Pyne: Another One Bites the Dust

Fiona Uncategorized

Meanwhile, back at the ranch …

The MSM seem pretty certain that Mr Pyne will announce tomorrow that he won’t contest the next election. A similar announcement is apparently expected from Mr Ciobo (he of “slit her throat” infamy).

I’m prepared to publish this new post this evening because I want to ensure that BK has his amazing media roundup at the top of the page. And if neither Pyne nor Ciobo comes good, I’ll wear the egg on my face.

Goodnight, friends, and good luck!

187 thoughts on “Pyne: Another One Bites the Dust”

  1. Stuff those figures in your budget, Josh

    Australia has just recorded its second straight quarter where the economy shrank on a per capita basis.

    Removing the impact of population growth from fourth quarter GDP figures, the economy declined by 0.2 per cent in the three months to the end of the year, following a 0.1 per cent decline in the three months to September.

    Including population growth does not make the picture much rosier, with the economy growing at just 0.2 per cent over the fourth quarter.

    The weak result dragged down Australia’s economic growth last year to 2.3 per cent, well below the Reserve Bank’s optimistic call of 2.8 per cent and beneath even the more pessimistic analyst forecasts.

    It also shows a dramatic slowdown over the course of last year, with annualised growth over the second half of the year coming in at 1 per cent, compared with the brisk 4 per cent in the opening months.

    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-06/gdp-q4-2018/10874592

  2. From Richard Dennis, chief economist at The Australia Institute –

    Coalition’s coal virtue signalling

    There’s now no better way for Australian conservatives to virtue signal than to support the construction of new coal mines. The Coalition is no longer neo, nor liberal – it simply wants to subsidise their friends and regulate their enemies.

    But as their reaction to mining giant Glencore’s decision to stop building new mines showed, it’s getting harder for the Morrison government to tell friend from foe

    https://www.afr.com/news/economy/coalitions-coal-virtue-signalling-20190304-h1bz81

  3. There are just so many things wrong with this. Check it out

    A deal has been signed to develop two massive new coal-fired power stations near Kurri Kurri in the New South Wales Hunter region, according to a Hong Kong-based investment firm.

    Guardian Australia can reveal local authorities – including the Cessnock mayor, Bob Pynsent – have recently been briefed about the unusual plans to turn the failed Hunter Economic Zone into a 2,000MW coal power plant.

    In a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange late last week, the investment company Kaisun Holdings announced it had signed a memorandum of understanding with a Chinese state-owned power provider and a tiny Australian private company to build two 1,000MW power stations.

    Kaisun works mainly in central Asia and describes itself as a “belt and road” expert. The company is based in Hong Kong but incorporated in the Cayman Islands.

    It said the heads of agreement had been signed with a subsidiary of China Energy – part of the company’s engineering group – and Cavcorp, a company worth $25,000 on paper and wholly owned by the Parramatta businessman Frank Cavasinni.

    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/mar/06/deal-huge-coal-fired-power-plant-hunter-hong-kong

  5. Trust us: we’re Catholic priests

    A bishop has written to the director of a Catholic Schools Office that oversees 24 schools asking that principals be directed to stop asking priests for their working-with-children checks.

    The bishop of Armidale, Michael Kennedy, wrote: “It has been brought to my attention that some schools may be requiring that the priests who are ex officio members of the School Advisory Council provide their working-with-children check details.”

    He wrote that the diocese verified and recorded these checks and that schools should accept that all priests were required by the diocese to have a working-with-children check and therefore did not need to ask for details.
    He asked the director of the Catholic Schools Office, Christopher Smyth, to “notify the schools not to ask the priests to provide their working-with-children check and if they have, they are not to register as the priest’s employer for the purposes of verifying the working-with-children check”.

    Armidale is a city in the northern tablelands of New South Wales. The Catholic Schools Office Diocese of Armidale administers 24 schools, including 19 primary, two central and three secondary schools. The working-with-children check is a requirement for anyone who works or volunteers in child-related sectors, and involves a criminal history record check and a review of reportable workplace misconduct.

    Schools must register with the Office of the Children’s Guardian and must verify all workers have a valid check, including those working in positions like school cleaners, who may be employed by an external company, or school volunteers.

    Guardian Australia has contacted the Catholic Schools Office Diocese of Armidale for a response to Kennedy’s letter.

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/06/armidale-bishop-directs-catholic-schools-to-stop-asking-priests-for-working-with-children-checks?CMP=share_btn_tw

  7. Compare this with federal Labor’s plans to provide abortions in public hospitals.

    WA women to be exposed to 40 days of harassment outside abortion clinics

    The safety, wellbeing and dignity of women seeking reproductive health care in Western Australia will be at risk over the next 40 days, as anti-abortionists commence a 40 day picket for Lent.

    A group of anti-abortionists, referred to as ‘40 Days for Life’, have been given a permit to undertake a ‘prayer vigil’ outside Marie Stopes’ Midland clinic from 7am to 5pm daily for 40 days starting today. It is understood a similar permit has also been issued for a 40 day vigil outside the Nanyara Clinic in Rivervale.

    Past ‘vigils’ have included anti-abortionists yelling abuse at staff, such as calling them ‘murderers’, patients and staff being stopped when trying to enter or exit the clinics and women being handed rosary beads, baby booties and leaflets that contain medically misleading claims.

    Adrianne Walters, Senior Lawyer at the Human Rights Law Centre, said that women should not be confronted with crowds of strangers criticising their decision to access private medical care

    https://www.hrlc.org.au/news/2019/3/5/wa-women-to-be-exposed-to-40-days-of-harassment-outside-abortion-clinics

    WA does not have safe access zones around clinics. These places deal with other reproductive health issues as well as abortions but that doesn’t matter to the nutters who operate these so-called “vigils’ which are really just opportunities for spite and bullying aimed at women who may or may not be pregnant. . The bigots attack all women entering the building.

    The McGowan government should be ashamed of this pandering to religious extremists.

    In case you missed it –
    Labor announces massive overhaul to abortion policy
    https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2019/03/05/labor-abortion-contraceptive-policy/

    About bleeping time! What took so long?

    • I feel inclined to find out if there are any counter protesters …

      Now how to phrase “Abortion /= single mother benefits”?
      Or possibly “No abortions = government handouts”?
      Or even, “Want an abortion? None of your business!”

      (Because single fathers are “just so heroic” *HAH!*)

      I think I am quite fed up with these so-called “righteous folk”

    • I’m hoping the Pell verdict does mean less pandering to Catholic extremists – the main movers behind this horrible harassment.

  8. Things are really bad for the government when David Crowe lashes FauxMo (verbally) over today’s stunt – a quick trip to Christmas Island just to hold a presser.

    Christmas Island tropical tour a waste of taxpayer cash

    Australians just paid about $2000 a minute for an absurd press conference on Christmas Island that told them nothing new.

    Prime Minister Scott Morrison and his entourage spoke for less than 30 minutes to the media after landing on the island in a Royal Australian Air Force jet

    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/christmas-island-tropical-tour-a-waste-of-taxpayer-cash-20190306-p5127q.html

    Te final two sentences – Ouch!!!

    “Morrison did not need the tropical backdrop of Christmas Island to make his case. There are perfectly good palm trees in Sydney.”

  9. Labor’s abortion promise is a real wedge for FauxMo. No wonder he was out there today yelling about this issue dividing the nation. His nasty cargo cult does not believe in abortions. In that cult women are supposed to stay at home, look after the men and have lots of kids. Of course he had to put on a show over a long overdue Labor plan, it goes against his religious beliefs. Whenever he says his “faith” has no influence on him when it comes to government he’s lying. His rotten fake “faith” rules everything he say and does, and every decision he makes. Funny how it doesn’t stop him lying every time he open s his mouth though.

    At Hillsong young unmarried women who had become pregnant used to be shoved into group homes for unmarried mothers known as “Mercy Ministries. While waiting to give birth these young women were forced to endure regular prayer sessions and exorcisms. On Sundays the girls were herded into church where they had to sit together so the rest of the congregation could gawp at them and indulge in a bit of “there but for the grace of God” gloating.

    Mercy Ministries, once supported by the former owner of Gloria Jean’s coffee shops, closed in 2009.

    https://www.smh.com.au/national/why-mercy-ministries-was-godsent-for-hillsong-20080318-gds5oz.html

    https://www.smh.com.au/national/mercy-ministries-home-to-close-20091027-hj2k.html

    • It’s a man’s world. When the word abortion pops up, people never think of blaming men for having largely caused it. And quite frequently, it’s the man who suggests an abortion to his partner, even insists. I’ve seen that so often in life and in movies which tend to depict reality. Sometimes, it’s just a subtle suggestion.

  12. Reposted from over the road, combined (I was foiled by the edit timer.)

    —–

    One of the comments on the [Fairfax article re: ScoMo at CI] asked:

    I’m just wondering why there is an Army guy in the pic? There are no Army posted to Christmas Island !

    I didn’t know either, but the colour patch looks like Joint Health Command:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joint_Health_Command_(Australia)

    Edit: Possibly not – there are several patches with the same design but different text underneath.

    The Unit Colour Patch on their slouch hat is ADF2000, which means it is one of the following:
    * Headquarters Australian Defence Force
    * Australian Defence Staff
    * Alliance Policy and Management, International Policy Division
    * Australia’s Federation Guard
    * Chief Information Officer Group
    * Australian Defence Force Physical Training School
    * 1st Joint Public Affairs Unit
    * Chief Finance Office
    * Offices of the Chief of Defence Force and Vice Chief of Defence Force
    * Joint Health Command

    Based on that list, 1JPAU seems the most likely.

    https://www.army.gov.au/our-work/equipment-and-clothing/army-dress-manual/unit-colour-patch-register-0

  16. How to lose a few thousand votes. If he’s lucky.

    Australians just paid about $2000 a minute for a press conference on Christmas Island that told them nothing new.

    Prime Minister Scott Morrison and his entourage spoke at the event for less than 30 minutes after landing on the island in a Royal Australian Air Force jet.

    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/christmas-island-tropical-tour-a-waste-of-taxpayer-cash-20190306-p5127q.html

    On ABC24 this arvo, circa 5:30 Pip Emma, Kirstin Aitken (?), spoke to the mayor of Christmas Island, Gordon Thomson. He wanted a chat with the Prime Muppet about CI generally. Seems the PM didn’t want to chat to him.

  18. The Project really got stuck into the Nats tonight. Michael McCormack made an absolute fool of himself..

    The Nats have been the Digging Up Our Resources And Shipping Them Overseas Party for as long as I can remember.

    It’s taken a very long time for once rusted-on Nats voters to realise this party has not cared about them or their communities for a very long time, if they ever did.

  21. Good morning Dawn Patrollers. It’s quite a big one today!

    It would appear that The Australian may have defeated Outline. No great loss though.

    Eryk Bagshaw and Shane Wright tell us that global and Australian growth will probably slow even further, the OECD has warned in the wake of figures confirming the national economy has fallen into a ”per-capita recession” for the first time since 2006. And to whom does this belong?
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/global-economic-warning-comes-as-australia-falls-into-per-capita-recession-20190306-p51272.html
    And Wright opines that when figures like this roll in, it’s best to not mention the economy.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/when-figures-like-this-roll-in-it-s-best-to-not-mention-the-economy-20190306-p51256.html
    Greg Jericho tells us how the terrible GDP figures leave the Coalition’s economic narrative in tatters. His many charts are highly illuminating.
    https://www.theguardian.com/business/grogonomics/2019/mar/07/the-terrible-gdp-figures-leave-the-coalitions-economic-narrative-in-tatters
    Michael Pascoe writes that car sales figures are even worse than what the headlines suggest. He says the canary in the car yard isn’t singing healthily.
    https://thenewdaily.com.au/money/consumer/2019/03/05/car-sales-bad-economy/
    Michael Koziol reports that the Morrison government will dramatically expand healthcare operations at the Christmas Island Detention Centre to cater for more than 500 refugees and asylum seekers. Why?
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/expansion-of-christmas-island-medical-facilities-to-cater-for-up-to-500-refugees-20190306-p51297.html
    And David Crowe says on this subject that we payed $2000 per minute for a press conference that told us nothing new. He describes it as a cynical and wasteful waste of taxpayer money.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/christmas-island-tropical-tour-a-waste-of-taxpayer-cash-20190306-p5127q.html
    The SMH editorial sees no logic in the Coalition’s spending splurge on refugees.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/no-logic-in-coalition-s-spending-splurge-on-refugees-20190306-p5124r.html
    The editorial in The Age tells us that lack of trust is our gravest deficit.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/lack-of-trust-is-our-gravest-deficit-20190306-p5127g.html
    In his latest book, ‘Rise of the Right: The War on Australia’s Liberal Values’, barrister and commentator, Greg Barns, traces the rise of the hard right in the Liberal Party. Right-wing populists, he finds, are engaged in mutually assured destruction with the remaining party “centrists”.
    https://www.michaelwest.com.au/greg-barns-the-rise-of-the-right-and-the-war-on-australias-liberal-values/
    The Guardian reveals that the multinational mining giant Glencore spent millions bankrolling a secret, globally coordinated campaign to prop up coal demand by undermining environmental activists, influencing politicians and spreading sophisticated pro-coal messaging on social media.
    https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/mar/07/revealed-glencore-bankrolled-covert-campaign-to-prop-up-coal
    Former Jesuit scholastic Jim Barbour explains why the Catholic Church can’t simply return to the way things were.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/the-catholic-church-can-t-simply-return-to-the-way-things-were-20190305-p511vy.html
    Clancy Yeates reports that Westpac is axing bonuses for its 2300 tellers and will instead pay them fixed wages, a move it says will allow staff to focus solely on serving customers, as banks try to regain the community’s trust.
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/westpac-axes-bonuses-for-tellers-in-push-to-regain-trust-20190306-p5127t.html
    Meanwhile NAB has named acting CEO Phil Chronican as its new chairman, following the resignation of Ken Henry in the wake of the banking royal commission fallout.
    https://www.outline.com/MNwDEG
    An emotional Jenna Price is very pleased with Labor’s announcement about abortion policy. She says that together we can ignore the haters and embrace the rights we should all have, no matter who we are.
    https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/life-and-relationships/thank-you-to-the-women-who-made-this-happen-20190306-p51225.html
    Judith Ireland, though, tells us that Morrison has accused Labor of politicising abortions.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/scott-morrison-accuses-labor-of-politicising-abortions-20190306-p5122h.html
    Six Queensland Nationals have demanded Michael McCormack and Angus Taylor take “immediate action” to underwrite new power station construction in regional Queensland, and pass the “big stick” package in the final sitting week of the 45th parliament.
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/mar/07/queensland-nationals-demand-action-on-energy-before-federal-election
    Adele Ferguson explains how employers that deliberately underpay their workers could face a stint in prison as part of a radical national suite of reforms designed to stamp out worker exploitation and systemic wage fraud plaguing industries across the country.
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/workplace/bosses-who-underpay-their-workers-to-face-jail-20190306-p51291.html
    And right on cue in its submission to a parliamentary committee into wage theft, the McKell Institute estimates one in five SA workers is underpaid, while nearly one in three do not receive their full superannuation entitlements.
    https://www.outline.com/TwpMR9
    These academics say that we need more than a website to stop Australians paying exorbitant out-of-pocket health costs.
    https://theconversation.com/we-need-more-than-a-website-to-stop-australians-paying-exorbitant-out-of-pocket-health-costs-108740
    Senior managers of the Powerhouse Museum were drunk on vodka and French champagne and guests were sniffing ”substances” at its gala fashion ball, a witness has told a parliamentary inquiry. What the rich and famous get up to?
    https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/art-and-design/shocking-evidence-of-drunken-antics-at-powerhouse-fashion-ball-20190305-p511vf.html
    Peter FitzSimons reckons Daley wiped the floor with Jones in the on-air stadium debate.
    https://www.smh.com.au/sport/daley-wipes-the-floor-with-jones-in-stadium-debate-20190306-p5128o.html
    And Alexandra Smith says the Coalition’s strategy team must be shaking their heads and wondering how Labor managed to steal the agenda so convincingly a fortnight out from the NSW election.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/how-the-coalition-kicked-an-own-goal-at-allianz-stadium-20190306-p5127h.html
    Private and Catholic schools in NSW will receive $500 million over four years from a Coalition government to build new classrooms to cope with ballooning enrolments.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/500m-funding-for-new-private-school-classrooms-20190306-p5127z.html
    John McDuling calls for an inquiry into the impact of the digital platforms on the mental wellbeing of individuals, democracy and broader society.
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/this-inquiry-into-facebook-isn-t-the-one-we-really-need-20190306-p5123u.html
    Wendy Touhy bemoans the extent of violence against women.
    https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/life-and-relationships/more-reasons-to-be-angry-as-if-we-needed-them-20190306-p51266.html
    The Liberal party does not have “a woman problem”, it has “a man problem, and a merit problem and a misogyny problem” according to author, journalist, former political adviser, and feminist bureaucrat, Anne Summers.
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/mar/06/liberals-have-man-problem-not-woman-problem-says-anne-summers
    The hit to the Victorian state budget could be worse than feared, as Melbourne property sales set to slump by up to 25%.
    https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/property-slump-could-see-1b-of-stamp-duty-sliced-out-of-state-budget-20190306-p51284.html
    Benjamin Press reports that the disastrous state of Victoria’s recycling system will be the subject of a parliamentary inquiry that will propose solutions to the mounting problem.
    https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/recycling-crisis-set-for-parliamentary-inquiry-20190306-p5128w.html
    Elizabeth Knight writes that Myer has a fundamental conundrum. It can’t reduce the floor space in its physical stores fast enough to match the decline in sales resulting from the migration to online sales.
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/for-myer-sideways-is-the-new-up-20190306-p51275.html
    South Australia’s economy was the standout of all states and territories in the last three months of 2018, with strong house prices and positive employment momentum boding well for the future, according to an ANZ report.
    https://www.outline.com/UgMPhv
    Accused child sex offender Malka Leifer is not fit to be extradited to Australia to face charges, a defence psychiatrist has told a Jerusalem court. This has had a bad small all along the way.
    https://www.smh.com.au/world/middle-east/accused-child-sex-offender-malka-leifer-unfit-for-extradition-court-told-20190306-p512a5.html
    Meanwhile George Pell will have to wait until June for the appeal against his conviction for sexually abusing two 13-year-old choirboys in 1996.
    https://www.outline.com/7uBg2a
    Who does this bishop think he is?
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/06/armidale-bishop-directs-catholic-schools-to-stop-asking-priests-for-working-with-children-checks
    The Independent Australia explains why time’s up for the Catholic Church.
    https://independentaustralia.net/life/life-display/times-up-for-the-catholic-church,12438
    Shoppers who cheat at self-service checkouts by swiping their avocados through as onions will be the target of spy cameras set to be fitted in some supermarkets across the nation this year.
    https://thenewdaily.com.au/money/consumer/2019/03/05/supermarket-checkout-cheaters-beware/
    The US trade deficit widened in 2018 to $884 billion, bucking Trump’s pledges to reduce it.
    https://www.outline.com/3deGK9
    A group of male Republican lawmakers in New Hampshire have come under criticism for a stunt that gun control advocates say was demeaning to victims of gun violence: donning pearl necklaces to apparently mock those testifying in front of them. How classy!
    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/mar/06/new-hampshire-republicans-pearl-necklaces-gun-violence-victims
    How Trump’s high school records were hidden.
    https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/grab-that-record-how-trump-hid-his-high-school-transcript-20190307-p512ab.html
    Car makers are dreaming up futuristic electric engine sounds to ensure that pedestrians can hear vehicles that lack audible cues like high-revving, howling combustion engines.
    https://thenewdaily.com.au/life/auto/2019/03/05/car-makers-create-electric-car-engine-sounds/
    Teetering education company Acquire Learning planned to pour $1 million a month into the pockets of its shareholders including Andrew Demetriou shortly before its collapse left tens of thousands of students stranded. With this Andrew Dimetriou have earned nomination for “Arseholes of the Week”.
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/boom-1-million-for-the-boys-acquire-eyed-success-ahead-of-fall-20190306-p5128m.html

    Cartoon Corner

    David Rowe has three more for us today.



    David Pope on the latest economic numbers.

    From Matt Golding.





    What a beauty from Cathy Wilcox!

    John Shakespeare with the Parrot reacting to Daley.

    Matt Davison and the state of the Catholic Church.

    Andre Dyson on the difficulty in accessing a Home Care Package.

    Peter Broelman on Guthrie’s payout.

    And he reminds us of what happened in 2007.

    Glen Le Lievre at the modern Garden of Eden.

    And he fact checks Morrison over negative gearing.

    Justifiably, Sean Leahy is upset about the lack of fluoridisation of water in Queensland.

    Jon Kudelka goes underwater.

    And he puts Christmas Island into perspective.
    https://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/7e3f872033b2614ad59bd0d71f6afa59

    From the US






  22. Clancy Yeates reports that Westpac is axing bonuses for its 2300 tellers and will instead pay them fixed wages, a move it says will allow staff to focus solely on serving customers, as banks try to regain the community’s trust.

    FMD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was not the bloody bank tellers who brought about the Royal Commission . It was the pricks in positions like the twat who had this brain fart of an idea to ‘regain trust’. The Banksters have learnt nothing.

    Yes George Frazis it was all those tellers chasing the $500 ‘mountain’ of cash what done it eh ?

    Westpac will from next month stop paying any bonuses to tellers, and lift their fixed pay by $500 so that affected staff are not left worse off…………………“What it means for our tellers is they can actually just be concerned about providing great service to our customers and making sure that they do whatever they can to meet our customers’ needs,” Mr Frazis said..

    • How secure are those jobs anyway?

      Bank tellers are a dying breed. That job is not the career-starting opportunity it was decades ago.

      Most banks now have few tellers, if any. Everything is handled online or by customer-operated equipment like ATMs and their coin-counting cousins.

      The days when you queued at a counter for a cash withdrawal or to deposit a cheque are long gone.

  23. An example of why the ” post-fact order” is so dangerous.
    .
    .

    The India-Pakistan Conflict Was a Parade of Lies

    ……………In retaliation for a terrorist attack against Indian troops last month, India conducted airstrikes against Pakistan. After I learned about them, I tried to follow the currents of misinformation in the unfolding conflict between two nuclear-armed nations on the brink of hot war.

    ……………….What I found was alarming; it should terrify the world, not just Indians and Pakistanis. Whether you got your news from outlets based in India or Pakistan during the conflict, you would have struggled to find your way through a miasma of lies

    Pictures were doctored, doctored pictures were shared and aired, and real pictures were dismissed as doctored. Many of the lies were directed and weren’t innocent slip-ups in the fog of war but efforts to discredit the enemy, to boost nationalistic pride, to shame anyone who failed to toe a jingoistic line.

    https://outline.com/eytXEK

  24. Labor has demanded that the Australian Federal Police (AFP) investigate Attorney-General Christian Porter, alleging that he sought to interfere in a Liberal preselection contest.

    But Mr Porter returned fire on the Federal Opposition, saying its calls for an investigation were spurious and a waste of the agency’s time and resources.

    Shadow Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus wrote to AFP Commissioner Andrew Colvin, suggesting the police look into Mr Porter’s appointment of Melbourne lawyer Jane Bell as a part-time member of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.

    Ms Bell nominated for Liberal party preselection in Higgins in the wake of Minister Kelly O’Dwyer’s shock resignation from Parliament.

    Her appointment to the AAT was announced just days before she lost preselection to Melbourne doctor Katie Allen.

    “The timing of Mr Porter’s appointment of Ms Bell to the AAT was curious,” Mr Dreyfus wrote to Mr Colvin.

    “The Attorney-General’s decision to offer Ms Bell a position on the AAT at the same time as she was seeking endorsement to stand as a candidate for election to the Federal Parliament is highly questionable.

    “In particular, it raises the question of whether the decision to appoint Ms Bell to the AAT was intended to influence her preselection campaign — or even her decision to seek preselection in the first place.”

    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-07/labor-demands-afp-investigation-over-aat-appointments/10878712

  28. It’s about time pennies started dropping in the shrivelled brains of those who allegedly govern us.

    Retailers still in a world of pain as sales flatline, while construction keeps declining
    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-07/retail-sales-and-trade-balance-january-2019/10878424.

    A government that shuts down industries, cuts penalty rates, demonises unions and casualises jobs can hardly complain when the whole economy, one that depends on people spending more and more on goods and services, begins to collapse.

  29. This attempt at a vegan substitute for smoked ham would be one of the most revolting things I’ve ever seen.

    I spent three days making the smoked watermelon ham – but at what cost?
    It’s Instagrammable, but is it edible? Naaman Zhou sets out to discover if the dish, devised as a vegan alternative to a roast, is worth the effort
    https://www.theguardian.com/food/2019/mar/06/i-spent-three-days-making-the-smoked-watermelon-ham-but-at-what-cost

    Why would anyone want to do that to a poor, innocent watermelon? Why would anyone ever think it would be something they might want to put in their mouth? And why do vegans and vegetarians have this mad urge to make the substances they eat look like meat?

  30. The following refers to the National Redress Scheme recommended by the Royal Commission into Child Sexual Abuse. It is in an ABC Report.

    “Trauma rehab consultant Professor Roger Rees has helped a number of survivors, including Mr Porter, to fill out their application forms.

    It is 62 pages long.”

    I find this unbelievable. This reliving of the experience(s) would be a torture in itself.

    Surely a simple interview with a trained, sympathetic person with assistance from family and/or friends, when requested by the applicant, would be sufficient. These persons have been abused by bastards; they now need to be redressed (mainly by the institutions involved). The process should be aided by the State; the process described here is not an aid.

    (There are a lot of words that I had to restrain myself from using while writing this contribution.)

  31. AFP deputy commissioner Ramzi Jabbour stood down amid internal investigation

    One of the most senior officers of the Australian Federal Police, deputy commissioner Ramzi Jabbour, has been stood down pending an internal investigation.

    Mr Jabbour, who was embroiled in the Mohamed Haneef scandal a decade ago, has worked for the federal police for almost 30 years

    https://www.canberratimes.com.au/politics/federal/afp-deputy-commissioner-ramzi-jabbour-stood-down-amid-internal-investigation-20190307-p512jo.html

  32. “Why would anyone want to do that to a poor, innocent watermelon? Why would anyone ever think it would be something they might want to put in their mouth? And why do vegans and vegetarians have this mad urge to make the substances they eat look like meat?”

    Yummy stuff like Gluten steak, basically start with flour mix it with water to develop the gluten, wash it until all the flour is gone and all thats left is gluten, then deep fry the rubbery mess, tastes like deep fried nothing.
    Vegelinks, Sanitarium vegetarian sausages, nooooooooo oh hell no.
    Nut meat also from Sanitarium, grey SPAM from a tin, like peanutty Spam, why just why.

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