Today’s Guest Author is Jennifer Wilson, with her take on Cardinal Pell and the Royal Commission into Child Sexual Abuse. Thank you, Jennifer, and you are definitely not alone.
Father Doyle, the CA Royal Commission witness from the US, was superb. His honesty and compassion were most evident. He gave many reasons for the behaviour of priest and the church and what needs to be changed.
The commissioners really appreciated his testimony. Doyle was effusive with praise for the establishment and conduct of the RC and on behalf of the “good” clergy in the US he expressed heartfelt thanks for what they are doing and how they are going about it. He said that of all the similar inquiries around the world this RC stands out and its findings and deliberations will be so important in the future.
Eat your heart out Pontificating Paul Kelly and your ilk!
The Catholic Archbishop of Brisbane, Mark Coleridge, this morning expressed his horror and outrage at the latest report from the Royal Commission into Child Sexual Abuse on the extent of that abuse within his church.
The Archbishop was at pains to reassure listeners that after years of intense and ongoing scrutiny (thanks to former Prime Minister Julia Gillard ordering the Royal Commission which catholic MP Tony Abbott and his catholic henchman did everything possible to sabotage) catholic schools are by now among the safest possible places for your child to be.
While he might have a point he is missing the point: the former head of the church in Australia, Cardinal George Pell, is himself under investigation both for alleged child sexual abuse, and for his role in covering up the offences of other priests.
Cardinal Pell is currently in Rome, in a position that keeps him very close to Pope Francis. Victorian Police yesterday submitted a second brief of evidence against the Cardinal to the DPP. The Vatican is a sovereign state from which Pell cannot be extradited. When last required to appear before the Royal Commission, Pell pleaded a heart condition that left him unfit to fly long distances. He gave evidence via video link.
I would like to ask Archbishop Coleridge how anyone can trust the catholic church in Australia when its former head is under the protection of the Pope. I’m struggling to imagine this situation in a secular organisation in which 7% of employees were guilty of sexually abusing children, and 4,400 alleged cases of child sexual abuse had been brought against it.
Both these figures are conservative: how many victims have not made complaints? How many have suicided? How many made complaints that were mishandled by the church, or dismissed?
As a fish rots from the head, so has the catholic church. I’m neither heartened nor impressed by various catholic clergy and lay commentators wringing their hands at the awfulness of it all. Had it not been for an atheist ordering an investigation, this would still be hidden, and the perpetrators still protected.
I’m willing to bet a great deal that no one, but no one inside the church would have taken action to prevent the sexual abuse of children, or to instigate useful investigations that resulted in prosecutions, and demands for moral accountability.
This will not be over until those at the highest level are held accountable, including the Pope. Until churchmen and catholic commentators are willing to acknowledge that accountability starts at the head, nobody is safe in the catholic system, and the fish continues to stink.
THE PUB 
“This will not be over until those at the highest level are held accountable”
I so agree.
Thanks to Jennifer for a great piece.
I have a somewhat accidental connection to Pell, via new neighbour of mine who was closely associated with Pell’s financial brief in Rome. I’ll see what I can find out, but I have to say my new neighbour doesn’tseem to be the type who talks out of school.
Read this and weep:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-06/child-sex-abuse-royal-commission:-data-reveals-catholic-abuse/8243890
I hate to be picky about such an excellent article, but Pell never was ‘head of the Catholic church in Australia.
The Catholic church here doesn’t have one person in charge, it’s too diverse an organisation for that, but if we absolutely have to pick someone to lumber with the ‘head’ title it would be whoever is president of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, a position Pell never held.
I get too OCD about facts, I suppose, but I also get really annoyed when people write things and just make assumptions, repeating that incorrect assumption as part of their argument instead of taking a couple of minutes at the most to check.
Can we agree that he was the de facto headof the Catholic Church in Australia, given Sydney is about the biggest gig Cardinal-wize, and given his connections to Abbott especially?
leonetwo
Pell may not have been the “Head” but he was the “Face” of the Catholic church at the time. So near enough.
I’d argue with that, too. Pell certainly hogged the limelight in NSW,, but he was more a product of the media than the ‘face’ of the Catholic church.
I can’t think of anyone I’d name as a ‘face’ then or now, Who could have that position depends on where you live and whether or not you have any interest in Catholic personalities.
Pell ? Tones ?
Incidentally we should remember that Cory Bernardi is not the only chip off the old Liberal block in Parliament. Pauline Hanson is too. She was originally an endorsed candidate, and in fact won her seat after she was disendorsed because it was too late to change all the HTVs, as far as I can remember.
Or for that matter, Nick Xenophon, albeit well into his past. Pope’s cartoon of them hiving off rightly includes him. Of course Day and Leyonjhelm are probably in that category too.
Not the right man for that job. Or any job
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-08/army-chief-sent-to-us-to-lobby-trump-team-on-refugee-deal/8249786
“Well regarded” because he is a lickspittle.
It’s funny to see commentary on current Liberal Party woes as something to be worked through: trying, testing, but essentially solvable.
Abbott is out, but making trouble (because that’s what he does).
Abetz and the rest of the Old Fogies are just grumpy old men who can’t face their permanent exclusion from the ministerial corridors.
The likes of Dutton are new kids on the block. They want to stay in power – and the assumption seems to be that they can and should – so they can make their move later on. They’re biding their time while pulling the big bucks and kudos as senior members of government.
And as for Cory Bernardi? {Makes twirling motions with forefinger around ear to indicate “crazy”} What CAN you say about Cory?
Miranda and Andrew are fighting on 2GB (although they seem to have workshopped their differences off air, if last nights forced pleasantries were any indication). Oh well, Monday was stunning radio, but not serious.
Bill Shorten? Labor? Who are they? “In Opposition” you say? Leading in the polls with an election-winning 2PP figure? Almost won the last election? Did they really? Hmmm… I’ve heard the names, but can’t quite place them. Are they in politics?
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/more-than-cory-bernardi-why-right-wing-politics-is-fracturing-in-australia-20170207-gu7c2u.html
Pell didn’t protect the children:
Good morning Dawn Patrollers.
Matthew Knott examines the fracturing of the right wing of Australian politics.
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/more-than-cory-bernardi-why-right-wing-politics-is-fracturing-in-australia-20170207-gu7c2u.html
Pontificating Paul Kelly begins his article with ” The conservative side of Australian politics is now devouring itself, consumed by personal aggran¬disement, ideological delusion and populist fervour in an upheaval likely to destroy the Turnbull government, deliver power to the Labor Party and generate a structural split among conservatives that will weaken their cause for years to come.” Google.
/opinion/columnists/paul-kelly/conservative-principles-and-values-are-being-trashed/news-story/71ffe25ddd3ba333d907d80b2a4dad3e
The mother of a woman who was stabbed to death in a Queensland backpackers hostel last year has publicly condemned Donald Trump for including her on a White House list of terror attacks. (I wonder if Trump considers all the mass shootings in the US as terrorist attacks).
http://www.smh.com.au/national/mother-of-murdered-backpacker-condemns-trump-for-including-queensland-attack-on-terror-list-20170207-gu7qu8.html
Mark Kenny on Turnbull’s run of “bad luck”.
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/cory-bernardi-split-if-it-wasnt-for-bad-luck-malcolm-turnbull-would-have-no-luck-at-all-20170206-gu6zrc.html
Peter Lewis writes that Cory Bernardi may be just the latest in a growing line of chancers to jump on the global wave of reactionary, rightwing populism but, for Malcolm Turnbull, he is a one-man existential crisis.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/commentisfree/2017/feb/08/bernardi-bets-on-wave-of-destruction-but-future-of-rightwing-populism-is-in-trumps-hands
Can Cory Bernardi create a viable conservative party in Australia? That’s the fascinating question raised by the long-awaited defection of the maverick South Australian Senator today, writes Ben Eltham.
https://newmatilda.com/2017/02/07/corys-party-bernardi-exits-stage-far-right/
Senator Cory Bernardi has laid the blame for his defection squarely with the Liberal Party, saying it was the party’s views, values and principles that changed, not his.
http://thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2017/02/07/cory-bernardi-blames-liberal-split/
Michelle Grattan writes about the reactions to Bernardi’s move.
https://theconversation.com/bernardi-says-his-new-party-will-offer-a-principled-alternative-for-disillusioned-conservative-voters-72582
The AFR examines Bernardi’s departure. Google.
/news/politics/national/this-doesnt-happen-to-liberals-20170207-gu7iyv
Young Australians should be given a grant funded by an inheritance tax on wealthy estates to help them enter the housing market, pay university fees or start a business, a senior union figure says. This will fire up the loudmouths in the government.
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/death-tax-grants-would-give-young-australians-a-future-union-secretary-says-20170207-gu7eda.html
Section 2 . . .
Malcolm Turnbull will face a “shirt-front” moment of his very own when eventually meeting Donald Trump for the first time, face-to-face writes Daniel Flitton.
http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/a-doozy-of-a-showdown-when-malcolm-turnbull-calls-out-donald-trump-20170206-gu6jyu.html
The White House list of “unreported terrorist attacks” was full of crap according to the Washington Post.
http://www.smh.com.au/world/white-house-list-of-terror-attacks-is-littered-with-errors-20170207-gu7m33.html
More on “the list”.
http://www.smh.com.au/world/white-house-includes-lindt-cafe-siege-and-curtis-cheng-killing-in-list-of-underreported-terrorism-attacks-20170207-gu7m9x.html
As Donald Trump prepares for a court showdown that could permanently overturn his immigration ban, revelations about his personal habits in the White House triggered an outraged response from the new President, and speculation about whether he owns a bathrobe.
http://thenewdaily.com.au/news/world/2017/02/07/trump-bathrobe-expose/
And another retail clothing business folds up.
http://www.smh.com.au/business/retail/herringbone-rhodes–beckett-join-retail-carnage-20170207-gu7gow.html
The US president is attacking the very institutions that are meant to expose lies: universities, the media and the judiciary. Democracy is impossible without them. Why Trump wants to nobble institutions that protect the truth.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/feb/07/trump-disempower-institutions-protect-truth
The Trump White House suffered another defeat in their war with the media today as CNN immediately shot down a Sean Spicer lie about why the network turned down an offer to interview Kellyanne Conway. CNN has had enough of the White House lies already.
http://www.politicususa.com/2017/02/07/trumpcnn-putting-anymore.html
Is it time to put the brakes on property investors again?
http://www.smh.com.au/business/comment-and-analysis/is-it-time-to-put-the-brakes-on-property-investors-again-20170205-gu67dy.html
Bill McKibben says that Trump and Bannon have turned the White House against America. We can’t know how the battle will finish, only that it will be fought. This is, quite suddenly, the story of our time he writes.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/feb/07/trump-administration-white-house-steve-bannon-influence
In the fight against racism and Islamophobia, the complexities of far right politics need to be examined, writes Sameer Murthy in Te Independent Australia.
https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/populism-and-the-complex-tyranny-of-the-far-right,10001
Section 3 . . .
Late-night hosts took aim at the latest developments within Trump’s government, saying the president has gone from “dickish to dictator”. Watch the clips.
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2017/feb/07/late-night-hosts-trump-segments-bowling-green-massacre
Fact checking alone is not enough to fight the far right. The media must spread the truth. Hear hear!
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/feb/07/fact-checking-far-right-media-truth-donald-trump-terrorist
Oh dear! The Tax Office cannot guarantee it will begin tax time 2017 on July 1 as it scrambles desperately to save this year’s tax return program from the fall-out of its disastrous pre-Christmas online meltdown. So much for innovation, agility and Turnbull’s digital revolution in government!
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/national/public-service/tax-time-in-danger-from-atos-tech-wreck-20170207-gu7a98.html
It’s not just the working class that’s fed up with politics according to Michael Koziol.
http://www.smh.com.au/national/its-not-just-the-working-class-thats-disillusioned-with-politics-20170201-gu39wc.html
Jacqui Maley on why the Bernardi-Abbott bromance broke up.
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/the-bromance-is-over-why-did-cory-bernardi-turn-on-tony-abbott-20170207-gu7abk.html
The Solicitor-General fronted the High Court yesterday to put the heat on Bob Day.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/feb/07/bob-day-sought-arrangement-to-receive-rent-for-electorate-office-court-hears
Most economists believe that health insurance premium hikes that are well over the inflation rate can’t be justified, a survey shows. What’s the betting though that Hunt will fold and approve them? Hunt should tell them to strip out all the shit “treatments” from the schedules first. But he won’t.
http://www.smh.com.au/business/consumer-affairs/economists-say-health-insurance-premium-hikes-well-above-cpi-are-unwarranted-20170207-gu766d.html
This GP writes that homeopathy sells dangerous lies to patients. I ask the question “should pharmacists’ licences be revoked if they sell homeopathic “preparations?”
http://www.smh.com.au/comment/homeopathy-sells-dangerous-lies-to-patients-20170206-gu6m3h.html
Tony Wright’s satirical column on the departure of Bernardi and the Gold Card.
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/sketch-cory-bernardis-departure-overshadowed-by-the-end-of-the-gold-card-20170207-gu7gmk.html
Marine le Penne might be too hot to handle for Trump.
http://www.smh.com.au/comment/donald-trump-may-not-find-an-ally-in-french-nationalist-marine-le-pen-20170206-gu6za1.html
Section 4 . . .
In explosive evidence at the CA Royal Commission Fr. Thomas Doyle dumped the Vatican right in it.
http://www.smh.com.au/national/father-thomas-doyle-tells-royal-commission-vatican-failed-sex-abuse-victims-20170206-gu6zs7.html
Here’s more on Doyle’s evidence.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/feb/07/catholic-church-doesnt-understand-toll-of-child-sexual-abuse-says-us-priest
The SMH editorial says that the Catholic church can no longer hide from the child sexual abuse issue.
http://www.smh.com.au/comment/smh-editorial/on-sexual-abuse-the-catholic-church-can-hide-no-more-20170207-gu7aq3.html
Labor and the Greens are set to force a Senate inquiry into Centrelink’s controversial automated debt recovery system, an issue that had dogged the federal government for more than two months. I would LOVE to be a Senator for a day and be on the panel!
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/greens-and-labor-to-move-for-senate-inquiry-on-centrelink-automated-debt-systems-20170207-gu7h3s.html
Israel continues to do what it likes.
http://www.smh.com.au/world/israel-passes-law-to-seize-private-palestinian-land-for-jewish-settlements-20170207-gu75n3.html
Ross Gittins doesn’t think Shorten is playing fair.
http://www.smh.com.au/comment/bill-shorten-wants-politics-to-change-but-labors-sneaky-strategy-has-been-part-of-the-problem-20170207-gu73li.html
Alan Stokes writes that Bernardi gamed the system and should quit. Some chance of that!
http://www.smh.com.au/comment/hypocritical-cory-bernardi-gamed-the-system-he-must-quit-the-senate-20170206-gu6z9s.html
The government is looking for a new database providing monthly updates on investment returns, which could allow it to reduce or increase the Centrelink and pension benefits it pays out as markets rise and fall. It plans to have the new database running by the start of next financial year providing monthly updates on unit prices for managed investments. Don’t they alredy have access to that data?
http://www.smh.com.au/business/centrelink-keeping-track-of-monthly-investment-performance-20170206-gu6hhi.html
This GP writes that homeopathy sells dangerous lies to patients. I ask the question “should pharmacists’ licences be revoked if they sell homeopathic “preparations?”
http://www.smh.com.au/comment/homeopathy-sells-dangerous-lies-to-patients-20170206-gu6m3h.html
Australia, it’s time to face the facts. We have a sleep problem and it’s affecting how we live our lives.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/2017/02/07/australia-we-have-a-sleep-deprivation-problem/?utm_hp_ref=au-homepage
Section 5 . . . Cartoon Corner
Mark David launches Bernardi’s new party.
David Pope on the CA Royal Commission.
Broelman on Hanson and Putin.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C4BWxSbUoAEI1vC.jpg:large
Cathy Wilcox has a good dig at Centrelink.
Ron Tandberg exposes Bernardi’s principles.
As does Alan Moir!
David Pope with the government’s efforts on political climate change.
A good one from Mark Knight on Bernardi’s departure from the Liberal Party.
http://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/f3fd1245d7b0c6fa94b813181628a240?width=1024
Bill Leak goes into full dark mode for this one!
http://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/595459f8b95454d1cf07ac43dacc052f
David Rowe sees Bernardi leaving the tent.
Turnbull’s plans to get his childcare package past the senate. More backdowns, more hits to the budget.
Coalition renegotiates family tax benefits changes to pass childcare reforms
Government expected to introduce omnibus bill after taking hit to the budget to secure support in the Senate for childcare reforms
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/feb/07/coalition-renegotiates-family-tax-benefits-changes-to-pass-childcare-reforms
Will it be enough to win over NXT?
The Centrelink clawback provision that removed 5 year limit on debt retrieval was passed in the last omnibus bill.
The omnibus bills are a mix of legislation that appeals to Labor, is necessary for the operation of government as well as nasty bombshells lurking ready to hurt the vulnerable
Here’s a good rant from Shane Wombat
http://shanewombat.blogspot.com.au/
Thoroughly recommended on my reading.
BB (from above):
What’s even funnier is that political commentators still carry on about the “disaster/dysfunction” of the “Rudd/Gillard/Rudd” years as if a leadership issue was fundamental to the integrity of the country – in a political environment where everything policy-related worked smoothly and the largest threats were concocted entirely by the opposition (carbon tax scare, Slipper).
And yet they can survey the absolute chaos and catastrophe of the current government piling up on a weekly basis – we’re got ministers and a Speaker resigning in disgrace, and now a defection by Bernardi, the NBN disaster, and the concomitant tech snafus with the Census, Centrelink and now it appears the Tax Office itself, plummeting poll figures, Budgets that can’t get passed, serious human rights issues with refugees, plummeting business and consumer confidence and, well, I haven’t even scratched the surface yet…. – and they can blithely talk about all this as if they’re just minor hitches in a largely functioning system.
They still pretend that it’s all about Turnbull finding his mojo.
The basic problem with this government is that when you ask them what they plan to do, they say it’s Labor’s fault.
I couldn’t continue watching last night (I DO have limits), but I assume Morrison eventually got around to blaming Labor on 7.30.
He was the worst I’ve ever seen him. Motor mouth? Try a 12-cylinder threshing machine running on torpedo juice.
But generally, you’re right. We are still seeing articles suggesting to Turnbull what he has to do to turn things around, as if somehow the flesh-eating political Bugblatter Beast that the Coalition has become can be even slowed down a little in its course of self-degustation.
However, I take comfort from my newly discovered “Nikki Savva Principle” – “If things appear to be fucked-up in public, just imagine how they’re going in private”. Her book revealed that whatever we thought at the time about the Abbott government’s tendency to self-harm was gross underestimation.
The seething hatred, fear and dysfunction inside the Turnbull bunker would be a sight to see, if only the commentariat could get past their “Just a Flesh Wound” and “Malcolm Will Triumph In The end” fixations.
Remember.
When discussing Turnbull’s insistence on ‘clean’ coal over renewables and his complete lack of interest in a parliamentary vote on marriage equality just remember one thing.
Turnbull signed an agreement with the National Party when he knifed Abbott. A fresh new Coalition agreement.
Signed. On paper. With a real pen. Signed!
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/malcolm-turnbulls-4-billion-deal-with-the-nationals-to-guarantee-coalition-unity/news-story/1cc0d538a70705b4970266c746b2b0d4
None of this namby-pamby ‘gentleman’s agreement’ handshake rubbish for the Nats, they knew who they were dealing with and made him put his promises in writing. They demanded a whole new Coalition agreement, not just a handshake and a few waffly promises. They knew Turnbull could not be trusted and made sure they had the goods, in case of future need. And they made him sign it just before he went off to be sworn in as PM. No signature, no swearing-in.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/sep/15/nationals-negotiate-tougher-coalition-agreement-with-malcolm-turnbull
I’d imagine every federal Nats MP now has a stack of copies of that agreement in their files, some of them probably laminated or framed and stuck on walls. Whenever a Nat passes Turnbull in a corridor in Parliament House he or she probably smirks at him, says ‘remember what you signed’ and swaggers off.
So Turnbull is in thrall to the Nats, dominated by the Monkey Podders and the other extreme right wingers, terrified he will be booted out if he doesn’t do as he’s told, terrified someone is going to knife him even if he does obey orders, dreading every new poll, scared witless by the thought of having to take another phone call from Trump and completely lacking the will to do anything about the situation he has got himself into. It’s all his own work. He has only himself and his ambition to blame. And, of course, his life-long lack of judgement. And – there’s noting he can do about his situation except grin and try to pretend it’s all going swimmingly and he’s not drowning, he’s waving.
As John Donne said –
“Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee”
” scared witless by the thought of having to take another phone call from Trump”
So funny, leone. The man is a real wreck. They’ve all mobilised against him. His own fault of course.
Corgi Bernardi already accusing Corgi Bernardi Party of not being conservative enough
The new omnibus bill explanatory memorandum has been released and it’s enormous, a real monster.
It includes a lot of nasty zombie measures that so far have not made it past the senate.It’s another attempt to ram through unpopular legislation by including it in a bill that also contains some small benefits.
The part I find really objectionable is this –
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2017/feb/08/coalition-releases-childcare-package-compromise-in-bid-to-clear-senate-politics-live
These payments have been hated by Coalition governments since Labor introduced them. Howard tried to get rid of them but couldn’t, although he did hack at the PES.. Abbott and HoJo introduced these cuts in the 2014.2015 budget but they stalled in the senate. Now Turnbull hopes to kill them off.
The PES is a meagre $62.40 a fortnight, half that if you are studying part-time. (That was a successful Howard cut.) The Education Entry Payment is currently $208, a once a year lump sum, usually paid at the start of the year. These payments have not increased in decades. They are intended to help people on welfare, not just pensioners. deal with the cost of educating themselves. They help pay for administration fees, text books, internet access and all the other costs involved in getting decent qualifications.
To cut these payments is despicable. This government keeps telling people on welfare that they need to get a job, but they are proposing cutting the payments that make getting necessary qualifications impossible.
Hanson, of course, will wave this omnibus bill through. it’s up to Labor, the Greens, NXT and the other cross benchers to knock it all back, yet again. I doubt they will all vote against it.
It’ll be Abbott, whiteanting his way back to the Big Chair.
Would be to much to hope he would fall in?
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-08/sydney-sinkhole-opens-near-prime-ministers-point-piper-house/8250748
According to twitter, it is streets away from his place.
Nowhere ‘near’ Fizza’s mansion, sadly.
However – with climate change being pushed along by Fizza’s dopey policies a small rise in sea levels in Sydney Harbour would see the Turnbull mansion becoming a bit more ‘waterfront’ than they might like. That swimming pool would be a lot bigger, for a start.
pity
Off topic but the Crikey site is failing no comment updates since 0830ish refresh no good and it has been doing so well over the last few months.
As an RC and attended primary and college with them(in the UK) I must have been lucky or blind never heard a thing about all this abuse although we did have a non religious teacher disappeared one term and as I recall he used to inflict the ruler across knuckles while at your desk if warranted.Still allowed in the 50’s.
I’m not having any problems there. Not with Crikey itself, not with Poll Bludger. Poll Bludger refresh works, the comments are updating, everything is good. .
I’ve tried the Poll Bludger site both logged in to Crikey and logged out and it makes no difference, it still works.
It sounds like your system just doesn’t like Poll Bludger, and who could blame it for that.
There are various degrees of child abuse at school. Sometimes a touch on your shoulder could be perceived as one. The child’s perception counts. I certainly was fully aware or a certain teacher’s wandering hands even if they stopped at the shoulder.
I think you have to be logged on to view comments nowadays.
I saw the sink hole as a metaphor …
Yes, we are sharp this morning.
DYI map checking –
Get Point Piper on Google maps.
Turnbull lives in the eastern end of Wunulla Avenue – number 46.
The sinkhole is in Wentworth Street – (not Wentworth Place) outside number 11A.
Work out for yourself how far away from Chez Fizza it is.
Funny how this news has morphed into ‘outside Turnbull’s house’ so quickly.
About being sharp – Turnbull’s minders are not sharp. They let him do this, today.
I have fallen victim to the mistake of confusing Wentworth Place with Wentworth Street. And then, when you find Wentworth Place, you need to know it’s in two separate halves.
Fizza’s place is indeed in Wunulla. Once you’ve actually found Wunulla (no easy thing what with all the one-way streets around that part of town), you can spot Chateau Turnbull from a mile off, due to the gaudy red AFP patrol cars parked outside.
Seriously, it doesn’t look at all secure. A half-way decent team of properly trained commandos could take it out in 10 seconds. Why we are paying for the indulgence of Turnbull living in his own house is beyond me, although it IS a bit funny: Howard’s house wasn’t as good as Kirribilli House, but Turnbull’s is TOO good for it.
Hanson is at it again, making up sob stories about how tough her life was back when she was a mother of young kids.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2017/feb/08/coalition-releases-childcare-package-compromise-in-bid-to-clear-senate-politics-live#comment-92764058
First – that mythical $8 a week. I’d like to know what she’s talking about. It can’t be a childcare allowance because she says there was no childcare back then. She’s just making up crap. as usual.
Second – Hanson’s kids are younger than mine. Her eldest was born in 1980 or 1981, my eldest was born in 1975. My kids went to family day care, but the full-time daycare centre option was also available. They also did a few days a week at pre-school when they were age 4.
Third – Hanson did not look after her kids herself. Her eldest was raised by his paternal grandmother. Who knows who looked after the younger three while Hanson was off being a barmaid or cooking chips or flitting around looking for the next lover or whatever else she did.
Why won’t the media call out these blatant lies? It’s pretty easy to find out the facts.
Stuff mentioned here this morning,
Morrison last night was in top form. For those with the interest & stomach I can recommend a superb performance. And he did get round to blaming Labor.
And with all the stuff going down for Trumbull & the libs I applied the standard “if this were Labor” test to the commentary. The subsequent self medicating’s kicked in now, enabling me to make this post.
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A quick trip to the RBA inflation calculator shows that Pawleens $8 p/w in 2016 $s = $33.11 or $1721 p.a.
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Appauline Hanson is just pushing another of the talk back radio no nothings’ fave hot button myths. You see there are hordes of young unmarried girls out there rushing of to have a littler of children just so they can then live like queens courtesy of the taxpayer.
That woman is an unmitigated disaster.
And a whole lot of decently married parents with little kids who rely on Family Tax Benefits to pay for all that trivial stuff they buy for their kids. You know – food, clothing, school shoes, public school fees, all that nonsense. If Poorleene didn’t get any government support (and she did, and it would have been a lot more than $8 a week) then why should anyone else?
She’s preaching to her target audience here. Angry white men who have failed marriages and relationships behind them and refuse to see why they should pay child support for the children they fathered.
I don’t understand why the media allow her to get away with so much. A twice divorced single mother with kids who were estranged from her for years, some of them raised by other family, a woman with a past littered with failed relationships, now preaching about pre-nuptial agreements and who should not get what government support.
If a Labor senator came out with her rubbish the media would be dissecting every word as soon as it was said, but Hanson spouts lies and garbage every day and it’s all accepted and reported without question.
Pauline is probably dog-whistling to her faithful using psychometric data gleaned from the internet
as per https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/how-our-likes-helped-trump-win
Well a political party in Australia is using internet data to win the next election here. Which party?
6 minutes in “The prime minister is not amused. ”
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2017/feb/08/coalition-releases-childcare-package-compromise-in-bid-to-clear-senate-politics-live#comments
I wonder how amused he’ll feel at about 10 past 3.
Today’s MPI.
Ooooh –
I’d love to see Gillespie (my former MP) booted out of parliament. I wonder if Pruneface has any financial interests in government premises in Cowper?
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2017/feb/08/coalition-releases-childcare-package-compromise-in-bid-to-clear-senate-politics-live#comment-92764058
SMH article –
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/david-gillespie-a-turnbull-government-minister-under-constitutional-cloud-20170206-gu6kf2.html
Is 7/10 a pass?
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-08/back-to-school-science-quiz/8236324
I’m waiting for Gina to speak out and start complaining about how hard it was for her to bring up her 3 children.
Bob Day already plotting a way back into politics by possibly teaming up with Corgi.
“Like-minded people have a way of coming together”: Day coy on Bernardi venture
Former Family First senator and fallen building magnate Bob Day has not ruled out a personal involvement in Cory Bernardi’s new “venture”, telling InDaily: “We’ll see what happens.”
Tom Richardson
http://indaily.com.au/news/local/2017/02/07/like-minded-people-have-a-way-of-coming-together-day-coy-on-bernardi-venture/
Sophie might also be tempted.
I think this answers my question
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2017/feb/08/coalition-releases-childcare-package-compromise-in-bid-to-clear-senate-politics-live#comments
Trumble is not happy.
Giving $50 bn tax cut to large bus. is a bit like Abbott’s gold-plated parental leave. Both are extravagant. Will T ever backflip as Abbott did?
It was only yesterday that Fizza accused Shorten of playing the man rather than politics. Now he has gone barking mad.
“ABC’s Q&A returns with experimental Q&A Extra hosted by Tracey Holmes ”
Tracey is Mrs Stan Grant. Not hard to see where this is going.
All I get from Trumble’s outburst is he’s horribly jealous because Shorten was invited to dine with the Pratts at Raheen heaps of times while his nouveau riche, arriviste, egomaniac self was not. Dick Pratt must have had more taste than I ever imagined. Or maybe Bill was an interesting dinner guest with good conversation skills and Trumble was just another boring old fart.
Dick Pratt and Bill Shorten were in the same Melbourne University Master of Business Administration cohort.
Dick lent Shorten his plane so he could be on-site during the Beaconsfield mine disaster.
billie11 – I’d forgotten about the plane.
Pratt was godfather to Shorten’s first wife, Debbie Beale.
It’s not unusual for godparents to invite their god-children and their families for dinner.
Very bad form for Turnbull, insinuating that Shorten is an uppity, envious, sycophantic lout with a taste for big flash houses and expensive champagne… which is more a description of Turnbull than anyone else I know.
This is very ugly, class-warfare stuff, from a position of power: classic bullying.
Desperate times, desperate measures.
He made the back bench happy, apparently. That’s what it was all about. Getting some brownie points and trying to head off an assassination.
An interview with Tony Burke, after that speech, on Turnbull and other stuff.
Waiting at the door:
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/israeli-pm-benjamin-netanyahu-kept-9768194
Was Abbott laughing? I didn’t think the back benchers were happy. They forced themselves.
Kevin Andrews had his head down the whole time, busy reading one of Trump’s books with a yellow highlighter in his hand. Abbott seemed to be reading paperwork most of the time.
I’ve finally managed to see some of the media reaction to Turnbull’s rant. They all seem very impressed with it. Of course, these are the same people who were so impressed when Turnbull became PM in the first place, and continued the love-in for at least 12 months. And they’ve been literally begging Turnbull to do something, anything, for the last 12 months. So we can take their reactions today with a grain of salt.
I said this early yesterday. Attacking Shorten, and getting personal with him, is the only option Turnbull has left. He telegraphed it at his cabinet meeting yesterday morning, and he’s been trying to get this ‘harbourside mansion’ thing up at least since his useless interview with Stan Grant last week.
What Turnbull has to deal with, though, is that Shorten is already unpopular. He has low approval ratings and he’s lagging on the PPM metric. But the ALP are flying high. What that most likely means is that people aren’t so much sold on Shorten as they are the party on the whole, and they’re deeply disappointed with the entire Liberal Party. A set piece in QT might shore the backbenches up and give Turnbull something to hang on to in the short term, but it’s hollow. Attacking Shorten won’t actually do very much, entertaining as it no doubt is to the CPG.
It’s not the New Turnbull, no matter how much they’d love to believe it. It’s a man in a corner who has no option left but to run at his opponents flailing his arms.
The usual suspects want Turnbull to act like a ten year old bully and are in full gush now, talking about Turnbull getting his mojo back or finding ‘his inner mongrel’.
Funny, though. If anyone in Labor dares have a go at Turnbull they all start screaming about ‘negativity’ and ‘bullying’ and ‘class warfare’.