Memories…

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SIAbbott Turnbull Renaissance
Ah… memories!

Remember how they moved the Budget forward so that the timetable for a DD would fit the Constitution?

Remember how important it was to “reform” the Senate so that cross-benchers couldn’t dominate it?

Remember how vital the ABCC bill was? And how the journos told us that this time Turnbull had a sure-fire election issue? Yep, the Great Reckoning of 2016 was going to be on industrial relations: unarguably a Coalition winner.

(This was after the election was also centered on States rights, income tax, education funding, negative gearing, boats, and of course, terrorism. Turnbull had shown us all “how it’s done”).

Remember how “bold”, “brilliant” and “decisive” Turnbull was? Or so we were informed, breathlessly.

The long election campaign was going to do Bill Shorten slowly. He’d run out of steam by the end of it. Not to worry that the Coalition ran out of steam instead, and Turnbull had to chip in $2 million to buy the party the last fortnight’s worth of telly. “Jobs and Growth” hammered at us from all directions, on all channels, day and night and night and day: that did the trick.

They might have used the $4 million the NSW Electoral Commission was withholding, but Baird would have had to say where their real money came from first (and with so many apartments going up all over and above Sydney, and tunnels beneath it, admissions like that might have caused embarrassment in certain circles).

Remember Mediscare? How absolutely ridiculous it was to say that Turnbull intended to hive it off, bit by bit! Another Labor lie! Geez, that’s all they do! Malcolm got the AFP onto them. But even they yawned.

And at last we’d get some sense on Climate Change! Malcolm had already shown in 2009 that he was prepared to die in a ditch for that. He was sure to do it again, just as soon as he finished slagging off South Australian windfarms, and thenVictoria for closing down dirty brown coal.

We were going to have an exciting Innovation Nation. We’d all be writing apps, or something. With the CSIRO now leaner and meaner after mass retrenchments, how could we fail? When asked by Andrew Bolt to name three things that Turnbull had done, Eric Abetz famously answered: “Innovation, Innovation, and Innovation.” That really meant something to Australians.

While it might look like nothing’s fucking happened in the over a year since Turnbull came along to turn this somnolent nation out of it antipodean torpor with pure excitement, that’s wrong. Hartcher told us Malcolm was really doing: “Simply governing”. “Governing’s” not sexy. “Governing’s” not exciting. But “governing” is what brilliant minds like Turnbull’s do best. A tactical thrust here on State income taxes, a feint there on 18C or The Plebiscite. A bold advance by massed union-bashing tanks to crash through a weak Bill Shorten, flattening a Labor party riven with factionalism. Malcolm would show them The Turnbull Method, and it wouldn’t be pretty. Kath Murphy assured us he was holding back the brilliance, all the better to deploy it with devastating effectiveness: once he’d gotten an opportunistic” and “cynical” Shorten out of the way, and dealt with the Monkey Pod in swingeing style.

“Mirror, Mirror on the wall. Malcolm was the fairest, after all.”

Turnbull Mirror

Malcolm has so many brilliant things to say at any one time, he occasionally appears to be tongue-tied. But that’s an illusion. He simply has trouble figuring out the very best way of putting {whatever-it-is-he-has-to-say} to the simple folk, the little guys like youse and me, so they can share in the inspiration. The hesitancy and what looks like waffling are Malcolm choosing his words carefully.

And there are so many words! There are enough thoughts, bon mots, insouciances, anecdotes and sheer inspirations inside that pumpkin head of his to keep Australia in words for 300 years. We’ll never run out of ’em. If only we could get the Chinese to buy them all, we’d wake up rich and stay that way!

Now that Australia has a sensible Senate with no crackpots, lurk merchants, incoherents, con men, thieves, sleeve-tuggers, gun nuts, tree clearers, religious cranks, CSIRO bashers, spivs, shonks, homophobes, pedophile obsessives, Hansonites, Trump supporters, refugee tragics,  or unelectable slime-bags with less than 100 votes, “simply governing” has become so much easier. Now that Malcolm has his own healthy Reps majority of “1”, and every morning every one of them has to be marked off the roll by Head Prefect Christopher Pyne, can there be any doubt that The People have flocked to his side? Now that Abbott has accepted his lot in life as the Human Doorstop, we’ll have no more aggro from that poisonous little corner, thankyouverymuch. We’ll soon be rid of Gillian Triggs, too. So there.

Now that the Press Gallery’s prediction has come true, and the Ship Of State sails in the right direction, we can get some wonderful, brilliant, exciting things done. Let’s not forget the scribblers were right about Tony Abbott… both times (and all the times in-between). And they were right about Malcolm Turnbull as he dazzled them with charm, brilliance and wit. It’s so so wonderful to have a policy-driven 4th Estate that eschews the temptations of ball-by-ball politics, governance as a horse race and rank partisanship in political coverage, not to say their utter rejection of hero worship. No “Labor Split!” click bait for them! Most of all it’s wonderful to have a press corps that is never wrong, by its own modest (and frequent) admission.

Malcolm is setting us up. He’s getting his ducks all in a row so he can shoot them down with one brilliant bullet. He’s feigning weakness to lull his enemies into a false sense of security. Then he’ll Strike. Etc.Etc.

Pity his enemies now appear to have been those with whom he once travelled in fellowship: gays, Climate scientists, alternative energizers, the Jews in his electorate, IT professionals, human rights advocates and leather coat manufacturers (by the way, what did happen to the leather coats?). More fool them. They fell for Malcolm, hook line and sinker. The only ones who’ve stuck with him are the Gallery and Lucy. Even the cat has left the building.

Any day now we’ll see the Master Plan, from The Master Planner.

  • We’ll learn how Malcolm’s NBN is the best in the world.
  • How Teh Evil Unions have been doubling construction costs so that Bob Day can not pay them even more than he not paid them before. Bludgers.
  • Why 18C is threatening the very fabric of our society.
  • How reducing pensions will toughen up octogenarians and make them more self-reliant.
  • We’ll be ahead of the World in emissions reduction (what am I saying? We’re already out in front! Greg Hunt’s job is done, and he’s done a real job on the environment, that’s for sure).
  • The gulaged in Nauru and Manus will shout with joy as “humanity breaks out” (Kath has a such a way with words, doesn’t she?).
  • Gays and lesbians will fall in love with him all over again, after a peaceful, tender, informed Plebiscite debate has blessed their unions with the traditional generosity towards sexual matters commonly found in key sections of Catholic Church, the Anglicans, the Salvos, the Marists and the Yeshivas, all of whom suffered the little children to be brought to them. And boy, did the little children suffer! The $7.5 million funding to be given out to spread this calming gospel is worth every cent, but only Malcolm Turnbull saw that. After all, the Plebiscite was an election promise, and the Coalition never breaks election promises. Some things remain sacred. Even when Tony Abbott thought of them first. That’s why Malcolm got rid of him. If Labor forces Malcolm to go back on his word (but not, funnily enough, on theirs), you can bet he’ll tell us “They broke a nation’s heart”.

All Malcolm needs now is for the “opportunistic” Opposition to stop Opposing. That’s so 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 (and in the last three they weren’t even the Opposition!). Even Tony agrees. And for the Senate to stop obstructing. And (I nearly forgot) for Tony Abbott to give up the guerilla warfare habits and backstabbing proclivities of a lifetime. Should be easy. The course ahead will then be clear to all, not just the political savants in the Press Gallery. Just all of them stop disagreeing with Malcolm for Chrissake!

Sleepers wake! Our never-been-so-exciting time in the sun is upon us! Certainty has triumphed over brutishness. Civilization over anarchy. We’re playing by Point Piper Rules now. Watch – and weep, doubters – as the well-oiled wheels turn.

Malcolm, the Renaissance Man, is still on his way, but will arriving any day now. When he does, at least there’ll be no need for this type of unpleasantness…

Turnbull potty Complete with Text

862 thoughts on “Memories…”

  1. (Posted on behalf of BK)

    Good morning Dawn Patrollers.

    Legal expert George Williams tells us that Turnbull’s Senate challenge won’t be solved quickly by the High Court. There’s a sting in this article.
    http://www.smh.com.au/comment/malcolm-turnbulls-senate-challenge-wont-be-solved-by-the-high-court-quickly-20161104-gsi9t2.html
    Greg Jericho writes that it’s time for Turnbull to stop appeasing and start leading when it comes to dealing with climate change.
    https://www.theguardian.com/business/grogonomics/2016/nov/06/as-climate-disaster-looms-malcolm-turnbull-needs-to-stop-appeasing-and-start-leading
    I think I’m on the banks’ side with this stoush.
    http://www.smh.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/banks-apple-fight-to-entrench-their-dominance-in-customers-lives-20161102-gsg4pj.html
    Why do some people think they are above the law?
    http://www.smh.com.au/sport/exwallabies-nick-farrjones-jim-williams-and-bruce-worboys-caught-up-in-learn-earn-legend-loan-controversy-20161103-gsgz0w.html
    And another Crown Casino hanger-on gets arrested in China.
    http://www.smh.com.au/business/crowns-chinese-middleman-to-vip-highrollers-among-those-arrested-in-raids-20161103-gsh1aj.html
    Sow and ye shall reap apparently.
    http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/execution-of-sydney-crime-figure-hamad-assaad-unfolded-in-front-of-police-surveillance-20161105-gsiye5.html
    Aldi is being quite disruptive for the supermarket duopoly.
    http://www.smh.com.au/business/retail/woolworths-coles-aldi-which-is-cheapest-for-branded-products-20161101-gsf9ov.html
    Paul McGeough on Donald Trump – Liar-in0Chief.
    http://www.smh.com.au/world/us-election/donald-trumps-lying-far-more-sinister-than-distortion-of-facts-20161106-gsj5m3.html
    White supremacists are on the move in the US. Watch out!
    http://www.smh.com.au/world/us-election/for-white-pride-activist-november-9-is-takeover-day-and-donald-trump-is-a-prophet-20161106-gsj2n9.html
    Why Donald is the first of many Trumps to come. Scary.
    http://www.smh.com.au/comment/why-donald-is-the-first-of-many-trumps-to-come-20161104-gshzg2.html

    Reply

  2. Section 2 . . .

    Turnbull is about to take a step towards capitulating to his right wing rump in 18c.
    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/pm-malcolm-turnbull-edging-closer-to-changing-race-hate-laws-20161106-gsj6tm.html
    Michelle Grattan says that ministers are set to look at an 18c inquiry.
    https://theconversation.com/ministers-set-to-look-at-18c-inquiry-68307
    More push-back from GPs against health funding cuts.
    http://www.smh.com.au/national/health/radical-medicare-revamp-will-fail-patients-as-health-care-homes-trial-funding-falls-short-say-doctors-20161106-gsj6y9.html
    If this is any indication of how Trump will behave if he gets beaten then watch out!
    http://www.smh.com.au/world/us-election/donald-trumps-campaign-manager-casts-doubt-on-legality-of-early-nevada-voting-20161106-gsjb82.html
    Mark Kenny on his court case with Mr Nasty Senator Leyonhjelm.
    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/the-proof-is-in-the-posturing-free-speech-push-mired-in-politics-20161106-gsj186.html
    Jess Irvine writes that there is nothing to fear from Big Australia. We need immigration. And she busts a few myths.
    http://www.smh.com.au/comment/we-should-keep-australias-borders-open-to-as-many-as-possible-because-its-the-right-thing-to-do-20161104-gsielf.html
    Meanwhile Amanda Vanstone says that it’s not racist to speak out about migration.
    http://www.smh.com.au/comment/its-not-racist-to-speak-out-about-migration-20161104-gsi0sj.html
    Eltham locals come out in force against far right “out of towners” demonstrating against the settlement of 120 Syrian refugees.
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/nov/05/anti-refugee-rally-counter-protesters-turn-up-in-strength-butterflies-and-all
    Mikki Cusack looks at how Australia is heading towards becoming America’s identical twin.
    http://www.smh.com.au/comment/weve-become-americas-identical-twin-but-weve-got-too-much-to-lose-20161101-gsfp0w.html
    Australia is seeing a disturbing brain drain of its scientists.
    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-11-07/lack-of-funding-sees-scientists-leaving-labs-in-droves/7996604?utm_hp_ref=au-homepage

  3. Section 3 . . .

    Adele Ferguson again springs 7-Eleven. This time for short-changing recipients of compensation payments. Adele’s not going to let go of this story!
    http://www.smh.com.au/business/retail/7eleven-opting-for-lower-interest-rate-for-repayments-to-some-workers-20161103-gsgzid.html
    Bill Shorten hits out at Turnbull’s “ludicrous” lifetime ban proposals for refugees.
    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/bill-shorten-says-malcolm-turnbulls-lifetime-entry-ban-on-refugee-and-asylum-seekers-is-ludicrous-20161105-gsiysh.html
    Max Chalmers looks at the boring Border Force podcasts.
    https://newmatilda.com/2016/11/06/the-border-force-podcast-would-be-frightening-if-it-wasnt-so-boring/
    Chinese ownership of agricultural land is soaring.
    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/chinese-ownership-of-agricultural-land-soars-above-3-million-hectares-20161022-gs8hk5.html
    More troubles for Murray-Goulburn.
    http://www.smh.com.au/business/queries-over-murray-goulburn-accounts-add-to-its-woes-20161103-gsh9kg.html

  4. Section 4 . . . Cartoon Corner

    Mark David’s back after a short break.

    David Rowe with the “assassination attempt” on Trump.

    Cathy Wilcox and the acceptability of boats.

    David Pope has the ugly American casting his vote.
    http://www.smh.com.au/photogallery/act-news/david-pope-20120214-1t3j0
    Mark Knight must get the prize for the most disturbing image of Trump!
    http://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/2c9eb31364be88e5aa1ae4260182ffce?width=1024
    Again The Australian is wall to wall on 18c and defence of Leak. Here’s an example.
    http://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/ad9c6d4b77dffde39b620609f09c8ff7
    And Leak himself continues the campaign against Triggs.
    http://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/50ad8338075e30ce4087e05f9071f15a

  5. I put this on the old thread, just too late ….

    Turnbull the dud lawyer. And a lying bastard.

    Gotta love #politicslive readers.

    Aruna Sathanapally, a barrister at the Sydney bar and visiting lecturer at Sydney University, has clarified more on the process of complaints under section 18C.

    To recap, Malcolm Turnbull seemed to suggest that the Human Rights Commission was pursuing the QUT case under 18C.

    Turnbull said:

    I think the Human Rights Commission has done a great deal of harm to its credibility by bringing the case against the Queensland students….

    Now, frankly, what the Human Rights Commission needs to do is reflect on whether, in making its decisions as to which cases to pursue and which cases not to pursue, it has been doing so in a manner that enhances the reputation both of the commission and respect for the Racial Discrimination Act.

    It seemed to me (no lawyer) that Turnbull was at odds with the Commission’s advice on the website that it does not pursue the cases so I asked for a clarification of the process.

    This is from Sathanapally:

    In short, the process is the same across all grounds of what is referred to as “unlawful discrimination” which includes age discrimination, sex discrimination and race discrimination. The Commissions role, as you’ve identified, is to conciliate. Complaint to the Commission is required before a person can proceed to either the Federal Circuit Court or Federal Court. The Commission’s role is to inquire into and attempt to conciliate the dispute, in a private and informal way.

    It does not make determinations, nor does it bring legal proceedings (though it may seek to intervene). The relevant provisions are sections 46P-PN of the Australian Human Rights Commission Act.

    The AHRC has, and employs, the power to terminate (dismiss) complaints on various grounds, including that they are trivial or vexatious.

    The AHRC does not make any determination on whether unlawful discrimination is made out, that is the job of a court… The AHRC cannot stop a court proceeding…

    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2016/nov/07/malcolm-turnbull-human-rights-commission-should-look-at-18c-process-politics-live

    There’s more there, you just have to go back to earlier today.

  6. Also on The Guardian Politics Live – a lovely account of Malcolm Roberts’ traincrash of a presser this morning and an account of Rod Culleton’s latest attempt to prove the Constitution is wrong, or the High Court is wrong, or he knows better than all of them.

    We really are living in Fruitloop country now.

  10. “Memories” – the new Cargo Cult. The Cult of St Malcolm the Saviour.

    Any day now He will arrive, The Real Malcolm. We just need to wait a little bit longer, He is really coming, He is on the way, He will save us all …………

  11. Sheesh!

    Malcolm Roberts loves the Jews, and other insights from a bizarre climate change press conference
    JOSH TAYLOR
    Crikey journalist

    A press release on One Nation Senator Malcolm Roberts’ Facebook page on Sunday evening foretold of a “Major Pauline Hanon’s (sic) One Nation Party” announcement coming at 9am on Monday. In one release, he managed to misspell the name of his leader and his party four times.

    Roberts had promised an appearance by “the world’s most eminent climatologists”, and he appeared with two of the more well-known American sceptics, Tim Ball and Tony Heller. The latter goes by the pseudonym Steve Goddard and has signed up to the Obama birther conspiracy theory. His blogs about NASA faking data on climate change have been criticised even by fellow climate change sceptics. The former is a retired professor of geology who claims to have been one of the first climatology PhDs in the world, despite suggestions that his university did not have an office of climatology. Taxpayers did not pick up the bill for their visit, Roberts said, with one paying for his own way and Roberts paying for the other.

    An exuberant Roberts launched into the conference waving a 40-page document (claims linked here) that he claims debunks the evidence the CSIRO gave him in a private briefing about climate change.

    The theme of the press conference was that the CSIRO was relying on corrupted data from the Bureau of Meteorology and NASA and it had all been a waste of taxpayers’ money. When it came time for questions, David Crowe from The Australian led the charge, asking for an explanation as to why glaciers were melting. Heller/Goddard then claimed that glaciers were like ice cubes and should be melting, and that scientists were just cherry-picking that data anyway.

    Then questions came on Roberts’ previous claims about international banks (i.e. the Rothschild family) being part of a big global conspiracy. Al Gore, Barack Obama and Goldman Sachs all got a mention as Roberts reiterated his claims that “international banks” planned to profit from climate change action.

    “You want to use the C-word, you go right for it,” Roberts said.

    Then BuzzFeed‘s Mark Di Stefano asked about Roberts appearing on an anti-Semitic website called “Jew World Order”. The site links to an alt-right podcast called Fair Dinkum Radio, Roberts talked about his conspiracy theory in 2015. Roberts denied he was anti-Semitic.

    “There is no one religion involved. I have nothing against any particular religion,” he said, saying of the founders of his Galileo Movement were Jewish.

    “I respect and admire the Jews,” Roberts said.

    When journalists attempted to steer the press conference towards the politics of the day, and the reason why a Senator from a minor party holding a press conference gets attention — mainly Rod Culleton’s future in the Senate — Hanson staffer James Ashby (remember him?) tried to stop them.

    “We’re not on the subject of Rod Culleton this morning. We have a different agenda this morning, so stick to it, hey?”

    “We’re allowed to ask whatever we want,” a journo shot back.

    “You can ask any question you want, but we are here talking about one of the world’s biggest scams,” Roberts replied.

    Journalists persisted. And with that, Roberts fled the press conference.

    CSIRO won’t be responding, aside from stating it stands by its peer-reviewed science. Crikey understands Australia’s chief research organisation didn’t get the report until 9.19am this morning, after Roberts’ office tried and failed to send an email with the report attached twice before that from 9.06am

    https://www.crikey.com.au/2016/11/07/i-admire-and-respect-the-jews-one-nation-senator-conference-starts-out-a-farce-stays-a-farce/

    So what have we learned from all this? Apart for the bleeding obvious – Mal is nuttier than a pecan pie with extra nuts.
    1. Mal can’t spell ‘Hanson’.
    2. It took Mal three goes to get his Facebook announcement right.
    3. Mal struggles to send emails.
    4. James Ashby seems to be running One Nation’s ‘agenda’ now that Pauline has gone to ground.

  13. Pauline has thrown Culleton under a fleet of buses. If he survives the High Court he will be sitting as an independent. That’s my thought, anyway.

    And – the stupid, it burns!

  14. Fizza yelling already. Two minutes in.

    Someone pass him some Fisherman’s Friends. He’s gunna need them.

  17. Another own goal –

    Bandt asks Frydenberg a question, F begins his answer with ‘It’s been 690 days since I’ve had a question from the Labor Party’.

  18. Spot on, Gabrielle

    Extraordinary, that last answer. It is the same as George Brandis’ formula to the 7.30 Report last week.

    Essentially, he is saying, the Turnbull government is not responsible for what the Abbott government did – even though it remains the same Coalition government.

    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2016/nov/07/malcolm-turnbull-human-rights-commission-should-look-at-18c-process-politics-live#comment-87003154

    • It’s been obvious for a while that this is all going to be blamed on Michael Ronaldson, now he’s no longer there to defend himself.

  29. No point asking Arfur anything – ha can’t remember anything that happened before lunch time.

  30. Thanks for that GL. Florida pretty well decides it as far as getting the required delegates. Trump can’t get there without that. Worse news for him I heard (I think from Fairfax or Guardian) was that Clinton’s ahead in Ohio, which is a bit of a shock. Just about every poll up till now has had Trump in front in Ohio, so much so that none of the pollsters have really considered it being in play. It’s good night if that goes and an early night if Florida goes with it. The Clinton team is confident of getting Arizona, which is another not considered in play. But I haven’t seen any polling on it.

    It seems to be shaping up for a big win to Clinton, which is perhaps necessary for the system. But it’s not at all bad that many consider it close. Getting out the vote looks to be HRC’s major task. Failure there is the only thing that will make it close.

  33. BB – “MEMORIES” – your title brought me to back to THE PUB just now! I’ve been so pissed off with politics lately that I’ve left even this, my favorite site, till last for the day’s reading. I’ve focused instead on trying to recall and write about my childhood so that my grandkids will have a bit of personal family history of their own going way back to the early 20th century. That was when politicians achieved so much! They were different then! Weren’t they………?

    Anyway, forget the politicians. I had to write immediately to congratulate you personally on a brilliant piece of writing. It’s a ‘tour de force’ with every sentence holding a literary gem, whether of alliteration, irony or hyperbole. It’s sitting there waiting for me to enjoy it all over again this evening. I have to be careful though, if I read it too often I could become a plagiarist.

    But back to the politicians and political events. Your commentary about the recent past is so apt I have to re-read it. Your pictured parody of Turnbull as so many saw him – the ‘Renaissance Man’ compared with Caveman Abbott – is perfect. How wrong they all were – he’s just another politician and not a very good one at that!

    Maybe in years to come, when he is dead and gone, a liberated Lucy will write her own life story and we might get to the bottom of him – the real truth about Malcolm Turnbull. Or maybe he’ll live to a ripe old age and write his own story. Do you think he’d tell the truth? Get off the pot, as it were. But he’s so vain, I suspect even then we’d be left with a heap of literary shit.

  39. Poor, sad Mark Kenny still burns a candle for Malcolm:

    In Aussie rules they call it “putting in the short steps”: a faux dash to the ball when a blood nose looms.

    Malcolm Turnbull might have put in a few of these on his marriage equality plebiscite. Few doubt the member for Wentworth’s heart is in the right place, but how strongly is it beating?

    Mark can include me as one of the small crowd of doubters. If Turnbull was a lock-up garage on Pawn Stars, when you opened up his roller door there’d be nothing inside.

    But here’s a new angle: a Plebiscite’s the same as a Parliamentary vote because, you see, Parliament is the same as “Heterosexual Australia”, really just a microcosm of it.

    The Prime Minister’s desultory path to the present is no secret. He opposed Tony Abbott’s plebiscite but then agreed to keep it as a condition of getting Abbott’s job. He then took that plan to an election, formed government, and has since pushed the legislation up to the Senate, where its demise is assured.

    But why? For all the valid pre-election arguments against the plebiscite, there are stronger arguments for it now than he has advanced. One is that whichever way the question is decided, it requires the assent of heterosexual Australia, either through MPs representing the broader community – i.e. Parliament – or directly via the plebiscite. . So for all their divergent procedural characteristics, the qualitative moral differences claimed by the plebiscite’s trenchant opponents are exaggerated.

    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/malcolm-turnbulls-halfhearted-push-for-marriage-equality-20161107-gsjjyj.html

    So how come Australia’s not just a microcosm for rural Australia, and so why shouldn’t we put the Prickly Pear (Rights Of Entry Of Inspectors) Amendment Act 2016 to a plebiscite, too?

    Everyone pays tax, so I reckon there should be no tax law amendments without a plebiscite. It’s not every day they want to amend the franking implications of deferred tax debentures assignable to imputed returns to the spouses of unit trust beneficiaries is it? Put it to the people, I say!

    How about Education Funding? It affects almost every citizen. Plebiscite… NOW!

    Kenny’s argument that we may as well have a plebiscite, indeed that a plebiscite is the preferred and better option, the “stronger argument” because, well, a Plebiscite is just like a Great Big Parliament has to be one of the shittiest, most contrived, disingenuous pieces of malarkey I’ve have ever read.

    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/malcolm-turnbulls-halfhearted-push-for-marriage-equality-20161107-gsjjyj.html

  40. Glad you got the alliteration, PatriciaWA. It can turn an otherwise mundane sentence into something you can roll your tongue around.

    Lovely comment, thoroughly undeserved. Thanks.

  45. Plus plus ungood

    The incident occurred shortly after 5:00pm on October 27, when Virgin Australia flight 740, en route from the Gold Coast to Melbourne, changed its altitude and course under the instruction of the unauthorised person transmitting from an unknown location.

    The ABC understands that 15 unauthorised transmissions occurred over a two-week period. Calls were received by both aircraft and Melbourne Air Traffic Services Centre.

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-11-07/afp-investigating-hoax-calls-made-to-passenger-plane/7995502

  46. For a prime minister, especially one who likes to make a big deal of his long-ago legal brilliance (?) not to understand how the AHRC works is criminal. To understand and then lie about it is even worse.

    Gillian Triggs isn’t having a bar of Fizza’s rubbish.

    Gillian Triggs hits back at ‘deeply misleading’ Malcolm Turnbull over 18C claims

    The president of the Human Rights Commission, Gillian Triggs, has hit back after an extraordinary attack by Malcolm Turnbull, accusing the Prime Minister of not being briefed and misunderstanding how the organisation operates

    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/gillian-triggs-hits-back-at-deeply-misleading-malcolm-turnbull-over-18c-claims-20161107-gsjun8.html

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    • Not holding back

      But Professor Triggs argued the campaign is being orchestrated by News Corp and politicians “who have deliberately misunderstood the law”.

      “There is no doubt that they have deliberately undermined a process that proceeds quietly, with 20,000 matters, plus formals complaints, each year,” she said.

  47. Scenes from a hair cutter in Canberra

    Hair, what little of it, had been driving me crazy. M still away, so decided to get cut last week. Now, when you have a head like mine there is not much that you can do or, nore, is there much that you expect from a haircut (“give me a number 2 all over, please”).

    The local barber has been replaced by one of those hipster-ish places run by young white = anglo metro dudes with carefully tailored beards or designer 3 day stubble and prices to match (which I’m not paying. and no, sport I don’t want a stubbie of Coopers or a double decaf soy latte). I should have been warned off by the fixed wheel bike out the front (and inside the shop, and none of ’em looked like track cyclists ) . Walked around corner. Korean lady, aged 40 ish has opened hairdresser/barber shop. Lucky for me, she had vacancy. Proper haircut and she shaved my neck with a cut-throat razor, not one of those battery driven clippers that never quite do the job.

    Just bloody delightful to actually have a conversation (and a decent haircut). “Have you been to Korea etc…”. She – “my husband and me are thinking of going to Tasmania in December-Jan —-ever been there?” “Yes, of course. Bit like Korea, country side is beautiful, people gentle and do you eat fish?” “Would’nt be Korean if you didn’t, Trev”. “Right, I’m going home to tell husband and make booking tonight”. I’d never thought of it until then, but there are similarities.

    It amazes me at times what a varied community Canberra is becoming. From total white-bread of 40 years ago to something that is glowingly diverse and vibrant and is probably not celebrated enough. I laughed a few weeks ago when one of the kids next door told me about the school production of the “Wizard of Oz”. Dorothy was played by an Aussie/Chinese kid with an amazing voice! And why not?

    • Well said, Trav’..I have a theory that all barbers (as against Ladies Hairdressers) like architects ,have only one base haircut and all others are derived there-of

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