So many questions, so few answers

Does anyone else get frustrated when they hear and see the members of the Federal Labor government being given the Third Degree by the media over the tiniest tidbit of unsourced gossip or misstep, and with respect to their policies, yet the Opposition are only given the once-over-lightly?

I know I do.

I am also heartily sick of their glib dismissal of valid questions, on the odd occasion that they are asked them by journalists, with the pat line,“We are merely an Opposition, and as such we cannot be expected to make (difficult) decisions about our policies, and inform the electorate with answers, until after we get back into power.” Or some such similar codswallop.

Where's the journalist who has the gumption to make the perfectly valid point back to the Opposition mouthpiece, whoever they may be, that, no, you are the alternate government going into an election campaign and the electorate has the right to know the detail of your proposals so that they can judge both teams competing for their vote on a level playing field?

If you, like I am, are sick to death of the ABC, News Ltd., and to a lesser degree, Fairfax, being used as Coalition Talking points platforms, then I suppose it will again be the job of the citizen journalists of the Fifth Estate to ask those tough questions.

I know that we will never be able to ask the Coalition MPs to their faces the questions that need more than those glib Talking Points mouthed back to us as answers, but maybe, just maybe, there's a journalist out there reading this who will take our concerns and questions on board and put them to the Coalition.

Thus, in the interests of truly 'Fair and Balanced' inquiry I have begun to wade through the mire of the Liberal Party website and their statements to the press, and composed some questions, based on their stated words which have been written down there, so we have to believe them, which are begging for answers.

This is by no means an exhaustive examination of the composed output of the Libs, so I'm sure I'll find fertile ground for further questioning in the future as we make our way through the election campaign.

OK, let's start with Coalition 'Economic Principles' and Industrial Relations policy, shall we?

The Coalition say they are for 'Building Sustainable Prosperity' and that, 'Individuals, rather than governments, are usually best placed to make decisions that maximise community well-being.'

What I would like to ask is, how will an Abbott government be able to rein in the well-documented exploitative practices of 'individuals' in the form of employers, who made decisions which demonstrably minimised 'community well-being', as a result of WorkChoices, which Tony Abbott has pledged to bring back in a modified form? He may say that he will not bring back WorkChoices and that the community has no appetite for further workplace change, but doesn't that contradict other statements which he has made this year wherein he stated he did want to make changes to the new Unfair Dismissal provisions of the 'FairWork Act', and to abolish Weekend Penalty Rates? See here for a reminder:

I would especially like to highlight this quote from Julie Bishop: "Signalling the Coalition's intent, deputy Liberal leader Julie Bishop yesterday attacked the government's overhaul of workplace awards and said the return of 'inflexible working conditions' such as weekend penalty rates was costing employers and workers."

I would thus like to encourage an enterprising journalist to ask Ms Bishop, or Mr Abbott, to come up with definitive evidence to explain that assertion. I mean, whenever I have been into my local pharmacy of a weekend recently, post the introduction of the 'Fair Work' legislation, they have seemed to be doing pretty well, have sufficient staff to meet everyone's needs, a goodly number of customers, and the pharmacist has seemed happy enough. I also have not seen any pharmacies, or any other small businesses, having to close down of a weekend as a result of the new workplace laws or having to pay weekend Penalty Rates. Sure, that is not to say that some small businesses have not had to close their doors. However, I would make a guess that that would more likely have been due to the credit squeeze the banks imposed during the worst of the GFC.

Now, could someone ask a Coalition spokesperson whether, as Joe Hockey said on Lateline this week, whether the Coalition will tamper with the Workplace Laws, or not? Will they leave Penalty Rates alone, as Hockey suggested, or will they seek to abolish them, as their Leader and Deputy Leader suggested in their February, 2010 statements?

Could an enterprising and conscientious journalist ask Ms Bishop to detail with hard facts where jobs have been lost in the Aged Care sector, in the Retail sector, in Pharmacies, or in Agriculture, as a result of the Labor government's new 'inflexible working conditions'? I thought we had 5.1% unemployment and a looming skills and worker shortage again? Which tends to suggest otherwise, Ms Bishop, don't you think? Please explain, Coalition.

Also, as stated in Tony Abbott's February speech to a Business luncheon, does he still subscribe to the statement he made back then, that the Coalition “had a mandate to take the Unfair Dismissal monkey off the back of Small Business, and we will once more seek that mandate”?

Also, whether, he continues to believe that, “We had a mandate to introduce Statutory Non-Union Contracts and we will seek to renew that mandate”?

Does this also mean, as that statement seems to suggest, that he is specifically anti-Union? If not, why make a virtue of the fact that Statutory Contracts should be 'non-union'?

Tony Abbott also stated that, “Labor had interim transitional employment agreements”, and “We will make them less interim. ”What exactly does he mean by that statement? Does it mean that he would like to abolish them on coming to government? Sure sounds that way to me.

Also, “Labor has individual flexibility agreements. We will make them more flexible because we understand that you can't run a successful business without being able to deploy your workforce to their best advantage and to your best advantage”. Somehow I think the bit about 'to their best advantage' was put in there as camouflage for his real intent, to craft laws that will work to the employers' best advantage.

He then goes on to say, “We want to make it possible for businesses to be more profitable and for workers to earn more. That's what we had under the Howard government. That's what we need to have again.”

Now, those statements suggest a number of questions to me.

Firstly, could Tony Abbott suggest how the ALP's flexible workplace arrangements do not now deploy employees to their employer's best advantage, beyond going into the realms of worker exploitation?

Also, how increasing the 'flexibility' of employee work arrangements does not equate to the Howard government, under WorkChoices, allowing for employers to order their employees to work whenever the employer wanted them to? And being forced to come into work at short notice, under threat of being sacked if they didn't, taking absolutely no account of the employees home situation with respect to their families?

Is that not the extreme sort of 'flexibility' that Tony Abbott's words conjure up in your mind?

It sure does in mine.

I'd like someone to ask him if that will be the case if Eric Abetz, member of the H.R. Nicholls Society of extreme I.R. advocates, becomes Industrial Relations Minister in an Abbott government.

Enough of the tightly controlled message being the only thing that gets out each day from the Coalition during the election campaign. We need real answers to real questions!

Finally, could some enterprising journalist, during the election campaign, challenge Tony Abbott, when he comes out with the statement again, which he no doubt will, that workers earnt more under the Howard government as a result of the changes brought about by WorkChoices? As far as I can remember it, that 'fact' was as a result of the figures being inflated by the salaries of upper and middle managers on Individual Contracts, who benefited the most from WorkChoices, and not the wages of employees on the bottom rungs of the employment ladder who were forced into Individual Statutory Contracts.

I will be endeavouring to scour the Liberal Party's written words (because they are the ones we are told to believe) to formulate more questions which they should be asked in the days and weeks ahead during the election campaign. Hopefully, as I said, there will be some journos out there still with a conscience and not an agenda, who will take those questions on board and try to ask Tony Abbott for some straight answers to them, and not be fobbed off when he gives non-answers.

I would appreciate it if we could all be on the lookout now for the statements, made by members of the Coalition, which suggest pertinent questions and thus demand straight answers. Maybe we could compile them into a file which could be sent out to all the journalists on the campaign trail, so that they may in turn ask those questions of the Coalition on our behalf.

Especially so considering the fact that Tony Abbott has today said that he not only wishes to bury WorkChoices but to cremate it. Which is all well and good as a soundbite intended to disarm the electorate from Day 1 of the campaign. However, it is my hope that the journalists with Tony Abbott scrutinise closely what he has written down as commitments with regard to this contentious policy area. An article from The Courier Mail today outlines the bare bones of his Industrial Relations pledges.

However, the last couple of sentences give me pause for thought: "Mr Abbott will pledge that if the Coalition wins the election it will not seek to change Labor's new Fair Work Act for at least three years." He will say he wants to make individual agreements more flexible and reduce small business burdens, but "do so within Labor's existing legislation".

What that says to me is that he is engaging in an electoral fix to get the issue off the agenda by saying that he won't touch the Fair Work legislation in the first term of an Abbott government. No doubt he would spend the entire first term of his government massaging the electorate and softening them up for the changes that he has promised to bring in in his second term. Therefore an eneterprising journalist on the campaign trail should pointedly ask him what exactly are the changes that he intends to bring into the workplace in his second term? And, if he fobs off the questioner with a glib line about just let him get a first term before he discusses a second, then I would not let him get away with that. The electorate needs to know now!

Also, what exactly does he mean when he says he wants to make 'individual agreements more flexible'? Does that mean he wants to abolish Enterprise Bargaining in favour of Individual Agreements for all employees? Does it also mean, as I noted above, that he wants to bring back the employers' ability to demand an employee work at the employer's whim, with no say in the matter of when they are rostered on to work, and no allowance made for family duties and Work/Life balance?

Lastly, what does he mean when he says he wants to 'reduce small business burdens...within Labor's existing legislation'? Does this mean that he will be wanting to severely modify Labor's Unfair Dismissal provisions within the Fair Work legislation? Well, isn't that just returning to WorkChoices principles under the cloak of the Fair Work legislation?

We need answers to these questions, and we need our best and brightest journalists to ask these questions of Mr Abbott now, and not just let him skate on by with his glib daily soundbites that say everything and nothing as he is never pinned down for long enough to get a straight response and a truthful, explicit answer from him.

What do you think? Will you join us here at The Political Sword and work with us to provide the scrutiny of the campaigns of both parties, which the Press Gallery appears to have not the time or the inclination to apply to the welter of material that will be released over the life of the election campaign?

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Rx

17/07/2010One for [b]ABC WATCH[/b] please, Ad Astra: 'PM', ABC Radio, 17 July 2010, 5.00pm AEST 'PM' spoke to Professor Dean Jentsch, long-time commentator on Australian politics. They spoke to Arthur Sinodinos, former chief-of-staff to John Howard. And to balance Sinodinos, they spoke to a former Labor adviser (sorry did not catch the name) who had been adviser to three Labor governments. Balanced to that point. But. But in rounding out the program they spoke to Malcolm Turnbull, allowing him to give the Liberal spin. In balance, there wasn't anybody from Labor. So let it be noted that the 'PM' program of 17 July (the day on which the election was called) was biased in terms of airtime towards the Liberal Party.

George Pike

17/07/2010"Mr Abbott will pledge that if the Coalition wins the election it will not seek to change Labor's new Fair Work Act for at least three years." That instantaneously gives him carte blanche to bring back WorkChoices IMMEDIATELY, as he has indicated would do it eventually...therefore he (with his unscrupulous line of thought) will contend that he has a mandate to do it as soon as he plonks his wiry old bottom upon the PM's parliamentary chair. I can see it now..."Three years, shmee years...the public knew it was coming..."

Lyn

17/07/2010Hi Hillbilly Thankyou very much for your brilliant piece, "So many questions, So few answers." You are wonderful Hillbilly again and again. The topic should open up a can of worms, attracting lots of interesting, reading for us, when comments come pouring in. [quote]Therefore an enterprising journalist on the campaign trail should pointedly ask him what exactly are the changes that he intends to bring into the workplace in his second term? And, if he fobs off the questioner with a glib line about just let him get a first term before he discusses a second, then I would not let him get away with that. The electorate needs to know now![/quote] Abetz has already made a contradictory statement: Coalition could tweak IR laws: Abetz But shortly before Mr Abbott made his promise, Liberal Senate leader Eric Abetz said there was scope to "tweak" regulations within the Fair Work Act. July 17, 2010 - 3:34PM Sydney morning Herald http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/coalition-could-tweak-ir-laws-abetz-20100717-10ev8.html Abbott already got away lightly in his Press Conference, won't be any changes for three years,what does that mean. Abbott said he was a good Minister, why because he said so himself. On Climate change, Abbott said they have a clear plan, what's that. Real Action, Direct Action, what's that. The Election campaign will be filthy, why because he is in it. [quote][b]Abbott, still in Opposition rather than alternative Prime Minister mode, was primarily focussed on attacking Gillard’s competence and trustworthiness[/b].[/quote] [b][i]And we're off, Bernard Keane , The Stump[/i][/b] Abbott, still in Opposition rather than alternative Prime Minister mode, was primarily focussed on attacking Gillard’s competence and trustworthiness. http://blogs.crikey.com.au/thestump/2010/07/17/and-were-off/

Grog

17/07/2010Good post Hillbilly. It was a bizarre policy to start the eleciton with - a "we won't do something even though we think we should policy"

Mobius Ecko

17/07/2010This irks me even more Hillbilly because Rudd was being grilled as an alternate Prime Minister the moment he got the Labor leadership and well before an election had been called by Howard. Howard actually started the 2007 election campaign at the end of 2006 and one of the first things he did was start attacking the Labor opposition's credibility as an "alternate government". Everything thrown at the opposition during that period was couched in the terms of a "credible alternate government". Yet for reasons I have yet to fathom this opposition are not challenged on anything as an alternate government but are being held to the standard of a second rate opposition as though that excuses them from being grilled.

Lyn

17/07/2010Hi Hillbilly, Ad and Everybody [b]Don't miss our friend Grog, with another Brilliant column, thankyou Grog[/b] [i]Election 2010: Day 1 ( or let's check with a focus group - it might be day Zero) GROG, GROG'S GAMUT[/i] And so Tony Abbott’s first act of the election is to show he is not a straight talker and that he is not someone who does what he believes is right, regardless of the political consequences. That is, he is not someone who can make the tough decisions. And with that goes all of his argument against the ALP on climate change. http://grogsgamut.blogspot.com/

Lyn

17/07/2010Hi Hilbilly and Everybody, Excellent post by Miglo at Cafe Whispers has Moving Forward covered, thankyou Miglo [i]Moving forward, Miglo, Cafe Whispers[/i] Under Tony Abbott I have not seen one little piece of evidence that he has any intention of moving this country forward. Chest beating about stopping boat people does not move the country forward. Unplugging the national broadband network does not move the country forward. http://cafewhispers.wordpress.com/2010/07/17/moving-forward/

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17/07/2010Rx ABC WATCH updated: http://www.thepoliticalsword.com/page/ABC-Watch.aspx

George Pike

17/07/2010Am I paranoid...or did Mike Simkin deliberately try to link an attack on a Liberal candidate and her aide in Queensland to the Labor election campaign? On the election special at 7:00pm on the ABC tonight, Simkin ran the attack story, that finished with something like..."they were angry at the Liberal Party's stance on asylum seekers and one punched my aide in the face"...then Simkin switched straight over the Tony Abbott saying "I expect Labor to run a filthy campaign." It appeared to be "defamation by media manipulation" to me...am I right do you think?

George Pike

17/07/2010Mike or Mark Simkin?...not sure about that sorry...

HS

17/07/2010Rx, Thank you for your diligence wrt ABC Watch, it is most appreciated. I think that we will ultimately be able to compile a file that may even form the basis of a formal complaint, with lots of juicy evidence! If we don't call them to account, who will? Do you know what? I have another example of the hopefully unintentional ABC bias towards the Coalition. On their new ABC Election page, 'Australia Votes', there are 2 stories that keep flashing before the eyes of the viewer. Firstly, 'Tony Abbott's Rapid Rise'(I would have thought Julia Gillard's rise was more rapid and more spectacular and worthy of special coverage, but there you go, that's just me I guess, the first woman Prime Minister, so what?); and secondly, 'Battlelines Drawn', which has a giant screen capture picture from Lateline last night with Christopher Pyne smack dab in the middle and Tony Bourke barely recognisable on the margins. Also, 'Battlelines' was the name of Tony Abbott's book, so another gratuitous hat-tip to the Opposition Leader. That's 2/2 for the Opposition, courtesy of the ABC.

jimbo

18/07/2010its good to see that the wingnut abbott has at least learnt something from his mentor the canetoad john howard because howard did a similar thing with the gst.he left it to a later date on the lying premise that there would never ever ever be a gst that it was dead in the water.not unlike the wingnut abbott saying workchoices is dead and has been cremated but we will tweak around with workfair for the first three years,i am surprised our ever alert,fair and unbiased media havent noticed the similarity and done something like ask him about what hppens after the first three years or is this gospel or another one of your lies.

HS

18/07/2010lyn, Thank you for your kind words. I just try my best. :) One interesting fact I would note about Eric Abetz is that he is a comitted and active member of the H.R.Nicholls Society, which originated in Tasmania where he is from. As part of my research for this blog I thought I'd find out what the thinking, behind closed doors, was of the Shadow Industrial Relations Minister. I found a speech he gave to the H.R.Nicholls Society Annual Dinner this year: http://www.hrnicholls.com.au/archives/vol30/2010abetz.pdf I thought it would be a good idea to see what the specific thinking, beyond Tony Abbott's soundbites, was. Essentially the Coalition want to dismantle Enterprise bargaining at a Business level, between Unions representing the workers, and the company. They instead want to replace it with 'negotiations', one on one between boss and worker. They say that these sort of specific arrangements produce better outcomes for all. They use the example of Micro Businesses, such as Coffee Shops and Dentist surgeries, and they continue to rail against Penalty Rates on the weekend and at night. Eric Abetz appears to imply that it is the Business owner, such as the Dentist or Bar owner who comes off 2nd best after Penalty Rates are paid to their employees. Sorry, but my Dentist was last seen driving the latest BMW, even after he had paid his staff to work on Saturday mornings! Abetz also referred to those school kids who lost their jobs at the Hardware Store earlier this year because their employer wouldn't pay them for a minimum of 3 hours when they worked 2. There is some justification in this complaint, though I think that if an employer is so bereft of funds he can't afford an extra $10-50/week to pay a couple of schoolkids there must be something very wrong with his Business Plan. A press release Abetz put out on their case after Fair Work Australia determined it is here: http://www.australia.to/2010/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3902:ruddgillard-government-axes-after-school-jobs&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=201

HS

18/07/2010George P., That's Mark Simkin, and yes, you're right, they did try and blow it up in the way you suggest on the ABC 7PM News. If memory serves me, in the end it turned out to be a storm in a teacup. I imagine the proof of that pudding will be found on ABC today, if they try and fan the flames some more. No other TV News outlet ran with that story. Maybe they will today. We'll see I guess. Ch.9 ran with Tony Abbott's WorkChoices backflip and 'gaffe', which was a relief to hear after his recent sting on Julia Gillard.

Lyn

18/07/2010[b]TODAY'S LINKS [/b] [i]Morgan: 53.5-46.5 to Labor, William Bowe, Poll Bludger[/i] This is very similar to the last poll under Kevin Rudd, except that Labor and the Greens are each 0.5 per cent lower with “others” 1 per cent higher. Friday, July 16, 2010 – 6:06 pm, by William Bowe http://blogs.crikey.com.au/pollbludger/2010/07/16/morgan-54-5-45-5-to-labor-2/ [i]Galaxy: 52-48 Labor, William Bowe, The Poll Bludger[/i] Julia Gillard leading Tony Abbott as preferred prime minister 55-32. http://blogs.crikey.com.au/pollbludger/ [i]Poll puts Labor ahead as campaign begins, ABC[/i] But Ms Gillard has a 23 point lead over Mr Abbott as preferred prime minister http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/07/18/2956855.htm [i]An Election Way, Tim Dunlop, B Sides[/i] The idea that he promises not to do anything WorkChoicy on the IR front for three years is tantamount to an admission that he wants to do something WorkChoicy on the IR front. http://tjd.posterous.com/ [i]An Abbott Future, JJFiasson, The Daily Bludge[/i] Just recently he proposed banning welfare for those under the age of 30 to force them to move west, where the mining jobs are. He has also proposed significant crackdowns on other welfare recipients, advocating http://dailybludge.com.au/2010/05/an-abbott-future/ [i]And we're off, Bernard Keane , The Stump[/i] Abbott, still in Opposition rather than alternative Prime Minister mode, was primarily focussed on attacking Gillard’s competence and trustworthiness. http://blogs.crikey.com.au/thestump/2010/07/17/and-were-off/ [i]The leaders opening gambits, Mark, larvatus prodeo[/i] got off to a very shaky start, with a surprisingly quick address to the media. He didn’t convince as an alternative PM, struggling to move beyond the posture of carping opposition leader http://larvatusprodeo.net/2010/07/17/federal-election-2010/ [i]Workchoices dead says Nats Kevin Hogan. Oh Yeah?clarencegirl, North Coast Voices[/i] If elected, we will be faithful to the liberal conservative tradition http://northcoastvoices.blogspot.com/ Barrie Cassidy discusses Gillard's press conference,ABC http://www.abc.net.au:80/news/video/2010/07/17/2956614.htm?WT.mc_id=newsmail [i]Federal Election Called,Gary Sauer-Thompson, Public Opinion[/i] The sandbelt is where Labor has the least protection from dual-income families because they rub up against the Coalition’s grey voter, aged 50-plus.The older the seat, the more it looks like Abbott territory. http://www.sauer-thompson.com/archives/opinion/2010/07/federal-electio.php [i]Election 2010: Day 1 ( or let's check with a focus group - it might be day Zero) GROG, GROG'S GAMUT[/i] And so Tony Abbott’s first act of the election is to show he is not a straight talker and that he is not someone who does what he believes is right, regardless of the political consequences. That is, he is not someone who can make the tough decisions. And with that goes all of his argument against the ALP on climate change. http://grogsgamut.blogspot.com/ [i]Yes, the Libs have a Jingle, Grog, Grog's Gamut[/i] Please keep your laughter to a minim (oh bugger, laugh away, I did) http://grogsgamut.blogspot.com/2010/07/yes-libs-have-jingle.html [i]Federal Election 2010, Mark Larvatus Prodeo[/i] She framed the election as a back to basics one, seeking to entrench the risk factor of voting for the Coalition, and particularly Tony Abbott. http://larvatusprodeo.net/ [b]TRAITOR:[/b] It’s IR versus economic competence, Mumble, The Australian [b]In fact, I slightly favour a Tony Abbott victory. There, I’ve put it in writing. Ever so slightly. [/b]http://blogs.theaustralian.news.com.au/mumble/index.php/theaustralian/comments/campaign_begins/ [i]Analysis: Abbott's press conference, Annabel Crabb, Video[/i]http://www.abc.net.au:80/news/video/2010/07/17/2956637.htm?WT.mc_id=newsmail

Lyn

18/07/2010Hi Everybody Sorry about ABC links, my friends. Ad will fix the rel="nofollow links for me. Thankyou so much Ad

HS

18/07/2010Mobius Ecko, It's frustrating isn't it that the ALP are held to a higher standard than the Coalition? All that the fair-minded want is for the Opposition to be put under the same level of scrutiny as the government. I'm still hopeful that this will be the case during the election campaign. However it will be up to the %th Estate to remain eternally vigilant and to point out when it is not happening. As far as the IR policy goes, it seems that today Nicola Roxon revealed on 'Meet the Press' that the 'tweaking' that Eric Abetz referred to would be to change the Fair Work legislation by fiddling with the regulations and not the legislation. So they can keep their promise of not touching the legislation but altering the IR environment. Mean and tricky, huh?

George Pike

18/07/2010Eric Abetz and his media mates try and play down the fact that his uncle was a commanding officer for the German army's occupational force in Paris during WW2...but you see him in action at senate inquiries, such as the Oz Car fiasco, and it really makes you wonder where this guy is coming from...

Sir Ian Crisp

18/07/2010Things that make you go Mmmmmmmmmm, eh Georgie Boy. At the last count about 21 MPs held dual citizenship so our federal parliament has been illegitimate for a number of years. Makes you wonder what would happen to all the legislation that was passed if a legal challenge is ever mounted. As the election draws closer why not open a topic headed: Pick the result. I’m sure the fortunes of the Bird of Paradox and Tony Ah-Um will rise and fall with catchy tropes and missteps. Let’s see if we can read the mood of the vox populi. Percipient punters should be allowed the luxury of changing their bets before the red light is switched on but they are only allowed two changes, i.e., if a person picks the ALP by 10 seats he or she may alter that twice only. That prediction may become the ALP by 15 seats and then with one more change only it might become the ALP by 10 seats. For our fishing buddy in Tassie who kissed Rex Hunt and then released him an election is an occasion in a democracy where those of voting age go to an endorsed polling location and vote for a political party that has appeal. For the lady with the white cane ― a volunteer may be needed to read the list of candidates to her. To the lady with the ill fitting lid on the liquid paper bottle…it might be best if you sit this one out. My prediction is the Bird of Paradox by 9 seats.

Rx

18/07/2010I heard that Mark Simkin (ABC reporter) attended the same posh private school as Abbott and Barnaby Joyce. Can anyone confirm if this is true?

Bilko

18/07/2010Good day gentle folks, the frustation we all feel is that there are so many questions that are not being asked not that there are too few answers, almost as if the answers are so horrendous that it becomes like Basil Fawlty "don't mention the war I did once but I think I got away with it" syndrome. Already a TV chan has a 14 libs gain but Labor still winning and that with the non policy coalition coverage. Abbotts green army should put the wind up any fair minded person with that many paramilitary types running around, the mind boggles that such crap is designated as a policy and no mention of a cost benefit analysis being submitted with it either. It all smacks of old Joe "don't you worry about that" fame, trust me I only lie when I speak, all my written words are gospel.

HS

18/07/2010Bilko, Good to hear from you! How's your good lady wife going? Hobbling around on both legs yet? My doctors made me walk ASAP.

Lyn

18/07/2010Good Morning Bilko Bilko, how is your wife managing, poor little thing, I feel so sorry for her. We all hope she is in good spirits, and mending quick. "[quote]don't you worry about that" fame, trust me I only lie when I speak, all my written words are gospel.[/quote] You know Bilko, it is just amazing that this guy can even mention trust, it should be a filthy word to him. Abbott's saying "it's going to be a filthy campaign", I worked out that's because he knows how much Labor has on him. Really Labor should be able to slaughter Abbott with the Ammunition they should have collected. Sky News Agenda this morning had, David Speers, Steve Lewis, Jennifer Hewitt, Michael Stutchbury, interviewing Tony Phony, now there is fair and balanced, right before your eyes. Phony had a lot of but, but, but's, he used the but but, when he is off footed that is obvious. Still no how, still no policies, the work choices is laughable, no change for three years.

vote1maxine

18/07/2010HS The fact that Abbott and Liberal party policy are held to a much lower standard of scrutiny is a real worry. Abbott could just sneak in under the radar. Swordians The danger & threat posed by Abbott My worst nightmare would come to pass if Abbott became PM. I'm seriously considering commissioning a car bumper sticker a long the lines of "Keep Australia Abbott Free". Any suggestions from the more creative and imaginative Swordians are welcome. My preliminary investigations have found that such a sticker can be produced in 3-5 days, so that allows a narrow time frame to develop a better slogan and still be out there for the last couple of weeks for the campaign. As political material, I guess it needs to be authorized? I'm not keen on having my real name & address exposed to every right wing nutter out there. Is there a way around this? There is also the logistics of distribution. I was thinking of donating these to those Swordians who are interested. However privacy of fellow swordians is also a concern.

FFreddy

18/07/2010HS I hope you get some answers but my advice is don't hold your breath. This is 1996 all over again. I might have left it a bit late but I hope I haven't left it too late to declare this the "Never Ever Election" where Abbott and the Coalitions greatest challenge is to convince (deceive??) the electorate that they will not reintroduce Workchoices. However media standards have collapsed sooo much since 1996 that its unlikely Abbott will face many questions on the issue and if he does they'll be of the featherduster type with very little followup. Meanwhile if Beryl the tealady at the Bankstown RSL utters a word against any labor policy expect screaming headlines in the Murdoch press about "Labor Dissent" etc., etc.

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18/07/2010LYN'S DAILY LINKS updated: http://www.thepoliticalsword.com/page/Lyns-Daily-Links.aspx Thank you Lyn for yet another comprehensive set of links.

George Pike

18/07/2010Watching Alan Koehler on Insider Business this morning was like viewing a corporate extremist anti-government hate session! Koehler could not have destroyed his credibility as a neutral journalist any more if he had stripped naked and draped himself in the Liberal flag. It was nothing short of disgusting to watch someone who has been given the critically important role of informing the Australian public of current affairs concerning the country's economic and business environment, to so utterly betray the public trust by presenting pure corporate-Liberal propaganda. Koehler totally failed to inform the public of the distortions promoted by himself and the mining industry representatives during the initial RSPT debate...and maintained those distortions regarding the current MRRT issues. He failed to make it clear that the mining industry knew full well that they were going to be making 100 billion dollars more than the government had projected and that by not making those figures clear early in the piece they had committed an act of absolute treachery against the Australian government and the Australian public in general. Koehler is a self serving snake oil salesman who should be barred from ANY form of financial discussion where it is possible for him to continue to decieve the public with false assumptions and misleading assertions, or from holding any financial advisory position what so ever. Nearly every other financial commentator was in exactly the same boat, including Tikki Fullerton on Lateline Business. It is simply unacceptable that any employee of the National Broadcaster can be allowed to carry out a clear and obvious propaganda campaign against the national interest to favour corporate interests...and heads should roll!

HS

18/07/2010vote1maxine, VOTE1MAXINE! Now, as for a bumper sticker slogan, how about 'Tony Would Be A Bad Abbott For Australia To Pick Up' ?

Bilko

18/07/2010Hi all, thank you for your kind comments the OH is still bedridden but obviously getting better as she gave me a hard time yesterday. No handing out HTV pamphlets for her this time round. The monk only says "trust" it is not written down so the electorate don't have to believe him any way in the seminary he must have had to wash his mouth out with soap so it will not be a new experience for him. Have you noticed his family are invisible whereas Julia's partner is on view, now if we can make Tones disappear hmm, back to the hosp bye bye all

HS

18/07/2010FFreddy, You know what? I wouldn't exactly write off the 5th Estate's ability to get answers from the powers-that-be about issues that concern us, or questions asked about issues that need answers. I say this because, and it's only anecdotal evidence, but since our campaign about the inherant Newsification of the ABC and Insiders in particular, I have noticed a better balance emerging, if somewhat tentatively, and with some blatant examples of Coalition bias still occurrring, as I myself noted here above; however, I have also noted positive changes in the tone of Insiders at least. They have introduced more balance to the panels, with a lot of the more reasonable journalists being invited on and less of the more unreasonable. Also less bandwagoneering from the News Ltd. journos, when they are on...except for Piers Akerman, who's just plain evil in my books, but who has been sidelined it seems, for the most part. Even A.Bolt seems a wee bit more considered when he's on Insiders, though I will say that in other arenas that are his own, or on Sky he reverts to old form. I would like to think that we of the 5th Estate have driven that change recently with our complaints, comments on the ABC website, and pieces here and there. I would also like to flatter ourselves generally by observing that some of the better questions that have been asked lately have been as a result of queries we have expressed here and on other blogs. We live in hope.

HS

18/07/2010George Pike, I think hubris and naked self-interest have gone to Alan Koehler's head. Crikey certainly were not happy with him using his bully pulpit during the RSPT debate. They said he had a conflict of interest because his livelihood and that of his Internet newsite, 'Business Spectator', relies heavily on patronage from the Resources Industry. I content myself with the fact that, due to the atomisation of the media, his platform is no longer as large as it used to be and so doesn't influence regular punters so much. Also that there are many expert commentators out there now who are ready, willing and able to shoot down his position with the facts. And we are able to access it and so are no longer beholden to his 'expert' viewpoint.

HS

18/07/2010lyn, The ALP campaign around Tony Abbott may be 'filthy', but he's the one who provided them with the dirty, filthy mud to sling about! If he was clean there would be no dirt!

BH

18/07/2010HS - a lot of work there but well done. Abbott has been spruiking the line that small business is in a fix because it now has to pay heavy Sunday penalty rates. He says that's unfair. I say it's unfair to the workers who have to give up time with family orfriends to work on a Sunday. I thought most small businesses added a surcharge for Sunday to cover the cost of penalty rates.

Miglo

18/07/2010Brilliant piece HS and I will provide a link to it from Cafe Whispers. As many people as possible need to see this. Oh, and BTW, it is frustrating.

Gravel

18/07/2010HS Great article. NormanK Love your lighthouse. Well the media are still up to their old tricks, nothings going to change. :-( Maybe people that are unhappy about the way they treated Kevin will wake up to the fact that they are doing the same thing to Julia? We can but hope some sanity prevails on the 21 August.

George Pike

18/07/2010You could be right there HS...he would be feeling pretty vulnerable with the Dow down 260 odd points on Friday's close hey! That was ALL due to the MRRT of course...as was the hail storm in Paris and the hairdressers strike in Berlin...damn powerful thingy that MRRT hey!

Lyn

18/07/2010Hi Miglo our friendly duck you do have a lovely smile today. Miglo we really appreciate you putting links up for "The Political Sword" on Cafe Whispers, thankyou very much. This is the way to go, linking our like minded blogs, helps to spread our excellent commenters from Cafe Whispers and The Political Sword, they all have quality opinions.

Lyn

18/07/2010Hi George I have noticed Alan Koehler, cheering for the Coalition for some time now, especially in his pieces written in the Business Spectator. As Hillbilly said, he was particularly scathing during the RSPT debate. Love this bit: [quote]hail storm in Paris and the hairdressers strike in Berlin...damn powerful thingy that MRRT hey![/quote]

Mobius Ecko

18/07/2010<blockquote>It's frustrating isn't it that the ALP are held to a higher standard than the Coalition? All that the fair-minded want is for the Opposition to be put under the same level of scrutiny as the government.</blockquote>During the approach to the 2007 election, or maybe it was during the campaign proper (hard to know as Howard had a year long campaign at public expense), Howard was asked about the extraordinary high standard the opposition was being held to, a higher scrutiny than the government itself. Howard answered that because they could potentially be the next government they must be held to account as though they were a credible government. Obviously the people found they met that standard and the government of the time being held to a lower standard didn't Now the shoes on the other foot we have worse than a reversal of 2007. Yet again it's Labor that is being asked to be held to an impossibly high standard, but we are being asked by way of the media and the opposition not to hold the Coalition to any sort of standard at all, not even a very low one. Nothing should be scrutinised, everything stated must be automatically taken as inviolate and any of their failures or gaucheries are to be ignored or actually praised as straight talking. This morning I witnessed a sustained attack by the TV media on Labor's slogan to the point Laurie Oaks kept going on about it in his interview with Wayne Swan. It was vomit inducing stuff. Just about every commentator went on about the exact number of times Julia had said the slogan in her speech, yet not a single one of them mentioned the multitude of times Abbott went on about TRUST in his speech. Insiders even intimated that the Coalition picking up a 70's union slogan was better than Labor's slogan, and yes Insiders also spent an inordinate amount of time lambasting Labor's slogan as though it was right up there with health, security, education, social services, environment et al. This is how low they have gone and what really shits me off the most is I know this is not as low as they will go. If there's not substantial movement towards Abbott and the Coalition as the polling day looms then watch the media become rabid in their banality as they scrape bottom.

NormanK

18/07/2010Hillbilly Thank you for a great post. I hope you have a list of queries that you can cross off as they are answered. You probably won’t get RSI. Jonathon Holmes’ article on The Drum (see Lyn’s links) reminds us that the ABC comes under close scrutiny during an election campaign with the template of impartiality applied. As I understand it, this is applied across thirty days so we may see a softening of language from their commentators. Of course this won’t stop them from regurgatating beat-ups from Murdoch et al given that K O’B felt okay about breaking Chatham House rules re Rudd’s “we’ve got a long memory” quote from the Mid-Winter Ball on the grounds that it had already been published elsewhere. I’m a glass half full person so I prefer to think we’ll see some closer questioning of detail as the MSM run out of stories. The good news is that Mr Abbott hasn’t even starting trying to shoot himself in the foot yet. He’s just closing his eyes and pulling the trigger. Notice how his co-campaigners stand to one side and a little behind him? Very wise. I hope you don’t mind if I piggy-back on to your article with a bit of soul-enriching Abbott-bashing. vote1maxine I doubt that these will be serious contenders for bumper stickers but, as stated elsewhere, I just can’t help myself. -------------Keep Australia Pest-free-------------- -------HELP BUILD THE ABBOTT-PROOF FENCE-------- A photo of Julia with shotgun in hand SHH - I’M HUNTING ABBOTTS ABBOTT - A BLOT ON FREE SOCIETY

Lyn

18/07/2010Hi Mobius Ecko I thoroughly enjoy your comments, always so well thought out. Mobius did you notice on Laurie Oakes report on Channel nine last night, he said Julia Gillard had a slogan and she repeated it again and again, Tony Abbott had one too but only used his once. Laurie Oakes has a today memory, what about Tony Phony and "Great Big Tax", Direct Action, Real Action, change the Government,Trust is Phony's filthy word.

George Pike

18/07/2010Let the JG v TA debate occur very soon...I have a feeling that it will gift us with the political demise of TA and probably the entire Liberal campaign will be sunk along with him. The tremors and inflections in Tony Abbott's voice are giving him away already...he knows he's about to meet his Waterloo...and at the hands of a lady too! The outline of one ex merchant banker can also be seen lurking in the shadows...won't be long now and poor old Tony could well feel the cold steel of the assassins blade smite him asunder..

Lyn

18/07/2010Hi Norman K Absolutely love it: -------------[quote]Keep Australia Pest-free-------------- -------HELP BUILD THE ABBOTT-PROOF FENCE-------- A photo of Julia with shotgun in hand SHH - I’M HUNTING ABBOTTS ABBOTT - A BLOT ON FREE SOCIETY[/quote]

NormanK

18/07/2010Celebrity Fridges This is a transcript of a new soon to be aired SBS 2 programme aimed at sportaholics and food fetishists. Hosted by Libby Trickett, this six-part series worms its way into the fridges of unsuspecting celebrities without their knowledge. Here's a taste of what we can expect from Episode One. Libby : Well, we've made it inside the office of Opposition Leader Tony Abbott. Let's see what we can find lurking in an Iron Man's fridge. A few tips if you are going to do this to a friend - always start at the back, this is where you will find the secrets to their success. Also never take at face-value the labelling of contents - what you see isn't always what you get. So what have we got? There's not much here really - second shelf at the back beside an almost empty bottle of Fundamentalist Christianity and a mouldy jar of personal integrity. An old plastic take-away food container marked "Health" in Nikko. Doesn't look very heathy to me and I don't get paid enough to risk opening it. Off to the lab for you. This is more like it. A large jar of education which appears unopened and in good condition. Ooh it's a bottle of "Grandad's Ye Old Fashioned Education". You don't see this around much any more. "It was good enough for your grandfather so you KNOW it will be good for your children." Not a very catchy slogan, is it? But then, this is not really a contemporary product. A candidate for eBay perhaps? What else do we have? In the door, a fresh envelope of Extra-Large Election Pledges, unopened in their packaging which is fairly cheap, loud and transparent. Inside are twelve thin sticks which also seem pretty transparent. They have no distinguishing characteristics and give the impression of being fragile, even brittle and crumbly. We have a use-by date of September 2010 which means they are quite perishable. The only instructions are : "Display in fridge door until after election then dispose of thoughtfully". Very wasteful. And of no nutritional value. Also in the door, quite a collection of glass one litre bottles with Texta labels. Let's see. "BILE" "JWH" "'07" on two of them with a recommended expiry of ten years from bottling. Two more, one half-empty, inscribed "BILE" "PJK" "'89" "Good for fifty years - minimum" "Do NOT remove from PM's office.". Now that's a quality product. There's six more bottles of clear liquid in unmarked bottles - it looks like water but we might get our lab staff to find out what it is. Of course, one of the problems with a fridge such as this one, is that you can never be sure who the contents belong to. Here's a good example - eight packs of Extra Strength Ego Gum. Mr Abbott's? Mr Turnbull's? Dr Nelson's? They have no expiry date so we have no way of knowing. I should think people as busy as these gentlemen would get through a fair bit of ego so perhaps they're fresh. In the freezer - a cardboard box - the front label is very difficult to make out. Years of condensation dripping on to the packet have disintegrated the name and description but I suspect it was something meant to be healthy because I can make out the words "choice" and "good for all". The contents are hard and brick-like but this may be due to aging. Perhaps the back will be more revealing. Ah yes - the suggested recipe. Let me read it to you. Ingredients 1 x packet WorkChoices* 1 x low-paid worker (low fat alternative - 1 x casual worker) 2kg long hours 2 cups x unfair dismissal 1/2 cup x take-it-or-leave-it 1 x 3-year contract 1 x pinch of hazardous material (optional) 2 x tablespoons dangerous working conditions 1 x teaspoon discontent 1kg x anti-union rhetoric Preparation Remove worker from bunch Beat worker until malleable and place in large mixing bowl Baste worker with take-it-or-leave-it Leave to stand for one hour In a separate bowl whisk long hours (remember to remove penalty rates and entitlements before whisking)** Add dangerous working conditions and optional hazardous material Beat to a smooth consistency Add unfair dismissal and knead to a tack-free paste Line a medium-sized baking tray with 3-year contract ensuring there are no loop-holes Form WorkChoices* into the shape of a shallow bowl and place on tray Mould cured worker to fit and place into hollow in WorkChoices* Cover worker in paste Smother in anti-union rhetoric Sprinkle with discontent Bake in hot oven until worker is unable to meet financial commitments Cooking Tip : Process one worker at a time to reduce chances of cross-contamination *Copyright lapsed **These can cause choking in employers Oh dear the use-by date is December 2007. I would hazard a guess and say that Mr Abbott hasn't looked at this in quite some time or else he would have thrown it out. I doubt if it will be much good to him now although sometimes this sort of thing can be reconstituted. It often just needs a few tweaks. Perhaps it just needs repackaging and then he could sell it. Well, we still haven't found what it is that gets Mr Abbott through the day, certainly not much of what we've seen so far looks very appetising. Ah here we go. Two large Jumbo Packs, both opened, one is Glib's Anti-Government Rhetoric with added bran and the other is Obfuscation's Hollow Election Rhetoric. Let's see - yahda yahda yahda "may have no nutritional value" mm mmm mmmm "serve hot or cold with your choice of Bile or Vitriol". That might explain what's in the extra bottles - sulphuric acid is my guess. Well, if his fridge is anything to go by, it would seem Mr Abbott runs on various types of rhetoric with bile or vitriol, chews a lot of ego, hopes people will notice his big election pledges and think well of him and is hanging on to a lot of old stuff which he thinks will come in handy one day. I've got to say though - most of it is rotten. Now, let's see if we can get into the Shadow Treasurer's Office. In honour of Lyn's shiny fridge.

Michael

18/07/2010Paid parental leave financed by a levy on business. A concept raised in Tony Abbott's book "Battlelines", and at the time he raised it again in public shortly after becoming Opposition Leader, 'validated' as alternative government policy by Abbott by saying that while he had not taken the idea to his shadow cabinet, the idea was there for all to read in his book as a guide to his thinking. The book is, after all, described as a blueprint for a return to Coalition government by Abbott. You want to know Abbott's thinking, he was saying, read Abbott's writing. 'Written, tightly scripted' is the 'gospel truth', paraphrasing Tony Abbott on his utterances on Coalition policy. "The battlelines are drawn", a phrase used in Abbott's speech responding to the election being called. Now, does the man need to spell it out to us? Aside from the fact he seems to be using Coalition electioneering to pitch his book, he's repeatedly made it clear since publication that his book contains the core policy intentions of a future government under PM Abbott. As such, Gillard Labor and anyone else with interest should read that book very closely for the true Abbott agenda. There should be more than enough in there to take to the next opportunity to question Tony Abbott on his real plans should he be in government any time at all. But then, as HillbillySkeleton's article explores, is anyone in the mainstream media actually interested in grilling "likable, fair dinkum, tells it as it is" Tony Abbott? It's actually their job, but you wouldn't know it.

macca

18/07/2010Great piece HS. As you say the biggest problem is getting a lazy,corrupt media to ask pertinent,intelligent questions of the opposition and, in particular Tony Abbott. Very serious questions need to be asked and answered. Going on recent form the media have neither the will or integrity to ask them. So what can we do? How can we force them to show courage. My solution:...........start a twitter campaign.................AskAbbott......get it going viral......force the media to ask, force Abbott to answer. There must be enough people in the fifth estate to get this going and ensure it keeps going. It really is the only power we have left. It is a very real power and the time to exercise it is now! The majority may very well be silent. My guess is that they're looking for answers, intelligent debate and unbiased reportage as much as the fifth estate is.The questions we need to ask ourselves? Can it be done? Should it be done? Will it be done?....and, by whom? disclaimer;......being nearly 60yrs of age my only knowledge of twitter is that it's the sounds birds make during the dawn chorus around a waterhole in the Kimberley.

FFreddy

18/07/2010HS I hope you’re right about any, even miniscule, improvement in MSM balance but I’m not so confident. Slept in this morning till 10am so missed all of political primetime but judging by various sites / posts Abbott was given a reasonable grilling this morning and especially over IR. However the real test is how this translates into coverage, especially newspapers and especially News Ltd tabloids, tomorrow morning given the small audience size of these shows. HS you mentioned that that you detect “less bandwagoneering from the News Ltd journos when they’re on” (Insiders). I’ve often been struck at how reasonable and balanced many of these journos come across as on Insiders and then when you read their copy it’s the usual biased nasty stuff. Malcolm Farr is the one who strikes me most in this regard. On the show he comes across as shirt rolled-up roly-poly reasonableness but then when you read his pieces, complete with headline, it’s the usual Daily Terrorgraph smear. Going back to my earlier point about how issues are ultimately covered in the tabloids I’m reminded of watching Abbott being caught out over a visit to George Pell by Tony Jones on Lateline during the 2004 (?) election. My jaw dropped as I watched it and thought to myself Abbott ( a senior minister! ) and the Coalition are in trouble here. The next day opening the Adelaide Advertiser it was a small one paragraph story stuck in the corner of the page with no prominence and it didn’t last as a story till the next day. Also when Abbott made his recent candid comments about his honesty to Kerry O’Brien this was only reported briefly at the end of a lengthy piece that was about other matters. And when Abbott recently made his totally unsubstantiated comments about climate change re: biblical times, to impressionable Adelaide schoolchildren the Adelaide Advertiser didn’t even report on the matter. I think it’s reasonable to think that Abbott could have reached over and given a nasty clip around the ear to one of the kids if they’d stood up and challenged him and got away with that to. We can only live in hope.

Ad astra reply

18/07/2010HS Thank you for your timely piece, so germane to the start of the election campaign, and on the very topic Tony Abbott chose to highlight even before the election was officially called. As Grog says, why would Abbott choose to ‘bury and cremate’ a policy in which he still believes? He prides himself on being a ‘conviction politician’ – which as I understand that ill-defined phrase, implies that if the politician has a conviction about a policy or issue, he/she sticks to that without deviation. Yet here is our conviction politician saying that the policy about which he has always had a conviction, and still does, is dead AND cremated. This is not just over-the-top rhetoric, and should not be glibly dismissed as such. This is disingenuous opportunistic politics – an attempt to get rid of a troublesome issue at the outset of this election – yet retreating only a little. The guarantee to leave Labor’s IR policy unaltered extends only for the first term of an Abbott Government, and already Eric Abetz has indicated that an Abbott Government would ‘tweek’ the existing IR laws if elected. Abbott’s [i]Battlelines[/i] reveals how wedded he still is to WorkChoices, which he has always maintained was good policy, conceding only that ‘it went too far’, and that he’s backing away now only because of public aversion to the policy. WorkChoices is not dead and buried, certainly not consumed by the fire of cremation. It is alive, but in suspended animation ready to resuscitated as soon as Abbott thinks he can get away with it. He was unwise to make such a big play so soon, and by so doing runs the risk that, like Kevin Rudd on climate change, he will be seen to shelving something dear to his heart and thereby evoking the ‘what does he stand for’ criticism, the same that poisoned support for Rudd so devastatingly.

Ad astra reply

18/07/2010vote1maxine I do like the slogan “Keep Australia Abbott Free”. I don’t know if there are regulations governing bumper stickers – does anyone here know? I also like HS’s “Tony Would Be a Bad Abbott for Australia to Pick Up”. What about “Australia needs an Abbott-Proof Fence”? Or “Maintain strong borders – Keep Abbott-Seekers Out.” Or “Cremate AbbottChoices”. Or “Avoid Bad Abbotts – vote Labor”. There must be lots more out there.

Ad astra reply

18/07/2010George Alan Kohler has been anti-Labor for ages. His level of vitriol surprises me as he comes across on ABC TV as reasonably even-handed. But one only has to read him in [i]Business Spectator[/i] and his [i]Alan Kohler Report[/i] to see his true feelings. He has ridiculed the ETS/CRPS, the RSPT and even the MRRT, although he didn’t get much support from his guest this morning, Ivor Ries, research director at E.L. & C. Baillieu when discussing the MRRT tax.

Ad astra reply

18/07/2010Bilko Do extend our good wishes to your OH for a quick return to normal function. The infantile behaviour of journalists knows no bounds. Groupthink is alive and well today as multiple journalists from ‘spanner in the works’ Laurie Oakes to Barrie Cassidy and his panel on [i]Insiders[/i] and several TV presenters, all homed in on Julia Gillard’s ‘moving Australia forward’ theme, no doubt contrived to contrast with Tony Abbott’s ‘moving Australia backwards’ approach. Since several journalists have taken to counting how many times she used the slogan when they might have more usefully engaged themselves in dissecting her vision and the outline of her plans for the nation, they may soon kill off the slogan. It replicates exactly what they did with ‘working families’ in the Rudd era. They seem never to have understood that repetition is aimed at those who do not sit transfixed as they do, lapping up every word uttered by politicians and becoming irritated by the repetition, but at those who catch but a fleeting glance at the TV while having a beer or cooking a meal or coping with rowdy kids. But I wouldn’t mind so much if they were even-handed and made as much fuss about Abbott’s repetition. In your comment you mention ‘trust’. It struck me that he used ‘trust’ over and again in his press conference after the election was called (no, I didn’t count), but I haven’t heard one word from the journos about how many times he did so. Not one word about his theme of trust, a theme John Howard used so successfully in the 2004 election. So are they blind or just biased, or worse still deliberately hammering Gillard but not Abbott? If it is the latter, we’re in for a pretty unfair appraisal of the campaign from the Fourth Estate. But what’s new?

Ad astra reply

18/07/2010Mobius Ecko I agree with your sentiments, and have expressed similar sentiments in my 3.59 pm post – I should have refreshed before posting. With this blog engine square brackets are used for emphasis around i for italics, b for bold, u for underline, and quote for quotes, with a closing / i, b, u, or quote tag, again in square brackets.

Ad astra reply

18/07/2010NormanK Another brilliant piece, and what a splendid recipe. May I suggest a WorkChoices Eating Contest with Tony Abbott and Eric Abetz as the Coalition’s champion WorkChoices Eaters pitted against the rest of the Coalition to see who can eat the most in one session. Joe Hockey is considered a strong challenger for WorkChoices Eating Champion, but Barnaby Joyce might be sleeper in the contest, provided he can stop talking long enough to eat his WorkChoices. First prize is three years’ supply of the ingredients for WorkChoices, and a place on MasterChef to demonstrate the skill of cooking this worker-beating recipe, and to launch the Coalition’s new ‘Turn-Back-the-Boats’ recipe that will secure our borders for ever.

Lyn

18/07/2010Hi Norman K What a wonderful enjoyable piece, you have written up for us thankyou. I really am lucky to have a piece dedicated to my shiny fridge, by the way it got polished vigorously again this morning when Shanahan was on agenda.

HS

18/07/2010Michael, 'Tricky' Tony Abbott has already been confronted with a journalist who has read his book and asked him about a suggestion he made there that, if translated into a public policy would have had the effect of Kryptonite. His response? A straightforward reply, saying that, essentially, the book was just a thought bubble. Honestly, when he wants it to be a blueprint it is, when a suggestion within its pages turns out to be unpopular, he jettisons it.

Ad astra reply

18/07/2010FFreddy You point to the problem – too many journos behave according to their audience. They can be reasonable in one forum and yet vitriolic in another. With the exception of Piers Akerman, who is always vitriolic against Labor no matter what the forum (I shudder to think what he’ll be like on Q&A tomorrow night), Andrew Bolt who is almost always anti-Labor, and Glenn Milne whose pro-Coalition stance is obvious, most other journalists are reasonable when on programmes such as [i]Insiders[/i]. The last two episodes demonstrate this. But many of the same journalists, back writing for their outlets, follow the line expected by their editors or proprietors. Exceptions are the likes of Lenore Taylor, Laura Tingle and Misha Schubert who maintain a balanced approach throughout all their media endeavours. If only the Fourth Estate was populated with such sound and reliable journalists.

Lyn

18/07/2010Hi Michael "[quote]The battlelines are drawn", a phrase used in Abbott's speech responding to the election being called.[/quote] The Battlelines are drawn, has been adopted by David Speers on Sky News, all day today, over and over. Oh! dear think I will have to polish my fridge again. [quote]grilling "likable, fair dinkum, tells it as it is" Tony Abbott?[/quote] Michael you forgot authentic, Tony Phony is very authentic to himself.

HS

18/07/2010Ad Astra, It seems to me, that once you drill down through the weasel words that Tony Abbott tried to get away with, firstly in his initial campaign speech, then with his attempt to mop up after that failed to quell speculation about his true intent, after his first effort at obfuscation failed wrt his plan to revivify WorkChoices, just not yet, and considering what Eric Abetz had to say, then the only conclusion that can be drawn is that he would claim a mandate if elected to do the 'tweaking' that Eric Abetz spoke of, which would take the form of new Regulations but not new legislation, and Ministerial directives to 'tweak' individual cases. Hardly a flat out refusal to bring back elements of WorkChoices from the dead. Cremated or buried.

George Pike

18/07/2010You would think the Liberal missionaries would give up trying to convert we Labor Luddites from our false ambitions wouldn't you. I'm afraid we are a lost cause, as we are too mesmerised by the thought of equity and functionality right across the health and education systems, the provision of a worthwhile retirement pension for the battlers, a revolutionary reform of our communications capabilities and systems, a strong and secure system to protect our wages and conditions, viable and practical ports, rail and highway infrastructure for the regions critical to the economy..etc etc etc.. Maybe it is time for the missionaries, especially those who hail from Philladelphia (News Ltd) and those who are employed by the public at the national broadcaster, to whip back over their side of fence and try and prevent a mass evacuation from their own ranks...it may just be that their own devotees are preparing to jump ship and join we Luddites in our quest for a better place!

HS

18/07/2010BH, As I said, I have hardly noticed any small or micro businesses(Abbott's new favoured children in the business world), going under or not being open on the weekends around my way. In places such as Pharmacies which are unable to change prices or add a surcharge on weekend sales, they are open just as much now as they were during the period of WorkChoices. In fact, maybe more because people are getting paid a decent wage again, have jobs due to actions taken during the GFC by the Rudd government, and consumer confidence is high. Quite the opposite I would imagine to what the situation would have been if the Coalition had been calling the shots. Just imagine how a combination of WorkChoices and the GFC could have made this country depressing, both economically and psychologically. Also, they would probably have mounted a scare campaign for this election along the lines of, if you don't want more job losses you'll vote for us again. That is, implying that Labor would be worse. No one would be able to prove otherwise of course.

HS

18/07/2010Miglo, Thank you! I'll be over for a coffee soon. I need one!

HS

18/07/2010Gravel, Election campaigns are a special kind of insanity. I don't know how the politicians stay sane, let alone the voters! However, I hope that people can see through the smoke and mirrors to the truth.

HS

18/07/2010macca, A Twitter campaign sounds like a marvellous idea! I think I might just do that. :) I follow a lot of the MSM journalists, so I might just Tweet a question a day.

HS

18/07/2010FFreddy, We can only hope that the local girl, Julia Gillard, is given a reasonable run by the 'Tiser. I must say that the story that came out of SA today about the Chinese company caught paying their Chinese workers $1.70/hr may serve to resurrect in people's minds just which path we were headed down with WorkChoices. A more timely reminder couldn't have been created by an Advertising Agency for the ALP. I just hope Mike Rann is a smart enough politician to exploit it for all it's worth. I just imagine that as a result of the GFC we would have seen wages drop precipitously in this country if we had still been under the WorkChoices aegis. The Coalition would have found a way to justify it. Then, once the wages have gone down it's damn hard to get them back up again. Just look at America. Yesterday on the PBS Newshour I saw a story about a company that negotiated wages down as a result of the GFC, from $12/hr to $10.70/hr. Reprehensible and economic vandalism. I bet the bosses didn't take a salary cut though.

HS

18/07/2010George Pike, If you read that speech by Eric Abetz that I linked to earlier on, you'll find that he has a go at the journalists of Australia as being Pro-Labor still! I nearly fell off my chair when I read it. I don't think that, outside of the US, you could find a bunch of journalists that were more obviously partisan in favour of the Coalition and conservative side of politics than you could here.

HS

18/07/2010NormanK, You are right off the Creative Richter scale and in a class of your own! Thank you for making the effort for us here at TPS. :)

George Pike

18/07/2010HS, I used to think he was ok...I think the Howard years delivered them all unto a much harder place! Howard tainted the entire Liberal government with his own strain of ruthless conservatism and Lord only knows how many little Godwins there are out there in the senior public service ready to strike fear into everything Labor. He and McGauchie etc have peppered the ABC with staunch loyalists to their cause for sure...

HS

18/07/2010Did anyone else just see Laurie Oakes 'bombshell' on Channel 9 News? It was a Galaxy Poll taken on Saturday night, which had the ALP 50:50 with the Coalition. Fair dinkum, as if one measley poll by an organisation with a reputation that is less than the other pollsters can be other than taken with a grain of salt. What does seem more sensational to me is the fact that Channel 9 seems to be trying to actively derail the ALP in this election campaign.

George Pike

18/07/2010This is the link for the site where I found the pic of the lighthouse if anyone is interested in things nautical...there are hundreds of lighthouses from all round the UK, Ireland, France, etc...sorry for going off message... http://www.lighthousesrus.org/Europe/FranceW.htm

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18/07/2010Folks If you want to get insight into what the media thinks is great journalism, take a look at a video of Geoff Elliott and Caroline Overton talking about Laurie Oakes ‘bomb’ at the National Press Club last week. Take your anti-nausea medication first. http://player.video.news.com.au/theaustralian/#PFVkncsEArwHQCBJ_Td8_DpkYvyDAbK2

NormanK

18/07/2010Ad astra "Take your anti-nausea medication first." Insufficient warning I'm afraid. Keep a bucket handy. Caroline Overton - "He's (Oakes) as good as we've got." What is our world coming to? Points Ad for going where angels fear to tread.

Ad astra reply

18/07/2010HS The poll was by Galaxy of 800 people around Australia commissioned by Channel Nine. It's curious that the same pollsters had Labor 52/48 a couple of days ago and 50/50 the next day. Joe Kelly heads his piece in today's online [i]The Australian: Julia Gillard's election call may have backfired with poll showing Labor's support slipping[/i] despite the first Galaxy showing that 67% supported an early election. We can expect to see some odd polls during the election campaign and ought to not get too exercised about any individual poll. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/julia-gillards-election-call-may-have-backfired-with-poll-showing-labors-support-slipping/story-fn59niix-1225893621692

Jason

18/07/2010HS, The Chinese workers are at Mitsubishi, dismantling the factory now they don't make cars here in Adelaide anymore. Maybe a question for Abbott how would he treat the senate majority while he has it should he win?

Lyn

18/07/2010Hi Hillbilly You guessed it, Channel Nine is cheerleading for Tony Abbott and Laurie Oakes is is the Coalition mouthpiece. Did you hear Laurie say even though she has no children of her own, that didn't stop her from cuddling babies.

HS

18/07/2010It looks like the MSM are using polls as a blunt weapon to beat the ALP over the head with again, plus Laurie Oakes throwing his weight around.

HS

18/07/2010lyn, Does Laurie Oakes have any children?

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18/07/2010HS Here is the link to the two Galaxy polls: http://blogs.news.com.au/images/uploads/galaxy_ch_9.pdf It is curious that while all the other parameters are almost identical between the polls (including PPM 55/35) , the TPP has changed by two points. There are some interesting questions on trust, likeability and understanding.

Lyn

18/07/2010Hi Hillbilly, Ad and Everybody ELECTION CAMPAIGN DAY ONE: This is a gaffe: ‘‘Echoes of Howard as Abbott makes rates guarantee , Sydney Morning Herald I will guarantee that interest rates are always going to be lower under a coalition government http://www.smh.com.au/federal-election/echoes-of-howard-as-abbott-makes-rates-guarantee-20100718-10fnu.html This is a gaffe: Abbott says no to carbon price, ABC "Every time he makes statements criticising China and India without understanding what they're doing, then he's simply showing his ignorance and setting the Coalition further behind," she http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/07/18/2957035.htm?section=justin

Lyn

18/07/2010Hi Hillbilly and Ad There is five weeks, interesting to see, how many gaffe's there will be. [b]THIS IS AN EXPENSIVE GAFFE:[/b][i] Oh my, What party is that man standing for again?, Peter Martin[/i]http://petermartin.blogspot.com/2010/07/oh-my-what-party-is-that-man-standing.html [b]THIS IS A GAFFE:[/b] Qld LNP leader jets off during election , SMH has the support of federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott and LNP members, despite media reports of party dissent, a spokesman for Mr Langbroek told AAP on Sunday. http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/qld-lnp-leader-jets-off-during-election-20100718-10frr.html

Lyn

18/07/2010Hi Everybody Grog has written another interesting, brilliant column tonight, thankyou Grog [i]Election 2010: day 2 (or bombs away!) Grog, Grogs Gamut[/i] So I guess 260,000 people changed their minds in one day… or that actually nothing has really changed but Nine has to sell the poll it paid a fair bit of money for. http://grogsgamut.blogspot.com/

Lyn

18/07/2010Hi Ad [b]GOOD NEWS[/b] Labor is up to 55 per cent and the Coalition's is down to 45 per cent. [b]July 18, 2010 8:37PM[/b] [i]Julia Gillard and Labor make solid start to election campaign , Dennis Shanahan, The Australian[/i] The Australian last weekend, Labor is ahead of the Coalition on primary vote for the first time in months http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/julia-gillard-and-labor-make-solid-start-to-election-campaign/story-e6frg6n6-1225893653750

Lyn

18/07/2010Hi Ad Below copied of my email alert , but now the page has been removed. 404-Page not found Gillard and Labor make solid start The Australian - Dennis Shanahan - ‎26 minutes ago‎ LABOR has begun the election campaign well ahead of the Coalition and Julia Gillard has headed off Tony Abbott's advances under Kevin Rudd. ...

BH

18/07/2010BH - Lyn - is that tonights' newspoll?

HS

18/07/2010lyn, You are an absolute, rolled-gold gem! Your information-gathering skills are second to none. :) What I couldn't understand about the poll from Galaxy, as grog kindly pointed out, was how a quarter of a million Australians could have changed their vote overnight. I know Laurie Oakes has tickets on himself as a political kingmaker, but I would never have thought that his 3 days of relentless negativity towards the government, from Thursday lunchtime at the Press Club to Saturday when the election was called, could have made such a difference to how people thought about the Labor government. I was just thinking about all the positive initiatives that this government has embarked upon over the last 3 odd years, all whilst tackling the GFC, and then I compared it in my mind to the obvious ineptitude of the Opposition, who have made wrong call after wrong call, and it just didn't add up to me. I just didn't think people could be so easily swayed by one journalist and his 'bombshells'. Oh well, we'll see I guess as the campaign rolls on.

HS

18/07/2010lyn, The link to The Australian story came up 404 Page Not Found. Maybe they've taken it down again?

Lyn

18/07/2010Hi BH Yes that's tonight's Newspoll and it's still up on google search under Abbott. It was posted at 8.37pm by Shanahan. But page has been taken down.

BH

18/07/2010HS - I noticed on Laurie's tweets that he says he personally likes both Julia and Abbott. Surely he has to acknowledge that Labor in 3 years has done some terrific stuff which is never reported and I can't work how why he suddenly so feral against Julia and Labor. His last few articles about Kevin Rudd were woeful and he was one who helped with the negativity about Kev. I'm at a loss to understand how he can be so unfair at the moment unless it is to keep his employer happy. There seems to be no other explanation. Hear, hear about Lyn and her great finds. She is a genius and save us heaps of time. If, indeed, the page she found is correct then Peter Brent's tweet of ooh la la is indeed ooh la la!

Lyn

18/07/2010Hi Hillbilly and BH Page is still down, it was very short, above is copied and pasted from Shanahan's column. Maybe he has taken it down to add his breakdown and take of the results. ummmmmmmm we will see. mumbletwits Ooh la la, have seen Newspoll 2pp but am sworn to secrecy. #attentionseeking #lookatme http://twitter.com/mumbletwits

Miglo

18/07/2010So Labor jump in the polls but Murdoch Zoo doesn't want the public to know. Absolutely disgusting. It sickens me.

HS

18/07/2010BH, Did you hear Laurie Oakes after the first Campaign speeches on Saturday morning by Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott? Feral wasn't the word for it. Absolutely scathing was more like it. Just because JG mentioned 'Moving Forward' a lot. Which she has to do to get it into people's heads quickly and effectively. As per usual when Tony Abbott and Co. were constantly bleating 'Great Big New Tax' ad nauseum he thought it was a stroke of creative bleedin' genius. Which just goes to show how much a journalist's personal bias infects their work.

Lyn

18/07/2010Hi Hillbilly and BH Here is the link to google and Shanahan's entry on news search, go to bottom of page. It was definately on The Australian's page, I went there and read Shanahan's column. http://news.google.com.au/news/search?cf=all&ned=au&hl=en&q=abbott&cf=all&scoring=n

Lyn

18/07/2010Hi Everybody Newspoll posted again so have copied the column this time: Julia Gillard and Labor make solid start Dennis Shanahan, Political editor From: The Australian July 18, 2010 10:04PM LABOR has started the campaign well ahead of the Coalition and Julia Gillard has headed off Tony Abbott's advances under Kevin Rudd. According to the latest Newspoll, conducted exclusively for The Australian last weekend, Labor is ahead of the Coalition on primary vote for the first time in months and the new Labor leader has extended her lead over the Leader of the Opposition as preferred prime Minister. Labor's primary vote is unchanged on 42 per cent while the Coalition's has dropped below 40 per cent, to 38 per cent, for the first time since March. Greens' support has risen since the election was called from ten to 12 per cent. [b]Based on preference flows at the 2007 election the two-party preferred support for Labor is up to 55 per cent and the Coalition's is down to 45 per cent.[/b] Satisfaction with Ms Gillard's job as prime minister is well up on Mr Rudd's last rating and she now has a 30-point lead over Mr Abbott as preferred prime minister.

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18/07/2010Lyn You are a super sleuth. I followed your Google link, found the Shanahan heading but got either a 404 error or the current front page of The Australian as they must have taken it down temporarily. Now it's up and reads: [i]Julia Gillard and Labor make solid start LABOR has started the campaign well ahead of the Coalition and Julia Gillard has headed off Tony Abbott's advances under Kevin Rudd. According to the latest Newspoll, conducted exclusively for The Australian last weekend, Labor is ahead of the Coalition on primary vote for the first time in months and the new Labor leader has extended her lead over the Leader of the Opposition as preferred prime Minister. Labor's primary vote is unchanged on 42 per cent while the Coalition's has dropped below 40 per cent, to 38 per cent, for the first time since March. Greens' support has risen since the election was called from ten to 12 per cent. Based on preference flows at the 2007 election the two-party preferred support for Labor is up to 55 per cent and the Coalition's is down to 45 per cent. Satisfaction with Ms Gillard's job as prime minister is well up on Mr Rudd's last rating and she now has a 30-point lead over Mr Abbott as preferred prime minister.[/i] Note, it was taken 'last weekend', and presumably not published then as both Nielsen and Galaxy trumped it. Although a week old, it puts the Galaxy published today in perspective. Thanks from all of us for fossicking this out so brilliantly. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/julia-gillard-and-labor-make-solid-start/story-e6frg6n6-1225893666515

BH

18/07/2010Great work, Lyn - thanks. You soothed a nervous nellie earlier.

BH

18/07/2010AA - I was thinking that the 'last weekend' mentioned meant this weekend because it usually hits the Monday or Tuesday morning paper. If Labor were so far in front why would the Galaxy polls this Friday and Saturday be so different to the newspoll.

HS

18/07/2010BH, Laurie Oakes would think it was all down to the effect of his bombshell.

HS

18/07/2010lyn, Here's Grog's late night Newspoll post: http://grogsgamut.blogspot.com/2010/07/election-2010-day-2-late-or-lets-have.html

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18/07/2010BH I think you're right - that as normally [i]Newspoll[/i] comes out on Tuesdays, or late Monday nights, 'last weekend' probably means the weekend now being completed. Dennis Shanahan does start by saying: "[i]LABOR has started the campaign well ahead of the Coalition and Julia Gillard has headed off Tony Abbott's advances under Kevin Rudd.[/i] which, since the campaign officially started only on Saturday, I guess suggests that the pool was taken this weekend. Anyway we'll see the dates when the tables are published. If it was taken this weekend I suppose we can discount the last Galaxy as aberrant.

Ad astra reply

18/07/2010BH, HS Here's the link to the front page of [i]The Oz[/i] now: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/

Min

19/07/2010Excellent work HS... On the subject of WorkChoices: I firmly believe that should Australia have the misfortune to elect an Abbott government that Abbott will claim a mandate for his 'tweaks'. Just a thought, but might there be more to it than the smaller miners having their noses out of joint by not being included in the discussions with Gillard...after all Twiggy has been the champion of AWAs for years, and now it they are suggesting that they will run an anti-government advertising campaign on the tax issue which will pit them up against the unions. http://www.royalcombci.gov.au/docs/transcripts/day%200121%20-%2029-jul-2002.pdf "That is, a strategy by Fluor Daniel or by Anaconda or by Murrin Murrin, some strategy which - let me see if I can put this neutrally, to begin with - involved having the workforce come on site covered by AWAs and not covered by a site agreement or an enterprise bargaining agreement?---Quite clearly, they wanted the - there was a major push all around that area geographically to get the union out of the goldfields. And there was definitely a push to have no union involvement in the production at Murrin."

Lyn

19/07/2010[b]TODAY'S LINKS[/b] [i]Election 2010: Day 2 LATE (or Let's have a bit of understatement) GROG, GROG'S GAMUT [/i] Posted by Grog at 11:15 PM someone should send the Nine News marketing people this poll and point out that THIS is what a polling bombshell really looks like http://grogsgamut.blogspot.com/2010/07/election-2010-day-2-late-or-lets-have.html [i]Newspoll: 55-45 to Labor; Galaxy: 50-50, William Bowe, The Poll Bludger[/i] Newspoll has Labor with a lead so overwhelming that The Australian describes it as “solid”. On the primary vote Labor holds the lead for the first time since mid-April, http://blogs.crikey.com.au/pollbludger/2010/07/18/newspoll-55-45-to-labor-galaxy-50-50/ [i]Newspoll & more gender gaps, Possum Comitatus, Pollytics[/i] the “bombshell” Galaxy poll run on the Nine News last night (bit of a fizzer), today’s Newspoll (via The Oz - tables here) and an Essential Report we’ll have this afternoon. http://blogs.crikey.com.au/pollytics/ [i]Day 3: Galaxy & Newspoll diverge, Ben Raue, The Tally Room[/i] a poll conducted on Saturday night for the Nine Network has put the two-party preferred vote at an even 50% for each party. http://www.tallyroom.com.au/ [i]Julia Gillard and Labor make solid start to election campaign , Dennis Shanahan, The Australian[/i] The Australian last weekend, Labor is ahead of the Coalition on primary vote for the first time in months http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/julia-gillard-and-labor-make-solid-start-to-election-campaign/story-e6frg6n6-1225893653750 [i]Galaxy, deserving to win and incumbency, Possum Comitatus, Pollytics[/i] Oppositions have to take victory – but when only 30% think that you deserve to win, that’s a fairly significant generic boost to the power of government incumbency when the last week of the campaign rolls up and voters are forced to make up their minds.http://blogs.crikey.com.au/pollytics/2010/07/18/galaxy-deserving-to-win-and-incumbency/ [i]Both sides hit the ground running - away from former policies, Bernard Keane, The Stump[/i] Abetz indicated that, while the Coalition wouldn’t change the Fair Work Act, it would change regulations and ministerial directions under the Act. But Abbott compounded the problem by refusing to rule out such changes, http://blogs.crikey.com.au/thestump/ [i]Election 2010: How important is the Rudd Factor?, Rich Bowden, Theangle.org[/i] Mr Abbott seems to believe Australian voters will forget his role in the ousting of former Coalition leader Malcolm Turnbull http://theangle.org/2010/07/18/election-2010-how-important-is-the-rudd-factor/ [i]Game on: Julia vs the Mad Monk,Nigel Featherstone, Under the Counter[/i] Turning Back The Boats’. By ‘Turning Back the Boats’ Abbott is trying to score votes by saying that – with some kind of Superman sweep of his hand – http://nigelfeatherstone.wordpress.com/2010/07/18/game-on-julia-vs-the-mad-monk/ [i]The case for the Greens, J Quiggin. [/i]I regard the Liberals under Abbott as utterly unfit for government. Abbott has behaved as an unprincipled opportunist http://johnquiggin.com/index.php/archives/2010/07/18/the-case-for-the-greens/ Phillip Hudson's election guide , Herald Sun http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/special-reports/phillip-hudsons-election-guide/story-fn300ox6-1225893619225

George Pike

19/07/2010Just listening to the worthless Liberal apparatchik Tim Cox on talkback ABC breakfast radio in Tassie. It is hard to believe an ABC commentator could be unashamedly biased towards any party, net alone a party whose policies are so dead against the common good of the vast majority of Tasmania's mainly working class people! This mini-Abetz continually adresses pro-Labor callers with blatant contempt and questions every aspect of their reasoning, while he is buddy buddy mate mate yep yep yep to all the Liberal callers...it is truly sickening to hear to say the least.

jimbo

19/07/2010it is also on the sydney morning herald website about labour in the newspoll

George Pike

19/07/2010Jason, don't forget we do have one saving factor regarding the senate...the Libs don't hold a majority there..they will rely on the Greens and Independents, just as much as Labor does now, if they win the election. The big polluters must be rubbing their hands together in glee...they've got Abbott telling them that a price on carbon will NEVER occur under the Liberals and the Greens saying they will never back a Labor form of the ETS unless other governments make it obvious that they are going to go for higher targets thus forcing them follow suit...e.g., if the Europeans say they are going for a 20% reduction Labor have stated that they will follow any major international move and that would then bring the Greens on line as well...that is very likely to occur as well I think. The destruction being wreaked thoughout Europe, the USA and Asia by climate change related weather events is reaching such high levels that people are screaming for action now. Tony Abbott's point of view will be drowned out by the international chorus for change eventually...and Labor will have to up the target to at least 20% of 1990 levels by 2020 for sure. I notice Tony Abbott is trying to link cost of living increases to Labor as well...which is pretty hypocritical when you think that the Liberals hit the entire population with a ten percent increase in the cost of living in one fowl blow with the GST. The increase in his power bills, that he harps on about, is more to do with our prosperity than anything labor have done...the massive increases in the export price of coal has driven the local price up as well...therefore the huge increases in national income are also working against us. Does that mean Abbott wants to stop the mines from exporting?..or will he wear the little bit of financial pain to increase our overall national wealth?

FFreddy

19/07/2010Delved into my record collection last night and pulled out an old (very old!) favourite Pavlov's Dog "Pampered Menial" the first track of which is called "Julia". For those who haven't heard this great track it's very 70's proggy and the lead singer has the most amazing voice ('a choirboy on speed'). If you can find this track on youtube or music downloads worth a listen if only to provide a few giggles in what might be a very tense few weeks. The next track on the album "Late November" is also a killer but it pitters away after that.

Lyn

19/07/2010Hi FFreddy Here it is: Pavlovs Dog, Julia http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6uexPmL0fk&feature=related Pavlov's Dog- Late November http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHnSVmxt7rw&feature=related Cheers

George Pike

19/07/2010"A Federal Labor candidate has fled his Engadine home with his wife and two children after suspected shots were fired into their house." SMH, 19/07/10. This story has not been mentioned by ABC radio in Tasmania and none of the News Ltd media are running it on their online sites,(obviously so at any rate). Considering the massive coverage given to the Liberal candidate in SA who was assaulted (no visible marks) by two people who didn't like the Liberal stance on Asylum seekers...this is obviously propaganda by omission.

Lyn

19/07/2010[b]TODAY'S LINKS PART 2[/b] [i]Empty slogans won’t cut it, , Amber Jamieson, Crikey[/i] Meanwhile, there’s talk that the Greens and Labor have a preferences deal practically sewn up. http://www.crikey.com.au/2010/07/19/commentary-wrap-lock-up-your-babies-the-race-is-on/ [i]"I'll keep prices & interest rates low" - there's an idea, Peter martin[/i] Mortgage rates at present average 7.4 per cent with the possibility of an increase to 7.65 per cent two weeks into the campaign. The Coalition left office with mortgage rates at 8.55 per cent http://petermartin.blogspot.com/ [i]Eric Abetz Exhumes the Rotting Corpse of WorkChoices, Reb, Gutter Trash[/i] “he’ll make no legislative changes to Fair Work in first term,” but then added that “he can’t guarantee against changes within the Fair Work legislation.”http://guttertrash.wordpress.com/2010/07/19/eric-abetz-resuscitates-workchoices/ [i]Paying for good journalisism, Gary Sauer-Thompson , Public Opinion[/i] with Murdoch's practice. He does not deliver good journalism, or to put it in market terms, a quality product. [b]What is offered in Australian is partisan journalism of a conservative nature that is directed at undermining a Labor government[/b]. Why should I pay for that, even from The Australian, even if it is Australia's only national newspaper? http://www.sauer-thompson.com/archives/opinion/2010/07/paying-for-good.php#more

Jason

19/07/2010George, Thanks for that about the senate, I was listening to Abbott going on about the cost of living and thought, that if your state colleagues hadn't sold off our utilities for which we now get a summer tariff on our electricity bills mine are about ($1200) for the summer quater and we also get hit with a wealth tax on water bills because the water and sewage are calculated on the value of your house not what you use as yet. Then a GST on top of that.

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19/07/2010LYN'S DAILY LINKS updated: http://www.thepoliticalsword.com/page/Lyns-Daily-Links.aspx Thank you Lyn for being the first to nail the [i]Newspoll[/i] results last night. Your post on [i]TPS[/i] about it was copied onto [i]The Poll Bludger[/i] where posters had been looking in vain for the result.

Lyn

19/07/2010Good Morning George Ummmmmm being investigated ummmmmmmmmm, filthy campaign ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Here is the story: Labor candidate flees after two suspected shootings ,Amy Corderoy, SMH [b]The seat is held by the Liberals [/b]with a notional margin of 0.5 per cent. He is up against the Liberal candidate Craig Kelly, 46, who co-owns a small furniture and lighting company. http://www.smh.com.au/federal-election/labor-candidate-flees-after-two-suspected-shootings-20100719-10g90.html Cheers

George Pike

19/07/2010Hiya Jason, the conservatives would dearly love to sell off the hydro down here too. Just imagine how many billions of dollars in carbon credits this state is going to acquire through the sale of clean green hydro power to the mainland once an ETS is underway! The private sector are salivating over the thought! If Howard and Costello had spent just a fraction of all those surpluses and the Telstra dividend on energy infrastructure, instead of on super for public servants and pollies and middle class welfare, we would not have power bills anywhere near the size they are now. There wouldn't be anywhere near the traffic congestion in the cities if they'd shelled out a bit of dough to fund transport reform too. I think Julia's idea of concentrating on encouraging a much greater percentage of the population to live in the regions is excellent....it will take much pressure off the cities increasingly difficult land, water, transport and employment issues, while greatly improving the ability to undertake regional development on a massive scale.

HS

19/07/2010Ad Astra, You are right, lyn just keeps on amazing us with her information sleuthing skills.

George Pike

19/07/2010Good morn..afternoon Lyn, It looks like a few journos might be taking a sly peek at the Sword hey! There has been a noticeable difference in the "tone" of political reporting so far today. Tony Abbott has copped a few gravelly ones...and his facade cracked noticeably...particularly when one reporter whacked him with Julia's overwhelming popularity compared to his own.. The Power of Sword may be coming to bear at last hey!

HS

19/07/2010Update on TAbbott's IR position: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/07/19/2957587.htm 8 It's been called the first major stumble of the campaign.

HS

19/07/2010George Pike, I'd say it's not just us here at TPS, though my piece was luckily in the right place at the right time. I would think that there has been an undertow about Mr Abbott's position on IR that many journalists have been waiting to investigate further, come the election campaign, in order to see whether it will drag him down or whether he could swim away from its pull. So far he seems to have been caught up in the rip from WorkChoices.

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19/07/2010Tony Abbott is running true to form. What comes out of his mouth may be true, but then again it may not be. Over the weekend he has been struggling ‘to get the WorkChoices monkey off his back’, but the pesky creature clings on despite his assurance that “WorkChoices is dead and buried and cremated too”, a mantra the media is now fond of repeating. It might have been more believable if he had not added the caveat ‘in the first term’ of an Abbott Government, and if his IR spokesman Eric Abetz had not said on ABC radio [i]“We will not be revolutionising, or indeed reforming, we would only be tweaking and that is what our policy will confirm.”[/i] and [i]“An incoming coalition government will seek to make Labor’s individual flexibility agreements more flexible and seek to reduce the burdens on small business but we will do so within Labor’s existing legislation”.[/i] http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/coalition-could-tweak-ir-laws-abetz-20100717-10ev8.html Abbott’s minders must have told him this morning that he needed to be more definite, and so he came out with John Howard’s ‘never ever’ pledge that he would never change the existing IR legislation, now or at any time in the future. On ABC radio he said: [i]“We have no plans, no plans whatsoever to make any changes to the legislation. Not now. Not ever.”[/i] That was unwise. No potential legislator should tie his hands so tightly, unless he is a core and non-core promise maker. No doubt Abbott thought he could always be the latter. Interviewed by 3AW Melbourne radio journalist Neil Mitchell, Abbott found himself being challenged about his never ever pledge and had to back track again, stating that he couldn’t guarantee that there would never be changes to the IR legislation in the distant future. An article by Patricia Karvelas in [i]The Australian: Tony Abbott signs contract on Work Choices but muddles message on workplace laws[/i] reports on Abbott's encounter with Mitchell: [i]“‘Give me a bit of paper, I'll sign it here,’ Mr Abbott said to 3AW host Neil Mitchell as he tried to end questions about John Howard's divisive workplace laws. But pressed again by Mitchell, Mr Abbott said: “I can't give an absolute guarantee about every single aspect of workplace relations. “Obviously I can't say that there will never ever ever for 100 or 1000 years time be any change to any aspect of industrial legislation. But the Fair Work Act will not be amended in the next term of government if we are in power. But let's, I mean, Work Choices, it's dead, it's buried, it's cremated now and forever. But obviously I can't give an absolute guarantee about every single aspect of workplace relations legislation. But Work Choices is gone now and forever.”[/i] Now isn’t that clear. I suspect this is the first of many bloopers that Abbott will utter. In this case we know that he is wedded to the concept of WorkChoices and many of its operational characteristics, yet in trying to defuse it as an election issue gets himself tied up in half truths, exaggerations and downright lies. And he still remembers his admission that only ‘carefully scripted written statements’ should be believed is coming back to haunt him. The Karvelas article is here: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/tony-abbott-signs-contract-on-work-choices-but-muddles-message-on-workplace-laws/story-fn59niix-1225893906267

George Pike

19/07/2010Hi HS, could be that the journos are feeling a tad forlorn about being so utterly dismissed by the public...there they all were, telling us ad nauseum how wonderful a Liberal Government under Tony Abbott would be for our health and prosperity, and how terrible a Julia Gillard government would treat us all...and the silly old populus have shunned their message whollus bollus! They might be on the verge of concluding that going with the flow will be much better for their image...and for "enabling" future access to inside stories! Cynical chap aren't I!

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19/07/2010Folks [i]Essential Research Report[/i] this afternoon TPP 55/45, same as last week and as today's [i]Newspoll[/i]. There are lots of interesting side questions. Not good news for Tone. Here is Possum's take on it: http://blogs.crikey.com.au/pollytics/2010/07/19/essential-report-voting-issues-and-the-values-card/

Lyn

19/07/2010Hi Ad [i]Essential: Gillard thrashing Abbott as preferred PM,Bernard Keane, Crikey[/i] Labor has maintained its primary vote and the Coalition has moved up marginally to 39% — but not quite enough to change Labor’s 55-45% 2PP lead http://www.crikey.com.au/2010/07/19/essential-labor-maintains-lead-gillard-thrashing-abbott-as-preferred-pm/ [i]Essential Report, voting issues & the values card, possum Comitatus, Pollytics[/i] They are nasty figures for Tone there compared to Gillard – and Bob Brown doesn’t come off particularly well either, though he isn’t exactly casting his fishing line into the pond of middle Australia. http://blogs.crikey.com.au/pollytics/ Mumble non believer: [b][i]Is today's Newspoll a rogue,Peter Brent, Mumble[/i][/b] If there were no other polls taken on the weekend, we would declare Labor’s campaign off to a magnificent start. http://blogs.theaustralian.news.com.au/mumble/index.php

Lyn

19/07/2010Hi Ad Sorry Ad, I had to go to the airport, so taken longer to reply to your 10.15am comment. I had a great time last night finding the newspoll report. I just looked at the comments on The Poll Bludger, yes they were all wondering what happened. Wow! pretty important getting my post copied, "The Political Sword" has reached celebrity status. I am just going to see what gaffes have happened to Tony Phoney since I have been out. The last I heard was, he was hitting the airways big time this morning, radio and TV.

Lyn

19/07/2010Hi George Re your comment 11:51 AM. [i][quote]It looks like a few journos might be taking a sly peek at the Sword hey[/[/quote]i] I would just love to know if they do look at "The Political Sword." [quote]the "tone" of political reporting so far today[/quote] I've been out,but going to look around now, so I will notice if the tone is different, I will report back to "the Political Sword" cheers

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19/07/2010Dennis Shanahan is hopping mad. His write up of the latest [i]Newspoll[/i] headed [i] ALP's gamble on Julia Gillard paying off[/i] starts[i]” LABOR'S execution of Kevin Rudd appears to be paying dividends. “The government has hit the front at the start of a lightning election campaign that ends on August 21. Julia Gillard is also scoring off Tony Abbott personally and repairing the government's weak spots on asylum-seekers and climate change”[/i] Then in a reasonably factual he way sets out the [i]Newspoll[/i] results. But not able to vent his spleen sufficiently he launches into another piece: “[i] Kevin Rudd's plotters vindicated, for now [/i]“ that begins: “[i]THE faceless Labor factional and union plotters who brutally removed Kevin Rudd to put Julia Gillard for the election can breathe easier.”[/i] He adds grudgingly but threateningly [i]“For the moment.[/i] He continues “[i]“Labor's biggest electoral gamble - far greater than replacing Bill Hayden with Bob Hawke in 1983 - had the potential to destroy Labor for a generation but is showing signs of early dividends. “There are still major concerns about the removal of Rudd, and Gillard's part in his downfall, but the move is lifting Labor's vote, heading off Tony Abbott and reassuring voters about the party's key weaknesses - asylum-seekers and climate change.”[/i] Later he says: “[i]While early polls reflected a boost for Labor because Gillard replaced Rudd, there were later signs the honeymoon was short-lived and fear Labor would lose not only the election but also its two most popular leadership assets. “Years in opposition beckoned for those who clinically used polling to destroy Rudd and put up his partner from the Gang of Four who'd run the government since October 2007. Given the effect of Gillard on Labor's primary vote and her effect on Abbott's personal standing, some will sleep easier tonight. Particularly because Labor's polling on asylum-seekers has improved and some support appears to be coming to Labor from Greens supporters. “But the early polling is still subject to the static of calling an election and the tumultuous events of removing a PM. There is also the sign that Labor's lead on economic management - the issue it wants to put centre stage for the next 34 days - has evaporated as the government bungled the proposed resource super-profits tax. “The primary vote is still close and there are lingering fears about a factional putsch, particularly in Queensland and NSW, where voters are sick of factionally orchestrated leadership coups.”[/i] Note the words: “Labor's biggest electoral gamble”; “There are still major concerns about the removal of Rudd, and Gillard's part in his downfall”; “…there were later signs the honeymoon was short-lived and fear Labor would lose not only the election but also its two most popular leadership assets.”; “Years in opposition beckoned for those who clinically used polling to destroy Rudd and put up his partner from the Gang of Four…”; “But the early polling is still subject to the static of calling an election and the tumultuous events of removing a PM.”; “The primary vote is still close and there are lingering fears about a factional putsch, particularly in Queensland and NSW, where voters are sick of factionally orchestrated leadership coups.” All signs of Shanahan’s anger and wishful thinking – why have things not turned out as predicted and hoped-for? Why has our very own [i]Newspoll[/i] let us down, instead showing steady increase in support for Labor, Julia Gillard and falling support for our own dear Tony over the last few weeks? We mustn’t get over-confident though; things can go wrong, trends can reverse, and marginal seats may not follow the national trends. But on the face of it Labor is looking steadily more secure and the Coalition less so. Today's [i]Essential Report[/i] that replicates today's [i]Newspoll[/i] reinforces the trend to Labor. The deal today with the Greens will further improve Labor’s chances. Dennis knows all this. That’s why he’s hopping mad. His article is at: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/kevin-rudds-plotters-vindicated-for-now/story-fn59niix-1225893672667

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19/07/2010Lyn So far it's been a good day for Julia and not so good for Tone. See my posts at 12.48 and 3.30 pm.

Lyn

19/07/2010Hi Ad Thoroughly enjoyed your above comment, "[quote]Dennis Shanahan is hopping mad[/quote]". I am delighted, wonder what Dennis is going to do when Tony Phoney gets voted out, is he going to go negative for another three years, or start reporting objectively. Dennis looked annoyed and grumpy, yesterday afternoon on Sky Agenda with Steve Lewis, they probably knew the Newspoll results then.

George Pike

19/07/2010Channel Nine's 4:30 Liberal propaganda slot just made a massive booboo...they actually ran a skit of Peter Costello denigrating Julia Gillard...if that doesn't drive half a million hardened Liberals over to the other side I'll eat your hat! He is STILL as loathsome as ever....must have had a bit of a tipple to front the cams!

jimbo

19/07/2010lynn ,you will be most happy with todays gaffes they are indefensible especially when you say one thing go back on it have another stab at getting it right then going back to your original policy and finally going back to what abetz said.funnily enough he signed a piece of paper saying workchoices were dead and buried then went on to tell neill mitchell that he couldnt promise they wouldnt tweak labors ir policy because{and this is a doozy}he cvouldnt promise what could happen over one hundred or one thousand years probably the first piece of truth he has uttered since he became leader and now he has backflipped since signing that piece of paper about workchoices,so what is it anything he says is a lie and now apparantly anything he writes as gospel is a lie WHERE ARE OUR GREAT UNBIASED MEDIA NOW WHERE IS NEWS LIMITED WHERE IS THE CANBERRA PRESS GALLERY I DO NOTE HOWEVER THAT A FEW JOURNALISTS HAVE HAD A GO AND BLOGGERS MANY THANKS TO THOSE WHO MADE THE EFFORT MORE POWEWR TO ALL MOF YOU LETS HAVE SOME FAIRNESS IN MEDIA REPORTING.

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19/07/2010Lyn I think you'll hear plenty about Tones WorkChoices confusion on TV tonight, or should I use some Shanahanisms to describe Tone's performance: bungled, flawed, debacle, disaster.

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19/07/2010jimbo, Lyn Tone's every effort to defuse the WorkChoices issue has blown up in his face. Instead of distracting the electorate from it by just keeping quiet, it is now all over the airwaves, and his yes, but no, but yes, but no, is becoming comical and at last journalists are picking up on this and featuring his repeated backflips on radio and I expect on TV news tonight.

Jason

19/07/2010George, Also on PM Agenda Costello was doing another act about Hawke & Keating. I think half way through he thought what if Keating sees it? fancy being mocked by a coward. But there was the old double act of Abbott and Costello who are just in front of BP when it comes to being liked.

NormanK

19/07/2010Lyn Congratulations on your scoop. You thoroughly deserve it. Hillbilly and Ad Although we have found the commentators' fixation with "moving forward" more than a little tiresome, Labor must be rubbing their hands together. How many Australian adults would fail to answer correctly if asked "what's the ALP slogan for this election?" The worth of all this free advertising must be almost immeasurable. Labor could not have wished their slogan to have been hammered home any more forcefully so early in the campaign. By contrast, "what is the Liberal slogan?' - "oh, something about standing up."

George Pike

19/07/2010Costello showed us exactly how cowardly he is with the rant for sure. He is so utterly consumed with jealousy over the fact that a Labor WOMAN has taken HIS job that he can barely keep himself from tipping over the edge, straight into a "special" white suit! I've always thought he was borderline psychopath...he just keeps adding weight to that theory at every outing! Talking about psychopaths, you know there is something terribly wrong with the Australian media when a Labor candidate and his young family are targetted by urban terrorists and it barely rates a mention. The underplaying of such a serious crime against a politician was especially grevious, as it came just after the media went absolutely ballistic over a Liberal member being pushed about by two people who were agrieved at the Liberal's asylum seeker policies. The federal government should make home invasions, and attacks on houses with firearms, acts of terrorism that are federal offences that attract a mandatory life sentence. They should also hold a judicial inquiry into the behaviour of Channel Nine with their glorification of organised crime...an insidious evil treacherous act which has no doubt motivated many of the attacks against private homes in this country.

Lyn

19/07/2010Hi Jimbo Thankyou for telling me about the new, or should I say more gaffe's. Tones said buried and cremated, should be the other way around, bit hard to bury, then dig up and cremate. Petty picking on my behalf there, but it's true. Jimbo, you asked where is the media, George told me the approach has changed slightly today, maybe they are waking up to how pathetically stupid this mad monk is. You know Mark Latham is not so bad after all. Ad's comment 12.48pm: [quote]Tony Abbott signs contract on Work Choices but muddles message on workplace laws reports on Abbott's encounter with Mitchell: “‘Give me a bit of paper, I'll sign it [/quote]here,’ [quote]Mr Abbott said to 3AW host Neil Mitchell [/quote] my gaffe collection is growing . This kind of [b]direct action [/b]and behaviour just doesn't seem proper, for a person aspiring to be the next Prime Minister. Wonder how Phoney would behave, once let loose in The Lodge and Kirribilli House' probably drive a quad bike through the formal lounge room, and boil witchetty grubs on the rosewood dining table. I haven't seen any decorum whatsoever. Ad love these descriptions: [quote]Shanahanisms to describe Tone's performance: bungled, flawed, debacle, disaster.[/quote] Talk about direct action, Tones is "all talk no action".

Lyn

19/07/2010Hi Norman K Thankyou. I love your gravatar. Our gravatars are all pretty special on "The Political Sword" I love them all. "Moving forward", was mocked childlessly and awful by Peter Costello, I had forgotten how sarcastic he always was. I think having Costello there and speaking today was another gaffe. You are absolutely correct, as it has turned out, the slogan, (even mocked by Laurie Oakes), after 2 days has turned out to be a bonanza for Labor.

George Pike

19/07/2010Hi Lyn, Channel Seven, (Southern Cross), are flying the Liberal flag high down here in Tassie again tonight...they're having a huge whinge about the new Labor attack ad, The Abbott Family..and the Liberals themselves are livid over outgoing member Jodie Campbell's full page ads in The Examiner...you should hear the sooking! It is hilarious, just like pack of schoolkids who've just lost the footy match...the workers and battlers down here would be rolling around their lounges in fits of laughter I reckon!

George Pike

19/07/2010Here's the link for the Abbott Family Ad; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNCZw4MTzB0

Lyn

19/07/2010Hi George [quote]a Labor candidate and his young family are targetted by urban terrorists and it barely rates a mention.[/quote] Well I guess its the tax payers, thhat are taking care of Mr Abbott: Abbott home now guarded by tactical response, Manly Daily The increased security sparked concern of a threat against Mr Abbott after shots were fired into the south west Sydney office and home of [b]federal Labor candidate for Hughes, Brent Thomas.[/b] http://manly-daily.whereilive.com.au/news/story/abbott-home-now-guarded-by-tactical-response/

Lyn

19/07/2010Hi George Thankyou for the link to the Labor Ad video It is absolutely fantastic. Everybody should look. AWU UNION, AUTHORISED BY PAUL HOWES [b]They're tricky and their sneaky, dishonest and cheeky, They're all together[/b] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNCZw4MTzB0

George Pike

19/07/2010They needn't bother, his hide is that thick cannon shells would bounce off him!

NormanK

19/07/2010Lyn I wouldn't pat that bunny if I were you. My small contribution to keeping the Mad Rabbott out of power.

Lyn

19/07/2010Hi Norman K No! I will never pat that bunny. I am really scared of his Phoney face. I'm a bird you see, and you know he is very unpopular with birds, we don't need the opinion polls to tell us so. A very innovative gravatar NormanK.

Lyn

19/07/2010Hi Ad [b]Here is Grog on election day 3, a must read for everybody[/b], Brilliant, thankyou Grog: [u]Election 2010: Day 3 (or a man's word ain't his bond), GROG, GROG'S GAMUT[/u] But no you gave us nothing; it smelt like complete bull, and it’s been stinking up the Liberal Party joint ever since. http://grogsgamut.blogspot.com/2010/07/election-2010-day-3-or-mans-word-aint.html

Rx

19/07/2010One for [b]ABC WATCH[/b] please, Ad Astra. This is a brief report on the program, 'Australia Talks' on ABC Radio National, 19 July 2010. I was not impressed by the program's host, Paul Barclay. He seemed very keen to denigrate Julia Gillard's use of the ALP campaign slogan, "Moving Forward", and to enlist the guest panelists to join him in decrying it. But there was not a word from Barclay or his panel about Abbott's constant sloganeering: "Great Big New Tax", and the one he's currently using in this campaign to describe the (supposed) state of WorkChoices as "dead, buried and cremated". Nor did Barclay criticise, or even touch upon, the Liberal Party's use of the slogan, "Stand up and take action." A one-sided commentary there, on the part of the host, against Labor, while being pointedly non-critical of the Coalition. Then he let one of the panelists rabbit on gushingly about what "a nice guy Abbott is" if you could only get to know him personally. Barclay was clearly not averse to somebody plugging Abbott, but when a caller made one or two mildly sympathetic statements about the ALP, Barclay was quick to hang up on the caller, saying the caller had "done enough plugging". So it's OK with Barclay for a studio panelist to plug quite brazenly for Abbott without being moved on, but not for a caller to make positive statements about the Labor Party. Double standards from their ABC again.

Gravel

19/07/2010NormanK That was just brilliant recipe, I read it to the housemate, and we laughed. It was good to see Rabbit getting a bit of bad publicity, but how long will they keep doing that. I was going to say what a good wrap BH gave Lyn on Pollbludger, but some have already beaten me to it. Thanks for posting the "Abbott Family" video, we got a great laugh out of that.

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19/07/2010Folks Off to watch [i]Media Watch, Q&A, Lateline[/i].

Lyn

19/07/2010Hi Gravel Thankyou for telling me, that was very nice of BH over at The Poll Bludger. Looks like Abbott has really mad a fool out of himself today.

jimbo

19/07/2010lynn way to go on digging up those facts on newspoll and also on the gaffes so far.i was thinking it might be good to give the media a head start on another of his so called policies out of the four he has as his platform,that is if he can get out of the corner he is in on workchoices.IF THE MSM LIKE THEY CAN FOLLOW ALONG IN CASE THEY HAVE A MENTAL BLOCK WITH FINDING PROBLEMS IN WINGNUTTS POLICIES,RUPERT MURDOCH,HIS CRONIES ,THE AUSTRALIAN AND THE CANBERRA PRESS GALLERY CAN TAG ALONG AS WELL.HOW ABOUT WE LOOK AT HIS POLICY, OR LACK OF, ON ASYLUM SEEKERS.WINGNUTT AND THE LIBEREALS WILL STOP THE BOATS AND EVEN TURN THEM AROUND BUT WHO IS GOING TO TURN THEM AROUND AND WHERE TO.OBVIOUSLY NOT WINGNUTT AS AFTYER SAYING HE WOULD TURN THEM AROUND HE THEN SAID A DAY OR SO LATER THAT THE COMMANDERS OF THE NAVAL SHIPS WOULD MAKE THAT DECISION THUS KEEPING HIMSELF AWAY FROM DAMAGE IF ANY ASYLUM SEEKERS WERE TO BE HARMED FROM A DECISION TO DO THAT.PRETTY GUTLESS WINGNUTT AS SUPPOSED ALTERNATIVE LEADER OF THE COUNTRY,PICKING ON WOMEN AND CHILDREN.

HS

19/07/2010I think that Julie Bishop exemplified everything that is objectionable about the Coalition, and their race-baiting ways, just now on Q&A when she turned to the Muslim Political Scientist Waleed Aly and said about a panel he had been placed on by the government, "So you're the token are you?" The snide aside made my blood boil and my skin crawl. It said everything you need to know about the Liberal Party in one neat package tied up with ribbon.

HS

19/07/2010Rx, Thank you again. Keep up the good work, it is most appreciated. :)

jimbo

19/07/2010Another idiot gaffe from mr wingnutt is that the sign he had behind him with his four dubious policies missed the part about which party he is leading four policies but which party a policy platform but what party bloody pitiful coming from someone who wants to represent australia in a world wide forum.Then today we had the little school kid barnaby joyce,should be barnaby the joke,at the back of the classroom ranting and raving about nothing,also the backdown merchant costello on a major rant,boy the libs are dragging anyone and everybody out of the closet.,PANIC STATIONS.

HS

19/07/2010As Bruce Hawker said tonight on Q&A about the 'Moving Forward' slogan, "If it's such a bad slogan, why are we all repeating it?" He added that no one was repeating the Liberal Party slogan, which equates with it being less effective than Labor's at the end of the day.

HS

19/07/2010George Pike, Do you know where the 2 incidents with the lovely young, ex-Bank Officer, Labor candidate for Hughes occurred? Cronulla. Also, Scott Morrison, Tony Abbott's ace race-baiter and jingoistic mouthpiece, is in the adjoining seat centred on 'The Shire'. These are the people John Howard covered for after the Cronulla Riots. It appears that 3 years of Labor federal government has done nothing to temper their aggression. Their intolerance and bigotry appears set in stone.

HS

19/07/2010I understand from reports about Peter Costello from those who were at the Australian Israel Chamber of Commerce lunch today, that Peter Costello had had too much to drink and was under the influence when he made those obnoxious remarks about the PM's accent.

jimbo

19/07/2010watched tens late news tonight had its grabs on what was on and showed tony wingnutt saying he couldnt guarantee nothing would change on workchoices not bad after signing a guarantee and then straight after they had a soldier performing the last post.DEJAVU.

HS

19/07/2010'Is today's Newspoll a rogue?' by Peter Brent, Mumble. Jeez he was pretty quick out of the box to put the negative spin on a positive Newspoll for the ALP. It looks like he is turning out to be a real asset for News lTd. A seemingly authoritative commentator that Ltd. News can leverage credibility off the back of, who at one and the same time toes the Ltd. News line. You better watch out, AA, they might be coming after you next!

Rx

19/07/2010Hi Hillbilly, It's my pleasure to report on ABC bias from both my first-hand observation and second-hand reports from other members of the audience. In my opinion, there is something very sinister happening to Australia's premiere cultural institution, therefore it's vital as much evidence be accumulated in one spot as possible. What use/s can be made of the data remains to be seen; collecting the data is the first and ongoing step.

vote1maxine

20/07/2010Swordians Tone is a conviction politician, remember! I think after today's gymnastics performance of "never ever" on Workchoices he'll be convicted to 25 years hard Labor with no parole by the electorate. Election 2010: Day 3 Abbott 0 Gillard 1

Lyn

20/07/2010[b]TODAY'S LINKS[/b] [i]Highlights of day three, William Bowe, The Poll Bludger[/i] According to Maiden, “media organisations are being carpet-bombed by an ALP campaign unit on steroids that is racing out media alerts, audio files of Coalition gaffes and interview transcripts via the social networking site Twitter”. The Sydney Morning Herald reports the Liberal campaign headquarters will not be operational until today. http://blogs.crikey.com.au/pollbludger/ [i]Election 2010: Day3 (or a man's word ain't his bond), GROG, GROG"S GAMUT[/i] But no you gave us nothing; it smelt like complete bull, and it’s been stinking up the Liberal Party joint ever since. http://grogsgamut.blogspot.com/2010/07/election-2010-day-3-or-mans-word-aint.html [i]May the least loathed win , Mungo Maccallum, National Times[/i] The hard fact remains that if she wins (and she probably will), it will be because a lot of people are putting Abbott last.http://www.nationaltimes.com.au/opinion/politics/may-the-least-loathed-win-20100719-10hp1.html [i]Not just Labor giving their 'base' cause for concern,Tim Dunlop, The Drum[/i] In effect, we have a Liberal leader going to an election promising to raise corporate taxes; rejecting a tax deal that the largest mining companies have embraced; promising never to use the market mechanism of a carbon price as a way of addressing climate change; and promising to keep the IR policy brokered by Labor and the Unions. http://blogs.abc.net.au/drumroll/2010/07/not-just-labor-giving-their-base-cause-for-concern.html#more [i]Above the fray?,Tim Dunlop, The Drum[/i] Sly old Bob. He's having it both ways. Because the vast majority of voters in the Senate vote above the line, Labor's side of the deal - to send Labor preferences his way - will actually mean something. http://blogs.abc.net.au/drumroll/2010/07/above-the-fray.html#more [i]Lies, dammed lies and Tony Abbott, PAUL BARRATT , Australian Observer[/i] Opposition Leader Tony Abbott will hoist high on the masthead of his election campaign two promises based on fundamental misrepresentations of reality. http://aussieobserver.blogspot.com/2010/07/lies-damned-lies-and-tony-abbott.html [i]Election Diary, Day 3: the wisdom of Tim Dunlop, Alex White[/i] Bob Brown, who was not involved in the decision, threw a grenade into the deal after it was announced: http://alexwhite.org/2010/07/election-diary-day-3-the-wisdom-of-tim-dunlop/ [i]Self absorbed & deluded - cross party edition, The Piping Shrike[/i] What we are seeing in Australia is a political crisis in slow motion. For most of the last three years that crisis has been focussed on the Liberal party. http://www.pipingshrike.com/2010/07/self-absorbed-and-deluded-%E2%80%93-cross-party-edition.html [i]And the game begins, Throwing Stones from the Glasshouse.[/i] Opposition leader Tony Abbott’s view that Labor will deliver a ‘filthy’ campaign may well be true, but I have a feeling he will be the one dishing out the filth. http://damob.wordpress.com/2010/07/19/and-the-game-begins/ [i]TWO FACES: The LNP MP who talks tough on boats, his staffer and the immigration racket, Vex News[/i] Another site makes it clear that the Liberal staffer is also promoting his immigration services in Pakistan.He appears to charge nearly ten thousand dollars for each successful visa. http://www.vexnews.com/news/10181/two-faces-the-lnp-mp-who-talks-tough-on-boats-his-staffer-and-the-immigration-racket/ [i]POLL POSITION: Abbott and Abetz's tweak speak, Rob burgess, Election 2010, Business Spectator.[/i] The fortress around Julia Gillard is beginning to look unassailable, while Tony Abbott is sheltering from the media in storm in something more akin to a house of straw. http://www.businessspectator.com.au/bs.nsf/Article/Poll-Position-Shiny-shoes-Gillard-pd20100714-7C8BS?OpenDocument&src=rot [i]Election Kickoff Monday,B.Tolputt , Cafe Whispers[/i] if you don’t have a slogan, get yourself a (terrible) jingle!http://cafewhispers.wordpress.com/2010/07/19/election-kickoff-monday/ [i]The Political genius of Bob Hawke. Trevor Cook[/i] Arguably even more brilliant than those of Menzies and Whitlam. He saw a way to harness the power of the union movement to radically transform the Australian economy. http://trevorcook.typepad.com/weblog/ Election 2010 Business Spectator. [b]Running daily COMMENTARY, almost hourly[/b] http://www.businessspectator.com.au/election2010 [i]Video-They're The Abbott Family, Australian Workers Union[/i] The Australian Workers' Union has just launched a new television advertisement, and put the ad out on YouTube, explaining that Tony Abbott and his family of political mates belong in a museum – http://www.awu.net.au/238297_5.html This is interesting from the Australian Newspaper: [b]Why tense Liberals are airbrushing Tony from election material,Steve Lewis and Simon Benson, The Australian[/b] Liberal MP Jamie Briggs has cut all references to Mr Abbott as he tries to win his seat of Mayo in Adelaide's outer suburbs. http://www.news.com.au/features/federal-election/why-tense-liberals-are-airbrushing-tony-from-election-material/story-e6frfllr-1225894307133

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20/07/2010LYN'S DAILY LINKS updated: http://www.thepoliticalsword.com/page/Lyns-Daily-Links.aspx Rx ABC WATCH updated: http://www.thepoliticalsword.com/page/ABC-Watch.aspx

George Pike

20/07/2010Was it just my sinister one-eyed pro-Labor bias in play...or was last night's Q&A audience stacked to the deck with Liberal Party performing seals who enthusiastically clapped thier little flippers every time the evil goblin Ackerman and the boundlessly vociferous deputy opposition leader slipped them a rotten red herring? Am I being a tad paranoid or did everyone else notice that the twitter messages stopped running when Bishop was letting her voluminous verbosity take control of the entire show....no doubt the messages that were pouring in were all to the effect of, "shut her up, for God's sake, she's driving us all NUTS! The messages would have been far too "Liberal negative," for the little Godwin Grech's running the show, to allow them to go to air hey! Then we had the supreme pimp for the arch conservative industrialist-political whores, Tikki Fullerton, in an almost blissful encounter with Ross Cameron, the Howard headhunter turned taxi driver. It was just beyond belief to see Fullerton demonstrating what can only be described as pure orgasmic bliss when her partner in deceit enthusiatically ran the knife through everything Labor! Such a blatantly obvious display of treachery against the public by operatives within the public broadcaster, would once have resulted in the instant dismissal of all involved. I fear now though, that it will only be external forces that will have the gumption and moral and ethical integrity to ensure that these blights against freedom of speech and the democratic right of the Australian people to be shielded from political and industrial propaganda are ground to dust. I would dearly like to see an online petition constructed that can be sent to anyone and everyone who has the power to shut this endless stream of atrocities against our democracy down for good. I hope it can be done before we end up with the Liberal Party (read News Ltd) flag flying above Parliament House forever!

HS

20/07/2010'Is today's Newspoll a rogue?' by Peter Brent, Mumble. Jeez he was pretty quick out of the box to put the negative spin on a positive Newspoll for the ALP. It looks like he is turning out to be a real asset for News lTd. A seemingly authoritative commentator that Ltd. News can leverage credibility off the back of, who at one and the same time toes the Ltd. News line. You better watch out, AA, they might be coming after you next!

HS

20/07/2010Rx, What I believe will happen in the 2nd term Labor government(hopefully), will be that most of the Howard Conservative appointments to the Board and the MD's job will either come up for contract renewal or fall vacnt. Now I can't imagine JG being a namby pamby appointer of new ABC Board members, though on the other hand she will not be so silly as to appoint obvious ALP partisans, thus I think she will go down the path of appointing media professionals with a slightly Left of Centre orientation. Which is as it should be I believe. THEN we might start to see the Titanic ABC turn around. Until that time we must maintain our Watching Brief and deploy it after the election if necessary, as that's when it will be crucial to keep up the monitoring. We don't want the ABC, again as a proxy of News Ltd. working to tear down a good Prime Minister again.

HS

20/07/2010George Pike, You're not being paranoid about the Q&A audience. It's long been known that the Liberal Party encourage their Branch members to apply for tickets and ask carefully-scripted questions written for them by Liberal HQ. More than once a Liberal Party member has been caught out after the event by the eagle-eyed. I believe they see it as a free kick for their cause. You are also correct in pinging Ross Cameron as an agent provocateur on behalf of the Liberal Party and against the ALP in this election. Yesterday he was also on ABC Local Radio in Sydney trotting out the Liberal Talking Points. He probably sees himself as a good show for a political comeback should TAbbott stumble and fall over the line in the election. On the other hand, what would the electorate think about a confessed adulterer trying to force his way back onto the political stage?

George Pike

20/07/2010Hallelujah to that HS! Now the ABC radio guys in Tassie, Tim Cox at any rate, have got Dick Smith down here ranting and raving about how hundreds of people are going to die in an impending air disaster if they dont elect a Liberal government! They are basing those assumptions on a near miss at Launceston in May 2008...9 months after Labor came to power and in the middle of a financial crisis. It's getting beyond belief, it really is...

HS

20/07/2010Here's some fun to start your day with, courtesy of the Daily Telegraph: http://www.news.com.au/features/federal-election/federal-election-2010-whats-your-politics/story-e6frfllr-1225888957047 * I'm a progressive Libertarian type. This is actually exactly what I hhave always thought of myself as, or as I like to think of it as, Libertarian Paternalism.

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20/07/2010HS I found I most closely matched Michael Moore - 98%. I note that Julia and Tones are pretty close together on the four square matrix, so that no matter what one answers, the match with Julia or Tones will be similar. I was in the lower left square, whatever that means. Julia and Tones were in the upper right.

George Pike

20/07/2010"Opposition treasury spokesman says his counterpart is a ‘‘coward’’, likening him to starlet Paris Hilton." SMH, 20/07/10. Looks like the Liberals have done away with their plans to run a clean nice yummy campaign and have gone for an ugly filthy one instead...didn't take long hey!

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20/07/2010George, HS Having watched almost every episode of Q&A, I find that there is always a group of Coalition supporters who seem to sit together (last night they were in front of Julie Bishop), a group who applaud pro-Labor comments (who last night seemed to be diffusely spaced), and a group of Green supporters. The anti-Government questions come sometimes from obvious Coalition supporters, and have been shown in some instances to be planted Liberal Party questions. I don’t know if pro-Government questions are similarly orchestrated – it doesn’t seem that way. The quality of the debate seems to revolve around the panelists more than anything else. You could see last night the effect of Piers Akerman on the discussion. He was his typical aggressive and at times bullying self, with nothing good to say about the Government, and ever ready to pour vitriol over the Government, Julia Gillard and other ministers whenever he can. To my mind Akerman cannot bring balanced comment to such a forum as he is so biased. I have protested to Barrie Cassidy several times about using Akerman on [i]Insiders[/i]. Andrew Bolt and Glenn Milne are similar serial offenders. As usual, Tanya Plibersek was calm and sensible, yet able to refute incorrect assertions; Bruce Hawker, although understandably pro-Labor, was balanced; Julie Bishop was exuding charm and good humour but contradicted Tony Abbott’s statements about IR, which was not difficult since he himself made several contradictory statements yesterday, and continues to do so today. The most neutral was Waleed Aly who made many sensible statements. Early on he pointed out how slavish attention to the demands of the media and its 24-hour cycle, and the credence given to polls and focus groups, had produced the slogan-driven and relatively low content of most political utterances. I have said many times that the media, having created its 24-hour frenzy, its demand for news every few minutes, and its insistence on short grabs, was hardly in a position to criticize politicians for complying with its demands, yet it does so repeatedly. Waleed expressed the view that correcting this distortion of politics and getting back to substantial policy debate was now not possible. To me that is sad. Unless the Fifth Estate can move political debate beyond its current trivial content, we are doomed to sloganeering, inconsequential discourse, spurious claim and counter claim, denial, and glib throwaway lines such as Joe Hockey’s Paris Hilton jibe today. For serious political thinkers, that is a dark prospect. To address your concern about the ABC’s bias, in my view the bias is introduced mainly through the selection of panellists. If the likes of Akerman are selected, bias and imbalance is unavoidable.

HS

20/07/2010AA, It's good that you came out with a male role model who speaks truth to power, pretty much as you do in real life, and I came out with a female role model. :) We are both Libertarian Progressives it seems, however I am more of one than you, you are closer to the line than I was.

HS

20/07/2010lyn, That link to 'The Piping Shrike' is from 14tn December, 2009!

HS

20/07/2010George Pike, The MSM are getting beyond a joke allright! Anything to create a furore and generate anti-ALP sentiment.

HS

20/07/2010Does Tony Abbott realise what he is doing by cutting Infrastructure projects to be paid for with the new Mining Tax? There's a ready-made ALP campaign issue presented on a plate. Also I don't know how the electorate will respond to his desire to axe the Community Cabinet meetings, either.

George Pike

20/07/2010The funny thing about that HS is the fact that if Abbott wins the election there will not be a mining tax, therefore there will not be any infrastructure spending to cut in the first place...so his claim to be saving $400 million is absolute garbage. He is also still claiming that he will save $42 billion in other cuts, including to schools etc, yet he is also claiming that he is going to give the schools the same amount of money they would have gotten under the Labor initiatives???? Monkey maths for sure...must have gotten the accountant from queensland, barnaby voice, to do the sums for him..

Lyn

20/07/2010 Hi Ad This is sickening: [i]The Australian Goes into Battle for Tony., Reb, Gutter Trash[/i] such an outrageous piece of “anonymous” and unattributed “journalism” presented as “editorial coverage” and it is nothing short of a disgrace. http://guttertrash.wordpress.com:80/2010/07/20/the-australian-goes-into-battle-for-tony/

Lyn

20/07/2010Hi Hillbilly It says cross party edition, 2009 same topic heading, if you refresh the page you get the [b]Monday 19th July, 2010. [/b]The piece is now. [i]Self Absorbed and Deluded - Cross party edition, Piping Shrike [/i] Monday, 19 July 2010 What we are seeing in Australia is a political crisis in slow motion. For most of the last three years that crisis has been focussed on the Liberal party. http://www.pipingshrike.com/

NormanK

20/07/2010Hillbilly, Ad et al If my sums are correct, the Assessment of ABC content will commence on the 23rd of this month and cover the remainder of the campaign. We should expect to see a more balanced coverage because the stopwatches will literally be out and every word and nuance will be scrutinised closely. As will the make-up of panels. The only aspect which may slip between the cracks is the talkback part of radio since this is much more difficult to evaluate. I know I have an overactive imagination but I have no trouble looking into Mr Abbott's mind during an interview to see the wheels turning while he tries to figure out what will make the interviewer happy. He seems to have lost the plot (if he ever read the script) of seeking to appease voters and continues to seek to please journalists instead. The WorkChoices contract was an obvious case-in-point. To this end, it is my prediction that as the Iron Man of Politics grows weary and frustrated over the coming weeks he will utter words to this effect - "What is it that you want me to say?" during an interview. Remember you heard it first at TPS. To his everlasting credit he has already said "I've got an election to win" whilst trying to deflect a question. Dead man walking. Lyn My last post was a little needy, wasn't it? Perhaps I could have used a large red arrow - it worked so well for our handsome-lipped friend. When will I learn what a great role model he is? Your forbearance is commendable. gravel I'm glad you found the recipe humorous. Since I am under no illusions that what I am writing is blatant political propaganda and we are in an election campaign, feel free to post, copy, link, fax or otherwise disseminate material. Every little bit helps and often people who avoid political topics will read something if it's in the form of a joke.

HS

20/07/2010NormanK, I imagine that the Coalition will try to abuse the equal time restrictions to obtain more coverage for themselves, coverage which would not have normally been theirs in a sane and rational media due to the outrageousness of their pronouncements, their mind-numbingly repetitive nature, and their lack of any newsworthy policy announcements. For example, today we have had a couple of middle-aged men(Abbott and Hockey) thinking themselves ribald and randy examples of midle-aged manhood as they make reeference to Paris Hilton's sex life, by way of criticising Wayne Swan; a repitiion of TAbbott's now thin gruel of a policy to 'Turn the Boats Back', which has morphed into the more euphemistic, 'If you want to stop the Boats, you have to change the government'; plus an absolutely ridiculous and economically-illiterate plan to cut spending on Infrastructure and can the hugely popular Community Cabinets. A blind man has more idea of where to go than this mob.

HS

20/07/2010NormanK, That avatar is going to give me nightmares, fair dinkum! :)

Gravel

20/07/2010NormanK Thanks for that, I will do. AA An ABC watch thingy. I listened to the midday news on the ABC, they had 18-19 minutes about Abbott's 'economics' gimmicks, making him sound good!!! Then I thought good we'll get the same time talking about Julia's Cadet Apprentice Training speech she had given at about 11.30am. I guess we heard 30 seconds on that then more Liberal stuff. Bah! I'm not going to listen any more. At least on Sky News they showed the misogynistic remarks made by Hockey and the response by the journalist, which I would like to see on the commercial news networks, but can probably guarantee they won't.

Lyn

20/07/2010Hi Hillbilly This is a gaffe: The Australian, Patricia Karvelas Hockey was accused of using sexist humour by a journalist to drive his point about Labor's spending record, after he drew a bizarre analogy between Paris Hilton's sexuality and Wayne Swan's ability to deliver surpluses. The line was an attempt to get on the TV news but it distracted from the Opposition's serious message and will inevitably be attacked by women and men alike. Labor will have a field day with it. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/tony-abbott-beats-gillard-to-the-punch-on-spending-cuts/story-fn59niix-1225894572393

HS

20/07/2010lyn, It wasn't a good look was it from a family man? I suppose TAbbott guffawed along with 'Sloppy' Joe? Did you see their latest list of Budget 'Savings'? It shows them to be true Climate Change Luddites. http://blogs.crikey.com.au/thestump/2010/07/20/coalition-announces-new-round-of-savings/#comment-3848

HS

20/07/2010Anyway, I think Paris Hilton is well and truly entitled to not be a virgin before marriage, if that's what she wants to do. She's a free-spirited woman, and I respect her for that. Plus she's also a very savvy Business woman. I thought the Coalition would have celebrated that.

HS

20/07/2010Gravel, I really do think the ABC have been leant on in some way so that they have to portray the Coalition in a serious light and not as the bunch of clowns and economic illiterates that they undoubtedly are.

Lyn

20/07/2010Hi Hillbilly [i]It shows them to be true Climate Change Luddites.[/i] Your so right Hillbilly there will be trouble of their budget cuts you see, its started already. [i]THIS IS A GAFFE:[/i] Opposition to axe clean coal funding , Cathy leander, SMH [b]Mr Abbott promised to axe a $300 million Australian institute which aims to commercialise technology to cut greenhouse gas emissions from coal-fired power stations.[/b] http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/opposition-to-axe-clean-coal-funding-20100720-10is8.html

NormanK

20/07/2010HS The bunny is only here to keep me focussed. He's already flip-flopping. A 56//44 TPP will send him hip-hopping. If you haven't seen the Paris Hilton clip, search it out. Watch Phoney Father of the Year's handsome mouth throughout. You wouldn't let him within 100 metres of anyone's daughter. Imagine this on the world stage. He really is a cretin and those around him are no better. Remember this was scripted - not a bit of a joke around after too many wines at lunch.

nasking

20/07/2010Just watched Q&A…I reckon Piers Ackerman should change his diet…all I heard was Liberal flatulence. And Julie Bishop said she wanted to turn The Pilbara into the “Dubai of the North”. Doesn’t surprise me: [quote]02/21/2010 140 Filipinas are slaves in Dubai At the Filipino Workers Resource Center, which can accommodate about 25 people, they encountered 140 distressed Filipino women dying to go back to the Philippines, but couldn’t do so. Bitter picture According to Zapanta, these Filipino workers, aged between 20 and 40, were considered slaves, “abused either physically or sexually” by their foreign employers. One of the victims narrated that she was frequently beaten up by her employer so she had no choice but to flee. This story was echoed by the experience of another, who suffered a graver fate when she escaped jumping from a window: The incident then left her with broken bones and black and blue all over. Another Filipino woman relayed how she was recruited and promised work as a waitress but ended up in the flesh trade. She said she was sexually abused by five men in one day. Her employer sold her to pay back the sum she spent for her fare. “You know what’s sad about this?” Zapanta asked. “The one who fetched her and brought her to the place where she was abused was also a Filipino. It then makes us wonder if this Filipino, like her, is another victim or a party to the crime.” Why they can’t come home Zapanta said altering contracts without the knowledge of workers is common in this kind of trade. Dubai has no laws protecting domestic helpers, automatically rendering these Filipinos vulnerable to maltreatment, she said. Since there are no existing laws that can favor the many ill-treated Filipino women in Dubai, it is hard to press charges against their employers. Even telling the authorities their stories after they successfully break free from abusive hands is difficult since the effort can work against them.[/quote]——— http://globalnation.inquirer.net/news/breakingnews/view/20100221-254484/140-Filipinas-are-slaves-in-Dubai So Julie B. & Tony A., ya reckon Workchoices is dead. What will it be next time? A Dubai style… NoChoices? SerfChoices? Julie Bishop might want to Google “work exploitation in Dubai”…it comes across like a Big business greedster/Neo-CON’s dream: http://www.google.com.au/#hl=en&rlz=1W1ADRA_en&&sa=X&ei=nUFFTPPUCIuCvgOr4PnVAw&ved=0CBsQvwUoAQ&q=work+exploitation+in+dubai&spell=1&fp=7db324877985c11a N’

nasking

20/07/2010So, Julie Bishop wants to turn WA into this eh? [quote]Dark side of the Dubai dream By Lila Allen Panorama It is a place in the sun for over a million of us who holiday there every year. It boasts a host of luxury apartments that has celebrities flocking. But behind the glitz and glamour of Dubai often lies a murky world of exploitation and an immigrant work force living on the breadline. [/quote] http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7985361.stm Get them 457 visas rollin'...rollin'... N'

Jason

20/07/2010The Punch is reporting the following, Hey hey it’s almost polling day. And in this shameless orgy of self-promotion and vote-grabbing, Tony Abbott has shot to the front of the pack with Channel Nine revealing he’s going to be a guest judge on the Red Faces segment tomorrow night. http://www.thepunch.com.au/

HS

20/07/2010Nasking, I thought it strange that Cruella Da Bishop chose Dubai as her point of reference. I imagine that her only contact with the place was on stopover to other places. Thus she would have only come across its glitzier side and would've thought that a bit of allright, blissfully unaware to its darker side. Not that she'd care I suppose. Did you also catch her demeaning reference to Waleed Aly, a man who has more brains in one of his neurones than Julie Bishop has in her entire cranium, as Labor's 'token' on the Sustainability Panel? She didn't say, "Token Muslim", but that's what she meant.

wow gold

20/07/2010fefe

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20/07/2010George, Lyn, HS What a tissue of lies the Coalition spins about its ‘Budget savings’. Examination of only one ‘saving’ shows the ‘smoke and mirrors’ approach of the Coalition, a description Andrew Robb enjoys applying to anything financial Labor proposes. It underscores the desperation and emptiness of the Coalition’s intellectual resources on economics, or its rank dishonesty, or maybe both. To claim as a SAVING the amount that the Government has budgeted to expend on reducing company tax and infrastructure, which will be expended ONLY if and when its MRRT tax is passed and the tax collected, yet at the same time to insist it will NOT EVEN COLLECT THE TAX if in power, defies logic and commonsense and is totally devoid of integrity. How can you save money that you won’t be spending because you’re not collecting the revenue? Yet how often have you heard journalists challenge this ridiculous proposition? On [i]The World Today[/i] Lyndal Curtis tried to query Andrew Robb about today’s cuts. Here's an extract: LYNDAL CURTIS: One of the biggest cuts is a cut to an infrastructure fund for the states. That was tied to the mining tax but was that funded by the mining tax? 
 ANDREW ROBB: It wasn't funded by the mining tax but it was as you might recall part of a deal done when Kevin Rudd was being squeezed by the Western Australian Premier and by the Queensland Premier. It was a deal for another $400 million. But of course at that time the Government was saying that it was going to reap $12 billion of revenue when it really knew that it was going to get upwards of $24 billion of revenue from that tax. 

So that is money that was coming out of a tax which we will eliminate. So that money is not available either to the Government now or to us and it would only add to debt if we don't cut that amount of expenditure. 

 LYNDAL CURTIS: But can you count it as a saving if it's money you weren't going to raise anyway?

 ANDREW ROBB: Well it's still something the Government has committed to so it is a directly a saving. But look the trouble with this government is that we as a government they're living beyond their means, they're making Australia live beyond its means. We haven't got the money. We've got to get our economy back into the sort of resilience that the Rudd and Gillard inherited three years ago. 

 LYNDAL CURTIS: Just a quick question of accounting. If you are not going to raise the money from the mining tax, can you really count the $400 million you're not going to spend from money you're not going to raise as a saving? 

ANDREW ROBB: Absolutely because if the Government is still committed to that $400 million, which will just mean they will borrow that money as they have done with most of their spending, it's borrowed money. A hundred million dollars a day they are borrowing to pay for their reckless programs - that's for the next two years. So that means that will be an extra four days of borrowing by this government to pay for that $400 million infrastructure fund. Can you follow the ‘logic’; can you believe the deception? Talk about smoke and mirrors! Read the full interview here: http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2010/s2958832.htm

HS

20/07/2010For what it's worth, considering the factual distortions and flat-out inaccuracies, here's the Liberals latest ad: http://liberal.org.au/Liberal-TV.aspx

HS

20/07/2010Jason, I don't think I can remember Julia Gillard engaging in a 'shameless orgy of self-promotion' in the same way TAbbott is by going on 'Hey, Hey It's Saturday'(on Wednesday). Anyway, that show is tanking in the ratings, especially as it is up against MasterChef. Pretty much like TAbbott up against the PM. :)

Lyn

20/07/2010Hi Everybody Our friends over at the Cafe are green talking. As Miglo says, the Liberals snivelling whinging, whining, about Labor Deal with the Greens, but it's ok for the Liberals to have the Nationals, and form a Coalition. [i]It’s not easy being Green, Miglo,Cafe Whispers[/i] It’s even OK to form the Coalition with the National Party, which was purely for their selfish benefit. http://cafewhispers.wordpress.com/2010/07/20/its-not-easy-being-green/

George Pike

20/07/2010The $100 million a day goes right out the window when you do the sums...as the rapidly rising income from mining and farm receipts makes that figure pale into insignifigance...and when you consider how many jobs and small businesses that the ongoing expenditure is supporting...instead of being borrowed to support the much higher level of unemployed that the Liberals would have dealt us, it is money well spent by any sane person's point of view. Instead of supporting huge numbers of people with unemployment welfare, the government are keeping TAX PAYING jobs and businesses alive and well...and the money being borrowed to keep those jobs and businesses afloat will be returned in spades by taxation, social contentment, business confidence and continued productivity as well skills maintenance. Robb and Hockey are frauds...Abbott is a rabbit...say no more...jobs right araldite!

Lyn

20/07/2010Hi Ad & Hillbilly Look what he is doing now: Abbott to appear on 'Hey Hey' World News The opposition leader's preparing to risk ridicule to broaden his appeal by appearing on Hey Hey it’s Saturday tomorrow night. http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1306037/Abbott-to-appear-on-Hey-Hey

George Pike

20/07/2010Greg Hunt comes out saying that linking suicide to a Liberal win is the lowest of the low, when it is quite true. Andrew Robb would know full well that depression leads to suicide and if you are going broke at the speed of light due to the incompetent ruthless slashing of government expenditure, as the Liberals are proposing to do, to try and make themselves look like the masters of the universe, that is exactly what is going to happen. It pales into insignifigance compared to Dick Smith's outrageous claims that voting for Labor will lead to the deaths of hundreds of people in blazing balls of fire as planes fall out of sky due to the lack of airtraffic control 24 hours a day in Launceston! That is REAL scaremongering political opportunism at its ugliest, and Smith should hang his head in shame for suggesting it.

Jason

20/07/2010George, Dick Smith should be held to account, I know he was once the head of CASSA but wasn't that a life time ago? and I don't think he has got over the fact that we don't fly kitty hawks and technology has changed since he was there.I think if Dick has valid concerns why didn't he use his money and connections at the time if he wasn't being heard. But all jokes aside George when did the apple isle get aircraft movement similar to those of LAX or Heathrow. Dick the village has called they want you back

George Pike

20/07/2010Watched Nine's 4:30 national news, Ten's 5:00 newshour, Southern Cross's 6:00 news and SBS's 6:30 news..so far, as usual, and the only mention of Tony Abbott's unwitting encounter with a Vietnamese illegal boat person was on Nine's program....which surprised me a bit...I thought Ten would have run it long and hard. The Vietnamese, now Australian, guy was quizzed by the great alternative leader about how hard he worked and all the other drivel that usually accompanies these photo shoots and he later told the media how he illegaly came to Australia on a boat in 1973...and how much he disliked the Liberal's asylum seeker policy...too polite to tell Abbott himself.

Lyn

20/07/2010 Hi George [quote][i]They are basing those assumptions on a near miss at Launceston in May 2008...9 months after Labor came to power and in the middle of a financial crisis. It's getting beyond belief, it really is...[/i][/quote] [quote]Dick Smith's outrageous claims that voting for Labor will lead to the deaths of hundreds of people[/quote] This is about your comment above:: [i]Dick Smith attacks ATSB over inaction on near miss of two jets, Ben Sandilands, Crikey[/i]Dick Smith has made a politically sensitive attack on the Australian Transport Safety Bureau for avoiding its responsibilities in its inquiry into a close encounter between a Virgin Blue 737 and a Jetstar A320 over a fog-bound Launceston Airport two years ago. http://www.crikey.com.au/2010/07/20/dick-smith-attacks-atsb-over-inaction-on-near-miss-of-two-jets/

Lyn

20/07/2010Hi Jason Jason I owe you an apology, I am sorry. I went and posted the Link to "Hey Hey it's Saturday 6.03pm comment, I missed your comment and link at 5.11pm: [quote]Hey hey it’s almost polling day. And in this shameless orgy of self-promotion and vote-grabbing, Tony Abbott has shot to the front of the pack with Channel Nine revealing he’s going to be a guest judge on the Red Faces segment tomorrow night. [/quote] Thankyou for your link. I don't watch commercial TV, but will be watching Hey Hey, just to see the fool make another gaffe. Kerry O'Brien just announced, Phoney was asked to appear tonight but declined.

HS

20/07/2010lyn, Is that right? Sorry, but I, and the rest of Australia, were watching MasterChef. Did TAbbott really pull out of the interview with Kerry O'Brien tonight? But he has time to go on lamo 'Hey,Hey'? Do you think that the wheels might be coming off the Liberal campaign already? They obviously coldn't afford the rent on their Melbourne campaign HQ, so they delayed opening it up for 1 week. They keep coming out with half-baked ideas as policies. I wonder what John Howard must be thinking?

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20/07/2010Folks Tomorrow I'll be posting a piece on journalist behaviour titled: [i]Who do you prefer – Laurie Oakes or Hugh Riminton?[/i] Goodnight to you all.

HS

20/07/2010AA, That sounds fantastic!

Rx

20/07/2010It seems odd that Abbott declined to go on the '7.30 Report'. As ABC audiences I'm sure will have noticed, normally Abbott (and the Liberals) are 'all over' the ABC (TV and Radio) to the extent that voices from other parties barely get a word in edgeways. So when a Liberal suddenly and very much out of Party character stays away from the ABC, it's clear that something is up. The two powerful motivators at play here are: 1) It's a strategy to minimise the number of tough interviews during the campaign. Less chance to stuff up. 2) He is rattled. Personally I think Abbott has made the wrong decision. The reality is, he cannot keep avoiding O'Brien for the whole campaign. Avoidance will not miraculously cause O'Brien to go easier on him when they do meet. When O'Brien does eventually catch up with Phoney he's likely to go in harder than ever, to make up for lost time as it were. The closer to the election date this happens, the more risky for Abbott. In other words, the longer Abbott holds out, the higher the stakes. I predict that what he will do in the interim while mustering up the courage to run O'Brien's gauntlet is seek out the comforting arms of Fran Kelly on Radio National 'Breakfast'. There he knows he's bound to get the sympathetic, obliging treatment he seeks, and, as an added bonus, he'll be able to say to those who question his courage, "What are you talking about? I [i]have not[/i] been avoiding the ABC!"

jimbo

20/07/2010Lynn was the fruitcake bat abbott asked to appear on the seven thirty report?I f so the reason would have been because a few of the more ethical reporters had a go at him over a number of his money saving policies were bogus and incidently one of those reporters was kerry o"brien no wonder he declined especially with workchoices hanging over him and this lot of rubbish money saving policies,one being savings through cuts to the beurocracy ,i dont know but i would have thought using three front benchers at ,for arguments sake two hundred thousand a year each, to prosecute their budget policy a little extravagant in the extreme.Yes we had the three amigos the supposed masters of the liberal front bench and lo and behold at six hundred thousand a year between them they still got it all wrong.Robb tried to mesmerise the electorate with spin and went in so many circles he got himself lost,Humpty dumpty hockey decided on no new figures, no policy but would go down the dirt avenue,hope Paris sues,and then the fruitcake bat abbott well what can you say about him,maybe is this written down gospei or is it just talking lies.Also have you seen on the new liberal add that the school halls wasted one point seven billion and then later in the same add the schools halls then wasted eight billion.Isnt it lucky for the libs that loughnane isnt a treasurer.I suppose this will be another liberal saving.Thing about these rubbery figures is that no matter what you multiply zero with it is still zero you morons.just check the libs new add and where is the media asleep at the wheel.Too gutless to go on the seven-thirty report phoney.

Lyn

20/07/2010HI EVERYBODY GROG WITH ANOTHER FANTASTIC ELECTION REPORT, Thankyou Grog. [i]Election 2010: Day 4 (or Hey Hey it's attack Paris Hilton Day), GOROG, GROG'S GAMUT[/i]It’s no big thing, but it feeds into a perception about the Abbott campaign – it’s all a bit of a mess, a bit old, a bit white male, and a bit “just one phrase from entering gaffeville”. http://grogsgamut.blogspot.com/2010/07/election-2010-day-4-or-hey-hey-its.html

Lyn

20/07/2010Hi Jimbo [quote]the new liberal add that the school halls wasted one point seven billion and then later in the same add the schools halls then wasted eight billion.[/quote] Jimbo your observant, thanks for pointing out the gaffe, that's another one for my collection. Not a good look to refuse big red, but appear on Hey Hey, not a very clever move. Oh well the longer Phoney delays the 7.30 report, the more enjoyment we will get when he does appear, KO will make mince meat of him, especially with the phoney budget cuts today.

jimbo

20/07/2010Lynn your so very right i hope kerry takes the same attitude he took when he grilled him on budget cuts and his lying

jimbo

20/07/2010Lynn how do i go about getting a new gravatar

Lyn

20/07/2010Hi Jimbo Look at the comments box and click on Gravatar (in red text) the system will guide you through, it's fun have a good time, you can upload a picture from your files if you like. cheers

Lyn

21/07/2010[b]TODAY'S LINKS[/b] [i]Election 2010: Day 4 (or Hey Hey it's attack Paris Hilton Day), GROG, GROG'S GAMUT[/i] It’s no big thing, but it feeds into a perception about the Abbott campaign – it’s all a bit of a mess, a bit old, a bit white male, and a bit “just one phrase from entering gaffeville”. http://grogsgamut.blogspot.com/2010/07/election-2010-day-4-or-hey-hey-its.html [i]Coalition announces new round of savings, Bernard Keane, The Stump[/i] It seems increasingly clear the Coalition’s economic policy for the election is to continue its scare campaign on debt and deficits and hope Australians are economically illiterate enough to connect a possible interest rate rise by the RBA in two weeks with Labor’s economic policies. http://blogs.crikey.com.au/thestump/2010/07/20/coalition-announces-new-round-of-savings/ [i]The Coalition has just found an extra $1.2 billion. Peter Martin[/i]http://petermartin.blogspot.com/2010/07/savings-coalition-has-just-has-found.html [i]Campaign Trend Estimates – the starting blocks,Possum Comitatus, Pollytics[/i] we end up with Labor on 83 seats, the Coalition on 64 seats and 3 independents. You might notice that the current estimate is exactly what the current Parliament is – but because of the electoral boundary redistribution http://blogs.crikey.com.au/pollytics/2010/07/20/campaign-trend-estimates-the-starting-blocks/ [i]Green Preferences and the 2010 Election.Antony Green, ABC[/i] The bigger problem for Labor in losing votes to the Greens is not preferences, but the Greens passing the Liberals in inner-city seats and then defeating Labor on Liberal preferences. In the debate on how the Greens will go in seats like Melbourne, it is not Green preferences that matter, but what the Liberals decide to do. http://blogs.abc.net.au/antonygreen/2010/07/green-preferences-at-the-2007-election.html [i]Green deals don’t help a sustainable population, Amber Jamieson, Crikey[/i The ALP will direct its voters to preference the Greens in the Senate and the Greens will give Labor preferences in certain seats in the lower house.http://www.crikey.com.au/2010/07/20/commentary-wrap-green-deals-dont-help-a-sustainable-population/ [i]call to sort through the contradictions, Jeremy Sear , Pure Poison[/i] The Greens are dismissed for “grubby” political deal-making whilst simultaneously being damned for being too pure and unwilling to compromise. http://blogs.crikey.com.au/purepoison/ [i]Bolta and the big scary Green Monster, Dave Gaukroger, Pure Poison[/i] Brown’s poor handling of this issue has created the room for Bolt’s nonsense. http://blogs.crikey.com.au/purepoison/2010/07/19/bolta-and-the-big-scary-green-monster/#more-6637 [i]The view from Channel Nine,Kimberella, Larvatus Prodeo[/i] Joe Hockey comparing Wayne Swan to Paris Hilton, and being rightly asked by a journo about using silly metaphors about women’s sexuality. That you would have got from Channel Nine http://larvatusprodeo.wordpress.com/2010/07/20/the-view-from-channel-nine/ [i]Australians want more than election slogans, Kevin Rennie, Global Voices[/i] The Oz blogosphere is looking for substance not just spin in this campaign. http://globalvoicesonline.org/2010/07/20/australians-want-more-than-election-slogans/ [i]Exclusive Election Result Predictions!, Reb, Gutter Trash[/i] “Would you vote for that nice Mister Abbott or that backstabbing bitch Julia Gillard?” over a series of “key events” that occurred in recent weeks http://guttertrash.wordpress.com:80/2010/07/20/exclusive-election-result-predictions/ [i]Stop Abbott, fight Gillard - vote left an build movements, Solidarity. Net.[/i] Abbott is running the most right wing Liberal campaign seen for a long time. His racist fear campaign about refugees and his promise to turn the boats back has recommitted the Liberals to the very worst aspects of Howard’s policy. http://www.solidarity.net.au/26/stop-abbott-fight-gillard%E2%80%94vote-left-and-build-the-movements [i]Is Eric Abetz or Mark Latham the spectre of WorkChoices?, Kimberella,LarvatusProdeo[/i]the ghost of Peter Costello mocking Julia Gillard’s accent is hardly a good look. http://larvatusprodeo.wordpress.com/2010/07/20/is-eric-abetz-or-mark-latham-the-spectre-of-workchoices/#more-449

Rx

21/07/2010Another one for [b]ABC WATCH[/b] please, Ad Astra. By poster, The Big Ship, [i]The Poll Bludger[/i], July 19, 2010 at 11:38 pm http://blogs.crikey.com.au/pollbludger/2010/07/18/newspoll-55-45-to-labor-galaxy-50-50/comment-page-26/#comment-526803 Quote: "As an example of the debasement of the ABC – why on earth is ABC Lateline Business now interviewing Ross Cameron, failed Liberal MP and serial adulterer? "He has just been given a free ride by the ineffectual Ticky Fullerton to spew snide Liberal party propaganda across the airwaves for the last 10 minutes. He was introduced as if he’d be interviewed as a representative of his current business involvement on some financial and business matters, but he’s done nothing more than mouth Liberal platitudes and talking points for the entire interview without demur from the hopelessly inept Fullerton. "And our taxes are paying yet again for this sort of idiocy?"

Rx

21/07/2010 Another one for [b]ABC WATCH[/b] please, Ad Astra. By poster, Bushfire Bill, [i]The Poll Bludger[/i], July 21, 2010 at 8:19 am http://blogs.crikey.com.au/pollbludger/2010/07/20/highlights-of-day-three/comment-page-23/#comment-528032 Quote: Just listening to Joe Hocket on AM talking with Lyndal Curtis… ... 2. Lyndal pretty-well lets him get away with it, mildly prodding him on occasion and pulling him up here and there, but basically he gets a free run with her. She never talks over him, never shows any disrespect. Her tone is apologetic, as if she is signalling she has to ask sort-of “hard” questions for form’s sake, but don’t worry much Joe, I won’t go in too hard. ... 4. The ABC still seems cowed by the Coalition’s past glories. They appear to be scared of upsetting them, lest they be punished if they ever get back into power.

Lyn

21/07/2010Hi Everybody [b]The Australian is somewhat disappointed in their hero Phoney this morning:[/b] Outer suburban battlers stranded as Abbott loses his way , The Australian Watching Mr Abbott walk is itself cause for reflection. Legs slightly bowed and feet out-turned. [b]Arms bent as if carrying a suitcase on each side[/b]. Back ramrod straight.To the embarrassment of Mr Abbott's party minders, he was ambling away from the Scullys, who had spent all morning tidying their shop in anticipation of a campaign visit. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/outer-suburban-battlers-stranded-as-abbott-loses-his-way/story-fn59niix-1225894767 Tony, it's time to bury the bike , The Australian The Opposition Leader looks like a one-man band, carrying a chaotic party that has allowed [b]Labor's slick machine to do him over[/b]. No one is watching his back or keeping him informed about the minute-by-minute developments in a relentless news cycle. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/tony-its-time-to-bury-the-bike/story-e6frg71x-1225894781223 The Liberals are looking like amateurs , Paul Kelly, The Australian a leader stumbling about and unable to get his lines right. The Liberals look like amateurs, [b]neither ready to govern nor expecting to win[/b]. Yet they had three years to sort out their Work Choices position and avoid this debacle. Indeed, it is possible that Abbott may not recover from this fiasco and has gifted Gillard the unbeatable break she needs. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/abbott-waves-white-flag-on-labour-reform/story-fn59niix-1225894775175 Hilton analogy wins airhead of week award, Samantha Maiden, The Australian Pity for voters that on the basis of Abbott’s Hilton guffawing and plans to make a dill of himself on Hey, Hey It’s Saturday, [b]he’s decided to “go stupid” too[/b]. http://blogs.theaustralian.news.com.au/samanthamaiden/index.php/theaustralian/comments/hilton_analogy_wins_airhead_of_week_award/ Abbott sellout contaminates Libs' DNA, Peter Van Onselen, The Australian it has turned workplace relations into one of the most talked about issues by both parties at the start of the campaign, exactly what Labor wanted. Second, the Liberals are well known to be having trouble funding their election campaign, and that won't get any better now that business has little reason to help out. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/abbott-sellout-contaminates-libs-dna/story-e6frg8zx-1225894771013 SENIOR Liberals are angered and baffled by the party's slow start to the election campaign. , Christian Kerr, The Australian Tony Abbott was unaware of the preference deal between Labor and the Greens when he spoke to The Australian hours after it was announced on Monday. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/slow-start-to-campaign-angers-senior-liberals/story-fn59niix-1225894794061

janice

21/07/2010Good morning all. I've been stunned into silence since the campaign began just a few days ago. I just cannot see how anyone with a sane mind could possibly vote for Abbott and his motley crew nor can I understand how the media can persist in backing him. Lyn, re gravatars. I've given up trying to get me a gravatar - I've decided I must be too dumb to follow the required steps that always end in 'wrong password', 'user name already exists' etc etc.

Rx

21/07/2010Another one for [b]ABC WATCH[/b] please, Ad Astra. By poster, Tom Hawkins, [i]The Poll Bludger[/i], Wednesday, July 21, 2010 http://blogs.crikey.com.au/pollbludger/2010/07/20/highlights-of-day-three/comment-page-23/#comment-528033 Quote: "It was interesting on the day the election was called. ABC TV had Chris Uhlman speaking with another ABC journalist and they were half joking that they might struggle to get much election discussion to air as the opposition weren’t planning to have a spokesperson available over the next few days. They mentioned that in the interests of balance the ABC wouldn’t be able to provide air time to a government spokesperson if the opposition shut up shop. How absurd is that? Basically if one side of the debate decided to STFU for a week then the ABC would consider not speaking to someone from the other side stifling all debate."

Ad astra reply

21/07/2010LYN'S DAILY LINKS updated: http://www.thepoliticalsword.com/page/Lyns-Daily-Links.aspx Gravel ABC WATCH updated: http://www.thepoliticalsword.com/page/ABC-Watch.aspx

George Pike

21/07/2010Rx, re your Lyndal Curtis note, that is especially worrying, as it was only yesterday that Hockey made deragatory remarks against a young woman in an oafish borish attempt to engrandise himself to Lord knows who...with his fellow apes, Abbott and Robb, going along for the sexist redneck ride... Here is a letter I just wrote to all the Labor pollies and the press regarding a flyer I have just recieved from the Liberals (junk mail); I've just recieved a flyer promoting the Tasmanian Liberal Senate Team and it contains the biggest pile of political propagandist garbage one would ever be likely to come across! They are telling the populus that Australians are suffering from high costs of living and interest rates...when inflation is a full one percent lower and interest rates are 300 percentage points lower now, than when Labor took office. They are saying that "after three years of Labor's failures, we are already a weaker nation", well, if we are weaker, and our economy is performing far and away the most powerfully of all advanced economies on the planet, what does that say about the absurdity of the premise? Beside the fact that Labor have only been in power for two years and 8 months, and not three years as Abetz and fellow carpet baggers and snake oil salesmen would have us believe, it is also worth noting that, if the Liberals had gotten their way during the GFC, this country would be weaker by a very large margin. They would have destroyed at least 250,000 jobs and 7,000 small businesses and one or two of our major banks could also have hit the wall....great hey! Let's face it people, the only "real action" plans that these charlatans have in mind for this country are as follows: to bring back work choices; to destroy the rollout of the NBN...the critically important super highway of the future; to destroy the superclinics...where ordinary people will very soon be able to access ALL forms of medical, dental and mental health treatments under one roof; to destroy the health reforms...which will empower regional health bodies to enact the appropriate measures that they know they need most, without centralised inteference; the destruction of the MRRT...which will see over ten million Australians gain satisfactory levels of superannuation coverage to enable them to have a half decent retirement...a cut in company taxes and $5,000 in investment allowances for small businesses...and a massive increase in infrastructure expenditure within mining regions, to give the workers and their families who live there a half decent existence; the destruction of the E Health system..which will allow people to access their critical medical records from anywhere in the world in times of emergency and enable a rapid transfer of medical info between professionals...etc etc etc.. The Liberals are the most destructive, obstructive group of luddites that has ever plonked their bums in the seats of the Australian Parliament..and, if we want a decent future, we had better vote the blighters out of existence at the coming election and allow the Labor people to get on with the job of giving this country a truly advanced but fair and equitable society, as well as ensuring that it remains a fabulously great place to live, work and play! George Pike, Bridport

Ad astra reply

21/07/2010Rx ABC WATCH updated: http://www.thepoliticalsword.com/page/ABC-Watch.aspx

Lyn

21/07/2010Hi Janice Click Gravatar in red text, near comments box Click "Get your Gravatar today" Enter email address Click sign up When you enter your user name and password, put some numbers in amongst the the names, that should do it. Once your user name and password gets accepted you should be ok. Give it one more try. Cheers

janice

21/07/2010Thanks Lyn, I see I was finally successful. My gravatar is a pic of my Maremma sheep dog when he was just 8 mths old - he's now grown into a big, handsome (49kg) dog that is slowly eating me out of house and home.

Lyn

21/07/2010Hi Janice You little beauty, you did it. Love your gravatar a lovely sheep dog, 8 months old & 49 kg only 3kgs lighter than me, my husband would tell you I am expensive to keep. Cheers

NormanK

21/07/2010janice If I may be so bold - make sure you have kept a record of your username and password in a safe place. You will need it if at a future date you decide to update your avatar or change the email address to which it is attached. Love your Maremma, by the way. With regard to who would vote for Abbott & Co, I had dinner with my brother-in-law last night and he is a devotee of Murdoch publications and relies heavily on Sky for TV news. He is rabidly anti-Labor and would, if prompted, quote all of the lies and misinformation gleaned from these sources - this despite being in all other ways a reasonable and sane human being. He is also surrounded by like-minded people (much as we are) and his attitudes get reinforced and nurtured. In the interests of family harmony, I don't take him to task too often because I get too passionate and to be honest, I can see no way to change his mind since the poison has seeped in over a great many years. The only answer for him will be if at some point he sees for himself the shortcomings of the Conservatives.

Lyn

21/07/2010Hi Ad This is 'A GREAT BIG GAFFE': Coalition under fire over IR savings pledge,ABC Mr Abbott would have to change a section of the Fair Work laws to implement the policy."One day he makes a promise not to change Labor's industrial relations laws http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/07/21/2959546.htm?section=justin

George Pike

21/07/2010Hi Lyn, I just put a link to the Sword's "government achievements" page on my facebook site and other pro-Labor sites as well. I hope it attracts many people who are begining to sway under the pro-Liberal propaganda pressure and compels them to support the progressives...as I'm sure it will.

Lyn

21/07/2010Hi George Good on you, that's terrific. I need you to help me collect the gaffes. Just watched Phony's press conference in Brisbane, on education tax rebate backdrop was a school. Poorly orgainised again, as hard to hear above the children in the playground. There were at least 6 questions asked about changing the fair work act. Phoney said he had excellent legal advise and he would only need to change the electrol act. But wait for it, sounded to me like the legal advise came from George Brandis, Kieren Gillbert said Brandis is a very well respected Lawyer. Keiren Gillbert reported that Sky News is obtaining advise as to who is right, Julia Gillard or Phoney. Abbott promises more cash for parents, Emma Rodgers, ABC Mr Abbott says a Coalition government would increase the rebate to $500 out of $1,000 spending for primary school children and up to $1,000 in $2,000 of spending for high school students. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/07/21/2959837.htm

George Pike

21/07/2010Emma Rogers clearly states that parents will be able to claim up $2,000 in rebates, then goes on to say that they will be able to claim $500 out of an expenditure of $1,000 for primary kids and $1,000 of $2,000 in secondary school expenses... so if you've got two kids in high school and you spend a couple of grand on each of them, your other two kids in primary school get zilch....there is no limit on the Labor assistance packages as far as I know...

janice

21/07/2010NormanK, thank you and I have recorded the details as I do with anything that must rely on my memory. Glad you like my Maremma and one day soon I hope to update his pic to show just has handsome he is now that he has grown out of puppyhood. I know a number of peole just like your b-i-l but so many other conservative voters I know tell me they couldn't vote for the rabble that is lead by the mad Wabbott. Guess they'll vote Green since I doubt they could bring themselves to vote Labor. Lyn, Paddy is a big boy and too heavy for little old me to lift. He had an ear infection a couple of weeks ago which meant an expensive trip to the vets. He had to have an anaesthetic to remove a grass seed but because he is so heavy they had to do the job on the floor of the surgery!

Ad astra reply

21/07/2010Lyn Thank you for the collection of articles from [i]The Oz[/i]. What a turn around to see so many pieces critical of the Coalition in that paper. Paul Kelly’s was particularly strong, condemning Tony Abbott as it did for sacrificing his and the Coalition’s IR principles on the altar of political expediency. Kelly has been insistent that Labor’s IR laws need modification to foster business productivity, and obviously feels let down because Abbott has abandoned (at least that what he says) any intent to make modifications. Like Paul Kelly, the Coalition’s natural constituency, the business community, is annoyed with him. It really is a tragic comedy that Abbott’s attempt to kill off the WorkChoices issue has flared it up to the extent that it is still going today, six days after he committed it to the grave then the crematorium at the LNP conference last Saturday. Even allowing his cost-cutting foray to extend to saving $25 million by letting the Australian Electoral Commission recover the cost of running ballots for unions, which Labor says will require changes to the IR laws, has opened up the debate again, so that it will run during the day and probably on TV tonight. The more he tries to put it aside the more it bounces back. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/07/21/2959546.htm?section=justin There was general comment in your pieces about the Coalition’s unpreparedness and amateurishness in running its campaign. It will need to do a lot better very soon to make up lost ground. BTW, I couldn’t get your first link to work (got a 404 error message), nor could I find [i]Outer suburban battlers stranded as Abbott loses his way[/i]. Could you please post it again.

Lyn

21/07/2010Hi Ad Here is the link again to Outer suburban battlers stranded as Abbott loses his way. Outer suburban battlers stranded as Abbott loses his way TONY Abbott is having the sort of campaign where even the simplest of street walks loses direction. http://www.theaustralian.com.au:80/national-affairs/outer-suburban-battlers-stranded-as-abbott-loses-his-way/story-fn59niix-1225894767608

Lyn

21/07/2010Hi Ad Trying again, strange because works ok from here. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/outer-suburban-battlers-stranded-as-abbott-loses-his-way/story-fn59niix-1225894767608

Lyn

21/07/2010Hi Ad Worked that time. I think it's better if I don't interfere too much with the comments box, meaning I push stuff up and down around and about, change the order of entries, Quote, italic, underline, bold. The poor box doesn't know what hit it sometimes, when I come rushin in. cheers

Lyn

21/07/2010Hi Ad Glenn Milne, writing for the ABC DRUM now, you might say, well who else. What Tony needs to do to win the election, Glenn Milne, The Drum Gillard is defenceless on the knifing of Rudd because she has sworn publicly not to reveal the contents of any of the private conversations surrounding that extraordinary event. This leaves Abbott a blank canvass on which to paint a picture of ruthlessness and disloyalty - even if she was neither. http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/stories/s2959723.htm

debbiep

21/07/2010 Hi all..Can I add Another interesting read ; http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/stories/s2958905.htm New media, old journalism byJacinda Woodhead O]bjectivity was a trust mechanism we relied on in media that didn't do links. But now we can make it perfectly clear where we are coming from, what our sources are and what our values are, and it is this transparency that is the new trust mechanism that both readers and writers have to rely on."

George Pike

21/07/2010It should be pretty easy for Julia to shoot down any attack on the front that Milne suggests...she only has to point to Abbott's assistance in the demise of Nelson, because of his anti-ETS stance, then his deep involvement with the dismissal of Turnbull for his pro-ETS stance...the mad Abbott is hypocrisy on two legs...and Milne is a yippity yappity brainless thug...I can still see him violently pushing his arch enemy (Stephen Maine?) off the rostrum at some gig or other..

Ad astra reply

21/07/2010Lyn Thanks - the link worked this time.

Ad astra reply

21/07/2010Folks I've just posted: [i]Who do you prefer – Laurie Oakes or Hugh Riminton?[/i] http://www.thepoliticalsword.com/post/2010/07/21/Who-do-you-prefer-Laurie-Oakes-or-Hugh-Riminton.aspx
I have two politicians and add 17 clowns and 14 chimpanzees; how many clowns are there?