Laffing at #Führertuber Dutton......

 

 Deputy Sussan Ley & Liberal Party Leader Peter Dutton
Mark Knight

The Shot, 28 October 2024, excerpts:

34 thoughts I had while watching the Liberal Party conference

Ronnie Salt

To the ballroom of the Sydney Hyatt, (were you expecting West Wyalong?) where the Liberal Party’s 64th federal council conferencefestmeet is in full swing in June. I’m at home on a Sunday afternoon watching it back on Facebook and reading along with the comments from Brian and Raelene and Irene and Ron, who enjoys writing his comments in all capitals......

1. And we’re off. Sussan is wearing a fetching navy blazer to match all the other navy blazers at the two bridal tables on the stage full of white people. So very, very white. And navy – lots of navy.

2. Sussan says something about Peter being a leader and then does that head toss thing that reminds me of horses when their fly veil isn’t sitting on their head right.

3. No matter, Sussan has mercifully finished telling us all about Peter’s entire life story which nobody in Australia has ever heard before. Did you know he used to be in the police force? Stop it.

4. Sussan scurried back to her chair and here he comes, Peter Dutton, the Andrew Tate of Australian politics. Like Tate, hair-free and boring, he likes waggling the ToughMan persona-dildo in your face while nothing of any substance ever comes along to back it up.

5. Ron doesn’t seem to be bothered by that, GET RID OF THE GREENS!!

6. Oh, Peter is telling us that Sussan is a great friend of Women-In-The-Liberal-Party and a very good friend of something called Women-In-General. Not sure what Women-In-General he means, but it probably doesn’t include the attention-seeking missile Jacinta Price, who loves a good women’s uterus policing.

7. Immediately after Peter tells us how good Sussan and the Liberal party are for Women-In-General, he thanks the Liberal party president and the Liberal party treasurer and the Liberal party managers, who are all men called John and Charles and Andrew. Guess Sussan ain’t that great a friend of Women-In-The-Liberal-Party and Women-In-General after all.

8. He thanks yet another man, Jeremy Rockliffe, for being Tasmanian but I miss the part where he mentions the Rockliffe Government delaying charges in child sexual abuse cases that happened within the Tasmanian government, however Pete does tell us how exciting the Rockliffe Government will be for young people, and oh goodness what a clanger you dropped there Peter.....

10. Peter’s only seven minutes in and already the lady in the second row with one of those Prude & Trude black velvet hairbands (they must be compulsory) is checking her phone for emails. Have a fistful of mints Judith, cos Pete’s due to talk for 45 minutes and not even a bowl of blow is going to help you through this.

11. Apparently Australians cannot afford to buy a home, says the man who’s been in Parliament for 23 years and in government for 17. Did everyone know Peter and Mrs Peter sold one of their homes on the Gold Coast in 2022 for $6 million? Peter forgets to tell the audience this, too.

12. Yay. Here we go. Law, order and unity get their first call out and we’re only 10 minutes in. Peter has not yet referenced his nine years in the police, but there’s still time yet.

13. Peter is alarmed. There are radical Greens activists in the Teal’s midst. Why have the Teals never noticed them? Get Ron in the comments on the case. He’s seen them. Ron knows.

14. An annoying young journo is in the way of Judith the hair-band lady. She’s leaning over and giving him a good Karening.

15. Our Peter owns a little collection of Australian industries too, it seems. He’s talking about our miners, our farmers, our fishers and our foresters, but sadly no mention of our property developers, our $6 million Gold Coast apartment owners, and our billionaires who live in Singapore for tax purposes (wave to Gina everyone).

16. I’m worried about the journo. He’s a young’ish sort of fella. He’s not seasoned enough for the wrath of Judith from Double Bay. Run little journo boy, run.....

18. At 29:29 we hear, a Prime Minister cannot conduct themselves as somebody who is only there for sexual interests, and I’ve played it back and I think he might mean ‘sectional’, but ‘sexual’ is what Peter has said and I really don’t know what to say about that.

19. Peter has recently spoken to a man in the Cunter, which worries me until I replay it and realise it’s a man in the Hunter (Valley) and I’m not sure if Pete needs to see a speech therapist, or he’s just deathly tired, but this speech is getting very out there.

20. Peter thinks Anthony Albanese does not have a robust handle on nuclear. Does nuclear energy have a robust handle? And if it does, Peter sure doesn’t have one either. What in the name of stale conference room odour does it even mean? One day God herself is going to have to answer that one.

21. Nuclear! Nuclear! Nuclear for all! We will have so many jobs in the Cunter that people will be lining up to live there due to all the nuclear power stations that people want to live next to and somehow I think Peter’s telling us a bit of a fib here.

22. Peter is telling us the Liberal party will speak to Australians about nuclear power and consult with Australians about nuclear power and do costings with Australians about nuclear power and have meetings about nuclear power and lots of other sentences that include the words nuclear power, but sadly no information follows about the construction of stations for nuclear power or the timelines and money involved or where to read the full policy on nuclear power. What was that about Andrew Tate?

23. Aspiration dies where crime thrives. He looks very pleased with himself after that hilarious quip and so does the lanyard guy at the end of the bridal table who obviously wrote it cos he’s got that used-up radio ad man look about him....

25. The camera shows us the full room and they all have free Liberal Party travel mugs, so now you can recognise these people when they’re out in the wild at their lawn bowls clubs.

26. Judith is out of mints.

27. Raelene in the Facebook comments wants us to, Ask Albo what happens to all the waste of solar panels, batteries and turbines when they reach their use-by!? I assume Raelene has never seen the toxic wasteland of abandoned mines across the globe and the rising temperatures that are cooking the planet from those mine’s fossil fuel emissions, but you do you Raelene. (Narrator: it’s also clear these comments have been heavily censored, because every single comment is rejoicing in Sussan and Peter and everything Liberal. Either that or they’re handing out free nangs as well as free travel mugs.)

28. Peter is shifting to terrorism and immigration, which he says in the same sentence because that’s Peter’s safe place. But you go off king, while your ship is sinking, keep going.

29. Peter’s looking excited, which means he’s circling back to CRIME and LAW AND ORDER again. He gets a little glint in his eye when he’s talking about crime, like a penguin at feeding time.

30. Sorry, I dropped my laptop on my face because Peter’s just told me that highly credentialed politicians “like Dan Tehan” will help “restore Australia back to what it once was”, and even Judith looks like she ain’t swallowing that one, unlike the mints.

31. We’re working up for the big finish because the little journo boy and his camera are back, bravely facing danger in the untamed jungle of navy blazers and privilege and personalised travel mugs.

32. BORDERS, BORDERS, LAW AND ORDER, POWERS TO POLICE, CRIME, KNIFE SALES, GANGS, STOP AND SEARCH, INTERNET BADDIES, SOCIAL MEDIA BAD, CHILDREN COMMITTING CRIMES FOR LIKES, (unlike politicians), BAD BORDERS, SARAH HENDERSON IS IN CLASSROOMS WORKING AGAINST EXPLICIT SEXUAL THINKING (I have nothing to add there) BAD PEOPLE ARE EVERYWHERE, EVEN IN CLASSROOMS (probably get Sarah out of there then)......

Read the full article at

https://theshot.net.au/uncategorized/34-thoughts-i-had-while-watching-the-liberal-party-conference/

Scott Morrison & his fellow Robodebt cronies have one less place left to hide with the FOI release of Cabinet papers being posted on the Internet last week

 

On 7 June 2024 The Guardian ran the following article:

The federal court has ruled against a decision blocking access to early robodebt documents drafted under the former Coalition government, as part of one man’s long-running fight to shed light on the scheme’s origins.

Justices Geoffrey Kennett, Anna Katzmann and Shaun McElwaine ruled that a December 2022 decision made by the administrative appeals tribunal (AAT) to keep some robodebt documents exempt, including draft costings and new policy proposals, should be set aside due to procedural unfairness and because the AAT had incorrectly agreed with the cabinet confidentiality exemptions Services Australia applied.

The documents could add more details to the public record about what the former prime minister Scott Morrison – who was then responsible for the social services portfolio – and other senior ministers, including Christian Porter, Alan Tudge and Marise Payne, were privy to in the scheme’s initial stages.

The man seeking the key robodebt documents, IT expert Justin Warren, first made the freedom of information request to the then Department of Human Services, now named Services Australia, in January 2017. The department identified 13 documents, totalling 287 pages, but refused him access on the basis they were cabinet documents and related to the agency’s investigation methods.

The original FOI application was submitted on 14 January 2024 and Services Australia dug in.

What started as formal consideration by the Australian Information Commissioner (2018-2023) morphed into Administrative Appeals Tribunal rulings (2022-23) and ended before the full bench of the Australian Federal Court Warren v Chief Executive Officer, Services Australia [2024] FCAFC 73, where the decision of the Tribunal having been set aside, the matter was remitted to the Tribunal for rehearing and determination according to law.

On 25 October 2024 political activist Asher Wolf posted a 26 page copy of FOI documents received by Justin Warren at the end of that seven-year & five month battle of wills.

These can be found, read and downloaded at

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1d21K_oEaGbaNNWlfsuY2_t5X8wViG8CD/view

Ms. Wolf reminded us that during the term of the Turnbull & Morrison federal governments that "The government estimated $763 million in net savings from Robodebt over four years. It ended up *costing* $3 billion dollars"

Scott John Morrison, that disgraced former federal minister for social services, treasurer and later Australian prime minister, first sanctioned by Parliament, then effectively sacked by the national electorate before being subpoenaed to appear before the Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme, has lost another hiding place with the release of these Cabinet papers.

The world's 8.2 billion people are now ‘Teetering on a planetary tight rope’. Why? Because at successive UN COPs since 2015 the majority of nation participants, political advisors & industry lobbyists have turned the process into a crude, state-sponsored shell game

 

UNITED NATIONS, UN News

24 October 2024 | Climate and Environment

‘Climate crunch time is here,’ new UN report warns

Fossil fuel power plants are one of the largest emitters of the greenhouse gases that cause climate change.

24 October 2024 Climate and Environment

Annual greenhouse gas emissions are at an all-time high, and urgent action must be taken to prevent catastrophic spikes in temperature and avoid the worst impact of climate change, according to a new report released on Thursday by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).

In short, countries must start curbing emissions immediately, according to the UN Emissions Gap Report 2024.

“Climate crunch time is here,” said UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen.

“We need global mobilisation on a scale and pace never seen before, starting right now before the next round of climate pledges.”

If not, she warned, the 1.5°C goal to cap rising temperatures set in the Paris Agreement on climate change “will soon be dead, and well below two degrees Celsius will take its place in the intensive care unit”.

Climate goals could evaporate

Launched at the COP16 global biodiversity conference in Cali, Colombia, the report tracks the gap between where global emissions are heading with current country commitments and where they ought to be to limit warming to well below 2°C and pursuing 1.5°C in line with the temperature goals set out in the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change.

According to the report, the 1.5°C goal will be gone within a few years unless nations collectively commit to cut 42 per cent of annual greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and 57 per cent by 2035 in the next round of nationally determined contributions and back this up with rapid action.

These self-defined contributions outline steps to reduce emissions and adapt to climate impacts – from drought, flooding and extreme weather events – securing necessary funds and updating plans every five years, the next time being in early 2025 ahead of the COP30 climate talks in Brazil.

‘Teetering on planetary tight rope’

Without dramatic cuts to greenhouse gas emissions, the world could face an inevitable and catastrophic 3.1°C temperature rise, according to the report, which comes at a time when governments are failing to fully deliver on their promises.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres said the emissions gap is not an abstract notion. Indeed, there is a direct link between increasing emissions and increasingly frequent and intense climate disasters.

“We are teetering on a planetary tight rope,” he warned in a video message. “Either leaders bridge the emissions gap or we plunge headlong into climate disaster, with the poorest and most vulnerable suffering the most.

Affordable technologies can help

The COP29 UN Climate Change Conference commencing in Baku, Azerbaijan, in November should serve as a launchpad for a detailed discussion of such new ambitious national plans, he said, saying that the event “starts the clock for countries to deliver new national climate action plans by next year”.

“Governments have agreed to align these plans with 1.5 degrees,” he said.

That means they must drive down all greenhouse gas emissions and cover the whole economy, pushing progress in every sector, he said, urging the largest economies – the G20 members responsible for around 80 per cent of all emissions – to lead in this process.

There is hope, the UN chief stressed.

“Today’s report shows affordable, existing technologies can achieve the emissions reductions we need to 2030 and 2035 to meet the 1.5°C limit, but only with a surge in ambition and support,” he said.

Clean energy can change trajectory

The report shows significant potential to reduce emissions by up to 31 gigatons of CO₂ by 2030, which translates to about 52 per cent of emissions reported in 2023, and by 41 gigatons by 2035, helping to meet the 1.5°C target for both years.

Boosting solar photovoltaic and wind energy usage could contribute 27 per cent of the total reduction in 2030 and 38 per cent by 2035. Additionally, forest conservation could provide around 20 per cent of the necessary reductions in both years.

Other effective strategies include enhancing energy efficiency, electrifying various sectors and transitioning from fossil fuels in buildings, transport and industry, according to the report.

However, the report stated that realising even a fraction of this potential will demand unprecedented international cooperation and a comprehensive approach from governments, focusing on maximising socioeconomic and environmental benefits while minimising trade-offs.

The Emissions Gap Report 2004 titled "No more hot air … please! With a massive gap between rhetoric and reality, countries draft new climate commitments" can be downloaded at

https://wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.11822/46404/EGR2024.pdf?sequence=3&isAllowed=y

Warning contained on Page 12 of the 2024 report:

Executive summary

All eyes on the next nationally determined contributions

The deadline for countries to submit their next nationally determined contributions (NDCs) with mitigation targets for 2035 is only a few months away, at the time of writing.

The fifteenth Emissions Gap Report has a special focus on what is required from these NDCs to maintain the possibility of achieving the long-term temperature goal of the Paris Agreement of limiting global warming to well below 2°C, while pursuing 1.5°C relative to pre-industrial levels. Its core message is that ambition means nothing without action – unless global emissions in 2030 are brought below the levels implied by existing policies and current NDCs, it will become impossible to reach a pathway that would limit global warming to 1.5°C with no or limited overshoot (>50 per cent chance), and strongly increase the challenge of limiting warming to 2°C (>66 per cent chance). The next NDCs must deliver a quantum leap in ambition in tandem with accelerated mitigation action in this decade.

The magnitude of the challenge is indisputable. At the same time, there are abundant opportunities for accelerating mitigation action alongside achieving pressing development needs and Sustainable Development Goals. Technology developments, particularly in wind and solar energy, continue to exceed expectations, lowering deployment costs and driving their market expansion. The updated assessment of sectoral emission reduction potentials included in this year’s report shows that the techno-economic emission reduction potential based on existing technologies and at costs below US$200 per ton of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e) remains sufficient to bridge the emissions gap in 2030 and 2035. But this will require overcoming formidable policy, governance, institutional and technical barriers as well as an unprecedented increase in the support provided to developing countries along with a redesigning of the international financial architecture. [my yellow highlighting]

From Page 14 of the 2024 report:

Figure ES.2 The landscape of current NDC targets and implementation gaps for the G20 members collectively and individually by 2030, relative to 2019 emissions

Implied emissions trajectories of the G20 members towards net zero show reasons for concern

As at 1 June 2024, 101 parties representing 107 countries and covering approximately 82 per cent of global GHG emissions had adopted net-zero pledges either in law (28 parties), in a policy document such as an NDC or a long-term strategy (56 parties), or in an announcement by a high-level government official (17 parties). All G20 members except Mexico and the African Union (collectively) have set net-zero targets.

Overall, however, limited progress has been made since last year’s assessment on the key indicators of confidence in net-zero implementation, including legal status, the existence and quality of implementation plans and the alignment of near-term emissions trajectories with net-zero targets.

[my yellow highlighting]

On 16 June 2022 Australia submitted an updated version of its 2015 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to the UNFCCC. The update committed Australia to reducing its emissions to 43% below 2005 levels by 2030 and, reaffirmed its commitment to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. NOTE: This is not a commitment to reach absolute zero emissions.

Australia along with other UN member states will be obliged to lodge a new version of its 2022 NDC following COP29 negotiations in November 2024.

BACKGROUND

AUSTRALIA'S ENVIRONMENT 2003 REPORT,

released March 2024, excerpts:

Overview

The year 2023 was one of opposites, with environmental conditions swinging from wet to dry and back.

Globally, climate change accelerated with greenhouse gas emissions accelerating and global warming shattering new records in sea level rise, sea ice loss and temperatures in the oceans and atmosphere.

For Australia, 2023 was the eighth hottest year on record. The year began wet with average temperatures, continuing the La Niña conditions of the previous three years. Northern Australia experienced a wet monsoon season, providing relief after the previous dry years.

Wet conditions gave way to dry and unseasonably warm weather from May to October. River flows, wetlands and water reservoirs all declined from the very high 2022 levels but were still well above average.

Growing conditions were generally very good because of high soil water reserves at the start of the year and the warm and sunny cool season.

The warm and dry winter months did cause an early start of the fire season, as early as August in NSW. An intense fire season was expected but averted when wet conditions returned in November, despite a switch to El Niño climate circulation.

In December, very warm ocean temperatures east of Australia contributed to a cyclone and several storm systems that caused flooding across Queensland and Victoria.

The recovering Great Barrier Reef remained stable, but the impact of the high temperatures, a cyclone and river-borne sediments later in the year is not known yet.

The number of threatened species increased sharply, mostly as a delayed effect of the 2019/20 Black Summer bushfires.

An update to the Threatened Species Index in 2023 revealed continuous and compounding declines for threatened bird populations across Australia.

The greatest threats to Australia’s biodiversity continue to be climate change, invasive species and habitat destruction. Among invasive species, the further spread of cane toads is of significant concern.

Averaged of the year, most environmental indicators declined somewhat from very high values in 2022 but remained well above average, contributing to an overall Environmental Condition Score of 7.5......

Global Change

Globally, CO2 emissions and climate change are accelerating. 2023 saw the highest temperatures in the atmosphere and in the oceans ever recorded, the least sea ice ever observed, and a rapid increase in sea level. Atmospheric CO concentration increased by 2.6 ppm, which is 41% faster than the previous year and 16% faster than the average 2000–2022 growth rate. The rapid increase was due to a combination of ever-increasing fossil fuel emissions and a change to El Niño conditions during 2023. The average CO2 concentration reached 421 ppm, a 33% increase from 1960.

Global average air temperature was the highest on record by a considerable margin. It was 0.32 °C higher than the previous year and 1.18 °C above the 20th century average. The last ten years (2014–2023) all rank as the ten warmest on record.

The maximum ozone hole extent was 2% smaller than the previous year. It was 5% larger than the 2000–2022 average but 13% below the maximum extent observed in 2000. The ozone hole has not shrunk over the last two decades but may have stabilised.

Oceans absorb 93% of excess heat from climate change. Global ocean heat content increased by 4.8% compared to the previous year. Globally, sea surface temperatures were the highest on record in 2023.

The global mean sea level rose by 11.7 mm in 2023; the most rapid rise since 2015. Sea level has increased by 85 mm since 2000 and 101 mm since 1993.

Global Ocean Warming

+4.8% HEAT INCREASED FROM 2022

Sea ice extent was 2% less than the previous year in the Arctic and 8% less around Antarctica, where it broke the record set the previous year. Ice extent on both hemispheres combined was 5.0% less than the previous year, the lowest on record and 9.5% lower than the 2000–2022 average....

The full Australia's Environment 2023 Report can be read and downloaded at

https://www.wenfo.org/aer/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/2023_Australias_Environment_Report_March2024_spreads.pdf

Queensland decides who will form the next state government today- the incumbent Miles Labor Government or the Crisafulli-led LNP Coalition. ELECTION VOTE COUNT LINKS

 

QUEENSLAND STATE ELECTION

Saturday 26 October 2024

Queensland Electoral Commission

• Virtual Tally Room opens 7 pm Qld time/8pm NSW time at

https://results.elections.qld.gov.au/SGE2024

ABC News online

• Queensland Votes 2024 at

https://www.abc.net.au/news/elections/qld-election-2024

• Electorates Pendulum at

https://www.abc.net.au/news/elections/qld/2024/guide/pendulum

• ABC 24 hr NEWS live at

https://iview.abc.net.au/video/NS1413V001S00

Featuring veteran psephologist, analyst and commentator Antony Green, also found at

https://antonygreen.com.au/qld-2024-tracking-the-early-and-postal-vote/

Cartoons of the Week

Bill Bramhall

David Rowe

 

Alan Moir

Fiona Katauskas

Cathy Wilcox

Tweet of the Week

King Charles protester Lidia Thorpe, a Victoria Senator interrupts the great hall after speech pic.twitter.com/d02hoKW1rh

— Kate Mansey (@KateMansey) October 21, 2024

In 2024 road fatalities in NSW rural & regional areas continue to outnumber those in metropolitan areas - at least 24 of these deaths occurred in the Northern river region

In 2024 from 1 January through to 23 October Transport NSW preliminary road fatality data recorded 245 fatal vehicle crashes across the state which caused 273 deaths - 20 of which occurred in the first 23 days of October.

The number of drivers killed outnumbered the combined total of passengers, pedestrians, motorcyclists & cyclists (139 to 134). While males far out number females among the dead (217 to 56). The largest road fatality by age cohort was the those 70 years of age and older.

Fatalities in country areas continue to outnumber those in metropolitan areas - 181 deaths on rural and regional roads compared to 92 deaths on metropolitan roads.

Up to the end of September this year the Australian Road Deaths Database revealed that NSW road fatalities included 24 deaths on Northern Rivers roads:

Clarence Valley - 8 people

Ballina Shire - 5 people

Tweed Shire - 4 people

Richmond Valley - 3 people

Lismore City - 3 people

Byron Shire - 1 person

Kyogle Shire - 0 persons.