Tag: Kaye Lee

Informed Comment

Is the ACCC being verballed or has Sharri got it wrong? – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Markson won the Kennedy award for breaking a story that been said she didn’t break(ODT)

According to the Liberal letterbox, Sharri Markson, “The Turnbull government will underwrite multi-billion dollar investments to build new coal-fired power stations…The Daily Telegraph understands Mr Turnbull will announce his support for the ACCC recommendation at [today’s] party room meeting.”

Except the ACCC didn’t recommend that at all Sharri.

Here is what they actually said:

via Is the ACCC being verballed or has Sharri got it wrong? – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Informed Comment, Uncategorized

When handshakes and reputation meant more than money – » The Australian Independent Media Network

It is easy to lie and cheat and steal and exploit. But infinitely more rewarding to know that you have done the right thing by others. We have to set our own standards. We have to honour our obligations, not because of fear of punishment, but because it is the right thing to do.

When you shake someone’s hand, whether physically or metaphorically, it should mean something.

via When handshakes and reputation meant more than money – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Informed Comment

The biggest business in the country is run by amateurs whose self-interest comes before that of its shareholders – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Annual government expenditure is over $450 billion per year making it, by far, the biggest business in the country.

They decide what percentage of our income they will take and how they will spend it. They have total control over our common wealth and the ability to sell our assets as they please.

They make our laws. They can send us to war. They can choose to ignore existential threats like climate change.

via The biggest business in the country is run by amateurs whose self-interest comes before that of its shareholders – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Commentary, Uncategorized

Just because you are Aboriginal doesn’t make you right – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Mark Latham might think Jacinta Price has “impeccable credentials for speaking on indigenous issues”. Some think Tony Abbott does too.

Every time I hear Alice Springs councillor and political hopeful Jacinta Price speak, I cringe.

Ms Price has announced her ambition to contest the NT seat of Lingiari in the next federal election as a CLP candidate, a move welcomed by Mark Latham and Warren Mundine who both sing her praises.

via Just because you are Aboriginal doesn’t make you right – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Informed Comment

We are not facing an energy trilemma – » The Australian Independent Media Network

We cannot eliminate emissions entirely so we must be very selective in our activities so we can try to get back to a level that can be managed by the natural carbon cycle instead of powering on past saturation point.

The fools who say Australia’s contribution is negligible have obviously never done any titration – it’s that last drop that causes the reaction to happen.

In comparison, reliability and affordability of energy are miniscule issues.

via We are not facing an energy trilemma – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Informed Comment, Uncategorized

Lesson one – don’t dob on the government – » The Australian Independent Media Network

For years now, the OECD corruption watchdogs have been recommending that Australia improve its protection for whistleblowers. In their latest report last December, they pointed to some work that had been done towards this but still expressed concerns.

And with good reason.

via Lesson one – don’t dob on the government – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Informed Comment

Gravy train charlatans – » The Australian Independent Media Network

It’s not new where there is money the Gravy Train follows currently it’s focusing on the NDIS services. fraudulent child minding  an example. Easy money whenthe government caps NDIS staff, budget and offers an IT system that doesn’t work. The LNP is bent on watching it fail and is doing the same to the ABC (ODT)

The challenge of doing things with people, not to them, means having to assume Indigenous people have a sense of agency and then actively embracing and engaging that capacity at a local level rather than sub-contracting those profoundly important relationships out to those gravy train charlatans.”

And there have been plenty of those.

via Gravy train charlatans – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Informed Comment, Uncategorized

Our Minister for Women misses the point….again – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Kelly is an improvement on her two predecessors in the role in that she is a woman and also a feminist. (Mind you, it would be hard to find someone worse than Abbott and Cash)

Meanwhile, family benefits have been cut, funding for legal aid has been slashed, refuges have closed, men’s help groups have folded, early intervention community programs have been defunded, over 100,000 are homeless, elder abuse is rampant, anti-bullying programs have been attacked, and women continue to be beaten, raped and killed.

It’s all very nice for high-flying women to empower each other but what about those women who are struggling to survive? They don’t need investment advice. They need a way to put food on the table and a roof over their children’s heads. They need to know that they have a place to be safe.

I agree that economic independence is a desirable goal that provides choices but Kelly seems to think that the only reason many women are not financially independent is because they just don’t understand how the system works.

We understand well enough, it’s just that the majority of women do not have enough left over to worry about whether to put it into superannuation or a negatively-geared property or shares.

Single parents don’t need lessons on economic literacy – they need practical help.

Victims of domestic violence don’t need advertising campaigns – they need safe havens, legal help, and paid DV leave.

It isn’t women that have to get smarter, it’s society that has to change.

via Our Minister for Women misses the point….again – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Informed Comment

If Abbott and Kelly want to cross the floor, let them – » The Australian Independent Media Network

One of the most important roles of government is to prioritise. They must identify the challenges facing us and the consequences of inaction. They must rank the urgency of responding to problems and decide on the most efficient use of resources to address them.

The current debate about energy policy is a prime example of a government failing to do that.

via If Abbott and Kelly want to cross the floor, let them – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Informed Comment

Shifting sands in the Galilee Basin – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Wondering what’s happening with Adani?

Well there have been a few developments of late.

Adani’s original plan was to use the coal from the Carmichael mine in its own generators at the Mundra power plant in Gujarat, India. Except Adani Power Mundra is on the verge of bankruptcy.

Faced with mounting operational losses, they have already started scaling down generation from the Mundra plant. The average plant load factor in the January-March 2018 quarter dropped to 37%, from 73% a year ago.

Currently Adani Power has debts of about $US7.4bn, having lost $US927m last year and $US317m this year. They tried to give the government a 51% stake in the Mundra plant for a token amount of Re 1 but they weren’t interested.

via Shifting sands in the Galilee Basin – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Informed Comment

They know it is wrong but, if it works, who cares? – » The Australian Independent Media Network

In 2011, opposition immigration spokesman, Scott Morrison, urged the shadow cabinet to capitalise on the electorate’s growing concerns about “Muslim immigration”, “Muslims in Australia” and the “inability” of Muslim migrants to integrate, telling the shadow cabinet meeting on December 1 at the Ryde Civic Centre that the Coalition should ramp up its questioning of “multiculturalism”.

Fierravanti-Wells says the various waves of immigrants since the early days of European settlement have all been “targeted” – from the Chinese, Irish and Germans, through the postwar cohort of Italians and Greeks, the Vietnamese and Lebanese in the 1970s and, more recently, Muslim groups – but we should not let their positive contribution to Australia be forgotten due to the actions of “a few rotten apples in our community”.

Perhaps she needs to have a word to Peter Dutton who suggested that the former prime minister Malcolm Fraser should not have let people of “Lebanese-Muslim” background into Australia back in the 70s – citing as evidence a handful of individuals of Lebanese descent who have been charged with terrorism offences.

Dutton also infamously claimed that Victorians are “scared to go out to restaurants” because of “African gang violence”.

via They know it is wrong but, if it works, who cares? – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Informed Comment

Rewarding incompetence – yet another scathing report about Dutton’s department – » The Australian Independent Media Network

“A consolidation of Australia’s border services has the potential to generate significant savings by removing duplication, better integrating and improving operational systems and practices, reducing staff, as well as consolidating back office functions and rationalising property. Savings could also come from greater efficiency in visa processing.”

However these benefits have not materialised.

A review published by the Australian National Audit Office last week into The Integration of the Department of Immigration and Border Protection and the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service highlighted significant and persistent departmental failings and no discernible benefit from the merger.

The report stated that the department “is not achieving commitments made to government in relation to additional revenue, and is not in a position to provide the government with assurance that the claimed benefits of integration have been achieved.”

Despite many previous criticisms and recommendations, “The department’s record keeping continues to be poor.”

“The audit found that the department did not maintain adequate records of the integration process. This finding repeats the outcomes of a substantial number of audits and reviews going back to 2005. The department’s own assessment is that its records and information management is in a critically poor state. The problems and their solutions are known to the department, and it has an action plan to address them, although numerous previous attempts to do so have not been successful.”

via Rewarding incompetence – yet another scathing report about Dutton’s department – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Informed Comment

The law should not be a plaything of the government – » The Australian Independent Media Network

we had the saga of George Brandis’ refusing to fulfil a freedom of information request for his diary to see if he met with community legal aid stakeholders before making controversial cuts to the sector in the Coalition’s 2014 budget despite a Productivity Commission report that found it needed a huge boost in funds to meet growing demand.

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal subsequently ruled Senator Brandis should process the request.  He again refused, taking it to the Federal Court who also ruled he must hand it over.  Eventually, after 1039 days and over $50,000 of public money wasted, Brandis finally handed over a heavily redacted copy of his diary.

Michaelia Cash is waging a similar battle to avoid answering questions regarding tipping off the media about an AFP raid on union headquarters.  The Federal Court has issued a subpoena requiring her to give evidence but she has instructed her lawyers to fight it.

via The law should not be a plaything of the government – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Informed Comment

We have forgotten what is important let alone how to fight for it – » The Australian Independent Media Network

The result of this headlong pursuit of continuous growth is a concentration of wealth in the hands of a few while the vast majority are mired in poverty. At the same time, environmental degradation in the pursuit of profit, and the waste produced by billions of consumers, is destroying the planet.Neoliberalism purports to reward individual effort, completely ignoring the fact that we don’t all start from the same place.

Source: We have forgotten what is important let alone how to fight for it – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Informed Comment

With Abbott and Joyce gone we have an opportunity for a reset – » The Australian Independent Media Network

The boys from St Ignatious College

For almost a decade, Tony Abbott and Barnaby Joyce have been hugely instrumental in the destruction of bipartisan support for action on climate change (and a lot of other things). They have both now had their power stripped from them by their own parties for showing a stellar lack of judgement.

This presents an opportunity for a reset that should be grasped.

But will they?

via With Abbott and Joyce gone we have an opportunity for a reset – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Informed Comment

We are mired in the gutter of character assassination for political purposes – » The Australian Independent Media Network

The Coalition has spent all of its time attacking unions, attacking Labor, attacking individuals who question their policy, and fostering division by ‘othering’ various groups in our community. Five years in and they still are looking for others to blame. The rich have got richer but the vast majority of the population are feeling disappointed and uneasy, concerned about the future. It doesn’t need to be this way. The Coalition election strategy is, once again, to go for character assassination of the Labor leader – “Kill Bill” and “Unbelieva-Bill” and other such puerile nonsense It is up to the public to reject this inadequate attempt at deflection and to demand a genuine debate of important policy.

Source: We are mired in the gutter of character assassination for political purposes – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Informed Comment

Why do governments find it so hard to say we were wrrrr………. – » The Australian Independent Media Network

OUR PM IS THE HIGHEST PAID IN THE OECD & INCOMPETANT

Another example is the government’s commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The Labor government introduced a carbon price which was achieving the goal of reducing emissions. The Coalition chose Direct Action instead and, ever since, emissions have been rising.

We have always had the goal to provide affordable, reliable energy. The thing that has changed is the urgent need to minimise global warming. But somehow that imperative has been discarded.

Privatisation of the electricity sector has proven a disaster. The NSW government, against the advice of the ACCC but with the encouragement of the Federal government, sold off Bayswater and Liddell power stations and now the Coalition want to prosecute the company they sold them to if they don’t give it back. They want them to keep using coal rather than implement their plans to use gas and renewables.

Then there’s our asylum seeker and refugee policy. Supposedly, the draconian offshore detention was to save lives. Peter Dutton keeps telling us about the deaths at sea. But he refuses to talk about the deaths in custody or the sexual abuse or the mental health issues or the cruelty and illegality of indefinite detention of people whose only crime was to come by boat instead of plane to ask for our help.

Or we could talk about how we let the car industry die but are now going into the armaments industry. Apparently giving billions to foreign arms manufacturers is preferable to giving foreign aid which has been slashed to record lows.

via Why do governments find it so hard to say we were wrrrr………. – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Informed Comment

Dodgy dealings – » The Australian Independent Media Network

government who seems to view Treasury as their private piggy bank to use as they see fit, a government that showers largesse on their supporters at our expense, a government who thinks we have no right to know what they are doing as they strip away our privacy rights in the name of national security.

The latest example is the gifting of almost half a billion dollars to ‘save the reef’ to a charity who, last year, spent (or promised to spend) $5.9 million on “science investments” whilst spending $1.44 million on “employee benefits” and another $1.7 million on various administrative expenses. They have six full-time employees and a further five part-time employees who have “roles relating to science, marketing, communications and accounting.”

This gift was made without any tender process or any consultation with the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority who have 206 full-time equivalent employees.

via Dodgy dealings – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Informed Comment, Uncategorized

The Liberal Party’s list of “key achievements” – » The Australian Independent Media Network

 

For those of us who wonder what this government has actually achieved, the Liberal Party have provided a handy list of “key achievements”.

via The Liberal Party’s list of “key achievements” – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Informed Comment, Uncategorized

The dishonesty of the company tax cut debate – » The Australian Independent Media Network

In March, the Business Council of Australia released a letter signed by 10 senior executives saying the tax plan was “urgent and vital” for keeping Australia competitive.

The irony is that five of the companies who were represented in the letter paid no tax in 2015-16. Legally.

Whilst a rate of 30% is at the higher end of the scale, the average rate of corporate tax in Australia is much lower at 17% and the effective rate (ie the average rate at which pre-tax profits are actually taxed) is lower again at 10.4%.

The real problem facing this country is not company profits – they are at record highs.  The issues holding us back are wage stagnation and inadequate welfare.  Households have dangerously high debt levels, energy prices continue to soar, and housing is unaffordable where the jobs are.

In a speech to the National Press Club, even Deloitte economist Chris Richardson, a man the government often quotes, said that fixing “unnecessarily cruel” dole payments is a more urgent priority than budget repair.

The BCA agrees, or at least they used to.  In May 2013, Jennifer Westacott called for an urgent review of the Newstart payment, arguing the payments must be increased to avoid trapping jobseekers in entrenched disadvantage.

via The dishonesty of the company tax cut debate – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Informed Comment, Uncategorized

Capitalism is doomed to collapse unless it learns to share – » The Australian Independent Media Network

”Poverty is the fault of the victim but wealth comes from virtue and both are the natural order of things.” John Lord

In preparation for the election, the Coalition have reverted to their safe space of “class warfare” and “the politics of envy” where they try to convince us that making the rich richer is good for us all and any questioning of rising inequality is just jealousy from lazy people.

 

via Capitalism is doomed to collapse unless it learns to share – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Informed Comment

It takes a certain type of woman to join the Liberal Party – » The Australian Independent Media Network

I looked for news about Michaelia Cash and the court case about the televised AWU raid but she appears to still be in the ministerial protection program.

It seems Liberal women, like their male colleagues, suffer from a sense of entitlement that precludes accountability.

via It takes a certain type of woman to join the Liberal Party – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Informed Comment, Uncategorized

Small government, like communism, might sound like a good idea but they are lambs for slaughter on the altar of greed – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Deregulation, self-regulation, red tape, green tape, nanny state, small government, privatisation, asset recycling, compliance costs, free market, one-stop shop – these are some of the phrases religiously chanted by big business, and echoed by conservative think tanks and governments, with a certainty that smacks of zealotry.

We are told that the private sector is more efficient so we outsource service provision to them. We sell off valuable assets and profitable government-owned enterprises. We remove regulatory oversight and streamline approval processes.

We sack public servants, urge wage restraint, remove penalty rates, freeze the superannuation guarantee and hobble collective bargaining.

We provide so many concessions for the owners of capital and assets that they end up paying little to no tax. We encourage exports whilst enduring shortages at home. We provide a guarantee for the banks to protect them from the financial turmoil afflicting the rest of the world. We have a whole government department dedicated to making sure the private sector does not face unfair competition from the public sector.

And still, even as companies continue to announce record profits, it’s not enough – they want more.

via Small government, like communism, might sound like a good idea but they are lambs for slaughter on the altar of greed – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Informed Comment

Tony Shepherd is well paid to tell the government what it wants to hear – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Tony Shepherd has been paid $55,000 for 17 days work producing a report which recommended that the rules governing the Northern Australia Infrastructure Fund be changed to allow the government to pretty much do what it likes with its five billion dollar slush fund.

That’s the same Tony Shepherd who was paid $85,000 for a few weeks work as head of the Commission of Audit that was the basis for Abbott’s 2014 budget from hell.

via Tony Shepherd is well paid to tell the government what it wants to hear – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Informed Comment, Media

“He’s the closest to a statesman we have” – » The Australian Independent Media Network

If any statement has shown how much trouble the Liberal Party is in, it’s that one.

Peter Dutton? A statesman?

via “He’s the closest to a statesman we have” – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Informed Comment

A rising tide is great if you own a boat – » The Australian Independent Media Network

The Coalition works on the theory that “a rising tide lifts all boats”, which is all very well if you happen to own a boat. The majority of the population is either bailing hard to stay afloat, treading water or drowning.

In the last five years, the world’s economies have made a strong recovery. Investment has returned, GDP is growing, profits are up and jobs are being created.

The problem is that all this extra wealth is going to the people who already own boats.

In 2017, the top ten percent owned 50.3 per cent of all wealth in Australia. The top one per cent’s share was 22.9 per cent while the bottom 60 per cent’s share was 15.3 per cent.

A rising tide is great if you own a boat – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Informed Comment

AEMO confirms that AGL’s plan for Liddell will eliminate energy shortfall – » The Australian Independent Media Network

In March 2018, the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) sent Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg their assessment of whether AGL’s plan would meet our future energy needs.

AEMO’s analysis shows that an additional 850 MWs of resource capability are required to ensure reliability in NSW following the closure of Liddell. If all three stages of the AGL plan are completed, the resource gap will be eliminated.

In its current state, Liddell is more likely to be the cause of a power emergency because of what AEMO describes as the potential for ageing coal generators to fail in the heat – during the 2016-17 summer heatwave, Liddell was missing 1,000MW of its capacity due to problems with boiler tube leaks.

–– AD

via AEMO confirms that AGL’s plan for Liddell will eliminate energy shortfall – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Informed Comment

The Coalition’s “debt and deficit disaster” – » The Australian Independent Media Network

When Joe Hockey delivered his first fiscal statement in December 2013, it painted a much bleaker picture than the PEFO produced by Treasury and Finance in August based on Labor’s policies.

This was in part due to the Coalition’s decisions, foregoing $7.4 billion in revenue from the carbon tax and unnecessarily gifting $8.8 billion to the RBA for example, and partly due to Hockey changing forecasts, assuming a sustained unemployment rate of 6.25 per cent over the forward estimates for example.

“We have inherited from the Labor Party budget deficits totalling $123 billion over the next four years, and unless we take immediate action, we’ll be in deficit for more than a decade,” Mr Hockey said.

Whatever action they have taken doesn’t seem to have worked because the deficits over the four years since the Coalition took government have added to $159.2 billion with another $20 billion to the end of February this year.

Hockey’s 2013 MYEFO also warned of ballooning debt suggesting that Labor’s profligate spending would see gross debt hit $460 billion by the end of 2016-17.

Under the Coalition’s supposed superior economic management, gross debt was actually $501 billion by the end of 2016-17.

via The Coalition’s “debt and deficit disaster” – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Informed Comment

The rise of libertarianism is threatening our way of life – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Libertarians are more dangerous because they are insidiously campaigning to undermine the very fabric of our society. For them, governments should get out of the way. Let the free market reign. Low taxes. No rules. Every man for himself, or “individual liberty” as they like to put it.

This overwhelmingly privileged crowd are focused on what they can get out of society rather than what they can contribute.

via The rise of libertarianism is threatening our way of life – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Informed Comment, Uncategorized

Hanson’s horse-trading – » The Australian Independent Media Network

 

One of the most refreshing comments made by newly appointed Senator Tim Storer was that he would judge each piece of legislation on its merits and would not be horse-trading.

That, of course, would require him taking the time to read the legislation and having the capacity to understand it, unlike Pauline Hanson who can be fooled into supporting anything if you throw her a bone.

In order to gain Pauline’s support for weakening media ownership laws, Turnbull agreed to have a review into the competitive neutrality of the ABC and SBS – yes, another one.

via Hanson’s horse-trading – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Informed Comment

Matt Canavan tells the press club that our current tax system is “very competitive” – » The Australian Independent Media Network

OOPS

I think we do have very competitive tax systems and tax settings and that’s been proven.” Canavan LNP

via Matt Canavan tells the press club that our current tax system is “very competitive” – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Informed Comment

“As surely as night follows day” doesn’t equate to evidence – » The Australian Independent Media Network

The government has offered no evidence whatsoever that their proposed company tax cut will lead to more investment, more jobs and higher wages other than the assurance that it will happen “as surely as night follows day”.

In fact, actual evidence, as opposed to textbook theory and ideology, tells an entirely different story.

via “As surely as night follows day” doesn’t equate to evidence – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Informed Comment

A big day for a little man – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Firstly, Dutton’s hand-picked choice to head his paramilitary Border Force, a colleague from his days as a Queensland copper, was finally sacked for using his position to get his girlfriend a job and for not disclosing the relationship. Roman Quaedvlieg is obviously held to a higher standard than Barnaby Joyce who just took a self-imposed temporary demotion for the same thing.

Then we hear that, after meeting with Bob Katter’s son-in-law, who happens to be one of the largest gun importers in the country, Dutton is considering forming an advisory board where the gun lobbyists decide on the suitability of legislation.

That’s like letting the aluminium smelters advise us on emissions reduction or the cotton farmers advise us on water management. Or letting the mining companies devise a mining tax that costs them nothing.

via A big day for a little man – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Informed Comment

If the government really cared about our kids, they would listen to them – » The Australian Independent Media Network

The top ten challenges identified by the 18-35 year old age bracket were as follows:

Climate change / destruction of nature (48.8%)
Large scale conflict / wars (38.9%)
Inequality (income, discrimination) (30.8%)
Poverty (29.2%)
Religious conflicts (23.9%)
Government accountability and transparency / corruption (22.7%)
Food and water security (18.2%)
Lack of education (15.9%)
Safety / security / well being (14.1%)
Lack of economic opportunity and unemployment (12.1%)

So how is our government faring in addressing the things that are of most concern to the young people of the world?

via If the government really cared about our kids, they would listen to them – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Informed Comment

Jobs come at a high price for little benefit – » The Australian Independent Media Network

I know the government is desperate to find jobs for regional Queenslanders since it is obvious coal mines can’t find private funding. I know the government sees national security as one of its strong suits. But this is getting ridiculous.

via Jobs come at a high price for little benefit – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Informed Comment

If politicians want our kids to stop bullying, they should set a better example – » The Australian Independent Media Network

The central purpose of government in a democracy is to be the role model for, and protector of, equality and freedom and our associated human rights. Government leaders must set an ethical standard for the people to emulate.

In this regard, you are failing badly. The behaviour exhibited daily by our politicians would not be tolerated in any school, any workplace, any organisation.

If you want to help us address bullying, clean up your own act and set an example of how you would like our children to behave.

via If politicians want our kids to stop bullying, they should set a better example – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Informed Comment

If you have good ratings you can do whatever you please – just ask Donald Trump, Don Burke and Barnaby Joyce. – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Despite all of Barnaby’s failings and poor judgement calls, my real disgust lies with the other 20 Nationals in parliament who have implicitly condoned his behaviour using the Don Burke excuse. Barnaby’s ratings are so good that he can do whatever he pleases and they will still support him for the sake of their own incomes.

The “don’t tell us what to do” attitude is ludicrous. You are obviously so out of touch with what is appropriate, or you never cared, that you have lost all credibility.

You are enablers. And for that, you all deserve condemnation.

via If you have good ratings you can do whatever you please – just ask Donald Trump, Don Burke and Barnaby Joyce. – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Informed Comment

You may have to reconsider your reality, Scott – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Overall, according to the ABS, company profits rose by 20% to the year ended 30 September 2017, but the only wages that are going up are the excessive bonuses for CEOs.

The NAB monthly business survey for December said that “Strong business conditions are broad-based across all major industry groups with the exception of retail.”

The business conditions index was unchanged at a strong +13 index points, which is well above the long-run average of +5 index points.

So with business conditions and profits at very high levels, and supposed jobs growth of over 400,000, we should see wages going up.

Except they are not as the following graph shows.

via You may have to reconsider your reality, Scott – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Informed Comment

Bonking, nepotism and the trials of being a politician away from home – » The Australian Independent Media Network

As Ted Mack pointed out in his 2013 Henry Parkes oration:

Over the last 30 years politicians’ staff has increased dramatically. At federal level there are now some 17 hundred personal staff to ministers and members. The states probably account for over two thousand more. Add to this the direct political infiltration of federal-state public services and quangos with hundreds more jobs for the boys and girls, there is now a well-established political class.

But it’s not just a political class – it’s blatant nepotism.

via Bonking, nepotism and the trials of being a politician away from home – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Informed Comment, Travel expenses

Andrew Laming’s $20,000 family holiday at your expense – value for money? – » The Australian Independent Media Network

 

All up, the trip cost us $19,619.87.

According to the new “Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority”, any claim for expenses must be “for the dominant purpose of parliamentary business”, it must represent “value for money”, and parliamentarians must be “prepared to publicly justify their use of public resources in conducting their parliamentary business.”

‘Parliamentary business’ includes activities that fall within four streams:

parliamentary duties: covers activities of the Parliamentarian that relate directly to the parliamentarian’s role as a member of Parliament
electorate duties: activities of the Parliamentarian that support or serve their constituents
party political duties: activities of the Parliamentarian that are connected with both their political party and their membership of the Parliament
official duties: activities that relate to the Parliamentarian’s role as an office holder or Minister.

via Andrew Laming’s $20,000 family holiday at your expense – value for money? – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Informed Comment

Sixteen years later and the contemptuous Peter Dutton is still making the same speech – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Image result for Images of a right wing Dutton

It was only seven months ago that Greg Hunt, Michael Sukkar and Alan Tudge, under threat of contempt of court charges, made an unconditional apology to Victoria’s Supreme Court for comments critical of terrorism sentencing.

In comments that were published in The Australian newspaper,

Chief Justice Warren said the court was “gravely concerned” there was a prima facie case that the ministers and The Australian had committed contempt. “But for the apologies and retractions we would have referred the groups, namely the ministers and The Australian … for prosecution for contempt of Court.”

 

So how come Peter Dutton is not facing similar censure for saying there was a “problem with some of the judges and magistrates that Daniel Andrews has appointed” who were wrongly allowing bail and imposing “very soft sentences” in the name of political correctness.

And this is not the first time he has made such comments.

via Sixteen years later and the contemptuous Peter Dutton is still making the same speech – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Informed Comment, NBN

With rapidly evaporating respect Mr Turnbull, that’s crap – » The Australian Independent Media Network

With rapidly evaporating respect Mr Turnbull, that’s crap. The rest of the world is moving to fibre whilst you have made us a communications backwater, ranking 50th in the world behind places like Thailand, Estonia, Bulgaria and Kenya. With rapidly evaporating respect Mr Turnbull, that’s crap – » The Australian Independent Media Network