Fossil fuel multinational Shell does not believe it will ever pay the Australian government a cent in resource taxes for the gas it draws from the country’s biggest gas project, Gorgon.
Category: LNP
Morrison has repeatedly said he’s a “full termer” and has no plans of calling an election any time soon. It may be one of the few pledges he can keep.
A drop in the polls – largely due to the government’s manmade “women issues” combined with backbencher woes – had already left the Coalition teetering on the edge of minority government, making many MPs nervous.
The abrupt change in the government’s vaccine fortunes – once thought so golden that announcements came attached with Liberal party branding – turned nervous into anxious on Friday.
The Coalition government’s signature employment policy for young people JobMaker has created just 609 jobs. And thanks to the flawed design of JobKeeper, which shut out many young people from key financial support, superannuation accounts were emptied, for which the young will pay a heavy price down the track. Kathryn Daley, Belinda Johnson and Patrick O’Keefe report.
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In Morrison’s world, he didn’t say what he said. The states and the federal government are getting along harmoniously, and criticism of the rollout doesn’t actually exist. What is the above, if not textbook gaslighting?
Source: Latest & Breaking News Melbourne, Victoria | The Age
State of Surveillance: Online Safety Bill captures the bad stuff but Commissioner’s powers too broad
by Samantha Floreani | Mar 30, 2021 | Business
The Online Safety Bill, if passed in its current form, could further undermine political accountability by ensuring footage of police violence or human rights abuses, for example, is taken down. That the government is not listening to concerns about the bill’s wide powers suggests some of the consequences may be intended. Samantha Floreani reports.
Political bias and the lack of diversity in Australia’s media have received increased attention since former PM Kevin Rudd began a petition for an inquiry regarding these issues. Australia’s media is the most concentrated of any democracy in the world. The largest stakeholders (and chairpersons) of the three largest media companies in Australia – News Corp, Nine Entertainment Co and Seven West Media – all have known links to the Liberal Party. The ABC is also chaired by Ita Buttrose, another person with links to the Liberal Party. This overwhelming ownership (and management) of Liberal-aligned persons in Australian media has resulted in obvious bias in Australia’s media content, which is hindering democracy.
Scott Morrison’s dirt unit – the one that briefs the Prime Minister on gossip about press gallery bureaux but apparently not about alleged rape in a minister’s office down the hall – is worse than it seemed last week.
Michael Pascoe: Morrison’s mud throwing is worse than it seems
His problem is neither Christian Porter nor Linda Reynolds, the two ministers who for different reasons have caused so much political pain, volunteered to take one for the team.
Paul Bongiorno: Shuffling deck chairs can’t save sinking ship
1 in 4 unemployed Australians has a degree. How did we get to this point?
more than one in four graduates can expect to be either unemployed or underemployed four months after completing their undergraduate degree. So how did that happen?
1 in 4 unemployed Australians has a degree. How did we get to this point?
Australia’s serious economic mismanagement demands more attention than it is getting, reports Alan Austin reports.
Morrison Government piling Australia in debt
Once the government releases the final draft of the legislation, it will be easier to make a judgment on what it has in mind, but Mr Robert’s approach to developing the new legislation so far seems too secretive and confrontational.
Copy of Secretive approach to reform threatens consensus on NDIS
This government looks mean and tricky. They look mean because people – staffers, constituents being trolled online by their local member or the walking innocent caught up in robo-debt – have been treated like political problems that are often slimed or managed. They look tricky because everything is swamped by Canberra Bubble word-salad where process and middle management blather are used to hide bad behaviour, inaction or cover-up.
Dennis Atkins: Scott Morrison needs to hear some hard truths
Prime Minister Scott Morrison is being urged to take action against one of his veteran MPs, Andrew Laming, who late on Thursday was forced to apologise to two women for trolling them on Facebook.
PM urged to act after Laming apologises for ‘shocking’ trolling behaviour
After months of repeatedly assuring Australians public our vaccine rollout is on track, health department secretary Brendan Murphy has conceded it is behind schedule. “Clearly our rollout was slower than we originally anticipated,” Professor Murphy told a Senate estimates hearing on Wednesday.
Murphy admits vaccine rollout timeline ‘patently unachievable’
Scott Morrison has pointedly left in doubt the future of Christian Porter as Attorney-General, saying he is presently considering advice on Porter’s situation in the context of the “ministerial guidelines”.
Scott Morrison leaves Christian Porter’s future in doubt, amid reshuffle speculation
Prime Minister Scott Morrison and his Party now acknowledge that migration is crucial to economic growth and prosperity, writes Dr Abul Rizvi. AFTER TELLING temporary entrants to “go home” just 12 months ago and cutting the Migration Program ceiling by 30,000 per annum to “bust congestion” as part of his 2019 pre-election Population Plan, Scott Morrison now says we must overhaul temporary migration in the post-COVID era to fill rapidly emerging skill shortages.
Morrison’s forthcoming ‘U-turn’ on migration
Since the Coalition won government in 2013, everything remaining that was good and worthwhile in this country has been trashed by the idiots who are theoretically in charge of running the country. All they are actually achieving is running us and our standards down to the level of the convicts and their keepers who first invaded this land. I am no Labor supporter, either, but I do want a government which shows a capacity to understand and cater for people’s needs. And, most importantly, recognises that equality of opportunity is a universal right! Instead we have a national government which has dragged a country, which once had enormous potential, into a ramshackle mess.
When will humanity, compassion, honesty and basic decency regain their places in our lives? – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Despite his failings as Finance Minister and his reputation as a climate change criminal, Mathias Cormann will now head the OECD, writes Ketan Joshi.
Climate wrecker Mathias Cormann appointed head of OECD
A federal Labor MP has accused the Coalition of only taking national security threats seriously when it’s “politically convenient”, after the Australian spy agency, Asio, changed the language used to describe the rising threat of rightwing extremism. Ed Husic, who became the first federal MP to be sworn in on the Qur’an in 2010, said he and other Muslims had previously faced repeated calls from conservatives to condemn Islamist extremism “louder, stronger, and more regularly”. But Husic noted that some politicians in government ranks had taken exception to the term rightwing extremism now they were “being asked to confront an errant, ugly streak within conservatism”.
‘Hectoring’ from conservatives blamed for Asio move to dump term ‘rightwing extremism’ | Australian security and counter-terrorism | The Guardian
Most of the ASX-listed companies that received JobKeeper subsidies didn’t need it, and the great majority of those are keeping the money.
Alan Kohler on JobKeeper and how big companies made out like bandits
Cuts to the ANAO and ICAC in NSW make governments less accountable and more capable of decisions that go against the public good, writes Sue Arnold.
Cuts to auditing and corruption agencies hurt democracy and environment
Coalition’s war on casual workers a harbinger for assault on permanent workers – Michael West
The workplace abuses of the 18th and 19th centuries have returned under the guise of the gig economy. The Morrison government has now proposed sweeping changes to labour laws that will cut wages, entrench precarious work, cripple unions and hand absolute power to bosses. But the assault on casual workers is just the beginning. If the IR bill becomes law, permanent workers will also be affected. Alison Pennington reports.
Coalition’s war on casual workers a harbinger for assault on permanent workers – Michael West
The Australian Government has been stalling in our nation’s broadband progress, especially when compared to other countries, writes Paul Budde.
Australian Government falling behind on world broadband scale
It was with a sense of exhaustion and despair that I attended the women’s March for Justice yesterday. I’ve been attending similar protests for most of my adult life and yet, here we are, facing a Federal Government that offers us less justice than any other in my memory.
Higgins and Tame can’t do it alone: Men must step up
Writing in The New Daily, it was Dennis Atkins who drew our attention to the notion that we had a ‘transactional’ Prime Minister. He recounted an exchange between Nick Xenophon and the PM when Xenophon asked him if he’d like to catch up for a coffee to have a chat about issues, to which Morrison responded: ‘What for?’ ‘No, mate. I’m purely transactional.’ It was Morrison’s way of saying: “What’s in it for me?’. Reflect on that and then ask yourself how often he behaves in this self-seeking way.
Living with our ‘transactional’ prime minister – » The Australian Independent Media Network
The US will spend, if we want to be purists, $716 billion on the military. It’s actually a lot more because the National Security Agency is part of the military, and the CIA to all intents and purposes is military in nature and between them their secret budgets top more than the $50 billion that was leaked in a Congressional hearing eight years ago, and could be double that now since so much more US military activity is now handled by Special Forces acting under the direction of the CIA, but for sake of argument let’s just leave it at $716 billion. Russia’s military budget is $65 billion, and even if you tripled that to account for how much more expensive everything is in the US from soldiers’ pay to weapons systems would represent less than a third of what the US spends. China’s military budget $183 billion, and again, you could double that if you like to account for different costs and it would be less than half of the US military budget.
Let’s Stop Pretending Russia and China are Military Threats | The Smirking Chimp
Australia has exploited international students by reaping the benefits of their economic contribution before locking them out of the country during the pandemic, writes Hayden O’Connor.
The Australian Government’s shameful exploitation of international students
Scott Morrison might have been a moderately successful salesman – he has certainly bamboozled his political peers into buying into his pseudo policies – but his realistic concern for people’s needs is absolutely non-existent and every policy he announces is doing more and more damage to our future.
Are we really making progress? – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Over the years Australians have witnessed behaviours from the members of our government institutions that can be depicted as lacking. These days we have a word that is becoming increasingly common in our society, gaslighting; more specifically political gaslighting. Described by Medical News Today, “Gaslighting is a form of psychological abuse where a person or group makes someone question their sanity, perception of reality, or memories. People experiencing gaslighting often feel confused, anxious, and unable to trust themselves.” The description provided by the Political Dictionary is, “Gaslighting is a form of psychological manipulation that seeks to sow seeds of doubt in a targeted individual or group”.
Violence in Australia’s Parliament House: Runs Deeper Than Sexual Assaults – » The Australian Independent Media Network
As we face a mounting ecological crisis, combined with racism and violence against First Nations people and refugees, Australia’s state and federal governments are ramping up anti-protest laws and even harassing the media. We need an organized fightback.
Australia’s Rulers Are Clamping Down on the Right to Protest
Australia’s biggest private and corporatised charities in aged care are threatening the government with a political campaign if they don’t get more money, on top of the $21 billion in government funding they get already. Throwing money at large providers has not worked, write Elizabeth Minter and Dr Sarah Russell, in a call for greater transparency and significant reform for the sector.
Aged care giants extort government for funding hike, threaten campaign in marginal seats – Michael West
Like a bushfire – all it takes is a spark that is given time to develop. The Abbotts and Jones’ of this world do need to worry as their control is slipping day by day. What do you think?
It takes a spark – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Nobody in the coalition government is prepared to concede they are failing the unemployed. The party of “Jobs and Growth” has in reality been expanding “Unemployment and Recession” for years and no policy the government has implemented in Morrison’s $9B Social Security Safety Net seems capable of changing that path.
Dob in a bludger – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Christian Porter responsible for serial breaches of the law, now cries “rule of law” – Michael West
Christian Porter is responsible for serial breaches of the law, as documented here last year. These revelations alone should be enough to see Porter removed from official duties but his relentless persecution of Witness K and Bernard Collaery – both denied natural justice and prosecuted in secret – are hardly the stuff of a model litigant. Yet now the besieged Attorney-General calls for rule of law to apply in respect of the rape allegations against him. Elizabeth Minter reports.
Christian Porter responsible for serial breaches of the law, now cries “rule of law” – Michael West
Millions in JobKeeper subsidies and rent waivers has helped struggling department store Myer grow its profits by 8 per cent for the first half of the financial year despite a plunge in sales.
Myer sales plunge but profits rise on back of JobKeeper boost
The Coalition could have saved the country billions if it had stuck to Labor’s original NBN plans and adjusted them with new technologies, Paul Budde reports.
Coalition’s NBN bungle may have cost the country billions
The Morrison Government’s eye-watering stimulus package has little to show in the way of long-term benefit for the majority of Australians. Tarric Brooker reports. AS THE BULK of the Morrison Government’s coronavirus stimulus package draws to a close, one can’t help but be reminded of a quote from wartime British Prime Minister Winston Churchill: “Never let a good crisis go to waste.”
Coalition’s eye-watering debt yields underwhelming results
JobSlayer: gas giants grab $300m subsidy then axe 3000 workers – Michael West
The Government touts gas as being a key plank of JobMaker, its Covid-19 recession recovery plan. To help “support jobs” the government has given the gas industry $300 million of taxpayers’ money in subsidies. In return, the industry has cut about 3000 workers, more than 10% of it workforce, in a boom production year. Mark Ogge and Elizabeth Minter report.
JobSlayer: gas giants grab $300m subsidy then axe 3000 workers – Michael West
When Young Liberals in Chris Hartcher’s Terrigal electorate were inspired by Brad Pitt’s Fight Club to head out late at night on what they called “Black Ops” to tear down opposition election posters, one could perhaps, despite the illegality, dismiss this as kids going a bit too far. The fact that Liberal hopeful Aaron Henry signed his email call-to-action as ”Tyler Durden” (Brad Pitt’s character) shows just how juvenile this crowd were. But when one of them then tried to destroy the career of Sydney Water chief Dr Kerry Schott via an anonymous email detailing a false complaint to the NSW ICAC, they moved from silly kids to dangerous. Carrying on in the same vein, there is a parliamentary group who call themselves the “Wolverines”, a nod to the 1984 Hollywood film Red Dawn, about a team of high school football jocks thwarting a Soviet invasion of the United States.
Fight Club, Wolverines and Swinging Dicks – is this what we call “grown-up government”? – » The Australian Independent Media Network
AN ALLEGATION OF the brutal anal rape of a child in 1988 has been made against an unnamed minister in the Federal Government Cabinet. The victim took her own life in June 2020. NSW Police have confirmed that a criminal investigation into the allegation dies with the victim.
Alleged rape by Cabinet member deflected by Coalition Government
An allegation of the brutal anal rape of a child in 1988 has been made against an un-named minister in Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s cabinet. The victim took her own life in June 2020. NSW police have confirmed that a criminal investigation into the allegation dies with the victim. Despite their knowledge that police will not investigate because the complainant is dead, government ministers and some journalists continue to claim that the matter must be left to the police. All of them are wrong, according to police.
The Morrison government is a sewer – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Shipping group Qube Holdings will give back $17m in JobKeeper subsidies but pockets $13.5m and some fancy executive bonuses despite its revenue rising strongly. How did it pull this off? Callum Foote investigates how the Liberal Party-linked Qube gamed the Tax Office.
BossKeeper: ports giant Qube bullies its way into Jobkeeper and plush bonuses – Michael West
One of the greatest challenges for a political commentator in recent years has been keeping track of the Morrison government’s lies and obfuscations. These have escalated considerably in the last couple of weeks, since former media advisor Brittany Higgins revealed she had allegedly been raped in Parliament House by a senior staffer. Since then, ministers, MPs, Senators, their advisors and staffers have devoted an inordinate amount of their taxpayer-funded time to covering their backsides about who knew what and when. According to estimates by the ABC’s 7.30 program last night, there appear to be thirty or more people with knowledge of the so-called “serious incident” in 2019, with Prime Minister Scott Morrison conspicuously excluded from the circle of knowledge. The latest government member to speak up is Home Affairs Minister, Peter Dutton. Dutton is, among other things, the minister responsible for the Australian Federal Police, as well having once served as a police officer in the Queensland Police sex offenders’ squad. You need this background as context for what comes next.
“He said, she said”: How Dutton is attempting to control the narrative – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Step right up, every billionaire is a winner. There’s $100 billion up for grabs and winning is as easy as shooting fish in a barrel.
The greatest rort on earth: JobKeeper is making billionaires richer
