Fasten Your Seat Belts …

Fiona Uncategorized

In spite of the gathering storm clouds

(Image credit: Covering Katy)

the increasing likelihood of even more


(Image credit: The Telegraph)

and


(Image credit: Courier Mail)

plus maybe the odd


(Image credit: CNN)

we at The Pub will stagger on


(Image credit: Don Balke)

So cheer up –

and enjoy the raffle, the cameraderie, the drinks, the music …

323 thoughts on “Fasten Your Seat Belts …”

  2. I also saw his pimp, Peta, arriving during another cancellation/delay… She looked just as dour as the photos imply (and dreadful dress sense.)

  5. http://andrewelder.blogspot.com.au/2013/09/my-prime-minister-your-prime-minister.html

    21 September 2013
    My Prime Minister, your Prime Minister

    Do I contradict myself?
    Very well then I contradict myself,
    (I am large, I contain multitudes.)

    – Walt Whitman Song of myself

    There remains a desire in this country to hold the government to account. Some people want the government to do what it was elected to do, others want it to do something else. Traditionally the media also held governments to account, but these days they only do polls.

    What do people mean when they say “Tony Abbott is not my Prime Minister”? What do others who hear that think it means?

    http://theconversation.com/is-global-warming-in-a-hiatus-18367

    19 September 2013, 10.54am AEST
    Is global warming in a hiatus?

    Andy Pitman
    Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science at University of New South Wales

    On September 27 2013 the 5th Assessment Report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will be released.

    One part of this report will address the so-called “warming hiatus”. This is the argument that warming has stopped, with the further assertion in some quarters that we therefore have nothing to worry about in the future.

    It is a fact, based on observations of air temperature, that the rate of global warming measured as surface air temperature has slowed over the past 15 years. The last decade is still the warmest in the past 150 years.

    ……………

    The slowing in the rate of warming over the last 15 years is not in the least surprising. We have seen a combination of the solar minimum, anthropogenic aerosol emissions and back-to-back La Niñas.

    What is surprising – and what is deeply concerning to me and almost entirely missed in the media commentary – is that we have not cooled dramatically over the last 15 years.

  6. Leroy,

    You have to laugh at the newspaper cutting he has used in there from the woman complaining about how this wasn’t what she voted for when she voted for Abbott.

    Abbott has been good to his word so far – no surprises. Except for those who must have been sleeping for the last four years.

  7. News from NSW, and an earlier background story.

    http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/two-mps-targeted-in-corruption-raids-20130921-2u671.html

    Two MPs targeted in corruption raids
    September 21, 2013 – 11:32AM

    Corruption authorities have raided the electorate offices of Liberal MPs Chris Spence and Darren Webber overnight.

    Fairfax Media has confirmed the raids by officers attached to the Independent Commission Against Corruption, took place on Friday.

    http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/ministers-aide-quits-over-allegations-of-electoral-funding-breaches-20120511-1yi4w.html

    Minister’s aide quits over allegations of electoral funding breaches
    May 12, 2012
    Sean Nicholls
    Sydney Morning Herald State Political Editor

  8. Ugh, why did I click on the Age? It was demanding I give Abbott a chance and all it did was make me want to snarl back “Oh f**k off”

    The pleas for “understanding” of Abbott are a recognition that he’s not well-liked. It’s probably a positive sign for our side of politics.

    They would be coming out of focus groups, which are likely finding that there’s a bit of buyer’s remorse out there.

    The paucity of female numbers in Cabinet is proof positive that all the palaver about how Abbott “Gets” women was bunkum.

    The calls (now from Bilson, beginning the “softening-up” stage) for a change to the GST show Labor was right to raise the concern. Maybe the GST does need to go up. I don’t know. There’s certainly a body of respectable opinion that it should. But that’s not the point. The point is that Abbott, Hockey and Pyne ruled it out, Pyne ruling it out until the end of time, under any Abbott government, now and into the future.

    The Boats information clampdown shows that they think they can get away with not stopping the boats, and also with no-one knowing about it, believing that the lack of reporting equals a lack of boats. Using the excuse that it’s now a “military operation” is pissweak-clever, but still pissweak.

    The journos are starting to get antsy. They need color and movement to fill their crappy newspaper pages, or else they’ll go broke even sooner than reckoned now. What they don’t need are news reports that there is no news.

    Once the footy seasons are over there’ll be nothing in the papers except Reality TV dross, and confected Labor Party leadership stoushes. Parliament’s not even meeting until whenever. The gap generated from no-news news has to be filled.

    Abbott has started out from a weak position. He’s not particularly liked (despite the best efforts of his urgers in the media), and he’s not particularly trusted. Nearly four years of puffery from the Murdoch media, the ABC, and tame lefties in the newspapers like Waleed Aly, got them a 3% swing. It’s been uphill going.

    The people voted for him and his party knowing he was a con-man, but each individual voter, those that gave it some thought at least, believed it was the other poor mug being conned. Now we’ll see who really loses out.

    It won’t be all plain sailing for Abbott. He’s not a natural statesman, or leader. Once a wall-puncher, always a wall-puncher. Eventually he’ll snap.

    Many of his policies – like axeing the NBN – are not popular at all. I can hardly wait to find out what parents in Western Sydney think about losing the Schoolkids’ Bonus once it gets through their thick heads that they’re the targets of much of Abbott’s cost-cutting.

    Responsible, medium to large companies who are participating in Labor’s Green Bank process will scream loudly when the rug is pulled out from underneath them.

    Abbott, in sum, doesn’t have a lot of political capital to spend. and when he’s spent it, what does he do then?

    More slogans?

  10. bushfirebill, when it comes to Abbott and GST, he did worse, than muddy the waters.

    He set out and is still giving the impression, that i there was any change, there is nothing he can do about it.

    This is Bullshit. If there is any change, he will be responsible.

    The Federal government can do what it likes with the GST, anytime he likes. It is Federal legalization. It was not put in place, by referendum. He can change the GST. Even demolish it, like he loves to do in other areas

    Mr. Abbott can starve the states of money, forcing them to act. In this regard, some states are reluctant, as they have elections coming up.

    I am sure, that Abbott would love to see the GST to evolved as Howard wished, but was thwarted by the Democrats.

    This is the first time in the political cycle, that the Coalition have a chance to fix, what many see as wrong. Yes, even Howard had to negotiate getting legislation through. Something Abbott seems to believe, he does not have to do, Seems to think, all have to deny their own values, and give him a free run..

    All that has occurred, Abbott has the numbers to govern. Yes, not the ability or right to do as he pleases.

    Abbott has an obligation to be open and transparent.

    We have the right to criticise..

    He has to convince us, of the worth of his actions.

    We ask questions. He answers. If he does not, he will suffer the outcome from such an attitude.

  12. Rerun NPC on ABC 24. Has much good to say. Reminds us, that the Coalition can be good, and how far it has fallen.

  13. This will make Sweaty Joe sweat a lot more –

    The increased value of the Australian dollar will also cause some budgetary pain for the incoming government. The budget deficit and surplus projections announced in the pre-election economic and fiscal outlook (PEFO) were based on the assumption of the dollar averaging 91c.

    A higher value dollar is likely to push company tax revenue below expectations and also inhibit growth in the non-mining sector at a time when both the treasurer, Joe Hockey, and the Reserve Bank are looking to those sectors to take up some of the slack as the mining boom comes off the boil.

    http://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/sep/20/australia-federal-reserve

    I’m hoping for a Melbourne Cup Day interest rate rise, it would be such fun watching Joe sweat through his explanation for the first interest rate rise in two years.

  14. Nice posts this morning, much better reading than the faff in the papers.

    Also, there’s an update on the votes in Fairfax. The prepolls are heavily favouring the LNP, so Palmer might fall behind, he’s down to a 22 vote lead now with 260 to go.

  17. Kirksdarke,
    I have a strong belief Clive Palmer did not intend to come out of the election as the Member for Fairfax. The sole object of his Party running candidates for the House of Reps across the country was to take ALP votes. Having a seat in the Senate would be also an objective. His business interests and his mining interests, and those of his friends, were the reasons for him wanting to get Labor out of government.

    He was quoted somewhere as saying the Electorate and Canberra would not be seeing much of him as he is “a citizen of the world”.

  18. Good afternoon and no, I haven’t just emerged from the basket – but it was a long and refreshing sleep.

    Thank you everyone, especially BK, for the fascinating links. They will keep me amused, entertained, and non doubt infuriated for the rest of the day, when I’m not being thoroughly lazy.

  19. That press release of Morrison is arrogance at the highest level.

    It is frightening that he seems to believe his own spiel.

    No more personal appearances.

  20. NSW Opposition leader ABC 24. Seems Central Coast NSW MPs could be in big trouble. Why does that not surprise. ICAC raid on offices today. Wonder what Mr. Thomson thinks.

  21. leone, as I recall, after 13yrs in government Howard was still blaming Labor for any and every bad economic number (all the good numbers were naturally due to his own economic prowess ofc). Treasurer Hockey is unlikely to do much different.

  24. 2gravel, I fully expect the next three years under Abbott to feel like 30.

    I’ve already seen one person on Facebook with a “don’t blame me, I voted Labor” profile pic. More will come.

  26. oops sorry, i guess i was thinking of the length of the hawke/keating period or something…
    I recall an interview during howard’s last election campaign where he was trying to make the case that he deserved another term to (wtte) ‘fix labor’s economic mess’, and the interviewer looked at him and said, ‘but haven’t you had enough time to do that by now?’

  31. I thought the Australia’s military forces were for the defense of the country. This galah & his leader seem to think that they are for endlessly training & fighting in some god forgotten place way beyond our shores.

    Australia’s new Defence Minister David Johnston says he wants the military to be battle-ready for future conflicts in the unstable Middle East and south Asia, even including the possibility of fresh trouble in Afghanistan.

    Senator Johnston said that after 14 years of involvement in overseas conflicts from East Timor to Afghanistan, the Australian Defence Force had a strong fighting momentum that should not be lost.

    In an interview with Fairfax Media, he said he planned to maintain and ”augment our readiness” for future fights, which would most likely be in the unstable region stretching from Pakistan to the Middle East.

    ”It will be Pakistan across to Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Afghanistan,” he said. ”That’s the area where there’ll be instability and that’s the area that we might need to go back into at some point in the future.

    ”I can’t foresee that right now, but … if you were to look at where the next area of instability is likely to be – and we’re seeing it unfolding in Syria today – a contribution from Australia is most likely to be in that part of the world in the future … I think Pakistan is also highly problematic.”

    http://www.smh.com.au/national/war-footing-minister-eyes-next-hotspot-20130920-2u5dm.html

  33. 36 votes, okay, that’s 1 less than the 37 votes that changed McEwen. Still, Palmer would probably win in the recount, which I think is automatic due to being under 100. And since the discrepancy in the Coolum Beach PPVC booth would probably favour him if it was as significant as the mistake in the Wangaratta PPVC booth in Indi, we can probably look forward to some colour in question time.

    I don’t think he’d go quietly if BBishop 94A’ed him for example.

  34. Clive Palmer MP – now I’m 100% certain the citizens of this country have lost their marbles.

    Would someone explain to me why Clive getting himself elected is a good thing, because I’m afraid I just can’t see it.

  36. The entertainment value?

    Well, he doesn’t hold the balance of power in a majority government at least. The senators are another matter, but he looks like he has a lot of broadsides to fire at Abbott in the lower house.

    He may be a buffoon, but he does point out a few truths, like that Abbott is Rupert Murdoch’s (“who swore an oath of allegiance to another country”) puppet.

    I’ll change my mind about it though if he just spends his time snarling at Labor like the rest of the LNP.

  38. leone
    At least is one less that Blood Oaf can control. I think the excitement in his election is that many think he’ll be a real hoot in QT. I personally think he’ll stir and go along with BO. Anyways, I don’t think I could stomach watching QT, I’ll just read twitter and comments on here. We know how it will be reported. BO and mob will be brilliant.

  39. I don’t know what’s going on in the NSW Central Coast with the ICAC raid.
    http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/two-mps-targeted-in-corruption-raids-20130921-2u671.html
    But I suspect it’s very serious to be involving two Liberal staffers. In my contact with C@tmomma about the election campaign, she mentioned a curious thing. The Liberals spent over a million dollars locally. I’m not sure if that was just Robertson, or Dobell and Robertson.

    Even if we assume it was for both, it’s a lot of money for two seats likely to fall their way anyway. Not only that, but Arthur Sinodinos oversaw the whole operation personally. He, of course, is also of some interest to ICAC. John Singleton, 2GB owner and resident there with a helicopter commute to the city, spent a bundle running two high profile local independents in those seats. In each seat they brought in about 8 or 9 % of the primary vote, with their preferences flowing to the Liberals (Singo hired ‘volunteers’ to hand out cards).

    I’d assumed it was something about coal seam gas fracking permits and making sure they weren’t obstructed (locals are very touchy about their waterways and Thomson had been active in wanting it blocked). Singo’s interest, as far as C@tmomma could guess, was that he had a lot of land in the area and was looking at development.

    This latest action gives another angle, and should be watched with interest.

  41. Yeah, I guess question time in reality will be about as fun for Labor as it is in Victoria (as in, shut up and do what we say).

    I just found out today that the speaker is not impartial in any way, in fact he takes his instructions from Napthine.

    Whenever Labor asks a prickly question, Napthine makes a face and shakes his head, then Ken Smith dutifully rules it out of order.

    Although now that the federal election is over, Napthine won’t be so happy now. He no longer has a Labor federal government to blame all his problems on, and after the events of Thursday has the attention of the media drawn to his government’s problems.

  42. Clive won’t get to do much in QT. Anyone expecting a daily circus will be very disappointed. He’ll get to ask a question every so often but you can’t do much with the 45 seconds allowed for asking a question. His only chance to wreak havoc will be his maiden speech.

    I’m thinking Clive will support the government right down the line on everything. When he bothers to show up, of course. He’ll be like Katter, hardly ever there.

  43. To be honest, I wonder if Mr Palmer will last to the end of the first term. He must have some major health issues.

  44. This photograph (credit Stefan Postles/Getty Images) is brilliant in its capture of the Inner Blood Oaf:

  45. GD,
    The ICAC raid is in relation to political donations.The two staffers plus another, who has resigned, set up a company called Eightbyfive to accept donations from developers because it is illegal in NSW for developers to donate to political parties. The sh#t hit the fan when a local building company, Lusted P/L, complying with the law, declared a donation of $5000 to the Liberal Party. Lusted claim they are not a developer and the donation was through Eightbyfive. The money has disappeared. The staffers were part of Chris Hartcher’s team and he leads a faction that is involved in a power struggle with O’Farrell’s team. Who said the ALP were the only party with factions.

  46. Mr Palmer has shown his true self with his petulant ‘I didn’t win in a landslide so the whole system must be stuffed’ attitude. I hope the recount goes against him.

  47. Thanks for that, Barry J. On that basis, it is probably not connected with the curious Central Coast federal campaigning, but I couldn’t help thinking of that when Uncle Arthur was involved on the ground.

  48. Albo and Bill Shorten will be on Insiders tomorrow. Thje panel will be – God help us! – Perce Akermann (wasn’t he supposed to be banned?), that Maley woman and Dennis Atkins. As usual I won’t bother.

  49. Leone, I haven’t bothered with Insiders for years. Puke Ackermann’s presence further encourages my lack of interest.

  50. Palmer is one independent sitting in a majority HOR.

    He will contribute nothing and have no influence.

    More chance for the PUP senator to have some impact from time to time in the Senate when he takes his place.

    That is assuming PUP has any coherent policy positions and the PUP senator actually remains a PUP senator.

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