Tag: PM

UK

Who is Rishi Sunak, the UK’s new prime minister?

Wealthier than the King

Former UK chancellor Rishi Sunak has become the United Kingdom’s third prime minister in seven weeks after his rival Penny Mordaunt withdrew from the Conservative Party leadership contention.

Sunak becomes PM during a period so fractious it has required Wikipedia to put together a disambiguation page for the phrase “2022 United Kingdom government crisis”, and with the Tories lagging more than 30 percentage points behind the Labour Party in the polls.

 

Rishi Sunak will be the first non-white, non-Christian prime minister of the United Kingdom. What else do we know about the man?

Source: Who is Rishi Sunak, the UK’s new prime minister?

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UK Prime Minister: Liz Truss wins Britain’s top job

Margaret Thatcher in 1986 and Liz Truss earlier this year.

Truss is noted for being against and then for Brexit, and then for and against Climate change. She’s nobody’s Truss. The UK is lost more than it realises.

Channelling Margaret Thatcher, her political idol, Truss donned a helmet and radio headset in images reminiscent of the former prime minister taking a spin in a tank while visiting British forces in West Germany in 1986.

In the months since, the 47-year-old has even been accused of deliberately dressing like Thatcher, the first woman to become British prime minister, whose decade-long reign in Downing Street remains divisive across the union decades on.

Source: UK Prime Minister: Liz Truss wins Britain’s top job

UK

Chaff Candidates: The Race for the UK Tory Leadership – » The Australian Independent Media Network

In the slime-touched final runoff between two bottom-of-the-barrel finds, voters meet two candidates who, in finding wealth or coming from it, seek the ultimate prize of a country that once kept a quarter of the globe in described, cricket-enlightened subjecthood. The prize is barely worth it, and, with Britain no longer part of the EU, barely noticeable.

Chaff Candidates: The Race for the UK Tory Leadership – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Scott Morrison

‘Another lie’: Morrison’s ‘mad claims’ on EVs have Labor outraged

scott morrison lies

Labor has branded as “extraordinary” and a “lie” comments from Scott Morrison that it is siding with China and planned to increase fuel prices at the last election, as the Prime Minister continues his backflip on previous criticisms of electric vehicles. “It’s just extraordinary … He’s prepared to say anything at all and hope that people don’t hold him to account for what he said yesterday,” Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese said.

Source: ‘Another lie’: Morrison’s ‘mad claims’ on EVs have Labor outraged

Scott Morrison

Scott Morrison’s Father’s Day hypocrisy

As many have pointed out, this is not the first time Morrison has shown a lack of empathy in tough times. Just months ago, Morrison snuck in a secret trip to Cornwall to find his ancestor’s gravestones (and visit local pubs) whilst in the UK for the G7 summit despite publicly arguing the UK was too risky for Australian travellers. And, of course, Morrison infamously took a family holiday to Hawaii during the height of the 2019 summer bushfires and was forced to cut that trip short in the face of a huge (and foreseeable) backlash. It’s arguable that Morrison’s Father’s Day trip might just be the most offensive of these blunders because not only does the current crisis affect more than half of Australia’s population, but it is also entirely of Morrison’s making. It’s like he lit the fires before jetting off to Hawaii this time.

Source: Scott Morrison’s Father’s Day hypocrisy

Scott Morrison

Toad of Toad Hall – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Our PM is a past master at sheeting home mistakes to others. When have you heard him genuinely, I mean genuinely, accept responsibility, concede an error of judgement, appear eager to put the record straight? No, it’s always someone else’s fault. His verbal diarrhoea is legendary. As is his inability to utter a genuine full-throated ‘Sorry’. There’s always a ‘Morrison’ way of avoiding it.

Source: Toad of Toad Hall – » The Australian Independent Media Network

LNP, LNP Government

Prime Minister Scott Morrison in trouble but could again land on his feet

Has the Prime Minister grown into the job? An increasing number of Australians think not.

It’s fair enough to ask if Morrison has proved he is up to it, whether he has the courage, the ability and the wisdom to continue to see the country through these most testing times. Has the Prime Minister grown into the job? An increasing number of Australians think not. Has the Prime Minister grown into the job? An increasing number of Australians think not.Credit:Dionne Gain If you believe the polls, more and more Australians are nudging towards saying no: he does not. They question whether he has the physical, intellectual or mental ability or even the empathy to lead, to earn trust, build coalitions, forge consensus, or to be something more than a moneybags, a punching bag or a spokesman for the premiers.

Source: Prime Minister Scott Morrison in trouble but could again land on his feet

Scott Morrison

It’s the pandemic, stupid: Morrison scrambles for excuses as fatigue and frustration build | Katharine Murphy | The Guardian

Prime Minister Scott Morrison via video from the lodge during question time in the house of representatives, Parliament House Canberra.

It’s not me driving you nuts, he suggested implicitly to people watching the press conference at one point, it’s the pandemic making you cranky, wearing you down. “It’s the pandemic, that’s the reason why these things are happening, and happening not just in Australia but in all places around the world”. Yes, it’s the pandemic. For sure. But Morrison can’t absolve himself of responsibility for the roads not taken. The coronavirus didn’t stop Australia getting Pfizer, or failing to vaccinate workers, or failing to roll out dedicated quarantine facilities. That’s on him.

Source: It’s the pandemic, stupid: Morrison scrambles for excuses as fatigue and frustration build | Katharine Murphy | The Guardian

Scott Morrison

Morrison’s leadership is missing and there’s no sign of it on the horizon

Prime Minister Scott Morrison seen via video conference during Question Time.

For a long time now Scott Morrison has cruised along on a message that, when you strip it down, essentially amounts to: “Be grateful.” You can hear it every time the government talks about its great success keeping Australians safe. You can hear it every time ministers cite the death tolls abroad. You can hear it every time the Prime Minister demands the opposition support the team and drop its “carping negativity”. But how long can this really pass muster as our COVID-free paradise fast becomes our prison?

Source: Morrison’s leadership is missing and there’s no sign of it on the horizon

Informed Comment

Allow me to fill you in on how Scott Morrison sees himself as our prime minister – » The Australian Independent Media Network

My thought for the day Commitment to the use of critical reason, factual evidence, and scientific methods of inquiry, rather than faith and mysticism, is the best way of providing solutions to human problems. PS: George Christensen is to retire at the next election. That’s a weight off my mind.

Source: Allow me to fill you in on how Scott Morrison sees himself as our prime minister – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Informed Comment, Uncategorized

Finding the truth and reporting it is more important than creating a narrative where controversy matters more – » The Australian Independent Media Network

The ability of thinking human beings to blindly embrace what they are being told without referring to evaluation and the consideration of reason never ceases to amaze me. It is tantamount to the rejection of rational explanation. ( John Lord )

Finding the truth and reporting it is more important than creating a narrative where controversy matters more – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Australia's Shame

Perhaps the real Scott Morrison just stood up? | The Canberra Times | Canberra, ACT

Scott Morrison seems unwilling to separate Australia from the Trump administration, regardless of the circumstances. Picture: Sitthixay Ditthavong

Well, if not you, PM, then who? Who speaks plainly for Australia’s bedrock values of due process, free and fair elections, the orderly handover of power, respect for courts, multiculturalism?

Perhaps the real Scott Morrison just stood up? | The Canberra Times | Canberra, ACT
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Scott Morrison

Our PM is incompetent, insensitive and incapable of good judgment – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Millions of people in the world are struggling to survive, while a very small minority are working furiously to acquire millions, to salt away their wealth, and secure themselves recognition and a place in the super rich category. In reality, many in this group are totally insensitive to the fact that their greed is causing genocide in many nations, destroying the environment all round the world, including an alarming assault on biodiversity, while ignoring the existential threat of global warming. And we have a PM who is a happy member of that minority – gladly rubbing shoulders with and kowtowing to a wealthy elite, while trying to be seen as the leader who cares. Actually he is – but not because he cares about others in need, but because he cares about his own needs for praise and recognition. He is a mini-Trump – and that is no compliment!

Our PM is incompetent, insensitive and incapable of good judgment – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Humour, Uncategorized

Hey, Scotty, the cracks are showing! – » The Australian Independent Media Network

The LNP’s Ministry Of Propaganda trading as Newscorpse and a globular, yellow Trump doppelganger from Queensland are apparently two of the tools that a loving, omnipotent deity used to deliver his “miracle” of a return of Scotty The Favoured Morrison to the big, green, Prime Ministerial swivel chair.

What is becoming quite apparent with Brother Scott is that his claims to the miraculous are not him simply taking gliberties© with the language; he is not speaking metaphorically. He goes beyond the simple narcissism and hyperbole of a vacuous politician; he fully believes that his all-powerful, invisible pal in the sky favours him above all others to be Prime Minister.

ScoBro signed up for the full package – creationism, Beelzebub, the second coming and an imminent Armageddon plus, for an additional fee, his upgrade to Prosperity Jesus, the post-hippy, entrepeneurial saviour who bestows earthly rewards upon his shareholders. Morrison thinks he’s there via divine endorsement.

via Hey, Scotty, the cracks are showing! – » The Australian Independent Media Network

LNP Government, Uncategorized

Could A Prime Minister Be Worse Than Tony Abbott? Unfortunately, YES!!! – » The Australian Independent Media Network

It’s the same in preselection contests. The Liberals are against quotas because they think that women should get their positions on merit, while men should get them on the basis of who their friends are. (Warren Mundine, anyone?) Quotas, it’s argued, don’t allow the best person to be given the job. This sits oddly with the idea that the Nationals are entitled to certain number of ministries, but there’s surely a reason why quotas are good for the divvying up of ministries but not for ensuring female representation.

Yes, sorry, girls… Is it all right to call you “girls” or should I say “ladies”?

Anyway, sorry. Apparently, you’re allowed to “rise” but only if your success doesn’t come at the expense of a man.

Happy International Women’s Day

via Could A Prime Minister Be Worse Than Tony Abbott? Unfortunately, YES!!! – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Liberal Party, Uncategorized

Scott Morrison warns against rash response to banking royal commission

 

Banking Royal Commission report looms over the industry

Royal Commissions into Australian Financial Sector and the Murray Darling have shone a spotlight on Corporate Crime and political corruption.  Morrison is concerned not about the criminality referred to but the rash response to it. No such concerns for Indigenous Australians who are jailed for not paying their bills or any similar concern for Asylum Seekers or African Immigrants is there. Will anyone be charged over the fact that politics protects and is entrenched in the inherent corruption of a sick system? Who is going to be charged? (ODT)

Murray-Darling Basin Royal Commission slams authority for ‘maladministration’

Prime Minister Scott Morrison says the Australian economy faces “significant consequences” if the banking royal commission triggers a credit crunch, while warning an election contest over which party is tougher on the beleaguered financial services industry risks undermining the system.

Scott Morrison warns against rash response to banking royal commission

Humour, Scott Morrison

Morrison ‘Cried & Prayed’ For Asylum Seekers, Just Wished He Was In A Position To Do More – The Shovel

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has told an event in Sydney that he ‘cried on his knees’ over the plight of children in Nauru, and just wished he was in a position to directly effect change.

“You think about these children and you pray, you cry, and you pray some more. But there’s only so much you can do. It’s frustrating because you feel so powerless,” Morrison said, asking the audience whether they knew anyone who worked in immigration.

“I can’t tell you the number of times I wished I had connections with a government minister or someone in the immigration department with some sort of influence over the situation’,” he said.

via Morrison ‘Cried & Prayed’ For Asylum Seekers, Just Wished He Was In A Position To Do More – The Shovel

For Sale

The Demtel Man – » The Australian Independent Media Network

the lingering image of him hugging a lump of coal; his defence of advertising on the sails of the Opera House, wanting to see not just horse racing but also car racing; his mishandling of the issues of funding and independence of the ABC generated by the dismissal of chief executive Michelle Guthrie; his multiple positions on the treatment of gay students and teachers; the white supremacist/neo-Nazi parliamentary vote; announcing the possible shift of our embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem (even after most devout Jews in the electorate would have already pre-voted, to avoid having to do so on the Sabbath); the possible rejuvenation of a New Zealand deal on refugee resettlement; and then, finally, the assertion that a Kerryn Phelps win meant “instability”, conveniently ignoring the instability in his own party that had resulted in the byelection in the first place.

Maybe we should go back to Demtel to see how this ends. Tim Shaw is now the breakfast announcer of Canberra’s ‘talk radio’ station (which also relays Alan Jones and Ray Hadley) while the (Demental) company owner spent nearly five years in jail for money laundering. ‘But wait- there’s more’ indeed.

via The Demtel Man – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Australia, Uncategorized

At $528,000 a year, Turnbull’s pay is highest of any leader in OECD

So the Independant Remuneration Tribunal thinks we have the most valuable PM on the planet. He deserves the sack just for that as does the IRT. Are the 7 million Australian the higest paid workers on the planet? (ODT)?

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is the highest-paid politician in the OECD, new figures show, earning up to 10 times the average wage – the second-highest disparity with the majority of workers in the developed world.

Mr Turnbull’s base pay rose to $527,854 a year after the independent Remuneration Tribunal ordered a 2 per cent pay rise for politicians last year, delivering the prime minister a $10,000 pay jump.

The analysis by market research firm IG puts Mr Turnbull above Swiss President Alain Berset, who will earn $483,000 this year, and US President Donald Trump, who has earned $400,000 in his first year in the White House.

via At $528,000 a year, Turnbull’s pay is highest of any leader in OECD

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Malcolm Turnbull

Malcolm’s Sensible Centre: Corporatisation, Concentration Camps And Climate Catastrophe – New Matilda

Say what you like about the Prime Minister, but at least when torturing refugees, cooking the planet, and accelerating the corporate takeover of our democracy, he’s sensible about it. Liam McLoughlin explains. Recently, Malcolm Turnbull called on parliamentarians to “meet us in the sensible centre. To act otherwise would badly misread the mood of theMore

Source: Malcolm’s Sensible Centre: Corporatisation, Concentration Camps And Climate Catastrophe – New Matilda

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