Need some relief from the insanity on steroids of the current régime? Let’s return to the kinder, gentler world of John Howard’s Australia, with the next two chapters of Malcolm B Duncan’s historical satire.
(Image Credit: WikiNarnia))
The Chronicles of Nadir
As told from the grave by Tom Lewis
Tale the First
The Scion, the Wheat and the Cabinet
Chapters VI and VII
Alexander had wandered away from the other children in search of the Fruits of Office. He supposed that the most likely way of satisfying what had by now become an almost insatiable craving was to find where the Queen lived. He had a notion that he would find her house in the electorate of Bennelong and had walked and walked and walked.
Eventually, he came to a spacious bungalow which appeared to be the one. There was a real estate agent’s sign out the front: “Khemlani Realty ‘Leased’.” Alexander did not quite understand but he suspected he would not find the Queen in. What he did find was a small Pakistani-looking gentleman kneeling on what appeared to be some sort of a mat. The man leaned forward and touched his forehead to the mat mumbling something which seemed to be directions to Allawah. Alexander knew it required three changes of train.
The man stood.
“I say,” said Alexander, “you don’t happen to know where the White Lady is, do you?”
“I’m only renting,” the man replied. “We’ve just been released from Baxter but Mr Khemlani tells me the owners moved to Kirribilli House years ago.”
It was then that Alexander noticed the yard was full of statues most of which seemed reminiscent of former Liberal frontbenchers so lifelike that it was as if they had been turned to stone just to get them out of the way. There were a few scattered Nationals as well but, really, Stone didn’t do the medium justice.
Meanwhile, or, in the interim, as Mr Hunter was fond of saying at school (Alexander had had to look “interim” up), the Dwarf, the Lady Jadis and the phlegmatic Corder had returned from the Land of Nadir and resumed their normal appearance. Little Johnnie and Jeanette were taking tea on the terrace.
“Now, dear,” said Little Johnnie, “I don’t want you to think that anyone told me anything or that I know anything or that I’d be able to give evidence about it or anything like that but I had a dream last night about a bloke in Bognor. He told me, but only in the dream, you understand – so I don’t really know anything – but he said we had an enormous amount of surplus wheat and there’s this place called Nadir which is an incredibly wealthy magical land which has no wheat at all but is desperate for it – wheat, that is, ruled by a really nice lady, and if we were to make it worth her while, if you know what I mean, which you don’t really because I don’t know anything to mean anything anyway, we could fix the current account and have enough to live like kings and queens in the Land of Nadir.”
“We’ve got quite enough queens in Oxford Street,” Janette replied.
“Yes, but the point is, dear, that we could all be rich.”
“Let me get this straight: you have a dream about some geezer from Bognor,” Janette paused.
“Bugger Bognor,” said Little Johnnie. “It’d be an economic miracle – the Big End of Town would love us. The Party coffers would be full…”
“Then,” interrupted Jeanette, “You bribe some foreign potentate to buy our wheat.”
“Not bribe, dear. There would naturally be shipping and land transport costs, handling fees and the like. We could do it all using f.o.b. contracts through that $2 company in Fyshwick.”
“The one that sells the manacles?” asked Janette.
“That’s the one – very reliable, very discreet people, completely sound,” said Little Johnnie proudly.
“But what about the Wizengamot ban on exports to magical countries?” asked Jeanette.
“No one told me,” said Little Johnnie, “Never heard of it.”
Just then, Alexander appeared around the corner of the terrace, closely shadowed by Corder who had drawn his pistol – he hadn’t been pleased to see him.
“I caught this talking to a terrorist,” said Corder.
“Speak, Boy,” commanded Janette.
“It wasn’t a terrorist. It was a Mr Patel – he’s just been released from Baxter and he and his family have finally got Newstart and a rental allowance and family benefits and they’re living in a lovely house.” Here, Alexander gave an address which for privacy reasons, national security concerns and the fact that this is a children’s story we cannot mention.
Jeanette exploded. “That idiot Khemlani has rented the House to Pakis.”
“There, there, dear,” soothed Little Johnnie, “I’ll get Ruddock onto it right away.”
“You don’t know anything about Fruits of Office, do you?” asked Alexander greedily.
“I don’t know anything about anything,” said Little Johnnie. “No-one tells me anything at all. There’s this bloke in Bognor.”
“Bugger Bognor,” said Jeanette. “Corder, release the child. I have plans for it. Johnnie, is that Teak Table Keating bought still in the Lodge?” Turning to Alexander, she said, smiling sweetly, “Do you like teak, Boy?”
“I’ve heard about that table,” said Alexander. “It cost a fortune, didn’t it?”
Quickly Little Johnnie jumped in to demonstrate his complete mastery of the economy. “It was so expensive that the Reserve had to increase interest rates to 17% to take the heat out of the economy. But interest rates will always be higher under Labor [sic].”
“We all know that; we voted on it,” said Janette testily. “Now, young man, come with me and I’ll show you the lovely Teak Table.”
As they walked, hand-in-hand, Janette could be heard saying, “And do you know anything about shipping wheat?”
* * * * * * * * *
Nadir being a magical land, strange things were apt to happen on its periphery where it intersected the space-time continuum near the place we know as Canberra, the home of the House on the Hill or, rather, in it.
Almost on the edge of Nadir, in one such place, there was a public toilet block in Goulburn Memorial Park just by the rose garden. Known as the Four Thrones (obviously because of its configuration) it had been the undoing of more than one Bishop of Nadir and was often frequented by local police dressed in fishnet stockings – and there are few things more fearsome to behold than a lesbian in fishnets. (One of those things was Alexander in fishnets. Of course, he only ever dressed up as a joke or possibly because, through some misfortune, he had been born in Adelaide.)
While Jeanette was discussing with Alexander logistic arrangements for the shipping of the wheat surplus to the Land of Nadir completely unbeknownst to Little Johnnie, Little Johnnie, in turn, was consulting with Ruddock over what was to become known as the Khemlani gaffe,
After a brief discussion which neither Little Johnnie nor Ruddock clearly remembered because it was never minuted, Ruddock gathered together a crack team of ASIO agents, Federal Police, and Department of Immigration operatives and made it clear that, whatever happened, Amanda must never be told and the new NO EMAIL protocol developed quickly one afternoon at the Coalface was to be strictly implemented. Anything that was written down was to be swallowed immediately in accordance with the Government’s view that, the way things were going, Australian citizens wou ld swallow anything.
When this group reached the Former Matrimonial Home, Mr Patel was again out the front with his strange mat, an atlas and a compass. “Drop those,” said Ruddock. “You’re under arrest.”
“What precisely are you meaning?” asked a confused Mr Patel.
“Can’t tell you. Grab him, lads,” said Ruddock.
“Why?” uttered a now clearly frightened Mr Patel.
“Can’t tell you. Search him,” Ruddock said to a large ASIO man who was putting on a surgical glove.
“Strip!” ordered the ASIO man.
“But why?” asked Mr Patel. “What am I supposed to be doing to deserving this treatment from your esteemed selves?”
“Can’t tell you. Now, get the gear off, Paki.”
He then unceremoniously de-bagged Mr Patel and shoved his hand … Well, since this is a children’s story let it suffice that the search was very thorough. When Mr Patel regained consciousness, the crack team was bundling him into the boot of an unmarked Volkswagen Beetle.
“What about my prayer mat?” implored the quivering refugee.
“Probably a bomb,” said Ruddock.
“But I want a lawyer,” said Mr Patel.
“Know someone with a security clearance pursuant to s 39 of the National Security Information (Criminal & Civil Proceedings) Act 2004?” enquired Ruddock.
“No,” said Mr Patel.
“Tough. Take him away, lads.”
“But my wife and children …” said Mr Patel pathetically.
“Can’t talk to anyone,” said Ruddock
“But they will not be knowing what has happened to me.”
“This bastard’s read the Act,” said Ruddock to the crack team. “Clearly we’ve got the right bloke. Take him away.”
Strange things were also happening elsewhere on the edge of the Land of Nadir, this time where it intersected the otherworld. Sir Alfred Deakin, being dead, could drift in and out at will. Just now he was at the bar in the High Court Retirement Home for Deceased Knights of the Realm and Other Former Sitting Members of The Court. Since Sir Alfred had been the Attorney who introduced the Judiciary Act, he was a frequent guest. As usual he was holding forth in true barristerial fashion, telling the one about the Key to the Arch of the Federation. Sir Garfield Barwick, as bored by the speech as the first time he had read it, threw another stack of Income Tax Assessments on the fire. As each one caught, he muttered “Bastards!” to himself. Sir Owen Dixon was at the other end of the bar reading to anyone who would listen (although no-one did any more) from an article describing him as the greatest jurisprudential mind ever to grace a bench anywhere. It needs to be said though, that the article had been written by an academic. “Tell us about the separation of powers then, Owen,” said Sir Hayden Starke with thinly veiled contempt.
In a well-stuffed armchair by the fire, Sir Frank Kitto (who actually had been the finest jurisprudential mind ever to sit on the bench) was reading the latest edition of Meagher, Heydon and Leeming. It just wasn’t the same without John Lehane’s humanizing influence although the line about the soi-disant musicians had survived Heydon’s clinical treatment.
Eddie McTiernan was at the TAB window still trying to back I Agree With The Chief Justice (always a mouthful for the callers) in the third at Caulfield. As had happened so often before, The Chief (as the gelding was known) was odds-on. Meanwhile, Lionel Murphy was out on the lawn looking after a few little mates. Had he realized at the time of his appointment that because the House Rules had been drawn up exclusively by people with knighthoods, his refusal to be knighted in accordance with tradition would mean that he was perpetually required to use the tradesman’s’ entrance, he may have reconsidered and we might have been saved a lot of looney left-wing biographies by insane feminist fans. As it was, he was making the best of things and was keenly awaiting the arrival of Gaudron and McHugh. He had been stashing away a vast array of grog under the back stairs in anticipation of the celebration.
Sir Alfred finished the speech for the umpteenth time and decided to drift back to the Land of Nadir. He had a strange premonition that involved the use of the notorious Teak Table and he could feel an overwhelming sense of personal sacrifice coming on. Apart from that, there was one persistent thing he couldn’t get off his mind: wheat.
THE PUB 
Moir with “the media’s to blame”
Pope. Tony consults the party room
Letch responds to the budget
I wonder what the parents of the four dead installers think of depriving the assault victims of justice to make themselves feel better.
Of course Snot refuses to comment
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/27/doctors-litany-of-medical-neglect-of-asylum-seekers-still-largely-ignored?commentpage=1
Good morning Dawn Patrollers.
Nice try George!
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/george-brandis-forced-to-rethink-discrimination-act-changes-20140527-392gn.html
And George and Co got caught out siphoning funds from the Child Abuse RC to the pink batts kangaroo court. And who would EVER have thought that the Child Abuse RC would have been defunded by this mob? And on the same day as this revelation the CEO of the RC resigns. Hmm.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-05-28/the-attorney-general27s-department-has-confirmed-millions-of-d/5482568
http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/child-sexual-abuse-inquiry-funding-shifted-to-insulation-scheme-probe-20140527-392hl.html
The Rogerson/Manamara case would seem the be “in the bag” so to speak.
http://www.theage.com.au/nsw/fatal-rendezvous-and-aftermath-captured-on-cctv-police-say-20140527-392gt.html
Today’s “why I love religion” link.
http://www.theage.com.au/world/pakistani-woman-stoned-to-death-by-family-outside-court-for-marrying-man-she-loved-20140528-zrq8c.html
It would appear the electorate is less than impressed with either the Super Salesmen or their product.
http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/further-dip-in-support-for-government-budget-poll-finds-20140527-392gu.html
Rolf Harris digs deep.
http://www.theage.com.au/world/rolf-harris-takes-the-stand-at-his-indecent-assault-trial-20140527-zrq6d.html
To coin a phrase, “Who do you trust?”
http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/federal-police-in-embarrassing-uturn-on-tony-abbotts-university-noshow-20140527-392bn.html
Maybe Abbott should install some chaplains into the CSIRO to handle this.
http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/csiro-document-reveals-site-closures-and-research-program-cuts-20140527-392h1.html
Section 2 . . .
Denis Jensen is all over the place on this and other matters scientific.
http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/liberal-mp-dennis-jensen-fires-broadside-at-his-governments-medical-research-fund-20140528-392rr.html
Bizzare proceedings at Estimates yesterday.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/27/border-chief-no-idea-ship-indonesia
Jaqui Maley on yesterday’s stoush over the Speaker. Pretty lightweight stuff, really.
http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/uneven-contest-as-tony-burke-takes-on-bronwyn-bishop-20140527-392gr.html
This is a very good article decrying the return to the old, unsuccessful trickle down economics model by this government.
http://www.theage.com.au/comment/trickledown-theory-all-washed-up-now-20140527-zrpcc.html
These two will make a formidable team to take on the powerful NRA in America.
http://www.smh.com.au/world/elliot-rodger-murders-fathers-of-gunman-victim-to-take-on-washingtons-progun-lobby-20140528-zrq9z.html
ASIC closes in on Leightons.
http://www.theage.com.au/business/new-front-opens-up-on-leightons-dealings-overseas-20140527-392ft.html
John Spooner and he budget. What could possibly go wrong?
MUST SEE! Alan Moir and Admiral Morriscum’s release of the Manus Island death inquiry.
http://www.theage.com.au/photogallery/federal-politics/cartoons/alan-moir-20090907-fdxk.html
David Pope has Abbott giving us all a warning.
http://www.theage.com.au/photogallery/federal-politics/cartoons/david-pope-20120214-1t3j0.html
The fun of learning French:
http://www.thelocal.fr/galleries/lifestyle/learning-french-how-not-to-do-it/4
And from the Land of the Free –
Un-bloody-believable! Joe the Plumber – remember him?
http://thepoliticalcarnival.net/2014/05/27/joe-plumber-dead-kids-dont-trump-constitutional-rights/
Courtesy of the Good Book slavery is OK in South Carolina.
http://thepoliticalcarnival.net/2014/05/27/slave-labor-good-enough-bible/
FoxNews edits out the shot lad’s father’s comments on the NRA and gun control. Fair and balanced, they say.
http://crooksandliars.com/cltv/2014/05/fox-news-edits-out-ucsb-shooting
Apparently it’s easier to buy a gun than a vibrator in Georgia!
http://crooksandliars.com/2014/05/guns-don-t-kill-people-vaginas-do-it-s
Today it’s a Texas Repug hopeful who gets the gong for hypocrisy/stupidity/ignorance.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/05/27/1302343/-Texas-Board-of-Education-hopeful-who-became-father-at-16-opposes-teaching-about-contraception
Moral Monday in North Carolina.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/27/thom-tillis-moral-monday_n_5399449.html
It was instructive yesterday to hear the number of times Pyne used the word “gentleman” – as in “You’re not a gentleman” – in the debate yesterday afternoon.
They really do believe that Labor members aren’t “the right type of chap” to be in Parliament.
It was all the more ironic being uttered in the context of the Speaker holding a crass nosh-up in her office, one that raised hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Our brilliant Media have not, it seems, made any attempt to discover just WHO was at the dinner (or if they have, they’re not telling), just like they made no attempt to discover the identity of the other scholarship winner at the Whitehouse college, who turns out to have been the owner’s daughter.
They are more interested in the aspects of this case that allow them to sit on their bums and write crap like Maley’s this morning: vacuous, patronizing, unfunny and trivial. Having to actually get off those posteriors to find out the truth is too much effort, apparently. Curiosity is optional in the media today.
The supposedly independent Speaker runs a partisan fundraiser in her office, using facilities provided by the taxpayer, and all they media does is put the highly overrated color writer onto the job. Guffaw-guffaw, the children are in the sandpit again. Ho-hum.
The Speaker actively engages in the debate in progress on the floor of the House. Giggle. How amusing.
Let’s not worry about the actual debate either, and the points made therein by one of the participating sides in the shape of an incensed Albo pointing out that it’s the Coalition who aren’t the gentlemen in this, and that the Speaker is the most brazenly biased person to hold that office in decades. And that they’ve had enough.
The Libs are always quoting the conventions and the traditions, yet they are ALWAYS the first to pore over the fine print with a magnifying glass looking for loopholes.
I first realized this way back in 1975, when they trashed parliamentary conventions to break the Whitlam government. It seems to be a case of “We make the rules. So we can break them”.
Their excuse? “There’s nothing that says we can’t do it.”
It’s what happens when you have a party full of lawyers. They use lawyerly, weasely ways to worm their way into, and out of anything.
And then they accuse the other side of “not being gentlemen”.
Another view on the ageing population from Dr Katharine Betts. She maintains that we worry about supporting the over 65s who may be self funded and forgetting that children are also dependents for the first 15 years of life.
http://www.theage.com.au/comment/australias-ageing-population-need-not-be-a-burden-on-taxpayers-20140526-zro4p.html
Some bizoid from Macquarie Bank on ABC-24 now saying that three years of Hockey’s trash talking has adversely – and surprisingly so – affected consumer confidence.
It’s something they didn’t take into account, apparently. Gee. How could bad mouthing the economy have an effect? (Scratches head).
And these are the people we trust with our superannuation and who set themselves up as brilliant money managers?
Of course, the child sexual abuse inquiry exposes the inherent failings of Abbott’s “heartland” establishment and by association, himself….the pink batts witch-hunt is ALL Labor !
Libs taking funds away from the Child abuse RC to help pay for its insulation witch hunt.
I hope Brandis ans Abbott go down in flames over this.
BTW, I wonder if they were stupid enough to also divert funds from the Child abuse RC into the union corruption RC ?
It would not surprise me.
Interesting day today.
BB. many years ago in a conflict concerning my divorce, I was asked to place some moneys into a trust account as a ‘guarantor’….the magistrate was shocked when I said I wouldn’t trust even the Bank of England with my money….events surrounding the GFC. proved me correct!
Another extract from Rob Oakeshott’s book, the last my local paper is providing. This one deals with the final decision to support Julia Gillard. Oakeshott makes some pretty damning comments about Abbott’s negotiating skills and overall lack of interest in the process.
http://www.portnews.com.au/story/2310538/glasshouse-debt-would-have-been-taken-care-of-by-tony-abbott/?cs=257
The offer to buy the Glasshouse was clever, but Abbott would never have kept that promise. The building is still controversial, still a drag on votes for the Nationals. There was a lot of corruption involved in the decision to build it and the choice of site, with the rich local businessman mentioned in an earlier extract very much the ringleader. The corruption (allegedly) went all the way up to Bob Carr who was premier at the time.
It would seem Erica Betz has been taking a leaf out of his Uncle SS-Brigadeführer Otto’s book with his ‘let them pick fruit’ idea. Here we see his inspiration – happy Hitler youth doing farm work.
The fruit growers were not too happy with Erica’s brainfart.
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/fruit-farmers-hit-back-at-eric-abetz-our-industry-is-not-a-dumping-ground-for-young-jobless-20140527-390no.html#ixzz32rzjvgaj
I’m gobsmacked at the L/NP’s new tactic. Well, I’m disgusted and outraged at what they’ve done to the RC into child abuse, but that’s something I can barely articulate at the moment, so it can wait. But aside from that and the other range of disasters that have emerged over the past 24 hours, here’s their tactic:
They’re out there telling us that the budget has been “well received”. I’ve heard it three times now, once in a report of what Abbott and Hockey told the rest of their MPs yesterday, once from Kevin Andrews last night, and now from Andrew Laming this morning. Every poll and every study done is saying in big bold letters that we hate it and we hate them, their own backbenchers are telling them the same thing – well, the more timid are suggesting maybe it wasn’t sold very well – and their response is, “No, no, you’ve got it all wrong, you like it”
That’s a deeply stupid tactic. But I guess they’ve argued against reality a lot of times before, so it shouldn’t be any surprise.
All they really care about is revenge on the previous government, covering up their own stupidity and giving favours to their mates in business and wherever else. In roughly that order. I’ve said it before: an economy won’t run on vitriol.
An amazing find by Kaye Lee at the AIMN.
Tony Abbott, on becoming LOTO –
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/features/abbotts-high-calling/story-e6frg6z6-1225805934853
As Kaye says – ‘I think that was reached a long time ago Tony’.
The truth is that there’s no limit to the height incompetence can reach, as long as it has the right backing.
Aguirre
One technique used in domestic abuse is to repeatedly tell the abused party that they misheard something, something the abuser actually did say but won’t admit to saying. ‘But I didn’t say that, how could you get that wrong, you must have misheard what I said. How could you be so stupid’. It is done again and again, making the abused party begin to believe that they are losing their mind and must be in the wrong. It is done to achieve control and compliance by making the person believe they are incompetent and ignorant. This happened to one of my nieces, I have her accounts of the things that were said to her by her now ex-OH and as a result of his actions she did indeed develop a mental health condition from which she has not yet fully recovered.
So – by continually telling us we misheard, have not understood, have got it all wrong Abbott and his vicious henchgoons are trying to brainwash us all into believing lies. It’s not working, Abbott and his advisors have forgotten we all have good memories and proof of what he said. Newspaper articles, countelss blog posts, stacks of essays, mountains of documentation and of course, lots and lots of videos of Abbott actually saying the words he now denies he ever uttered. But still he lies to us, tries to convince us he never said any of it, we misheard, we didn’t understand, we assumed he meant something he never, ever said. We are stupid is the message he wants to convey.
All that evidence has not stopped him trying to do the same thing to disgruntled Coailition MPS -‘But it’s all going well, surely you don’t pay any attention to socialmedia, they are all lefties who have an agenda, I told you the budget has been very well received’, rammed at dissenters constantly until, he hopes, they crumble and accept the word of their Dear Leader as the true state of affairs. You have to wonder about Abbott’s sanity.
Just look at who Abbott has as a back-up group. Andrews and Laming (God help us!). Can’t he find anyone more trustworthy to spruik his lies? What’s wrong with the rest of his MPs? What does he have over them to make them so compliant? Aren’t any of them game to call him out on his lies?
One thing that bothered me today in QT was Tony’s line to Tanya Plibersek:
“Stop having the vapours..”
A quick google turns this up:
“The vapors” was a catch-all name for many different “female conditions” during the Victorian Era. These included hysteria, mania, clinical depression, fainting, mood swings, and what we refer to now as PMS and bipolar disorder. The vapors were attributed to the practice of wearing corsets, the poor diet of wealthy Victorian socialites (anemia was common), and the belief that a sickly woman trying to recuperate was viewed as desirable.
Of course, when the fairer sex were overcome with the vapors, they would have their fainting couch nearby to regain their composure.
Source:
Victorian anthropology class in college
I don’t think I have to complete the thought about our dear PM 😛
Gianni Paolo, unfortunately your comment was gobbled by Pending, hence the updated time. And welcome to The Pub! Fiona
I am waiting for a journalist (other than Mike Carlton, who may run with it on Saturday) to make the connection between Alan Jones, Rogerson and McNamara. Jones apparently attended the launches of both their books! It’s unclear whether he actually “cut the ribbons” on them. If he did, that would be an even greater scandal.
Jones the pontificator, the arbiter of good taste, common sense and judgement to hundreds of thousands of his listeners, the man who berated a Prime Minister on air for arriving late to his studio, who invented the term “Ju-Liar” over a statement made during an obscure TV interview, the man who led the battalions of Grey Nomads in their march on Canberra, the thundering inquisitor of anyone who ever shook hands with Eddie Obeid, “patron” to generations of elite schoolboys… now known to be thick as thieves with crooked ex-cops, drug runners and cold-blooded murderers.
He berates Maley for asking him a simple, rather obvious question, and she went to water. He thunders from his microphone at anyone who transgresses his standards of behaviour. Yet he associates with common crooks, leering hypocrites and vile assassins.
Is he that powerful that no-one will call him on this monumental double standard?
For a laugh, check out the last 30 seconds or so of last night’s The Roast on IView (from about 11:10 onwards):
http://iview.abc.net.au/programs/roast
Good morning, everyone.
I’ve done a stack of work already today, and have heaps more to deal with, so probably won’t be around much until this evening.
Have fun.
It was all the more ironic being uttered in the context of the Speaker holding a crass nosh-up in her office, one that raised hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Exactly. And then she has the hide to talk about “decorum”, about questions having to be “elegant”, about people having to be proud of this Parliament. And of course, continually describing Shorten as a non-Hawke, and the entire session being littered with snide remarks.
But still he lies to us, tries to convince us he never said any of it, we misheard, we didn’t understand, we assumed he meant something he never, ever said. We are stupid is the message he wants to convey.
leone,
The same words are used by criminals or alleged criminals, like Obeid and others; pedophiles or alleged pedophiles, like Harris and Hughes.
Life is going to be really tough for Tasmanians:
http://www.themercury.com.au/news/tasmania/dole-crackdown-in-north-and-west-as-abbott-government-begins-to-roll-out-work-scheme/story-fnj4f7k1-1226933683433
BB
I would not hold my breath waiting for the MSM journalists to mention Jones’ connection to these crooks. It will be up to the fringe media to handle it, as they did with the story of Frances Abbott’s scholarship.
New Matilda had this yesterday about Jones’ admiration for Rogerson.
https://newmatilda.com/2014/05/27/did-alan-jones%E2%80%99-dad-turn-his-grave-promotion-rogerson
The same quote popped up here, in The Oz, ages ago, with a lot more criticism of Jones.
http://blogs.theaustralian.news.com.au/jacktheinsider/index.php/theaustralian/comments/a_good_cop_is_hard_to_find/
Since then – crickets.
Alan Jones is not all that powerful, he just likes to tell us he is but criticising him gets too close to criticising the blue tie brigade and we just can’t have that. You have to wonder how many more shady connections and ‘best friends’ Jones has.
giglene,
Apparently, moving our youth to the Mainland will fix our problems. Or fruit picking for 3 months of the year.
I don’t think people here understand how big the hammer about to fall on us is – we are the poorest of the states (except maybe NT?). As this budget really punishes those less fortunate, we are in for a very rough time.
M Hamilton-Smith is in for some tumultuous times, going by Windsor and Oakshott’s experience. Looking at Marshall, I can well understand why M HS decided to switch over. Marshall’s comments equal those of Abbott and Pyne’s in terms of vitriol.
Abetz has been blathering on about working on a chicken farm, driving a taxi and driving a bread delivery truck while he was at uni.
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/young-and-without-work-take-up-fruit-picking-says-liberal-senator-eric-abetz-20140526-38xmb.html
Perhaps he did, perhaps it’s nothing more than lies and embroidery. He also conveniently forgot to mention he earned a few dollars as a paid research assistant to former Tasmanian senator Shirley Wright – more on that later.
Whatever Student Eric did he did it while he was still living in his home town, Hobart, most likely still at home with his parents. He did not have to pack up and move interstate, away from the support of his parents, to study or to find work. He did not have to worry about paying for accommodation and food with whatever he earned. He was free to get on with his studies without wondering how he was going to survive financially for another week. AND – he had funding from the taxpayer for his uni education.
https://abetz.com.au/speeches/first-speech
It’s all a bit different to being expected to survive on thin air for six months unless you can somehow find/beg/steal/borrow enough money to allow you to travel around the country looking for poorly paid work as a fruit-picker.
socksfullofsand
I love the ‘Master of the House’ clip. Someone clever should expand on it.
gigilene
Marshall is one of Pyne’s sock puppets here in SA. He was doing his normal radio spot this morning and was going on about the ALP being yet another “illegitimate” government because members from “Liberal” seats were propping them up.
Ever since Mike Rann won in 2002 the ALP have had independents and at one time a National in the Ministry even when the ALP governed in its own right it still kept them in place.
During our last state election I was in their face every day as an ALP member on twitter asking for more than the motherhood statements they offered and they along with a compliant media (the usual suspects) all had the champagne on ice and thought it was a foregone conclusion.
I can only imagine Hamilton-Smith looked at the SA Liberal heavy weights since the March election Pyne Briggs Bernardi Southcott Marshall etc and thought another four years of these fools isn’t worth it.
@ leone – perhaps with Abbott as Javert plunging into the Seine? *daydreams*
With the Alan Jones link to criminal identities, I thought of possible comparisons with US gossip columnist and radio broadcaster Walter Winchell. It was a bit of a red herring, though, despite some parallels like using his power to intimidate people. ( Winchell had some ties with dangerous crooks.) For a start, Winchell actually did some good work in trying to rally America about the threat of Nazi Germany.
It didn’t last, however, as Winchell (once a supporter of the New Deal) eagerly joined in the McCarthy anti-communist crusade, blackening enemies with that brush along the way. He fell from grace not long after McCarthy’s fall, which was poetic justice.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Winchell
socks
If only….
Actually, from memory the last TWO SA elections have been “against all predictions”, haven’t they?
I can remember an email exchange I was having with Shaun Carney at the time (two elections back), where told me on the Thursday…
My reply to Carney on the Monday, after Labor had won BOTH state elections, went unanswered. In fact it was the last time I ever heard from him until one day, unaccountably, I received en email from Linked In asking me to “friend” or “like” Carney (or whatever they call it there).
Bemused, I did so, but never heard any more about it.
It seems there was a lot of dissatisfaction with Abbott at yesterday’s gathering of the Liberal forces. So of course, there has been a lot of chattering about Turnbull being brought back to take over as head pooh-bah. No wonder he looked so jovial in QT yesterday. I don’t think Turnbull has a snowflake’s chance in hell of becoming PM, my money is on someone much more hard-line, ultra-right wing, like Morrison. Bob Ellis thinks it will be Turnbull, Dutton or Hunt. He really has been smoking more than tobacco to come up with the last two contenders.
http://www.ellistabletalk.com/
But just in case Turnbull surprises us all and makes a move, let’s not forget his interesting past. No, not the allegations about him murdering a former lover’s cat. Worse than that. HIH! Here’s a refresher, for those who have forgotten all about it.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/turnbull-done-with-hih/story-e6frg8zx-1111117505383
Here’s some interesting comment on the outcome of the Royal Commission into the HIH business, and an allegation – take the writer’s advice and scroll down to the quote in italics after the Twitter conversation. Note the last two paragraphs.
http://barnabyisright.com/2011/07/20/malcolm-turnbull-the-goldman-churian-candidate/
If we had decent journalists in this country they would have been all over this. But we don’t, so no-one has bothered with it for years. It might be time to drag it all up again.
http://cheeseburgergothic.com/show/5928
http://indaily.com.au/news/2014/05/28/former-lib-minister-not-surprised-at-decision/
http://blogs.crikey.com.au/croakey/2014/05/27/the-budget-ripping-the-guts-out-of-fairness-and-forcing-people-into-poverty/
http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/casting-the-ideal-challenger-to-hillary-clinton/
http://pando.com/2014/05/26/revealed-the-head-of-omidyar-networks-in-india-had-a-secret-second-job-helping-elect-narendra-modi/
BB,
That’s right and this and the last election the same thing happened: the Libs got the popular vote and increased their margins in safe Liberal seats; the ALP lost two seats but won the marginal seats they held.
It also helped when the Libs candidate in one of Labors safe seats (Ramsay) I think Puffy was living there then and small business owner had this to say
They didn’t sack him they knew he wouldn’t win the seat they didn’t care but the Libs The Australian and The Advertiser along with Radio 5AA Adelaide’s (2GB) had the election won!
Well given Ellis’s track record you can strike those three off the list of replacements.
I think that this tweet says it all
<https://twitter.com/jimmyraynes/statuses/471436830324166656
GL
But then we’d have nothing to laugh at. Ellis is famous for making ludicrous predicitions. He’s wrong on this one too.
leone
Given Turnbull’s past and his present demolition of the NBN, I’m quite surprised that Oakeshott – who had always shown some insight – had ever contemplated asking him to join Gillard’s govt.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/may/28/has-sydneys-daily-telegraph-lost-touch-with-its-readers
https://newmatilda.com//2014/05/27/abbotts-lost-some-skin-its-far-terminal
I think he’s right to be cautious
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/27/australia-weather-winter-idUSL3N0OD4EM20140527
Poliyical Animal.
It is Wednesday. It is 12.13 pm. I am at Saltrams Winery in the restaurant. Where is everybody?
Ominously, there is no booking in your name
And no, I didn’t say Political Animal.
The dessert bar is overwhelming. If no one turns up soon I am going for it alone. I have my eyes on a salted caramel mouse. Or three.
Just you and the mouse, Puffy?
Just had my eyes and ears assaulted by a bloke called Dutton who sounds very much like an abbott clone, waffling on about the non-sustainablity of medicare and the new GP co-payment that is set to ‘fix’ the problem ‘going forward’. (National Press Club).
gigilene
I don’t think Oakeshott was being serious with that ‘invitation’. He said this –
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/oakeshott-asked-turnbull-to-be-a-gillard-minister-20140523-38uer.html
Mr Oakeshott isn’t dumb, he knew there was absolutely no way there would ever be any sort of mix of Coalition and Labor ministers in any cabinet. He had allegedly made a similar suggestion when he was an independent state politician. He had – allegedly – asked Morris Iemma if he could be a minister in the NSW Labor government in around 2007. Oakeshott said he had no memory of doing that, but his enemies really talked it up. I think he’s just overly optimistic about political possibilities. He would like to see a system that did not revolve around two major parties but instead just had independents keen to work for the good of their electorates. I don’t think any of us will live to see that happen.