Mr Turnbull immediately launched the government into damage control and onto the back foot of a potential Mediscare 2.0. The Labor Party was always going to take up arms against such an idea.
But the problem with his brushing off of the sale is that he’s alienating the people he’s claiming to represent. By saying the motion – which, it has to be said, is not binding on the Government – is not Government policy, he’s rejecting the wishes of the organisation for which he’s the parliamentary leader.
Category: LNP
But what they really think is different. I have already outlined what Fifield really thinks. They are in effect already underfunding the ABC to keep it quiet and compliant and eventually sell it off.
You cannot trust the conservatives when it comes to the public broadcasters. Remember Tony Abbott the day before the 2013 election
He said there would be:
“no cuts to education, no cuts to health, no change to pensions, no change to the GST and no cuts to the ABC or SBS.”
All turned out to be lies. And speaking of SBS, the Liberal Council also voted for an “efficiency” review of SBS. Be afraid.
All of this gives Labor wonderful ammunition and they will make political capital out of it. They had already committed to restoring the $84 million in Turnbull Government funding cuts.
How then can we defend the ABC? The time for being meek and mild is over. Let’s organise protests across the country. Perhaps ABC workers could walk off the job until funding is restored and a new direction for the national broadcaster that more adequately reflects Australian society and its left-wing views begins? Otherwise, the Turnbull Government will strangle the ABC by stealth.
via The Turnbull Government: Those that would destroy the ABC
Howard continued the theme of unity that has flowed through Liberal party leadership speeches at its 60th national council – which also voted overwhelmingly on Saturday to privatise the ABC as conservative anger at the public broadcaster continues to be a political flashpoint.In a non-binding motion put forward by the Young Liberal Movement, members called for the full privatisation of the ABC, “except for services into regional areas that are not commercially viable”.
Forget the spin, this was a resounding defeat for the Liberal Party and its president, Michael Kroger.
After launching adventurous legal action, the Liberal Party and Kroger had wanted to seize complete control of a $70 million investment fund, the Cormack Foundation.
This amounts to nearly 13 per cent of all those now in key positions within the Liberals’ organisational wing, compared to just 0.3 per cent of all Australians who are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
Combined with conservative Catholics, evangelical Christians from churches such as Victory Faith Centre and City Builders, the religious right-wing now has unprecedented sway in Liberal Party politics.
committee – is their most influential figure.
via The religious minority seizing power in the Liberal Party
Why is this the case? The simple answer is that the Coalition governs for the one per cent, not the rest of us. The big policy announcement in the Budget was a tax cut for the wealthy, disproportionately bigger than that given to workers on the average wage. The policy upon which the Government is pinning its fortunes is massive company tax cuts justified with the now proven lie that employers will pass on the windfall in wage rises and job creation. The lies are now blatant. Turnbull and company don’t even bother with pretence any longer. Their capitulation to the Ayn Randian ideologues of the Institute of Public Affairs is complete, brazen and deadly for the rest of us.
The Coalition is now dominated by the hard right and the politics of exclusion dominates the policy agenda.
via ‘Nasty, brutish and short’: Hobbes and the Coalition’s politics of exclusion
The president of the hard-right wing Carlingford Branch, George Popowski, says he wants to “straighten out the law and order system” by pushing the state back to colonial times with measures described by others as “Sharia-law style punishment”.
via Bring Back Beatings and Ban Immigrants, demands NSW Liberal Party Branch President
Infrastructure is rapidly collapsing in Australia. Not literally. Not yet. But that could happen if current trends continue.
Australia’s investment in infrastructure remains well and truly in the slump that began soon after the 2013 change of government.
This is proven by the latest quarterly construction data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), which shows private and government spending on engineering and building projects up to the end of last year.
This matters, not just because it is yet another outcome diametrically opposite to solemn Coalition promises, but because Australia’s national net worth is now declining disastrously.
via Construction and national net worth continue to decline under Turnbull
In trying to defend the indefensible, she struggled to cut through with anything that was remotely beneficial to her party’s credibility. If anything, it highlighted what a nasty piece of work they are.
Everything she said, stood in stark contrast to her party’s persistent opposition to it, for so long. Meanwhile, revelations during last week’s hearings that customers were given poor financial advice, were charged fees for no service, that a dead person was charged ongoing fees, that the corporate watchdog was deliberately misled for years, makes us salivate over what might be revealed when things resume next week.
Client theft, more compromised financial advice, financially ruining peoples’ lives; who knows what other surprises are in store.
This government’s actions in cutting funding to a multitude of community services shows us only too well, how concerned it is for the welfare of its constituents.
The Minister
The Hypocrisy is Mind-Blowing – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Despite the myriad of studies highlighting Australia’s growing inequality, the take-home message from the Turnbull Government is, if you’re poor, it’s your fault. Senior editor Michelle Pini reports.
And that meesage is even worse when delivered by the conservatives of the LNP
via Elderly, disabled, jobless or homeless? The Coalition is still blaming you
Other motions to be debated at state council include:
Calls for the Commonwealth Sex Discrimination Act to re-insert “man” and “woman” in the place of “sexual orientation” and “gender identity”. The aim is that a person will define their gender as either male or female, according to their biological and reproductive function.
Calls to ban the Safe Schools program from Victorian schools and any other curriculum teaching a person’s gender may be different from their biological sex or that people can transition.
Guy under pressure to allow gay ‘conversion’ therapy for kids
So let us consider some of Turnbull’s other friends. First, let’s take the case of Myanmar. Turnbull has dismissed accusations of human rights abuses in Cambodia and Myanmar as “sweeping generalisations”. Unlike Indonesian President Joko Widodo (Jokowi), who said he would confront Myanmar about its treatment of the Rohingyans. Turnbull notably refused to use the term Rohingya, the minority the Myanmar government persecutes (whilst also denying that they exist as a group).
via With Friends Like These, Australia Doesn’t Need Enemies – New Matilda
Also on Turnbull’s wish-list is the departure of Tony Abbott. While there is no material sign of this happening, there was a sense at year’s end, after his emphatic same-sex reversal – at the hands of the Australian people – and another reshuffle in which he was not even discussed, that his era had truly passed.
via Tony Abbott to quit in 2018, and other Malcolm Turnbull dreams
These born-to-rule conservatives think nothing of using taxpayer millions to set up a supposedly independent watchdog and then immediately sicking it on their political enemies.
The matter the Registered Organisations Commission (ROC) is so hellbent on pursuing is a decade-old donation from the Australian Workers’ Union to GetUp!, which was never a secret in the first place.
The investigation revolves around whether the correct paperwork was created and kept. It is not remotely close to a criminal matter. In fact, even if the ROC’s very darkest theories are correct, it will mean the AWU will be liable of a maximum possible fine of $11,000.
However, the government thought this was deemed worthy of politicising the Australian Federal Police with a reality TV raid.
When outrage started to pour in about the use of police force to pursue such an obviously political target, Turnbull’s response was pure arrogance. Rather than provide a proper explanation he simply, accused Bill Shorten of having “questions to answer.”
Now, as we now know, the plot is even thicker.
via Lest We Forget The System Propped Up By Elites, Stacked Against Workers – New Matilda
“It is not the role of the Australian Government or its diplomatic missions to be involved as finance brokers for a very controversial project like this,” he said.”There needs to be an open and transparent process.”
Remember Kemlani and what happened to Whitlam (Old Dog) Loans affair – Wikipedia
The way the triple hit on the Labor leader, GetUp and the AWU turned from triumph to farce underscores why the warriors in the government bunker have sound reasons to be worried
(When you try to do an Abbott what else can you expect other than it blowing up in you face Malcolm. But worse still you lead Indigenous Australia on and then told them to “get f….d”) old dog
Are the police acting independently, as our weak Prime Minister claims? Is this an attempt to silence one of the country’s most effective political advocacy groups – GetUp!? Are the Federal Police seeking to curry favour with an incumbent government by going after the Leader of the Opposition? Is it all of the above? Or is it simply Canberra’s latest bureaucratic SNAFU?
Source: Raids on AWU and attacks on GetUp should alarm citizens
Simon Birmingham has rejected Tony Abbott’s claim that the coalition is “on a loser” if its disadvantages Catholic schools.
Source: Education minister rules out special funding deals for schools
The stench of corruption is in the air as we learn more about Stuart Robert, his mates Sunland, and the shady players of Gold Coast politics, writes Judy Spence.
Source: More stench of corruption in the air with Stuart Robert and his mates, Sunland
Instead of creating jobs and programmes to assist Australia’s young jobless, the Turnbull Government is blaming young people, says Leon Moulden.
I can imagine Abbott reading the latest dismal polling figures for Turnbull and dancing around reminiscent of his 2013 election victory screaming “The Leadership will change! The Leadership will change!” After today’s revelation; is it now on like Donkey Kong? Reports emerged this morning that Tony Abbott tells UK Tories he believes he can be PM again. The…
Source: Abbott & Turnbull – It’s on like Donkey Kong! – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Readers take Tom Switzer to task over his column supporting the former PM.
Source: John Howard: Corporate interests were given top billing
The Coalition’s current explosion of self-righteous outrage is something to behold. Compared to the excesses of, say, Bronwyn Bishop, or the personal gifts bestowed on Foreign Minister Julie Bishop by Chinese companies, not to mention the hundreds of thousands donated to her branch of the WA Liberal party by Chinese who have business interests in that state,…
Malcolm Turnbull’s own backers fear they are witnessing the unfolding of a tragedy as epic as the one that destroyed Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard.
Source: Malcolm Turnbull anniversary: One year on, another leadership tragedy could be unfolding
Tony Abbott’s grin said it all. When the former prime minister left Parliament House after Thursday’s embarrassing lower house debacle he looked perilously close to schadenfreude overdose.
Source: Tony Abbott left grinning as Malcolm Turnbull flounders
There’s only one way that Malcolm Turnbull can prevent a return of Tony Abbott to the Liberal party leadership – and that’s to go for broke
After interrupting Kevin Rudd’s dream of becoming UN secretary-general, Malcolm Turnbull has learnt what happens when you cross the former prime minister.
Source: Kevin Rudd’s next move for the UN | The Saturday Paper
The Coalition have been assuring us for years that they have a plan for real solutions and that the plan will provide jobs and growth and reduce the deficit. Now I’m no expert, which makes me eminently qualified to discuss what the non-experts who occupy the government benches are doing. If those are your goals,…
Source: The plan boss, the plan – » The Australian Independent Media Network
“He’s a narcissist, a micro-manager, an impulsive control freak and a psychopath.”
Source: Government Refuses To Back Kevin Rudd For UN Secretary-General – BuzzFeed News
Dragging a party from certain devastating defeat to governing in your own right and with a more manageable Senate seems like an incredible achievement to me.
Source: Malcolm Turnbull saved the Coalition from an election wipe-out
David Tyler discusses the Coalition’s continuing civil war between its own factions and the ramifications for Turnbull’s ability to deliver “stable government”.
Source: Millionaire Mal and the fortunes of the Liberal Party
More than $1 million worth of jewellery has been stolen from the Toorak mansion of millionaire businessman and former Liberal Party powerbroker Andrew Abercrombie.
Source: Million-dollar jewel heist from Toorak mansion of former Liberal powerbroker
The notion that super tax breaks are some kind of reward for Liberal party supporters’ votes and donations is macabre and disturbing
Most people agree that if Malcolm Turnbull is returned with a reduced majority, he will be under threat from the right wing of his party. He turns 62 this year and is wealthy enough to never have to worry about money even without his very generous parliamentary retirement allowances. Julie Bishop will turn 60 shortly. …
Source: The New Ministry – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Drastic corporate tax cuts have one corporate CEO in the Midwest ready to move his company to another state.
Source: CEO Eviscerates Trickle-Down Taxes in Viral Open Letter
Neil Ennis, who once campaigned with John Howard, says Malcolm Turnbull is beholden to hard right of party
Liberal MP Craig Kelly, one of the most vociferous supporters of Tony Abbott, has been handing out election flyers that contain his wish to “contribute to a Coalition government under Tony Abbott”.
Source: Conservative Liberal MP hands out flyers spruiking a ‘government under Tony Abbott’
Legal and governance experts raise concerns in wake of new allegations of cash for access and undue influence.
Source: Political donations: new fears over shadowy Liberal fundraising groups
Liberal MP Fiona Scott’s battle to retain her seat of Lindsay is under mounting pressure after a Penrith councillor and former Liberal nominated against her.
Source: Election 2016: Former Liberal nominates against Fiona Scott in Lindsay
You can’t blame the Liberals and their communications strategists for believing the demonization of refugees is a vote winner. The rise of Pauline Hanson, who stole votes from the Liberals, Howard’s success with Tampa and ‘children overboard’ in 2001 and Abbott’s ‘stop the boats’ election win in 2013 have given the Liberals a sense of…
Source: Breaking the Dog Whistle – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Why on an issue as sensitive as refugees do Coalition ministers seek out differences rather than emphasise unity? Is it because they would – for base political purposes – prefer the issue to consensus?
Source: Dutton’s comments divide in an effort to conquer – The Drum (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
Australia’s reputation falls from the second most admired global citizen to laughing stock as the post-Abbott rancour and division in the Coalition lives on. Alan Austin assesses the damage.
Source: Turnbull’s Coalition: The most destructively divided government in Australian history?
A comprehensive look at the “achievements” of the Abbott Government during their first term in office.
Source: Achievements of the Abbott-Turnbull Government To Date
Bronwyn Bishop’s long and controversial political career is over after Liberal Party members voted to dump her from the safe Sydney seat she’s held for more than two decades.
Source: Bronwyn Bishop’s career over after her party dumps her
Former speaker Bronwyn Bishop has lost a preselection ballot in her Sydney seat.
