The Winter of our Discontent

Fiona Uncategorized

I won’t continue with the calumny that Mr Shakespeare then hurled at Richard III (yes, I am a HUGE fan of Josephine Tey’s analysis of the blackening of poor Richard’s name in her wonderful book The Daughter of Time), but it is truly apposite given the way that the msm has turned turtle and everything bad is new again – especially when it comes to pouring ever more shit onto Labor.

Like most (if not all) Pubsters, I am both shocked by the election result, and truly horrified by the media’s response to it.

Never mind, my friends, while The Pub and each Pubster and Lurker lives, we are all tiny candles burning in the wind, keeping the flame of hope alive.

Meanwhile, shall nick out and give Madame La Guillotine another grease, oil change, and honing.

779 thoughts on “The Winter of our Discontent”

  1. Eryk Bagshaw does his best to parrot government lies in this piece of crap article.

    Government moves closer to first surplus since GFC
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/government-moves-closer-to-first-surplus-since-gfc-20190628-p522a3.html

    OK, let’s pull that apart.

    First – the key words are “historically low spending levels”.

    Bagshaw repeats the lie about lower than expected takeup of the NDIS. The truth is the government does not want the NDIS and does all it can to drive away people who need funding through unconscionable delays in approving both funding and what it is to be spent on.Administration and bureaucracy combine to delay spending.

    Difficulty accessing the NDIS blamed for unspent $1.6 billion
    The Government has cited slower-than-expected uptake of the scheme, but experts say bureaucracy and administrative issues have blocked access.
    https://www1.racgp.org.au/newsgp/professional/difficulty-in-accessing-the-ndis-blamed-for-unspen

    Next lie – higher employment means less welfare payments means less welfare spending. FFS!

    Newstart has not been increased since 1994, except for the usual CPI adjustments made to all welfare payments. These increases are proportionately smaller for Newstart than they are for, say, the DSP or aged pension and do not help meet increasing costs.

    Next lie – Jobs! Jobs! Jobs!

    Bagshaw repeats FauxMo’s blathering about “jobs” verbatim and does not question its accuracy.

    “I would say the reason the budget is in such a good position is because we have been creating a thousand jobs a day. People are actually paying taxes rather than receiving welfare payments and, no doubt, the assistance at the margin was commodity prices,” he said

    No mention of the jobs lost every day as retailers close their doors and hospitality businesses fail for want of customers then. No mention of the collapsing manufacturing industries – what’s left of them – as demand dries up and government work, state and federal, is sent overseas. No challenge to this ridiculous claim at all.

    The retail sector is collapsing because people have nothing to spend. Families abandoned discretionary spending ages ago, now it’s just pay the rent/mortgage, fed the family and hang on and pray no-one loses their job.

    The way the SMH (and certain other media outlets) pump out government propaganda now is Orwellian. There’s no criticism, no questions asked, nothing is challenged. It’s all just presented to us as fact.

    • “He gazed up at the enormous face. Forty years it had taken him to learn what kind of smile was hidden beneath the dark moustache. O cruel, needless misunderstanding! O stubborn, self-willed exile from the loving breast! Two gin-scented tears trickled down the sides of his nose. But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother”

    • Completely phony “surplus!” NBN Co cannot repay the $20Bn loan from the government, revenue stubbornly refuses to rise (no wonder, a crap network!)

      So $20Bn needs to be brought onto the Budget and treated as an expense. That would blow the fictional surplus out the water.

      At this time with recession around the corner and consumption down a surplus is totally the wrong thing anyway, government should be spending to get money into the private sector, boost NewStart significantly would be a good start.

      Saving for another trip to Tasmania. Will have piers poured so I can have a pergola erected later this year. Will buy and plant wisteria, jasmine and clematis and flame and sultana grapes. When the house is built I will add a gazebo.

  5. Three years!!!!

    NDIS sent letters to vision-impaired and blind people in format they could not read
    The problem will finally be rectified next month, although Blind Citizens Australia raised it about three years ago

    It seems like an obvious thing for a national disability program: don’t send letters to blind Australians in a format they cannot read.

    But since the national disability insurance scheme began its rollout, blind and vision impaired participants have received vital correspondence – such as their support plans – in the form of regular letters, or as PDFs that do not accomodate a screen reader.

    “The plans were simply being sent to people through the MyGov portal as a secure PDF file,” the acting chief executive at Blind Citizens Australia, Rikki Chaplin, told Guardian Australia.

    “Screen readers cannot read secure PDF files so some people were receiving print copies of plans, and they were braille readers. Naturally, they can’t read those.”

    The problem is particularly severe for those who self-manage their support plans

    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/jun/29/ndis-sent-letters-to-vision-impaired-and-blind-people-in-format-they-could-not-read

    • Leone – fancy complaining about a design feature.
      These trogyldytes don’t want a useable system – heavens no ==> people might use it!

    • I wonder if socio-economic conditions aren’t getting so tough that there is an increase in driver only, single vehicle accidents involving trees and walls

  9. fluck Rupert and his propaganda. The Coalition has tried this line and now Mordor Media is using this to sell the tax cuts to to top income earners. Gee I wonder why they never mention how few get to share the 30%. Scum.

    .
    .
    .
    TAX

    Wealthy to get less than 30 per cent of tax cuts
    Australians earning more than $180,000 will get less than a third of the government’s $324.6bn personal income tax cuts.

    By ROSIE LEWIS
    https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/wealthy-to-get-30pc-of-tax-cuts/news-story/180590a42bf36601a17acb27f1f05bfa

    .
    People in the very top income bracket (as measured by the census) earn at least $156,000 a year — or $3,000 a week — before tax.

    At census time, there were about 596,531 people in Australia above that income level — or 3.8 per cent of income earners.
    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-05-21/income-calculator-comparison-australia/9301378

    • KK – thanks for the ABC income calculator. You can find the humps around Newstart, Aged Pension & super income caps

  10. This reality check may soon hit Sydney, which is fast running out of water,

    Funny how the now overseas-owned desalination plant that is supposed to “save” Sydney only supplies 15% of the city – mainly the eastern suburbs. So the toffs of Point Piper will still be able to fill their pools, enjoy their spa baths and keep the lawns on the harbourside mansions lush and green while the rest of the city is stuck with buying bottled water and having two-minute showers twice a week.

    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-01-27/sydney-desalination-plant-turned-on-so-how-does-it-work/10753334

    https://www.waternsw.com.au/supply/Greater-Sydney/greater-sydneys-dam-levels

  12. Bishop didn’t appear all that worried about being the only woman. Quite the contrary, she liked all the adulation she got. And, I think, she much prefered working with men.

  13. More shameful treatment of vulnerable people by Dutton and his department.

    I knew those brought to Australia for medical treatment were being kept in detention and this level of deliberate cruelty is what I expected from Dutton and his goons. I’m sure not everyone who supported medical evacuations would have expected this abuse.

    ‘Like a criminal’: inside the Brisbane hotel where medevac refugees are detained
    Meet the refugees subjected to body searches, denied access to family and kept in bug-ridden rooms while waiting for treatment
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/jun/30/like-a-criminal-inside-the-brisbane-hotel-where-medevac-refugees-are-detained

  18. Greg Jericho –

    So where were all these Morrison mantras during the election campaign?
    The PM is now talking about changes to industrial relations – among some other rehashed ideas – but the timing’s odd
    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jun/30/so-where-were-all-these-morrison-mantras-during-the-election-campaign

    FauxMo has forgotten what happened to the last PM who tried to bust unions. That chap ended up losing both his seat and government.

  20. So far out of her depth it’s embarrassing.

    The look on Christine Lagarde’s face says so much!

  21. I noticed earlier this week that the running lights I had had installed on my Mazda3 weren’t coming on. So I thought I would look at the fuse box.

    Bloody hell! Looks totally different to every other fusebox in any car I have owned! Technological progress has passed me by! Auto electrician here I come!

  22. Anybody here have opinions on growing wisteria? They looked lovely the first November in my home brew shop outside the house across the road from the shop—never looked as nice or grand again but was beautiful that first time. They do need pruning quite a bit—invasive apparently. Also attract rats, apparently, presumably to eat the seed pods the wisteria form after flowering. No way I can do the pruning—3m high pergola and my ladder climbing days are well behind me.

    Last year I was suddenly deaf in my left ear—a virus, apparently and my GP did not rush me to a ENT specialist who could have saved some hearing. This means my balance is a tad dodgy: OK for walking etc but need to be careful. As well as that my blood pressure is a bit low and if I climb a few steps I have to stop to let the world stop wobbling. So, dunno, wisteria is not sounding so good. Any hybrids that overcome some of this, anyone know?

  23. Australia has a fleet of ageing coal fired generators. Two have closed down already: Pt Augusta and Hazelwood. Liddel will close soon enough. Nothing is in the pipeline to replace them. Libs will drift for another 3 years (maybe only two if dutton challenges, wins and makes a pigs ear of running a government.)

    Will be hard to get replacements set up in time. Modular nuclear near Pt Augusta but on cratonised ground out of reach of tsunamis could be OK, not ready in time but nearly.

    Utility scale RE takes time too. Wind should be off shore where the winds blow stronger and more consistently—and no NIMBYism! Solar, small scale just never stop building them for smaller communities would conserve power for the big cities.

    With some decent revamp of a good but beyond economic life coal fired reactor we might sneak through.

    If that thrice damned Rudd had not leaked against Labor in the 2010 election there would be much more RE built by now.

    Thoughts?

    • If the Greens had not killed off Rudd’s CPRS then we would be even further along the road to full RE by now.

      I think this farce of a government just wants to stick their heads in the sand and hope the power problem goes away.

      Nuclear is not the answer. It might be less polluting than coal power, but there is the problem of disposing of the waste, which those pushing for nuclear power plants never mention. Are we supposed to do what they do at Lucas Heights and stash it in drums and then store it in a shed out the back?

      We cannot even manage the tiny reactor at Lucas Heights properly, it has had several incidents involving radiation leaks this year, tjis is the most recent –
      https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-06-24/lucas-heights-nuclear-facility-workers-exposed-to-radiation/11242278

      If we cannot get an established facility to operate efficiently and safely then there is no way Australia’s powers-that-be could manage a string of nuclear plants.

    • We do have several disused deep mines at Broken Hill. Disposing of waste is not the problem. Time to get even a small, modular reactor up is likely longer than we have. Ditto coal, ditto large RE projects. Revamp one or two of the better coal fired generator, go gangbusters on small scale wind/solar+storage, means grid can supply just the big cities.

      True, Leone, and I had forgotten about the Greens blocking the CPRS: the Greens are no longer an environmental (or left/progressive) Party but another bunch of neolibs.

      My house in Tassie will have solar panels, couple windmills (only $600 each) and, an idea someone raised on my board: a diesel generator running off biodiesel when neither sun nor wind are about.

    • I’m not anti-nuclear, nuclear medicine saved my life so I’m very happy to have continual development of medical applications. Even that, and the tiny amount of waste we create in Australia from that use, causes problems. It’s not just a case of chuck all the spent fuel down a dead mine shaft and hope for the best.

      If there comes a time when nuclear power is essential then why wouldn’t fusion be considered? Its huge advantage is much less waste.

  24. From Doug Cameron –

    This is my last day as a Labor Senator for NSW. It will be riveting watching an Albo led opposition take on Morrison and his motley crew. Good luck to the Labor team.
    Even though we failed to win government I am proud to have been part of a team who understood that inequality can only be changed by adopting progressive policies and ensuring everyone pays a fair share of tax. Public schools, TAFE, community housing, infrastructure, government services and public hospitals need to be paid for. Australians doing it tough and who rely on social security payments cannot be supported if we don’t accept collective responsibility. The right wing cult of the individual must be challenged. Progressive taxation,the end to unsustainable tax giveaways and effective taxation of multinationals and big business must be core business for Labor.
    Trickle down economics epitomised by the third tranche of Coalition tax cuts have not worked in the USA and won’t work here.
    Without strong independent unions working class Australians will continue to be under attack from the Libs. We must oppose attempts to destroy unionism in this country. We must play our part in ensuring a future that is environmentally sustainable, progressive and fair.
    Thank you for your support and encouragement over 11 amazing years. If we maintain our values and principles we can win the next election and restore the fair go in our great country. Lastly good luck to my successor Senator Tim Ayres. Give them hell!

    https://www.facebook.com/senator.doug.cameron/

  25. Perth grandmother threatened with deportation dies at nursing home
    A Perth grandmother has died just weeks after she was threatened with deportation for failing an immigration health test.

    Her son-in-law Robert Rowe said Ms Manley could have lasted another six months but her health deteriorated in the last few weeks.

    “She went downhill from the time she had to go for the medical (test) for the visa,” he told SBS News.

    While the stress of the situation may have been a contributing factor in her death it wasn’t the single reason, Mr Rowe added.

    “I think her having to be taken for the medical (test) just caused her body to go into decline because she was quite weak then.”

    https://www.sbs.com.au/news/perth-grandmother-threatened-with-deportation-dies-at-nursing-home

    • I had to really sit down and decide if I wanted to move to NZ or stay here. I adopted Australia as my country so here I stay.

      When the recession the libs are creating hits I dread they may do something like “the Premiers’ Plan” which saw us have the deepest Great Depression of any country.

      But cutting pensions, NewStart and PS wages will appeal to the brainless neolibs “running” the country.

  26. Political Animal – I like the look of wisteria but I have been told their roots are very invasive ==> so do not plant near your house foundations

    Haaven’t we al thought carefully about the New Zealand option when faced with another 3+ years of this mob

  27. Labor is considering backing a Senate inquiry into compliance with ministerial standards which is being pursued by the Centre Alliance after controversy over Christopher Pyne’s decision to join a major consultancy firm.

    Pyne, the former defence minister, announced last week he had taken up a job with EY to help the consulting group expand its defence business.

    The current federal ministerial standards require that ministers do not lobby, advocate for or have business meetings with government, parliamentarians, or the defence force on “any matters on which they have had official dealings” in the past 18 months. The standards also say that ministers should not use information they have obtained in office for private gain.

    The guidelines are not enforceable, and transgressions are rarely policed.

    With parliament set to resume on Tuesday, Centre Alliance senator Rex Patrick has now called for a Senate inquiry into compliance with the standards.

    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/jun/30/christopher-pyne-may-face-senate-inquiry-into-compliance-with-ministerial-standards

  28. If this goes ahead then I will very much enjoy seeing a complete about-face from all those smug, Coalition-voting parents who have spent the last two years saying unemployed people hit with robodebts deserve whatever they get.

    At least it might get the whole robodebt thing some much-needed attention. Nobody whinges like a right-wing voter deprived of government money.

  29. Good morning Dawn Patrollers.

    David Crowe writes that Morrison has vowed to take his $158 billion income tax package to the Senate within days to force a decision on his flagship policy, as the new Parliament meets amid another storm over the leadership spill that placed him in power.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/morrison-goes-hard-on-tax-as-turnbull-ancient-history-dogs-the-government-20190630-p522om.html
    But the Grattan Institute says the final stage of the government’s tax plans would reduce progressivity and risk crowding out more substantive reforms for years.
    https://www.outline.com/jR7a7G
    “So where were all these Morrison mantras during the election campaign?”, asks Greg Jericho.
    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jun/30/so-where-were-all-these-morrison-mantras-during-the-election-campaign
    The Conversation has assembled a forecasting panel of 20 leading economists from 12 universities across six states and asked them for their views on the Australian economy and its various parameters.
    https://theconversation.com/buckle-up-2019-20-survey-finds-the-economy-weak-and-heading-down-and-thats-ahead-of-surprises-119455
    Katharine Murphy explains how when Malcolm Turnbull planned to bring on legislation giving effect to the national energy guarantee to stare down opposition from conservative dissidents in the Coalition party room, but pulled back after Peter Dutton and Christopher Pyne “went nuts”.
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/jul/01/malcolm-turnbull-pulled-back-from-neg-legislation-after-dutton-and-pyne-went-nuts
    In an excellent contribution Tony Walker warns us that acting on Iran has painful shades of joining the US in Iraq.
    https://www.smh.com.au/world/middle-east/acting-on-iran-has-painful-shades-of-joining-the-us-in-iraq-20190628-p5227h.html
    Sam Maiden explains how Anthony Albanese has told shadow cabinet the Labor Party needs to “gut” the policy platform, citing the need to streamline “LGBTIQ” references to gay rights.
    https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/2019/06/30/gay-rights-labor-party/
    David Crowe tells us that Trump has taken celebrity diplomacy to another astonishing level by strolling into a forbidden kingdom to meet “little rocket man” Kim Jong-un. He says Trump has built his political career on an outrageous ability to get attention for moments that are easily dismissed as stunts.
    https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/trump-kim-meeting-stunts-and-bombast-in-high-stakes-reality-show-20190630-p522t0.html
    And Crowe says that when the world economy needs progress, the G20 summit is just a retreat.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/when-the-world-economy-needs-progress-the-g20-summit-is-just-a-retreat-20190628-p522b8.html
    Shane Wright reports that world governments, including Australia, have been urged by the globe’s peak banking authority to stop relying on cheap money to boost their economies, with a warning about the build-up of major financial threats from low interest rates.
    https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/you-can-t-fly-on-one-wing-government-told-stop-relying-on-cheap-money-20190630-p522nr.html
    Karl Quinn reports on a fiery and well aim3d speech from Kerry O’Brien at the Logies last night.
    https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/kerry-o-brien-issues-fiery-call-to-action-in-logies-hall-of-fame-speech-20190701-p522td.html
    Eryk Bagshaw says there is little political gain in opposing the full suite of tax cuts for Labor.
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/little-political-gain-in-opposing-tax-cuts-for-labor-20190628-p5227d.html
    If we want to raise fearless, informed and capable children, we need to make sure that our desire to maintain their innocence doesn’t deny them important facts, writes Kasey Edwards.
    https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/life-and-relationships/maintaining-kids-innocence-doesn-t-mean-keeping-them-ignorant-20190629-p522ku.html
    The controversial scheme set up by George Pell to handle sex abuse claims against Melbourne’s Catholic Church spent almost as much money paying its independent commissioner as it did compensating hundreds of victims, reveals Farrah Tomazin.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/victoria/revealed-the-true-costs-of-george-pell-s-abuse-compensation-scheme-20190629-p522ju.html
    Michelle Grattan explains Scott Morrison’s religious freedom quagmire.
    https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6244950/scott-morrisons-religious-freedom-quagmire/?cs=14350
    According to The Guardian toxic coal waste has been found to be a ‘ticking time bomb’ across Australia.
    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jul/01/toxic-coal-waste-found-to-be-a-ticking-time-bomb-across-australia
    Afterpay is set to face its third query from the ASX within as many weeks after its shares dived after Visa revealed plans to enter the ‘buy now, pay later’ market.
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/afterpay-expected-to-explain-visa-pain-20190630-p522oy.html
    A regional airline, Rex, has labelled accusations over its safety protocols as a “cowardly” and “malicious” attack from a leak the company believes came from within the national aviation watchdog.
    https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/2019/06/30/rex-safety-concerns/
    Daniel Burdon reports that DHS, the Commonwealth department in charge of Centrelink, has spent more than $800 million in the past two years on labour hire contractors to outsource thousands of public service jobs in call centres and compliance. What could possibly go wrong?
    https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6247607/dhs-outsources-881-million-worth-of-public-service-jobs/?cs=14350
    Gay Alcorn outlines five things Australia could do now to end poverty.
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/jul/01/it-is-not-a-pipe-dream-five-things-australia-could-do-now-to-end-poverty
    Domino’s has taken a battering on the share market since it hit its peak in 2016 and some investors are concerned there is more to come, writes Adele Ferguson.
    https://www.outline.com/GvEETk

    Cartoon Corner

    David Rowe at the DMZ.

    Pat Campbell on freedoms.

    Two good ones from Alan Moir.


    Matt Golding asks us to pick the liar.

    And he thinks The Logies have run their course.

    A cracker from Peter Broelman.

    Some catch up from Sean Leahy.





    Jon Kudelka and the Tassie health minister.

    From the US

    This effort got a cartoonist sacked from one paper.








  31. Eryk Bagshaw says there is little political gain in opposing the full suite of tax cuts for Labor.

    Well, of course he would say that. He is nothing more than a government propaganda pusher now. His ramblings are best ignored.

  32. It’s the 21st century, but blatant and totally illogical discrimination against women still flourishes.

    Newcastle male-only Adamstown tennis club faces eviction over sex discrimination
    https://www.newcastleherald.com.au/story/6237946/male-only-tennis-club-faces-eviction-over-sex-discrimination/

    What are the men (?) so afraid of?

    More –
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/jun/25/blatant-inequality-men-only-tennis-club-told-to-admit-female-members-or-close?fbclid=IwAR3mX7n2gM70QhVvzZd3d9SHIoZLKVEtR5KomtXjEfmiqDV7tZ7X0eGTZZk

  33. Dennis Atkins has written his final piece for the Courier-Mail, and it’s a very good one, in which he defends Canberra, Queensland, the public service and the “intellectual life” and has a good go at FauxMo. .

    Paywalled, so you can have the lot.

    Prime Minister Scott Morrison is wrong to dismiss our national capital

    Canberra is not a bubble. It’s the national capital of a great country which has a vibrant if sometimes wobbly democracy.

    Just like Washington, another national capital that was built for a governing purpose, Canberra has been the shorthand used to denigrate and blame the public service it really represents.

    While scapegoating Canberra has always been a sport for the lazy players in Australian politics, it has only recently been afforded the serious contempt in which our Prime Minister Scott Morrison seems to hold it.

    Morrison does this by labelling Canberra a bubble and saying that anything that happens there is inside the Canberra bubble.

    His language is always sour when he does this. It’s also a device to stay out of discussion and conversation he doesn’t want to have.

    Morrison is not new to this. When he was busy creating the very effective operation sovereign borders to stop asylum seekers, he would close down inquiry and discussion with the Orwellian phrase, “on-water matters”.

    Now it’s bubbles. Of course, there are some bubbles Morrison is happy to be in, such as the Happy Harold Igloo at a Bateau Bay play school.

    Morrison came across it during the election campaign and, sensing a good photo opportunity, he headed straight for the igloo and climbed into it, sitting awkwardly but happily with the kiddies.

    As Erik Jensen records in his Quarterly Essay on the election campaign, The Prosperity Gospel, Morrison wants this to be a visual winner for the day, spicing it up with a bubble joke.

    “Morrison speaks the loudest,” writes Jensen. “This is a different kind of bubble,” he says from within the igloo. “The kind of bubble I like.”

    There was a strong nativist streak in Morrison’s campaign as well as his victory.

    The way Queensland was held up as an anti-intellectual bastion of Morrison-loving conservatism was not just wrong, it was an insult to the people of a state with a rich history of literary pursuit, thoughtful inquiry and scientific achievement.

    Where is the anti-intellectualism in the literary work of David Malouf or Thea Astley? The intellectual achievements of people like former World Bank economist Jock Anderson and the global authority on genocide and colonialism, current history professor at Sydney University, Dirk Moses, are second to none.

    Nobel winner Peter Doherty has taken his medical research from the laboratories of Queensland University to the world stage.

    Brisbane’s Craig Wright, a computer scientist from Padua College, is quite possibly the man who invented Bitcoin.

    Queensland has produced two High Court Chief Justices as well as two puisne judges on that court.

    Noel Pearson is one of the great thinkers in Australian public life over the past 25 years, as are brilliant academic managers such as two recent university vice-chancellors, Ian O’Connor and Peter Coaldrake.

    This state cannot be derided as a backwater and we should resist such a label.

    There is nothing better and more honourable than the pursuit of the intellectual life.

    Public service, which has its apex in the national capital (that bubble scorned by Morrison), is a noble calling.

    The greatest of all Australian public sector reformers Herbert Cole “Nugget” Coombs did more than anyone to design and give substance to a bureaucracy which was not just fit for purpose but also aimed at delivering real “service” for the people.

    We should wish for and demand a good public service. One of the indecencies that’s occurred over the past three decades is the hollowing out of the once great public sector departments, Prime Minister and Cabinet, and Treasury.

    However, because politicians would rather deliver a cheap anti-intellectual line, we have watched some of the greatest minds of our generation leave those magisterial buildings in the Canberra suburb of Barton and take up highly paid jobs in consultancies.

    This is my last column as a staff member of The Courier-Mail, a place I’ve worked at and written for, for more than 23 years. I’ve had great times, made a few appallingly wrong predictions about politics (others spot on) and covered the life and times of politics at its best and its worst.

    I sincerely hope Australian politics can repair the self-harm that’s been inflicted on it since 2010.

    Let me finish this phase of my life of analysis and opining by asking people not to let go of the intellectual life. It is what sustains our culture and nurtures our future.

    Thanks for all the lovely words – and the hard-nosed criticism – that have come my way in the last quarter century.

    Be on the lookout (bolo in US police parlance) – I’m still going to be around.

    Dennis Atkins has been The Courier-Mail’s national affairs editor

    https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/opinion/prime-minister-scott-morrison-is-wrong-to-dismiss-our-national-capital/news-story/7c949348a09a4a2dfe78b99fac6a13c1

  36. Comedy headline of the week –

    Simon Birmingham warns US and China trade truce must not harm Australian farmers
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/30/us-china-trade-ceasefire-must-not-harm-australian-farmers-government-says

    Oooooh! Scary!

    Are we seriously meant to believe that? Are we really supposed to believe the ineffectual Birmo is taken seriously by anyone outside his own office (and maybe not all of them)? Are we supposed to believe the G20 gathering took him seriously?

    No-one at the G20 – apart from the Australian delegation (and maybe not all of them) knows who this utter nobody is. No-one cares about his blatherings. The US and China and everyone else will do whatever they want and none of them will give a rat;’s arse about Australian farmers.

  39. This is from Facebook, but I think it originated somewhere else and has been adapted to Australia.

    27 June at 07:13

    Dear Israel Folau,

    Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God’s Law. I have learned a great deal from you, and try to share that knowledge with as many people as I can.

    When someone tries to defend the homosexual/transsexual lifestyle, for example, I simply remind them that Leviticus 18:22 clearly states it to be an abomination … End of debate.
    I do, however, need some advice from you, however, regarding some other elements of God’s Laws and how to follow them.

    These are:
    1. Leviticus 25:44 states that I may possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from neighbouring nations.
    A friend of mine claims that this applies to Papua New Guineans, but not New Zealanders. Can you clarify? Why can’t I own New Zealanders?

    2. I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her?

    3. I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her period of Menstrual uncleanliness – Lev.15: 19-24.
    The problem is how do I tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offence.

    4. When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odour for the Lord – Lev.1:9.
    The problem is my neighbours. They claim the odour is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?

    5. I have a neighbour who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly states he should be put to death.
    Am I morally obligated to kill him myself, or should I ask the police to do it?

    6. A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an abomination, Lev. 11:10, it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality. I don’t agree. Can you settle this? Are there ‘degrees’ of abomination?

    7. Lev. 21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle-room here?

    8. Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev. 19:27. How should they die?

    9. I know from Lev. 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves?

    10. My uncle has a farm. He violates Lev.19:19 by planting two different crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments made of two different kinds of thread (cotton/polyester blend). He also tends to curse and blaspheme a lot………
    ….. Is it really necessary that we go to all the trouble of getting the whole town together to stone them? Lev.24:10-16. Couldn’t we just burn them to death at a private family affair, like we do with people who sleep with their in-laws? (Lev. 20:14)

    11. The bible clearly states Leviticus 19:28, which says,”You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor tattoo any marks on you: I am the Lord.”

    Why do you have tattoos Israel Folau ? Am I now morally obliged to now stone you to death ?

    I know you have studied these things extensively and thus enjoy considerable expertise in such matters, so I’m confident you can help.

    Thank you again for reminding us that God’s word is eternal and unchanging.

    PS: It would be a real shame if we couldn’t own a New Zealander

  40. As it’s a new Parliament can we have a new thread starter

    In this new Parliament I hope that it doesn’t sit often or pass much legislation as I think all its up to no good

    I was surprised to hear the new Governor General spoke a few words of the local language at his swearing in. Not quite as conservative as his predecessor

    https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/australia-is-not-a-finished-product-general-david-hurley-sworn-in-as-27th-governor-general-20190701-p522xb.html

  41. Good morning Dawn Patrollers. I’m quite a bit late today – sorry about that.

    Peter Hartcher begins his article with, “Donald Trump’s performance in Asia on the weekend displayed, more forcefully than ever, why US allies cannot leave their futures in America’s hands. That includes Australia.” He then outlines some of what Hugh Whit has said in his new book.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/australia-forced-to-confront-a-scary-subject-20190701-p522wg.html
    David Crowe continues his current spate of Coalition announcements by saying that Labor knows it cannot risk voting against the government’s full income tax package.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/labor-is-delaying-the-inevitable-20190701-p5233s.html
    And Eryk Bagshaw writes that Labor MPs have returned to Canberra following their election loss with a warning to new leader Anthony Albanese that the party’s position on the tax package is depriving it of political oxygen.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/labor-prepares-to-back-coalition-s-158b-tax-cut-package-20190701-p5232l.html
    The Grattan Institute explains how stages 1 and 2 of the tax cuts should pass. But Stage 3 would return us to the 1950s.
    https://theconversation.com/stages-1-and-2-of-the-tax-cuts-should-pass-but-stage-3-would-return-us-to-the-1950s-119637
    The latest data from the Bureau of Statistics shows current policy settings are causing wider and deeper economic hardship. Alan Austin reports.
    https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/house-prices-and-household-income-plummet-under-the-coalition,12859
    The AFR says that the big four argue customers will be the big losers if a plan to force banks into verifying borrower expenses succeeds.
    https://outline.com/fjWwrq
    But it also tells us that the major banks are whingeing loudly about responsible lending laws being a barrier to providing finance but we shouldn’t be fooled.
    https://outline.com/LVRk96
    Mark Latham gets stuck into the macroplanning of the burgeoning development of western Sydney. 1.3 million people and no hospital for starters.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/a-city-of-1-3-million-on-sydney-s-fringe-but-no-hospital-20190701-p522y0.html
    According to the AFR another cash rate cut could trigger a race to the bottom that will push banks into “uncharted territory” for term deposits and savings accounts.
    https://outline.com/CyhHf2
    The challenge the Morrison government faces in meeting future climate targets without new policies is underlined by an analysis that breaks down how significantly greenhouse gas emissions are increasing from transport, natural gas and coalmining.
    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jul/02/australia-wont-reach-paris-target-without-action-on-transport-lng-and-coal-expert-says
    The evidence is mounting that Scott Morrison was very tricky in last year’s coup in which he took the prime ministership, and there is a big lesson for him from one of the Liberal Party’s iconic leaders, writes Paul Bongiorno. He also looks at Morrison’s meanness.
    https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/2019/07/01/scott-morrison-john-howard/
    Latika Bourke tells us that Morrison says that employers should respect the private religious practice of their staff. Fine – but PRIVATELY!
    https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/employers-should-respect-the-private-religious-practice-of-their-staff-scott-morrison-says-20190701-p5234t.html
    Jobs growth in the retail and hospitality sectors has more than halved since the introduction of Sunday penalty rates, a new study has revealed.
    https://thenewdaily.com.au/money/work/2019/07/01/penalty-rate-cuts-jobs-growth/
    Rod Sims has pledged to seek penalties if retailers don’t abide by the new rules on electricity offers and discounts.
    https://outline.com/c6PC2C
    Even in the world of the revolving door of politician-turned-lobbyist, Pyne’s announcement of his new role with Ernst and Young was something of a record, writes Binoy Kampmark.
    https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/christopher-pyne-and-the-canberra-revolving-door,12857
    Jenna Price explores the subject of membership to political parties.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/a-rush-to-join-but-do-political-parties-want-new-members-20190701-p5232v.html
    An interesting contribution from Jill stark on the paradox of choice.
    https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/health-and-wellness/how-the-paradox-of-choice-keeps-you-scrolling-through-netflix-20190701-p5231b.html
    ‘The boats are coming’ is one of the greatest lies told to the Australian people, writes Behrouz Boochani.
    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jul/02/the-boats-are-coming-is-one-of-the-greatest-lies-told-to-the-australian-people
    And Kristina Keneally says Peter Dutton should not use medical transfers in a punitive fashion.
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/jul/01/coalition-accused-of-cruelty-for-crueltys-sake-over-medevac-refugees
    “What if Israel Folau was a bureaucrat?”, asks Markus Mannheim.
    https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6246220/what-if-israel-folau-was-a-bureaucrat/?cs=14350
    Lawyers are fond of sending threat letters and demanding those who receive them keep it “Private and Confidential“. There is no basis in law for keeping unsolicited threats “Private and Confidential“. Stockbroker and writer Ben Pauley got one of these emails from Minter Ellison last week, reports Michael West.
    https://www.michaelwest.com.au/indiaore-and-twitter-one-good-suspension-deserves-another/
    “What’s happening to once happy and funky Melbourne?”, asks James Hughes.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/the-uptight-dark-side-of-melbourne-20190701-p522wt.html
    Neil McMahon announces the death of the Gold Logie.
    https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/rip-gold-logie-you-ve-had-your-moment-it-s-time-for-bed-20190701-p522tl.html
    Donald Trump has been accused of taking nepotism to alarming new depths after giving his daughter, Ivanka, a prominent role in meetings with the G20 and Kim Jong-un.
    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jul/01/donald-trump-ivanka-g20-north-korea-nepotism
    While Suzanne Moore says that we laugh at Ivanka Trump – because to take her seriously is frightening.
    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jul/01/ivanka-trump-g20-ghastly-spectacle-rise-unelected
    Actor John Jarrett earns nomination for “Arsehole of the Week” over these allegations at his trial.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/john-jarratt-tore-woman-s-clothes-with-force-before-rape-in-1976-court-told-20190701-p522we.html

    Cartoon Corner

    Scary stuff from David Rowe.

    David Pope on the swearing in of our new G-G.

    More from Pope.

    From Matt Golding.


    Andrew Dyson sees through Trump.

    As does Zanetti.

    Glen Le Lievre at the DMZ.

    Jon Kudelka an Morrison’s seizure of the PMship.
    https://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/f92867d4e8634be54db3f5fe88896ad7?width=1024

    From the US







  42. The bullshit and the lies never stop –

    “Josh Frydenberg has promised the low- and middle-income tax rebate will be in people’s bank accounts next week”
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2019/jul/02/parliament-coalition-labor-morrison-politics-live

    No, it won’t. First you have to put in your tax return, then the ATO has to process it. It can take weeks to process, depending on how you decide to do your return. If you do as Fraudenberg says and get your return in this week you will not see that money next week,

    The ATO says “Electronic returns are normally processed in two weeks. Paper returns are processed manually, taking 10 weeks.”
    https://www.ato.gov.au/Individuals/Lodging-your-tax-return/Tracking-your-refund-or-fixing-a-mistake/

    Even then, you won’t actually get the money. It will just lessen the amount of tax you needed to pay. No-one is going to wake up next Monday morning to find $1080 in their bank account.

    Does Fraudenberg actually understand how tax returns work and what offsets do? Is he so wealthy that he leaves it all to his accountants and doesn’t worry about trivia like tax returns?

  43. What has this country become when a hairdresser has to fund desperately-needed medical services for a remote indigenous community?

    Anonymous donation helps fund much-needed dialysis clinic in remote NT community
    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-06-29/anonymous-donation-to-bring-medical-support-to-remote-community/11263184?pfmredir=sm

    This woman is wonderful, caring and generous, and a stark contrast to the extremely wealthy Australians who spend all their time worrying about their millions, but shouldn’t our penny-pinching government be doing this?

  44. I hope The Winter of Discontent heading,does not last as long as the winter mooted in Game of Thrones
    we need a light at the end of the tunnel even if it is three years long
    stay alert we need more lerts

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