THE RORTERS OF SPORTZANCEpic.twitter.com/7HAduemHx7
— Huw Parkinson (@rabbitandcoffee) May 16, 2020
Showing posts with label Scott Morrison. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Scott Morrison. Show all posts
Saturday 23 May 2020
Tweet of the Week
Labels:
corruption,
rorts,
Scott Morrison
Quotes of the Week
"Most politicians lie whenever they are uncomfortable or caught in a tight spot. Few lie with the ease and casualness of Morrison." [Journalist Dennis Atkins writing in The New Daily, 16 May 2020]
"USA started out by electing a reality tv show host to run it and now we are all on Survivor." [G. Dixon, Twitter, 19 May 2020]
Labels:
Donald Trump,
lies and lying,
pandemic,
Scott Morrison
Wednesday 6 May 2020
Translating Australia's hard right prime minister in 2020
Scott
Morrison makes sure his press conferences are transcribed for
posterity at the Prime
Minister Of Australia’s Media Centre in a manner which meets with his approval.
There
is often some hours lag before a version of any particular press
conference is posted online. Though sometimes, as occurred on 5 May, Morrison is not happy with how a press conference panned out and subsitutes a media statement instead.
Probably hoping that nobody will remember to report this:
The Prime Minister concedes #COVID19 infection rates will rise in Australia as restrictions ease to get the economy moving. “Of course, you will see numbers increase,” he says. “That is to be expected.” [National Affair Editor Hugh Rimington, @10NewsFirst, 5 May 2010]
Due to the time lag at Morrison's media centre, mainstream media usually fills the gap on their own online platforms.
Probably hoping that nobody will remember to report this:
The Prime Minister concedes #COVID19 infection rates will rise in Australia as restrictions ease to get the economy moving. “Of course, you will see numbers increase,” he says. “That is to be expected.” [National Affair Editor Hugh Rimington, @10NewsFirst, 5 May 2010]
Due to the time lag at Morrison's media centre, mainstream media usually fills the gap on their own online platforms.
These
are the opening paragraphs of a news report on the press conference of Tuesday 5 May 2020.
SBS
News, 5 May 2020:
Addressing
the media on Tuesday after a historic national cabinet meeting that
featured a brief appearance by New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda
Ardern, Mr Morrison reiterated that one million Australians had lost
their job in a single month as a result of the pandemic.
"We
now need to get one million Australians back to work, that is the
curve we need to address," Mr Morrison said.
"As
long as these restrictions are in place, they are costing our economy
some $4 billion each week ... it certainly puts enormous pressure, as
it should, on the timetable as we seek to move Australia back to that
safe economy."…..
For
some of the growing number of people who are irritated or angered by
the Liar From The Shire’s carriage, demeanor, opinions, obfuscations, downright untruths or
chronic refusal to answer journalist’s questions, this barebones
news reporting sometimes suffices.
For
others, real time social media descriptions of Morrison’s press
conferences are preferred.
Here
is one example…...
Ingrid
M @iMusing,
5
May 2020, Thread
commencing at
approx. 2:29pm:
prime
minister is up. He is focusing on the topic of “getting Australia
back to work” today. Heavy breathing. Opening spiel is as usual
self-congratulations.
a
million out of work, says Morrison. He tips a nod to the Treasurer.
Lies that “children are unable to go back to school”. He means
many children are not *in classrooms*. The $4 billion a week cost of
restrictions figure is going to do a lot heavy lifting here.
getting
a million Australians back to work, more than a million Australians
have had their claims for jobseeker processed. So given eligibility
requirements and the number of pre-roni unemployed people, there are
well over one million unemployed now.
Morrison
has a slide show. Babbles out a list of sectors and jobs figures.
Arts and recreation services, hospitality and food services, the
agricultural sector, restaurants and cafes are closed. Note the
absence of humans from this rhetoric.
oops,
spoke too soon. The grower and the chef got a mention. Morrison says
the job losses will be greater in Victoria because the restrictions
are stronger so now we can begin to see where that $4 billion a week
is. How unpolitical of him.
confidence.
I love it when some economist explains the confidence variable to
politicians. They never get it, as a predictive nor explanatory
factor. Astrology for white dudes.
Christian
Porter is up, as IT minister today. Workplace “safety”
legislation is his brief, an area the Liberal Party is renowned for
deliberately dismantling - see the double dissolution election
Turnbull called using the ABCC bill.
babbles
a bit about a dynamic and fluid environment whatever. The safe work
Australia website is being re-built? Expanded. It will provide a
“granular level of detail”. Porter has swallowed a buzzword list
today.
I
guess the queries function and info on the safework Australia website
will be as efficient as jobkeeper application processes ie it will
work for applicants whose application is consistent with Liberal
Party ideology and political objectives and a clusterfuck for
everyone else.
next
up is covid committee chair and mining industry CEO Nev Power. Maybe
no construction giant grifters whose greed kills workers were
available to speak on workplace safety today.
unions
are the main repository of workplace safety expertise btw but we have
a business guy and couple of politicians from the party of business
here instead.
the
Morrison goldfish gulp and malapropic garbling is worse than usual
today. Why is he so tense?
questions.
Who is Greg? He starts with the fucking nonsense the Trump
administration is spewing to try and cover for its monumental public
health failures.
Morrison
obliges by repeating the semiotic anti-Chinese racism terms a number
of times.
schools.
Morrison says “not opening schools fully is costing jobs and it
does cost the economy”. So he has stopped lying about using schools
for his political-economic objectives, at least.
Power
adds lots of words and not much meaning on businesses adapting as
restrictions are eased. Recall the vast majority of businesses -
outside hospo - were not closed by official roni restrictions but by
going to the wall (or into “hibernation”).
K
Murphy asks about the trans Tasman travel bubble and contextualises
with federalism - state and territory border closures. Morrison is
very defensive. He is essentially telling premiers and chief
ministers to open the borders. He *forgets* the trans-Tasman part of
the question.
after
being reminded, Morrison pretends to answer the trans-Tasman travel
bubble question. But other than fetishising the alleged firstness (it
isn’t) of the NZ PM being at National Cabinet, there is nothing
specific to announce. “We are working co-operatively together” he
says.
they
have a stronger biosecurity regime and so do we? says Morrison. What
does that mean?
Coorey.
He is told this is about a covid safe economy (there’s the slogan
for the near), Morrison tells him. The $4 billion a week gets another
outing. Grattan. Gets a stream of self-congratulatory gibberish. We
have tripled our ICU capacity. Okay.
Probyn:
you have talked about pubs and restaurants.
Morrison:
no I didn’t.
Probyn:
well Neville was. When can the two Andrews, I mean the two Dans,
legally have a drink together?
Morrison:
they can now, just not in a pub. Andrew.
Nev and I, says Morrison quickly. Subtext: don’t wedge me, mate. Andrew.
PvO.
His friend was stood down today.
PM
indulges some bullshit federalism rhetoric. National cabinet has more
to discuss about easing restrictions. Flattening the curve has come
at a price.
Looks
like no agreement on anything at all was reached in national cabinet
today.
asked
again about schools, Morrison says it wasn’t on the agenda today.
He is happy to “encourage non-state schools by bringing forward
funding”. The Premier of Victoria can make decisions about state
schools, that’s his bailiwick.
Yes,
Morrison said bailiwick.
asked
whether he was against Barilaro contesting Eden-Monaro because
Barilaro would have been a destabilising force if he won (the Sunday
Savva thesis) Morrison says no and no.
okay
I’ve had enough. Tl;dr: national cabinet was an unproductive and
discordant session today, Morrison is therefore delivering a set
piece with his biz CEO mate, which is essentially gaslighting workers
and babbling bullshit.
Labels:
economy,
far right politics,
pandemic,
Scott Morrison
Saturday 2 May 2020
Cartoons of the Week
Labels:
Australian politics,
COVID-19,
Scott Morrison,
surveillance
Thursday 23 April 2020
222 economists advise that lifting COVID-19 restrictions too soon will not help the Australian economy. But will Scott Morrison listen?
The
Conversation, 20 April 2020:
In
recent weeks a growing chorus of Australian commentators has called
for social distancing measures to be eased or radically curtailed.
Some
have claimed the lives saved by the lockdowns are not worth the
damage they are causing to the economy.
Others
have claimed the case for easing is strengthened by the fact many of
the hardest hit by COVID-19 are elderly or suffering from other
conditions.
Some
might expect economists, of all people, to endorse this calculus.
But
as economists we categorically reject these views, and we believe
they do not represent the majority of our profession.
We
believe a callous indifference to life is morally objectionable, and
that it would be a mistake to expect a premature loosening of
restrictions to be beneficial to the economy and jobs, given the
rapid rate of contagion…..
Open
Letter from Australian Economists
19
April, 2020
Dear
Prime Minister and Members of the National Cabinet,
The
undersigned economists have witnessed and participated in the public
debate about when to relax social-distancing measures in Australia.
Some commentators have expressed the view there is a trade-off
between the public health and economic aspects of the crisis. We, as
economists, believe this is a false distinction.
We
cannot have a functioning economy unless we first comprehensively
address the public health crisis. The measures put in place in
Australia, at the border and within the states and territories, have
reduced the number of new infections. This has put Australia in an
enviable position compared to other countries, and we must not
squander that success.
We
recognise the measures taken to date have come at a cost to economic
activity and jobs, but believe these are far outweighed by the lives
saved and the avoided economic damage due to an unmitigated
contagion. We believe strong fiscal measures are a much better way to
offset these economic costs than prematurely loosening restrictions.
As
has been foreshadowed in your public remarks, our borders will need
to remain under tight control for an extended period. It is vital to
keep social-distancing measures in place until the number of
infections is very low, our testing capacity is expanded well beyond
its already comparatively high level, and widespread contact tracing
is available.
A
second-wave outbreak would be extremely damaging to the economy, in
addition to involving tragic and unnecessary loss of life.
Sincerely,
Professor
Alison Booth, Australian National University
Professor
Jeff Borland, University of Melbourne
Professorial
Research Fellow Lisa Cameron, Melbourne Institute, University of
Melbourne
Professor
Efrem Castelnuovo, University of Melbourne
Professor
Deborah Cobb-Clark, University of Sydney
Assistant
Professor Ashley Craig, University of Michigan
Professor
Chris Edmond, University of Melbourne
Professor
Nisvan Erkal, University of Melbourne
Professor
John Freebairn, University of Melbourne
Professor
Renée Fry-McKibbin, Australian National University
Professor
Joshua Gans, University of Toronto
Professor
Jacob Goeree, UNSW Business School
Professor
Quentin Grafton, Australian National University
Professor
Simon Grant, Australian National University
Professor
Pauline Grosjean, UNSW Business School
Distinguished
Professor Jane Hall, University of Technology Sydney
Assistant
Professor Steven Hamilton, George Washington University
Professor
Ian Harper, Melbourne Business School
Professor
Richard Holden, UNSW Business School
Professor
David Johnston, Monash University
Professor
Flavio Menezes, University of Queensland
Professor
Warwick McKibbin, Australian National University
Assistant
Professor Simon Mongey, University of Chicago
Professor
James Morley, University of Sydney
Professor
Joseph Mullins, University of Minnesota
Professor
Abigail Payne, Melbourne Institute, University of Melbourne
Professor
Bruce Preston, University of Melbourne
Emeritus
Professor Sue Richardson, Flinders University
Professor
Stefanie Schurer, University of Sydney
Professor
Kalvinder Shields, University of Melbourne
Professor
John Quiggin, University of Queensland
Associate
Professor Simon Quinn, Oxford University
Economic
Advisor James Vickery, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia
Professor
Tom Wilkening, University of Melbourne
Professor
Justin Wolfers, University of Michigan
Professor
Yves Zenou, Monash University
Full
list of signatories available on the economists open letter website.
Wednesday 22 April 2020
Morrison's insistence that NSW public schools are safe places during the pandemic is not an accurate claim
On 9 April 2020 NSW public schools began the school year's Easter holidays.
By that time school attendance was thought to be as low as 30 per cent of all enrolled students in state schools.
Even the Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison had withdrawn his children from a NSW private school sometime between 9 March and 2 April 2020 and moved his family into The Lodge in Canberra.
Yet he continues to harangue the states and teachers for the distance learning policy put in place in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
These teacher expressed her frustration at his attitude and comments.
The Sydney Morning Herald, 17 April 2020, p.20:
I find Morrison's comments that parents are doing home schooling offensive. What they are doing is assisting their children in understanding detailed, highly formatted lessons that are linked to the curriculum in a way to make it interesting for students. This is not home schooling as parents did not plan and link the work to the curriculum. As a teacher I spent 12-hour days combing the internet for interesting activities and tying it all to the curriculum, as well as running video classrooms, answering student questions and emails. When students were still having difficulties I was calling home to speak to the children to see how to fix the problems. That's not child minding: that's delivering quality remote learning for our students. Give us the protective wear, cleaning products and non-contact thermometers to screen children and teachers will be happy to go back to classrooms.
Jennie Kidd, Campbelltown
Morrison continues to insist that public schools are safe places for children to be during a pandemic.Coronavirus: PM won't send his kids to school while it's just childminding @ScottMorrisonMP stating the online learning we, as a profession, have been busting our nuts preparing & delivering for a month, amounts to childminding is a total insult https://t.co/fyc9n9jfxD— Vicki Lodge (@Vickster762) April 16, 2020
NSW schools that have no hot running water, frequently no additional cleaning equipment and a limited ability to impose social distancing.
Under those conditions teachers were rightly worried about the risk to their own health and that of their pupils.
On 17 April 2020 there were est. 121 COVID-19 cases in NSW where individuals' ages ranged between 0 and 19 years.
This is an excerpt from a NSW Dept of Health media release dated 9 April 2020 at which point est. 112 individuals in that age range were infected with COVID-19 in the state:
This is another excerpt from a NSW Dept of Health media release dated 4 April 2020, at which point est.101 individuals in that age range were infected with COVID-19 in the state:
Saturday 18 April 2020
Tweet of the Week
This and the replies are reasons why journalists need to scrutinise government projects, rather than just announcing them. https://t.co/aXy2sKnXeE— Richard Chirgwin (@R_Chirgwin) April 14, 2020
Labels:
Jobkeeper program,
lies and lying,
Scott Morrison
Tuesday 7 April 2020
Two posts featuring Scott Morrison disappeared from Bible Society Australia & Vision Christian Radio websites in March 2020
A similar article to the below one quietly disappeared from a Bible Society Australia website, Eternity News, along with a video.
PM Joins COVID-19 Prayer Effort
Tuesday, March 31st, 2020
Prime
Minister Scott Morrison has joined Christian leaders and believers
online to pray for Australia as we battle the COVID-19 outbreak.
The
prayer session was coordinated by the Australian Prayer Network, the
Canberra Declaration and Pastor Margaret Court.
The
Toowoomba Regional Prayer Network reports, the Prime Minister prayed
through two Scriptures: Psalm 34:17-19 and Isaiah 58:11-12.
The
first Scripture speaks of the Lord hearing the cry of the righteous
and delivering them from trouble and the second tells of the Lord’s
guidance and restoration from the ruins.
More
than 600 people took part in the national Zoom call over a period of
25 hours with Pastor Margaret Court overseeing the final hour of
prayer.
The
Prime Minister’s participation was reported by Molly Joshi,
national representative of the Toowoomba Regional Prayer Network.
She
says it was the church at its finest, ministering together without
walls.
Photo
credit: Kristy Robinson / Commonwealth of Australia [CC BY 4.0
(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)]
This article has also disappeared from view.
The reason these articles and a video were removed? Perhaps Morrison decided his prayer had only been meant to be heard by the 600 people taking part in that prayer session or he may have thought his Christian prayer might not be well received by every voter who heard it.
However, little actually disappears completely from the Internet and this YouTube video of the prayer session was posted by Queensland Parents For Secular State Schools on 31 March 2020.
https://youtu.be/khANQLVfttc
Morrison begins to quote the bible at 2:45 minutes and offers his personal prayer at 3:40 minutes.
This article has also disappeared from view.
The reason these articles and a video were removed? Perhaps Morrison decided his prayer had only been meant to be heard by the 600 people taking part in that prayer session or he may have thought his Christian prayer might not be well received by every voter who heard it.
However, little actually disappears completely from the Internet and this YouTube video of the prayer session was posted by Queensland Parents For Secular State Schools on 31 March 2020.
https://youtu.be/khANQLVfttc
Morrison begins to quote the bible at 2:45 minutes and offers his personal prayer at 3:40 minutes.
Labels:
COVID-19,
pandemic,
religion,
Scott Morrison,
self-censorship
Saturday 4 April 2020
Saturday 28 March 2020
Saturday 21 March 2020
Joke of the Week
Labels:
Liberal Party of Australia,
Scott Morrison
Tuesday 3 March 2020
A message for the Prime Minister of Australia in 2020
A message for the Prime Minister @ScottMorrisonMP #DearScotty pic.twitter.com/kLYjNpXjZa— 💛Australian Wind Alliance💛 (@AusWindAll) February 24, 2020
Labels:
climate change,
Scott Morrison
Friday 28 February 2020
If you have ever wondered how Scott Morrison forms his opinions on everything from climate change & coal mining to taxation & punishing the poor......
Scott John Morrison does not appear to be a man with an abundance of intellectual curiosity, his employment history* is lacklustre with most of positions he held lasting less than 3 years and, his work ethic is not strong given he granted himself three holiday breaks in the first full year of his primeministership.
So to whom (besides the Institute of Public Affairs) does Morrison turn to when he is deciding his policy positions?
A clue might be found here......
Michael West Media, Hon Scott Morrison MP, excerpt, 2020:
Mining
Connections
John
Kunkel, the Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff: before his appointment
to his current position by Morrison in 2018, Kunkle served as Rio
Tinto’s chief advisor for Government Relations, working as a
lobbyist for the multinational mining firm. Rio is one of Australia’s
top coal miners. Before this Kunkel was Deputy CEO of the Mineral
Council of Australia for over six years.
Brendan
Pearson, Senior Advisor for International Trade and Investment for
the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) 2019 to present. Pearson was
the CEO of the MCA from 2014 untl 2017, where BHP Billiton pressured
the MCA over Pearson’s radically pro-coal stances and insistance on
government-subsidised coal projects.
Lobbying
Connections
Former
mining lobbyists who now hold key positions within Morrison’s staff
include The Prime Minister’s Principal Private Secretary, Yaron
Finkelstein, the former CEO of Crosby Textor (now C|T) a
multinational lobbying firm with close ties to the Liberal Party and
the mining industry. Other C|T alumni include Liberal Party campaign
director, Andrew Hirst and his deputy, Isaac Levido, as well as James
McGrath, LNP Senator for Queensland and prominent public advocate for
Adani’s Carmichael coal mine.
A
further pro-mining lobbyist connection is Stephanie Wawn. Wawn is a
senior
advisor to Morrison and was previously employed as a manager for
CapitalHill Advisory. CapitalHill’s clients included coal miner
Glencore and pro-coal think tank, the Menzies Research Centre.
Media
Connections
Another
way in which the mining lobby exerts influence is via the Prime
Minister’s communications team. Many of Morrison’s senior
communications team have long-held ties to the Murdoch press. News
Corporation is pro-coal and anti climate change.
NOTES
* Jobs held since 1989:
National Manager, Policy and Research Property Council of Australia 1989-95.
Deputy Chief Executive, Australian Tourism Task Force 1995-96.
General Manager, Tourism Council 1996-98.
Director, NZ Office of Tourism and Sport 1998-2000.
State Director, Liberal Party (NSW) 2000-04.
Managing Director, Tourism Australia 2004-06.
Principal, MSAS Pty Ltd 2006-07.
Member iof the Australian Parliament 2007- present.
Labels:
climate change,
coal,
far right politics,
government policy,
influence,
IPA,
lobbyists,
Scott Morrison
Thursday 27 February 2020
Morrison has now slumped to the lowest likeability of any Australian leader since Andrew Peacock in 1990
The
Canberra Times,
18 February 2020:
Prime
Minister Scott Morrison, whose popularity has taken a big hit over
the summer. Picture: Karleen Minney
It
will be no surprise to Scott Morrison that his handling of the
bushfires was a major political setback, and the latest set of
polling only confirms the extent. The question will be whether the
mud sticks.
Morrison
sailed through last year's election on a high, with a likeability
rating of 5.1, not great by historic standards, but higher than any
party leader since Labor's Kevin Rudd after winning the 2007
election.
He
has now slumped to the lowest of any leader since Andrew Peacock in
1990, and below the record low that Bill Shorten put on the
scoreboard as Labor leader last year. Shorten had a dismal
likeability rating of 3.97 in the ANU Election Study; Morrison has
now scored 3.92 in a January poll by the ANU's Centre for Social
Research.
It
was personal. Half the people polled were asked to think about the
performance of Scott Morrison when judging how good or bad a job the
government had done on the bush fires; the other half was told to
think about the performance of the government. You guessed it. When
prompted by reference to Morrison, 64 per cent said the government
had done a bad or very bad job, compared with 59 per cent when
thinking about the government more broadly.
Anthony
Albanese moved up in popularity, from 4.87 in June to 5.04 now - the
highest of any Labor leader since Kevin Rudd at his peak in 2007, and
higher than Mark Latham and Paul Keating.
The
same message came from the Newspoll, which showed Labor overtaking
the Coalition in the preferred prime minister ranks in January, for
the first time since a brief hit from the Liberal leadership turmoil
in August 2018. In September last year, 50 per cent of voters
preferred Morrison for prime minister, against Anthony Albanese's 31
per cent, according to Newspoll. By January, Albanese was on 43 per
cent and Morrison 39. Worse, Morrison's satisfaction rating went
through the floor.
"I've
got a thick skin," Morrison said on Monday when asked about
criticism of him at the bush fire relief concert. "And I
understand that over the period of the summer, you know, that people
felt really raw about things ... My response is just to do things and
get things done."….
But
to date, Morrison has essentially failed to present any kind of
ambitious reform agenda or coherent plan. As a result his Prime
Ministership has turned into an endless round of inadequate and
misguided responses to disaster, crisis and scandal…...
In
the ANU survey just after the election last year, 45 per cent of
people said the government should allow new coal mines; now only 37
per cent think so. As banks and big investors stop lending to thermal
coal and turn their attention also to reducing investments in oil and
gas, Morrison needs to align himself with the inevitable and start
leading on new ideas for regional and remote communities.
He
needs a better idea than the only one he seems to have rattling
around in the top drawer - throwing more cash at the regions. Cash is
handy, but it is not a reason for confidence or hope.
Labels:
poll,
Scott Morrison,
statistics
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