Overwhelmingly, Australia’s leading economists want the budget to boost social housing and the JobSeeker unemployment benefit rather than bring forward personal income tax cuts.
Top economists back boosts to JobSeeker and social housing over tax cuts in pre-budget poll
Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt’s plan to let private patients access hospital treatments at home under their health insurance has opened up a fierce debate over how much control funds should have over care, as private hospital operators warn against a shift towards an American-style “managed care” model.
Greg Hunt’s care-in-the-home plan sparks warning of US-style health model
He switched to an announcement-based approach to leadership, and it made complete sense. In the current environment, there are no disincentives for doing so. Press conferences are held at short notice with details postponed until later, and inconvenient questions are easily batted away, well after headlines have established an underlying narrative. Outlets rush to break the news first, follow-ups are negligible, corrections are buried, and the media as a whole paints the picture you would expect from an ecosystem increasingly dominated by supporters of Morrison and his government (most notably in the News Corp stable). It’s all working for the prime minister – he’s a self-styled practical dad, an optimist taking care of business. If there are objections or uncomfortable revelations, he doesn’t accept the premise of your question. Next, please. And tomorrow he’ll have another announcement.
The announcement artist | The Monthly
In any other universe, recovering from one public health crisis by worsening another would spark immediate backlash. An “asbestos led recovery” would be career-ending; as would a “tobacco led recovery” or a “AK-47 led recovery”. But fossil fuels have locked their harm so deeply into our lives that we have become desensitised to this incredible, radical significance of proposing to hurt humans as a pathway to helping them. What is happening here is simultaneously deadly and ludicrous. (Ketan Joshi Renew Economy).
Stop the lies, Morrison. Your gas-led recovery is a toxic sham. – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Or maybe it’s because Scott Morrison’s $70 million Covid tracing app… hasn’t worked? 
More here
A dangerous animal, the koala. A creature so foul, so cruel that no man yet has fought with it and lived! Heed the alarums of brave Sir Barilaro that the bones of full fifty men lay strewn about its lair and if you do doubt your courage or your strength, venture no further into its core habitat as defined by the State Environmental Planning Policy, for death awaits you all with nasty, big, pointy teeth.
The ballad of Sir Barilaro – Alien Sideboob
Newspoll, conducted September 16-19 from a sample of 2,068, gave the Coalition a 51-49 lead, a one-point gain for the Coalition since the previous Newspoll, three weeks ago.
Coalition regains Newspoll lead; time running out for Trump
Motives behind the Coalition’s intention to build a gas-fired power plant appear to be driven by ties to fossil fuel power companies, writes Richard Gillies.
Coalition’s gas-fired recovery a benefit to its donors
Typical Morrison look over there don’t examine us too closely politics. Short term pain for long term gain isn’t in Morrison’s song book. NZ isn’t the resource rich country Australia is so the comparison is hardly justified let alone anything to do with Morrison’s actions. “History will ultimately judge who chose the best path and it’s probably still too early to say.”
Morrison however does mimic Trump doesn’t he? He & Frydenberg will be boasting the biggest boom in Australia’s history rather than the inevitable bungy rebound he has had no control over. He certainly hasn’t factored in the shitstorm he’s created with China. (ODT)
The point of raising New Zealand’s record-breaking downturn, of course, was to demonstrate the relative success of Australia’s crisis management.
To talk up Australia’s coronavirus economic recovery, Scott Morrison found the perfect weapon – ABC News
Is Barilaro, Berejiklian or Morrison to blame for the annihilation of Australia’s favourite furry marsupial, the cuddly koala? And why is there such a kerfuffle over recent legislation changes affecting koalas?
So why is this piece titled Frydenberg’s folly?. Because in one fell swoop he has morphed his image as a credible commentator on the nation’s accounts into just another partisan attack dog. He has replaced his reputation in the area of finance with what we have come to despise so profoundly. That is his folly!
Frydenberg’s Folly – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt has refused to say when he will release the Productivity Commission’s report on mental health, despite growing calls to make it public before the October 6 federal budget.
Productivity Commission report on mental health languishes for 10 weeks
Productivity Commission report on mental health languishes for 10 weeks
What’s left of “team Australia” in China is now, potentially, team hostage for a regime seemingly determined to punish Australia.
We seem to have soured our relationship with China since 2016. It’s not hard to understand why. Murdoch Media was quick to change it’s praise of China to editorials that resembled Fox Corp and the LNP was quick to jump on board. The country that bugged Timor Leste started openly China accusing having agents wherever there was a Chinese face.. Australian Chinese like Australian Muslims started to feel the impact of the LNP and their media backed 1950’s and 60s attitudes to a country they celebrated when CHAFTA was signed. Yes there has been a lot of kowtowing but not to Chinese attempt at friendship.
Australian firms and their staff face increasing risks in China
The process of shifting wealth and income from the poor and middle to the rich continues apace. Alan Austin examines the latest national accounts. FOR THE FIRST TIME since 1959, when Australia first published detailed national accounts, the share of all income going to corporations has risen above 30%. Simultaneously, the share for employees has fallen below 50% for the first time ever.
Coalition plans on track — corporate slice of the nation’s pie hits all-time high
Coalition’s push for secret trials: behaviour of a tin-pot dictatorship – Michael West
Claims that the release of information poses a risk to national security can be used to avoid legitimate scrutiny of conduct. If ever there were reasons to suspect a cover-up by this government, the Bernard Collaery and Witness K court cases are prime examples, writes Ian Cunliffe.
Coalition’s push for secret trials: behaviour of a tin-pot dictatorship – Michael West
The sector, which includes religious, not-for-profit and private operators, has banded together to devise a massive PR campaign to “change the conversation” about aged care and “win the hearts and minds of middle Australia”. And if that involves swatting aside an incompetent minister and making the federal government look stingy, well, so be it.
Aged care sector to muscle up against minister
Morrison’s efforts to impress Trump is causing our chaos and his confusion and a lack of direction. He’s always tended to be a follower rather than a decisive leader a boat without a rudder and he seems to believe Trump is the answer. Canberra is now increasingly revealing itself to be what it has always been a Government in opposition. Working for themselves and not Australia. Frydenberg’s already “blaming” his economic failures on Victoria. The deaths encountered however have and will continue to be from the Commonwealth’s aged-care sector (ODT)
Ever got into a car and found a little way into the journey that the driver isn’t sure of the destination? Scott Morrison predictably won plaudits for his latest assault on China via new legislation that will empower him to cancel or veto agreements between state entities and foreign government organisations. China might be our biggest trading partner, but it is thoroughly on the nose in much of Canberra.
Morrison’s China decree reeks of rash decision-making
When everything is going downhill at speed it’s easy to pretend that beforehand everything was fine
Before Covid inflicted carnage, the Australian economy was struggling | Greg Jericho | Business | The Guardian
Australia is a nation of double standards. It should come as no surprise to see our politicians and our media brazenly wearing them like badges of honour. As a country, we criticise China at every available opportunity for any whiff of foreign interference, though we turn a blind eye to blatant interference coming from Israel. As many on the right say: “China has a woeful record on human rights”, as if Palestine didn’t exist. The media talked up “historic” peace deal between Israel and the United Arab Emirates. People hear the words “Middle East peace deal” and think of Israel and Palestine, yet the media have neglected to sufficiently inform the public that this dud deal that is already in jeopardy. It has not brought about peace, in fact, Gaza has seen Israel bomb their men, women and children every night for two weeks.
Branch stacking scandals highlight the media’s double standards
Our Democracy hinged on the ABC and it’s been eroded from outside and in and little is done about it, This alone is a reason to vote the LNP out. (ODT)
For those who watch the affairs of the ABC through the eyes of a critical friend, the removal of Emma Alberici, made public on August 21, is deeply disturbing. It is the climax to a destructive series of events that began more than two years ago and once again draws attention to two serious weaknesses in the ABC’s management arrangements.
ABC has for too long been unwilling to push back against interference – at its journalists’ expense
Remember when branch stacking was the biggest scandal in Australian politics? Sure, at the time there were other, far greater, unresolved issues that the Federal Government should have been made to address, but, well, the Victorian Labor Party was involved in branch stacking! The PM said at the time: “Albanese has been totally burnt by this scandal … We’re fighting for jobs, they’re fighting each other.” The Labor Party was, he said, “absolutely at war” — and he did not stop there, adding for good measure, at his unctuous best:
No Sukkar for Labor over Liberal branch stacking revelations
Instead of crafting policies to tackle causes rather than symptoms, Australian leaders have used terror laws to turn social and national problems into security issues that demand a military response. Allan Behm investigates.
‘The only thing to fear is fear itself’ – the overreach of Australian anti-terror laws
When Politics is reduced to a game it can’t and wont ever happen. (ODT)
Roosevelt took advantage of a crisis to make a better USA. You would hope Morrison and those that support him can live with the realisation that they could have made a better Australia for the next 50 to 70 years — and blew it. What do you think?
Morrison is not a Leader – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Since taking the top legal job in Australia in 2017, Christian Porter has been in breach of Commonwealth safeguard legislation by neglecting to table crucial reports documenting his use of secretive national security (NSI) orders. Keiran Adair reports.
Attorney General Christian Porter breaches law over three years, claims it was a mistake – Michael West
The Attorney General is waging war against lawyer Bernard Collaery and his client in pushing the line that the sky will fall in if the Commonwealth has to admit in open court that ASIS bugged Timor-Leste. Yet the allegation has been widely noted in hundreds of reports over many years, including by the International Court of Justice, and nobody seems in any doubt it is true. Lawyer Ian Cunliffe reports on the latest judgment in the saga that has cost taxpayers nearly $2.5 million before the trial has even started.
East Timor bugging scandal: Attorney General’s push for secret trial diminishes us as a nation – Michael West
Scott Morrison has no power to extend cabinet confidentiality to his national cabinet meetings with state premiers, Senator Rex Patrick has charged in a first-of-its-kind challenge of the intergovernmental body.
National cabinet secrecy under fire in first-of-its-kind challenge to new arrangement | Australia news | The Guardian
NSW point’s to Morrison’s involvement in COVID-19’s spread (ODT)
Tim Wilson LNP/IPA federal MP couldn’t give a running fuck about COVID-19 neither the cases nor the deaths concern him rather than how it all seems in the eyes of the public. Now that it’s obvious that the Immigration and the Aged-Care sectors both a responsibility of the Federal LNP were the epicenter of the spread and deaths of the virus due to their total mismanagement from Abbott to Morrison. Wilson’s complaint is that the process was and is political and somehow has gone easy on Dan Andrews. Wilson’s problem however the opposite would seem to be the case if one simply looked at the MSM media. (ODT)
Victorian Liberal MP Tim Wilson has waded into the fight over Daniel Andrews’ handling of the coronavirus pandemic, saying the state government has not been scrutinised enough over its response to COVID-19.
Mr Wilson said the federal coronavirus committee had met many more times than its Victorian equivalent and was chaired by an opposition politician whereas the Victorian inquiry is headed by a member of the governing party.
via Federal Liberal MP swipes Andrews government over pandemic response
The independent hearings into one of the most controversial projects in NSW history, Santos’ coal seam gas dream for Narrabri, are wrapping up. Meanwhile, new NSW guidelines to fast-track developments look set to turn into a nightmare for community groups, writes Callum Foote.
Carbon capture and storage, the prohibitively expensive climate mitigation strategy, is back on the Coalition’s agenda. Yet the facts speak for themselves. Of Shell’s total emissions of 656 million tonnes a year, its two CCS plants remove just 5 million tonnes a year from the atmosphere; the few plants in the world only exist because of huge government subsidies; while European oil companies use CCS primarily as a “feel-good” marketing message. Tim Buckley and Clark Butler report.
via Revisiting failed climate strategy of CCS renders investors speechless – Michael West
It can’t do the same with fossil fuels or for the betterment of the nation (ODT)
LNP has plans to offer superfund management totally to Private Equity firms despite the fact Trade Unions have provided their members with the best outcomes and lowest fees. (ODT)
The Government has grovelled to its billionaire donors yet again, killing a Senate amendment to force the richest Australians to disclose their financial statements. Michael West reports on the crusade by independent senator Rex Patrick to hold the Morrison Government and its corporate mates such as the Packers, Murdochs and Lowys to account while putting property giant LendLease to the sword over its JobKeeper rorts.
American Economy is in Intensive Care (ODT)
But with rates now at zero, money printing — or quantitative easing as it is called in polite circles — is all they have left.
It’s cash that’s being created out of thin air.
And a huge portion of it is being poured straight into stock markets regardless of what is happening out there in the real world.
The graph above tells the story. In the past few months, America’s central bank has bought more than $US3 trillion ($4.37 trillion) worth of “assets”.
These include US government debt, mortgage debt and other debt securities, using cash it has generated out of thin air, simultaneously driving interest rates down and flooding the economy with cash.
It has spent more than double the amount outlaid at the height of the global financial crisis. And, it appears, we’ve only just begun.
The biggest side effect, however, is that wealth becomes more concentrated among the already wealthy.
If you own a house or stocks or bonds, you’ve become rich without even trying.
via The secret behind the booming stock market in the face of the coronavirus crisis – ABC News
The LNP Piss UP sponsored by CH9 needs to be taken off the front pages (ODT)
It’s not easy being a politician. Every day there are challenges that the average punter doesn’t have to face.
Just take the dilemma that Stuart Robert, Dan Tehan and Simon Birmingham had to face last year when deciding whether to go from Canberra to Sydney for a Liberal Party piss up. They had booked their flights and had their staffers book them into an upmarket Sydney hotel when some pesky intern in the minister’s office had the temerity to ask “but who’s going to pay?”
via Heads they win, Tails you lose! – » The Australian Independent Media Network
On the other hand, as China increasingly looks to be more self-sufficient in food and raw materials, Australia will be first in line to disappear from China’s supply chain.
Australia is a country which has little interest in being an independent nation and therefore is in a paralysed state of infantile dependence, incapable of looking after itself.
“Constructive discussions” with Trump is a moronic concept, if not oxymoronic
via Trump and Morrison: A love affair imperiling Australia’s future
Australia needs a strong post-secondary education system. Vocational education and training is under-resourced and ideologically damaged. The starting points for reform need to be with its curriculum and connection with upper secondary education. Employers, employee organisations, and educators together with government need to work cooperatively so that our education sector can contribute to efforts to transition our economy. Policy warriors and slogans are unhelpful.
via JobMaker: sloganeering won’t fix a VET system gouged by profiteers – Michael West
In conclusion, it is interesting to note that both Joyce and Christensen are still in our parliament and were returned with increased majorities at the last election : what does that say about us as a nation !
There have been unsubstantiated rumours floating around that alleged the parents of Hawke’s wife Amelia were onboard the Ruby Princess along with some friends from the Hillsong Church.
Regardless, the growing influence of the Pentacostals in our government is of grave concern, as is their growing influence amongst our young people.
Why was the Colour Conference allowed to continue? Have any cases of coronavirus been linked to it? Who made phone calls to allow the Ruby Princess to dock after initially being refused permission? What charitable works does Hillsong undertake to avoid paying tax? And why are people like Alex Hawke and Stuart Robert Ministers?
News Corp has certainly been fuelling Sinophobia as it did Islamophobia and anti African sentiments yet we have Racial vilification laws and the goverenment simply stands by and watches. (ODT)
Here are some recent examples of racism outbreaks:
people who appear to be Asian in origin being abused at supermarkets;
a Malaysian student being denied rental accommodation;
the Chinese being blamed for the virus;
Chinese restaurants seeing a marked drop off in patronage;
students at some schools being mocked as “Coronas” in the playground (my son has witnessed this personally);
my niece – of Indian ancestry – and another young girl being abused on a train in Melbourne — the abuse was about them “being the problem” that led the abuser to have to take his children out of school;
snide remarks being made to people of general “Asian” appearance; and
talkback hosts allowing these comments to go to air without regard for community outcomes.
But the surplus is the goal screw the journey. New Start and Aged Pensions need to go Josh; (ODT)
The Coalition’s ‘global headwinds’ excuse as wage growth hits 22-year low
The LNP has done nothing for infrastructure since it won power in 2013. It held back funds from Victoris despite the Labor election win. Now the Victorian Liberals are politicizing the work that is in progress. LNP lack of management skills are revealing themselves daily. The reality they are looking extremely bad and increasingly worse for the coming 3 years. Australia why did you simply listen to private media scooping up $80 mill in election advertising? Australis was the 2nd best world economy in 2013 and the the LNP took over. (ODT)
The Morrison government will launch a powerful inquiry into Australia’s migration program, opening the door to further cuts in immigrant numbers and moves to push more migrants into the regions to take pressure off congested areas in Sydney and Melbourne.
Are we on the way to transitioning from a migrant settler nation to a guest worker society? But if there is a shortfall in forecast NOM, what would be the implications for the Prime Minister’s job creation pledge and for its ten-year tax plan?
via Net migration levels increase under Coalition Government
THIS GOVERNMENT REFUSES TO BELIEVE SCIENTISTS AND WE ARE SUFFERING IN CONSEQUENCE!
*In discussing translations of the Bible, Matthew Vines indicates that the sort of same sex union which was referred to as unacceptable in the Bible was in fact pederasty or paedophilia, mistranslated, however, as homosexuality.
via When ignorance is a priority – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Hockey is the only thing different (ODT)
So there it is. Clearly, the economy is sinking, and anyone who points this out, to wit ALP backbencher Anne Aly, will cop it. When she suggested that the economy looked as if it was going into a recession, she was angrily reprimanded by Finance Minister Cormann for making assertions that were: “… recklessly irresponsible and wrong and show that Labor has learned absolutely nothing from the recent election outcome”. Cormann is a verbose master of denial.
The economy is sinking, but where is the lifebuoy?
via The economy is sinking, but where is the lifebuoy? – » The Australian Independent Media Network
