David Milner has already labelled 2022 “annus stupidus”, but 2022 was also a turning point. From Scott Morrison to Christian Porter to Elon Musk, so much stupid was met with so much comeuppance. And for that, we should be thankful. Here are 2022’s top shit-heels getting exactly what they deserve.
Independent senator Rex Patrick has condemned the prime minister’s department for claiming it cannot find a key letter from Christian Porter to Scott Morrison about the sports rorts affair, a position seemingly at odds with the attorney general’s office, which has fought to keep the document secret. Patrick has been fighting an almost two-year freedom of information battle with the attorney general’s office, seeking access to a letter from the then attorney general to the prime minister about the administration of the community sport infrastructure program. The attorney general’s letter is thought to provide legal advice to the prime minister on a particular aspect of the damning auditor general’s report that found the government handed out $100m in sport grants in order to favour “targeted” Coalition seats at the May 2019 election. Parliament House, Canberra Information watchdog demands change after two government departments break FoI laws within a month Read more The request was rejected on cabinet confidentiality and legal privilege grounds, something Patrick disputed and took to the watchdog, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner. While he was waiting for a
But, as with so many things, new technology can be used for good or ill. The most egregious case of government misuse of technology was surely Centrelink’s “automated income compliance program” aka robo-debt. Here, a dodgy algorithm was used to accuse people on benefits of understating their income over many years and to demand repayment. Despite assurances by the two ministers responsible – Christian Porter and Alan Tudge – that all was fair and above board, huge anxiety was caused to many unjustly accused poor people. The Coalition government obfuscated for years before a court finally ruled the program unlawful and the government agreed to return $1.8 billion. For a scheme intended to cut costs, it was an immoral own goal.
Source: Robo-revenue raising too tempting for greedy governments
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
After 46 days cooped up at Kirribilli House and The Lodge, being pummelled with blame for endless lockdowns, a bruised Prime Minister emerged from isolation this week determined to shift the narrative. Armed with new vaccination targets and the promise of greater freedom, Scott Morrison is determined to focus debate on the future rather than the past. With his political fate now tied to achieving the 70 per cent and 80 per cent vaccination thresholds agreed “in principle” by National Cabinet, Morrison is trying to stir the nation to get a jab, any jab, as quickly as possible. But that doesn’t mean he’s necessarily willing to throw everything at it. There are limits, apparently, to how far the Prime Minister will go, as his reaction to Labor’s cash-for-jab idea revealed.
As the Morrison Government tries to manage the fallout following the release of a dossier detailing rape allegations against Christian Porter, New Liberals’ Victor Kline and Vania Holt intend to launch private criminal prosecution proceedings. Dr Jennifer Wilson reports.
Source: Rape dossier release and private criminal charges haunt Porter
Legal experts were in no doubt whatsoever that Christian Porter had given up but News Corp madly spun the line that it was a humiliating backdown by the ABC. Michael Tanner dissects the coverage of what had been billed ‘the defamation trial of the century’.
Source: Tamed Estate: Christian Porter ‘zero for three’ but News Corp claimed Porter victory – Michael West
At the end of the day, a plaintiff brings a defamation case against a media organisation for compensation, or for an apology, or to get an online article or publication removed – or perhaps all three. But Porter has finished his case with none of these. You be the judge on who “won”.
Source: Christian Porter ABC defamation case: Why Christian Porter has really capitulated
When he launched his defamation action against the ABC over an article reporting a claim of historical rape against him, Christian Porter boldly indicated he looked forward to going into the witness box to clear his name. His lawyers said: “Mr Porter will have and will exercise the opportunity to give evidence denying these false allegations on oath”. In the event, he never got near the witness box. On Monday Porter settled for an ABC acknowledgement it hadn’t intended to suggest he was guilty, regretted some had read its article that way, and did not contend the accusations against him could be substantiated to a legal standard.
Source: View from The Hill: Porter decides it’s time to ‘fold em’ in ABC defamation case
The ABC has doubled down on its defence of the Four Corners article at the centre of a now-defunct defamation case brought by Christian Porter, with the public broadcaster stating it does not regret its reporting and stands by the story. The former attorney general on Monday dropped his high-stakes defamation bid against the ABC, holding a press conference in which he sought to claim he had forced the broadcaster to back down, despite not securing an apology or retraction. Far from ending hostilities between the parties, the deal to drop the case has sparked a fierce war of words between Porter, the ABC and the Four Corners journalist Louise Milligan, who broke the original story. After the ABC agreed to add an editor’s note on its story saying it “regretted” that some readers had “misinterpreted” the article “as an accusation of guilt against Mr Porter”, the former attorney general insisted the public broadcaster had been forced into a “humiliating backdown” and had admitted to regretting the “sensationalist” article. But the ABC hit back, saying it “has not said that it regrets the article” and “stands by the importance of the article”.
Scott Morrison has pointedly left in doubt the future of Christian Porter as Attorney-General, saying he is presently considering advice on Porter’s situation in the context of the “ministerial guidelines”.
Scott Morrison leaves Christian Porter’s future in doubt, amid reshuffle speculation
Anyone who cares to watch “Inside the Canberra Bubble” might also conclude that Porter’s long history of predatory behaviours, adultery, lying, manipulation and political treachery makes it reasonably straightforward that an inquiry is necessary.
Both must go, or Morrison will pay the price for eight years of scandals – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Crikey has published an appalling confection, promoted by others in the media, to cast doubt on the victim’s account and engender sympathy for alleged perpetrator Attorney-General Christian Porter, writes Dr Jennifer Wilson.
Crikey’s malicious attempt to discredit victim in Porter rape allegation
Scott Morrison has a near obsession with control. But suddenly – in the course of only weeks – he has found himself presiding over a government in a shambles, where he is reacting rather than driving.
Grattan on Friday: Scott Morrison can’t get a circuit breaker while Porter remains
The left of politics is concerned with people who cannot help themselves. The right is concerned with those who can.
The week that will never go away – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Angus Campbell isn’t a bad man. The vast majority of Australian men aren’t ‘bad’ men. But they still seem to think it is a woman’s fault if she gets raped. Don’t be out after midnight. Don’t drink. Don’t be alone. Don’t look attractive. Or you risk becoming ‘prey’? Do men feel that way? If a man goes out with his mates and gets pissed, does that make him a likely target for anal rape?
Wednesday was a weird day – » The Australian Independent Media Network
In fact, Sally McManus, the national secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), has applied the blowtorch to the government – in the hottest of acetylene fashions, yet in her characteristic calm, measured delivery – in claiming that all of the hard work of the previous five months of industrial relations reform negotiations has been undone.
Unflappable unions remain focused versus IR reform bills – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Porter’s attack on workers will do something else as well. It is workers and households that have been the heroes of the recovery. While business has hidden in its bunker, Australians have endured lockdown, complied with often draconian restrictions on their freedom, then emerged to get back to work and start spending in exactly the way the government has urged them to. Their reward for that? Workchoices 2.0, designed to undermine their wages and further tilt the industrial relations playing field in favour of employers. It’s vicious, ideological and idiotically self-defeating.
Christian Porter’s new wage growth attack defies Reserve Bank advice
Independent Australia has reported on the unconscionable Robodebt fiasco from the outset and its toll continues to mount, despite the recent class action.
Porter, Tudge, Robert and Morrison’s shameless Robodebt record
Scott Morrison won’t do anything!
The senior ministerial media adviser who went public with her workplace treatment following her intimate relationship with her boss at the time, Alan Tudge, may have lost further work after speaking out about her experience. Rachelle Miller had been due to start a contract with a defence contractor, but Guardian Australia has confirmed a tweet from Louise Milligan, the ABC journalist Miller told her story to, that the offer was now under consideration. Miller declined to comment further.
Fears Rachelle Miller may lose new job after speaking out over affair with Alan Tudge on Four Corners | Australia news | The Guardian
Since taking the top legal job in Australia in 2017, Christian Porter has been in breach of Commonwealth safeguard legislation by neglecting to table crucial reports documenting his use of secretive national security (NSI) orders. Keiran Adair reports.
Attorney General Christian Porter breaches law over three years, claims it was a mistake – Michael West
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