The Government as Sea Lions

Guest Author Uncategorized

Our Guest Poster, Jennifer Wilson of No Place For Sheep, has some eye-watering images of the current régime rabble for your delectation. I’m afraid they will be seared into my memory forever.

Thank you, Jennifer!

CNN iReport

I don’t know if you’ve ever watched the sea lions at Pier 39 in San Francisco. I’m reminded of that querulous and stinking marine rabble whenever I encounter the Turnbull government in my media. The sea lions are a nasty bunch, and they fight a lot.

I now can’t picture Malcolm Turnbull as anything other than a self-congratulatory pinniped in a top hat, barking and clapping his flippers at his own cleverness as Lucy throws him a fish.

While the PM hastened to reassure the country that he had “excoriated” his rogue MPs (including ministers) who left parliament early on Thursday afternoon, the real issue is not that the LNP have taken this event as “wake-up” call for their one-seat majority government, but that such a call was needed in the first place.

Surely someone (a staffer, one of Dutton’s ninety, yes that’s ninety spin doctors) could have reminded the government that with a one-seat majority, everyone really needs to stay till the end.

That seasoned politicians holding powerful positions (and, apparently, their entire staff) need such a fundamental “wake-up” call is worrying indeed. What it confirms is what I’ve long suspected: the LNP perceive governing as a game weighted in their favour that they are entitled to win, without any particular merit, or even by actually playing it. Any challenges to these perceptions are dismissed as little more than the grumblings of opinionated upstarts.

Turnbull’s first sitting week after the election was woeful. First thirteen of his backbenchers defied him on the matter of Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act. Next, for the first time in some fifty years, the government lost three votes in the House of Representatives because of the Thursday bunk-off. Thankfully, they’ve now gone home for a few days.

On the matter of Section 18C, it’s interesting that the cohort advocating a “watering down” of the section are those who are the least likely to ever need the protections it offers. Read this piece by Jeff Sparrow on the co-option of speech laws for their own benefit by those who have no skin in the game.

Similarly, those most vehemently opposed to marriage equality are those who can in no way claim to be, in reality, affected by it.

(If such people are seriously concerned about a perceived debasing of the institution of marriage, they urgently need to make infidelity illegal. Imagine that).

I think it’s safe to say that politics has ceased to be much to do with good and fair governance, and is now almost entirely to do with the furtherance of the interests and ideologies of largely (and sometimes large) white men. In this they differ little from the sea lion colony in which the dominant males rule in their own interests, biting great chunks of flesh out of dissenters and shoving them, bleeding, back into the sea. It’s every pinniped for himself.

They even savage the young, and the ones with the loudest bark win.

SF Gate

328 thoughts on “The Government as Sea Lions”

    • St Helens, back on the ferry tomorrow night.

      Had a great time but only saw 1% of what is there. Had a great time. Hope to see some of Liffey falls, devils, raspberry etc etc tomorrow.

      Meals on the Spirit are expensive and crap!

  2. More from the Danes:

    Denmark saw a marked increase in asylum numbers in September 2015, when some 400 migrants and refugees arrived within a 24-hour period. That was then followed by an all-time refugee record in October.

    In January, Denmark implemented border control measures in response to a similar move by Sweden. Since then, the ostensibly temporary measures have been extended numerous times and are currently in place through November 12th.

    Denmark also passed a comprehensive immigration bill in January that aimed to make the country less attractive to refugees and migrants. The bill included the infamous ‘jewellery law’, which allows authorities to confiscate valuables from arriving migrants. Although it took effect in February, it wasn’t used for the first time until late June.

    Home to 5.6 million people, Denmark’s 21,000 asylum applications in 2015 made it one of the top EU destinations per capita for migrants. The totals, however, were far behind the 163,000 registered in neighbouring Sweden.

    http://www.thelocal.dk/20160905/denmark-closes-refugee-tent-camps

  3. Chapter 1

    Who is Mr Abbie Hoffman?

    ‘That was Abbie Hoffman – he’s catching the nine o’clock flight from Paris, and he wants a lawyer at Heathrow in case they try to deport him.’ Richard Neville, the editor of Oz magazine, put down the telephone and looked at the only lawyer immediately available to the English underground press on a Sunday night in March, 1971. Not really a lawyer – a 24 year old postgraduate whose thesis on freedom of speech had provided the excuse for descending from Oxford at weekends to Richard’s basement flat in Notting Hill, scene of the crime of conspiracy to corrupt public morals for which he was shortly to stand trial at the Old Bailey. I was a strait-laced, short-haired, pedantic Rhodes Scholar; Richard was London’s latest Peter Pan, a charming chat show revolutionary whose basement served as a crash-pad for the lost boys and girld of fin de sixties England. This never-never land had Tinkerbells, I noticed, who rolled fairy dust and evinced a mixture of dread and contempt for the pirates moored at Scotland Yard, who made regular raids to spoil their fun..

    Thus commences the book I was writing about yesterday, on the occasion of the announcement of Richard Neville’s death: The Justice Game, by Geoffrey Robertson, QC, ex prefect of Epping Boys High, friend to the friends of justice and foe to their foes.

    Its simple proposition is that every person is entitled to a fair hearing, to the hope that if their cause is just, it will be vindicated and that in the meantime the processes and principles of law will be honestly served. He provides many case studies, one per chapter, as well as harkening back to a day when things we take for granted now were unheard of, or perhaps at best were just whispers on the wind. As Robertson puts it in the preface…

    Justice is the great game precisely because its rules provide the opportunity of winning against the most powerful, and against the state itself. This does not mean that David will necessarily slay Goliath, but that the laws of battle will prevent Goliath from sidling up and hitting him on the head. They arm David with a slingshot, a possibility of victory.

    It is, in a legal sense that is not dry at all, a rattling good read.

  4. Just to say I think BB’s comment at 10.01 today sums up the Dastyari business perfectly. Yesterday I heard the fucking ABC mentioning that the $1600 payment had been “revealed”. About as slimily disingenuous as you can get I think.

  5. The ‘Get Dastyari’ campaign was slightly delayed by the government stuff-up in parliament last Thursday.

    Fairfax ‘revealed’ the story on 30 August. No-one really took much notice at the time. I bet Libtika was miffed her little revelation did not become an instant media sensation.
    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/labor-senator-sam-dastyari-had-chinese-interests-foot-the-bill-for-travel-entitlement-repayment-20160830-gr4mlh.html

    Fairfax, just doing it’s bit to get rid of Labor, really. If they can’t manage to ‘Kill Bill’ they will try to inflict damage by targeting one of his team in the hope some mud will stick.

    Then came other distractions like the frocks at the Midwinter Ball and Julie Bishop mistakenly thinking it was fancy dress and turning up dressed as Morticia Addams with her handbag doing a passable Lurch impersonation grabbing all the media attention.

    Dastyari was supposed to be Friday’s big event, but The Fiasco In The House took over. It wasn’t until the weekend thing started to go as planned, pushed hard by a stack of Fairfax pieces all saying pretty much the same thing. One article would have done, but every parrot in the Fairfax petshop just had to have a squawk. Of course, when a few parrots start squawking all the rest just have to join in, and we’ve been deafened by parrots, galahs, budgies and cockatoos squawking in unison ever since.

    This morning Neil Mitchell demanded Shorten sack Dastyari, completely overlooking the bleeding obvious – sacking a politician for taking Chinese money would mean others would also have to be sacked, leaving the Coalition reps and senate benches almost empty.

    Howard had his squawk at the NPC today. He’s repeating the same crap.

    Just as well all this squawking hid Fizza’s dismal performance in China. Well, almost –

    The G20 also gives a country like Australia — that is, lucky, or at least rich, enough to get a seat at the main table — an insight into the priorities and offshore performance of its own leader. Like most things Malcolm Turnbull does, it was a mixed bag.

    Unsurprisingly, the Australian PM tried what has now become the increasingly awkward Australia/China two-step: he was more circumspect than Obama but firm on South China Sea while cooing about the misnamed “free-trade” agreement and its opportunities.

    “We are consistent and our position is very clear that we expect and encourage all parties to comply with the rule of law, to show restraint and not act in a way that would exacerbate or create tension,” Turnbull said about the the South China Sea, referring to an international arbitration against China in a dispute with the Philippines.

    But there was nowhere for Turnbull to hide on trade and investment this time. After several rejections from his government on Chinese investment, most recently a $5 billion bid on Ausgrid for “security” reasons, this was no longer the good news side of the equation. The two-step was suddenly a one-note tune.

    Xi hit Turnbull with both barrels, saying during their meeting that China “hopes the Australian side continues to dedicate itself to providing foreign investors a fair, transparent and predictable policy environment”.

    Massive hypocrisy from China, of course, which allows nil foreign investment or even competition in its utilities or many other sectors.

    Rather than turn this back on the Chinese, Turnbull could not have sounded more like John Howard when he said that “China understands as well, if not better, than anyone — our sovereign right to determine who invests in Australia”.

    As we have noted here before, good luck now to those Australian companies hoping for a rails run into the Chinese market on ChAFTA.

    Instead of retiring gracefully, or even finding solace, as Tony Abbott was wont to do in the arms of Japan, Turnbull doubled down on trade and looked, frankly, lame when he came up with the option of pushing a trade agreement with … a Brexiting United Kingdom.

    And for his last G20 trick, Turnbull wasso rattled by the force of the Chinese attack and Australia’s lack of a decent answer he resorted to domestic politics by finally calling out Labor Senator Sam Dastyari on his Chinese connections — or was he trying to send the Chinese another message? Maybe both

    https://www.crikey.com.au/2016/09/07/turnbull-talks-investment-and-south-china-sea-at-g20/

    ‘Get Dastyari’ will blow over soon enough. Parliament sits next week. There will be more government stuff-ups, foot shootings and own goals to attract the attention of what passes for political journalists. It would be a great time for Labor to introduce their private member’s bill on same sex marriage. That would wipe the smirks from a few faces.

    • I hope the ‘Get Sam’ campaign blows over but the Fibs had wins with Craig Thomson and Peter Slipper and might have perfected the art of getting mud to stick on their enemies

  9. Ms Chan is not afraid to mention the war

    Huang also looked west to spread his generosity. A week before the Dastyari story broke, Fairfax reported the West Australian Liberal branch had benefited through contacts with Julie Bishop from $500,000 worth of donations in the past two years from Chinese businessmen, including Huang.

    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/sep/07/dastyaris-donations-reveal-a-bigger-story-of-links-and-largesse

    The whole article is more about the Chinese than about Dastyari.

    • It’s a very good article, and does what none of the other journalists have bothered to do – considers Chinese views. The PG pack are too busy scalp-hunting to care who they might offend and what damage they might do, both here and in China.

  11. Labor senator Sam Dastyari has resigned from Labor’s frontbench after mounting criticism on the donations he received from a Chinese-linked company.

    Oh dear. All that over-reach by the Libs & their media fan-squad might just come back to bight them once Parliament resumes.

    SD has by standing down, most likely voluntarily, removed the oxygen away from the little ammunition they had to use against Labor & Shorten and now the spotlight can be turned on the government side and their nefarious dealings with Chinese donors.

    For the first four days when parliament resumes, Question Time should be taken up with question after probing question about the Libs relationships to Chinese donors and what might be the likely quid pro quo that the ever generous benefactors from the orient might have been seeking as reward for their generosity to the Liberal Party coffers.

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-09-07/sam-dastyari-steps-down-from-labor's-front-bench/7823970

    • I hope you’re right. At the moment it’s pretty depressing to see, this whole saga just looks like the MSM closing ranks around the LNP and then proceeding to advance and then beat a talented ALP member’s political career to death, and it seems tonight that they have achieved results and their goals.

      Labor has to have an answer to this.

  14. Greg “I can’t think for myself” Jennett: there’s more to come and he won’t be the last.

  16. Sell her! teaser: “he finally resigned.”

    “Finally”? Is your right leg too short?

  17. The UnZud weather well and truly outdoing the windy blast we had last night in the Wild West.

    Hurricane force winds” with gusts up to 160km/h are slamming the South Island tonight,
    ….Snow,monster surf………

    ………….WeatherWatch head analyst Philip Duncan warned farmers in areas like Naseby and Tekapo to keep new born animals inside as temperatures plunged to -7 tonight, adding North Island farmers should be prepared for similar temperatures tomorrow and Friday.

    Heavy snow was expected to blanket parts of central North Island tomorrow as an icy blast laced with destructive winds and monster surf sending spring packing……………….A front spreading up the South Island was responsible for bringing strong southerly winds which would create swells of about 6m on both coasts tomorrow………………………………………nowy conditions all over the South Island and in parts of the Central North Island tomorrow, said meteorologist Chelsea Glue.

    Snow was forecast to fall as low as 300m on the Rimutaka rd near Wellington which was unusual, Glue said.

    As much as 30cm was expected to coat the region with latest road snowfall warnings including the Napier-Taupo Rd and Desert Rd.

    In parts of Canterbury snow could fall as low as 100m and some areas can expect to be blanketed by up to 10cm of snow.

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11704973

  18. Dastyari resigns – what a shame!

    I suppose the PG mob have what they wanted. A Muslim (a non-practicing Muslim, but the Dirt File mob don’t care about little technicalities like that) forced off the front bench. Because that’s what this is, pure bigotry at work Dastyari was targeted because he is ‘not like us’.

    Or maybe there’s more to it.

    If the alleged vested interests behind this dirt campaign just wanted to hurt Labor, or hurt Shorten, they could have picked anyone, really. Joel Fitzgibbon’s embarrassing past relations with a Chinese businesswoman would have made him an obvious target. I’m sure a bit of digging around in three year old register of interests entries would have brought up other candidates.

    So what was Dastyari chosen?

    Apart from the Muslim angle, there’s this –

    The sharks, the scent of blood and Sam Dastyari.

    Could it be because Dastyari has been the main one advocating for corporations to start paying their taxes? Speaking out against rich people like Malcolm Turnbull dodging tax through Cayman Island tax avoidance schemes?
    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/labor-attacks-malcolm-turnbull-over-investments-in-cayman-islands-tax-haven-20151014-gk8pg9.html
    Had been the main proponent for a banking royal commission?
    http://www.smh.com.au/business/comment-and-analysis/the-case-for-a-royal-commission-into-australias-banks-20160830-gr4ozq.html
    Had said in February, in a “fiery speech”, ten big corporations had taken control of Australian politics?
    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/labor-senator-sam-dastyari-claims-10-companies-have-taken-complete-control-of-australias-political-process-20160205-gmmy30.html
    https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/the-sharks-the-scent-of-blood-and-sam-dastyari,9444

    This was a deliberate and planned attack, it was not just some lucky journalist happening upon something in a register of interests. Information was passed on to Libtika Bourke with a specific purpose in mind. Bourke started the ball rolling, and then the media feeding frenzy, after a few distractions, really gathered speed.

    Dastyari is no longer Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate. The government might come to regret that when his replacement is announced.

    Dastyari will be back.

  19. Oh dear, my last comment appears to have been swallowed up somehow.

    I was saying that I hope Labor has an answer to this saga – of the MSM closing ranks around the LNP and proceeding to bludgeon a talented Labor MP’s political career to death. It’s just depressing otherwise.

    That said, even if Dastyari has to lay low for a while, hopefully he can assist other Labor MP’s in the background to continue his fight against established business greed.

    • It’s bit sad with one so promising. And it’s galling to give in to a concerted Liberal-media campaign to bring this about against someone who has acted openly and not tried to hide his action.

      Leone is right that it is a nasty thing, not just a distraction from their disastrous first week, but overtones of anti-Islamic dog-whistling as well.

      But neither he nor the ALP takes a major hit for this over time. It’s largely a distraction. Scorps is right that Sam will emerge stronger from it. I doubt if he’ll lose much sleep over some gloating from Toad and Erica.

      But there is an important lesson to be learned. No politician should accept monetary gifts or expenses-paid travel or accommodation. Incomes and allowances are generous enough. There is a serious risk of a person being compromised by accepting such. It is probably the reason for the registrar of declared interests.

      Currently, Sim has put me on to Justice Bao DVDs which I’ve found on youtube. He was a senior magistrate or judge in the Song Dynasty. Over the centuries the stories have evolved through various art forms in opera, drama and novels. Most have their origins in an actual case, albeit many have taken on a mythical life.

      Judge Bao put the highest premium on integrity in public office and was not afraid to challenge emperors and their relatives when they breached conditions of public integrity and fairness. He was right in expecting it.

  21. Any other Pubsters having problems with MyGov or ATO websites? I have. Sat and Sun – ‘we are currently experiencing difficulties’ etc. Finally succeeded today – hooray. All this for a very straight-forward tax return for a friend with English as a second language. No lah I’m not charging them – just trying to help out and be decent. No wonder such a high % of tax returns are done by tax agents etc in this country. It really should be a simple process for most people.

  22. And Lois Lane is doing “belatedly”.

    She, too, is making a rod for her own back.

    • Don’t fret: we appreciate what you provide.

      The social interchange over the three years plus tells you so much.

    • The Slammin’ Sam attack was primed as soon a Appalling Hanson popped up a while back and whether Dastyari was a “practising” muslim came up. I am not a fan of his. A bit too much of the NSW gold tooth rat 🙂 but I think he will be back and that would in my opinion be a good thing.

  30. Will Labor get down and dirty with the Libs? That is the big issue in politics here.

    Labor has been beaten around the head and shoulders by L/NP and all their sycophants.

    There must be a time when enough is enough.

  32. I mean, what’s to stop this happening again? What if another Labor MP starts landing some blows on the government like, say, Tony Burke if he manages to repeat his performance in embarrassing the government in the lower house?

    Will the Coalition be able to push him aside by getting their MSM sycophants to start throwing mud at him so he’d end up resigning to the backbench over something “still within the rules but may look off”? What’s stopping them? They do have some dirt on Labor MP’s as shown with their attempted deflections in Bronnie Bishop’s chopper adventure, after this, it just shows that all they need to do is get their mates to do some hysterical Orwellian media smothering and before long they can have all of their opposition destroyed.

  33. Duckie,
    While I understand Bill standing back and giving Abbott the space to punch himself in the face until he collapsed, I believe Turnbull needs a different strategy. Turnbull is a hot air balloon, he has no spine, he is never to blame and handles defeat badly. I say go for the jugular at every opportunity. Specialise in humiliating him, as he cannot handle that one little bit. Go the biffo, Bill. Nail the bastard.

  34. I am watching the last part of 7.30. I wish I knew how to use a shottie. I would load it with fishhooks and take aim at those low down fkn scum’s privates.

  37. WordPress seems to be having a hissy fit today.

    I’ve been having problems with comments all day – not just mine. The website says people have posted, but I can’t see their comments. A couple of mine vanished, but they weren’t important.

  38. Angry Bee,

    I am in St Helens, tomorrow night back on the ferry. Have some Tamar Valley pinot noir and some east coast pinot noir. Had a great time today in Richmond, the Old Hobart model village and the (real) convict built bridge plus some nice food places. Bought several jams to take home. Spent some time in New Norfolk. Niece bought an old medical box, a wooden box with lots of intact apothecary bottles and other pieces in its numerous compartments. I bought a couple pieces of Price Bros cottage ware, a plate with 4 egg cups and a tea cup, saucer and small plate—these are pretty damn rare.

  39. I’ve joined the swallowed up list too, in response to Kirsdarke about Sam. I hope it turns up as I liked it and don’t feel like doing it again.

    • Exactly.

      Shut up the baying fools in the MSM by resigning, keep working away in the background, wait until the next reshuffle and then back in the ministry.

      Our journalists have attention spans shorten than that of a boxer puppy in a room full of squeaky toys. They will have found something else to turn into a scandal by lunchtime next Thursday and a week later that will all be over too.

      Meanwhile the real scandals go ignored. Anyone remember Parakeelia? MalCayman?

  41. It appears the problem today with WordPress is that it’s not allowing replies to posts.

    However, GD’s reply to my post about Sam showed up in the top right hand corner. In case it doesn’t show up again, I’ll copy/paste it for him.

    It’s bit sad with one so promising. And it’s galling to give in to a concerted Liberal-media campaign to bring this about against someone who has acted openly and not tried to hide his action.

    Leone is right that it is a nasty thing, not just a distraction from their disastrous first week, but overtones of anti-Islamic dog-whistling as well.

    But neither he nor the ALP takes a major hit for this over time. It’s largely a distraction. Scorps is right that Sam will emerge stronger from it. I doubt if he’ll lose much sleep over some gloating from Toad and Erica.

    But there is an important lesson to be learned. No politician should accept monetary gifts or expenses-paid travel or accommodation. Incomes and allowances are generous enough. There is a serious risk of a person being compromised by accepting such. It is probably the reason for the registrar of declared interests.

    Currently, Sim has put me on to Justice Bao DVDs which I’ve found on youtube. He was a senior magistrate or judge in the Song Dynasty. Over the centuries the stories have evolved through various art forms in opera, drama and novels. Most have their origins in an actual case, albeit many have taken on a mythical life.

    Judge Bao put the highest premium on integrity in public office and was not afraid to challenge emperors and their relatives when they breached conditions of public integrity and fairness. He was right in expecting it.

  42. God, I hope this passes too, the gloating in the media in all websites is so bad I can’t even bear to look at the daily news.

    If it’s going to be wall-to-wall “Dastyari just had to go because we said so, and he did, so we are wonderful journalists to have made this happen” for the rest of the week it’ll be pretty sickening.

  43. It does seem to be replies that are not getting through.

    WordPress keeps on coming up with new ways to annoy us.

  44. Here’s your chance, people. Go for it! Don’t hold backQ

    Ready The Pitchforks: ACCC Wants Your ‘Thoughts’ On The NBN

    The ACCC wants your feedback about the National Broadband Network in its current form. A national Communications Sector Market Study will help to determine how successfully Australia is transitioning to the NBN. In other words, it’s an important opportunity for us to vent about backwards technology and sub par internet speeds…

    The ACCC has announced a Communications Sector Market Study that is open to both industry and consumers. The study will cover a range of NBN-related issues, including average data demands, transitioning to new technologies and whether consumer expectations are being met. It’s this last one that concerns most of you. If you feel like you’ve been given short thrift — either due to shoddy FTTN connectivity or lack of options in your area, now is the time to make your voice heard

    http://www.lifehacker.com.au/2016/09/think-our-nbn-is-crappy-you-can-now-tell-the-accc/

  46. I also hope the new Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate is good at their job, and that it doesn’t go to one of the ineffectual factional seatwarmers but a really good negotiator.

    The Senate is going to be key to this country’s government business this term. And if it’s left wide open by the appointment of someone so ineffectual that the crossbenchers ignore them and instead decide to side with the government in making life miserable for the bottom 95% of Australia, it’s hard to see any positive in the world.

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