instalment of the ‘Religiosity in Australia’ report, written by social researcher Neil Francis and published by the Rationalist Society of Australia (RSA), earlier this year, revealed that the level of support for religion has been greatly overstated. Seven in ten Australians (71%) say religion is not personally important to them and 62% do not belong to any religious organisation. Only 23% say they do belong and only 15% are actively involved. The trend lines show that Australians considered weakly or modestly religious have been abandoning religion in droves for many years — and the results of this year’s census are expected to confirm Christianity’s fall to below 50% for the first time. Most importantly, the report also revealed that the views of senior religious clerics on key policy issues, like abortion rights and voluntary assisted dying, are out of touch with the very people they claim to lead — those in their own pews.

Source: Religious discrimination bill: The devil is in the details

LNP, LNP Corruption, LNP Government

Gladys Berejiklian’s Icac performance has horrified federal Liberals – but only for exposing ‘normal’ political practice | Hugh Riminton | The Guardian

Gladys Berejiklian

The Morrison government is trailing a dismal chain of scandals. But no one seems to get called to account. Ministers refuse to be interviewed by the AFP. Even a debate about referring Porter to the privileges committee over the secret sources of his legal funding is voted down by the government numbers. No wonder cynics stalk the land.

Source: Gladys Berejiklian’s Icac performance has horrified federal Liberals – but only for exposing ‘normal’ political practice | Hugh Riminton | The Guardian

LNP Government, LNP Tactics, LNP Theft

Billionaire Tuckshop: plutocrats don’t just steal the show. They steal our trust – Michael West Media

Larissa Waters, Budget, Parliament House

The Greens have written to new Senate President Slade Brockman to stop Australia’s Parliament House being used to gouge money from billionaires and corporations. Michael West reports on Treasurer Josh Frydenberg’s gala fundraiser in the Great Hall.

Source: Billionaire Tuckshop: plutocrats don’t just steal the show. They steal our trust – Michael West Media

LNP Economic Management, LNP Government, LNP Theft

Landmark class action lawsuit sees frontline communities sue Australian Government for climate crisis – » The Australian Independent Media Network

In fact, leading climate scientists who form the Climate Targets Panel calculate that Australia’s greenhouse emissions need to be reduced by 74% by 2030 (from 2005 levels) and to net zero by 2035 to keep global heating to below 1.5C and avert the destruction of Torres Strait Islander communities.

Source: Landmark class action lawsuit sees frontline communities sue Australian Government for climate crisis – » The Australian Independent Media Network

LNP, LNP Corruption, LNP Government, LNP Tactics

Update of Australia’s biggest ever labour trafficking scam

Importing Scab Labour to break the backs of Australia’s Unions

The Government is contemplating a substantial increase in immigration, boosting the Pacific Australian Labour Mobility Scheme and introducing the new Agriculture Visa, so it’s worth reflecting on where things are at with Australia’s biggest ever labour trafficking scam.

Source: Update of Australia’s biggest ever labour trafficking scam

LNP, LNP Corruption, LNP Government

A blind trust? Certainly, the government is keeping voters blind as to Porter’s secret donors

Under scrutiny: former prime minister-in-waiting Christian Porter.

Sam Dastyari was gifted a plane fare not a $1mill+ and didn’t hide it nor did he attempt to call it a “Blind Trust”

30 View all comments Advertisement Don’t call it a blind trust. Call it a trick, an attempted sleight of hand, a work-around by someone who knows the rules well enough to skirt them adeptly. When former attorney-general Christian Porter accepted more than $1 million to cover the legal bills he racked up suing the ABC, the first trick he played was to call the vehicle by which he took the cash a “blind trust”.

Source: A blind trust? Certainly, the government is keeping voters blind as to Porter’s secret donors

LNP, LNP Government

Christian Porter’s blind trust should be examined by parliament – but it won’t be and that’s crushingly predictable | Katharine Murphy | The Guardian

Christian Porter

The veteran Liberal MP Russell Broadbent, chair of the privileges committee, naturally assumed the Porter controversy was about to land in his lap, because the government opposing that motion, in his understanding, would have been unprecedented in the history of the Australian parliament. Normally, once the Speaker has made a prima facie determination, these things are waved through on the voices. Bridget McKenzie in the Senate Chamber at Parliament House Bridget McKenzie warns ‘it will be ugly’ if Morrison commits to net zero target without Nationals support Read more But Broadbent was in for a rude shock. Peter Dutton, managing business for the government in the house, opposed the referral. The government’s numbers were mobilised to block the proposal.

Source: Christian Porter’s blind trust should be examined by parliament – but it won’t be and that’s crushingly predictable | Katharine Murphy | The Guardian

LNP, LNP Corruption, LNP Government

Government unaccountability: Over 1,000 days and counting

This should not be surprising to even a casual observer. Anecdotally, people feel that asking the Parliament to legislate its own anti-corruption body is a bit like asking a horse to build a fence. You’re not likely to get a fence, but you are likely to get a load of horse shit.

Source: Government unaccountability: Over 1,000 days and counting

LNP, LNP Economic Management, LNP Government

Slick dealings: Australia on wrong end of Trump era oil play – Michael West Media

Angus Taylor, US SPR, oil reserve

As Donald Trump would say, nobody does an announcement like Scott Morrison, nobody. What is the substance to the US oil reserve deal so praised by the PM and his energy minister Angus Taylor? Special correspondent Jommy Tee reports.

Source: Slick dealings: Australia on wrong end of Trump era oil play – Michael West Media

LNP, LNP Government

$25bn in Coalition grants made through closed process with no competitors, report finds | Australia news | The Guardian

The University of Melbourne

If you add the $90 Bn that went to the US for subs which was certainly without a tender process the total is $150Bn

Almost half of $60.2bn in federal government grants awarded over the past four years did not go through a competitive open tender process, a new report on grant spending has found.

Source: $25bn in Coalition grants made through closed process with no competitors, report finds | Australia news | The Guardian

LNP, LNP Economic Management, LNP Government

Paul Bongiorno: Nationals’ theatre of absurd drains government credibility

Paul Bongiorno

A four-hour meeting of the 21 Nats on Sunday ended without a conclusion, despite assurances from Energy Minister Angus Taylor their coal backers and fossil fuels mates would be receiving billions worth of sweeteners. Mr Joyce insists his party is “not chained to a script,” he derides modelling put up by anybody – the Business Council, CSIRO, the government, you name them – as make believe. Further undermining whatever decision the government arrives at is the sniping from former resources minister Matt Canavan, who on his arrival back in Canberra told the media scrum “the Prime Minister doesn’t have a plan, he has a dream”.

Source: Paul Bongiorno: Nationals’ theatre of absurd drains government credibility

LNP, LNP Economic Management, LNP Government

Yes, Australia can beat its 2030 emissions target. But the Morrison government barely lifted a finger

Federal policies remain firmly fixed on keeping fossil fuels in the energy mix and expanding coal and gas production. It recently approved several new coal mines and announced subsidised and expanded gas production. Gas is a fossil fuel that also needs to be phased out if we’re to have any chance of keeping warming to 1.5℃. The Morrison government is also increasing funding for carbon capture and storage, a policy aimed at continuing the use of fossil fuels. This is despite the country’s largest such project, the Gorgon venture off Western Australia, failing to reduce and store carbon emissions at the rate originally promised. The annual Climate Transparency analysis, released on Wednesday, shows Australia has some of the G20’s highest per capita emissions. It is the only developed country in the G20 with no price on carbon, yet ranks the fourth highest for risk of economic losses from climate impacts.

Source: Yes, Australia can beat its 2030 emissions target. But the Morrison government barely lifted a finger

Filed under:
LNP, LNP Economic Management, LNP Government

Business whispers: how Treasurer Josh Frydenberg squandered $40bn on JobKeeper – Michael West Media

Treasury, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg

Kooyong’s own Harvard wiz-kid needs to go.

It turns out the very business lobbyists who stood to benefit most from JobKeeper were regularly advising the Government on JobKeeper. Callum Foote and Michael West report how $40bn was squandered and the role of corporate spinners Business Council of Australia and AI Group.

Source: Business whispers: how Treasurer Josh Frydenberg squandered $40bn on JobKeeper – Michael West Media

LNP, LNP Government, Social Welfare under LNP

Why is our government holding us back? – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Australia is both one of the wealthiest and – in too many ways – one of the most backward countries in the world. We have manufacturing facilities which could be revived to build EVs and the knowledge to ensure that re-charging is readily available. We also have a Coalition government which appears to lack any ability to plan for a viable future. Today, schoolchildren are demanding that governments take action as a matter of urgency, as their whole future is at stake. In the very near future the existing government will draw on the selfish instincts of the electorate to seek a further term in office. I am deeply unenamoured with the alternative government, but would still rather vote them in, than risk seeing the future for my grandchildren and their children destroyed by the selfishness of those currently at the helm.

Source: Why is our government holding us back? – » The Australian Independent Media Network

LNP, LNP Economic Management, LNP Government

Victoria’s COVID-19 quarantine centre: Is the Mickleham quarantine facility a $200 million white elephant?

Construction on the Mickleham quarantine facility on Thursday.

This was part and parcel of Morrison’s National Quarantine Plan which he financed to be placed with the cooperation of Dan Andrews. Now Josh Frydenberg seems to be saying Victoria is the uncooperative outlier. How incompetent are these clowns as leaders and negotiators.?

Morrison capitulates to the Queens demands and Frydenberg declares it’s proof of Australia’s goodwill in cooperating at COP26. If the media doesn’t criticize this bullshit we are expected to believe it’s true when it’s patently not what happened. Did Frydenberg bullshit his way through Harvard too?

Victoria’s purpose-built $200 million quarantine facility still has a role to play in the pandemic, experts say, however it won’t be as crucial as anticipated due to high case numbers and vaccination rates.The Mickleham “centre for national resilience” for incoming travellers won’t be ready until the end of the year, however there is a risk it may become a white elephant if Victoria relaxes quarantine rules.NSW’s move to effectively end quarantine for most travellers by opening international borders to those who are vaccinated from November 1 has raised questions over the purpose of the facility being built in Melbourne’s north.

Source: Victoria’s COVID-19 quarantine centre: Is the Mickleham quarantine facility a $200 million white elephant?

LNP, LNP Economic Management, LNP Government

JobMaker was meant to support 450,000 jobs. The real figure is just 1 per cent of that – ABC News

Josh Frydenberg speaks at a podium.

“Treasury estimates that this will support around 450,000 jobs for young people.” But previously secret Treasury documents from the middle of this year reveal that just 5,278 people had been hired using the JobMaker hiring credit, or around 1 per cent of the original budget forecast.

Source: JobMaker was meant to support 450,000 jobs. The real figure is just 1 per cent of that – ABC News

LNP, LNP Economic Management, LNP Government

Michael Pascoe: Unrepentant, the Coalition pork barrel rolls on

Scott Morrison Bridget McKenzie

Exposure will not weary them, nor shame condemn – the giant pork barrel that is the federal government’s web of grants and rorts rolls on regardless. With the stench of the “#carporks” still fresh, the latest instalment from grant corruption central is Round Five of the Building Better Regions Fund – $300 million worth of political largesse hopelessly skewered towards electorates held by the coalition and independents. Spreadsheet sleuth Vince O’Grady analysed the $294 million “infrastructure projects stream” to find funds were allocated according to form – 16 per cent to Labor electorates, 11 per cent to seats held by independents and 73 per cent to Coalition seats.

Source: Michael Pascoe: Unrepentant, the Coalition pork barrel rolls on

LNP, LNP Government

Government may try forcing Facebook to identify anonymous users

facebook news ban

Does that mean “journalists” at Ch9 and Murdoch media who use anonimity to boost the LNP will need to reveal their sources or identify themselves? They are so often unidentified when smearing Dan Andrews or suggesting IBAC is the corrupt body? Will Peter Costello or Rupert Murdoch be declared a “publisher” and forced to reveal their hidden sources or be treated like Julian Assange. It seems Joyce and Morrison are trying to sleepwalk Australia to fascism. It wasn’t so long ago these assholes were defending Andrew Bolt’s right to to be a media racist to “free speech” and the abolition of the Racial Discrimination Act.

The RDA and the UNHCR were the rogue bodies not so long ago. Now it ICAC according to Morrison and Joyce and history teachers according to Tudge. All it takes is a language, flip turn reality into “alternative facts” or the ” big lie” Climate Science becomes a Religion according to Andrew Bolt,  White Racism into Black Replacement, BLM turns White and Women’s Rights into male persecution. The do nothing LNP have merely imported Trump’s “alternative facts” when we hear Angus Taylor tell us “Net zero doesn’t mean no carbon emissions”

The federal government may try to force Facebook to gather more identification information on their users and hand it to authorities if asked, as part of Scott Morrison’s latest square-up to the social media giants. It potentially opens the door for the government to consider a controversial plan for Australians to provide 100 points of identification to keep their social media accounts – a suggestion that privacy advocates condemned. Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce last week suggested that Facebook and Twitter could be treated as publishers under Australian law.

Source: Government may try forcing Facebook to identify anonymous users

LNP, LNP Government, LNP Tactics

Collaery’s trial to be public, but it should be abandoned

Very few media outlets have covered the Witness K and Bernard Collaery case in a diligent manner. Sky News, so often rallying for freedom of speech and democracy, didn’t even report on the successful appeal. Like all whistle-blowers, Bernard Collaery is a hero. People of all walks of life should be protected if they report on malfeasance. If Collaery’s prosecution goes ahead, Australian democracy will be weaker as a result.

Collaery’s trial to be public, but it should be abandoned

LNP, LNP Government

Australians must be wary of Trump’s “big lie” infiltrating our politics

Unfortunately, the “big lie” recipe seems to have found its place in Australia. There is no better example than the recent resignation of former NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian as a result of ICAC revealing it was investigating whether she had been involved in ‘a breach of public trust’ between 2012 and 2018 because of her relationship with disgraced former MP Daryl Maguire. The mainstream media and media personalities have tried to portray the former Premier as a victim of the “nasty ICAC” which is really a stooge for disrupting “good” government.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison is quoted saying that the former Premier had ‘a lot more to contribute to Australian politics’  and that ‘she has tremendous support both in the Liberal Party and, I think right across NSW’.

John Roskam, CEO of the Institute of Public Affairs, a right-wing organisation, opined that:

‘A grubby political deal is not necessarily a corrupt one and it should be the voters that decide whether it is or not, not lawyers applying their own subjective and vague criteria of what’s “corrupt”… The public should decide whether its trust has been breached, not bureaucrats.’

Berejiklian had no problems in slamming ICAC accusing it of pursuing her over “ historic matters” that had already been investigated and explained.

Source: Australians must be wary of Trump’s “big lie” infiltrating our politics

LNP, LNP Corruption, LNP Economic Management, LNP Government

Profits over People: in-home care a cash bonanza for greedy aged providers – Michael West Media

Aged care

The Aged Care Royal Commissioners noted that a recipient of a Level 4 home care package worth $53,000 received on average just 8 hours and 45 minutes of support. Surely this was a big red flag. Yet the federal government has given the home care sector an extra $6.5 billion over next four years without putting in place any accountability measures to stop the rorting of the system.

Source: Profits over People: in-home care a cash bonanza for greedy aged providers – Michael West Media

LNP, LNP Government, LNP Tactics

Coalition overreach: Twitter is not the problem

Big differences when it comes to policing “Free Speech” Political speech and whistleblowing are significantly different from Racial Discrimination and sexual abuse yet the LNP right-wing declared all speech should be free as speech is speech and it’s all equivalent. Tony Abbott certainly supported Andrew Bolt and was prepared ti rid us of the RDA, Racial Discrimination Act. However not any more  says Scott Morrison and it’s no longer so! However, he’s not going to police it but says he will force Twitter and Facebook etal to dance to his tune. Mandatory ID of the Twitterati will be required is his threat but not so across the board. Those “sources” unnamed in the media supporting him and his party over and above, say Dan Andrews will be ok and of course that privileged protection he has when he’s  in parliament will continue. Politicians should be allowed and encouraged to sue the electorate.

Morrison personally isn’t what might be regarded as an “action man”. He’s a wordsmith and has a team of highly paid elves on call constructing his words, slogans, and catchy sentences and he  believes that’s should be an exclusive and protected by executive privilige.

Once again politicians and journalists are talking up the bad side of social media and threatening to police our Twitter identities. However, as Dr Martin Hirst argues, this is just another attack on our right to political speech.

However, this is the nature of political speech. The one thing that politicians hate – along with their media cheer squad – is being held to account for their words and their actions. They hate that we use social media to call out their lies and deceit.

In fact, they hate it so much that outgoing-ABC news boss Gaven Morris is encouraging journalists to quit the platform.

Said Morrison:

“I increasingly have told people at ABC News that I certainly don’t want them on there for their job. I’d have no problem if they choose to be there, personally, but we don’t need journalists to be on Twitter or to be on social media as part of their job.” 

He’s fudging of course. The ABC – and all media – need the engagement, but they like it better when we keep quiet.

Source: Coalition overreach: Twitter is not the problem

LNP, LNP Corruption, LNP Economic Management, LNP Government

‘Peak ridiculous’: Nationals’ $250 billion mining fund slammed

Nationals

The Party whose pro “small” government has taken on a pro-corporate Socialist bent. They advocate the building and restoration of unwanted coal-fired power stations along with investing in international mining corporations. Funding enterprises banks won’t touch. The LNP refuse to help the poor but will readily finance failing corporations.

A Nationals proposal to create a $250 billion mining fund in exchange for support of net zero by 2050 has been labelled “completely crazy” as government infighting over climate targets mounts before the Glasgow climate summit later this month. Nationals MP and Resources Minister Keith Pitt said on Thursday that taxpayer money should be used to prop up miners if and when banks refuse to give them loans.

Source: ‘Peak ridiculous’: Nationals’ $250 billion mining fund slammed

LNP, LNP Corruption, LNP Government

Prosecution of Bernard Collaery an ‘insult’ to Timor-Leste, Xanana Gusmão says | Australia news | The Guardian

Xanana Gusmao talks to journalists in Jakarta

Just another case of  an LNP cover up that’s continued under Morrison’s LNP

The former president said the court’s decision to overturn secrecy orders – imposed after an intervention by the attorney general using the National Security Information Act – would “help ensure the truth is heard in open court about the illegal bugging of Timor-Leste’s cabinet room”. He said the operation “was undertaken, not for reasons of national security, but for commercial interests”. The prosecution of Collaery and his former client, ex-Australian Secret Intelligence Service officer Witness K, was authorised by the former attorney general Christian Porter in 2018. Collaery is charged with sharing protected intelligence information about an operation against Timor-Leste, an impoverished ally of Australia, during negotiations over the Timor Sea, which held vast underwater resources that companies like Woodside were hoping to exploit.

Source: Prosecution of Bernard Collaery an ‘insult’ to Timor-Leste, Xanana Gusmão says | Australia news | The Guardian

LNP, LNP Government

Can Australia’s path to net-zero really be fuelled by carbon capture and LNG? | Environment | The Guardian

Part of the Chevron LNG project under construction during a tour of the Chevron LNG project on Barrow Island, Western Australia,

But the problem is that if you ( Angus Taylor) are arguing for CCS to help you exploit more fossil fuels – as you and APPEA are – then this is not what the IEA or the IPCC say.

The experts and their verdict

“In order to achieve the Paris agreement targets, in particular 1.5C, we absolutely need CCS. But not in combination with fossil fuels,” he says. “Wasting taxpayer money by supporting CCS in combination with a slowly dying fossil fuel industry does not help anybody, certainly not the climate.”

Angus Taylor is Gaslighting Australia

But the report reveals a few other remarkable things about how all the gas drilled in Australia gets used, and why consumption is rising. First, 74% of all the gas (when you divide it up per unit of energy) actually gets exported in the form of LNG. So what about the gas that does get used here? Australia’s biggest user of gas is also the LNG industry: 27% of all the gas consumed domestically is used in the process of turning more gas into LNG for export. When Taylor says consumption of gas is going up, this is a big reason why. In a statistic that illustrates the scale of the ongoing challenge to get off fossil fuels, the report shows 93% of all the energy used in Australia comes from fossil fuels.

Source: Can Australia’s path to net-zero really be fuelled by carbon capture and LNG? | Environment | The Guardian

LNP, LNP Government, LNP Theft

Conservatives like Tudge think they need history but not historians

For Tudge, the curriculum needs apositive, optimistic and forward-looking view of our history. These sentiments were later echoed by former Prime Minister Tony Abbott in an opinion piece in The Australian on 30 September. In other words, two of the leading Conservative voices in the country would prefer it if historians and history teachers stopped doing their jobs, in the name of patriotism.

Source: Conservatives like Tudge think they need history but not historians

LNP, LNP Government, LNP Tactics

AUKUS nothing more than a re-election stunt

The AUKUS security pact is crippling our nation’s sovereignty and perpetuating our position as a lapdog to the United States, writes Dr Geoff Davies.

Source: AUKUS nothing more than a re-election stunt

LNP Government

Michael Pascoe: Morrison government’s own dirty little Pandora secret

Michael Pascoe Pandora

The Morrison government’s reluctance to reduce and prevent corruption, to shine light in dark places, is not limited to its rejection of a genuine federal integrity commission – it’s also running dead on disclosing corrupt foreign money being invested and laundered here. That was the key local angle in Monday night’s Four Corners story on the Pandora Papers – the government’s failure to deliver on a repeated commitment to introduce a beneficial ownership register.

Michael Pascoe: Morrison government’s own dirty little Pandora secret

LNP, LNP Government

Liberal Party trashing its own reputation

Labor left out of it In case the mud being flung on itself by the Liberal Party is ascribed to “Canberra culture” generally, “politicians” or the power game, the Opposition has taken up an option to sit out the whole furor. It isn’t them and they don’t want misdemeanours raised up from the Party tradition, of which there would be several over time. Some Liberals and others have tried airing a few cases saying it’s “them too” but no mud has been sticky enough to stick.

Source: Liberal Party trashing its own reputation

LNP Corruption, LNP Government

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

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

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

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

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

LNP, LNP Corruption, LNP Government

NSW corruption: Gladys Berejiklian is just the beginning

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

Source: NSW corruption: Gladys Berejiklian is just the beginning

LNP, LNP Corruption, LNP Government

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

Michael Pascoe

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

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

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

LNP, LNP Government

Looking for a loophole – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Morrison has made it clear

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

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

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

LNP, LNP Corruption, LNP Government

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

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

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

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

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

LNP, LNP Government, LNP Tactics

Treasurer says cutting COVID payments will encourage states to open faster

covid payments

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

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

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

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

LNP, LNP Corruption, LNP Government, LNP Tactics

Government’s climate change web of lies

Our political leaders will do anything to stay in positions of power, including deceiving the voting public on urgent matters of climate change, writes Sue Arnold. PERHAPS THE MOST IMPORTANT issue facing this nation is not the pandemic, economic scenarios or nuclear submarines but a perilous lack of critical thinking and analysis by political parties, the mainstream media and a large majority of Australians.

Source: Government’s climate change web of lies

LNP, LNP Corruption, LNP Government

No, Barnaby. The UK energy crisis has nothing to do with its net-zero target

Barnaby Joyce UK energy crisis

As debate heats up in Australia about adopting a net-zero emissions target, Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce and other key party figures have pointed to the UK energy crisis as a supposedly cautionary tale. On the ABC’s Insiders program on Sunday, Mr Joyce expressed reticence about the net-zero policy, and said he was “perplexed there’s not more discussion about what’s happening in the UK and Europe with energy prices”. He went on: A 250 per cent [price] increase since the start of the calendar year. A few days ago, 850,000 people losing their energy provider and a real concern over there about their capacity as they go into winter to keep themselves warm and even keep the food production processes going through. Mr Joyce was clearly seeking to link the UK energy crisis to its climate target of reaching net-zero emissions by 2050. Pro-coal senator Matt Canavan this week echoed the sentiment: So are they right? To find out, The Conversation approached Aimee Ambrose, Professor of Energy Policy at leading UK policy research centre The Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research, and an expert adviser to the International Energy Agency….

Source: No, Barnaby. The UK energy crisis has nothing to do with its net-zero target