Note: my apologies for having posted a work-in-progress threadstarter late yesterday evening.
PM Julia Gillard’s response to Abbott in 2010:
Today our illustrious PM tried to change the script - again.
He tried to portray his government as being pro-women, all the while ignoring his deliberate ignorance of the abuse - sexual and otherwise - of every aspect of the national workforce. Not to mention in his specific domain: our federal Parliament House.
His (though he’d probably say it was his office’s) treatment of Brittany Higgins and Rachelle Miller is unforgiveable. I have nothing but admiration for these two former staffers, and former Liberal MP Julia Banks, for (as Mr Albanese put it) lifting the lid on the culture of bullying, harassment, and sexual abuse in Federal Parliament.
Bipartisan recognition of harm done is important but must be followed by real action and cultural change. The younger generations - women in their 20s, 30s, 40s - are determined to continue speaking truth to power, as Brittany Higgins and Grace Tame, who gave our graceless prime minister possibly the worst slap-down of his life just a fortnight ago …
… will do later today at the National Press Club. Needless to say, I shall be glued to the media!
Finally, another fantastic ode from Patricia WA:
“Amazing Grace!”
Isn’t that our PM’s favourite hymn?
Did he pray for a souvenir snap with him?
But this photo-op shows ‘preyed-on’ victim.
All year he’s ignored ‘The Cause’ of her fame,
To give voice to women, shout out names
Of bullies for whom it’s often a game
For their gangs to play again and again.
Sometimes a good cop shows up and they’re caught,
‘News’ writes a story and juicy report
Of fighting, screaming, how wildly she fought!
Yet often the case is thrown out of court.
Other abuse, more discretely played out
Was in some High Office when staff weren’t about.
In Confession poor innocents found out
No help would be had from those thought devout.
Now headlines are hers because she refused
To nicely behave as he wants her to;
To pretend yet again she likes being used.
That’s why Australians all say, “Grace, we love you!
You beat him!” Framed picture-perfect for us too!
THE PUB 
Thank you for posting a link to the most brilliant speech in the Australian Parliament ever, in fact in Australia ever, in my opinion.
The fact that Prime Minister Julie Gillard’s speech, directed at Tony Abbott, the Leader of Opposition, went viral worldwide for its attack on misogyny is proof that her words resonated to the experiences of women and girls, and even to the men who understand the issues, regardless of country, creed, or status.
Well done, Fiona. I am going to buy a Julia Gillard Teatowel for my grand-,daughter.
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7612394/just-words-bullying-abuse-survivors-push-for-real-change/
Good morning Dawn Patrollers
Latika Bourke writes about Stephen Jones’ impassioned speech on the religious discrimination bill. This bill is poison.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/prime-minister-step-into-my-son-s-heels-labor-mp-20220208-p59uv0.html
Here is an edited transcript of Jones’ speech.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/feb/08/my-nephew-was-beautiful-and-courageous-the-love-and-acceptance-of-his-family-was-not-enough
Meanwhile, Morrison has secured party room support for a contentious religious discrimination bill package despite moderate Liberals’ concerns, forcing Labor to decide whether to back laws that protect gay students from expulsion but not transgender students.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/think-about-our-team-pm-pressures-moderates-as-party-backs-religious-laws-20220208-p59uug.html
The delightful Michaelia Cash says protecting trans students poses risk to religious schools’ ethos. Isn’t the problem the other way round?
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/attorney-general-michaelia-cash-says-protecting-trans-students-poses-risk-to-religious-schools-ethos-20220208-p59uns.html
The Age describes how Miles Wade, 16, had a positive experience at his government school when he transitioned. He does not understand how faith-based schools could be allowed to discriminate. A reasonable question, one would think.
https://www.theage.com.au/national/it-s-appalling-for-trans-student-miles-gender-identity-should-have-nothing-to-do-with-school-20220208-p59uo4.html
Greg Brown reports that Scott Morrison has warned Coalition MPs the federal election will be lost if they are not a united force, in an 11th-hour clarion call for his team to get behind landmark religious discrimination reforms in the first contentious parliamentary vote of the year.
https://amp.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/singlesex-schools-may-discriminate-against-trans-pupils/news-story/a75456ce82fc0e8d856e47b1ad929f54
The Prime Minister is determined to wedge Labor without wedging himself on religious discrimination – but there are plenty of tripwires in this last sitting before the election, says Jennifer Hewett.
https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/morrison-fights-to-keep-his-balance-20220208-p59ush
Former human rights commissioner, Edward Santow, strongly argues that the religious discrimination bill contorts the equality principle.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/religious-discrimination-bill-contorts-equality-principle-20220208-p59ur4.html
Only 19% of Australians agree religious schools should be able to ban LGBT+ teachers, explains sociology professor, Douglas Ezzy.
https://theconversation.com/only-19-of-australians-agree-religious-schools-should-be-able-to-ban-lgbt-teachers-176454
The bill should not be rushed. More time is needed to work out why it is needed and what it is meant to achieve, says Islamic representative, Kuranda Seyit.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/go-back-to-basics-on-proposed-religious-discrimination-law-20220208-p59urh.html
Wow! Janet Albrechtsen says, “Sorry, PM, but you’re just not up to the job”.
https://amp.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/sorry-pm-but-youre-just-not-up-tothe-job/news-story/156ebf895b6cd74adce6b48789934227
Scott Morrison will be on another one-man campaign — none of his colleagues are much help and those who could be are focused on their own survival, says Jack Waterford.
https://johnmenadue.com/losing-control-morrison-out-on-his-own-on-campaign-trail/
More from Waterford who writes, “Scott Morrison’s press club address did the opposite of what he intended, leaving open the question of whether he’s fit to lead Australia.”
https://johnmenadue.com/pm-bogged-and-vulnerable-in-the-face-of-the-enemys-guns/
The Morrison Government has become so entangled in scandals and misinformation that it’s difficult to determine what’s real anymore, writes Dr Jennifer Wilson.
https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/morrisons-misinformation-campaign-is-his-greatest-weapon,16024
David Crowe writes about parliament becoming personal and brutal as the election nears. Having an ineffectual dunce as a speaker doesn’t help.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/parliament-gets-personal-as-the-election-nears-20220208-p59ut8.html
Tony Wright describes the bizarre day in Canberra yesterday.
https://www.smh.com.au/money/super-and-retirement/aged-care-workforce-needs-pay-rise-not-a-bonus-20220207-p59uhz.html
Scott Morrison has said “sorry” to Brittany Higgins during a parliamentary acknowledgement of victims of bullying, harassment and sexual assaults in the parliamentary workplace, writes Michelle Grattan.
https://theconversation.com/scott-morrison-says-sorry-to-brittany-higgins-for-terrible-things-that-happened-176686
Scott Morrison wants us to believe that low unemployment means the economy is fine, but there are other structural economic issues at play too, explains Michael Keating.
https://johnmenadue.com/the-economy-and-the-election/
Lucy Cormack and Matt O’Sullivan report on the NSW Auditor-General’s finding that the Berejiklian government’s controversial $252 million council grants program lacked integrity and applied no merit-based assessment in awarding 96 per cent of funds to Coalition-held electorates. Nothing to see here – let’s move on, they will say.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/troubling-council-grants-program-lacked-integrity-nsw-auditor-general-20220208-p59uos.html
Michael Pascoe writes, “The good news: I’m quietly confident the Biloela family will be “home to Bilo” before the election. The bad news: They should have been there years ago.”
https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/2022/02/09/michael-pascoe-window-dressing-biloela-family/
Taxes should be hiked, or the GST raised to fund a major increase in the aged care workforce, with advocates calling for the Productivity Commission to decide how the federal government fixes a sector in crisis as it grapples with staff shortages due to coronavirus outbreaks, writes Dana Daniel.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/hike-taxes-or-the-gst-to-fix-the-crisis-stricken-aged-care-system-seniors-20220207-p59uj6.html
Aged care crisis a clue. Ross Gittins predicts that we’ll be paying higher taxes, whatever we’re promised. This is a good read.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/aged-care-crisis-a-clue-we-ll-be-paying-higher-taxes-whatever-we-re-promised-20220208-p59uoc.html
Minister Richard Colbeck’s aged care regulator gave Newmarch House the green light to keep operating despite it failing over 80 per cent of its safety standards after 2020’s deadly COVID-19 outbreak, writes Anthony Klan.
https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/exclusive-colbecks-negligence-sounded-newmarch-covid-death-knell,16027
Economist Cassandra Winzar explains how radical reform is needed to staff the aged care sector.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/radical-reform-needed-to-staff-aged-care-sector-20220208-p59uta.html
Aged-care workforce needs pay rise, not a bonus, argues Rachel Lane.
https://www.smh.com.au/money/super-and-retirement/aged-care-workforce-needs-pay-rise-not-a-bonus-20220207-p59uhz.html
Meanwhile, the Coalition has been sitting on a major report into the state of the care workforce in Australia since September last year and is refusing to make the report public. The National Skills Commissioner Adam Boyton was tasked by prime minister Scott Morrison in March 2021 to undertake an “in-depth study on the factors affecting the supply and demand of care workers”.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/feb/08/coalition-hiding-negligence-by-refusing-to-release-findings-of-2021-study-into-care-workforce-union-says
“Scott Morrison says he is sorry, but what has he learned?”, asks Katherine Murphy who implies that it’s not much.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/feb/08/scott-morrison-says-he-is-sorry-but-what-has-he-learned
Josh Bornstein writes, “Australian democracy is in serious trouble and it has nothing to do with the severe pandemic restrictions that we have endured or the recent arson attack on the Museum of Australian Democracy in Canberra. The situation that we now confront has been brewing for many years, but the democratic deficit has accelerated rapidly under the Coalition government.”
https://thenewdaily.com.au/opinion/2022/02/08/democratic-recession-josh-bornstein/
Older, wealthy households sitting on billions of dollars in savings stashed away during the pandemic could determine the strength of the nation’s post-COVID recovery amid signs the threat of higher interest rates is already denting consumer confidence, write Jennifer Duke and Shane Wright.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/economic-recovery-hinges-on-older-wealthy-households-spending-20220208-p59uo2.html
The Kurri Kurri gas plant proposal. No financial case, no necessity, a billion-dollar price tag, infrastructure unfit for purpose, a nearby gas plant that does the same job and faces the rising affordability of batteries. Callum Foote reports on why Labor’s proposal may be even worse than the Coalition’s.
https://www.michaelwest.com.au/a-hot-kurri-kurri-why-labors-fossil-proposal-is-even-worse-than-the-coalitions/
Australian casino company Star Entertainment encouraged some of its biggest punters to lie about the fact they lived in Sydney as part of a scheme that denied the NSW government millions in tax revenue. What a disgusting industry!
https://www.smh.com.au/national/the-star-encouraged-high-rollers-to-pretend-to-live-outside-nsw-20220208-p59upk.html
Camilla won’t be our queen, but we don’t need a king either, says Peter FitzSimons.
https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/camilla-won-t-be-our-queen-but-we-don-t-need-a-king-either-20220208-p59upo.html
Cartoon Corner
David Rowe
Matt Golding is right on the job!
John Shakespeare
Peter Broelman
Cathy Wilcox
Mark David
Glen Le Lievre
Andrew Dyson
Fiona Katauskas
Alan Moir
Simon Letch
Mark Knight
Spooner
From the US
BK - lovely to have you back, and, I hope, feeling better.
Welcome back BK.
Can someone put my link to the speech from last night that I posted in the other thread, it was Stephen Jones about the trans gender issue. It is well worth a watch. Hope the Labor party have watched it, although most of them seemed to be there while he was delivering it.
Okay, I found it again.
Thank you so much tlbd. 🙂 That makes up for no goodnight owl last night. (just joking)
Good article by Peter FitzSimons on the ridiculousness of having a king and queen.
I enjoyed his Seinfeld quote, not being a fan of that show I had not seen it before.
The stupidity goes much further though, way back centuries.
The ancestors (barely) of the current royals were better at biffing their enemies than most other rulers, that is why half of France was once owned by the English. Then the throne was inherited by Henry VI who suffered an unknown mental illness, spent much of his reign in a catatonic state and managed to lose all that French land and his kingdom as well - to the House of York.
George III, barely related to previous royal dynasties and crazy as a whole pack of loons managed to lose a whole country - the US. We still don’t know what was wrong with George, it is rumoured to be the genetic defect porphyria. It has also been thought Prince Charles may have inherited that genetic problem due to his well-known passion for talking to plants and other odd behaviours. George is a direct ancestor of the Queen, so that genetic defect, plus others like haemophilia, must run in the family, especially as Victoria married her first cousin and through her children passed haemophilia to the royal families of Europe and Russia.
Do we really need this genetically-challenged lot inheriting Australia? Because that’s what they do - they pass entire countries down through the family as possessions, just like great-grannie’s tiara and the art works in Buckinghuge Palace. The only reason commoners like Kate, Fergie, Meghan and Diana have been grudgingly welcomed into the royal family is to bring in fresh blood and prevent future rulers being born with two heads or serious genetic weaknesses , just like great-grandad (x?) George.
Is this really all Australia deserves?
So where the bloody hell are they? I can’t a live link into the NPC! 9.46 here in Freo, WA!
It’ll be on iview. It is a must see.
Stuart Robert hides information - again.
Coalition ‘hiding negligence’ by refusing to release findings of 2021 study into care workforce, union says
Report was to examine needs of care and support workforce for aged, disability, veteran and mental health care
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/feb/08/coalition-hiding-negligence-by-refusing-to-release-findings-of-2021-study-into-care-workforce-union-says
Robert has been hiding this report since last September - obviously it is damning of the federal government.
friendlyjordies -
Chris Hayes -
Jimmy Kimmel -
Brian Tyler Cohen -
Thanks Ducky, I tried iview! I was referring to Grace Tame and Brittany Higgins at the National Press Club! How difficult should it be for the ABC to make this event available to all Australians, unabridged and without commentary by any parties, political or other, for us to view and make our own judgements? I did finally find myself watching Grace Tame’s brilliant address but then suddenly instead of Brittany Higgins I found myself listening to the PM gabbling on in Parliament. I’ll hear Q.T. later, but I want to hear that NPC event and no matter how I try I cannot find my way back to hear the Brittany Higgins full address. I get excerpts of what she said a week ago or brief commentary from other sources about what she said today, all inviting me to provide my email address or to subscribe to hear or view more. As an educated adult, familiar with daily digital access to news why do I have the sense that I m being denied access to news of great significance, and urgency?
Further to my comment above on trying to find the full Brittany Higgins NPC address, I did notice Senator Linda Reynolds in the NPC audience while Grace was speaking. Big tick for that? Checking the Senator’s site she seems to have made no speeches or addresses at all about Brittany Higgins when Minister for Defence. Is that likely? Maybe I’m losing my researcher sniffing skills, learned so many decades ago in Bush House at the BBC Overseas News Department. I can still touch type and spell, though, and read newsprint without glasses!
The NPC
Thanks, TLBD, later someone can explain to me me why it was there ‘live’ for me when it was scheduled! Very moving and uplifting even just then! Looking back, yes there has been change and women and men of good heart can take heart from that.
The ABC (in WA?) moves in mysterious ways, it’s wonders to perform.
https://www.betootaadvocate.com/breaking-news/jenny-informs-scotty-that-he-probably-doesnt-want-her-to-translate-all-of-this/
PK’s take https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-09/grace-tame-brittany-higgins-press-club-leaders-on-notice/100817220
There were so many memorable moments
Ducky,
Thank you for coming to my rescue this morning.
‘solrite.