Nacht und Nebel

Fiona Uncategorized

(Image credit: Wikipedia)

Fifty days ago, the Australian electorate blinked, and chose a Coalition government led by Mr Abbott – devout Catholic, Rhodes Scholar, Oxford Blue, sometime journalist, advisor to former LOTO Dr Hewson, exercise junkie, father of “not bad-looking daughters”, self-proclaimed political offspring of Mrs Bronwyn Bishop and Mr John Howard – a man who counts among his political and spiritual mentors B. A. Santamaria and Cardinal Pell.

The government as a whole, and Mr Abbott in particular, are deeply indebted to two powerful individuals, Mr Rupert Murdoch, and Mrs Gina Rinehart. The debt owed by the new Federal government and prime minister to Mr Murdoch in particular is extraordinary, and is most likely to be paid through the sale hand-over of the NBN and, possibly, the privatisation or abolition of the ABC. Mrs Rinehart’s rewards are the repeal of the MRRT, the “liberalisation” of 457 visas to enable the employment of ever-cheaper labour in her mines, and an open-slather approach to exploration and mining, maybe even in national parks, and to coal seam gas fracking. After all, what else is the environment for?

So, what has the new government achieved over the past 50 days?

  • Abolished the Climate Commission.
  • Sacked three departmental heads.
  • Sacked the NBN Board.
  • Announced the privatisation of Medibank Private.
  • Appointed the head of a major business union to chair the Commission of Audit which also includes (gaia help us) Ms Amanda Vanstone. Mr Tony Shepherd also chairs a company that has substantial contracts with the Commonwealth.
  • Announced a witch-hunt judicial enquiry into the Rudd Government’s home insulation scheme.
  • Cut disaster relief payments in the middle of major bushfires in New South Wales.
  • Denied any possible connexion between bushfires and climate change.
  • Released draft legislation to repeal the MRRT, which also (among other things) repeals
      • – the schoolkids’ bonus
      – the low-income tax superannuation contribution
      – geothermal exploration provisions.

    Then, and worryingly, are

    1. The increased demonisation of asylum seekers arriving by boat by requiring the Immigration Department and detention centre staff to call them “illegal arrivals” and “detainees”,
    2. The militarisation of border protection, which is the excuse for
    3. Attempts to restrict information about the arrival of asylum seekers, and their movement to and from various places of detention.

    What we are witnessing is an attempt – by shutting down sources of information, whether they are bodies like the Climate Commission, or reports in real time of boat arrivals – to keep Australians ignorant of the real state of affairs, and ultimately and as soon as possible to silence dissent. How long will it be before there is federal legislation of the type Queensland Attorney-General, Mr Bleijie, released two weeks ago – legislation that has the potential to control what people wear, what music they listen to, maybe even what books they read and films they see? How long will it be before all Australian courts are effectively instructed to do as they are told by the government that – in Mr Newman’s words – they should come down from their ivory towers and make decisions in line with community expectations?

    Silencing dissent sounds to me very like Mussolini’s third principle of fascism:

    1. “Everything in the state”. The Government is supreme and the country is all-encompasing, and all within it must conform to the ruling body, often a dictator.
    2. “Nothing outside the state”. The country must grow and the implied goal of any fascist nation is to rule the world, and have every human submit to the government.
    3. “Nothing against the state”. Any type of questioning the government is not to be tolerated. If you do not see things our way, you are wrong. If you do not agree with the government, you cannot be allowed to live and taint the minds of the rest of the good citizens.

    Prime Minister Abbott has made it clear time and time again that he will not brook questions, he will not brook debate, he will not brook dissent. He is, as Jeff Sparrow points out, a cultural warrior par excellence. He has no compunction about establishing the slush fund, ”Australians for Honest Politics”, that resulted in the jailing of Pauline Hanson. Is it beyond the bounds of possibility that he might act in a similar way to anyone who dissents, disagrees, or differs? It may seem ridiculous in 21st century Australia even to ask such a question. However …

    … remember,

    Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

    Remember Argentina in 1966, Chile in 1973, Germany in 1933.

    Nacht und Nebel has happened before, and will again unless we heed Martin Niemöller’s words:

    First they came for the communists,
    and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a communist.

    Then they came for the socialists,
    and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a socialist.

    Then they came for the trade unionists,
    and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a trade unionist.

    Then they came for me,
    and there was no one left to speak for me.

    883 thoughts on “Nacht und Nebel”

    1. BB
      So pleased Bob is okay. Sorry about your wallet, just think of it as a training exercise for at least the next three years while Gov rob us all blind.

      Found this a great read.

    2. Gigilene,
      Poor woman – that is any solo performer’s (in whatever medium) worst nightmare! How magnificently she recovered.

    3. BB
      If you are around, I’ve cleaned out most of my bookmarks and I think it was you that put a link to the drone thingys, but didn’t come across it. I thought I had book marked it. If you still have it could you please put the link up again.

    5. Gigilene,
      Yes, but it’s not quite so bad when you are, for example, in a very large choir …

    6. Gravel,
      What a wonderful piece by Don Watson – though he may have written more presciently than he perhaps thinks:

      I will decide what I say and the circumstances in which I say it.

      But if it is appropriate for me to say sorry to the Indonesians and Malaysians for saying different things in different circumstances, it is also fitting that I say sorry to Australians for any like offences.

      For instance, for saying that there was a budget “crisis” and a budget “emergency”, when in fact we knew there was no such thing, and, if anything, a bit of room for expansion, I say sorry. For making it all up and repeating it over and over again, I say sorry.

      For saying we would bring honesty back to government when so far we’ve fallen a little short of that, I say sorry, very sorry, honestly I am. I am.

      Take no notice of this grin – it’s a medical condition.

      Oh, and “open” government, that was convenient at the time, but there’s a difference between open government and good government. Good governments don’t leak like a boat in the Arafura. Do you want to go back to the Rudd and Gillard days? I don’t think so. But sorry, just the same. Sorr-eee.

      I will decide what you need to know and the circumstances in which you will be told.

      (My emphasis)

    11. Gigilene,

      😆

      What about bott flies – sooo tempting to turn that into ABbott flies – heel flies, gadflies?

    15. Hello everyone. Had to replenish Paddy’s larder and when I got home had no internet access. Turned on the TV but reception was too poor to stand. Then came the storm which was all noise and wind which brought Paddy the wuss to the door to be let inside.

      Anyway, have now caught up with the comments.

      Bob has outdone every cat with nine lives, BB. Poor little bloke obviously has fond memories of days gone by when he skipped down the stairs at will. So pleased he is none the worse for his roll down the stairs. Give him a cuddle for me.

      I am reserving judgement of Shorten in the hope that he gets into stride and shows himself a better leader than he’s shown so far. He’s got a hard row to hoe because the media will continue to compare him to Rudd and he has to persuade the party to get behind him, give him support and refrain from talking to the media about anything other than policy.

    18. 2Gravel,

      This is a link to a particular page on the web site of the drone company. The $3600 custom built drone is a bit misleading.

      $3600 only buys you the drone itself. It’sready-to-fly, but needs more to make it sexy.

      Add a gimbal and camera mount, a video monitoring transmitter and a couple of other gadgets and the quote rises to $4700. Then you pivk the camera you want, which can be anything from $100 for a cheap Taiwanese job to $500+ for a Go-Pro.

      Go-Pros are supposed to be the bee’s knees,but there ARE some that appear to be just as good, but they’re cheaper. For that matter you can get a pair of sunglasses with a 1920×1080 HD recorder in them now for $50 off eBay. Pretty good quality, too. YouTube is replete with demo reels.

      I’m just a newbie in this area myself, so I’m no-one to quote.

      Speaking with the guy from the drone firm, there appears to be a lot of add-ons you can buy, or not buy. They don’t cost a real lot, but CAN add up if you get all the options.

      For mine, I think a camera transmitter (back to base) is essential, because then you’re always looking forward, and can steer the thing intuitively. With no camera the drone always has to be in line of sight (so you can literally see it!) and you have to get the knack of using the controls for left and right turns backwards depending on whether the aircraft is moving away from you or towards you. Not to mention when it’s moving at an angle to the way you’re facing. With a camera it’s essentially like looking through a windscreen and “right” and “left” are always right and left.

      Anyway, here’s the link. They sound like reasonable people, very enthusiastic about their business (which is always a good sign).

      http://www.riseaboveaerials.com.au/#!rtf-professional-quad/c120b

    19. This is a dainty damsel without the drops:

      Your gadfly bears indeed some resemblance in some ways with the one in charge of our nation …

    20. AND if I may say so, our home insurance has just gone up a WHOPPING 30%!

      “Global Warming” and “consequent bushfire risk” are given as the reasons. At least someone (in this case AAMI) takes the science seriously.

    22. Bushfire Bill & Gigilene,
      From memory, insurance companies around the world have been vocal about the impact of global warming with respect to “natural” disasters.

    24. Even Mungo MacCallum is noticing:

      So why couldn’t we be told? “Operational” matters. But how? Apparently the Australian military were not involved, and if they had been , how could an honest account of an incident at Manus Island bring aid and comfort to the enemy, even assuming there was one? Silence. And more silence. Apparently simply calling something “operational” is sufficient justification for burying it forever.

      Equally useful weasel words are “national security” and “commercial in confidence” And just in case these prove insufficient, John Howard used to fall back on the all-embracing get-out that some questions were simply “inappropriate.” Abbott’s iron curtain is proving to be even less penetrable.

      If that’s the way he wants it, so it will be. But by setting it up, he has automatically abandoned trust, along with the honesty and standards already considered irrelevant. If he doesn’t trust us with the facts, why should we trust him with the policies?

      Gravel, you are a wicked woman, seducing me into resubscribing to The Monthly …

    25. Fiona

      Oooh solly old girl, didn’t mean to do that, but the article I put up was a good read though.

      BB

      Love the drone thing, and I can imagine my 2 sons and 4 grandsons would love it too, maybe if I ever buy a lotto ticket I could win enough to get one, lots of fun to be had.

    26. Ctar
      Thanks for that link.
      Very impressive. Interested in how the electro catapult will go.the old steam version has worked well for decades.

    29. Yeah what fun. Clive getting stuck into Rupert today at a presser. Refers to the criminal trial that started yesterday in London for Coulson and Brookes.Refers to Wendi and Chinese spies. Clive couldn’t give a rats about the OZ or any of Ruperts other rags who are going after him. I hope Clive survives the recount so we can hear him under Parlt privilege. It’s gunna be a great ride.

    30. Yeah, well, the yanks may have the whopping huge Gerald R Ford almost ready for launch, but do they have one of these?

    31. Two hailstorms and a very loud thunderstorm in three hours is a bit much. There must be more on the way, I just had a phone call from the SES looking for #1 son because they need him on duty tonight.

    32. Gigilene,
      Good thing the village didn’t have to depend on Hojo and the abbott for their ‘sunlight project’. Hojo would cry croc tears that it would be wasted money and anyway, they only needed one mirror!

    38. CTar1
      I’m OK – so far. The storm is on it’s way back, it seems to be on a one hour loop.

    40. Fiona
      I think I’ll make myself an American for the day and go with their National Cat Day, it seems the best option. International Year of Quinoa? Who came up with that one? How about an International Day of explaining how to pronounce ‘quinoa’?

    43. kaffeeklatscher
      There’s just one thing stopping cats taking over – they don’t have thumbs so they can’t open cat food tins. Not yet, anyway.

    45. leonetwo

      Gif no.9 in my link where a moggy scares of an alligator makes me think no thumbs = no problem.

    47. gigilene

      I liked the name of the website “Distractify” they certainly are a distraction

    49. This little black duck

      The great news is that her legal costs should more than wipe out Rupes generous going away paycheck.

    50. News in Canada http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/rebekah-brooks-andy-coulson-phone-hacking-trial-begins-1.2254023

      News in the USA http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/10/28/rebekah-brooks-phone-hacking-trial-begins-in-london.html

      News in Singapore http://www.straitstimes.com/breaking-news/world/story/ex-murdoch-aides-trial-over-british-phone-hacking-scandal-20131029

      News in China http://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1341878/rebekah-brooks-and-andy-coulson-phone-hacking-trial-begin

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