Shit, or get off the pot, Malcolm.

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Turnbull potty Complete with Text

Bolt today:

“Turnbull must virtually start all over again, but not just with a new team.

Now, with just three months to go before his first Budget and only eight or so until the election, he must find a new economic plan.”

Yes… well… uhm… d’errr.

The amazing thing about the public is that it has given Turnbull the Big Tick because they want to believe that a new captain – with virtually the same old team – can turn the side around from wooden-spooners to premiers in the space of a couple of months’ brainstorming.

It happens in schlok Hollywood baseball movies about baseball and gridiron – the new man, now off the booze, inspires a gaggle of numpties and misfits etc. – or every now and again in, say, an ice skating race – where you’re so far behind that when the rest of the competitors fall over each other you’ve got enough time to coast around them and win gold.

Not so often in real life.

Of course we are not addicted to real life. We are addicted to Reality Life, which is different.

In real life you work hard to achieve your goal. You genuinely innovate, “do the math”, “work the problem”, “science the shit out of” your predicament.

In Reality Life, your little brother dies, you write a song about the poor little blighter, go onto to Australia’s Got Talent and wow the judges (who look about as un-real as can be managed, which means they are “Reality Real”). You can’t write. You can’t sing. You can’t dance. But the promos for the show make out you aced it, all the way to the semis and then the finals. All it needed was a bit of a tragedy, mixed-in emotion and a modicum of good looks. And the inspiration to believe you could do it. It’s All Australia’s “Must See” episode.

I used to write here that Australia lacked confidence. Years of pre-Treasury Joe Hockey droning on about “debt and deficit disasters” and “School Hall” waste finally convinced the punters that we could have survived the GFC simply by simply inspiring ourselves to do it. His (and his cronies’) “relentless negativity”, as PMJG put it, got the idea into the voters’ minds that there probably hadn’t been been a GFC and, if there was, it was in the Northern Hemisphere. It didn’t have anything to do with us. Labor just liked racking up debt and spending our money for its own sake. As a result the nation lost confidence in its economic management (which had, in fact been the envy of the world).

Come Tony Abbott, with Hockey his John the Baptist hailing the advent of a Three-Word Messiah, and we made-believe that it was Muslim boat-people, Pink Batts and shoe malfunctions that caused our woes and the reversal of these would restore confidence. With an economy that was ready to boom with mining money and China’s insatiable urge to Buy Australian, all we needed was the confidence thing.

“Now there’s yer problem!”: now we have too much confidence.

Turns out the Chinese fascination with all-things-Oz was waning, their economy was finally levelling out, permanent growth was exposed as an impossibility and we found ourselves with a lot of holes in the ground that other people were making money out of… but only because they didn’t pay their taxes.

The Coalition’s Surplus fetish (and Labor’s half-hearted participation in it during a precariously hung parliament), borne of a classic tail-wags-dog belief that the government’s over-taxing of the people and under-management of their basic services brought prosperity for all (and votes for the government) just made things worse.

Enter Sir Galahad, Malcolm Turnbull. The Turnbull Renaissance was at hand. His witty insouciance, his urbane but cruisey style got the punters to thinking that all they needed to put the mix together was a businessman who could cut red tape, beat unwilling heads of slow thinkers together and Go For Growth via Ideas.

Unfortunately this was the bloke who had shed ideas and ideals like a snake with sunburn: the Republic, a decent NBN, gay marriage, Climate Change and many more. There wasn’t a Turnbull passion that couldn’t be discarded in the pursuit of office. But we – and I use “we” with obvious exceptions – loved him for it, or at least became infatuated. Here was another Easy Way Out: we’d charm our way back to prosperity… even better… Malcolm Turnbull could do it for us.

No need to work, or really innovate. Just talk about it and it would be so. Someone else, anyone else could take care of the details.

What no-one twigged to was that “innovation” is not an innovative idea. Innovation is “core”. It’s basic. You have to have it or you may as well not get out of bed in the morning. Talk of innovation being the new “thing” shows how much of a failure the Coalition’s time in office had been. But let’s hang onto it. Maybe something will happen, something new like innovation.

We had the confidence at last, but where was the other bit? Don’t know what I mean? It’s the Economy, stupid. The Coalition’s negativity finally bore fruit: they went out of their way to fuck the economy by talking it down. and they succeeded, just in time for them to win office.

The solution was easy: just talk it up again. All their mates were in on the scam. It was like the annual Lurk Merchants and Sleeve Tuggers’ Convention.

Good one Liberals! Good one Nationals! All hail the troglodytes! The village was destroyed in order to save it. Their recovery plan? Flog everything off. Reward their mates and party donors. Re-establish the old order. Telstra’s on top. Rupert’s still in charge. Miners are ripping squillions out of our earth. Transurban’s putting up its tolls and having a bumper year. Tony Abbott still lurks. What’s not to love about any of that?

But digging holes for one-time sales of dirt, building toll-roads to nowhere, selling off The Farm, applying duct tape to Foxtel cracks only puts off the inevitable crunch. Even the well-worn observation that we were “starting again” – two years into a government that said it had all the ideas ready to go in 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 – but which had systematically cut the country off at the knees as a favour to vested interests in fields as far apart as media, communications and even the education industry – should have rung hollow.

“Can’t bat. Can’t bowl.”

Sadly, to a nation addicted to the quick fix, the easy solution, the Grand Scheme where the other bloke has a go while you coast along doing the same thing you’ve always done, the appeal of Malcolm Turnbull was irresistable. Our national torpor could be maintained, and we could afford to wait for another miracle. Someone else had come along to save us. No wonder we gave him the Audience Vote. He let us believe it was just a matter of snapping our fingers and telling ourselves destiny was on our side again. An innovative new idea: “Innovation”.

I’m surprised the Stump-Jump Plough wasn’t trotted out. Or the Hills Hoist. Instead we got how wonderful the CSIRO was in detecting gravitational waves… omitting to mention that the branch that helped do was was sacked en masse years ago. Tomorrow it’s the Climate Change’s mob’s turn to join the Centre Link queue.

Where to now? Looks like Waffles’ polls are going off the boil, and the cavemen thirsting for revenge in his own party will be salivating. A bloke that was good at kicking helpless boat people around in secret isn’t exactly shining when it comes to sophisticated economic management in public. The commentators are getting bored (it was going to be so exciting). The ministry’s in a shambles. The nation’s going nowhere, with no plan and no leadership. All that excitement for nothing. As we enter the cold months ahead, there’s not even a Budget plan on the horizon. The back benchers must be restless. They’ve seen all this before. And they don’t like it.

Sure, Bill Shorten’s always good for a “question that must be answered”. “Labor waste” will be produced. Newspaper editorials will still give Turnbull the benefit of the doubt, but there’ll be less “benefit” and more “doubt”. Our Messiah, in that hesitant, “I-could-say-so-much-but-I’ll keep-it-simple-for-you-little-people” way he has of talking, will continue to pretend it’s all part of The Plan. Let’s have a Union Bashing recovery.

There’s a firey red Federal Police car parked on the corner outside the Turnbull residence in Point Piper. Who’s it there to protect him from?

Malcolm, there are so many threats, and so little time. Please shit, or get off the pot.

 

503 thoughts on “Shit, or get off the pot, Malcolm.”

  1. Interesting

    Catalyst

    Tuesday 16th February at 8:00 pm (32 minutes)

    Wi-fried: Wi-Fi blankets our homes, schools & cities. Dr Maryanne Demasi takes a closer look at the link between mobile phones & brain cancer & explores whether our wireless devices could be putting our health at risk. #ABCcatalyst

  2. http://www.buzzfeed.com/markdistefano/what-positive-gear

    https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/30829047/two-thirds-still-against-nz-flag-change/

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-02-16/councils-still-using-pesticide-that-probably-causes-cancer/7168464

  3. Labor in bipartisan ‘race to the bottom’ on asylum seekers, says Jon Stanhope
    Former Christmas Island administrator says rather than take the heat out of the debate, the party’s approach is ‘turning the screws’ on ‘draconian’ policymaking
    http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/feb/16/labor-in-bipartisan-race-to-the-bottom-on-asylum-seekers-says-jon-stanhope

    We now have unions supporting the ‘Let Them Stay’ campaign and supporting staff at the Lady Cilento hospital on the Baby Asha thing. We have had report after report from doctors saying detention is causing untold harm. We are seeing rallies across Australia about this almost every day now. At the NSW ALP conference on the weekend there was a lot of support for changing ALP detention policy, but it didn’t get up. A motion to allow those 37 babaies to stay was lost.

    What sort of people are we dealing with here? Who were the delegates who voted against compassion and opted to support the government line?

    None of the campaigning, protesting and petition signing makes any difference. Labor isn’t listening. We are still getting almost daily doses of ‘saving people from drowning’ from that fracking creep Marles and from Shorten.

    The Let Them Stay hype at the moment offers Labor a brilliant opportunity to change policy and make a very big announcement but it seems the party heads prefer to support the government and stick with torture and demonisation. Why?

  4. Complete and utter bastards.

    Government moves to fast-track deportations to Nauru as ‘Baby Asha’ given 72 hour undertaking

    The Australian Government appears to be rapidly moving to clear the way for fast-track deportations without notice of many of the 267 vulnerable people the Human Rights Law Centre represented in the recent High Court challenge to Australia’s role in offshore detention.

    The Human Rights Law Centre’s Director of Legal Advocacy, Daniel Webb, said the Government had previously promised that it would give all 267 people 72 hours warning before deporting them, but it has now said that promise will soon cease to apply.

    “The Government looks like it is clearing the way for fast-track deportations by removing basic notice periods. Not only does it want to be able to return 267 incredibly vulnerable people to harm, it wants to do so suddenly and secretively without warning,” said Mr Webb

    http://hrlc.org.au/fasttrackdeportations/

    Preparing the way for Dutton’s black shirts to storm in at night, bundle up families and shove them on planes for Nauru.

    Surely we are better than this.

  7. Turnbull, on tour in Queensland, likens himself and Bananaby to Thelma and Louise. Not his brightest idea.

    Tony Wright had a lovely time with that remark.
    Malcolm and Barnaby play Thelma and Louise: best to avoid the Grand Canyon
    http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/malcolm-and-barnaby-play-thelma-and-louise-best-to-avoid-the-grand-canyon-20160216-gmv7j4.html

    So did Bill Shorten.

    “I now hear Malcolm Turnbull’s self-describing him and Barnaby Joyce as Thelma and Louise,” he said.

    “It worries me that they don’t understand what they are doing or where they are going and the consequences will be drastic for the Australian people.”

    The wannabe PM then added: “At least Thelma and Louise had a plan”

    https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/30833764/pms-road-show-sidetracked-by-thelma-and-louise-quip/

    Someone has to ask the big question – if Bananaby is Thelma and Waffles is Louise then who gets to be J.D., the sexy hitch-hiker who seduces Thelma then steals all her money and runs away?

  8. Oh, oh!

    Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has made another intervention in the preselection battles within the New South Wales Liberal Party, with Craig Kelly the latest MP to gain his support.

    Mr Turnbull backed the Western Sydney-based MP in a weekend letter to the Liberal Party’s acting state director, describing Mr Kelly as one of the Government’s “most consistent performers”.

    Dated February 14, the letter also stated Mr Kelly had a “fine reputation”.

    Mr Kelly was among the NSW politicians being targeted by the party’s moderates, alongside Senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells and Hume’s Angus Taylor.

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-02-16/malcolm-turnbull-endorses-liberal-mp-craig-kelly/7173072

    An obvious candidate for Waffles’ support.

    In charge of dismantling the NDIS under tone.

    Doesn’t like wind farms.

    In 2012, Kelly was referred to the parliamentary privileges committee over a range of allegations, including a failure to declare on his register of interests his directorship of several companies. The Leader of the House, Anthony Albanese, alleged Kelly had failed to disclose his directorship of three entities which he had not officially relinquished until March 2011, eight months after the 2010 election.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craig_Kelly_(politician)#National_Disability_Insurance_Scheme

    In a Facebook post, the Liberal MP for the Sydney seat of Hughes, Craig Kelly, fulminated against the quality of artwork on display in the people’s house.

    “Call me a philistine, but I think most of the artwork around Parliament House is appalling,” he mused.

    http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/oct/14/liberal-mp-craig-kelly-rages-against-appalling-parliament-house-artwork

    Liberal backbencher Craig Kelly is sticking by his man, throwing his support behind the prime minister, Tony Abbott, in the face of increasing leadership chatter.

    http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/feb/04/craig-kelly-sends-facebook-love-letter-to-prime-minister-im-sticking-with-tony

  9. Leone,

    Are you sure of what you say about NSW Labor Conference voting against the “let them stay” motion.

    I was at the Conference on Sunday when this motion was debated. No speaker spoke against the motion. When asked for the ayes, every hand went up with a deafening “YES”. When asked for the nayes, dead silence and no hand at all.

    • It might have been manipulated, just like the Democrat numbers men have fiddled the numbers against Bernie in favour of Hilary.

  10. dedalus

    That’s very reassuring, because I had to rely on accounts from others and the message I got was it didn’t get up.

    Thanks for the eye-witness info.

    Do you think it will go any further, or will it just be disregarded with the party keeping on following the government line?

    • Well, no member of the Pub has any input into Bill Shorten’s head. But for mine, it would make sense electorally to take advantage of the fairly clear mood swing out there in voterland. It’s a political calculation, rather than a moral one. In other words it’s a test of political skill.You can express clear support for “secure borders” and simultaneously the safety of women and children. Not to be too cynical about it, it’s a kind of trick to be accomplished. It shouldn’t be too hard to manage for a skilful politician.

      If Shorten mishandles this the ALP will probably bleed members. It’s that emotive an issue. I’m sure Shorten’s aware of that possibility. A lot of his front bench were at the Town Hall on Sunday and would carry that message to him. That rousing “YES” echoes the rank and file of the party. At my branch (Wollondilly:Phil Costa’s old electorate), the members are all very sympathetic to assylum seekers and many won’t take kindly to the party walking lock step with the tories through this despicably cruel door.

    • IMO dropping present refugee police is not politically possible for Labor.

      What is possible is for Labor to attack the way this government has implemented the policy.

      There has always been differences that need to be highlighted.

      If Labor policy is based on the Houston recommendations as I believe, Labor needs to highlight what else was involved.

      Turning back boats was recommend against but may be prudent to ignore that.

      Offshore processing on Manus and Nauru was seen as a stop gap measure to allow regional solutions to be developed.

      This had began under Gillard. Arrangements were made for Indonesia to change their visa laws, cutting the flow refugees in that county. Was only a start with much more work to be done.

      Reopening the Islands already slowed the boats coming before Abbott gained power.

      They became obsessed with turning back boats. Expensive but worse pit relations with countries in our region at risk. No work could proceed in finding regional solution.

      This government policy has no interest in resettlement. They want conditions made unbearable forcing the refugees to return to the countries they fled. This in spite of what we see, tens of thousands still fleeing, taking to the road with their kids in tow, their old on their backs, Not even slowing down when the weather becomes dangerous.

      No processing was done either onshore or offshore for nearly two years., Morrison refused to do anything until he got his TPV which mean nothing.

      We now know NZ agreed to take 150 per year. This government refuses to allow that to happen, Would solve the mess they are in with the babies born here. We already stop people from NZ coming here. Dutton is at this time deporting hundreds of them. Some reared here or with Australian born families.

      They have spent hundreds of million in effort to resettle refugees in countries whose conditions makes it impossible for them to accept. None have made it to PNG, in spite of some wanting to go.

      Not sending them back is not the answer. Allowing them to go elsewhere such as NZ is possible. It is still possible to work within the region to find resettlement. Malaysian type operation could be the answer.

      Time to condemn Abbott from stopping the Malaysian Solution going ahead.

      Shorten said last year at National conference there is a place for the system to be more humane.

      Time now to come out with such a policy.

      Will have to be very careful how they play it though. Then Shorten has shown he is capable of leading the political agenda when it comes to tax, Needs to do the same with immigration. That includes the mess this government has made of the visa programmes.

    • Maybe the RC should accompany them. wouldn’t be hard as they hold hearings all over the country.

      Ally on the Project 10 suggested crowd funding over a week ago. Another panelist offer to donate 2 plane seats at the same time.

      Any legal problem I believe could be overcome by using Australian Embassy.

      Not sure the Vatican would be pleased by the international media cover such a move would attract.

  12. l2

    Bw posted this next door. On the money, I think.

    Hospitals have been sheltering some individual children for well over six months as far as I can find out. Border Force will not touch them for as long as doctors refuse to discharge them. There is a legal basis for this behaviour.

    There is no legal basis for church people giving sanctuary to asylum seekers. This is criminal behaviour. Whether Border Force would actually do something about this is moot.

    While it seems to me to be complicated it is quite likely that the Government has twigged that mistreating children is unpopular. They want the children problem to go away quietly for two reasons: mistreating children is unpopular and it does not want to send public signals to people smugglers.

    IMO it is quite likely that a series of deals can be done on the QT to fix the children problem.

    IMO it is highly likely that Border Force will simply say and do nothing about church people hiding children.

    This solves their problem in a way that meets their policy needs.

    OTOH, if the churchpeople who are hiding children start parading their moral virtue then, IMO, Border Force will have to do a ‘Burmese Days’ and shoot their elephant.

    • Seeing as the government has quietly done away with the requirement for 72 hours notice to be given to people facing a return to Nauru I think they are clearing the decks for a late night purge of some kind. Families snatched from detention centres by Dutton’s armed Black Shirt Border Farce goons, carted off to airports and put on planes before anyone realises what’s going on.

      It’s not just those 37 babies at risk, there are 267 people all up facing removal to Nauru, and hardly any of them are in hospital or have any way of getting to a church to claim sanctuary.

      I see dirty work being done, done soon and in the dead of night.

  13. Good to see this.

    Cologne Sex Attacks: Only Three Out Of 58 Men Arrested Are Refugees, Prosecutor Reveals

    After refugees were blamed for thieving from, sexually assaulting and raping women in Cologne on New Year's Eve, new evidence has emerged to suggest they were in the drastic minority of perpetrators.

    Just three of the 58 suspects arrested in connection with January's mass sex attack were refugees, local public prosecutor Ulrich Bremer has confirmed.

    The German legal official said two Syrians and one Iraqi had been detained by police as part of their inquiries, contrary to the hysteria caused by headlines which accused hordes of refugees of masterminding the assault.

    Unnamed police sources were previously used to attribute claims Syrian refugees were those behind the attacks, in a move branded "demagoguery" by Human Rights Watch director Kenneth Roth

    http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2016/02/15/cologne-sex-attacks-refugees-prosecutor_n_9235358.html?1455550132

  15. Yeah, I’m getting the feeling the LIbs are becoming a touch desperate. The style is shifting to all-out attack on the ALP, as evidenced by Morrison’s statements on negative gearing. Misinformation delivered in a hysterical tone is reminiscent of the way they cut the ALP down around 2012-13. They’re trying to make people scared of what the ALP might do. Much harder to do from government though, as they probably already know from Abbott’s entire PM-ship.

    It should be noted here that the Liberals know the electorate is, in general, not mature enough to have a proper debate on any aspect of the economy. They’ve been sweating on the ALP releasing some sort of policy position just so they could yell and scream about it. I have no doubt most people won’t even pick up on the broad sweeps of the negative gearing issue much less the fine detail. But what they may very well do is recognise the tone the Liberals are taking as classic Abbott obfuscation, and reject it on those ground alone. Fool me once…

    And then there’s the attempt to shift the conversation back to AS, the one area the Liberals feel in any way they can capture the imagination of the public.

    At the moment I think the government are just trying to halt the slide in the polls Not that they know how to do it, they really don’t have their finger on the pulse of the nation at all. But they still have all their old tricks to wheel out. They’ve worked before.

    But then again, the electorate were all rather keen on Turnbull the Reformer, Turnbull the Statesman, Turnbull the Innovator, Turnbull the Social Redeemer. To see him coming across as a wordier version of Attack Dog Abbott isn’t going to go down all that well with them. The government will get a bit of traction, but not enough to halt the slide. They’re in trouble and they’re only just realising it.

    • Just realising it was Abbott’s implementing of his policies that was beginning to bite. What Abbott couldn’t turn about. Abbott’s style and behavior was a great distraction from what the government was doing. It is a fallacy to say Abbott achieved nothing, He achieved much, all bad for the community and country.

      The cuts have been severe. There is hardly a community based program left.

      This PM is finding he has no time or hope of papering over Abbott’s mess. Worse for him, he is wedge every way he turns.

      Truth is, he is impotent as a leader and it shows.

      Today we have Morrison’s obsession with cutting, can’t move onto what needs to be done. They have no economical policies. will be surprise if they have a budget,

      This PM will be forced into what Abbott was working towards, a early election called nearly immediately. Abbott knows that.

  16. And just quietly, Morrison is talking a whole lot of gobshite. He’s more or less running an ad campaign with no audience for it. The ‘mum and dad investors’ in negative gearing properties don’t really exist.

  17. I mean, look at this, just look at it:

    Does he seriously think people won’t pick up on the ‘taxable income’ bit? He’s not saying income, he’s saying taxable income. With all the talk about tax minimisation lately, and that list of companies who arrange things so they have no taxable income, does Morrison really think that’s going to fly?

    And then going on about how much of “Labor’s debt” Labor are planning to pay off… seriously? From a party that have done nothing but blow out debt for two and a half years? And who have no plans, no plans at all, for paying it off?

    We can pass over the fact that Labor’s negative gearing changes really reap dollars further down the track and that the first four years will be the least lucrative. People most likely won’t get that. But they might notice that being lectured on fiscal efficiency. by the dude who’s flushing money down the toilet faster than it can drain, is really on the nose.

  20. Shorten should give Bowen and Leigh carte blanche to dismantle the spurious arguments that are and will be put forward by the government against Labor taxation policy.

  22. I have to write this out, for at the moment I despair of my fellow citizens..It is at these moments of despair that I get down the old ;”Gibbon’s Decline and Fall…” and I read this or that favourite passage or part..I read it not to alleviate my despondency or to wallow in any inevitability as in a “I could have told you so” moment…I read it to find reason and sense in the behaviours of what I see or sense in the so pedestrian world around me. Rather than live in doubt of my own conclusions, I find in those precious tomes the wisdom of ages that calm and soothe the rising anger of the soul.

    The reason for my despondency today was that I had to go to the old workplace to assist the OH. with a workshop that we used to do together…that was alright, but since it finished at midday, I was left to attend to some other private business and then to wile away the rest of the afternoon before the OH. finished her day there.

    There’s not much to do in these little country towns, and there are now so few folk to chew the fat with..all the oldies have mostly departed to one place or “another” and the youngies have nothing much to say…their world being dispersed on the ether….So I went to the library..a Labor “education revolution” structure…of which most of the locals in their ignorance thank the LNP. for !…I gave up on the internet after it crashed and then demanded pins and bar-code numbers every time you wanted to refresh the page…So I picked up the local rag ; “The Barossa Bleeder” and perused the news there..ie; what the latest boy-scout knot was…Mr. Pffening and his penny collection w/pics..the second coming timetable for masses etc…and I read the “Letters to the Editor”..and THAT was the last straw!

    There was this diatribe from a person reprinting one of those bogus ; “Headmaster’s reply from a British school to a group of Muslim Parents “..who, it appears , “demanded” the removal of all pork products from the tuck-shop..of course it is one of the many bogus “Outrageous Demands from Muslim Parents” letters that circulate on the internet, and are basically an excuse for the writer to apply their own set of demands on , in this case ; “Muslim Parents”, but can be used against any minority group.

    That the newspaper would reprint such rubbish is one thing, but what capped it off was that the correspondent to the newspaper, who signed off as “A Proud Australian”..was a fuckin’ box-head kraut!..a fucking German origin fuckin’ refugee himself..or at least his antecedents were!…and only a couple of generations ago, they could very well have been wiling away their time in the 2nd.WW at His Majesty’s pleasure, along with any number of dagos and dings out there in the donga as “enemy aliens”!…along with MY rellies in the mallee sticks, shitting themselves that they will be shot or some such thing just for being from another country..AND being Lutheran..and by the living Keerist THAT in itself , in MY opinion, would be enough!…JEESUS FUCKIN’ CHRIST!!..who are these dickheads? Don’t they have a memory longer than a fucking goldfish to forget their own disadvantage to be straight away sinking the boot into the next ones off the boat?

    I tell you it’s cruel, isn’t it?

    But there..I had to get it off my chest..and I still feel totally pissed off at my fellow jerkoff citizens!…so I’m going back to read some more of my Gibbon’s Decline and Fall…” ..I gotta see how it ends!

  23. Aguirre

    I do so hope you are right. I just can’t place my faith in the populace as a whole to wake up to this mob, at least, not yet.

  24. BK

    From what I can gather on my twitter feed, they are out there today refuting, or trying to refute the FUD that the Libs are trying to instill.

  25. A couple of days back some asked for reports on WA’s RW shit sheet, locally known as the Worst Australian. Two days in a row resident RW cartoonist has featured a cartoon of Allanah a comin’ to git state Labor leader McGowan now she has left Canberra. Leadershit stirring or is there something behind reports last week about speculation on (the travelling very well) McGowan’s future. My comment on such rumours at the time was “Surely they couldn’t be that stupid…could they? “

  26. Had PvO’s Sky News thing on as background news at lunchtime. Wasn’t paying much attention, but he had some government minister on who of course said Labor’s negative gearing policy was ‘just a stunt’.

    I’m looking forward to the inevitable government copying – somewhat watered down to protect their own investments – of this alleged ‘stunt’.

  27. Anyone want to hear a good story about Telstra?

    We are not with Telstra now, got away from them as soon as possible. Anyways, we’ve been having intermittent problems with our internet cutting out when the phone rang. Then the phone started screeching at us when either answering it or making a call. Rang our provider, southernphone, (they don’t use capital letters), reported the problem on the 5th. Went through all the tests to make sure it wasn’t the telephone itself because if it was Telstra would charge $120 to investigate.

    Telstra technician arrived about 11.30am, did lots of testing, checking the inside and outside. Finally found two problems. The main one was the connection at the house, which after two hours he checked and the whatever disintegrated in his hand.

    He was very nice 40ish young man, originally from QLD, has lived locally for the 7 years, amazed at the pleasantness of us lowly Victorians, and has even learned to love our inclement weather.

    I despise Telstra with a vengeance, but if this a sample of their technician, then they deserve a huge pat on the back for employing someone who cares about his work and seems to enjoy it.

  29. Kaffee

    I’m the guilty one asking for the odd report. It’s a bit like NZ news, we don’t hear much over here on what is actually going on in the West. Thanks for your trouble, appreciate it.

  30. A blast from the past for those familiar with Sydney’s Rose Bay Public School . For the rest a look at what inflation and diet changes have done.


    .

  31. 2gravel

    “It’s a bit like NZ news, we don’t hear much over here on what is actually going on in the West”.
    .
    Not to worry , WA does its best to believe ‘Straya ends at Kalgoorlie, Albany , Broome and Rotto. 🙂
    I will keep an eye on any anti Truffles movements in the paper though. They have an impeccable RWNJ radar

    • Thelma & Louise sums up his four day effort in the north, Pure farce. PM forgot to pack any policies. One would have ensured Lucy would have checked his bags before sending him off. Seemed to be wearing same clothes two day running. Maybe she needs to accompany him next time.

    • You are being nice. No sarcastic. Seem then on Kitchen Cabinet, Got the impression Lucy’s time is taken up keeping him out of trouble.

  34. Barnyard has form when it comes to driving vehicles where they shouldn’t but given the politics he represents it is right that Barnyards gets to drive Truffles off the political cliff.

  35. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/oilprices/12159052/Oil-prices-crash-after-Saudia-Arabia-and-Russia-agree-to-freeze-production.html

    http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/jesus-did-not-appear-to-me–and-i-do-not-eat-babies-says-jai-rowell-mp-after-tense-nsw-coalition-meet/news-story/e8a731f013022508e70390e56d541a58 no paywall

    https://newmatilda.com/2016/02/16/labor-has-seized-the-policy-initiative-as-turnbulls-ideas-boom-blows-up-in-his-face/

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-02-15/movements-in-the-ranks-since-clp-was-elected-in-nt/7168594

  38. ALP member for Brand, Gary Gray, has announced his retirement. All 3 ALP members in Western Australia are now retiring at the election.

    • Gary Gray made sensible statement this morning. remind people of a simple fact. No opposition leader has won an election in one term since the war. Now is the time for party renewal, setting up the party for the future.

      Time for those who use by date is passed. Time to move on, let new blood in.

    • He’s right, but mess of present govt and fraud leading to their election in first place, along with economic/employment uncertainty, put this one well within reach. Needs a few strategic heads, but tax reform a credible start. I’d think about a minor frontbench reshuffle even if leaders unwilling to sack anyone.

      Gray’s resigning would allow Marles and Fitzgibbon to at least be moved sideways. I’d give Leigh Admin & Finance, Tanya Immigration, and Bourke Agriculture. Tanya’s shift would herald a major change in A/S policy and could be sold with some credibility.

      They need to advocate fairer tax and relentlessly pursue government’s fiddling around for the lobbies and refusing to tackle privilege. Bowen and Leigh are well qualified for that, as are Wong and Dastyari in the Senate.

  39. on voting reform for the senate
    http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/feb/12/senate-voting-changes-coalition-wins-over-nick-xenophon-and-greens
    The changes basically require voters to list at least six preferences when voting above the line, the Greens are for this as it greatly benefits them (although they get really shitty if you point this out), to my mind we should either get rid of the current senate voting system and have a proper proportional voting system with open tickets or, if that is too scary, get rid of above the line and have optional preferences and robson rotation like they do in Tassie and the ACT.

    While the claims from the analysts quoted in the sydney morning herald are close to being complete bullshit http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/coalition-could-clean-up-in-senate-if-vote-reform-deal-is-finalised-20160216-gmvpqz.html

  41. As mentioned here before, chemicals could be the cause.

    The Argentine researcher Eduardo Avila Vasquez, a member of the Association of Physicians of fumigated Peoples, said that “there are a lot of areas where Zika has developed and which have not submitted cases of microcephaly that which makes us think that these defects can be linked with other causes and, since 2014, these areas were sprayed with pyriproxyfen. “

    https://translate.google.com.au/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://www.lefigaro.fr/&prev=search

  42. Good morning Dawn Patrollers. I had a bit of a sleep in this morning.

    Mesma got a bit of a frosty touchdown in China.
    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/julie-bishop-gets-frosty-reception-from-china-over-australias-stance-on-south-china-sea-20160216-gmvx73.html
    This not what Australia needs is it? Why would the Greens support something that would likely remove much of their relevance?
    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/coalition-could-clean-up-in-senate-if-vote-reform-deal-is-finalised-20160216-gmvpqz.html
    Michelle Grattan urges caution with respect to changing Senate voting laws.
    https://theconversation.com/changes-to-senate-voting-may-be-needed-but-should-not-be-rushed-54849
    Mark Kenny on how Turnbull went into damage control mode over the GST confusion.
    http://www.smh.com.au/business/consumer-affairs/sydney-car-dealerships-raided-by-nsw-police-uncovering-odometer-tampering-of-used-cars-20160216-gmvf1p.html
    Why Turnbull has his backbench fretting.
    http://thenewdaily.com.au/news/2016/02/16/gst-negative-gearing-tax-malcolm-turnbull/
    Gillian Triggs rightfully has come out and rubbished the Australian Christian Lobby and its request to suspend anti-discrimination laws for the period of the SSM plebiscite lead up.
    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/call-to-suspend-hate-laws-disgraceful-triggs-20160216-gmv5u8.html
    “View from the Street” says “Let the bigotry commence!”
    http://www.smh.com.au/comment/view-from-the-street/view-from-the-street-let-the-insane-plebiscite-bigotry-commence-20160216-gmvnfb.html
    More on our friends at the ACL.
    https://theconversation.com/the-marriage-plebiscite-no-time-out-on-anti-discrimination-laws-54821
    Sam Crosby comes out in support of Labor’s negative gearing recalibration policy.
    http://www.smh.com.au/comment/negative-gearing-needs-to-be-recalibrated-not-completely-scrapped-20160215-gmu87z.html
    Three myths on negative gearing the housing industry wants you to believe.
    https://theconversation.com/three-myths-on-negative-gearing-the-housing-industry-wants-you-to-believe-54732

  43. Section 2 . . .

    Kristina Keneally opines that Turnbull is a bit like Kevin Rudd. I do like this lady’s work.
    http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/feb/16/malcolm-turnbulls-political-style-in-so-many-ways-its-reminiscent-of-kevin-rudd
    Naughty Stuart Robert gets sprung again and coughs up $1600.
    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/stuart-robert-repays-entitlements-for-trip-to-townsville-mine-20160216-gmvphi.html
    The fake Rolex excuse is worse than accepting bribes says this AFR opinion piece. (Google search the following string).
    /opinion/fake-rolex-excuse-is-worse-than-accepting-bribes-20160216-gmv724
    Tony Wright with a Thelma and Louise parody.
    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/call-to-suspend-hate-laws-disgraceful-triggs-20160216-gmv5u8.html
    And Alan Stokes has fun at Bronny’s expense.
    http://www.smh.com.au/comment/bronwyn-bishop-and-the-invasion-of-the-westies-20160215-gmuyij.html
    The ASX profit season is not following the bear scripts.
    http://www.smh.com.au/business/comment-and-analysis/profit-season-is-not-following-the-bear-script-20160216-gmvgjp.html
    Here are some concerning statistics on health costs.
    http://www.smh.com.au/business/medibank-private-shows-hospital-visits-and-cost-of-care-soaring-20160215-gmuj2e.html
    The silent majority backs Sydney’s lockout laws.
    http://www.smh.com.au/comment/the-silent-majority-backs-sydneys-lockout-laws-20160216-gmvd9k.html
    The ACCC/Woolworths “Mind the Gap” case gets off the ground with Woolies going into fine points of the law.
    http://www.smh.com.au/business/retail/woolworths-denies-demanding-mind-the-gap-payments-were-unconscionable-20160216-gmv3d3.html
    Tim Wilson goes all in with his bid for Goldstein.
    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/tim-wilson-willing-to-give-up-everything-to-have-a-tilt-at-politics-20160216-gmvjkh.html

  44. Section 3 . . .

    And The Independent Australia says that his resignation has been his greatest contribution to human rights.
    https://independentaustralia.net/life/life-display/tim-wilsons-resignation-is-his-greatest-contribution-to-human-rights,8682
    The undisputed bad fast food champion.
    http://www.smh.com.au/national/health/zambrero-nachos-tops-list-of-fast-food-overloads-20160216-gmvbhw.html
    Ross Gittins examines the economics of high rates of imprisonment.
    http://www.smh.com.au/comment/head-20160215-gmurmz.html
    ACOSS agitates for a crackdown on trusts.
    https://theconversation.com/include-a-crackdown-on-trusts-in-tax-reform-acoss-54752
    The ICAC/Cunneen stoush gets more interesting as a Minister gets dragged into it.
    http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/brad-hazzard-put-margaret-cunneen-accident-witness-in-touch-with-icac-nsw-parliament-hears-20160216-gmvbxq.html
    The Vatican is riven over internal handling of child sexual abuse claims.
    http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/16/vatican-riven-by-internal-battle-over-handling-of-child-abuse-claims
    Meanwhile abuse victims seek crowd funding to get over to Rome for the Pell CA Royal Commission hearing.
    http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/feb/16/child-sex-abuse-survivors-crowdfund-to-fly-to-rome-for-george-pells-evidence
    What will Twitter do now that George Christensen has quit it?
    https://newmatilda.com/2016/02/16/so-soon-after-valentines-day-our-hearts-are-broken-george-christensen-just-left-twitter/
    George W Bush’s support for brother Jeb is a reminder of his own disastrous legacy.
    http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/feb/16/george-w-bush-elections-jeb-campaign-reminder-disastrous-legacy
    A UN Human Rights Committee finds that the government violated David Hicks’ rights.
    http://thenewdaily.com.au/news/2016/02/17/govt-violated-hicks-rights-un/

  45. Section 4 . . . with Cartoon Corner

    James Hird admits to having a financial guardian angel during his court appearance.
    http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/james-hirds-barrister-tells-court-insurer-should-pay-former-essendon-coachs-660000-legal-bills-20160216-gmv7qg.html
    Several Sydney car yards have been sprung for giving cars a “haircut”.
    http://www.smh.com.au/business/consumer-affairs/sydney-car-dealerships-raided-by-nsw-police-uncovering-odometer-tampering-of-used-cars-20160216-gmvf1p.html
    Ron Tandberg and Turnbull’s honeymoon.
    http://www.smh.com.au/photogallery/federal-politics/cartoons/ron-tandberg-20090910-fixc.html
    Beautiful work from Alan Moir.

    Cathy Wilcox has the ACL all worked out.
    http://www.smh.com.au/photogallery/federal-politics/cartoons/cathy-wilcox-20090909-fhd6.html?selectedImage=1
    David Pope on the road with the Abbottmobile.
    http://www.smh.com.au/photogallery/federal-politics/cartoons/david-pope-20141123-1t3j0.html?selectedImage=1
    Mark Knight on the security industry in Melbourne.
    http://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/22c53f404118cf84d7f2e2a6b69439d0?width=1024&api_key=zw4msefggf9wdvqswdfuqnr5
    David Rowe jumped at the chance offered by Turnbull’s Thelma and Louise trip.

  46. ” What will Twitter do now that George Christensen has quit it?”…at least it’ll be a weight off it’s mind!

  47. I suspect mesma’s frosty touchdown is more to do with her uselessness and incompetence than her stupid opinion.

    • That is good. Way things are being revealed, they might see themselves with a candidate that is distracted defending himself in courts about election time.

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