APOLOGIES TO GOOGLE but….
I found this online and just had to share!
Ordering a Pizza in 2023
CALLER: Is this Pizza Hut?
GOOGLE: No sir, it’s Google Pizza.
CALLER: I must have dialed a wrong number, sorry.
GOOGLE: No sir, Google bought Pizza Hut last month.
CALLER: OK. I would like to order a pizza.
GOOGLE: Do you want your usual, sir?
CALLER: My usual? You know me?
GOOGLE: According to our caller ID data sheet, the last 12 times you called you ordered an extra-large pizza with three cheeses, sausage, pepperoni, mushrooms and meatballs on a thick crust.
CALLER: Super! That’s what I’ll have.
GOOGLE: May I suggest that this time you order a pizza with ricotta, arugula, sun-dried tomatoes and olives on a whole wheat gluten-free thin crust?
CALLER: What? I don’t want a vegetarian pizza!
GOOGLE: Your cholesterol is not good, sir.
CALLER: How do you know that?
GOOGLE: Well, we cross-referenced your home phone number with your medical records. We have the result of your blood tests for the last 7 years.
CALLER: Okay, but I do not want your rotten vegetarian pizza! I already take medication for my cholesterol.
GOOGLE: Excuse me sir, but you have not taken your medication regularly. According to our database, you purchased only a box of 30 cholesterol tablets once at your Pharmacy, 4 months ago.
CALLER: I bought more from another Pharmacy.
GOOGLE: That doesn’t show on your credit card statement.
CALLER:I paid in cash.
GOOGLE: But you did not withdraw enough cash according to your bank statement.
CALLER: I have other sources of cash.
GOOGLE: That doesn’t show on your latest tax returns, unless you bought them using an undeclared income source, which is against the law!
CALLER: WHAT THE … !
GOOGLE:I’m sorry sir, we use such information only with the sole intention of helping you.
CALLER: Enough already! I’m sick to death of Google, Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp and all the others. I’m going to an island without the internet, TV, where there is no phone service and no one to watch me or spy on me.
GOOGLE: I understand sir, but you need to renew your passport first. It expired 6 weeks ago…
Welcome to the future 😁
ENJOY…
Copied/pasted, unknown author
Add your own jokes, please, we all need a laugh.
Yay or Nay to Pineapple on Pizza?
THE PUB 
Opus Dei getting a serve on Four Corners.
I have no problem with Jesus; not even god (though it has been AWOL for about 13.8 billion years) but I have a hell of a problem with the purveyors of religion.
Finns never fails
Q&A is back on Mondays.
Won’t work. No cred anymore.
Sorry, Duckie! I have to disagree. The very last Q&A we saw in 2022 https://www.abc.net.au/qanda/2022-01-12/101689452 is an example of how well it works in bringing so many issues and the people and the pollies involved in them to answer questions, on our TV screens in our own homes, or elsewhere on Iview. I’ve currently got that link above ‘paused’ on screen right now. I can’t wait to finish typing this reply to you and get back to the unexpected eloquence of Grace Tame on that Monday evening program! There are others too, of course, many with equal or some with less impact. I am looking forward to many more such Q&A programs for years ahead!
Good morning Dawn Patrollers
The Coalition is poised to block Labor’s heavy emissions cap-and-trade scheme, forcing the government to cut a deal with the Greens who are positioning themselves to derail the use of carbon offsets by new coal and gas giants. Jacob Greber understands a meeting of the shadow cabinet today will result in a rejection of the Safeguard Mechanism crediting legislation, which Labor wants to pass into law by the end of March to give business time to prepare for the change by July 1.
https://www.afr.com/policy/energy-and-climate/greens-attack-carbon-offset-trading-laws-for-gas-and-coal-firms-20230130-p5cgih
The pokies battle in NSW is getting hotter. In comments that risk deepening the dispute between ClubsNSW and Perrottet ahead of the March 25 election, the group’s chief executive, Josh Landis, claimed Perrottet did not understand the complexity of the reform and was acting on his “Catholic gut”.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/clubsnsw-boss-accuses-perrottet-of-being-motivated-by-catholic-gut-in-poker-machine-crusade-20230130-p5cggn.html
Following yesterday’s coronial inquiry report, the Age’s editorial declares, “Veronica Nelson never stood a chance. The findings of the inquest into her 2020 death in custody revealed on Monday, as Victorian coroner Simon McGregor detailed, that Nelson had been let down badly by the corrections system. This is a system, he found, that continues to discriminate against Indigenous people but was so riddled with incompetence, wilful neglect and human failures that her fate was sealed virtually from the moment of her arrest.” It calls for bail law reform.
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/coroner-s-findings-cement-case-for-bail-law-reform-20230130-p5cgku.html
The editorial in the SMH says that the extraordinary declaration by ClubsNSW that its new gaming code of conduct will bring an end to problem gambling should be seen for what it is – a pure public relations exercise. Unlike some media, the Herald is unconvinced the ClubsNSW plan – which takes effect from July 1 – is driven by anything other than self-interest.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/clubsnsw-new-problem-gambling-policy-is-pure-public-relations-20230130-p5cgga.html
Andrew Wilkie tells us why it’s now a safe bet for politicians to take on gambling reform.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/why-it-s-now-a-safe-bet-for-politicians-to-take-on-gambling-reform-20230126-p5cfos.html
The world is at a “seatbelt moment” with machine learning as it was when the basic safety device was imposed on the car industry in the 1960s and 70s, but so far, no one is installing the seat belts, writes Peter Hartcher who is concerned that time is running out to subdue AI’s overwhelming power
https://www.smh.com.au/technology/time-is-running-out-to-subdue-ai-s-overwhelming-power-20230130-p5cgdf.html
Anyone who borrowed at the bottom of the rates cycle and was stress-tested under the old 2.5 percentage point rule is already underwater. The RBA must tread carefully, opines Jess Irvine.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/living-in-mortgage-hell-tens-of-thousands-of-borrowers-on-the-brink-20230130-p5cgdm.html
Shane Wright and Rachel Clun tell us that home buyers could face another four interest rate rises by August as the Reserve Bank struggles to bring down inflation, putting more downward pressure on the property market and adding to cost-of-living pressures.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/more-rate-pain-on-the-way-as-nation-s-aaa-credit-rating-affirmed-20230130-p5cgip.html
Stephen Bartholomeusz explains why this will be such a big week when it comes to the global economy.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/how-high-will-rates-go-it-s-a-critical-week-for-the-global-economy-20230130-p5cgdp.html
Meanwhile, banking regulator John Lonsdale says the wave of expiring fixed rate loans this year will be difficult for some borrowers, but the banking system will be resilient in the face of economic uncertainty and a falling housing market.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/banks-can-handle-the-fixed-rate-cliff-says-apra-20230130-p5cgei.html
One of Australia’s leading psychiatrists says mentally ill patients being left in solitary confinement for more than 24 hours is illustrative of a national mental health system in crisis. Professor Ian Hickie, a former National Mental Health Commissioner, co-director at The University of Sydney’s Brain and Mind Centre and prominent mental health advocate, said the practice of isolating and physically restraining patients in mental health units could not be ignored.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/traumatising-practices-in-nsw-mental-health-units-cannot-be-ignored-20230127-p5cg1i.html
The Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia has made a formal bid for Medicare funding to test for “bad cholesterol” that runs in families and has been linked to sudden heart attacks in young people. Aisha Dow reports that high-profile cardiologists last week called for better awareness of the impact of heightened levels of lipoprotein(a), or Lp(a), which they say could affect millions of Australians, at least at mild levels.
https://www.theage.com.au/healthcare/pathologists-seek-medicare-funding-to-test-for-bad-cholesterol-20230130-p5cgdt.html
Australia will partner with France to produce “several thousand” rounds of ammunition for Ukraine’s armed forces as it struggles to defend it’s against Russia’s invasion. Rob Harris reports that the announcement was made at a meeting in Paris in a relations-rebuilding diplomatic meeting yesterday between Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Defence Minister Richard Marles and their French counterparts.
https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/a-statement-australia-and-france-to-jointly-provide-ammunition-to-ukraine-20230131-p5cgne.html
It is not beyond the bounds of possibility that the referendum on the Voice will be won not as a virtually unanimous offering to First Nations Australians but narrowly in an ugly, bitter and divisive brawl between older and younger Australians. Even a win will have the capacity to leave divisions in the nation, and in political parties that will endure for many years, writes Jack Waterford.
https://johnmenadue.com/voice-vote-may-demand-blood-in-the-water/
A bipartisan parliamentary committee is set to call on the federal government to list Iran’s brutal Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organisation, as new evidence emerges of Iran’s attempts to strong-arm Iranian Australians. Coalition and Greens MPs on the Senate’s standing committee on foreign affairs, defence and trade are expected to form a rare unity ticket to recommend the move in a report due tomorrow even as a top legal expert questioned its legality.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/government-under-pressure-to-list-islamic-revolutionary-guard-corps-as-terrorist-group-20230130-p5cgf3.html
Student outcomes in literacy and numeracy continue to go backwards. Why? Missing from the list of causes for poor learning outcomes, as it is from every such list, is the ineffectiveness of the Learning Assistance Program, argues Alison Gentle.
https://johnmenadue.com/the-missing-piece-in-the-school-reform-debate/
Pressure is mounting for the Albanese Government to end the Coalition’s legacy of neoliberalism and take steps towards wealth equality, writes Bilal Cleland.
https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/taxing-the-super-rich-a-good-start-to-ending-wealth-inequality,17186
Australian households are facing huge jumps in their gas bills later this week as retailers pass through double-digit price increases, threatening to worsen the cost-of-living crisis. Origin Energy, EnergyAustralia and AGL will raise gas tariffs on Wednesday, affecting their customers across New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, South Australia and the ACT. Victorians are among the worst affected with average AGL usage tariffs set to rise by 24.9 per cent on variable rates, while EnergyAustralia says its average hike is 26.7 per cent – or about $480 a year.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/finance-news/2023/01/30/gas-prices-bills-energy/
Labor’s whistleblower bill goes too far in excluding personal conduct such as sexual harassment complaints from protection, the Greens and legal stakeholders have warned. The Greens justice spokesperson, David Shoebridge, said the bill “excludes whistleblower complaints with a mixture of employment elements”, which he claims goes a step further than the related recommendation from a review into the laws.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/jan/30/whistleblower-bill-excluding-sexual-harassment-complaints-from-protection-goes-too-far-greens-senator-says
Tens of thousands of Chinese students enrolled at Australian universities will need to rush into the country before semester one after the Chinese government announced it would stop honouring qualifications gained through online learning. The edict, published on Saturday, surprised Australian universities accustomed to online learning that were not preparing for so many Chinese students to return at once. The abrupt policy shift could add demand to scarce flights from China and accommodation markets and put pressure on Australia’s strained visa processing unit, but may also help ease the worker shortage.
https://www.smh.com.au/education/snap-chinese-edict-to-send-students-rushing-back-to-australian-campuses-20230129-p5cga9.html
Demand for accommodation from the 50,000 Chinese students or more likely to return to Australian university campuses within weeks could fuel at least a 5 per cent jump in rents across inner Melbourne and Sydney and worsen rental shortages, experts say.
https://www.afr.com/property/residential/inner-city-rents-may-jump-5pc-with-return-of-55-000-chinese-students-20230130-p5cge4
Christopher Knaus reports that Francis Sullivan, the former head of the Catholic church’s Truth Justice and Healing Council, says the removal of ribbons commemorating abuse survivors from St Mary’s Cathedral appears designed to prevent the scandal from being “associated with cardinal Pell” in the days leading up to his funeral.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/jan/31/george-pell-funeral-removing-abuse-victims-ribbons-from-cathedral-fence-wrong-former-senior-church-official-says
A short-seller’s attack on the Adani Group is a critique of Indian corporate ethics, regulation and law enforcement, writes Aaron Patrick who wonders if the Adani group is a giant fraud.
https://www.afr.com/companies/financial-services/is-the-adani-group-a-giant-fraud-20230130-p5cgh4
Cartoon Corner
David Rowe
John Shakespeare
Cathy Wilcox
Dionne Gain
Fiona Katauskas
Peter Broelman
Mark Knight
Spooner – totally fixated!
From the US
I saw this type of chart for German GDP. I reckon it should be used more Australia. So much more informative than just the few numbers we get. Probably why we get fed just a few numbers in Straya. Would be a bipartisan thing too.
This one shows that despite modest growth in the last year or so Germany is in some poo. Construction and exports have died in the arse. The so called growth is propped up by private consumption and that ain’t sustainable.
.
Robin Brooks@RobinBrooksIIF
Germany’s slide into recession has begun. The Q4 ’22 GDP fall of -0.2% q/q is modest. It’s the underlying picture that’s worrying. Germany is one of the world’s export champions, but net exports (purple) subtracted from growth for many quarters now. An export champion no more…
Seth Meyers –
Stephen Colbert –
Rachel Maddow –
Chris Hayes –
Chris Hayes sub – (short version)
Just becoz , some music I like.
India
Russia
Mongolia
Finland
And one from where one branch of my Scots Irish family went to, Appalachia, omg Hillbilly central lol, my half ended up in UnZud. Nice version of John Denver’s Country Road.
More music. I have not seen this vid in years. Still gives me lols. a 1/4 of a billion have watched this version.
Still funny!
OMG!, to fight Cossacks back in the day. No wonder they got their reputation. The advent of guns of course would have ‘ruined’ it all.
Speaking of swords …
The Japanese Katana us, imo, one of the most beautiful but scary swords out there. I saw one cut straight through a large leg of lamb from the butcher.
The blade went straight through, bone and all, in one clean cut. The edge is so hard it lodged in the wooden block under it, with the core of the blade softer and more flexible to absorb the shock, so it does not break.
When examined closely, the decorations are telling a story. Each one is a work of art.
Good morning Dawn Patrollers
Dutton is driving the Liberals off a cliff – and his colleagues are passengers watching on, declares Shaun Carney in a scathing contribution.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/dutton-is-driving-the-liberals-off-a-cliff-and-his-colleagues-are-passengers-watching-on-20230131-p5cgpw.html
Jim Chalmers has written an essay about the future, not the past. He is the first senior figure in the Albanese government to offer what Labor once did endlessly – put a philosophical framework around the policies of Labor in power. Paul Kelly writes that nobody in Labor has done this for a long time. It’s risky. For many, it’s alarming. Chalmers has smashed the protective glass container in which the Albanese government presented itself to the world as a modest, “safe change” ALP government that wouldn’t rock the boat.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/treasurer-moves-to-redefine-labors-historic-mission/news-story/a8dd0b2f6d483dcbe5ab306c750f32a1?amp
Jennifer Hewett tells us why Jim Chalmers has people so stirred up.
https://www.afr.com/policy/economy/why-jim-chalmers-has-people-so-stirred-up-20230131-p5cgso
The Treasurer has unveiled a flawed and shallow economic argument for a reshaped and ‘uniquely’ Australian capitalism that exists in a post-crisis world, writes Dr William Briggs.
https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/chalmers-fantasy-of-making-a-better-capitalism-is-absurd,17189
The entertaining John Lord looks at the year ahead in politics.
https://theaimn.com/the-year-ahead/
David Crowe and Paul Sakkal writes that Daniel Andrews will join forces with his NSW counterpart to seek a national deal to overhaul Medicare and an increase in federal hospital funding at a crucial national cabinet meeting on Friday that will hear a new warning about the growing burden on public hospitals from patients who cannot find a GP.
https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/andrews-perrottet-team-up-in-bid-to-fix-medicare-boost-hospital-funding-20230131-p5cgxn.html
Angus Thompson writes about Rachelle Miller’s very interesting testimony at the robodebt royal commission yesterday. It said a lot about what drives ministers and how they react. It has really set up Tudge for a potentially gruelling day, hopefully with Mr Greggery asking the questions.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/alan-tudge-s-former-adviser-reveals-dole-bludger-robo-debt-media-strategy-20230131-p5cgu1.html
Luke Henriques-Gomes reports that Alan Tudge’s former media adviser has told a royal commission she devised a strategy to place stories in “friendly media” – including the Murdoch press – after her boss told her to “shut down” the media storm over robodebt in early 2017.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/jan/31/alan-tudge-former-adviser-rachelle-miller-robodebt-royal-commission
Wealthy and privileged public servants and politicians all collaborated to demonise the poor and destroy people’s lives with the Robodebt scheme, writes Dr Jennifer Wilson who says individual stories of fear, intolerable intimidation suffering and hardship emerging from the Royal Commission into the Robodebt scheme are both shocking and enraging.
https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/robodebts-privileged-perpetrators-shamefully-punished-the-poor,17188
One of the state’s most powerful lobbyists has been sacked after triggering a political firestorm for linking Premier Dominic Perrottet’s Catholic faith to his gambling crackdown, leaving the ClubsNSW campaign against poker machine reform in tatters. Can’t say I’m sorry.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/incredibly-inappropriate-and-offensive-clubsnsw-boss-sacked-over-perrottet-remark-20230131-p5cgqe.html
And Alexandra Smith says that, with Landis gone, ClubsNSW has chance to put civility back into the gaming reform debate.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/with-landis-gone-clubsnsw-has-chance-to-put-civility-back-into-gaming-reform-debate-20230131-p5cgvk.html
Bill Shorten has said that Australians would be able to use their Medicare cards, display their driver’s licence, renew passports and enrol to vote on a one-stop-shop phone app similar to an Apple Wallet under the federal government’s vision to digitise its services by transforming the MyGov app. The app would also allow Australians to verify their identity with banks, phone companies and utilities providers without handing over identity documents that are vulnerable to hacking and affected millions of people in last year’s breaches on Optus and Medibank.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/government-wallet-to-display-medicare-card-driver-s-license-in-one-stop-shop-20230131-p5cgt9.html
Australia is moving towards defeating yet another referendum, this one on an Indigenous Voice to Parliament, because it’s lacking the full across-the-board support traditionally needed for “Yes” to ever succeed. A defeat will be mortifying, to say the least, for most Indigenous Australians and for Australia across the world, where it has always been called a racist country, says Lee Duffield.
https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/voice-to-parliament-yes-vote-has-many-enemies,17190
Paul Bongiorno tells us that the ‘No’ campaign is spoiling to muffle the Voice by whatever means.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/2023/01/31/paul-bongiorno-no-campaign-voice/
Labor has been accused by the gas industry of effectively having no plan to fix what the competition regulator warns will be a catastrophic gas shortage this decade that threatens to destabilise the energy grid and undermine export commitments, writes Jacob Greber.
https://www.afr.com/policy/energy-and-climate/labor-has-no-fix-for-gas-supply-shortfall-says-industry-20230131-p5cgtg
Jenna Price argues why we should defund private schools and examine their values. Hear hear!
https://www.smh.com.au/national/why-we-should-defund-private-schools-and-examine-their-values-20230130-p5cgmv.html
Following the 4Corners Opus Dei story, Katrina Marson writes that teaching kids that sex is shameful can harm them for life. She says that we can no longer yield to the idea that ignorance and innocence are the same thing.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/teaching-kids-that-sex-is-shameful-can-harm-them-for-life-20230131-p5cgrj.html
One of Australia’s most respected legal figures will lead an independent inquiry into the handling of the Parliament House rape case, which ended with police and prosecutors at loggerheads. The Canberra Times understands the ACT government will appoint Walter Sofronoff KC, a former Queensland Solicitor-General and Court of Appeal president, to head the high-profile probe.
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/8067594/respected-former-judge-to-lead-parliament-house-rape-case-inquiry/?cs=14329
On the first day of the coronial inquest into the Indigenous woman Veronica Nelson’s death in custody, Dame Phyllis Frost Centre general manager Tracy Jones warned staff about “sensationalised” scrutiny, and urged her colleagues “to not take it personally”.
https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/prison-boss-dismisses-veronica-nelson-s-family-criticism-in-leaked-email-20230131-p5cgqi.html
The Victorian government and its former prison subcontractor face a potential record payout after a damning coroner’s report into the death of Indigenous woman Veronica Nelson in custody set the stage for her family to seek exemplary damages.
https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/victorian-government-faces-potential-record-payout-over-veronica-nelson-custody-death-20230131-p5cgpp.html
Ross Gittins is back from leave and expresses his apology to his grandchildren for what his generation done to them and the world they will have to live in.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/an-apology-to-my-grandkids-for-not-fighting-in-the-war-of-our-times-20230130-p5cgn4.html
Jenny Noyes tells us that NSW police are considering using rare crime prevention powers as part of a long-term reform project designed to tackle the “intractable” and deadly scourge of domestic violence. They are looking at dusting off serious crime prevention orders which have been granted in rare cases, where police seek to place specified restrictions on senior organised crime figures they suspect of future involvement in serious criminal offences, including homicide.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/nsw-police-eye-supreme-court-orders-to-prevent-domestic-violence-homicides-20230131-p5cgvz.html
The enormous reservoir of savings consumers accumulated during COVID has been gradually tapped and households enjoying low fixed-interest mortgage payments are due for a rude reality of much higher rates, writes Elizabeth Knight who says consumers are reaching the spending cliff.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/at-last-consumers-reach-the-spending-cliff-20230131-p5cgt7.html
Police are seeking a court order to prevent LGBTQ+ protesters from marching on the street outside of St Mary’s Cathedral on the day of George Pell’s funeral.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/jan/31/police-seek-court-order-to-stop-lgbtq-protesters-marching-outside-george-pells-funeral
Rob Harris previews what Penny Wong will have to say to Britain about confronting its colonial past.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/penny-wong-tells-britain-to-confront-its-colonial-past-20230131-p5cgvw.html
The Guardian tells us what she did say.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/jan/31/all-countries-must-prevent-catastrophic-war-amid-china-us-tensions-australian-minister-penny-wong-says
The Big 4 are too big, too powerful, too secretive, and corrupt. The PwC scandal is merely the tip of the iceberg. The answer is to break them up and force them to incorporate. They thrive in secrecy. Michael West reports.
https://michaelwest.com.au/pwc-scandal-whos-guarding-the-guards-nobody/
Anne Hyland reports that Australia’s corporate regulator is understood to be reviewing a short-seller report that accused Indian conglomerate Adani of stock manipulation and accounting fraud, causing tens of billions of dollars to be wiped from the value of its listed companies.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/asic-reviewing-short-seller-report-on-adani-20230131-p5cgsx.html
A surprise slump in retail spending in December is unlikely to stop the Reserve Bank of Australia next week pressing ahead with a ninth straight interest rate rise to 3.35 per cent, predicts Ronald Mizen.
https://www.afr.com/policy/economy/drop-in-retail-sales-unlikely-to-stop-february-rate-rise-20230131-p5cgt1
The number of unsentenced people in Australian jails has risen more than 120% over 10 years, to account for more than a third of the total prison population, as human rights advocates urge reforms to ensure people aren’t needlessly funnelled into the criminal justice system. More than 15,000 prisoners, or about 35% of the nation’s prison population, were unsentenced – awaiting trial, sentencing or deportation – in 2021. In 2011, when there were 6,723 unsentenced prisoners, that cohort accounted for less than 25% of the prison population. This is not good.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/jan/31/unsentenced-prisoners-make-up-a-third-of-australias-prison-population-as-bail-refusals-boom
Those who use buy now, pay later apps are much more likely to also use advance-pay apps, making them more susceptible to falling into financial difficulties, warns John Collett.
https://www.smh.com.au/money/planning-and-budgeting/buy-now-pay-later-users-more-likely-to-double-up-on-risky-pay-advance-products-20230126-p5cfq7.html
The US Federal Reserve is clearly determined to bring down inflation. But no one really knows how high it will have to raise its policy interest rate – and how long it will have to keep it there – to achieve its objective. Many are thus wondering whether the Fed will bring on a recession, writes economist professor Raghuram Rajan.
https://www.afr.com/policy/economy/fed-is-entering-a-period-of-maximum-danger-in-inflation-fight-20230130-p5cgla
Stephen Bartholomeusz explains how the West is tightening the screws on Putin’s cash machine. He points out that, apart from the lost income, the embargoes and price caps will do long-term damage to Russia’s energy industry which, pre-invasion, generated about 45 per cent of its federal government’s revenue.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/markets/the-west-is-tightening-the-screws-on-putin-s-cash-machine-20230131-p5cgpv.html
John Lander reckons the US is preparing Australia to fight its war against China.
https://johnmenadue.com/committee-for-the-republic-salon-18-january-2023-anzus-leading-us-to-war-against-chinaauthor/
Three years on from Brexit, all UK voters are left with is a bitter taste of Bregret, writes Polly Toynbee.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jan/31/three-years-on-brexit-uk-voters-rejoining-eu-labour-europe
Stuart Rees writes about the lop-sided coverage of violence in Palestine and Israel.
https://johnmenadue.com/explaining-israels-oppression-cruelty-evil-apartheid-and-colonisation/
Cartoon Corner
Cathy Wilcox
Mark David
Matt Golding
Alan Moir
John Shakespeare
Peter Broelman
Andrew Dyson
Mark Knight
Spooner – yet again!
From the US
Robodebt RC live. Tudge is on.
https://robodebt.royalcommission.gov.au
Tudge has been using the same excuse as Morrison – Labor being responsible for income averaging.
Commissioner and Counsel Assisting are not buying any of Tudge’s denialism and whataboutery.
Today is the day: paid Family and Domestic Violence leave has come into force.
It costs $18,000 on average to escape a violent relationship. From today, millions of workers across Australia* can access 10 days paid leave, which is critical to accessing medical, legal, financial, emergency housing, safety planning, relocation and counselling services.
It is a new workplace right that will literally save lives.
Paid family and domestic violence leave:
– covers full time, part time and casual workers
– is available immediately, instead of accruing
– is confidential
From ACTU
Stephen Colbert –
Chris Hayes –
Lawrence O’Donnell –
Brian Tyler Cohen –
F.m
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/feb/01/legalising-cannabis-could-raise-billions-in-taxes-think-of-what-we-could-do-with-that-money
Luke has the lowdown on Tudge
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/feb/01/robodebt-royal-commission-alan-tudge-evidence-centrelink-scheme?CMP=share_btn_tw
Good morning Dawn Patrollers
According to Shane Wright, Jim Chalmers has been given the green light by the International Monetary Fund to overhaul the $254 billion stage three personal income tax cuts as part of broader reforms that could include extending tax to the family home. Warning the country needs tax reform to pay for higher spending baked into the budget, the IMF has used its annual review of Australia to argue for the first time the government may need to balance the cost of stage three tax cuts against their purported benefits to the economy.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/stage-three-tax-cuts-should-be-on-the-table-imf-warns-on-budget-costs-20230201-p5ch28.html
Katherine Murphy writes that Anthony Albanese has said it is likely he would have pursued the Aukus agreement had Labor been in power during the Morrison era because the bonds between the three nations are enduring, and defence officials would have supplied the same advice.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/feb/02/anthony-albanese-aukus-pm-prime-minister-labor
David Crowe reports that Anthony Albanese has made an urgent personal bid to salvage support for the Indigenous Voice by asking Opposition Leader Peter Dutton to set out any changes he wants to the proposal, after weeks of dispute and fears of a rupture that could destroy the Voice.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/albanese-writes-to-dutton-to-salvage-a-deal-on-the-voice-20230201-p5ch70.html
Economist Stephen Hamilton says the Treasurer’s essay is an incoherent assortment of kumbaya capitalist thought bubbles.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/treasurer-s-essay-is-an-incoherent-assortment-of-kumbaya-capitalist-thought-bubbles-20230201-p5ch0o.html
Households are clearly cutting spending as rates rise, and the RBA must heed this warning, opines Greg Jericho.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/grogonomics/2023/feb/01/households-are-clearly-cutting-spending-as-rates-rise-the-rba-must-heed-this-warning
Peta Credlin reckons there is worse to come from ‘moralising’ Chalmers.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/worse-to-come-from-moralising-chalmers/news-story/b2c141ace753a9a13e2de38212d60ef3?amp
A fired-up Julie Szego lets fly at the unfair education system we now have.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/welcome-to-class-kids-here-are-all-the-ways-you-re-getting-dudded-20230201-p5ch3t.html
The Australian reports that Bruce Lehrmann has lodged a formal complaint of professional misconduct against ACT Director of Public Prosecutions Shane Drumgold SC, alleging Mr Drumgold failed to ensure a fair trial over the Brittany Higgins rape allegations and that his conduct was driven by malice and “political interests”.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/lehrmann-alleges-professional-misconduct/news-story/d5f0c6ffd78d2a6b465e6f81e8b6c0a3?amp
Nine people have been charged and $150 million worth of property and luxury goods seized after police uncovered an industrial-scale crime ring operating globally out of Sydney. Nick McKenzie provides us of all the details of this huge money-laundering operation and how it was tracked down and stopped.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/property-grab-afp-smashes-alleged-10-billion-chinese-money-laundering-operation-20230201-p5ch7k.html
Angus Thompson writes that Alan Tudge has been accused by the robo-debt royal commissioner of trying to intimidate welfare recipients through his close involvement in releasing details of people who complained about the scheme to the media. The anonymised “cameos” of welfare recipients compiled for publication in The Australian newspaper were used to counter what Tudge labelled an “orchestrated campaign” in the press against the controversial welfare crackdown. Commissioner Holmes described it as a “strategy to intimidate people who complained about robo-debt”.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/alan-tudge-says-he-knew-robo-debt-was-inaccurate-20230201-p5ch06.html
Luke Henriques-Gomes describes what came out at yesterday’s royal commission hearing.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/feb/01/robodebt-royal-commission-alan-tudge-evidence-centrelink-scheme
Alexandra Smith wonders if this ‘Teflon premier’ can reclaim power or does he have too much stuck to his team.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/can-this-teflon-premier-reclaim-power-or-has-too-much-stuck-to-his-team-20230131-p5cgv3.html
The sacking of chief lobbyist Josh Landis has sparked calls for a revamp of ClubsNSW, with some describing it as a backwards boys’ club. Ouch!
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/not-a-forward-looking-organisation-clubs-push-for-overhaul-of-lobby-group-20230201-p5ch7i.html
The Greens hold the key to new pollution caps on big emitters, but there are two reasons why Labor is highly unlikely to agree to their demands, leaving the party with a defining choice, writes Mike Foley.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/the-crucial-climate-test-looming-for-the-greens-20230131-p5cgte.html
The SMH editorial says that, unlike the states, there is no federal cap on donations to political parties by individuals, which can result in the party with the biggest chequebook wins.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/donation-caps-needed-to-make-federal-elections-fairer-20230201-p5ch7p.html
Big money was spent on the 2022 election – but the party with the deepest pockets didn’t win, says the Grattan Institute.
https://theconversation.com/big-money-was-spent-on-the-2022-election-but-the-party-with-the-deepest-pockets-didnt-win-198780
Analysis of the Australian Electoral Commission’s 2022 donations data dump has revealed ‘dark money’ comprised up to 40% of major political party revenue. Liberals were the worst offenders. Callum Foote reports.
https://michaelwest.com.au/dark-money-australian-donations-2022/
Former prime ministers Tony Abbott and John Howard are expected to join mourners at a funeral for Catholic Cardinal George Pell at St Mary’s Cathedral on Thursday, to farewell Australia’s most senior and controversial cleric. But many of the country’s most senior politicians and dignitaries will not attend, including the governor-general, the NSW governor, the prime minister, the NSW premier, the NSW opposition leader and the Sydney lord mayor. Pell is poison, even when dead.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/silent-protests-mourning-as-george-pell-s-body-lies-in-state-20230201-p5ch2c.html
George Pell’s funeral presents a problem for Australia’s Catholic bishops. They will be comfortable gathering to give their colleague his rightful requiem and final dismissal, according to the rights of the church. They will know, however, that as the Catholic community looks on it will be preoccupied by one question: Do each of these men share Pell’s views on the church, and more specifically, Pope Francis, asks Alan Fewtrell.
https://johnmenadue.com/pells-legacy-haunts-australias-catholic-bishops/
As George Pell departs, every ribbon tells a story the church tried to silence, declares Simon Hunt.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/every-sex-abuse-survivor-ribbon-tells-a-story-the-church-tried-to-silence-20230201-p5ch2p.html
More than three million Australians clogged up emergency rooms when they should have seen a GP instead, a new Productivity Commission report shows. Andrew Tillett writes that its findings bolster the case for an overhaul of Medicare allowing allied health professionals such as pharmacists, physiotherapists and nurses to take on tasks traditionally done by doctors.
https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/more-than-3m-australians-went-to-hospital-when-they-didn-t-need-to-20230201-p5ch38
It’s great to see the states backing emergency services and establishing alternatives to a trip to the ED – but the federal government needs to step up, says Danny Hill.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/feb/02/without-overdue-investment-in-primary-care-australias-paramedics-are-left-to-prop-up-the-system
Northern Europe has Nordic-noir shows like The Killing and The Bridge, South Korea has K-dramas like Squid Game and Sky Castle, and the Brits have their BBC crime dramas. But Australian television seems to lack its own distinctive genre, laments Osman Faruqi.
https://www.smh.com.au/culture/tv-and-radio/why-is-australian-tv-failing-to-punch-through-internationally-20230201-p5ch3m.html
Purity culture is dehumanising – it’s consent that should be at the centre of sex education, urges Chanel Contos.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/feb/01/purity-culture-is-dehumanising-its-consent-that-should-be-at-the-centre-of-sex-education
Rachel Clun reports that childcare workers want the federal government to give them a 25 per cent pay rise in the upcoming budget to stem the flow of workers leaving early childhood education just as cheaper childcare subsidies are introduced.
https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/childcare-workers-push-for-25-per-cent-pay-rise-as-fees-set-to-reduce-20230131-p5cgxj.html
Free registration on electric vehicles will be mothballed in the ACT from July under the ACT’s new emissions-based motor vehicle registration scheme, and charges reintroduced. The move to end free EV rego and shift to a CO2 emissions-based system was described as “sensible” by a transport policy analyst and the NRMA, given that unless there was intervention, heavy battery electric vehicles would face massive rego fee increases under the old weight-based system when the incentive expired.
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/8069105/free-act-rego-to-disappear-on-evs-in-switch-to-emissions-based-system/?cs=14329
The federal government spent more money directly subsidising private landlords over the past two financial years than it is putting aside to fund social housing indefinitely into the future. Michael Pascoe says, “I don’t mean the scores of billions of “tax expenditures” effectively subsidising both owner-occupiers and landlords, but the $10.4 billion in Commonwealth Rent Assistance (CRA) paid to private landlords over the past two years.”
https://thenewdaily.com.au/opinion/2023/02/01/private-landlords-public-housing-pascoe/
The rate of school refusal in Victoria grew by 50 per cent in the three years to 2021, with almost 12,000 students at state schools officially absent in the second year of the pandemic.
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/generational-rupture-anxiety-and-covid-disruption-supercharge-school-refusal-rates-20230201-p5ch1u.html
Gautam Adani’s flagship firm called off its $US2.5 billion ($3.5 billion) share sale in a dramatic reversal on as a rout sparked by a US short-seller’s criticisms wiped billions more off the value of the Indian tycoon’s stocks. The withdrawal of the Adani Enterprises share offering marks a stunning setback for Adani, the school dropout-turned-billionaire whose fortunes rose rapidly in recent years in line with stock values of his businesses.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/adani-abruptly-abandons-3-5-billion-share-sale-as-crisis-mounts-20230202-p5ch9w.html
A report condemning the Adani Group’s history of alleged fraud, bullying and criminal acts has the potential to destroy what’s left of the company’s reputation, says Professor John Quiggin.
https://independentaustralia.net/business/business-display/damning-report-exposes-adanis-corporate-cons,17194
A slew of economic data and a cautiously optimistic upgrading of the global economic outlook by the International Monetary Fund tend to support the argument that this year will see the bottoming out of the global economy, writes Stephen Bartholomeusz who says it wouldn’t take much to derail the global economic recovery.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/danger-is-lurking-despite-storm-clouds-clearing-for-the-global-economy-20230201-p5ch02.html
And overnight policymakers at the US central bank voted to lift the Federal Reserve’s key interest rate by 0.25 per cent, as expected. In a statement, the Fed’s policy committee said: “The committee anticipates that ongoing increases in the target range will be appropriate in order to attain a stance of monetary policy that is sufficiently restrictive to return inflation to 2 percent over time.”
https://www.afr.com/policy/economy/federal-reserve-lifts-its-key-rate-by-0-25pc-20230202-p5cha9
Republicans aren’t going to tell Americans the real cause of our $31.4tn debt, explains Robert Reich who says the real problem isn’t America’s growing federal budget deficit. It’s the decline in tax revenue from America’s wealthy combined with growing interest payments to them.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/feb/01/republicans-arent-going-to-tell-americans-the-real-cause-of-our-314tn-debt
Truss and Brexit have sunk Britain’s economy – and the right is in deep denial about both, explains Martin Kettle.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/feb/01/liz-truss-brexit-sunk-britain-economy-right-in-denial-imf
Researcher Susan de Groot Heupner explains why the violence between Israel and the Palestinians may be entering a devastating new phase.
https://theconversation.com/why-the-violence-between-israel-and-the-palestinians-may-be-entering-a-devastating-new-phase-198788
Cartoon Corner
David Rowe
Andrew Dyson
Matt Golding
John Shakespeare
Mark David
Cathy Wilcox
Peter Broelman
Fiona Katauskas
Mark Knight
Leak
From the US
What a relief that it has nothing to do with them spending Aus $1,000,000,000,000+ dollars a year on their military .
Robert Reich’s video
oil effect on inflation from Robert Reich
Follow-on from Tudge’s appearance at the Robodebt RC yesterday-
George Pell’s mourners
Definitely part of the same club, which is really strange as Pell (allegedly) preferred young boys which would have made him a pedophile. I’m surprised at Alan Jones turning up – he would not want his fans to draw uncomfortable parallels with his love of teenage boys.
😆 😆 😆
.
Not only but also 😀
Those poor satirists , the ‘targets’ are producing better material than the satirists.
https://www.audit.nsw.gov.au/our-work/reports/bushfire-recovery-grants
Seth Meyers –
Stephen Colbert –
Chris Hayes –
Brian Tyler Cohen –
Jordan Klepper – (wait till you meet these effing clownss)
Desiderata: buses, several, for the throwing under of people
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2023/feb/02/australia-news-live-albanese-defence-dutton-aukus-indigenous-voice-to-parliament-vic-nsw-qld-inflation-pell-funeral-politics#top-of-blog
Some SA LOL. Not that they’d be orphans when it comes to having to deal with such nuttery…
—————————————————————————————————–
A South Australian council has been forced to reassure its residents that Elon Musk is not attaching mind-control microchips to their brains, and that it is not installing killer 5G towers.
Salisbury city council has been targeted by people spreading a range of false claims about its smart infrastructure program,………………………The council then passed a motion confirming “for the avoidance of any doubt” that:
“Council has not and will not [install] smart technology ‘on behalf of powerful globalist bankers that have infiltrated all councils’.”
“Council has not and will not … ‘rollout any agenda to create a new One World Government as part of the Great Reset’.”
“Council has not and will not support the rollout [of] any adverse elements referenced in the fictional novels, George Orwell’s 1984 or Animal Farm.”
“Council has not and will not support 5G towers to be used ‘to kill or maim people’.”
“Council confirms that it is not aware of ‘a microchip that Elon Musk has produced which he has inserted or is in the process of inserting and/or attaching to residents’ brains to control the community’.”
Other claims the council was forced to debunk include that it was going to introduce digital currency, restrict residents’ travel through “climate change lockdowns”, that it was using facial recognition technology in CCTV cameras and was planning to create a social credit score system similar to China’s “Orwellian” national structure.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/feb/02/south-australia-salisbury-council-conspiracy-theories-elon-musk-mind-control-chips-5g
They walk amongst us.
During Pell’s funeral Sydney archbishop Anthony Fisher compared him to Richard the Lionheart. How apt, but not in the way Fisher intended. Pell liked young boys, Richard I was infamously homosexual, even shared a bed with the king of France, Phillip II.
George Monbiot –
Good morning Dawn Patrollers
Nearly all of those accused of involvement in a $10 billion money laundering operation smashed by the Australian Federal Police this week have swapped their Sydney mansions for remand cells after appearing in court on Thursday. Jenny Noyes reports that, in its largest-ever asset seizure, AFP officers took possession of at least $150 million worth of property and luxury assets and arrested nine suspects during 13 raids across Sydney on Wednesday, cutting off a shopping spree that included 360 hectares of land purchased for a new suburb near Sydney’s new international airport, worth $47 million.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/money-laundering-accused-swap-sydney-mansions-for-remand-cells-20230202-p5chhu.html
David Crowe argues that the shrill critics of Jim Chalmers’ essay are missing the point. Well worth reading.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/shrill-critics-of-chalmers-essay-are-missing-the-point-20230202-p5chee.html
Phil Coorey reckons up to $3 billion in promised power price relief for householders will be rebadged as a cost-of-living centrepiece in the May budget, after design complexities and disagreements pushed back the intended rollout date beyond April.
https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/budget-to-contain-3b-of-rebadged-power-price-relief-20230202-p5chb2
Anthony Albanese has revealed he will proceed with the referendum to enshrine an Indigenous voice to parliament even if he suspects the proposal will fail because of a lack of political consensus. Katherine Murphy writes that, given history shows referendums fail when they lack bipartisan support, the prime minister acknowledged that advancing, come what may, was a “risk … particularly where, at the moment, it is only the Labor party saying that they are committed to a yes vote”.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/feb/03/albanese-says-voice-referendum-will-go-ahead-even-if-political-dissent-presents-risk-of-failure
Seats surrounding Sydney Harbour used to be sure things for the Liberal Party. It can’t reclaim federal government without taking some of them back, writes Nick Bryant who concludes his evaluation with, “Peter Dutton not only runs the risk of placing himself on the wrong side of history on Uluru, but also ignoring the here and now of Australia’s new political geography. Currently, he looks to be failing the Sydney Harbour test.”
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/can-peter-dutton-pass-the-sydney-harbour-test-20230201-p5ch3l.html
It’ll be tough for Perrottet to win the NSW election. But Labor won’t romp home either, writes David Clune.
https://theconversation.com/itll-be-tough-for-perrottet-to-win-the-nsw-election-but-labor-wont-romp-home-either-198892
Perrottet is no slave to his ‘Catholic gut’, but religion does cross into politics, explains Margot Sackville in a very good contribution.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/perrottet-is-no-slave-to-his-catholic-gut-but-religion-does-cross-into-politics-20230201-p5ch59.html
Covering the Pell funeral, Jordan baker writes, “Those whose lives were destroyed by abusive priests, and who hold Pell responsible for the church’s failure to act, may have hoped Pell’s influence and his strident brand of Catholicism would die with him. But if Abbott has anything to do with it, the cardinal’s influence will live on as a symbol of Catholic defiance. The era of Pell the man is over, but that of Pell the martyr may be just beginning.”
https://www.smh.com.au/national/as-pell-the-man-is-laid-to-rest-pell-the-martyr-rises-20230202-p5chi2.html
The Australian’s editorial begins with, “As a reflection of the cowardice that tends to afflict members of our political class, it would be hard to go past the non-appearance of Anthony Albanese, Dominic Perrottet and other political figures at George Pell’s funeral in Sydney on Thursday. Given their offices, both men should have been there.”
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/editorials/leaders-lacked-courage-on-pell/news-story/98e465d3b0735967d02f276faf3139e1?amp
Meanwhile, a group of Victorian councillors has written to the state government calling for guidelines to end Christian prayers in local council meetings. Wendy Touhy tells us that the letter, sent on Tuesday and signed by 21 councillors from across the state, argues widespread use of a single faith’s prayers at the start of meetings is “inconsistent with the multicultural and multi-faith diversity of the communities the council represents”.
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/councillors-push-for-end-to-inappropriate-christian-prayers-at-meetings-20230202-p5chf5.html
Opus Dei is a sect. Its spirituality doesn’t free the spirit, but enslaves it, writes Paul Collins after seeing the 4Corners program.
https://johnmenadue.com/opus-dei-a-catholic-sect-opus-dei-school-pic/
Covering the robodebt royal commission, Luke Henriques-Gomes writes that Christian Porter has insisted someone in one of the two government departments responsible for the robodebt scheme assured him it was legal, while telling a royal commission he did accept some responsibility for the scandal. (Underneath all of what we have seen so far is the essentially unanswered question of what drove these people to do what they did and did not do).
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/feb/02/christian-porter-tells-inquiry-someone-in-department-assured-him-robodebt-was-legal-but-i-cant-recall-who
The security and dignity of having a home is no longer seen as a human right because governments of all colours have encouraged housing to become a commodity through tax breaks on investments, writes John Ward who takes us through the terrible social consequences of them.
https://johnmenadue.com/the-impact-of-the-housing-crisis-on-the-mental-and-physical-health-of-children/
The office of former NSW deputy premier John Barilaro intervened in a $100 million bushfire recovery program and altered the guidelines, resulting in Labor electorates missing out on emergency funding despite being ravaged by the deadly Black Summer fires. Alexandra Smith and Lucy Cormack tell us about the scathing new investigation by the NSW auditor-general.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/barilaro-s-office-steered-bushfire-recovery-funds-away-from-labor-held-seats-audit-office-20230202-p5chf9.html
And Michael Koziol writes about the fears of bushfire victims being confirmed by the above report.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/not-vindicated-shattered-bushfire-audit-confirms-communities-fears-20230202-p5chj2.html
Alan Kohler explains why he says, “The RBA is fighting for its purpose … and its life”.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/2023/02/02/rba-reserve-bank-revamp-kohler/
In Victoria, school principals are scrambling to fill core classes due to a “dire” teacher shortage, as hundreds of vacancies in state schools remain unfilled, and concerns schools will have to combine classes or reduce curriculum offerings.
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/teacher-shortages-it-s-week-one-and-principals-are-already-back-in-the-classroom-20230129-p5cgbg.html
Tony Wright really takes the piss out of the monarchists’ response to the image of Charles III not being on the next $5 note.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/no-more-pussyfooting-australia-s-monarchists-take-five-to-respond-to-anthony-albanese-20230202-p5chji.html
These three doctors are concerned that Australia’s GP system is heading the way of America’s. They worry the government will launch headfirst into reforms that will make general practice in Australia look more like the US without making the investment our primary care infrastructure desperately needs.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/can-t-afford-a-doctor-australia-s-gp-system-is-heading-the-way-of-america-s-20230202-p5chc2.html
Ash Cant tells us how Australia’s health system crisis was ‘entirely predictable’.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/2023/02/01/health-system-care-hospitals-ama/
Michael Pelley writes that Mark Dreyfus has raised the possibility of urgent changes to Australia’s personal insolvency laws after announcing that he will hold a round table with industry leaders next month. Mr Dreyfus told The Australian Financial Review yesterday that he would invite up to 30 people who represented creditors and debtors to attend the forum at Parliament House in Canberra on March 2.
https://www.afr.com/companies/financial-services/dreyfus-to-explore-urgent-changes-to-insolvency-laws-20230131-p5cgvp
While enacting an Indigenous Voice to Parliament is crucial, a broader discussion must also take place about Australia’s archaic ‘Constitution’ and the benefits of embracing a republic, writes Dr Klaas Woldring.
https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/voice-to-parliament-valuable-first-step-towards-a-republic,17195
Rachel Clun writes that the former head of the nation’s consumer watchdog has warned a lack of competition is a threat to liberal democracies such as Australia, just days after Treasurer Jim Chalmers argued for a move to “values-based capitalism”. Rod Sims has urged Sims urged the government to bring in stronger laws and industry rules to curb bad business behaviour and ensure the economy did not suffer.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/capitalism-must-come-with-rules-to-ensure-competition-sims-20230202-p5chgx.html
The thaw in Chinese Australia diplomatic relations is giving Australian businesses greater confidence the export market will reopen. But there are plenty of threatening cracks to navigate, says Jennifer Hewett.
https://www.afr.com/policy/economy/the-great-china-rush-is-clearly-back-on-20230202-p5cher
South Australia, its ambitious premier and state association have made a bid to take the New Year’s Test match from Sydney to Adelaide Oval. Senior cricket sources have told The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald that Premier Peter Malinauskas and the South Australian Cricket Association have approached Cricket Australia about trying to pinch the New Year’s Test, customarily played at the Sydney Cricket Ground. No doubt meteorological data will play a big part in their arguments.
https://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricket/south-australia-in-audacious-bid-to-pinch-sydney-s-new-year-s-test-20230202-p5chj7.html
This week’s decision by FIFA to accept sponsorship from Visit Saudi of the Women’s World Cup to be played in Australia and New Zealand later this year places athletes, fans, local sponsors and journalists in a difficult position, writes Craig Foster who takes us through his several concerns.
https://www.smh.com.au/sport/saudi-arabia-sponsoring-the-women-s-world-cup-as-hosts-we-must-block-this-20230202-p5chi9.html
The Tories now face a choice: lose office with honour or burn everything in sight, opines Rafael Behr.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/feb/02/tories-lose-opposition-party
Anthony Albanese’s electoral success and the quiet competence of Labor’s administration has not gone unnoticed by the commentariat and political analysts here in the UK. A sea change from the noisy and brash Morrison days, writes John Fitz from the Cardiff University.
https://johnmenadue.com/lessons-for-uk-labour-from-australia/
As the 2024 GOP presidential contest heats up, Republican voters are being seized by an increasingly urgent desire to win. After the 2020 and 2022 contests, it’s clear Trump has turned off a large part of the electorate. If Republicans want the White House, they must find a way around him, writes Karl Rove.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/the-wall-street-journal/republicans-who-want-to-win-will-need-to-find-a-way-around-trump/news-story/709d6cec92d003165ed0fb05228e48a0?amp
Cartoons Corner
David Rowe
Cathy Wilcox
David Pope
Matt Golding
John Shakespeare
Simon Letch
Mark Knight
Leak
From the US
OK – I read Jim Chalmers’ essay – all of it – and found nothing to be outraged in it. (I did think it was too long, but that comes from previous studies where a strict word limit was imposed. Lecturers would simply stop reading if you dared exceed that limit so I learned very quickly to not exceed word limits.)
Despite all the hoo-haa about this essay being too “woke” or filled with too many “kumbaya” moments (whatever that means) I found it interesting and revealed much of Chalmers own thinking.
Stephen Hamilton, who seems to be on the faculty of a US university while still finding time to be a visiting fellow for the ANU and finding time to write the very occasional turgid piece for the SMH was very rude about the essay yesterday. He claims to be an economist but his affiliation with Nine tells me a lot about his politics. Thank goodness he does not bother to write for the SMH all that often.
Seth Meyers –
Stephen Colbert –
Chris Hayes –
Lawrence O’Donnell –
Brian Tyler Cohen –
Jordan Klepper – (the full clown show segment from y/day)
Classic comedy from the Robodebt arse kicking factory.
https://michaelwest.com.au/pwc-and-the-robodebt-royal-commission-whats-the-scam/
https://www.aap.com.au/news/key-robodebt-defender-set-to-face-royal-commission/
We had a short but devastating storm about 3.30 this afternoon. My eldest says it was worse than the big storm of 1985, when a water spout came ashore from the river and caused a couple of deaths.
Here’s the ABC’s take on it
‘Mini cyclone’ rips through Port Macquarie, lifting roofs and bringing down trees
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-02-03/mini-cyclone-damages-port-macquarie-buildings-mid-north-coast/101928700
It was all over by 4 pm, but left a lot of damage. I suffered a power outage that took until 7 pm to fix. My youngest grand-daughter was affected – power lines were down between her house and her preschool so her mum was rather late collecting her.
For a time the rain and hail was so heavy that I could not see the front yard let alone the houses across the road. Our little cul-de-sac seems to have escaped damage, but the CBD. really copped it.
F.M –
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/feb/03/vaping-its-bad-and-not-just-because-tiny-children-are-doing-it
Snowy Owl
Good morning Dawn Patrollers. Get your teeth onto THIS lot!
The Robodebt Royal Commission is hearing damning evidence of public sector dysfunction. Now it must probe the question of culture, writes Laura Tingle in a long examination.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-02-04/robodebt-royal-commission-evidence-public-sector-dysfunction/101928428
As more terrible details emerge in the robodebt royal commission, a case is being built of misfeasance in public office, writes Rick Morton in quite some detail.
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/politics/2023/02/04/fw-urgent-tudge-leaked-personal-data-cow-welfare-critics
The minister responsible for robodebt ordered an independent investigation into the controversial scheme but the damning results were never shared with his department, allowing the unlawful program to continue for several years, reports Alex Mitchell.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2023/02/03/robodebt-audit-never-gave-final-report-dhs/
PwC was commissioned to do a report on Robodebt in 2017 but but can’t recall if it was finalised, or not, or why. What’s the scam? PwC is the scam. This was the Big4 consultant the government used to attack poor people and now cover it up. Highlights from the testimony of partner Shane West at the Royal Commission yesterday. Michael West piles on the consultant here.
https://michaelwest.com.au/pwc-and-the-robodebt-royal-commission-whats-the-scam/
The light scrutiny of ‘dark money’ shows that our political donation laws are broken, declares Peter Hartcher. A good read.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/light-scrutiny-of-dark-money-shows-political-donation-laws-are-broken-20230202-p5chi0.html
Shane Wright explains how Jim Chalmers is taking on capitalism as we know it in a bid to save stretched households.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/chalmers-takes-on-capitalism-as-we-know-it-in-bid-to-save-stretched-households-20230201-p5ch7y.html
John Hewson says that Treasurer Jim Chalmers has written an excellent, thought-provoking essay in the latest edition of The Monthly. It attempts to set his budgetary process, which he began last October and will advance in May, against the background of recent crises and in the context of the broader economic, social and environmental circumstances of our time. He points out that Chalmers is being attacked in various sections of the media and by the usual suspects of vested interests.
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/opinion/topic/2023/02/04/treasurer-jim-chalmers-mission-reform
More on the subject from Wright with Jim Chalmers saying the 2020s could define the nation’s future, with its economic fortunes to be determined by the choices it makes in three key areas.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/we-can-t-afford-to-waste-another-decade-chalmers-says-the-2020s-will-define-australia-s-economic-future-20230203-p5chng.html
The Treasurer handed in his latest essay and bought a doozy of a conversation, writes Michelle Grattan.
https://www.theage.com.au/national/treasurer-hands-in-his-latest-essay-and-buys-a-doozy-of-a-conversation-20230203-p5chmi.html
Pontificating Paul Kelly begins this effort with, “The historical purpose of the Labor Party has been to civilise capitalism. While Labor exists that will never change. It means Labor’s purpose rests on the proposition that capitalism is defective, flawed and needs to be civilised.”
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/inquirer/have-chalmers-and-albanese-learned-the-lessons-of-the-past/news-story/448be0b7a846f770bedc615886d3b09b?amp
Katherine Murphy says that the fury over Chalmers’ essay is a reminder to Labor that change won’t get an easy ride. She writes that one of the more comical subplots of the political week has been the fury belching from the opinion pages of the Australian and the Australian Financial Review in response to Jim Chalmers suggesting in conciliatory terms that capitalism should (brace yourselves readers) be tethered by values.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/feb/04/fury-over-chalmers-essay-is-a-reminder-to-labor-change-wont-get-an-easy-ride
Jim Chalmers delivered an astute clarification of aspects of his concepts of Values-Based Capitalism and Co-Investment for the rebuilding of the Australian economy at a time of volatility in financial markets (7.30 Report 31 January 2023). In juxtaposition, The Australian and several mainstream media agencies preferred vilification of Jim Chalmers above fair but critical reporting, writes Denis Bright.
https://theaimn.com/that-7-30-report-interview-have-over-reactions-in-the-mainstream-media-strengthened-jim-chalmers-outreach/
John Kehoe explains why Chalmers is backing social investing and tells us that many experts are keen on the Treasurer’s wish to push companies, governments and investors together but others say there are better ways to improve wellbeing.
https://www.afr.com/policy/economy/why-chalmers-is-backing-social-investing-20230202-p5chgf
The party that calls itself Liberal and describes itself as conservative is neither liberal nor conservative, opines Dave Donovan.
https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/the-radical-extremist-liberal-party-of-australia,17203
The Albanese government’s second year in power is shaping up as a wild ride. The prime minister is intent on using every opportunity to establish a legacy as a Labor reformer “changing the nation for the better”, writes Paul Bongiorno who looks at the forces lining up to derail him.
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/opinion/topic/2023/02/04/labor-wild-ride-get-things-done
Albanese says health reform has top priority, but doctors are unimpressed, say Natassia Chrysanthos and Kate Aubusson.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/albanese-says-health-reform-top-priority-but-doctors-left-unimpressed-20230203-p5chn4.html
GPs will receive boosted rebates and there will be payments for working after hours, as part of a $750 million package in the May budget designed to rescue Medicare and take pressure off the crumbling public hospital system. Phil Coorey and Tom McIlroy tell us that, after a meeting of the national cabinet on Friday, and the release of a taskforce report into how to strengthen Medicare, the federal government also did not rule out allowing allied health professionals such as pharmacists to perform some tasks of doctors, such as prescribing medicines.
https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/gp-rebates-incentives-on-agenda-for-medicare-reform-20230203-p5chnr
In this Medicare review, Josh Butler tells us what changes can we expect to see – and what’s still missing.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/feb/04/medicare-review-what-changes-can-we-expect-to-see-and-whats-still-missing
The future of primary healthcare is integrated, team-based practice – and Medicare must be ready for it, urges Stephen Duckett who says, “Practices need to be funded to include a range of health professionals and provide outreach. And they have to be supported by IT systems that work”.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/feb/03/the-future-of-primary-healthcare-is-integrated-team-based-practice-and-medicare-must-be-ready-for-it
Medicare reform is off to a promising start. Now comes the hard part, says the Grattan Institute.
https://theconversation.com/medicare-reform-is-off-to-a-promising-start-now-comes-the-hard-part-197914
Australia is entering a period of falling inflation after annual price rises peaked late last year, but that will not stop the Reserve Bank’s official interest rate hitting 3.6 per cent, the nation’s leading economists have said.
https://www.afr.com/policy/economy/disinflation-has-arrived-but-peak-cash-rate-tipped-for-3-6pc-20230203-p5chr4
Victorians could buy their electricity direct from the state government as it considers ways to expand the new-look State Electricity Commission beyond what was promised during the election campaign, explain Royce Millar and Josh Gordon.
https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/victoria-s-new-look-sec-could-sell-power-direct-to-homes-and-businesses-20230202-p5che6.html
Penny Wong has visited no less than 24 Indo-Pacific nations in that time, including an ice-breaking trip to Beijing, and has won the praise of some of her harshest critics for the way she’s delivered a message that Australia was under new management and bringing a diplomatic approach that, as she said this week, “puts listening above lecturing”. Rob Harris is referring to her speech to King’s College in London where her nuanced but nonetheless pointed remarks about British colonialism within Asia and the Pacific had left an impression she’d flown in specifically to harangue the old colonial master.
https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/how-wong-s-important-message-got-lost-in-a-clumsy-ill-explained-swipe-20230203-p5chm1.html
“Net zero, to use the first great climate change metaphor, hasn’t got a snowflake’s chance in hell. It’s a fraudulent concept. It’s not real. It requires an heroic leap of faith, magical thinking. It cannot exist in the physical universe”, declares Greg Sheridan.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/inquirer/emission-impossible-net-zero-carbon-reduction-goal-is-a-quest-for-space-cadets/news-story/bb036082777ab4969690455b27854ece?amp
The federal opposition says the addition of a new sentence in the proposal to enshrine an Indigenous Voice in the Constitution highlights a broader failure of process and consultation in the government’s referendum strategy, writes Lisa Visentin.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/failure-of-process-opposition-questions-new-recognition-line-in-voice-proposal-20230203-p5chpk.html
Gerard Henderson goes off again on the ABC as he writes about the Voice referendum.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/inquirer/time-for-facts-to-correct-myths-of-indigenous-history/news-story/7577838af96f4788dbb17af7c4e2c1bf?amp
New details of the ‘No’ case against the Voice reveal scrutiny of native title as one of three prongs in the alternative campaign, writes Karen Middleton who takes us inside the Voice’s ‘No’ campaign.
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/politics/2023/02/04/inside-the-voices-no-campaign
In a show of unity, the prime minister and state and territory premiers have officially backed an Indigenous voice to parliament after Friday’s national cabinet meeting in Canberra. State and territory heads signed on to a “statement of intent”, formally supporting an Indigenous voice to parliament.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/feb/03/pm-state-and-territory-leaders-formally-back-indigenous-voice-to-parliament-with-statement-of-intent
According to Paul Sakkal and Lisa Visentin, Greens Senator Lidia Thorpe has demanded that none of her fellow Greens MPs, including another Indigenous senator, meet with Indigenous community members about the Voice to parliament, insisting only she was allowed to do so.
https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/thorpe-demanded-indigenous-community-deals-only-with-her-20230203-p5chq5.html
The government’s review of the flawed carbon credits scheme is nuanced, political and confusing, writes Mike Seccombe who tells us what the carbon credits review didn’t say.
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/politics/2023/02/04/what-the-carbon-credits-review-didnt-say
Australia could end up with a 30-year-old nuclear-powered submarine – as old as the navy’s Collins class boats – as an interim measure, as AUKUS leaders prepare to meet next month to unveil the preferred pathway for Australia’s future submarine fleet, writes Andrew Tillett.
https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/australia-could-buy-30-year-nuclear-subs-to-replace-collins-class-20230203-p5chns
Lucy Cormack and Tom Rabe report that the Perrottet government has handed the corruption watchdog a copy of a scathing investigation which found an intervention by the office of the then-deputy premier John Barilaro diverted funding for a $100 million bushfire recovery program away from Labor-held electorates. They really had no option after Minns’ ultimation, did they?
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/bushfire-grants-report-sent-to-corruption-watchdog-20230203-p5chtm.html
The NSW Coalition government has had to deal with waves of scandal in the past few years, including one that forced the resignation of a premier, but it is hard to think of anything more cynical than the pork-barrelling of recovery funds intended for victims of the 2019 Black Summer bushfires, declares the SMH editorial that says this ICAC investigation can show if grants pork-barrelling is corruption.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/icac-investigation-can-show-if-grants-pork-barrelling-is-corruption-20230203-p5cht9.html
Here’s Amanda Meade’s usually interesting weekly media round-up.
https://www.theguardian.com/media/commentisfree/2023/feb/03/why-a-cosmetic-nurse-become-a-media-magnet-over-the-alice-springs-unrest
Coles and Woolworths have been ordered to dump more than 5200 tonnes of soft-plastic waste into landfill from their failed national recycling scheme. The NSW environment watchdog issued “clean-up orders” to the supermarket giants for 15 warehouses and storage depots around the state where soft plastics have been stockpiled by REDcycle, the Melbourne-based business responsible for running the national recycling scheme.
https://www.theage.com.au/national/coles-woolworths-ordered-to-dump-tonnes-of-redcycle-soft-plastics-in-landfill-20230131-p5cgok.html
Frank Bongiorno tells us how Labor’s arts revival is taking centre stage. He says that we will have a better idea what it all amounts to in May, when the government delivers the most critical budget for the cultural sector this century.
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/opinion/topic/2023/02/04/labors-arts-revival-takes-centrestage
Matt Wade provides us with the four charts that show pokies are the most destructive form of gambling.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/the-four-charts-that-show-pokies-are-the-most-destructive-form-of-gambling-20230202-p5chit.html
The only thing worse than junk mail is paying for your MP to send it, cries Malcolm Knox who laments that a trip to the letterbox is now simply a rubbish-clearing operation, to transfer paper to the recycling bin a few paces away.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/the-only-thing-worse-than-junk-mail-is-paying-for-your-mp-to-send-it-20230202-p5chi1.html
George Pell, lauded at his funeral this week, was the subject of 10 abuse claims at the royal commission, writes Des Cahill who concludes his contribution with, “The victims of clerical sexual abuse and their families will continue to tie their protest ribbons to the gates of St Mary’s. The church will continue to remove them. The hurt will continue, just as the adulation and whitewashing of George Pell’s life will continue.”
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/law-crime/2023/02/04/cardinal-george-pells-sendoff
Peter Ryan writes about the subject of the senate committee into concussions and repeated head trauma in contact sports. He gives us examples of the effects of these injuries.
https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/it-makes-you-think-about-things-football-s-uncomfortable-truth-20230202-p5chgg.html
As Western Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, the state faces the vast task of post-flood rebuilding in a way that prepares for more extreme rainfall events, writes Jesse Noakes.
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/politics/2023/02/04/how-politics-hindering-the-kimberley-flood-emergency
Former prime minister Scott Morrison’s decision to stop a controversial gas field from being explored off the NSW coastline is set to be overturned, after the federal government and two gas companies agreed to end a looming court battle, reports Anne Hyland.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/scott-morrison-s-decision-to-stop-controversial-nsw-gas-field-to-be-overturned-20230202-p5chk5.html
The former prime minister’s use of secret ministerial powers in the Asset Energy gas exploration veto cannot be defended, Commonwealth court filings reveal, writes Karen Middleton.
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/politics/2023/02/04/scott-morrison-gas-decision-overturned
Michael Pascoe tells us why the fearmongering about a China-US war is over the top.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/2023/02/03/china-war-michael-pascoe/
Clancy Yeates tells us that Insurance Australia Group has said premiums are set to keep rising steeply for at least another year as it passes on higher costs from natural disasters and inflation to customers, and as it seeks to hit financial targets.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/insurance-giant-iag-cuts-guidance-after-hit-from-inflation-floods-20230203-p5chnl.html
Queen Elizabeth has died yet an FOI request into plans for her death, made 4 years ago, lives on. The institutions responsible for citizens getting timely access to information that would otherwise allow them to participate in policy debates and hold the government to account are broken. It’s like getting spoilt fruit instead of fresh, reports Rex Patrick.
https://michaelwest.com.au/we-still-dont-know-the-plans-for-the-queens-death/
“Arsehole of the Week” nomination goes to this Sunshine Coast woman arrested on DUI charge with a staggering 0.419 alcohol reading.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/state/qld/2023/02/03/qld-driver-staggering-dui-reading/?breaking_live_scroll=1
Cartoon Corner
David Pope
David Rowe
Andrew Dyson
Matt Golding
John Shakespeare
Mark David
Alan Moir
Jon Kudelka
Jim Pavlidis
Richard Giliberto
Simon Letch
Matt Davidson
Glen Le Lievre
Mark Knight
Leak
From the US
Bill Maher – (new rules 48:20)
Chris Hayes –
Brian Tyler Cohen –
The below is good longer read for anyone wanting to understand part of why Andrews won.
Eastern Screech Owl
A message from BK – pinched from over the road –
Albo needs to get this fixed PDQ
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2023/feb/05/australia-news-live-anthony-albanese-indigenous-voice-to-parliament-referendum-megan-davis-us-china-balloon-incident-womens-world-cup-saudi-sponsorship?filterKeyEvents=false#top-of-blog
The thread by Tom Studans is well worth reading, especially this most illustrative response from from Sam Connor –
If you were silly enough to believe Robodebt is over then I have a bridge you might like to buy.
Bill Maher overtime – (delayed as it now goes to CNN first)
Michael West –
Dear BK,
Sick leave is compulsory for all correspondents at The Pub.
I hope you feel much better tomorrow.
Anyway, please take it easy!