Australian Federal Election 2013: the hypocrisy is galling

Have a good look at the woman on the right in the dark jacket in this photograph of the National Broadband Network (fibre directly to premises) and see Federal Liberal Party MP Louise Markus trying for some of the limelight associated with a national optic fibre digital network she intends to help cripple if re-elected as the Member for Macquarie.

Bloody Nora! Rupe's excelled himself

Rupert Murdoch knows the power of images and he's so determined that his mate Tony Abbott will be the next PM that his Shakespeare-quoting henchmen depicting present Prime Minister Kevin Rudd as a straight jacketed, serial killing cannibal is par for the course.

Illustration: Eric Lobbecke Source: TheAustralian
"That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain
Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 5"

Mid North Coast Greens: Bellingen wakes to climate crisis

Mid North Coast Greens Media Release
August 19, 2013

Bellingen wakes to climate crisis march

Marchers chanted, “Wake Up! Act Now,” and “For the children! Act now,” as they marched through Bellingen and startled the café patrons and visitors to the Bellingen Jazz Festival on Sunday. Prior to the march, Greens NSW Upper House MP Dr John Kaye and Carol Vernon, Greens candidate for Cowper, addressed the crowd.

Mrs Vernon said: "The planet is running out of time to exit fossil fuels and take the pressure off the climate.

"Gas is an expensive and dangerous distraction.

Dr Kaye said: “"Both Labor and the Nationals are denying the Mid North Coast the benefits of a clean energy future and allowing the planet to move closer to climate disaster.

"There are tens of thousands of new Mid North Coast jobs waiting to be created in installation, maintenance, development, marketing and manufacture that will never happen unless both state and federal governments commit to 100 percent renewables.

Mrs Vernon said, "Come and march again in Coffs Harbour if you are concerned about the future of your children on a hotter Earth.”

"Come and march if you believe your children may need to live in an uncertain and dangerous future.

"David Shoebridge, Greens NSW MLC, will lead the march in Coffs Harbour. Those marching will assemble near the Coffs Harbour Jetty at 10.30 am to march at 11.00 am on Sunday, August 25.

Australian Federal Election 2013: Robopollster opens door for survey fraud?

A number of Lonergan polls have been conducted during the 2013 Australian Federal Election campaign.

Lonergan is a robopollster that has been conducting surveys for The Guardian Australia....

Using voice broadcasting and IVR (integrated voice recognition) technology and either random phone numbers or specific lists, Lonergan Research is able to rapidly call a large number of phone numbers and ask a number of pre-recorded questions. Recipients respond using their telephone keypad or by voice.

These polls seem to indicate that the Coalition is set to take a number of high profile seats, including the seats of Forde and Griffith in Queensland and Lindsay in New South Wales.

The Guardian Australia 16 August 2013:

A Guardian Lonergan poll taken in the seat Thursday night shows the Liberal sitting member Bert van Manen’s support soaring from the 44% he polled in 2010 to 56% in 2013. Beattie’s primary vote was a dismal 34%, three percentage points lower than the 37% achieved by Labor’s candidate Brett Raguse in 2010.

The Guardian Australia 16 August 2013:

Today Guardian Australia reports on an exclusive poll in the marginal seat of Lindsay, in Sydney's western suburbs. The startling results: the Liberal candidate, Fiona Scott, polled 60% of first preferences, a 17-point improvement over her 43.4% performance in 2010. The Labor incumbent (David Bradbury, the Assistant Treasurer) is looking at a 13-point decline on first preferences: 44.6% in 2010 to the poll's 32%.

The Guardian Australia 22 August 2013:

Kevin Rudd is trailing Liberal rival Bill Glasson in his apparently safe Brisbane seat of Griffith, in alarming news for Labor from the latest Guardian Lonergan poll.

Glasson, who is running an intensive local grassroots campaign, leads Rudd on a two-party preferred basis by 52% to 48%. The poll's margin of error is 4%, but its findings raise the possibility that without a big effort on his home turf, Rudd could become the third prime minister in Australian history to lose his seat, behind John Howard in 2007 and Stanley Bruce in 1929.

However, the polling has an allegedly exploitable flaw – the ability for any individual survey respondent to double dip.

UPDATE

Guardian Australia responds later that day:

Contrary to some comments on Twitter, we keep only one interview per household. We conduct an interview with whoever answers the phone. This methodology alone results in an oversampling of older respondents relative to younger respondents, as older respondents are more likely to answer the phone.

To correct this, at the end of the survey, we ask if there are any younger voters in the household. If there are, we conduct the survey with the younger respondent and discard the response from the older respondent.

This response merely confirms that any individual survey respondent can in the second round deliberately misrepresent their age in an effort to be counted twice in the survey (eg. at the press of a telephone button a sixty year-old man turns into a twenty-three year old woman) and while this may not be successful with regard to a household being counted twice, it would lead to some responses included in final data not actually belonging to the gender/age cohorts to which they are assigned - thus still skewing results. 

UPDATE 2

Federal Election 2013: NSW Far North and Mid North Coast registered voter numbers and candidates by electorate

http://www.aec.gov.au/elections/federal_elections/2010/files/nsw-results-map-2010.pdf

Number of registered voters on the NSW Far and Mid North Coast

Electorate      30 November 2010            31 July 2013           12 August 2013

Note: The New England electorate takes in part of the North Coast region

Total Enrolled Voters at 2010 Federal Election for comparison.

House of Representatives 7 September 2013 candidates by electorate.

This is what Tony Abbott thinks of Aboriginal women?

SBS World News 16 August 2013:

What was largely missed, however, was Mr Abbott’s description of Indigenous women when addressing the Garma Festival last weekend. Indigenous women were “cowering in their houses or their huts”, unempowered and fearful, and unable to participate in the decision-making processes that affected themselves, their families and communities. This foul potpourri of racism, paternalism and sexism has been completely ignored by the mainstream media, with the notable exception on Louise Taylor in The Guardian.

Tony Abbott's plan for Indigenous Australians is fatally flawed by Louise Taylor, 13 August 2013

Louise Taylor is an Aboriginal (Kamilaroi) woman and a barrister/solicitor practising in the Australian Capital Territory. Louise is the convenor of the Women's Legal Centre, an Indigenous Law Centre associate, and a member of the Law Council of Australia's Indigenous Legal Issues Committee. Her piece is written in a personal capacity

Liberal Party candidate for Charlton Kevin Baker, who withdrew from Abbott's Army this afternoon, has been on the nose for years

ABC News 20 August 2013:

Kevin Baker, who is contesting former minister Greg Combet's NSW seat of Charlton, was forced to shut down the personal website after it was revealed he had "posted hundreds of lewd jokes about women and had links to pornography", the Daily Telegraph has reported.

"Some of that banter, it has now been discovered, included jokes about the Pope being a paedophile, women having sex on pool tables and what Mr Baker himself calls 'Tit-banter',"…..

The Daily Telegraph quoted Mr Baker as saying in a statement last night:

"I set up an online forum for Mini Cooper enthusiasts several years ago.

"On the site I made comments that were inappropriate, which I deeply regret and for which I apologise unreservedly.

"In the last few years I have also failed to moderate the site properly.

"A number of statements have been made by participants that are also completely inappropriate.

"I have now shut the offending site down."

Kevin Baker states that in the last few years he has failed to properly moderate the website he created and registered.

In fact one can see that Mr. Baker has been failing to stop offensive comment since at least 2006 if one has a peek at forums.mini-mods.com using the Wayback Machine:

With the writing on the wall Kevin Baker issued this statement:

Hartsuyker lets the cat out of the bag on higher mobile phone costs if the Coalition wins on 7 September 2013

On 13 August 2013 Opposition Leader Tony Abbott announced that: If elected, a Coalition government will partner with local communities, state governments and telecommunications companies to ensure that the total new investment in black spots is far greater than our $100 million commitment.

This policy will provide $80 million for a Mobile Network Expansion Programme that will improve mobile phone coverage along major transport routes, in small communities and in locations prone to experiencing natural disasters. 

The Mobile Network Expansion Programme is expected to generate at least an additional $80 million investment from the major mobile phone carriers. 

The Coalition will also provide $20 million for a Mobile Black Spot Programme to address unique mobile coverage problems – such as locations with high seasonal demand – and deliver a targeted response.

The next day the Australian Financial Review reported that the Shadow Minister for Regional Communications and Nationals Member for Cowper here on the NSW North Coast, Luke Hartsuyker, stated that he expects major mobile phone carriers and regional communities to stump up over $100 million to build the towers.

Which would inevitably translate into higher mobile phone costs across regional and rural Australia, as state/local governments and telcos passed these costs on to consumers.

Something Opposition Leader Tony Abbott neglected to mention in his media announcement.

Australian Opposition Leader Tony Abbott suffers a bout of dangerous stupidity

This was Opposition Leader Tony Abbott during the 11 August 2013 televised and transcribed Leaders Debate:

Well, I accept that it was quite a detailed set of changes and it was largely based on a report by the Productivity Commission. I thought that the Productivity Commission report was a good report, as did my Shadow Minister, Senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells. On this issue there isn't an enormous difference between the Coalition and the Government but we do need to try to ensure that the providers, that the nurses, that the other workers in these aged care centres who do such a terrific job, such a terrific job, and are so helpful to very vulnerable Australians, don't have to spend as much time on paperwork as they currently do under a paper-based accountability system. [my red bolding]

Perhaps Mr. Abbott might like to explain what paperwork he would eliminate?

Would it be daily observation charts, case notes, individual treatment plans, outcomes of multidisciplinary case management conferences, filling in accident/incident registers, or more simple tasks like placing patients/residents on lists for podiatry treatment and filling in weekly menus for those who can no longer do such tasks for themselves etc?

Or would it be paperwork proving staffing levels, that all staff were suitably qualified for the positions they hold and that emergency medical equipment is tested/serviced regularly?

A paper based accountability system is there for a reason – to protect the wellbeing and rights of older Australians living their final years in nursing home care.

Tony Abbott’s slick promise to cut-the-red-tape, which he frequently throws into press conferences on all manner of subjects, is dangerously stupid.

Leaders Debate 11 August 2013: Did Fairfax media massage the facts with not one but two dodgy montages?

Here are two photographs attributed to Andrew Meares and published by Fairfax media outlets which purport to show Opposition Leader Tony Abbott discovering  that Australian Prime Minister Rudd had notes on his lectern at the National Press Club on 11 August 2013.

Here is a third photograph of Rudd and Abbott shaking hands on the night.

Who else is somewhat suspicious of the similarities in Abbott’s posture and his position on the stage in all three images.

Could it possibly be that the first two photographs are in fact montages created for dramatic effect?

This is the man who is using his media empire in support of Opposition Leader Tony Abbott's bid to become Australian Prime Minister..... Part 2

Rupert Murdoch Executive Chairman of News Corporation

The Independent 17 August 2013:

Scotland Yard is investigating News International as a “corporate suspect” over hacking and bribing offences, it can be revealed.

The Independent has learnt the Metropolitan Police has opened an “active investigation” into the corporate liabilities of the UK newspaper group – recently rebranded News UK – which could have serious implications for the ability of its parent company News Corp to operate in the United States. One of Rupert Murdoch’s most senior lawyers has been interviewed under caution on behalf of the company and two other very senior figures have been officially cautioned for corporate offences. John Turnbull, who works on News Corp’s Management and Standards Committee (MSC) which co-ordinates the company’s interactions with the Metropolitan Police, answered formal questions from detectives earlier this year.

The development has caused pandemonium at the upper echelons of the Murdoch media empire. Shortly afterwards, executives in America ordered that the company dramatically scale back its co-operation with the Metropolitan Police.

A News Corp analysis of the effects of a corporate charge, produced in New York, said the consequences could “kill the corporation and 46,000 jobs would be in jeopardy”…..

Reuters 16 August 2013:

However, the source familiar with the matter told Reuters detectives and prosecutors also were actively considering taking action against News Corp as a corporation.

More than a year ago, Sue Akers, the officer who was then leading the police inquiry, sent a letter to MSC Chairman Lord Grabiner to advise him of this, the source said….

Federal Election 2013: A noble promise freely given - or is it?

On 11 August 2013 ABC News reported that; He [Tony Abbott] made a first-term commitment to recognise Indigenous Australians in the Constitution, saying the nation's "soul would not be whole" until that happened.

I’m sure that Australian Opposition Leader Tony Abbott meant that statement made on the federal election campaign trail.

However, like many of his utterances it only tells half the story.

What Abbott does not say is that an act of Parliament passed during Julia Gillard’s’ term as Prime Minister obliges the House of Representatives by 12 November 2014 to begin consideration of the question of whether to call a national referendum on recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the Australian Constitution and, that this question is then be debated and put to the vote in both the House and the Senate.

As the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples Recognition Act 2013 had bi-partisan support when it was passed, it is highly likely that a referendum will be called no matter who wins government on 7 September this year.

Whether the Yes vote wins such a national referendum is of course up to the Australian people and hopefully acceptance will prevail that there is a need to legally embed in the Constitution a recognition of the traditional owners of the land past and present and their cultures.  

Australian Federal Election 2013: backlash against Murdoch's political tactics

A newsagent couple in a small New South Wales town have refused to sell The Daily Telegraph of August 5, 2013, because of its biased front page.

Bec ‏@Brocklesnitch

Brisbane cafe putting its foot down over the Courier Mail

How America sees Australia's Federal Election Campaign 2013 *WARNING: Laughter Alert*

http://youtu.be/5W6C8O729ZE

Gaffe-alanche!

A penis in a glass of red wine, awkward kisses and a political candidate who thought Islam was a country - what's not to marvel at?

America's The Daily Show poked fun at the brevity of Australia's election campaign, with its host in awe of how much political scandal could be packed into four weeks.

The political comedy show, currently hosted by British comedian John Oliver while host Jon Stewart is on leave, did a segment on "DOWN-UNDERcision 2013".

Oliver appeared gobsmacked by the rich buffet of gaffes already publicly aired during the campaign before going on to say that Australia had its own versions of American politicians Rick Perry, Anthony Weiner and Sarah Palin.

He started with footage of the cringeworthy interview with Liberal candidate Jaymes Diaz, who was not able to name his party's six-point plan to stop the boats.

He contrasted this incident with a Republican presidential debate in 2011 when Texas governor Rick Perry was unable to name one of three agencies he was planning to axe.

Oliver drew parallels with New York mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner, who has been embroiled in sexting scandals, and disgraced [Liberal National Party] Queensland minister Peter Dowling, who sent pictures of his penis in a glass of red wine to his mistress.

"It's almost impossible to get red wine stains out of a penis," Oliver said. "He is going to have to soak that thing in club soda for hours."

He also took issue with the choice of wine.

"You do not pair a penis with red wine. Try something lighter, crisper to offset the nuttier notes of the penis."

But his favourite talent was former One Nation candidate Stephanie Bannister.

"So, in just four weeks, Australia already has a Rick Perry and an Anthony Weiner ... of course the real test is, does it have an under-informed, right-wing woman thrust into a national political spotlight she's not only unprepared for but at times seems to barely comprehend?" Oliver asks.

He then calls Ms Bannister "a turbo-Palin", referring to the controversial Republican vice-presidential candidate in the 2008 US elections.

Ms Bannister was an anti-immigration candidate vying for the Brisbane seat of Rankin. She mistook Islam for a country and confused "haram" - a word that refers to acts forbidden by God - with the Koran during a television interview that attracted worldwide attention.

"I don't oppose Islam as a country, umm, but I do feel that their laws should not be welcome here in Australia," Ms Banister said in the one-on-one interview with Channel Seven in her Queensland backyard.

More laughs were had when Oliver played footage of Opposition Leader Tony Abbott misplacing a kiss on the back of a mother's head, instead of her baby.

"Yes, that's a creepy moment, but is it any creepier than a stranger pressing his lips on the head of a non-consenting baby?" Oliver asked.

Politifact nails Federal Nationals MP for Cowper for being loose with the truth

Snapshot from The Sydney Morning Herald 12 August 2013

According to economic journalist Peter Martin writing in The Sydney Morning Herald on 12 August 2013:

He [Hartsuyker] is talking about the levy on bank deposits, which incidentally the Coalition hasn't yet said it will oppose.

It's due to start in 2016 and it won't be anything like as big as income tax, as Hartsuyker implies when he says savers will be taxed twice.

It'll amount to just $5 per year on a bank account of $10,000, just 50 cents a year on an account of $1000.

Other bank fees dwarf the levy. The cost of withdrawing from another bank's ATM is typically $2 a throw.

But is it a tax at all? More particularly, is it a tax on savers?

Read the rest of the article here.

If Tony Abbott wins government does he intend to dissolve a number of Local Aboriginal Land Councils in regional Australia?

Can Opposition  Leader Tony Abbott follow through on his desire to abolish scores of statutory indigenous governance bodies?

Are there more than twenty Australian Government statutory indigenous governance bodies? To date I can barely find twenty entities to which that description might possibly apply.

Or is Abbott including Local Aboriginal Land Councils [LALCs] on his 'to abolish' list? 

If this is the case then hopefully LALCs in regional New South Wales will be exempt (unless Premier O'Farrell agrees) as these councils were apparently formed under state law.

The Australian 10 August 2013:

Mr Abbott said the Coalition had to stop the boats, fix the budget and address infrastructure spending, which was seriously neglected. But, if elected, he wanted to add taking "reconciliation to a new level" and embedding the idea of personal responsibility as he had in government with the work-for-the- dole program and the Job Network.

In promoting indigenous affairs to one of his top priorities, Mr Abbott said there was no longer institutional racism in Australia and he believed most Australians saw Aborigines and Aboriginal culture as an "adornment" to the nation.

Mr Mundine, who quit the ALP six months ago after becoming disillusioned with Labor's failure to recruit an indigenous representative in parliament, supports Mr Abbott's vision for Aboriginal Australia and is prepared to work with any prime minister to end indigenous disadvantage.

He will today reveal a radical four-tiered plan to rewrite Aboriginal affairs by abolishing scores of statutory indigenous governance bodies, which he says hinder development, opening up communities to the outside world and excising townships from the communally owned land system to create private home ownership and business development. Mr Mundine, the executive chairman of the Australian Indigenous Chamber of Commerce, will deliver a keynote speech at the Garma Festival, in which he calls for dramatic changes to land ownership to create more economic opportunities.

Mr Mundine's steadfast view that commercial development offered the only chance for indigenous communities to escape poverty has long stood in opposition to the rights-based agenda of the Labor Left.

Edited version of Warren Mundine’s 10 August Garma Festival Corporate Dinner Speech.

Excerpt from this speech:

When Europeans came to Australia, indigenous people were grouped in nations, each with a distinct geography, language and culture. The identity of indigenous people was tied to the culture and language of their own nation, not to the Australian land mass as a whole.

Most statutory bodies created to govern indigenous people are not aligned to indigenous nations. In NSW there are twice as many land councils as nations, and land council members do not need to be descended from a nation that the land council services. In the Northern Territory there are four land councils and dozens of nations.

Hollow promise - Abbott announces $12M funding promise for Penrith Sports Centre which has already received this money from the Rudd Government

Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Anthony Albanese, media release, 11 June 2013:

The Federal Labor Government today announced it would contribute $12 million towards the development of the Western Sydney Community and Sports Centre in Penrith.

The Western Sydney Community and Sports Centre will deliver a state-of-the-art community hub that will enhance social and sporting opportunities to the people of Western Sydney.

Minister for Regional Development and Local Government Anthony Albanese said the community and sports centre will link to the existing Penrith Panthers NRL club facilities and deliver a massive boost to all sports in the region.

“The project includes the construction of an elite sports centre with a gym, a facility for sports science and medicine study and a sports hall for indoor sports, school sports and other events,” he said…..

The project is expected to be complete by mid-2016. Funding is being provided through Round Four of the Regional Development Australia Fund.

Western Sydney Community and Sports Centre (PDF 203 KB) Regional Development Australia Fund (RDA) - Round Four:

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott, Liberal Party NSW media release, 13 August 2013  :

The Coalition will provide $12 million towards the building of the Western Sydney Community and Sports Centre in Penrith.

The commitment was made by Liberal Candidate for Lindsay, Fiona Scott and the Leader of the Opposition, Tony Abbott during a visit to Penrith by Mr Abbott.

As Mr. Abbott's election promises grow increasingly desperate, readers might like to click on this expanding map to see if Liberal-Nationals promises in their own electorates are already covered by RDA grants.

Portrait of a politically foolish young woman

To make matters worse Kath Crosby is quite emphatic in the the Murdoch meeja but leaves her options open on social media where she calls her intention to vote informal "a great big dare to all parties".
What an inflated sense of self-importance is at work here.

# HT to Clarencegirl for pointing me towards @kahoc

Australian Pre-Election Fiscal Outlook 2013

Australian Pre-Election Fiscal Outllook 2013

Murdoch's minions labour to produce a little undergraduate humour

Excerpt from Sky AM Agenda transcript of interview with Federal Labor Trade Minister Richard Marles, 8 August 2013:

GILBERT: Finally, the Daily Telegraph's front page has Thommo's heroes Craig Thomson and, well, accompanied by Anthony Albanese as Sergeant Schultz and Kevin Rudd as Colonel Klink. This - even though he's on the front page would see this as humorous one, wouldn't they?

MARLES: Well, we can all have a laugh at it and this ranks up there with the Stephen Conroy front page. It gives all of those on the front page something to put in their pool rooms. And, look, it's funny. I think the point to be made here, Kieran, is that they're not editing Honi Soit; this is not a campus newspaper that they're putting together here. This is our largest city's biggest newspaper and so they can have some fun with it. It's perspective journalism; there's no sense now in which this is fair or balanced media. And, of course, it's a free country; they can do what they like. But I think they do need to remember what masthead they're actually editing here.

GILBERT: Okay. Richard Marles, thank you for joining us live from Geelong this morning.