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.
Scott Morrison is getting worse. The hubris and hypocrisy is flowing at every turn. Our Prime Minister believes he was given “a sign” by God in the shape of a picture of an eagle which he read as divine endorsement for his elevation to the top job. Being the “chosen one” confers some sort of infallibility to one’s decision-making. It implies motives are pure. Morality is unquestioned. Outcomes are ordained.
Source: Hubris and hypocrisy – » The Australian Independent Media Network
The rape problem isn’t going away and men must speak up against the entitled minority that furthers it, writes A L Jones.
*CONTENT WARNING: This article discusses rape
WHY IS THE PROBLEM of sexual assault so intractable? Why, despite increasing community awareness, is progress so slow?
Source: Real men need to speak up against the entitled minority
With his party’s popularity in the doldrums, PM Morrison addresses the Liberal faithful and presents his latest policy initiative.
Source: The Liberal Love labyrinth
This government looks mean and tricky. They look mean because people – staffers, constituents being trolled online by their local member or the walking innocent caught up in robo-debt – have been treated like political problems that are often slimed or managed. They look tricky because everything is swamped by Canberra Bubble word-salad where process and middle management blather are used to hide bad behaviour, inaction or cover-up.
Dennis Atkins: Scott Morrison needs to hear some hard truths
After months of repeatedly assuring Australians public our vaccine rollout is on track, health department secretary Brendan Murphy has conceded it is behind schedule. “Clearly our rollout was slower than we originally anticipated,” Professor Murphy told a Senate estimates hearing on Wednesday.
Murphy admits vaccine rollout timeline ‘patently unachievable’
A ‘tearful’ Scott Morrison took to the stage this morning to tell us how his daughters, his wife, and his mother are the centre of his life. Yeah, we know. That’s how he began his election campaign – “Aren’t they fantastic? How good is Mum? How good is Jenny?” So, aside from the fact that he has female relatives, why was Scotty upset?
Spare me your tears – » The Australian Independent Media Network
However, it does make one wonder how lax things must be at NewsCorp when a complaint like that is mentioned in the PM’s press conference. I mean, who told him? If the Liberals can keep a sexual assault so confidential that Scott Morrison never hears about it, how did he find out about this one? Surely not gossip because he never comments on that, so it must have been official. Still, criticising the culture at a Murdoch operation is a brave move. A very brave move. He’ll be gone within the week!
Prayer Groups And Prayer Rooms And Liberals On Their Knees! – » The Australian Independent Media Network
But he came with no solutions, only a commitment to stand with women. It was a reset, a changing of the script. But without solutions it runs the risk of being seen as a political exercise in self-preservation. A spin job. A response to research and polling that is telling the government women are red hot with rage.
Has Scott Morrison changed the script on women and sexism, or is this political self-preservation? – ABC News
The great mystery of the past month is why the Prime Minister, for all his political strengths, has no plan to deal with a crisis gripping the nation’s attention and eroding support for the government
Scott Morrison doesn’t have a plan for dealing with sexual harassment, and women are fed up – ABC News
Men must realise that this implies no threat to them, no disenfranchisement nor emasculation. Empowering women will not disempower men but rather help to, as Robert Kennedy said in 1968; “tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world.” In the civilised world, in these troubled times, the very survival of humankind depends upon collaboration, cooperation and mutual understanding. Patriarchy has had its day.
Patriarchy has had its day – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Writing in The New Daily, it was Dennis Atkins who drew our attention to the notion that we had a ‘transactional’ Prime Minister. He recounted an exchange between Nick Xenophon and the PM when Xenophon asked him if he’d like to catch up for a coffee to have a chat about issues, to which Morrison responded: ‘What for?’ ‘No, mate. I’m purely transactional.’ It was Morrison’s way of saying: “What’s in it for me?’. Reflect on that and then ask yourself how often he behaves in this self-seeking way.
Living with our ‘transactional’ prime minister – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Over the years Australians have witnessed behaviours from the members of our government institutions that can be depicted as lacking. These days we have a word that is becoming increasingly common in our society, gaslighting; more specifically political gaslighting. Described by Medical News Today, “Gaslighting is a form of psychological abuse where a person or group makes someone question their sanity, perception of reality, or memories. People experiencing gaslighting often feel confused, anxious, and unable to trust themselves.” The description provided by the Political Dictionary is, “Gaslighting is a form of psychological manipulation that seeks to sow seeds of doubt in a targeted individual or group”.
Violence in Australia’s Parliament House: Runs Deeper Than Sexual Assaults – » The Australian Independent Media Network
By declining to read the dossier himself, Morrison sent the wrong signal.
Scott Morrison sent wrong signal to survivors of child abuse
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
Pascoe also noted that Morrison refused to condemn the violence that occurred when the US Capitol was stormed by rioters in January, unlike Conservatives such as the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. A week later, Acting Prime Minister and Nationals Party leader Michael McCormack added fuel to the fire generated by LNP backbenchers spreading false or unsubstantiated statements on social media by stating Facts are sometimes contentious, and what you might think is right somebody else might think is completely untrue. “That is part of living in a democratic country. In 2015, on the release of a report into bullying and harassment in the military, Australian Army Lieutenant General David Morrison stated: ‘The standard you walk past is the standard you accept’. The comment was reflected on by a writer for The Huffington Post who went on to suggest Every time we accept the status quo of poor behavior, we are endorsing it. A strong leader should not only advise of behavior that is appropriate, they should embody it. They should be the person telling us that we don’t tolerate bullying or harassment. Morrison and the state premiers aren’t necessarily being booted permanently from Twitter or Facebook or inciting mobs to invade the Parliamentary buildings on Capital Hill, Spring St or George St, but they are implicitly supporting behaviours that demean the democratic process by not speaking out about them. They, and the parties they represent, are also openly involved in a winner take all battle where belittling, bullying and harassment of those with different opinions is not only common, but expected. In recent months, the US has seen the results of a winner take all battle of wills for the future of the country. Let’s hope our leaders observe, reflect and actually lead, before it’s too late.
The sad joke – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Saying it was a faster and more affordable way to tackle the COVID-19 virus, Prime Minister Scott Morrison today confirmed that he had engaged the NBN Corporation to oversee Australia’s vaccination program.
Vaccine Rollout To Be Managed By NBN Corporation, Morrison Confirms | The Shovel
It gave Scott Morrison a Howard moment — “we’ll decide who searches Australia and the manner in which they search!” — as he huffed, “we don’t respond to threats”. (This will surely be news to anyone who follows the LNP-News Corp relationship.)
Could Australian small businesses survive without Google search function?
When the world needs inspiration, courage, integrity and resolve, we are dished up leaders like Trump, Boris and ScoMo – a bunch of buffoons completely unworthy of the title ‘leader’.
Tin pot dictators, timid sycophants, and corporate schills – is that the best we can do? – » The Australian Independent Media Network
When Prime Minister Scott Morrison was invited at a recent press conference to condemn far-right conspiracy theories promoted by government members such as George Christensen, he refused. He also defended another Liberal backbencher, Craig Kelly, who has undermined the government’s health message by spreading false information about COVID-19. At the time, Morrison said: “There’s such a thing as freedom of speech in this country and that will continue.”
The Morrison government’s two alarming assaults on freedom of speech after spruiking liberty
My thought for the day Leadership is a combination of traits that etch the outlines of life and grow over time. They govern moral choices and demonstrate empathy toward others. It is far better for those with these qualities to lead rather than follow. It is incumbent on them.( John Lord)
Don’t expect leadership from Scott Morrison – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Scott Morrison’s ‘distress’, not condemnation of U.S. Congress attack If the PM does not make his allegiances clear, we must assume he supports the seditious actions of outgoing President Trump and his QAnon followers.
America’s global authority disgrace as leaders condemn Trump
He reminds his daughters that if the economy can’t afford drugs for a child their age with Cystic Fibrosis, the child doesn’t get to breathe. No pressure. No emotional blackmail. What a mensch! What a man for our times. Yet as the pandemic becomes endemic, as his government’s debacle in its megaphone diplomacy with China begins to cost, the Morrison’s government’s hollow promises, lies and incompetence will be its undoing. Looking at the debacle that is the NSW government’s response to what may well prove to be a new wave of coronavirus cases surely no-one can miss the criminally negligent federal government behind the scenes. Our challenge is to hold it to account.
A criminally negligent federal government beneath the festive schmaltz. – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Remember when Morrison kept blaming Andrews for NOT requesting ADF personel?
Premier Daniel Andrews says he is “not happy” his request for up to 300 Australian Defence Force troops to help protect Victoria’s border with NSW throughout the Christmas period has been turned down.
Coronavirus: Victoria records 52 days of no new COVID-19 cases in the community
Rumours are flying thick and fast over Scott Morrison’s impending ministerial reshuffle this week, but one particularly spicy one lasted barely minutes before being seemingly shut down.
Cabinet reshuffle: Rumours and daggers surround Scott Morrison’s line-up
In summary, if Scott Morrison is a prick, how good a prick is he?
Scott Morrison is not a prick
When you look at its economic numbers, China’s having a good pandemic. The boom in demand for personal protective equipment and the impact of lockdowns on purchases of appliances and electronics has produced a surge in China’s exports and a record monthly trade surplus.
China-Australia dispute: Beijing’s record November to further unsettle western world
Cults need their followers to be in constant contact because without that, followers may start to notice that there are more sensible ways of looking at things. So whenever I here the Liberals say that they have a plan, I can’t help but think that – when other people say it – we actually expect the person saying them to follow up by describing the actual plan.
The Liberals Always Have A Plan And An Announcement To Remind You That One Exists… – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Clay foot diplomacy is all the rage in Canberra, and the Australian government has become a solid practitioner. Having stuck its neck out across continents and seas to proclaim the need to investigate China over the origins of the novel coronavirus, the Morrison government now finds itself in the tightest of corners. Very much one to bite the hand that feeds it, Australia is trying to prove in international relations that you can, from behind the curtain, provoke your largest trading partner while still hoping to trade with it.
Doctored Indignation: Australia-China Relations – » The Australian Independent Media Network
If Newspoll is to be believed so far the Prime Minister is getting away with his evasions and obfuscations, but the two-point lead in the preferred party lead suggests the government hasn’t got a comforting buffer. Indeed, it is within the margin of error for a lineball result.
Paul Bongiorno: Atrocious decisions all the way up the chain of command
Scott Morrison says Australia’s position has been wrongly interpreted as siding with the US over China. Yet two of the main funders of the Federal Government-owned think-tank ASPI, a constant critic of China, are the US State Department, whose secretary Mike Pompeo has led the charge of global anti-China sentiment, and foreign weapons makers. Marcus Reubenstein investigates.
Revealed: radical escalation in US war machine funding for Australian Government “think tank” ASPI – Michael West
Scott Morrison’s attempt last week to crab walk away from his government’s insistence on being able to use so-called “Kyoto credits” to achieve Australia’s formal commitments under the Paris Agreement was inevitable. Morrison’s position was not only legally baseless and at odds with the rest of the world, it did nothing for the atmosphere.
Australia needs a climate policy vision – not a pathetic crab walk
Morrison’s On The Water Matters Department is excelling itself (ODT) Scott Morrison’s office complied with legally imposed deadlines in just 7.5% of the freedom of information requests it received last year.
Scott Morrison’s office met freedom of information deadlines in just 7.5% of cases | Freedom of information | The Guardian
What the national audit office found was a carbon copy of the criticism that a 1999 New Zealand audit report had levelled at Scott Morrison when he was head of NZ’s Office of Tourism and Sport. Morrison had moved to NZ in 1998, reporting directly to the NZ tourism minister, as the inaugural director of the office. The NZ minister, Murray McCully, and Morrison were locked in a power struggle with the independent NZ Tourism Board. The NZ audit office report devoted a whole chapter to Morrison’s deceptive behaviour, which involved changing the focus of a consultant’s review to align it with Morrison’s political agenda and without conferring with the board or his minister. Morrison mysteriously departed the NZ Office of Tourism and Sport one year before the end of his contract term. Morrison’s disdain for transparency and the shirking of accountability, so evident during his tenure at Tourism Australia, persists to this day, with his continual deflecting and “move along, nothing to see here” attitude to journalists asking questions. Given the importance of the KPMG report the question can surely be posed “So where the bloody hell is it?”
Where the bloody hell is it? Did Scott Morrison lie about the report that saved his bacon at Tourism Australia? – Michael West
The International Energy Agency just issued a report concluding that wind and solar are growing rapidly, unlike beleaguered fossil fuels, and that in only five years they will be generating a third of the world’s electricity, overtaking coal. They will overtake natural gas sooner, in 2023. Coal is the dirtiest fossil fuel, producing enormous amounts of carbon dioxide, a dangerous heat-trapping gas that is rapidly heating the earth and its oceans and endangering our way of life.
As Wind, Solar, surge, Renewables to be Globe’s largest Source of Electricity by 2025
AS THE QUESTION of behind-the-scenes bonking within the Federal Government came to the fore once again this week, Morrison provided evidence – in case anyone thought more was needed – of the dismissive culture towards women that characterises his prime ministership.
Some bonk ban: Ministers in the sack Morrison won’t sack
Morrison has sought to weaken institutions. He was happy for Parliament not to sit at times during this crisis. Under his leadership, misleading Parliament no longer seems an important offence. After the Audit Office criticised the government’s sports rorts, its funding was cut back. Morrison has put the ABC board on notice, more or less told public servants to get back in their box and mocked international bodies. Secrecy dominates. On a surprising number of occasions, Morrison has made claims that are not, by any measure, true – that, for example, he has not said things he is on record as having said. A lot has been written about the war on truth, the loss of a common set of facts from which we can proceed. I am concerned just as much with something slightly, but significantly, different. Politics is not just based on facts; it is, at its heart, a collective quest to discover what the facts are, and then to act on them. Morrison addresses the media on Sunday outside Kirribili House. Morrison addresses the media on Sunday outside Kirribili House.Credit:Edwina Pickles It is this idea, of politics as a search for truth, that we are on the cusp of losing; the idea that, together, we can muddle towards consensus on what issues are real and pressing, and in this way make a better world, or at least a better country – and hopefully both. This is the role of the institutions our Prime Minister doesn’t like; this is why it is important that our politicians tell the truth and that the media holds them to that standard.
Trump’s greatest trick? Monopolising our attention
Prime Minister Scott Morrison swung the spotlight away from the mounting evidence of the misuse of taxpayer funds and on to AusPost’s CEO Christine Holgate. The media was only too happy to oblige. Michael Tanner reports.
Tamed estate: Scott Morrison, the master magician – Michael West
Morrison who has no faith in science and readily cuts back on research prefers to get his political advice from God and his only son Lachlan. which miraculously appears on the front pages of Australia’s media. Wh would anyone intentionally sabotage Victoria’s lock-downs by sending 55 NZers across the border to simply flout the States efforts to save lives and then blame the State? Simply because he can and has Ruperts blessing (ODT)
The frosty relations between the federal government and Mr Andrews continued on Sunday, with Mr Morrison and his two most senior Victorian ministers – treasurer Josh Frydenberg and health minister Greg Hunt – saying the easing of rules needed to go further.
Morrison wants Victoria lockdowns over, says Andrews should open faster
He switched to an announcement-based approach to leadership, and it made complete sense. In the current environment, there are no disincentives for doing so. Press conferences are held at short notice with details postponed until later, and inconvenient questions are easily batted away, well after headlines have established an underlying narrative. Outlets rush to break the news first, follow-ups are negligible, corrections are buried, and the media as a whole paints the picture you would expect from an ecosystem increasingly dominated by supporters of Morrison and his government (most notably in the News Corp stable). It’s all working for the prime minister – he’s a self-styled practical dad, an optimist taking care of business. If there are objections or uncomfortable revelations, he doesn’t accept the premise of your question. Next, please. And tomorrow he’ll have another announcement.
The announcement artist | The Monthly
