Two enormous authoritarian egos battle for control of Australia's fate

 

NSW Premier Dominic Francis Perrottet (left) and Australian Prime Minister Scott John Morrison (right). IMAGE: Crikey, 6 October 2021

It has been painfully obvious since he first gained a federal government ministry that the Liberal prime minister of almost 200 social media 'nicknames', Scott John Morrison, is firm in his belief that his own political and personal decisions have the blessing of his god.

It is also becoming apparent that, in his turn, the current Liberal premier of NSW, Dominic Francis Perrottet, is unshakeably convinced his way is always the right way for the state and for the country.

The belief of both these proudly Christian, rigidly authoritarian, xenophobic, chauvinistic men in the rightness of their 'leadership', means they wield power with little thought to the public good or the safety of their citizens.

No matter how parlous their respective budgetary bottom lines are or how close economic neoliberalism is to their hearts, in the midst of a global pandemic is not the time for ego-driven 'one-upmanship' by the 'Prime Minister of NSW'  and the 'Premier of Australia'. 

Communities and families right across the country will suffer if these two politicians won't cease pawing the ground, tossing heads, snorting and bellowing, in a foolish attempt to establish dominance & territory.

Financial Review, 15 October 2021:

A couple of weeks ago, without consulting the states, the Prime Minister announced he would be re-opening the international borders in states where the vaccination rate had hit 80 per cent.

“It’s time to give Australians their lives back,” Scott Morrison said, in what appeared for all intents and purposes to be a move designed to ensure he was the bloke getting the credit for opening things up, whatever states and territories might be doing, not to mention giving the whole opening up thing a good nudge along the way.

The fact he hadn’t mentioned it to the states – despite the significant ramifications it has for them as the ones responsible for trying to manage the spread of COVID-19 and the quarantine system (offloaded by the federal government) – meant the Prime Minister could hardly complain on Friday when the new NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet returned the favour by announcing his government would be removing both quarantine requirements and caps on overseas arrivals from November 1.

Perrottet didn’t mention it to any of the other states either of course, leaving the country in an apparently ludicrous shambles of restrictions: as many people have pointed out, of being able to travel from Sydney to Paris, but not Brisbane, Perth, Tasmania, the Northern Territory or even Canberra.

The last vestiges of the “national plan” – if there were any after Morrison’s move on international borders – have thus been smashed: that is, the stated idea that no one would open up until everyone had reached 80 per cent, regardless of individual states’ vaccination figures.

There’s so much to contemplate in this development: the humiliation – if the federal government was apt to feel such a thing – of a state government appearing to unilaterally end quarantine arrangements (the responsibility of the federal government) and overseas arrivals caps for starters

It looked for all the world as if the state government was running the joint. Perrottet the premier of Australia. Just as Scott Morrison has been dubbed the prime minister for NSW.

Before Perrottet’s announcement, we had heard nothing this week from the PM since Monday – when he emerged out of The Lodge to once again try to share in the joy of (and credit for) the end of lockdown in NSW……

Read the complete article by Laura Tingle here.

Speaking Up, Australia, 15 March 2021

 

@CognitiveTX

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison is happy for a woman to rise in the world so long as it doesn’t disadvantage a man.

Australia’s unselfconsciously chauvinist and gaffe prone Liberal Prime Minister Scott John Morrison is happy for a woman to rise in the world as long as it doesn’t disadvantage a man.

Excerpt from a speech given by Prime Minister Morrison at a Chamber of Minerals and Energy International Women’s Day Breakfast in Perth on Friday, 8 March 2019:

“One of the other female members of my Cabinet, Kelly O'Dwyer, said at the Press Club last year, our Minister for Women, “Gender equality isn't about pitting girls against boys.” See, we're not about setting Australians against each other, trying to push some down to lift others up. That's not in our values. That is an absolutely Liberal value, that you don't push some people down to lift some people up. And that is true about gender equality too. We want to see women rise. But we don't want to see women rise only on the basis of others doing worse. We want everybody to do better, and we want to see the rise of women in this country be accelerated to ensure that their overall pace is maintained.”

* Cartoon from Google Images

Liberals caught behaving badly - yet again. WARNING: Contains offensive comment

Apparently some NSW Young Liberals thought that behaving like sexual predators was a fun way to campaign in the lead up to the March 2019 state election.

That is until the matter came to the notice of the voting public and their party superiors decided it wasn't funny anymore because it could cost them votes.

The Sydney Morning Herald, 17 February 2019:

Four NSW Young Liberals have been kicked out of the party for making lewd and derogatory comments about women in an online chat group meant for election campaigning.

The four used the dating app Tinder to connect with women who they hoped to convince to vote Liberal and then made sexually explicit comments about them in a Facebook group.

In one instance, one of the Young Liberals who works for a senior NSW Liberal MP, posted a photo of a woman he was chatting with on Tinder, describing her as a “potato".

"A potato that can vote," the Young Liberal wrote.

                           

“Then root and boot her and leave some HTVs (how to vote cards). F..k I could go some fries right now."

Other comments in the chat include references to a woman voting "blue", the Liberal colour.

"I like blue but don't give me blue balls," another male member of the group wrote.

One of the men replied: "I don't think he wants to bang a potato".

Several female Young Liberals in the group chat were horrified by the comments and pleaded with their male colleagues to end the discussion.

"Anytime would be a good time to stop," one woman in the group wrote.

Really disappointing to see so many nasty comments about a woman who you don't know."

Another said: “People wonder why women don’t want to join the Liberal Party."

One of the men responded: "Sorry to have started it, just thought it was a fun way of campaigning."

The group, set up when several Young Liberals were helping in last year’s South Australian election, had 17 members, including NSW Young Liberals president Harry Stutchbury.

Other members in the group hold executive positions with the Young Liberals and some work for senior NSW ministers and MPs. One of the four who was disciplined works for a NSW Nationals minister.

Mr Stutchbury, who did not make any comments in the chat group, said he received a complaint from women the morning after the discussion.

He said he told the four men involved that their behaviour was not acceptable but he took no further action and it was not reported to the party's head office.

The first Liberal Party officials knew of the online chat was when they were alerted to it by The Sun-Herald, despite the comments being made almost 12 months ago.

"I welcome the decisive action the party has taken," Mr Stutchbury said.

The four received the maximum available penalty late on Friday and were suspended from the party for six months after officials saw the contents of the chat group…..

The Sydney Morning Herald, 17 February 2019:

Two NSW Young Liberals who were kicked out of the party after making lewd comments about women have been sacked from their state government jobs.

The Liberals, one who worked for Kiama MP Gareth Ward and the other for Tourism Minister Adam Marshall, no longer have jobs with the government, sources have confirmed.

Quotes of the Week

“A Trump adviser says that after a tumultuous seven months in office, it had finally dawned on the president: "People really f@&@ing hate me." For someone who has spent his life lapping up adulation, however fake, it was a harsh realization. This is a man with an especially acute need for affirmation.” [Co-founder of Axios & Politico Mike Allen writing on Axios, 9 September 2017]

“Step 1: talk about freedom. Step 2: talk about the children. Step 3: mention the 260 genders that will result from a Yes vote.” [Journalist Charlie Lewis writing in Crikey about the Turnbull Government’s voluntary same-sex marriage postal survey, 11 September 2017]

“It is almost impossible to dislodge the idea that an expensively-suited conservative man is a competent leader.” [Author and sessional academic at Western Sydney University School of Law Ingrid Matthews writing in Independent Australia, 14 September 2017]

“Malcolm Turnbull was angry. Then Scott Morrison was angry. Barnaby Joyce was next to be angry. Josh Frydenberg then became very angry. And in his final answer for the week Malcolm Turnbull spoke about love. Truly. And in keeping to the theme, as he spoke about love, he became very angry.”  [Labor MP for Watson Tony Burke blogging about the House of Representatives, 15 September 2017]

“I can’t help wondering whether a woman in power is automatically seen as illegitimate, so electorates, media and opponents are quick to accept rumour and innuendo as fact.” [Jane Caro writing in The Saturday Paper, 16 September 2017]

Why the College of St John the Evangelist at Sydney University needs to be dissolved now

An Act to Incorporate Saint John’s College as a College within the University of Sydney

(Assented to December 15th 1857)

Whereas considerable funds have been subscribed for the Institution and Endowment in the Archdiocese of Sydney of a Roman Catholic College within the University of Sydney, to be called “The College of Saint John the Evangelist” wherein the students shall receive systematic religious instruction and be brought up in the doctrines and discipline of the Roman Catholic Church, and provision be made for the residence of the Students and their preparation for the University Lectures and Examinations under Collegiate control. And whereas it is expedient that the said College should be incorporated: Be it therefore enacted by the Queen’s Most Excellent Majesty by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council and the Legislative Assembly of New South Wales in Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same......

 

THE FICTION:

 

The College of St John the Evangelist:

 

Situated within the University of Sydney, the College has fostered the intellectual, spiritual, cultural, sporting and social pursuits of its student community since 1857. It is the oldest and most distinguished Australian University Catholic College….

 

under the direction of its Visitor, the Cardinal Archbishop of Sydney, (currently His Eminence George, Cardinal Pell) the College associates itself with the interests of the Australian Church and its mission, particularly by the fostering of appropriate academic directions in education, charity, social justice, ethics and environment.

 

Formal Dinner in the Great Hall

 

Cardinal George Pell in Our People 13 April 2008:

 

For why does St. John’s College exist if not in order to help its members to find the sweetest and most satisfying of pastures, or, as Jesus described it, “to have life to the full”?

 

The Eagle St John’s College Weekly Newsletter Semester One, Week Five, 1 April 2011:

 

older Johnsmen, many of whom have gone to a place even better than St John’s! Some you may know are current politicians, Tony Abbott, Joe Hockey and Frank Sartor;

 

Weekly Newsletter Semester One, Week One, 12 March 2012”

 

“If you accept this offer of a place [at St John’s College in 2012], you are choosing to become a part of a movement towards positive change.”

 

THE REALITY:

 

http://www.smh.com.au/national/tertiary-education/college-throws-out-30-students-20120310-1ur5h.html

 

Zoe Arnold in Mama Mia 21 March 2012:

 

“I don’t exactly remember the moment I realised life at St John’s College wasn’t for me. Maybe it was after witnessing the spectacle of flaming “man-ginas”, where brutish young Johnians would set alight their pubic hair in front of a bellowing, chanting crowd as some kind of test of their manhood. Maybe it was after watching the beautiful, heritage listed library being drowned in beer and then used as a slip ‘n’ slide as another drunken night in house got underway.

 

The Sydney Morning Herald  4 November 2012:

 

Eight months on, nothing has changed. Police have been called to investigate widespread vandalism including smashed windows and doors, furniture broken or set on fire, and graffiti. Faeces are routinely found in common areas and bedrooms. Every second Friday, the student committee has decreed that all Johnsmen not speak to any female students - who are known as ''Jets'': the term is an acronym for ''just excuse the slag''.

Freshers are still being forced into initiation rituals, including the consumption of toxic drinks. And some senior students are showing a cavalier disregard for the fallout from the poisoned girl's near-death, and have even printed T-shirts that celebrate the incident.

The college's honorary dean and a member of the college's executive have quit in disgust, with many former executives and existing students calling on Australia's highest-ranked Catholic, Sydney Archbishop George Pell, to intervene and ''rescue'' the 150-year-old institution from ''a crippling disease''.

University of Sydney honorary professor Roslyn Arnold said she quit the St John's executive this semester because she was ''ashamed to belong to such a group''.

''Anarchy has broken out and anarchy is not too strong a word,'' Professor Arnold said.

''An external review of the governance of the college needs to be conducted urgently because the fellows are responsible for what happens on campus … I've been in universities for almost 40 years and, to be quite frank, I've never seen anything like this.

''In the external world, the incidents taking place could be considered criminal. I believe Cardinal Pell is the person who is ultimately called if things spiral out of control and become really tricky. In my opinion, we are well past that stage.''

The college's honorary dean, Father Walter Fogarty, also resigned earlier this year after nine years of service as a fellow. He said: ''I lost confidence in where the council was going and am concerned about the dynamics of some of the old boys. There is a Peter Pan complex.''

The Sydney Morning Herald  4 November 2012:

 

The Sun-Herald understands the college's rector, Michael Bongers, will lose his job on Monday because of the strong stance he has taken against the ugly St John's culture.

It is the old Johnsmen who are the architects of the rector's pending downfall and responsible for the trouble at St John's.

It is these old Johnsmen who should be walking the plank - and their anachronistic ideas about the nobility of preserving obnoxious traditions. By condoning bad behaviour they have created a situation where the lunatics are running the asylum.

 

One of the alumni speakers on the night

Recent scenes at St John's College

The University of Sydney has tolerated this college for far too long. It needs to squarely face the situation and root out from its midst this culture of mindless brutality and misogyny so long condoned by the Catholic Church and Sydney Establishment.

Those misogynist nut jobs on the Internet are found within the Liberal Party as well. WARNING: Offensive Image

When the Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard referred to those spreading rumours about her on the Internet as misogynist and nut jobs, she could easily have included the Liberal Party’s Federal Member for Bowman Andrew Laming in that group.

The Liberal Party describes Laming as Australia’s most innovative user of social media in politics.

This is an Andrew Laming post on his Facebook page:

Slanted commentary on Gillard, but within the limits.

However, this is one of a number of crudely photo shopped images of the Australian Prime Minister also found on his Facebook page tagged Photos of Andrew Laming MP

 Fair and balanced political comment? I think not.

To make matters worse Laming has a history of supporting the type of sexist comment of which his party is obviously proud.

Sexism: It's a European Commission thing!

http://youtu.be/g032MPrSjFA

"speak their language to get their attention"

Taking my breath away

Stirrup the bitch! Why the medical experience is still a feminist issue

Because women as a group are constantly being told “You’ve come a long way”  when compared with their grandmothers, it is easy to overlook the fact that misogyny and chauvinism are still slyly woven into much of the female experience in developed countries like Australia.

So it is often only cases such as this which draw any mention in the mainstream media of the fact that the medical experience is frequently one fraught with the risk of physical and/or psychological damage for many females.

The Northern Star Rogue obstetrician faces 15 counts of abuse, malpractice by Natasha Wallace 13 December 2011

She alleged he forcefully put his hand on her vagina

and said, ''Who is the boss now?''

Read the rest here

In the real world of gender inequality in Australia 2010

It would appear that in the real word of unequal wages based on gender in a country where women on average earn around 82-84 cents for every dollar earned by men (often when doing identical work) and its first female prime minister is ambivalent on the issue, it literally pays for women to collectively bargain in the workplace.

This week the Federal Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations released its report AGREEMENT MAKING IN AUSTRALIA UNDER THE WORKPLACE RELATIONS ACT: 2007 TO 2009 which stated in part:

A total of 24 156 collective agreements were approved under the WR Act between 1 January 2007 and 31 December 2009. This was a 14.7 per cent increase from the 21 057 collective agreements approved in the previous three year reporting period.

Twenty-nine per cent of employees had their pay set by a federally registered collective agreement during the reporting period. This was a slight increase from the 28.5 per cent of employees who had their pay set by a collective agreement during the previous reporting period.

Employees whose pay was set by a collective agreement earned, on average, more than those whose pay was set by an individual agreement.

The average hourly ordinary time earnings of non-managerial employees on federally registered collective agreements was $29.00 in August 2008, compared with $28.60 for employees whose pay was set by a federally registered individual agreement.

For female employees, the difference was slightly larger, with $27.10 under collective agreements compared with $26.00 under individual agreements.

At the same time the department also released TRENDS IN FEDERAL ENTERPRISE BARGAINING JUNE QUARTER, 2010.

• HISTORY – Equal pay for work of equal value and Equal Pay Day and Saffin MP November 2010 media release

Snapshot of GetUp! wage calculator

Orams Returns! (groan)

Click on image to enlarge

For a couple of months I've been receiving the occasional email alerting me to the fact that opinionated jerk journalist Graham 'the natural state for womankind is under the male of the species' Orams is once more gracing the pages of Grafton's The Daily Examiner.

First he dipped his toe back in local waters in letters to the editor columns, then he wrote one or two news and opinion pieces.

I tried to ignore his presence until (audible groan) this sentiment was published under his by-line on 17 November 2010:

Most people don't choose to be gay; although sadly, it has become somewhat trendy for straight women to indulge in lesbian sex, which I'm sure annoys genuine lesbians who fight hard for acceptance.

The Daily Examiner is once more in danger of becoming a newspaper to avoid if one is likely to break out in a rash when reading this sort of nonsense.

UPDATE:

At 3.56pm on 22 November 2010 I received an email from the risible Mr. Orams objecting to my use of a particular word in the "Orams Returns! (groan)" post seen above and threatening legal action if I did not remove this legitimate descriptive term found in English language dictionaries.

After I finished laughing uproariously I decided in this particular instance to oblige Mr. Orams, as he stated in the same email that he found being called 'opinionated', 'a jerk', acceptable.

Consequently I have replaced the original word with Mr. Orams' approved terms.

His additional emailed comments on his "dislike of radical feminism", the fact that he is "always extremely well-liked by women wherever I work" and his belief that he "may be many things but a misogynist is not one of them" I leave unaddressed.

Surely Teh Rabbit didn't say that?

Sue Neales writing in The Mercury on 7 November 2010 :

FEDERAL Coalition leader Tony Abbott has told the Tasmanian branch of the Liberal Party it must woo women, plumbers, blue-collar workers and students if it is ever to regain its political strength.

Woo, Mr. Abbott? Woo?

Why not smooze, flatter, flannel or lead up the garden path? Because if Neales is quoting then you obviously aren’t seeing women, plumbers, blue-collar workers and students as responsible adult voters who have a right to be honestly presented with considered policy and promises at the next federal election.

"Expose the cow" - it isn't only their fearless leader who acts like a misogynist!

Leader of the Coalition Opposition Tony Abbott is well known for snarling "That's bullsh*t" at Nicola Roxon when he thought the microphones wouldn't pick up his temper tantrum and this week NSW Opposition Leader BarryO'Farrell was caught using a derogatory term for Prime Minister Julia Gillard, but it seems they are not alone in expressing a very masculine distain.

Electioneering behind a password protected Facebook account the Nationals candidate for the Labor-held seat of Page, Kevin Hogan, obviously allows insulting and sexist terms free rein when he thinks he is hidden from the view of average NSW North Coast voters.

This is an exchange on Hogan's webpage with a comment by Murray Lees, another National Party member and sometime campaign manager:

Kevin Hogan

Saffin stretching truth on roads to save her hide.

Saffin stretching truth on roads to save her hide, Nat candidate claims Page Nationals candidate Kevin Hogan has responded to a political challenge from sitting Labor MP Janelle MP by accusing the incumbent of being less than honest with the electorate now that she can no longer rely on Kevin...

June 13 at 3:30pm · View Feedback (2) Hide Feedback (2) · Share

Murray Lees likes this.

Murray Lees

nice work Kev, expose the cow [my bolding]

June 14 at 11:58am

My thoughts on the McPalin team

It's hard to believe that that an Australian exists who would find most of the pronouncements of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin anything but abhorrent.

When it comes to her political comments, she (along with John McCain) probably deserves a great deal of the flack that is out there in the media and floating about the blogosphere.

However, even I am beginning to feel uncomfortable with the level of bile being directed at this woman and the less than subtle attempts to sexualize her candidature.

This 'photograph' accompanying a recent PollieGraph article was as low as it could go as far as I'm concerned.