Friday 28 February 2014

The Asylum Boat Bomb-Shell That Brought Australia Criticism From Lebanon

The Abbott Government is the epitome of cruelty and inhumanity.
They will down in history as cruel and deceivers to the Australian people.
What they've done is to appeal to the LCD (lowest common denominator)
of Australian society and promote hatred by demonising Refugees.

Thursday 27 February 2014

Two Monkeys Were Paid Unequally: Excerpt from Frans de Waal's TED Talk







Monkeys can identify inequality, maybe one day the Liberal party will evolve enough to see it too



The current Liberal-National government want to start charging
pensioners $6 to see a doctor because “the age of entitlement is over”
says Joe Hockey, while wanting to give the 1% women of calibre $75,000 to have a baby.



Either the LNP can see how discriminatory that is to the most
disadvantaged and do not care, or they don’t care enough to see it.



The current government is in the process of transforming Australia
from a country that takes care of the most disadvantage to one that
rewards the most advantaged with a transfer of resources and money from
the poor, the working-poor, the old on pensions, those on disability
pensions, those in low paid professions such as child carers and
disability carers, to those who are already wealthy.



What happens when you pay two monkeys unequally? Watch what happens.

An excerpt from the TED Talk: “Frans de Waal: Moral behavior in
animals”, focussing on empathy, cooperation, fairness and reciprocity —
caring about the well-being of others seems like a very human trait, but
is it?.


Redacted Report | Shaun Micallef's MAD AS HELL | Wednesdays, 8pm, ABC1



WHAT WE THINK OF ABBOTT SECRECY , LIES AND DECEIT.

Wednesday 26 February 2014

Tony Abbott Dickhead



This man summarised what we think of Abbott beautifully.

Refugee rage leaves us fenced in by fear

Refugee rage leaves us fenced in by fear



Article 31 of the UN Refugee Convention - which we naturally signed -
forbids host countries from penalising refugees who declare themselves
and show cause. Articles 32 and 33 forbid their expulsion or refoulement
to any place of endangerment through race, religion or belief.




Article 26 requires the host to allow free movement. Articles
27 and 28 require provision of identity and travel documents. Other
articles require the same rights to education, housing, employment,
artistic freedom, social security and ''sympathetic consideration'' as
accorded to nationals. Article 16 requires free access to courts of law.




Yet we detain people without proof or charge. We deny them
freedom of speech or movement without limit or reason. And although the
Abbott government pretends that ''stopping the boats'' saves lives, we
cage them in such hot, crowded and brutalised despair that they riot,
suicide and abort babies rather than continue. We forbid reportage. We
censor news.




These are matters of fact. Together, they reveal our
immigration policy as nimbyism of the ugliest sort and grandest possible
scale.






Where is the Outrage?

Where is the Outrage?



Article by John Kelly



Excerpt from the article :

Ever since that day back in 2001 when the Norwegian freighter Tampa
rescued asylum seekers from drowning and John Howard refused permission
for them to disembark at an Australian port, the political landscape
for our country changed. Because we the people endorsed that decision,
we must accept responsibility for everything that has happened since.
That John Howard’s legacy will be tainted forever by this one
opportunistic decision and be the defining measure of his time as prime
minister is something for him to contemplate. That we the people have,
subsequent to that decision, forced both the major political parties to
quiver in their shoes every time the media highlights the issue is
something for us to contemplate.



On Q&A last Monday night, Jamie Briggs, Assistant Minister for
Infrastructure and Regional Development argued against his government’s
culpability in the Manus Island murder of Reza Berati by reminding Labor
Transport spokesperson, Anthony Albanese that 1000 asylum seekers
perished at sea over the past 5 years. When a debate descends down this
path one can see that the substance of the issue has been reduced to the
level of its form. It now comes down to the question of who has been
more successful in killing the least number of people seeking asylum in
the race to stop the boats. Where is the outrage?



When we defend the charge of causing someone’s death with a counter
charge that our accuser did the same thing, we should know that we have
reached the bottom of the barrel in our moral and social understanding
of rightness and wrongness.

A waste of time

A waste of time

Article by Kaye Lee



 PARLIAMENT IS NOW A CIRCUS AND THE CLOWNS ARE NOW IN GOVERNMENT



This fascist Government is now laughing at the misery they cause to Australians.
___________________________________________________________



Watching question time has become a total waste of time.  The
questions are so banal, the repetition mind-numbing, the rudeness
unbecoming, the procedure unwieldy, and the partisanship of the Speaker a
joke.



Excerpt from the article by Kaye Lee 



 

Tuesday 25 February 2014

Convention goes out the window in tit-for-tat politics

Convention goes out the window in tit-for-tat politics

Convention goes out the window in tit-for-tat politics

Date

We are witnessing history being made. Unfortunately, it is a
history-making decline in standards of political behaviour. At least it
proves we are not merely imagining that things were better in the old
days.

Tempting though it is, one of the things incoming governments don't do is delve into the affairs of their predecessor. The papers of the old government are not made available to the new masters.
But all that is out the window with the Abbott government's
decision to establish a royal commission into the Rudd government's
handling of the home insulation program and provide it with Labor's
cabinet documents.

It takes innocence greater than I can muster to believe the
motive for the inquiry is to bring justice to the program's victims
rather than to embarrass the Coalition's political opponents by raking
over one of their more celebrated stuff-ups.

Labor can take its lumps. The real pity is that a
long-standing convention seeking to limit political vindictiveness has
been cast aside, possibly forever.

One thing we can be sure of is that when next Labor returns
to power, it will lose no time in retaliating, as will that government's
eventual Coalition successor. Advantage-seeking retaliation will become
a bigger part of the political debate.

The man who set new lows in negativity and obstructionism
while in opposition is now taking us to new lows in government. In a
more godly world, Labor would resist the temptation to sink to the level
of misbehaviour set by its opponents, thus giving substance to its
repeated claims of moral superiority.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/comment/convention-goes-out-the-window-in-titfortat-politics-20140225-33fjx.html#ixzz2uMmgA0DF




Monday 24 February 2014

Manus Island: How information is kept 'under control'

Manus Island: How information is kept 'under control'



Manus Island: How information is kept 'under control'

Date


Immigration Department official tries to block Fairfax photographing Lt General Angus Campbell as he visits the squalid Manus Island Police station prison where six asylum seekers were locked up for 48 hours.
Immigration Department official tries to block
Fairfax photographing Lt General Angus Campbell as he visits the squalid
Manus Island Police station prison where six asylum seekers were locked
up for 48 hours. Photo: Rory Callinan
I've seen some censorship in my 20-plus years as a journalist
reporting from Australia and various countries in the Asia Pacific
region.

But what I saw on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea has made
me uneasy about press freedom in the Pacific and the Australian
Government's approach to reporting on the detention centre.

Last week photographer Nick Moir and I were on the island to
report on the aftermath of the riot at the detention centre, which left
one asylum seeker dead and about 70 injured.






-
Injured asylum seekers on Manus Island. Photo: Nick Moir

Within hours of arriving, staff from G4S, the private
security company employed by the Australian Government to manage the
centre, had manhandled Nick, confiscated his camera and forced him to
delete photographs in order to censor news.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/comment/manus-island-how-information-is-kept-under-control-20140225-33eob.html#ixzz2uJ1pCZyt

Tony Abbott, minister for women? No thanks

Tony Abbott, minister for women? No thanks



REMINISCING SOME OF THE STUPIDITY OF TONY ABBOTT.

THERE ARE SO MANY INSTANCES 



Four Corners' Liz Jackson reported in 2010 that Mr Abbott
had said in the 1970s*: "I think it would be folly to expect that women
will ever dominate or even approach equal representation in a large
number of areas simply because their aptitudes, abilities and interests
are different for physiological reasons."




This explanation might have washed when men were hunters and
women were gatherers – but technology has removed the physical
differential out of most tasks. And naked ambition should account for
the rest.









It's not just about boats, Mr Morrison

It's not just about boats, Mr Morrison



Since assuming his ministerial responsibilities, Mr Morrison has
overestimated his own competency and underestimated the complexity of
the human rights issues which lie at the core of the asylum-seeker
question. He has arrogantly dispensed with transparency, substituting it
with a twaddle of political slogans and herograms about how many days
it has been since a boat carrying asylum seekers arrived. There is
achievement in that, to be sure, because it has reduced the very real
risk of people dying on the open seas, but the weapon of dissuasion
wielded by the Abbott government, and by Labor before it, is a cruel and
short-sighted program of detention in foreign lands.





Mr Morrison's traditional response when challenged with error
is to deny culpability on the part of government officials, minimise
the seriousness of the issue or attempt to discredit anyone making
allegations. Yet on his watch, Royal Australian Navy vessels breached
Indonesian sovereignty on six occasions while conducting boat
turn-backs. And we have heard allegations, denied by the government,
that naval personnel deliberately burnt the hands of asylum seekers on a
boat being towed back to Indonesia. Last week it emerged that full
identification details of thousands of asylum seekers in detention had
been accessible for some days on the Immigration Department's website.


Armed locals let into Manus Island detention centre: witness

Armed locals let into Manus Island detention centre: witness



Manus Island detention centre security staff allowed armed locals into facility, witnesses say



Updated
1 hour 22 minutes ago



A witness to violence at the Manus Island detention
centre last Monday night says guards from the security firm G4S allowed
locals armed with makeshift weapons into the facility.
The Federal Government has backed away from its initial claims
about what happened during the violence at its off-shore detention
centre that killed one detainee and left dozens more injured.






An Open Letter to Scott Morrison « The Australian Independent Media Network

An Open Letter to Scott Morrison « The Australian Independent Media Network



Dear Scott Morrison,


You’ve probably guessed that this is not fan mail. I’m sure you do have
fans, but I don’t think there would be many game enough to admit it
after your recent behaviour. Trolls perhaps, but not people. Why not
people, you may ask? Succinctly, because no person with a shred of
humanity, the sort of humanity needed to qualify as a human, could ever
condone what you are doing to the world’s desperate asylum seekers who
come to Australia begging for help.



Before you ready your list of excuses as to why it’s justifiable for
someone to be murdered inside an Australian detention facility, there is
no justifiable excuse you could possibly provide that will go anywhere
near being a justifiable excuse. According to witness reports,
a man has died after having his throat cut and sustaining head
injuries. His name was Reza Berati. He had a family and friends who
loved him. He had a personality. He had a whole life ahead of him. And
he was murdered. With violence most compassionate people wouldn’t accept
against an animal. A man was murdered. There’s no other way to describe
it. You did not carry out the violence, but you were in charge of the
person who did, and you were responsible for the victim, Reza Berati
since he was in your care.


Excerpt from the Article by Victoria Rollison





Slave trade capitalism and the new Republican Party

Slave trade capitalism and the new Republican Party



"The feudal world is a remnant that still hangs from our representative democracy.  In many ways representative democracy is the half-way hybrid of feudalism and true democracy.  We rely on a patrician class of political operators to work in our best interests, when in reality they are mainly working in their own self-interest and the special interests of their patrons.  A more direct democracy would see be form of republicanism akin to ancient Athens where all citizens voted directly on bills or the young USA where the voice of the citizenry was a direction for action by their elected representatives.  The attack on workers and education is an attempt to stave off this next logical step in social and political evolution to a more direct and effective democracy.

This is why religious conservatives and economic libertarians attack the means of sustaining a viable middle class.  Poor education dramatically reduces opportunities for employment and advancement, and hamstrings innovations that may threaten the status quo.  Cutting health care forces families to spend more of their income and time on caring for sick or elderly family members.  Failing to invest in effective public transport creates a class divide between those who can afford a vehicle to access job opportunities and those who are trapped in a cycle of poverty due to lack of mobility.

Even now the decision not to build a national, equal-access broadband infrastructure is picking winners and losers.  Those with fibre connections are already enjoying higher house valuations. Once again the inner cities will have the advantages, while the suburbs and regional cities – the tradition heartland of the working and middle classes – are relegated to second class citizens.  How long until cuts to education, health, penalty rates and minimum wage see further collapse of employment options and standards of living in Australia?"
excerpt from Buzzzt Article





Sunday 23 February 2014

Former Sri Lankan military officer the acting manager of Manus Is

Former Sri Lankan military officer the acting manager of Manus Is



Human rights and asylum seeker advocates are condemning
a decision to employ a former Sri Lankan military officer as the acting
manager of the Manus Island detention camp.
The ABC has confirmed that Dinesh Perera has been running the facility for the G4S security company.

The director of advocacy and research at the Human Rights Law centre, Emily Howie, says Mr Perera should be removed.

"It's
completely inappropriate for anyone with links to the Sri Lankan
military to be in charge of the welfare and well-being of vulnerable
asylum seekers, including Tamils," Ms Howie said.


"There's a high likelihood that the Tamils being held there are fleeing persecution at the hands of the Sri Lankan military.

"This
isn't about the activities of this one man. It's about way that
Australia takes care of the asylum seekers who are in its custody.


We need to see Manus Island

We need to see Manus Island



This has happened as the Department of Immigration has itself become
committed to systemic secrecy. Visits to detention centres must be
pre-arranged and even then are vetted and watched closely by guards.




Journalists are not allowed to take photos or speak directly
with asylum seekers during media visits, which have become little more
than tours of empty infrastructure.




I was recently banned from access to a detention centre after
I wrote publicly about a previous visit to a friend in a Darwin
detention facility. A few weeks later, I tried to visit some others in
Perth: “VISIT ON YONGAH HILL DECLINED,” the text message read, the day
before I was due to arrive.




Others, who visit detainees more regularly, are more acutely
aware of the rule against publicising conditions in detention, which is
unspoken yet enforced.




After appeals I have been allowed back in, but with added conditions.



Seeking information is also prohibitive. I was recently
quoted $12,259 for a request regarding the compliance of Australia's
offshore processing policy with Article 9(1) of the ICCPR (which
prohibits arbitrary detention), and Australia's obligations under the
Convention on the Rights of the Child. After I complained they dropped
the charges by 50% to $6,129. I still can't afford to access the
information.




I have also sought copies of Official Visitor Registers from
Christmas Island and offshore detention facilities, which records the
number of visits requested and whether they were approved or denied. I
know already that the Australian Human Rights Commission and Immigration
Ombudsman have been denied access to Manus Island and Nauru, as have
several media organisations. That information cost over $300 and I have
yet to see the release.




I usually have to appeal the results of Freedom Of Information requests to obtain a release without unreasonable redactions.

The Ides of March

The Ides of March



"Nationally, the Federal Liberal-National government . . .

Has stated it will be pushing for the states to privatize more of their utilities, water, public transport, ports, and services – despite a recent reports from around the world that privatization has been a complete failure.
Established a Commission of Audit to rationalize massive cuts to services, health, education, and support a program of extensive privatization.
Is currently attempting to sell Medibank Private, a government corporation that actually makes money for tax payers, by hiring $2000-a-day spin doctors.
Tried to force SPC management to cut workers wages by up to 40% and cancel all conditions in return for any federal funding assistance.
Cancelled Gonski and education reform, and now Christopher Pyne currently has 2 men reviewing a curriculum that took 6 years and over 20,000 submissions to develop in order to reintroduce a more Christian education.
Has cancelled future Trades Training Centres across the nation.
Is signing up to the Trans-pacific partnership, which will give corporations the right to sue Australian state or federal governments if any changes to health, environment or any law impinge on their profits.
Apparently cancelled climate change, and tried to shut down the Clean Energy Finance corp, which is making $200 million per year for the tax payer, while contributing “more than 50 per cent of the emissions abatement that’s required for the bipartisan 2020 target
Cancelled Equal access fibre-to-the-home NBN, and now cities, suburbs, regional centres and the bush are going to miss out on the economic and social benefits of broadband infrastructure.
Has broken 25 promises in 150 days; after spending 3 years hounding PM Gillard for breaking 1."
Excerpt from Buzzzt Article

Scott Morrison's comments and conduct need examination

Scott Morrison's comments and conduct need examination

Scott Morrison's conduct should now be the subject of the inquiry he
has commissioned into the chaos and carnage that unfolded on Manus
Island last week.

The inquiry's terms of reference should be widened to include
who gave the Immigration Minister such wildly inaccurate information
after the violence - and what steps he took to verify it before going
public.

The minister now concedes he was wrong to assert, without
qualification, that 23-year-old Iranian, Reza Barati, was killed outside
the detention centre when he and others ''absconded'' from the
''safety'' it afforded.

He also said the asylum seeker was shot in the buttocks,
received his wound ''outside the centre'', that just two shots were
fired, and there was no suggestion anyone employed by security
contractor G4S was involved.

All these assertions have been challenged.




CORPORATE FASCISM: The Destruction of America's Middle Class (+playlist)



THIS IS NOW HAPPENING IN AUSTRALIA UNDER THE ABBOTT GOVERNMENT. WE MUST MAKE SURE WE STOP THEM BY VOTING THEM OUT.

Saturday 22 February 2014

Locals joined riot police stopping riot in Manus Island detention centre

Locals joined riot police stopping riot in Manus Island detention centre

MORE than 200 locals joined riot
police and guards from security contractor G4S in crushing Monday
night’s uprising by asylum-seekers at the Manus Island detention centre.

Civilian residents of the Lombrum naval base, on which the detention facility is located on Manus Island, said when security forces felt they were being overwhelmed they asked locals to help repel several hundred rioters.


MANUS ISLAND CENTRE COULD CLOSE AFTER INVESTIGATION


This account explains for the first time how
there were such widespread injuries, with 77 asylum seekers requiring
treatment and one man — Reza Berati,
23, who has been described as having regularly trained in boxing at the
centre, and was a riot leaders — dying later at hospital.














But then it was too late

But then it was too late

Article by Kaye Lee
An excerpt from  They Thought They Were Free – The Germans, 1933-45 by Milton Mayer


But Then It Was Too Lat


"What no one seemed to notice was the ever widening gap, after 1933,
between the government and the people. Just think how very wide this gap
was to begin with, here in Germany. And it became always wider. You
know, it doesn’t make people close to their government to be told that
this is a people’s government, a true democracy, or to be enrolled in
civilian defence, or even to vote. All this has little, really nothing,
to do with knowing one is governing.



What happened here was the gradual habituation of the people, little
by little, to being governed by surprise; to receiving decisions
deliberated in secret; to believing that the situation was so
complicated that the government had to act on information which the
people could not understand, or so dangerous that, even if the people
could  understand it, it could not be released because of national
security. And their sense of identification with Hitler, their trust in
him, made it easier to widen this gap and reassured those who would
otherwise have worried about it.



This separation of government from people, this widening of the gap,
took place so gradually and so insensibly, each step disguised (perhaps
not even intentionally) as a temporary emergency measure or associated
with true patriotic allegiance or with real social purposes. And all the
crises and reforms (real reforms, too) so occupied the people that they
did not see the slow motion underneath, of the whole process of
government growing remoter and remoter."


Excerpt from the Article







IT'S OFFICIAL : THE ABBOTT GOVERNMENT IS THE WORST EVER.


Friday 21 February 2014

ASYLUM SEEKERS, HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS: Australian govt. slammed over "cruel" refugee laws...

ASYLUM SEEKERS, HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS: Australian govt. slammed over "cruel" refugee laws...: Morrison you & Abbott & Co must resign. a ROYAL COMMISSION done to reveal the Evil of our ASYLUM SEEKERS policies. pic.twitter.c...

ASYLUM SEEKERS, HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS: Manus violence: dead asylum seeker named as Irania...

ASYLUM SEEKERS, HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS: Manus violence: dead asylum seeker named as Irania...: Manus violence: dead asylum seeker named as Iranian Reza Berati, 23 Reza Berati, the asylum seeker killed on Manus Island. ...

Things we CAN afford.

Things we CAN afford.

 Article by Kaye Lee



"I know times are tough and that we will all have to tighten our belts
(well so the government keeps telling me).  The list of things we can’t
afford grows longer and more depressing every day.



But take heart.  The list of things we can afford is also growing.



We can afford to spend $9.5 billion over the next four years locking
innocent people up in offshore detention camps (though that figure might
lower as we kill them off).



We can afford to use a naval flotilla to ward off a few fishing
boats.  Under Operation Sovereign Borders two frigates, seven patrol
boats and numerous Customs vessels will patrol the seas between
Christmas Island and Ashmore Reef and Indonesia.  Anzac Class frigates
cost about $207,000-a-day to operate compared with $40,000-a-day for
Armidale Class Patrol boats.



We can afford orange life rafts which cost about $50,000 each to leave on Indonesian beaches after one use each.



We can afford to make a gift of two patrol boats to the Sri Lankan
Navy and even spend $ 2 million refurbishing them first.  Tiger shooting
anyone?



We can afford $14 billion in fossil fuel subsides over the next four years because Lord knows they need our help.



We can afford to give $3 billion to the worst polluting companies. 
This is not to save or create jobs, it’s a handout so they can upgrade
their factories and lower their bills."


Excerpt from Kaye Lee's Article

Senator George Brandis QC to release Labor's pink batts cabinet documents

Senator George Brandis QC to release Labor's pink batts cabinet documents








''If you are going to start the practice in which the new incoming
government has royal commissions chasing its predecessor, then there'll
be payback and the next incoming government will do it, too - and you
can ultimately make democracy as we know it, and understand it,
unworkable,'' Mr Fraser said.




Mr Hawke said it was ''almost beyond belief that the government could
contemplate doing anything which breaches what is now a more than
century-old tradition here, which has been respected by governments and
parties of both persuasions''.


Thursday 20 February 2014

Joe’s all talk, no action – Opinion – The Australian « anthonyalbanese.com.au

Joe’s all talk, no action – Opinion – The Australian « anthonyalbanese.com.au





THERE’S something very
hollow about Joe Hockey’s attempt to provide leadership to the G20
finance ministers on the need to encourage more private investment in
infrastructure.

The Treasurer’s aim is laudable – it makes sense for the G20 to
discuss ways of making it easier to unlock billions of dollars in
superannuation funds to bankroll the construction of roads, railways,
ports and other infrastructure.



But there’s a glaring flaw in Hockey’s argument: while he champions
private-sector infrastructure investment, his own government is making
decisions right now that will alienate investors by ending the
transparency in our infrastructure market.



Infrastructure Minister Warren Truss is amending the laws that govern
Infrastructure Australia to gut the existing transparent process for
assessing the nation’s needs.



The new regime will replace the current evidence-based decision-making process with one based on party politics.


Truss’s changes will repel private-sector investors – the opposite of what Hockey says he wants.

Manus Island police chief slams Tony Abbott

Manus Island police chief slams Tony Abbott



Manus Island's police chief has blasted the Abbott government's
running of the immigration detention camp on the island, suggesting the
recent fatal violence could have been avoided.




Police commander Alex N'Drasal said the protests were sparked
by the failure to act on a list of grievances raised by the asylum
seekers. He said the Australian government should improve the way the
detention centre is run.





Meanwhile, the Australian government has suffered the
ignominy of having its asylum-seeker policy publicly criticised by
another foreign government - this time China, a country with its own
chequered human rights record.


Two injured asylum seekers at Manus Island airport leave for Port Moresby on Thursday following riots at the detention centre.


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/manus-island-police-chief-slams-tony-abbott-20140220-334ch.html#ixzz2ttNF3sbb

Wednesday 19 February 2014

Health Minister flags increasing healthcare costs

Health Minister flags increasing healthcare costs

Please click on the link above to view interview




The ruthless and callous Abbott Government brandishing the Scythe to Hurt more Australians.

Tanya Plibersek pointing out important aspects of the Liberals Intentions :



Tony Abbott’s health minister. One interview. The main points:
1. Under Tony Abbott universal healthcare through Medicare is over.
2. Under Tony Abbott ordinary families should be forced pay to see a GP.
3. Under Tony Abbott keeping the junk food industry happy is more important than keeping people healthy. 





Doug Cameron

Doug Cameron
Click on the above link to view the video

Abbott and his Intellectually Impaired Government.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=495498343903900&set=vb.129572820496456&type=2&theater

Manus Island violence: interpreter claims detainees attacked by locals, 'There was blood everywhere'

Manus Island violence: interpreter claims detainees attacked by locals, 'There was blood everywhere'



Papua New Guinea locals employed by security guards at the Manus
Island detention centre attacked asylum seekers with machetes, knives
and rocks, an interpreter employed by the Australian Immigration
Department has claimed.



Azita Bokan alleges asylum seekers used plastic chairs as
shields when they were attacked by locals who entered the centre on
Monday night.


Tuesday 18 February 2014

Liberal MPs suspended over corruption probe

Liberal MPs suspended over corruption probe



I wonder if Rupert Murdoch Media will publish this ?




Former energy minister Chris Hartcher and other central coast MPs
Chris Spence and Darren Webber have been suspended from the NSW Liberal
Party after being named in two major corruption inquiries.





Acting state director Simon McInnes announced in a statement
on Wednesday morning the trio had "voluntarily withdrawn" from the party
after the O'Farrell government was dragged into the scandal surrounding
the family of former Labor powerbroker Eddie Obeid, with an
announcement that public hearings would begin in weeks.




A senior government source said the Liberal Party had decided on Tuesday night to begin proceedings to suspend the trio.




The MPs had just renominated for preselection in their central coast seats for the March 2015 state election.


Voices from Manus: 'We are in danger. Somebody please help us'

Voices from Manus: 'We are in danger. Somebody please help us'



Abbott Government should be sacked by the Governor General.
It has now become a Murderous and Incompetent Government that has allowed Asylum Seekers to be demonised, tortured and murdered.




At 10.29pm local time on Monday, an asylum seeker inside Manus Island
detention centre sent this message to Guardian Australia: “We are in
danger. They attacked us again. Somebody please help us. They cut off
the electricity and attacked us.”


By the end of the night
one asylum seeker was dead, another shot, another in a critical
condition, and dozens injured after the most severe disturbance at the
controversial centre since it reopened in October 2012
. The asylum seeker who sent this message has been uncontactable since.

Monday 17 February 2014

Alcoa denies carbon price to blame for decision to shut its Port Henry aluminium smelter

Alcoa denies carbon price to blame for decision to shut its Port Henry aluminium smelter



Isn't it incredible that the Abbott Government blames the Carbon Price for everything?
ALCOA DENIES CARBON PRICE was THE REASON TO CLOSE DOWN SMELTER.
So, in effect Alcoa is saying the Abbott Government is LYING AGAIN.





Aluminium manufacturer Alcoa says the carbon price was not to blame
for its decision to shut its Port Henry smelter in Victoria, distancing
itself from federal government claims the tax had hurt the business.





As the federal government and the opposition traded blows on
Tuesday about the company's decision to close facilities in Geelong and
Western Sydney, at the cost of nearly 1000 Alcoa workers' jobs, the
company moved to set the record straight.



Abbott talks gruel while lavishing pork

Abbott talks gruel while lavishing pork



"    There is a group of workers whose conditions far exceed the perks at SPC Ardmona...

 Perks
available to this lucky group include a round the world first class
fare for themselves and their spouse, with accommodation and expenses,
every year, as well as allowances to buy any books and publications they
want and generous airfares and travel allowances with a very broad
definition of the "work" they need to be doing to qualify. And, guess
what, they get to determine a lot of the guidelines and rules for the
perks themselves.

    This group of workers is of course federal politicians...

   
It would be much easier to win support for a national "heavy lifting"
effort, to combat rising unemployment and get the economy through a
period of very difficult change, if there was clear evidence that
everyone - workers, executives, even politicians - were putting in a bit
of the grunt."
excerpt from the Newspaper article.

Sunday 16 February 2014

Rupert Murdoch Exposed



In Australia his Minions obey his every wish to destroy Australians welfare and Democracy.

News Corp’s $882m blew the budget

News Corp’s $882m blew the budget





The drama over the payout, one of the largest cash payments made by the Tax Office, played out behind the scenes during the federal election.

On July 25 the Federal Court of Appeal ruled against the Tax Office to allow News Corp to claim a $2 billion deduction from a series of paper shuffles between subsidiaries.

At the time, The Australian Financial Review speculated the win would be worth up to $600 million in future tax benefits, but interest charges had pushed the payout far higher.

The Tax Office was deciding whether to appeal against the judgment as News Corp newspapers launched a ferocious attack on the government, kicking off with the Daily Telegraph’s headline on August 5, 11 days after the court judgement: “Kick this mob out.” In the following days, Labor leader Kevin Rudd would claim that News Corp was running a virulent anti-government campaign in exchange for concessions from the Coalition.

Money for nothing and the clicks are free

Money for nothing and the clicks are free



How Abbott and Co and their Murdoch Partners buy likes and clicks on the internet.
 We can no longer trust polls,many are today manipulated to convey whatever you want.
Also the minions of the conservative movement continuously come up with trumped up articles  by so called experts and Media programs to confuse and manipulate the public.

Saturday 15 February 2014

The Public Good is good for everyone

The Public Good is good for everyone



"Abbott’s electoral success was mounted on a foundation of invisible villains that triggered a selfish ‘dog eat dog’ reflex in sections of the Australian public. Abbott made up reasons why people should be scared of a Labor government and then promised to save them from these fictional threats. From government debt. Electricity bills. Asylum seekers arriving by boat. The instability of minority government. ‘Wasteful’ government spending. Unions. It takes a pretty incredible propaganda machine to convince workers that unions are bad and Gina Rinehart cares about them. But, with the help of the mainstream media, that is what Abbott managed to do."
excerpt from the Article by Victoria Rollison 




A Bit of Fry&Laurie: If Rupert Murdoch hadn't been born...



What a wonderful world would be without RUPERT MURDOCH

Coalition backs climate policy after IMF chief urges Australia to remain 'pioneers'

Coalition backs climate policy after IMF chief urges Australia to remain 'pioneers'



I suppose Greg Hunt will try to find a solution in WIKIPEDIA.
Greg Hunt couldn't hit the targets even with a wisdom suppositories missile



Friday 14 February 2014

IMF chief Christine Lagarde in veiled criticism of government's climate role

IMF chief Christine Lagarde in veiled criticism of government's climate role



"Australia was very much at the forefront, Australia was pioneering in
this field and I would hope that it continues to be a pioneer," said Ms
Lagarde, who as a politician was a conservative. "I do think that
climate change issues and progress in that regard are critical and are
not just fantasies, they are real issues."


Excerpt from the Article by SMH Newspaper

Australia announces inquiry into asylum child detainees





Both Major political parties should abandon the detention of Asylum Seekers which is against Human rights, having been condemned by the United Nations.
It's barbaric and inhuman to continue with the current system.

Indian student dies in Maribyrnong immigration detention

Indian student dies in Maribyrnong immigration detention

According to documents obtained by Fairfax Media, the
Australian government had to pay nearly $7 million for breaches of duty
of care, including mental health claims, of asylum seekers held in
detention centres since 1999.




Of the 150 claims lodged for negligence or breach of statutory duty, 102 were closed and had cost the government $6.92 million.



The average amount of money per payout was $45,520, the documents showed.



Louise Newman, a professor of developmental
psychiatry at Monash University, said the environment of the
detention centres, particularly in Nauru and Manus Island, fostered
mental illnesses.




''It is highly predictable,'' Professor Newman said.
''We are setting up the circumstances [that will] lead to an increase
in disorders, depression and suicide.''




Human rights lawyer Greg Barns said detention was
''inherently stressful'' and asked if the signs for mental strain were
being picked up by centre staff. ''The environment itself is creating
the illness,'' he said.




Capitalism isn’t democracy

Capitalism isn’t democracy

Article by KAYE LEE



"Political institutions function in a world in which power is linked to property.  Economic power can affect democracy, but the masses cannot infiltrate the bastions of capitalism. The wealthy have been able to buy power and distort democracy to suit their agenda where the interests of the few have overwhelmed the interests of the many.

The Right would have us believe that “small” government is best and that only privatization, deregulation, and tax cuts can save us.  In a capitalist democracy, the state is a dispenser of many valuable prizes. Whoever amasses the most political power wins the most valuable prizes. The rewards include property rights, friendly regulators, subsidies, tax breaks, and free or cheap use of the commons. The notion that the state promotes “the common good” is sadly naive."
excerpt from Kaye Lee Article

Thursday 13 February 2014

Mining projects: Greg Hunt set to grant himself retrospective legal immunity

Mining projects: Greg Hunt set to grant himself retrospective legal immunity



Greg WIKIPEDIA Hunt avoiding responsibility as the rest of the Abbott Cabinet do all the time.

Churches warn Scott Morrison against 'playing God' with asylum seekers' lives

Churches warn Scott Morrison against 'playing God' with asylum seekers' lives



A fascist attitude to Human Rights from a Heartless Minister from an evil Government



But this week's Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights
concluded that the government's proposed changes not only risked
violating Australia's non-refoulement obligations, but also contravened
other rights under international law, such as the right to an effective
remedy, the right to a fair hearing, and the right not to be arbitrarily
detained, said Professor Jane McAdam, director of the Kaldor Centre for
International Refugee Law at the UNSW.




The Taskforce is one of nearly 30 groups that have written submissions to the Senate committee voicing their opposition.



The chair of the Taskforce, Dean Peter Catt, said he did not
want to wake up in disbelief and shock in 20 years for the decisions
made now.


Great cartoon by the Australian Financial Review cartoonist.
via Joel Fitzgibbon Labor MP
THIS IS ACTUALLY THE LNP ( LIARS NATIONAL PARTY ) AGENDA
 
 

TONY ABBOTT - LIAR LIAR PANTS ON FIRE

Just Political Language or the Abbott Art of Lying

Just Political Language or the Abbott Art of Lying

Article by John Lord



"Lying in Australian politics has reached an unprecedented level. The Prime minister and his cabinet is taking lying to such depths that it is not disingenuous to suggest that they no longer have a moral compass or understanding of truth.

Some time ago I wrote the following in a piece titled. ‘’Abbott Tells Another One’’

    ‘’If this means I am saying he is a pathological liar then so be it. It’s not a nice thing to say about anyone but we are dealing with truth here. It’s not so much that he is a serial offender, he is. I think the electorate knows that and factors it in. The fact that he lies can and is easily supported by volumes of readily available, irrefutable evidence. (I can provide it if need be) However what is of equal concern is that the main stream media (the so called forth estate) who are supposed to be the people’s custodian of truth, condones it’’.

Since being elected Prime Minister some political commentators have suggested he has made a genuine attempt to be Prime Ministerial. If he has it has been a forlorn attempt. He has been unable throw off a lifetime image of political thuggery, negativity and gutter speech."
excerpt from Article by John Lord

Tuesday 11 February 2014

About the LNP ( Liars National Party ) appalling record in office.


Doug Cameron

Doug Cameron



About the LNP ( Liars National Party ) and SPC
Magnificent speech by DOUG CAMERON LABOR MP

Joe Hockey, Toyota at odds whether union to blame for car maker's closure

Joe Hockey, Toyota at odds whether union to blame for car maker's closure



ABBOTT GOVERNMENT CAUGHT LYING AGAIN



The Treasurer proceeded to attack the Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union for placing unreasonable demands on Toyota.



But Toyota's management has strongly rejected the report of
its December meeting with Mr Hockey, issuing a statement to deny
allegations that it blamed the union for its decision to leave Australia
in 2017.




“Toyota Australia has never blamed the union for its decision
to close its manufacturing operations by the end of 2017, neither
publicly or in private discussions with any stakeholders,” the company
said in a statement.




“As stated at the time of the announcement, there is no single reason that led to this decision.



“The market and economic factors contributing to the decision
include the unfavourable Australian dollar ... and low economies of
scale for our vehicle production and local supplier base.


The march of neo-liberalism

The march of neo-liberalism



"In December 2012 Toyota announced the opening of its new engine plant at Toyota Australia’s centralised manufacturing operations in Altona, a western suburb of Melbourne. This was a little more than a year ago. Although times were tough then with a historically high Australian dollar, a fragmented market, almost no trade protection and only moderate government co-investment (to partially compensate for relatively high Australian wages), Toyota must still have seen a future for the Australian automotive manufacturing industry.

These external negative factors have not really changed from one year ago. If anything, the Australian dollar has fallen so conditions should in reality be better.

What is different is the attitude of the current Federal Government, with their hardened attitude of the government’s primary economic advisory body, the Productivity Commission. The Productivity Commission recently recommended that all government support for the Australian automotive industry cease by 2020. This is effectively a decision that declared an Australian automotive manufacturing industry is not welcome past 2020 and that the government’s key advisers want the industry to, simply, close down."
Excerpt from the Article

Abbott's culture wars and ideology risk Australia's future

Abbott's culture wars and ideology risk Australia's future

Article by Matthew Donovan



"Through their blind ideology, their words and their actions the Abbott
Government has overseen the death of the auto industry in Australia and
they are just getting started. Matthew Donovan outlines the reckless
Abbott Government agenda.
It is crystal clear the Abbott Government has no clue what they are doing.
The
announcement by Toyota of their closure in Australia is the latest
casualty of the ideology that has taken control of the country.
Let’s be clear about this. The loss of our over 70 year car manufacturing industry is a disaster of unimaginable proportions.
The reality of this is not yet accepted by Tony Abbott and his government."
As per article
TONY ABBOTT AND HIS NERO COMPLEX

Abbott has a NERO Complex. He's watching and creating the destruction of Australia.under the watchful eyes of his Master The Dark Lord Murdoch and has managed to be surrounded by a number of psychopaths as his cheer squad.


Monday 10 February 2014

Shit Tony Abbott Says

Getting the message straight on industry policy

Getting the message straight on industry policy



Tony Abbott makes George W. Bush look intelligent.
His comments and actions make him a WAFU PM.
He's so full of vile and Jihadist mindset that he attacks anything and everything.

Tony Abbott presents a danger to Australia and Australians.

He should be sacked by the Governor General.

Road to recession: end of car industry may cost 50,000 jobs

Road to recession: end of car industry may cost 50,000 jobs



Abbott Government continues to destroy Australia and hurting as many Australians as he can.



The end of car manufacturing in Australia - confirmed with Toyota's
announcement that it would shut local production in 2017, taking
thousands of jobs with it - could tip Victoria and South Australia into
recession, industry experts and economists have warned.





The automotive giant's global boss, Akio Toyoda, travelled to
the Altona plant and told 2500 workers their jobs would go in three
years. The decision is a massive blow for the Victorian economy in
particular, where more than 25,000 jobs are likely to go across the car
and automotive components industries. Unions claim 50,000 skilled jobs
may be lost nationally. Toyota will follow Ford and Holden out of the
country, with all three car makers announcing in the last year that they
would cease manufacturing by 2017. All three brands will now import all
their vehicles.





Saturday 8 February 2014

Cover up and secrecy in Abbott's Australia - Al Jazeera English

Cover up and secrecy in Abbott's Australia - Al Jazeera English



"PM pans 'unpatriotic' national broadcaster for holding govt accountable to its electorate.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has something in common with Egypt's military government - he expects the government-funded Australian Broadcasting Corporation to be a cheerleader for the country and decries the reporting of stories which portray Australia negatively.

But while the Egyptian government has jailed Al Jazeera journalists  for making Egypt look bad, Abbott has to find other methods of curtailing criticism."
As per article

Friday 7 February 2014

Senator Ludlam explains the dangers of the TPPA on ABC News 24

Ed Schultz Exposes the Secret Trans Pacific Partnership Trade Agreement



Great world conspiracy to all countries including Australia. The Trans Pacific Agreement sell our right our constitution, our freedom of choice, our workers rights.
Abbott and Co is conspiring against us to sell us to Big Global Corporations.

The TPP, Treaties and the Constitution

The TPP, Treaties and the Constitution

Article by Michael Taylor

"Will our sovereign rights be signed away with the Trans-Pacific
Partnership (the TPP) Agreement? Matthew Mitchell examines the
likelihood in this guest article.

Currently our government is
negotiating the TPP with America (and other nations) in a secret
process. This process and many proposed elements of the agreement have
been universally condemned by civil society. In particular the
Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) system, which the Abbott
government has indicated it may accept. The ISDS has been protested
against by over 30 civil society organisations in Australia (in a letter
published by AFTINET) and also by judges, lawyers and academics
globally (in an open letter) arguing that it:

     “threatens to undermine the justice systems in our various countries”

And that:

   
“the increasing use of this mechanism to skirt domestic court systems
and the structural problems inherent in the arbitral regime are
corrosive of the rule of law and fairness.”

In fact, if agreed to, the ISDS would effectively sell out our sovereignty over our nation as described in the Huffington Post:

   
“From leaked drafts, terms of the Trans-Pacific deal have come under
fire for proposing to grant corporations the political power to directly
challenge government regulations in international court. This
sovereignty issue has long been a sticking point for both conservatives
and progressive members of Congress, as the right to challenge
government rules had been restricted to sovereign nations under World
Trade Organization pacts and other deals.”
As per Article by Michael Taylor 

ABC asylum seeker reporting makes me 'sick to stomach', says David Johnston

ABC asylum seeker reporting makes me 'sick to stomach', says David Johnston



 
David Johnston Minister of THE INDEFENSIBLE is a joke of a Minister.
His defence of the Navy is hypocritical.

Anger as federal food guide is pulled from web

Anger as federal food guide is pulled from web

 The fascist hands of the Abbott Government again in Action.



"The federal government has been accused of bowing to the junk food
industry after a new food rating system website was pulled down,
allegedly at the behest of a senior minister.




The long-awaited ''health star rating'' website, for food
manufacturers to label their products with easy-to-understand
nutritional information, was launched about midday on Wednesday, only to
be pulled by 8pm that night.





Fairfax Media has been given evidence that Assistant Health
Minister Fiona Nash, and her chief of staff, Alastair Furnival,
personally intervened to have the site pulled down - despite it being
approved through a Council of Australian Governments ministerial
council."


Excerpt from the newspaper article


Thursday 6 February 2014

'Some jobs go.Other jobs begin': Abbott's awkward kiss & Glasson leaves ...



Abbott impaired intellect continues to affect him.

His foot in mouth syndrome is legendary.

He makes George W. Bush look intelligent.

Wednesday 5 February 2014

Is Tony Abbott's Australian administration the most hostile to his nation's environment in history?

Is Tony Abbott's Australian administration the most hostile to his nation's environment in history?



"Critics warn that moves by Tony Abbott and his Environment Minister,
Greg Hunt, will not only degrade the country's most outstanding natural
assets, but make Australia an international laughing-stock. The UN has
already threatened to list the Great Barrier Reef as "in danger" when
its World Heritage watchdog committee meets in Qatar in June.
Compounding
the right-wing government's apparent disregard for Australia's unique
environment, say conservationists and scientists, is its resistance to
any meaningful action to tackle climate change."
As per article

Tuesday 4 February 2014

Video Tony Abbott didnt want the public to see.2010

Facts about tony abbott 2013,tony abbott facts,Tony Abbott Lies in hes s...

Manus Island: leaked report reveals hazards of processing centre expansion

Manus Island: leaked report reveals hazards of processing centre expansion

    Plans for a massive expansion of the Manus Island processing centre carry extreme risks of exposure to hazardous materials, asbestos and unexploded ordnance, as well as high risks of environmental and heritage damage.

Detailed planning documents of an expansion for an extra 2,000 asylum seekers and 800 staff at the offshore processing centre in Papua New Guinea reveals the development could pose significant risks to the local environment, asylum seekers and nearby residents.
Guardian Australia has obtained a leaked design report and preliminary environmental impact statement commissioned by the Department of Immigration. The reports were undertaken by Sinclair Knight Mertz and provide a detailed analysis of the construction and operational risks of the new facility.
The risk of unexploded ordnance, which could include munitions, bombs or mines, was so great that a full site survey could not be completed to determine the full extent of hazards at the facility.
The most serious risks listed in the environmental impact assessment include:

    Unexploded ordnance, asbestos, stored fuel and disused septic tanks, as well as barrels of an “unknown white substance”.
    Death of marine life from bulk fuel storage, high risks of soil contamination during construction and potential long-term toxic effects on the marine environment.
    “Irreversible” loss of heritage values and destruction of cultural items.
    A “lack of consultation” with local Papua New Guinea authorities about the development.
    No hot water supply for asylum seekers’ accommodation and amenities areas. Staff areas will be provided with hot water.
    The preparation of the massive site will require the clearing of five hectares of “currently largely vegetated areas with areas of significant secondary lowland rainforest” and “significant species”.

Monday 3 February 2014

MP says Prime Minister and Treasurer lied about SPC

MP says Prime Minister and Treasurer lied about SPC



A Liberal backbencher has accused Prime Minister Tony
Abbott and Treasurer Joe Hockey of lying about union conditions at SPC
Ardmona.
Sharman Stone, the Member for Murray, says the Federal
Government is using excuses that are "wrong" to justify the decision to
reject a bid from the northern Victorian food processor for $25 million
in assistance.


Union conditions of workers have come under fire from the Government for being too extravagant, with pay well above the award.

Dr Stone says the leaders of her party are deceiving the public debate.

"It's not the truth. That's right, it's lying," she said.