War in Australia (any Oz Politics): the Original
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Orstralia
Posts: 297
Off the mattress and back into politics... Julia continues her remaking if her image in a friendly interview with Christine Amanpour.
Having said that, it is curious how passive Gillard seems. She doesn't appear to be trying to lead the interview anywhere - she just plods along, dishing out answers couched in terms of her own righteousness.
https://www.google.com.au/search?tbm...68.Fppzy6AKMbw
Having said that, it is curious how passive Gillard seems. She doesn't appear to be trying to lead the interview anywhere - she just plods along, dishing out answers couched in terms of her own righteousness.
https://www.google.com.au/search?tbm...68.Fppzy6AKMbw
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Sunny side up
Posts: 1,207
"Secondly, we believe that the baby, Faris, having been born on the Australian mainland, is entitled to apply for Australian citizenship and for a protection visa and that the Australian Government has no right whatsoever to remove him."
The other issue here is that as Burmese, they will probably qualify for protection visas. As the link below shows, they make up a large percentage of successful asylum seekers.
Fact Sheet 60 ? Australia's Refugee and Humanitarian Program
(P.S. Does anyone know why Bhutanese would be eligible? I couldn't work that one out...)
Given that the baby is ill and they have a high chance of being granted protection visas, they may have a stronger case for staying in Australia than the usual run-of-the-mill arrivals.
Off the mattress and back into politics...
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Australia - South of where I'd like to be !
Age: 57
Posts: 4,243
I see the UN is complaining about the tents / accommodation on Nauru and
Manus Island.
"Detention centres inhumane: UN"
FFS, it seems they want everyone housed in 5 star hotels !
I hope Abbott tells them to FO back to NY and to take the AS with them
or shut up and we will process them when Australia is good and ready and
if they don't like it, they can always go back to where they came from.
Manus Island.
"Detention centres inhumane: UN"
FFS, it seems they want everyone housed in 5 star hotels !
I hope Abbott tells them to FO back to NY and to take the AS with them
or shut up and we will process them when Australia is good and ready and
if they don't like it, they can always go back to where they came from.
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Planet Tharg
Posts: 2,472
Funny, they didn't say much about the tents their contractors lived in. Just don't care I guess. When the fit hit the shan the UN staff headed for a nice safe bunker while the contractors were left to look after themselves.
Join Date: Aug 2000
Posts: 665
Welcome to the thread Mitch. With spying the current favourite topic of the month, it's obvious you've been spying on me, for some of your comments are almost verbatim to those made around the Andu dinner table.
Tony Abbott must be grinding his teeth at the major distraction this issue has become to his plans - (I find myself hoping he has some) - to start undoing some of the damage inflicted on this country over the last six years. Steady as she goes might work for a while, but he has to be seen to do something, or those of us old enough to remember will think we have another Malcolm Fraser on our hands.
The ALPBC would be a very good place to start. I saw someone suggest (I think on another site) that, in answer to blatant ABC bias, he ban anyone on the public payroll from speaking to the national broadcaster without prior approval. The 'friends of the ABC' would scream blue bloody murder of course, but as I've said before on this thread, I feel they have already prepared their screams of outrage for any move the new government makes to rein them in as they openly taunt the government to react to their undisguised and blatant Labor bias.
Tony Abbott must be grinding his teeth at the major distraction this issue has become to his plans - (I find myself hoping he has some) - to start undoing some of the damage inflicted on this country over the last six years. Steady as she goes might work for a while, but he has to be seen to do something, or those of us old enough to remember will think we have another Malcolm Fraser on our hands.
The ALPBC would be a very good place to start. I saw someone suggest (I think on another site) that, in answer to blatant ABC bias, he ban anyone on the public payroll from speaking to the national broadcaster without prior approval. The 'friends of the ABC' would scream blue bloody murder of course, but as I've said before on this thread, I feel they have already prepared their screams of outrage for any move the new government makes to rein them in as they openly taunt the government to react to their undisguised and blatant Labor bias.
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Darwin, NT, Australia
Posts: 763
A close relative was one of the last conservative managers in the ABC, before bowing to the red flood and retiring in the early 80's.
He regularly quotes an old acquaintance of communist persuasion, who told him once that "it might take 100 years, comrade, but we will win."
I wonder these days whether there isn't a group who have been set on a course dictated by late 19th century thought - but lack the ability to adapt to social change and embrace the modern era.
By their taking control of the Humanities Schools of our universities, the groupthink is being uncritically perpetuated. Media studies is a case in point, with most graduates now professing socialist/green leanings.
The difficulty in reconstructing the national broadcaster into a balanced news provider, therefore, is finding the people capable of doing it.
As to banning those on the public payroll from speaking to the ABC, I'm afraid the majority tend to support labor/greens; so a ban won't stop the leaking.
He regularly quotes an old acquaintance of communist persuasion, who told him once that "it might take 100 years, comrade, but we will win."
I wonder these days whether there isn't a group who have been set on a course dictated by late 19th century thought - but lack the ability to adapt to social change and embrace the modern era.
By their taking control of the Humanities Schools of our universities, the groupthink is being uncritically perpetuated. Media studies is a case in point, with most graduates now professing socialist/green leanings.
The difficulty in reconstructing the national broadcaster into a balanced news provider, therefore, is finding the people capable of doing it.
As to banning those on the public payroll from speaking to the ABC, I'm afraid the majority tend to support labor/greens; so a ban won't stop the leaking.
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Melbourne
Posts: 84
Cooda ....... " it might take 100 years, comrade, but we will win".
Having spent some of my formative years in what was then West Germany and noticed that quite a few 'comrades' wanted to, and did indeed, escape from the 'workers paradise that was East Germany it has always puzzled me why none of the 'socialists' here in the West never escaped in the other direction.
Having spent some of my formative years in what was then West Germany and noticed that quite a few 'comrades' wanted to, and did indeed, escape from the 'workers paradise that was East Germany it has always puzzled me why none of the 'socialists' here in the West never escaped in the other direction.
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Australia - South of where I'd like to be !
Age: 57
Posts: 4,243
Wednesday was upset the East Timorese (who said Aus spied on them !)
Saltie
Yes, it was posted in the Military section yesterday that this was the case.
A good discussion was had !!!
Saltie
Yes, it was posted in the Military section yesterday that this was the case.
A good discussion was had !!!
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: On the Bay, Vic, Oz
Age: 78
Posts: 415
They promised before the election to be a “no-surprises” government.
But since winning power the Abbott government has lengthened its list of broken promises and policy surprises by more than one a week.
Just two days ago, the Federal Minister for Education, Christopher Pyne, performed a brazen policy back-flip on school funding, saying he would no longer accept Labor's funding and overall model despite Tony Abbott making this pre-election promise: “We will honour the agreements that Labor has entered into. We will match the offers that Labor has made. We will make sure that no school is worse off.”
A few weeks ago, the Coalition's pre-election commitment to "turn back the boats" was broken after Immigration Minister Scott Morrison ended a tense standoff with Jakarta - which was refusing to accept a boatload of asylum seekers - by ordering the boat to be taken to Christmas Island.
Last month, Treasurer Joe Hockey said he wanted to increase the debt ceiling from $300 billion to $500 billion. That was after the Coalition attacked the then Labor government's decision in May last year to raise Australia's debt ceiling from $250 billion to $300 billion, which Tony Abbott described at the time as "really extraordinary".
"What Joe Hockey is now doing on both the commission of cuts and on the issue of the debt ceiling is a million miles away from the expectations he gave the Australian people before the election," Labor finance spokesman Tony Burke said about the Coalition's recent decision to raise the debt limit.
Mr Abbott also promised before the election to have a government "which is transparent and open," saying "the last thing we want to do is to hide anything from the Australian people."
Since then, Immigration Minister Scott Morrison has implemented a highly restrictive regime regarding information on border protection.
The Coalition has also surprised voters by abolishing the portfolio of minister for science, sending no minister to climate talks in Poland, and deciding to only have one female cabinet minister.
These things appear to fly in the face of Mr Abbott's campaign launch pledge:
"We will be a no-surprises, no-excuses government, because you are sick of nasty surprises and lame excuses from people that you have trusted with your future."
But since winning power the Abbott government has lengthened its list of broken promises and policy surprises by more than one a week.
Just two days ago, the Federal Minister for Education, Christopher Pyne, performed a brazen policy back-flip on school funding, saying he would no longer accept Labor's funding and overall model despite Tony Abbott making this pre-election promise: “We will honour the agreements that Labor has entered into. We will match the offers that Labor has made. We will make sure that no school is worse off.”
A few weeks ago, the Coalition's pre-election commitment to "turn back the boats" was broken after Immigration Minister Scott Morrison ended a tense standoff with Jakarta - which was refusing to accept a boatload of asylum seekers - by ordering the boat to be taken to Christmas Island.
Last month, Treasurer Joe Hockey said he wanted to increase the debt ceiling from $300 billion to $500 billion. That was after the Coalition attacked the then Labor government's decision in May last year to raise Australia's debt ceiling from $250 billion to $300 billion, which Tony Abbott described at the time as "really extraordinary".
"What Joe Hockey is now doing on both the commission of cuts and on the issue of the debt ceiling is a million miles away from the expectations he gave the Australian people before the election," Labor finance spokesman Tony Burke said about the Coalition's recent decision to raise the debt limit.
Mr Abbott also promised before the election to have a government "which is transparent and open," saying "the last thing we want to do is to hide anything from the Australian people."
Since then, Immigration Minister Scott Morrison has implemented a highly restrictive regime regarding information on border protection.
The Coalition has also surprised voters by abolishing the portfolio of minister for science, sending no minister to climate talks in Poland, and deciding to only have one female cabinet minister.
These things appear to fly in the face of Mr Abbott's campaign launch pledge:
"We will be a no-surprises, no-excuses government, because you are sick of nasty surprises and lame excuses from people that you have trusted with your future."
Join Date: Aug 2000
Posts: 665
Well, a couple of us here predicted that the Abbott Government would disappoint quite a few people. I thought that disappointment would be in the reining in of the entitlement culture and trying to convince people that they have to provide for themselves rather than have 'the gummit' hand out 'compensayshun' to damn near everyone at every turn.
Unfortunately, that disappointment (for me at least) has been in the Abbott NOT being seen to do a damn thing. (I accept they may be doing lots of things, but they have to let the electorate in on at least some of what they're doing.)
Over the spying 'scandal', why in the world didn't Tony Abbott shut it down immediately with a clear statement congratulating Mr Rudd for looking after Australia's interests in 2009 by monitoring our near neighbours in every way that was available to him and his intelligence services?
In my opinion, the real scandal would have been if the Rudd government had NOT been doing everything it could to know exactly what was going on in Indonesia, particularly at a time when the terrorism threat was quite acute.
Unfortunately, that disappointment (for me at least) has been in the Abbott NOT being seen to do a damn thing. (I accept they may be doing lots of things, but they have to let the electorate in on at least some of what they're doing.)
Over the spying 'scandal', why in the world didn't Tony Abbott shut it down immediately with a clear statement congratulating Mr Rudd for looking after Australia's interests in 2009 by monitoring our near neighbours in every way that was available to him and his intelligence services?
In my opinion, the real scandal would have been if the Rudd government had NOT been doing everything it could to know exactly what was going on in Indonesia, particularly at a time when the terrorism threat was quite acute.
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Australia - South of where I'd like to be !
Age: 57
Posts: 4,243
Indonesia knows damn well what goes on. Hell, our troops have clashed a few times with theirs but you don't see that in the paper but they know damn well
who killed them.
All done for internal Indonesian Politics / consumption.
who killed them.
All done for internal Indonesian Politics / consumption.
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Melbourne
Posts: 84
Ethel and everyone else.....it is worth reading Glen Sheridan's article in todays Australian where he discusses the "Spying Scandal"!
Those of you who can't afford/won't pay for full access can read it for nothing on Michael Smith.
Yup I know if it is on Smiths' blog it must be Bulldust but then so is most of the ABC and Age coverage as well, isn't it Ethel ?
Those of you who can't afford/won't pay for full access can read it for nothing on Michael Smith.
Yup I know if it is on Smiths' blog it must be Bulldust but then so is most of the ABC and Age coverage as well, isn't it Ethel ?
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Darwin, NT, Australia
Posts: 763
Andu
I think Abbott is trying to bring things back to where the media reports government actions and does not drive the political agenda, as it has become used to over the past 6 years.
This inevitably pisses off both the 'progressively minded' journos, who support greens/labor and the conservative types, who want to see immediate, draconian action against those damn pinko's and their fellow travellers.
His position is not improved by having a broadly partisan, unsupportive public service at the lower and middle echelons and a State media monolith that sees its role as being to undermine a popularly elected government .
It is a time honoured tradition that governments neither confirm nor deny alleged intelligence activities. Everyone knows its going on but editors used to understand the concept of keeping state secrets, well, secret.
His position is made more difficult by the Indonesians happily ramping up the 'outrage' to both maximize opportunity for reparation and for local consumption in an election environment.
By not dropping Rudd in it, Abbott is maintaining that tradition of non-disclosure. He is also minimizing Indonesia's opportunity to demand reparation.
Had he formally admitted that the Rudd government had spied on the Indonesian head of state etc, the pressure would have been on to publicly justify the actions. This would have inevitably led to further, tit for tat 'revelations' of spying by both sides and resulted in a real, long term breakdown in the relationship.
There was (and remains) a chance that the issue of Australian intelligence gathering will also drag in other Asian countries.
As it stands, we are looking at a short term, confected breakdown, which should resolve itself in the near future.
I am sure the Guardian/ABC Collective will seek to fan the flames with further judicious reporting of the Snowden papers.
If they do, at some stage, Brandis will have to dust off his copy of the laws against sedition.
I think Abbott is trying to bring things back to where the media reports government actions and does not drive the political agenda, as it has become used to over the past 6 years.
This inevitably pisses off both the 'progressively minded' journos, who support greens/labor and the conservative types, who want to see immediate, draconian action against those damn pinko's and their fellow travellers.
His position is not improved by having a broadly partisan, unsupportive public service at the lower and middle echelons and a State media monolith that sees its role as being to undermine a popularly elected government .
It is a time honoured tradition that governments neither confirm nor deny alleged intelligence activities. Everyone knows its going on but editors used to understand the concept of keeping state secrets, well, secret.
His position is made more difficult by the Indonesians happily ramping up the 'outrage' to both maximize opportunity for reparation and for local consumption in an election environment.
By not dropping Rudd in it, Abbott is maintaining that tradition of non-disclosure. He is also minimizing Indonesia's opportunity to demand reparation.
Had he formally admitted that the Rudd government had spied on the Indonesian head of state etc, the pressure would have been on to publicly justify the actions. This would have inevitably led to further, tit for tat 'revelations' of spying by both sides and resulted in a real, long term breakdown in the relationship.
There was (and remains) a chance that the issue of Australian intelligence gathering will also drag in other Asian countries.
As it stands, we are looking at a short term, confected breakdown, which should resolve itself in the near future.
I am sure the Guardian/ABC Collective will seek to fan the flames with further judicious reporting of the Snowden papers.
If they do, at some stage, Brandis will have to dust off his copy of the laws against sedition.
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: ...
Posts: 21
Driving home this afternoon, I followed a ute with a teenage male driver sporting two large stickers on its tailboard. "Is it the truth, or did you read it in the Daily Telegraph?" and (I might not have the words quite right) "Is your News Limited, or the truth?"
In the suburb where I saw this, (God's Waiting Room), the kid might find himself assailed by a dozen octogenarians with their walking sticks.
In the suburb where I saw this, (God's Waiting Room), the kid might find himself assailed by a dozen octogenarians with their walking sticks.
