How did it all come to this. Libs sticking up for labor voting truck drivers, while labor are sticking up for big business.Every owner driver says that this law that labor brought in and are still pushing for is a bad piece of legislation.
It has been wrapped up under a banner of safety and looking after drivers.Pay them more and drivers wont have to work so hard is ridiculous and will do nothing to alter the road toll. Most of the accidents involving trucks are caused by car drivers doing stupid things and most of the trucks that are involved belong to Non owner drivers that this legislation doesn’t affect.
Safe rates legislation was intended at its start was all about the the big 2 Woolies and Coles demanding set delivery times and then penalising drivers if late.For example say a driver had a load from Sydney to the Brisbane distribution centre at he his set a specific unload time within 30 mins.
That is leave Sydney at 12.00am be in Bris at 11.00pm +-30 mins. Miss that slot and you are put in a holding pattern. ,No excuses. Accidents, road closures floods etc, be there at your allocated time or get put into the pattern. Now for drivers with the major companies they were on a hourly rate and got paid for waiting anyway but subbie Owner drivers are paid to deliver the load ,so if they s miss the slot they have to wait …Depending on how urgent they want the goods on the truck you could be stuck there for anything up to 24 hrs. You can,t leave your truck in case you get called up and all this time is unpaid and the return load that you had lined up has gone to someone else because you are stuck in the line, If you can,t find a return load it becomes a expensive trip home.
So labor came up with safe rates and at first was a pretty good piece of legislation.Make Coles and Woolies pay for the truckies time waiting to be unloaded, and take into account road closures, floods etc. all pretty sensible stuff and supported by most people. I can guarantee you that the distribution centres would operate a lot more efficiently if they had to pay for waiting times.
What has come now is nothing like what was intended. Owner drivers AND ONLY OWNER DRIVERS have to charge so called safe rates determined by the RSRT. They have a neat calculator for you to work out how much you have to charge.
http://www.saferates.com.au/Calculators/TruckOperatingCostCalculator/tabid/535/Default.aspx
I had a little play around with it and If I charged what the calculator tells me to charge I would have gone broke in about a month. There is no allowance for back loads where you just want to cover your fuel expenses to get back to do another full load. Particularity important if you are hauling to north qld were there is a lot of freight going up but not much coming back. I could always rely on the aluminium smelter at Gladstone for a load home as they used Owner drivers all the time to take freight back to Brisbane. I have heard that they will no longer use Owner Drivers because of what they have to charge. Instead the will use toll or one of the other bigger companies that are not affected by safe rates.
And that is the major problem.
Single Owner- Drivers are the only ones affected by this . They have to charge what they are told and if they don,t they face a $52.000 fine.Bigger companies with employed drivers are not affected. They can charge what they want. So Billy Blogs wants someone to take a load from Brisbane to Sydney . He rings a owner driver that he has worked with before and says how much mate? same as last time? Nope says OD will now cost almost double than last time,Billy then rings large company asks how much and is nearly $1000 cheaper. Who do you think will get the job.It is blatantly unfair for owner drivers to be forced to charge exorbitant rates while others are under no such obligation. It will drive single owner operators out of business while increasing business for the others.
Why are only owner drivers being singled out. They have invested heavily in a truck.found work,built up relationships with clients and now they are being forced out of business. This has zero to do with safety and more to do with giving the big boys more work. Owner drivers look after there trucks and take more care of them then payed drivers. If there trucks aren’t working they get no pay while the other drivers just jump in another fleet truck.
As it stands now it looks like the RSRT will be abolished which in my opinion is a good thing. I hope if Labor win the next election that when they get to reintroducing the legislation it is in a vastly different form than what was established . Everyone is concerned about making our roads safer, ,especially the drivers that go out to work every day and night knowing that one mistake can cost them their lives ,but to penalise one section of the industry is not the way to do it.
THE PUB 
gigi
You’ve got it in one.
We’re talking crooner for cash against someone who actually had something to say.
Never liked Frank Sinatra. for me he was someone my parents liked, and so someone I found incredibly boring. I’ve never changed that opinion. I just don’t like that sort of music at all.
Charles Aznavour though – been a fan for decades.
Agreed, on both counts. My mother wasn’t a Sinatra fan either.
I think that Nick Ross / ABC. / Turnbull intervention to censor the NBN. reality on the Multi Mix Tech’ from the LNP. swung any voters in that quarter away from Turnbull…I can’t see who except the welded-ons and then only a hefty percentage but not all (as we see in the RWNJ. blogs) would declaer to th robo / polling people their intention to back Turnbull at all!..
I can’t believe the pols are all showing 50 / 50..it is just no logical for them to sit there week after week with the govt’ sinking in every quarter…I think there is a bit of “Man the pumps!” in the main polling places at the moment!
No, it’s logical JC.
You get seismic disturbances in the polls and then aftershocks. After an initial serious jolt around February, lately we’ve had some aftershocks, although some of them have been significant.
The next level down is basalt. We’ve convinced the fluff voters that 55-45 is untenable, now it’s time to have a go at the more difficult to convince. It’s harder to break or even chip away at hard rock.
Just as the Libs were wrong to be bamboozled by the early Turnbull polls last year, so should Labor supporters be wary of being lulled into a sense of inevitability… that the trend will continue, and at the same rate. There has to be a point where the trend flattens out.
Turnbull has in him the capacity to completely blow it. He is a creature of the polls, both in his own mind and in the mind of some of his less than enthusiastic supporters. Falls in polls to some extent become self-sustaining, always keeping in mind the underlying bedrock of rusted-ons.
Shorten is getting better media reviews lately. Some are even dropping the “scare campaign”” scare campaign, and starting to concede that Bill’s got half a political brain. He didn’t make his way through the union movement without some nouse and some smarts about how to run a ticket.
Be patient. The next month will tell us.
” You get seismic disturbances in the polls and then aftershocks.”..You mean it’s a bit like punching a huge jelly..; it shakes, quivers, looks like it is going to burst..then wobbles back to it’s original shape…but the bruise from the blow shows.
All I’m certain of at this stage is that Turnbull isn’t going to recoup any of those losses. I’m not sure how much further he can fall, but he really has no way of reassuring those who are disillusioned with him now.
Wasn’t she great!
18 year old killed in workplace accident while taking part in Work for the Dole. Will there be a pinl batts-style RC into this? I suppose not …..
Work for Dole death prompts campaign for change
http://m.thechronicle.com.au/news/teenager-dies-after-fall-toowoomba-showgrounds/3001129/
Slave labor, unscrupulous bosses, accidents waiting to happen.
Who’s fault is it? Isn’t it Grunt’s and Abbott’s?
And like the pink batt deaths it happened in Quinceland. The OH&S culture up there must be bloody awful. I guess they don’t have as much of that pesky red tape.
Another traitor – doesn’t s Batty realise she’d be much better off supporting Labor?
Yes, it’s true.
Batty’s work gets $500k boost
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/latest-news/batty-work-gets-500000-boost/news-story/9fc63a83dc9e3aaab8ce0647d30f734a
Turnbull, who so far has no plans to do anything to fund anything to do with domestic abuse, is after the votes of abused women. How sick is that.
She hasn’t got a clue. If Shorten wins, she’ll follow him.
Anybody else having trouble logging into Cr%key???
No
I guess Mal is looking at an innovative and agile way of ‘winning’ the election without the need for little people things like campaigning and voting.
or decent policies.
Aguirre
Why do they think the preferences will be better for lnp than they were in the last election? I would have thought they would be better for Labor this election.
I’d like to know why too.
I don’t know. I saw that on Kevin Bonham’s blog. It might have something to do with Turnbull supposedly having a broader appeal than Abbott, at a guess. It might also be because some pollsters have been registering stronger figures for the Coalition on respondent-allocated preferences as opposed to preferences as distributed as per 2013.
En Passant –
A narrow miss today on another Malcolm Turnbull approved unsafe building site
http://enpassant.com.au/2016/04/20/a-narrow-miss-today-on-another-malcolm-turnbull-approved-unsafe-building-site/
Ties in with my earlier post on a Work for the Dole death.
They just don’t care about the peasants, do they. Just an expendable workforce.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DG8u64Pmab0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbCO8ENPyTA
Geez. Can’t imagine why anyone would stay to make those videos.
The closest I’ve come to something like that is seeing water spouts not very far out at sea. I drove home in a hell of a hurry that day. The last water-spout/tornado incident here was in 2013, when we had three of them not far off-shore. In 2010 Lennox Head, further north, had a tornado that caused a lot of damage.
Tornadoes are not a new thing anywhere, it’s just that social media allows us to see much more of what is happening. The NSW north coast has been infamous for nasty events ever since the first settlements.
In 1985 a waterspout came up the river here and got itself onto land. A few people were seriously injured, but no-one was killed. It didn’t come anywhere near my then residence, but where I live now would have been dangerously close. There was an earlier tornado in 1962, but not many locals member that one now.
http://www.portnews.com.au/story/1919136/the-great-twister-of-1985/?cs=257
Old-timers here used to tell terrifying stories of ‘black’ nor-easters that used to bring destruction. Those oldies are all gone now, I think.
Despite what you might see on the news. the ‘water spouts are nothing to worry about’ stuff, they are actual tornadoes. They can, and do turn nasty. I know, I’ve seen what they can do.
The Wikipedia list of tornadoes in Australia is an interesting read:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Southern_Hemisphere_tornadoes_and_tornado_outbreaks#Australia
I hadn’t heard of the 1973 Brisbane tornado:
There seem to have been an awful lot of Australian tornadoes last year.
ScoMo’s interview on 7.30 just now:
For someone who has no chance of winning the next election, Bill Shorten sure seems to be scaring the beejesus out of the Liberals.
Surprising he didn’t mention Julia Gillard, she seems to be the favourite boogey-man – er – boogey-woman of the Liberals now.
I can just see Malcolm, putting his little grandson to bed and saying ‘I’ll leave the night-light on so Julia doesn’t come and scare you in the night’. I bet he has nightmares about Shorten winning the election.
F.M with the important election issues
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/picture/2016/apr/20/election-2016-our-panel-of-expert-psephologist-vegetables-rate-the-issues-you-should-think-are-important?utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=First+Dog+on+the+Moon&utm_term=168045&subid=10311357&CMP=ema_1732
When no Sales is too much we now have 30 minutes of her with Julia Z.
When scrotum says the words ‘bill shorten’ his eyes go wide, his voice pitch goes up, he has a startled look, like a pastor screaming about Satan at one of those evangelical church services scrot likes so much.
Just been surveyed twice on behalf of Matt Keogh – Labor for the new seat of Burt(? sp). once on mobile and once on landline same survey. Interesting that they have surveyed me my mobile.
In 15 minutes, SBS has an hour on Norfolk Island. They used a drone to do some of the filming.
Ah Norfolk. Place of my maternal granma’s first overseas trip. From which she returned with 3 crock pots ! 😆 Crock pots being the must have at the time.
My 5x great grand-father had a land grant on Norfolk, sold it, I think, when he returned to the mainland. He was one of the men who built the ‘Norfolk’. Governor Hunter had to pretend to be not very happy about people on Norfolk building their own ship, but I strongly suspect there was a lot of ‘Thank God! We have a ship!’ going on as well. He confiscated it. I didn’t have a clue about all that intriguing family history when I visited Norfolk Island, ages ago.
leonetwo
Going through family history I very recently came across the first “interesting” character. Highway robbery no less. James was an uncle of the first chap from this branch to lob into unzud.
Never been able to find anything quite like that in my family tree, but my 4x great grandfather was an Irishman sent out here for a bit of highway robbery. He can’t have been too good at it, he was caught pretty smartly. He did not carry on with that occupation in his new Aussie home. I’m a bit sad about that. I’d have loved a bushranger in the family.
A bit more detail on the primary in New York today
On the democratic side Hillary Clinton won 58% to 42% for Bernie Sanders. Clinton won every county in the NYC-Long Island Area but only three counties upstate, Erie County (Buffalo), Monroe County (Rochester) and Onondaga County (Syracuse).
On the republican side Trump won 61% to Kasich’s 25% and Cruz’s 15%. Trump won every county except for Manhattan which went to Kasich 45.2% to 41.8% for Trump.
As an extra here’s a map of the results by neighbourhood in New York City.
http://www.wnyc.org/story/map-ny-primary-vote-nyc-2016/
And another one with a bit more detail
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/04/19/us/elections/new-york-city-democratic-primary-results.html
http://www.news.com.au/finance/economy/federal-budget/tax-increase-or-savings-measure-scott-morrisons-dishonest-backflip-slammed/news-story/1d4f046e682df202fbebf5f18b6ff7e8
http://www.crikey.com.au/2016/04/20/government-banking-package-fails-corporate-policing/
http://www.theage.com.au/nsw/university-of-sydney-racist-tutor-wei-wu-row-inspires-dissident-artwork-20160419-goacyq.html very interesting backstory, its not actually about racism
http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/flint-water-crisis/2016/04/19/criminal-charges-coming-wednesday-flint-water-crisis/83251574/
http://nymag.com/following/2016/04/how-social-autopsy-fell-for-gamergate-trutherism.html longer interesting story, shows how easy it is to blunder into arguments on twitter when you have no real clue what the actual history is.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-20/millions-of-australians-living-without-internet/7340434
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2016/04/18/lt-cdr-kenneth-tom-cobley–obituary/
http://bigstory.ap.org/urn:publicid:ap.org:c22de3a565fe4e85a0508bbbd72c3c1b
If anyone is wondering, yes, I’m still alive.
My two lab classes from yesterday (both inhabited entirely by Grad Diploma students – therefore somewhat older) have been able to access their graded assignments since late yesterday.
So far, no death threats.
So far, only one student seems to be considering applying for a re-mark (I gave them a high upper division second class honours). So I circulated a general email outlining the Department’s policies regarding applications for re-assessment in which I subtly pointed out that the re-assessment was the one what would apply, even if the mark/grade were lower . . .
Almost not a murmur since.
I was never game to ask for a remark.
I was. Twice, both at school.
In third form my class had a new (both to me and to the school) English teacher. Our first assignment was to write a review of our favourite book. At the time I was particularly enamoured by Gavin Maxwell’s Ring of Bright Water with particular attention to the otters (because, oddly enough, at the age of 12 I had no understanding of the undercurrents . . . . .). My review was returned to me with every mention of “otters” neatly crossed out and the word “others” substituted. The poor teacher was mortified.
In fifth form my class had yet another new (to me and to the school) English teacher. Our first task was to write an essay on Hamlet’s problem. I was fed up to my back teeth with F.R. Leavis’s et al.’s promulgations on the topic. So – given it was 1971, and black rights, women’s lib, and gay lib were all hot topics, I decided to write my essay from the perspective that Hamlet was a modern and advanced man born out of his time. When the essays were handed back, I received an okayish mark, but not what I considered appropriate (I’d always topped English, always!). So, at the end of the lesson, I walked up to the teacher’s desk and asked her most politely whether she had really read my essay properly . . .
Yes, my grade was revised to A+ and rightly so!
That teacher and I became very good friends – and I think I was very lucky to have her for the last two years of school rather than the head of English, who was distinctly stodgy.
Fiona,
You would appreciate the tale of McGeorge Bundy who served on JFK’s personal staff. He was the prototypical example that inspired David Halberstam to describe the men in Kennedy’s White House (with ironic intent) as “The Best and the Brightest.”
Bundy was the only person who had ever scored 100% in each of the three subjects on the Yale entry examination, when he presented in 1938. The essay subject for the English examination was “What I did on my holidays. Bundy wrote a searing critique of the set topic, arguing that with Europe and the world facing an impending crisis, it was absurd to ask students to consider this anodyne subject. The first assessor marked him at zero,for not answering the question; the reviewer, who agreed with Bundy about the lame topic, re-graded him to 100%, providing him with his perfect treble.
http://johnhelmer.net/?p=15464
“There it has been revealed that the Russian aircraft were not armed with ordnance, but with electronic countermeasures pods designed for jamming hostile gunnery and missile targeting systems.”
The large white objects under the wings that he has circled are external fuel tanks, not “ECM pods”:
That aside, buzzing ships in international waters is “aggressive”; jamming them (if that is what he is implying) takes it to another level.
“Onboard US Navy photographs of the Polish Seasprite reveals it was operating a special piece of equipment. As the photographs below indicate, this is a device which can be dropped by the helicopter into the water and towed. […]”
“Special”? Anti-submarine warfare is one of the primary roles of the Seasprite; a MAD is de rigueur. Here’s a better photo from Wikipedia of a Polish Seasprite, with MAD, in 2006:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Helmer_%28journalist%29
Good morning Dawn Patrollers. Quite a bit to wade through today!
Mark Kenny says the ASIC announcement was smart policy and tactics from the government but Labor still appears to be setting the agenda.
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/federal-election-2016-opinion/asic-boost-puts-coalition-back-in-credit-on-bank-regulation-20160420-goau8m.html
However former ASIC insider says that Turnbull’s user-pays scheme will backfire.
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/apr/21/former-asic-insider-says-turnbull-governments-user-pays-plan-will-backfire
Lenore Taylor straight up says that the Coalition’s policies prove that Labor is winning the economic debate.
http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/apr/20/labor-is-winning-the-economic-debate-the-coalitions-policies-prove-it
Another open letter to Turnbull from prominent Australians. This time it urges him to take decisive action against corporations and the wealthy stashing their money in tax havens.
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/malcolm-turnbull-under-pressure-to-stop-the-wealthy-stashing-cash-in-tax-havens-20160420-gob403.html
And right on cue the Tax Commissioner will appear at a Senate inquiry today to answer questions on the Panama papers and what the ATO is doing about them.
http://thenewdaily.com.au/news/2016/04/20/tax-commissioner-chris-jordan-senate-inquiry/
Turnbull has no intention to clean up banking says Urban Wronski.
https://urbanwronski.com/2016/04/21/turnbull-has-no-intention-of-cleaning-up-banking/
The 60 Minutes team as on its way home but Channel 9 executives are still under fire.
http://www.smh.com.au/world/60-minutes-child-recovery-team-hung-out-to-dry-by-nine-lawyer-claims-20160420-gobcct.html
Well done Channel Nine!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/2016/04/21/60-minutes-crew-kidnapping-charges_n_9735578.html?utm_hp_ref=australia
Laura Tingle on the ASIC announcement. Google please.
business/banking-and-finance/election-2016-scott-morrison-deals-with-the-future-of-financial-regulation-20160420-goaz3s
In all likelihood Hilary Clinton will win the nomination but she’s lost a lot of bark on the way.
http://www.smh.com.au/world/hillary-clinton-won-new-york-but-her-image-is-under-water-20160420-goaxvw.html
“View from the Street” says the DD will ensure Coalition losses. He also has a good dig at Brandis who he likens to a high school debater.
http://www.smh.com.au/comment/view-from-the-street/view-from-the-street-will-a-double-dissolution-ensure-coalition-senate-losses-20160420-goaybi.html
Section 2 . . .
Peter Martin with some simple advise to Morrison – We need more tax.
http://www.smh.com.au/comment/federal-budget-2016-we-need-more-tax-20160419-goady9.html
Kym Beazley spoke a lot of sense at an ANU lecture.
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/kim-beazley-takes-a-tumble-on-stage-after-speech-blasting-trump-20160420-gobax5.html
The Japanese bid for the submarines is seen to be the weakest. I hope the final decision reflects this. Googling is required.
/national-affairs/defence/japans-subs-bid-is-seen-as-the-weakest/news-story/45dae566e2c5f2f5c4ba3f603178ed29
Hopefully it will go the way of the Germans. Google again.
/news/south-australia/decision-on-50bn-future-submarine-project-expected-next-week-with-germanys-tkms-firming-as-favourite/news-story/214646e9ba4487ff8bc8a6f5ff655340
This anti-pokies advertisement is aimed squarely at politicians.
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/federal-election-2016/this-antipokies-ad-is-not-for-normal-people-its-for-canberras-politicians-20160420-goalpd.html
Labor is set to rip up the Coalition’s IR policy as it applies to the public servise.
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/national/public-service/labor-to-rip-up-key-coalition-ir-policy-20160420-goarju.html
Adele Ferguson says OK it’s a good move to beef up ASIC but the banks still need to feel the heat of a Royal Commission blowtorch.
http://www.smh.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/asic-moves-welcome-but-banks-must-feel-the-royal-commission-blowtorch-20160420-goasyw.html
This puff piece on Costello’s performance by an old advisor of his neglects to mention the structural deficit he and Howard left us with.
http://www.smh.com.au/comment/the-lessons-of-peter-costellos-debtfree-day-are-worth-remembering-20160420-goauk5.html
The head of the CPA wonders what the budget has up its sleeve.
http://www.smh.com.au/comment/what-tricks-has-the-government-got-up-its-sleeve-for-the-budget-20160419-goaha6.html
Maxine McKew pokes her head up with an article on political funding.
http://www.smh.com.au/comment/voters-deserve-to-know-show-us-the-money-20160419-goahk5.html
Now it’s Mitsubishi’s turn to put up their hand on falsifying fuel economy/emissions testing and certification. This comes on the heels of the revelations over safety issue cover ups around 2000.
http://www.smh.com.au/business/world-business/mitsubishi-motors-cheated-on-emissions-testing-20160420-gob985.html
This polling suggests that Gonski may play out against the Coalition in marginal seats.
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/national/education/gonski-polling-puts-mps-in-marginal-seats-at-risk-20160420-goaoj3.html
So Nine have ransomed their star reporter, their crew, and the mother, but have left their hired hands who did the dirty work to rot in jail.
I’m sure there’ll be a full explanation, plus a “reveal” (is that the right TV word?) of the amounts paid, and a long heart-rending segment on 60 Minutes to clear it all up.
It’s now a bigger story than it was ever going to be in the first place. We might even have spin-offs: a Reno Rumble segment on how to kidnap-proof your old fibro house? Perhaps a cooking program on Lebanese food? Will a romance blossom between Tara and her rough, but handsome Lebanese jailer (some like doing it in handcuffs, I hear)? They will be the episodes All Australia is watching.
And let’s not forget… “I’m a celebrity reporter… GET ME OUT OF HERE!”
http://www.smh.com.au/world/60-minutes-child-recovery-team-hung-out-to-dry-by-nine-lawyer-claims-20160420-gobcct.html
Section 3 . . .
The effects of global warming are on full display.
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/worse-things-in-store-steaming-hot-world-sets-more-temperature-records-20160419-goaf58.html
Another election fact from Stephen Koukoulas.
http://thekouk.com/blog/election-fact-the-howard-government-was-committed-to-never-pay-off-government-debt.html
Oh dear! Some explaining for Baird to do over WestConnex.
https://newmatilda.com/2016/04/20/company-assessing-westconnex-for-government-also-had-paid-contracts-with-westconnex/
So it looks like we’ll all be paying for ASIC now.
`http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/asic-boost-big-companies-to-pay-more-than-330m-a-year-to-fund-regulator-20160420-gob2dv.html
More from Dave Donovan on the roles of the IPA and ld media in the dumping of the RSRT.
https://independentaustralia.net/business/business-display/blood-on-their-hands-mainstream-media-helps-ipa-dupe-crossbenchers-into-killing-rsrt,8902
Soft on banks – tough on terriers.
https://newmatilda.com/2016/04/20/soft-on-banks-tough-on-terriers-the-magnificent-madness-of-turnbulls-election-plan/
Section 4 . . . Cartoon Corner
Matt Golding on why there’s no need for a banking RC.
John Spooner and political funding.
Alan Moir has Toad Brandis announcing the crackdown on corporate misbehaviour.
With a ripper of a cartoon David Pope takes us poll dancing at the Fat Kat Club.
Glorious work from Mark Knight on the ASIC boost. MUST SEE.
http://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/8d5f95f25f3d6075252a93962d4814fe?width=1024&api_key=zw4msefggf9wdvqswdfuqnr5
David Rowe with an excoriating cartoon showing the relationship between the banks and the government.
” to take decisive action against corporations and the wealthy stashing their money in tax havens.”
Yeah , sure….come in Malcolm from the Caymans.
First written in 2 years ago, now updated.
I had no idea this government has achieved so much! (No, it’s not a blank page)
Achievements of the Abbott-Turnbull Government To Date
http://thesauce.co/achievements-of-the-abbott-government/
My goodness!
Fatuous comment of the campaign, so far.
“If the banks don’t do as I say I’ll get very, very angry”
“I’ll stomp my little feet and I’ll hold my breath. You’ll be sorry!”
“Oh dear! Some explaining for Baird to do over WestConnex”
It’s not just Arup that Baird needs to explain.
In June last year Leighton Contractors, a division of Leighton Holdings (or CIMIC Group, as it is now known) was given the contract for part of the Westconnex construction.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/news/leighton-joint-venture-wins-27-billion-m4-east-build/news-story/abf68f3b6ca2478b6bc609cb5cf0cb01
It was an odd decision, because Leighton was already in trouble with ASIC, and had been for quite a long time.
Another Leighton probe into alleged failure to disclose
http://www.smh.com.au/business/another-leighton-probe-into-alleged-failure-to-disclose-20150401-1mcmhb.html#ixzz46PTkl5i7
Then, earlier this year, we had the Unaoil scandal, and Leighton was heavily involved.
http://www.theage.com.au/interactive/2016/the-bribe-factory/day-2/leighton-feature.html
Leighton still has the Westconnex contract. There’s quite a stench of corruption hanging over Macquarie Street.
As luck would have it a senate enquiry into foreign bribery, to which former Leighton executives have been summoned, will take place tomorrow. And, as luck would have it, it will take place in Sydney. Will Mike Baird be watching?
http://www.aph.gov.au/News_and_Events/Events_Calendar/Event_Details?ID=9B7A9EB8-2120-4DDF-9B7A-9B40B6008903
And –
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/former-leighton-executives-to-be-called-to-senate-bribery-inquiry-20160331-gnvd8j.html
Waffles lying about NBN costs
https://delimiter.com.au/2014/05/01/turnbull-repeats-triple-j-lie-alan-jones/
Turnbull is very loose with the truth on a lot of things. It’s time the MSM talked about his constant lying.
http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/apr/21/almost-half-of-children-returned-from-nauru-have-mental-illness-senate-told
But but Waffles invented it!
No one is calling the Libs on this inconsistency that the funding for ASIC will not become available until 2017-2018 FY.
They have been saying that RC would be too slow and take 2years but on reading comments on various articles they have lost the argument by a country mile.
Oh the hypocrisy!