Category: LNP

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

A federal ICAC must end the confusion between integrity questions and corruption

There has been a great deal of commentary about the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) in recent days, in light of Gladys Berejiklian’s resignation as premier of New South Wales. Much of this has been ill-informed, and some correction is required as the debate over a federal ICAC rolls on.

Source: A federal ICAC must end the confusion between integrity questions and corruption

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, 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, LNP Economic Management

‘Incompetent’: Frydenberg attacked over jobkeeper after profit warnings from ATO revealed | Josh Frydenberg | The Guardian

Josh Frydenberg

Frydenberg proves a Harvard MBA isn’t always money well spent just spent. He was warned and warned by supposedly lesser educated men.

The Australian Tax Office also warned Frydenberg in July 2020 that big businesses and tax agents were “amending” prior sales records to potentially help them qualify for wage subsidies during the pandemic. It wasn’t until October that the eligibility criteria was tightened. The revelation is contained in a ministerial submission from the ATO’s deputy commissioner, James O’Halloran. It was produced under freedom of information and first reported in the Australian Financial Review.

Source: ‘Incompetent’: Frydenberg attacked over jobkeeper after profit warnings from ATO revealed | Josh Frydenberg | The Guardian

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

Gladys Berejiklian backed some huge projects, but two Wagga Wagga grants are in ICAC’s sights – ABC News

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian resigns

Berejiklian spat the dummy and resigned from “Everything” when she didn’t have to. This isn’t the toughest issue she’d faced and didn’t step down.

Later this month, the watchdog will probe whether Ms Berejiklian was in a position of conflict when grants were awarded to the Australian Clay Target Association and Riverina Conservatorium of Music between 2016 and 2018. Both groups are based in the seat of Wagga Wagga, which Ms Berejiklian’s former lover, Daryl Maguire, held at the time.

Source: Gladys Berejiklian backed some huge projects, but two Wagga Wagga grants are in ICAC’s sights – ABC News

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

LNP, LNP Government

Climate change: Josh Frydenberg criticised by Bridget McKenzie over net zero emissions targets

Bridget McKenzie says too many MPs want to be fashionable about climate change.

The L/– NP

198 View all comments Advertisement Nationals cabinet minister Bridget McKenzie has taken a swipe at her Liberal colleagues, including Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, labelling their support for a carbon neutral economy by 2050 the “worst kind of vacuousness over values”. The Victorian senator, who holds several regional-based policy portfolios, says too many federal MPs were worried about being “cool” rather than “the consequences of their decisions”.

Source: Climate change: Josh Frydenberg criticised by Bridget McKenzie over net zero emissions targets

LNP, LNP Corruption, LNP Government, Uncategorized

What does it take? – » The Australian Independent Media Network

The list of current LNP members whose conduct in the office that they represent has been overshadowed by underhanded dealings is through the roof. Insult to injury is that they all manage to resurface as the government merry-go-round of ‘how quickly we forget’ spins on its merry way.

Source: What does it take? – » The Australian Independent Media Network

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

Treasurer urges protection of mining industry on road to net zero

LNP’s Mining Welfare scheme rolls on. His announcement is as genuine as the Phillip Morris announcement to “Unsmoke the Planet” with an investment in new technologies.

“Australia has a lot at stake,” he will say. “We cannot run the risk that markets falsely assume we are not transitioning in line with the rest of the world.” He argues the government is making progress on meeting emissions reduction targets and investing in new technologies.

Source: Treasurer urges protection of mining industry on road to net zero

LNP, LNP Corruption, LNP Government

Scott Morrison meets with Quad leaders as Australia gets serious about tempering China’s strength – ABC News

Screenshot 2021-09-25 at 08-05-34 Quad leaders meeting highlights Australia's determination to temper China's strength

He has been at pains to stress, the deal — which has him firmly in the freezer with the French — was a decision made in Australia’s national interest, that the conventional submarines, offered up by the French, no longer cut it against threats in Australia’s region.

Problem it’s a lie the French subs are the most advanced and latest nuclear powered subs in the world. The LNP insisted they be refitted with conventional engines.

Remember Boomgate and Morrison’s posture having been caught with Abbott an Dutton in a lie. It’s the same here. His “tell, his posture” gives him away. Our PM is a liar on the International stage and the world knows.

Source: Scott Morrison meets with Quad leaders as Australia gets serious about tempering China’s strength – ABC News

LNP, LNP Economic Management, LNP Government

How the AUKUS nuclear submarine deal affected Australia’s standing on the national stage

An illustration of Morrison and Macron.

Frozen out in Europe, feted in Washington, alarming some of its south-east Asian neighbours: questions are being raised about whether Australia has the right diplomatic skills and resources to perform on the world stage.

Source: How the AUKUS nuclear submarine deal affected Australia’s standing on the national stage

LNP, LNP Economic Management, LNP Government

Bad politics and the death of tax reform

The OECD argues, correctly, that Australia’s tax system is too reliant on personal income tax. This ‘leaves public finances vulnerable to an ageing population’. A major part of the suggested solution is to increase GST and address the regressive impact of the increase by a compensation package. The latter would include tax reductions for low and middle-income earners and an increase in the unemployment benefit. The OECD also recommends reducing the discount rate on capital gains, reducing the superannuation concessions available to wealthy Australians and getting rid of the two-tier company tax rate.

Source: Bad politics and the death of tax reform

LNP, LNP Government

Submarine fiasco the latest in a long list of Coalition military failures

Modern history shows Australia’s Coalition is incapable of effective defence planning and military hardware procurement, writes Alan Austin. THE LATEST FAILED attempt to upgrade Australia’s submarines – which has wasted multiple billions of borrowed dollars and eight years – follows a string of Coalition disasters.

Source: Submarine fiasco the latest in a long list of Coalition military failures

LNP, LNP Corruption, LNP Government

Blind trust gift to Porter undermines faith in democracy

Industry Minister Christian Porter has faced intense criticism for accepting an undisclosed sum of money through a blind trust.

Threats to Australia’s democracy come in many forms but none is so insidious as the one posed by the power of corrupt money. The perception that politicians are open to influence by cash has the effect of sapping voters’ faith in the system and pushes them towards, on the one hand, extreme views and, on the other, apathy and disengagement.

Source: Blind trust gift to Porter undermines faith in democracy

LNP, LNP Economic Management, LNP Government

US, UK and Australia agree new Asia Pacific security pact | Military News | Al Jazeera

Doing Business with LNP Australia and “That Fella Down Under ”

Australia signed a multi-billion dollar contract to buy French submarines in 2016. The new agreement effectively ends that deal. “This is a decision contrary to the letter and the spirit of the cooperation that prevailed between France and Australia,” France’s foreign ministry said in a statement. “The American choice, which leads to the removal of an ally and a European partner like France from a longstanding partnership with Australia, at a time when we are facing unprecedented challenges in the Indo-Pacific region… marks a lack of consistency that France cannot but note and regret,” it added.

Source: US, UK and Australia agree new Asia Pacific security pact | Military News | Al Jazeera

LNP

Pentecostal church given $660,000 in jobkeeper, then returns 3,620% increase in profit | Welfare | The Guardian

A crucifixHope Unlimited church reported a profit of $43,355 in 2019, which increased dramatically to $1.6m in 2020 in part with government pandemic payments

Source: Pentecostal church given $660,000 in jobkeeper, then returns 3,620% increase in profit | Welfare | The Guardian

LNP, LNP Government, LNP Tactics

Alex Hawke says Australia’s resettlement of refugees ranks third-highest globally. Is that correct? – ABC News

A politician in a suit headshot with a closed mouth. Verdict says "cherrypicking" underneath with an orange asterisk

The verdict Mr Hawke’s claim is cherrypicking. Australia “resettles” more refugees than most, but this only accounts for people transferred to Australia from other asylum countries, including refugees referred by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Fewer than one per cent of the world’s refugees are resettled each year, or roughly 108,000 of the 20 million refugees under the UNHCR’s mandate in 2019. Other countries take in far greater numbers of refugees arriving on their doorstep. In 2020, and for the fifth year straight, Australia ranked third in the world for the number of its resettlements from other asylum countries, behind Canada and the United States.

Source: Alex Hawke says Australia’s resettlement of refugees ranks third-highest globally. Is that correct? – ABC News

LNP

Matthew Guy: If the PM loses, the big winner may be this guy

Victoria eyes the new Guy.

Matthew Guy might entertain a secret wish that Scott Morrison loses the next federal election. Although the PM will not be taking the Victorian Liberals wishes into account, the next federal election date has major ramifications for Matthew Guy. If – as looks likely – the Morrison government is tossed out, then that assists the state Liberals. If Anthony Albanese wins, the new PM and his team recruit and cherry-pick the best staff from all the ALP states. Andrews’ advisers, working for the pre-eminent ALP premier, will be much sought after, leaving him relying on a new team in a state election year. Meanwhile, Matthew Guy will have an abundance of battle-hardened Liberal evacuees from Canberra looking to ply their trade, which re-invigorates a tired state Liberal Party. But the federal scene is not pretty for the Morrison [almost minority] government, and Victoria looks particularly ugly. Of the 21 “marginal”, Liberal-held seats to defend, the biggest clump of seven are in Victoria, then four in NSW, four in Queensland, three in WA, two in Tasmania and only one in SA. That is why Dan Andrews will accuse Scott Morrison of being the PM for NSW whenever he can. Inexplicably the PM is giving Andrews ample opportunities.

Source: Matthew Guy: If the PM loses, the big winner may be this guy

LNP, LNP Economic Management, LNP Government

ATO will not recover $180 million in JobKeeper from businesses that made ‘honest mistakes’ when applying – ABC News

Chris Jordan stares intently while answering a question at Senate Estimates. His brow is furrowed.

RoboDebt wasn’t as generous as the ATO

Pressure mounts to publicly name companies that received JobKeeper while turnover increased ATO will not pursue $180 million in JobKeeper payments to businesses that made ‘honest mistakes’ Questions were raised about the definition of ‘small and medium business’

Source: ATO will not recover $180 million in JobKeeper from businesses that made ‘honest mistakes’ when applying – ABC News

LNP, LNP Economic Management, LNP Government

“Everybody did it”: wealthy doctors lobbies ride JobKeeper gravy train – Michael West Media

JobKeeper

JobKeeper for dentists? Fair enough. But more public subsidies for doctors’ lobby groups who enjoyed rising surpluses or hardly suffered a downturn? Callum Foote reports on Australia’s Medical Colleges refusing to pay back the millions in JobKeeper payments.

Source: “Everybody did it”: wealthy doctors lobbies ride JobKeeper gravy train – Michael West Media

LNP

Flashback 2018: The bad Guys

Written in 2018 prior to Guy losing 11 seats at the Victorian State Election and resigning from his leadership, this story will leave you wondering if he’s really the best Guy for the job.

Source: Flashback 2018: The bad Guys

LNP, LNP Government

The Liberal Government doesn’t care if you die

The Liberal Government has a new tactic in the effort to reopen our country — convincing the public that COVID-19 deaths aren’t a big deal, writes Dr Jennifer Wilson. NEW SOUTH WALES PREMIER Gladys Berejiklian has mastered the challenging technique of announcing COVID-19 case numbers and deaths in a manner so upbeat it verges on jollity.

Source: The Liberal Government doesn’t care if you die

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

Political Dynamite: JobKeeper for billionaires a campaign wrecker for Morrison, Frydenberg – Michael West Media

JobKeeper, Bernard Arnaultld

Big business doesn’t vote, small business does. That’s the dilemma for Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg as they try to keep JobKeeper secret heading into the election. Michael West reports.

Source: Political Dynamite: JobKeeper for billionaires a campaign wrecker for Morrison, Frydenberg – Michael West Media

LNP, LNP Government

As the Taliban overran Afghanistan, Australia told asylum seekers they should expect to return | Australia news | The Guardian

Taliban fighters

The LNP continues to make refugees and asylum seekers suffer by their political silence and lack of direction. Morrison talks about human rights but maintains policies that reflect otherwise. Preparing to return Afgan refugees to land they risked life and limb to escape.

As late as 28 July this year, with the Taliban brutally ascendant across Afghanistan and days from capturing the capital Kabul, Afghan nationals were told by the Department of Home Affairs they were “expected to depart Australia”. After the subsequent rapid fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban, the Australian government announced “no Afghan visa holder currently in Australia will be asked to return to Afghanistan while the security situation there remains dire”. But that moratorium is only temporary, and it appears it does not apply to Afghans in Australia who do not hold a visa.

Source: As the Taliban overran Afghanistan, Australia told asylum seekers they should expect to return | Australia news | The Guardian

LNP

Michael O’Brien’s leadership in doubt as Liberal spill proposed as early as Tuesday

Leadership tussle: Michael O’Brien, Brad Battin and Matthew Guy.

Mr Guy is seen by supporters to have better political instincts and cut-through than Mr O’Brien. Some MPs think the former leader, who was heavily defeated in the 2018 poll, has more energy in front of the camera, an attribute that is crucial for relevance-deprived oppositions who have struggled to achieve success across the country during the pandemic. However, Mr Guy will probably come under scrutiny for his rezoning decisions as planning minister in the previous Liberal government, as well as the infamous “lobster with a mobster” scandal sparked by his dining with an alleged mafia leader. Mr O’Brien begun contacting MPs to shore up support on Sunday evening. Neither Mr Guy nor his supporters were returning calls from The Age on Sunday night.

Source: Michael O’Brien’s leadership in doubt as Liberal spill proposed as early as Tuesday

LNP, LNP Corruption, LNP Government, LNP Tactics

The new human rights commissioner has perfect credentials (Lib, IPA, 18c)

Why is the Australian government devoid of any original strategic tactics of it’s own? Every move they make is directly from Trump’s American Republican Party the GOP? They don’t appear to have any specific tactics that are in any way Australian. They aren’t in anyway transparent but only intent on gaslighting the Australian electorate.

Yesterday the federal government quietly appointed Lorraine Finlay as the next human rights commissioner. She is a Murdoch University legal academic and human trafficking specialist with the Australian mission to ASEAN. Media releases from Attorney-General Michaelia Cash and the Australian Human Rights Commission both praised Finlay’s academic expertise and work in international human rights law. But they neglected to mention hers deep ties to the Liberal Party, as a former upper house candidate in Western Australia and president of the state’s Liberal women’s council. They also overlooked her years spent vocally taking positions that might put her at odds with the AHRC.

Source: The new human rights commissioner has perfect credentials (Lib, IPA, 18c)

LNP, LNP Government

JobKeeper : Welfare for the Wealthy ? – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Tonight, Sixty Minutes is doing a piece on this massive rorting of public money but evidently Frydenberg was not available to be interviewed : perhaps he had to wash his hair !

Source: JobKeeper : Welfare for the Wealthy ? – » The Australian Independent Media Network

LNP, LNP Government, LNP Policy, LNP Tactics

Sussan Ley approves first coal project since court rules she owes children duty of care | Sussan Ley | The Guardian

Port Kembla steelworks and coal loading facility

Yes Minister and Politi-Speak : Sussan Ley controls the world’s coal demand and use

Ley wrote that she had found the mine’s expansion was unlikely to lead to an increase in global average surface temperatures, based on advice she received from the department. She said this was because the mine was unlikely to cause more coal to be consumed globally than would be consumed if she refused the project. She also found the project was unlikely to cause harm to human safety because it was likely that a comparable amount of coal would be consumed in its place if she rejected the development. She concluded that this meant the project would not result in an increase in global greenhouse gas emissions – a finding Lock the Gate labelled “bizarre”.

Source: Sussan Ley approves first coal project since court rules she owes children duty of care | Sussan Ley | The Guardian

LNP, LNP Government

Josh and Scotty’s excellent adventure can have no happy ending. – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Without Murdoch Clive and the IPA

There is the smell of political death about the PM writes The Canberra Times’ Jack Waterford. The veteran joins Niki Savva in noting the unprecedented shift of power from the commonwealth to the states, a direct function of a weak, untrustworthy PM who increasingly reveals his lack of leadership in National Cabinet meetings. It may take the federation decades to recover from the collapse in Prime Ministerial leadership. The Coalition’s primary vote drops to 36 per cent, according to News Poll – the party’s lowest since March 2019 and over two points below its May 2019, election result. Yet Labor support rises to 40 per cent – its best result in the poll since December 2018.

Source: Josh and Scotty’s excellent adventure can have no happy ending. – » The Australian Independent Media Network

LNP

Paul Bongiorno: Truth serum needed just as much as more vaccine doses

When the premier of Australia’s biggest state warns the country that things are going to get much worse before they get better, we should thank her for her honesty and urge our national political leaders to take note. In many ways Premier Gladys Berejiklian has no alternative but to face the facts of her own lethal misjudgments since June; she is trying to move the argument from case numbers to hospitalisations at the very time when the state’s health system is already struggling to cope. The day on which a new record of 1290 infections was announced, Ms Berejiklian was warning her hospitals would face even greater pressure on stretched intensive care units peaking in October, the same months she hopes the state will reach 70 per cent of its adult population fully vaccinated. This in itself is a reality check. If you take an increasingly strident Treasurer Josh Frydenberg at his word, he will withhold federal financial support for people in states whose governments continue lockdowns once the 70 per cent national target is reached. Treasurer Josh Frydenberg is warning states to stick to the reopening plan as economists warn of another technical recession. Photo: AAP He says th

Source: Paul Bongiorno: Truth serum needed just as much as more vaccine doses

LNP, LNP Corruption

Someone Else To Blame – The ‘unvaccinated’, the queue, and the guinea pigs – » The Australian Independent Media Network

The new dawn looms. Where the unvaccinated are Morrison’s scapegoats and our children are used as guinea pigs. Sometimes making people do something can be tricky. Some go for the gentle encouragement method. Others go for the ‘scare the crap out of them’ approach. It’s sad to see NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian and some in our media taking the latter approach. In what has now finally been declared a race to vaccinate, I personally feel the scare tactics have gone a step too far. I listen to the daily updates of the hundreds of COVID-19 cases in NSW and hear the daily death toll as we all do. But like many others I wince when I hear the victims of Sydney outbreak described not as loving mothers, or cherished sons, but as ‘unvaccinated’. Like that is the most significant thing about their life. We all want to see more people vaccinated, but I think this public branding of a victim is both perverse and disrespectful. It borders on victim blaming.

Source: Someone Else To Blame – The ‘unvaccinated’, the queue, and the guinea pigs – » The Australian Independent Media Network

LNP, LNP Corruption, LNP Government

Corrupting democracy — we need to say “FIN”

Morrison’s reliance on Private MainStream Media to not to keep repeating his history of failing to act, to act solely in his political interest, to repeatedly misinform and not do his job has been the mainstay of his self-serving approach to government. He holds the media’s purse strings and Murdoch, Costello, Stokes, Ch10, and WiNN know it. Murdoch has the biggest private grip on as a paid influencer and is intent on getting the biggest portion of the LNPs budget.

A political party with the sole purpose of eradicating Federal Government corruption has been registered in time for the next election, but may not make it to the starting gate. Investigations editor Ross Jones reports.THIS WEEK, the Morrison Government provided new proof – if any was still required – that Australia needs to police its politicians.

Source: Corrupting democracy — we need to say “FIN”