This blog is open to any who wish to comment on Australian society, the state of the environment or political shenanigans at Federal, State and Local Government level.
Showing posts with label revisionist history. Show all posts
Showing posts with label revisionist history. Show all posts
"Plans
for Your Good flows with all the plausible, coherent, rhythmic
religiosity of a psalm recited by the Swedish Chef. At best, it is
unoriginal, inconsequential, cyclical, paternalistic evangelism. At
worst, it is a dubious attempt at indoctrination. But neither
Christian values nor the practise of faith more broadly are the
problem. It’s Morrison’s willingness to use them as tools of
manipulation, distraction and evasion. In the Gospel According to
Scott, he is always the hero, never the villain. His superpower is
amnesia."
[2021
Australian of the Year, author, activist, advocate & Director of
the Grace Tame Foundation, Grace
Tame,
reviewing Scott Morrison's 'memoir' "Plans
For Your Good: A Prime Minister's Testimony of God's Faithfulness"
in The
Monthly,
June 2024]
During his Member's Statement (Hansard 31.07.23 at 16:10, p.83) Morrison asserted in part:
“I
do, however, completely reject the commission's adverse
findings in the published report regarding my own role as Minister
for Social Services between December 2014 and September 2015 as
disproportionate, wrong, unsubstantiated and contradicted by clear
evidence presented to the commission. As Minister for Social Services
I played no role and had no responsibility in the operation or
administration of the robodebt scheme.”
“In
relation to the commission's finding regarding untrue evidence, I
also reject this as unsubstantiated, speculative,
and wrong.”
“Finally,
the commission's allegation that pressure was applied to department
officials that prevented their giving frank advice is wrong,
unsubstantiated and absurd….How could I have pressured officials
into developing such proposals while serving in another portfolio?”
“Throughout
my service in numerous portfolios over almost nine years I enjoyed
positive, respectful and professional relationships with Public
Service officials at all times, and there is no evidence before the
commission to the contrary. While acknowledging the
regrettable—again, the regrettable—unintended consequences and
impacts of the scheme on individuals and families, I do however
completely reject each of the adverse findings against me in the
commission's report as unfounded and wrong.”
“The
latest attacks on my character by the government in relation to this
report is just a further attempt by the government
following my departure from office to discredit me and my service to
our country during one of the most difficult periods our country has
faced since the Second World War. This campaign of political lynching
has once again included the weaponisation of a quasi-legal process to
launder the government's political vindictiveness. They need to move
on.”
This is the second time Scott Morrison has risen to his feet in
the House of Representatives to self-servingly defend his
personal politically indefensible actions.
That first time he was defending the fact that as then Prime Minister of Australia (24.8.2018 to 23.5.2022) and Minister for the Public Service (29.5.2019 to 8.10.2021) he secretly appointed himself to five additional key ministries, beginning this portfolio grab in March 2020:
Minister for Health from 14.3.2020 to 23.5.2022;
Minister for Finance from 30.3.2020 to 23.5.2022;
Minister for Industry, Science, Energy and Resources from 15.4.2021 to 23.5.2022;
Minister for Home Affairs from 6.5.2021 to 23.5.2022; and
Treasurer from 6.5.2021 to 23.5.2022.
Bringing the total number of portfolios he had full governance over - if he wished to exercise this power - to seven by 7 October 2021 and six thereafter.
"As
the Solicitor-General concluded, the principles of responsible
government were “fundamentally undermined” because Mr Morrison
was not “responsible” to the Parliament, and through the
Parliament to the electors, for the departments he was appointed to
administer.
Finally,
the lack of disclosure of the appointments to the public was apt to
undermine public confidence in government. Once the appointments
became known, the secrecy with which they had been surrounded was
corrosive of trust in government."
caused the House of Representatives on 31 November 2022
by a vote of 80 to 56 to censure him with these words:
“Therefore
[the house] censures the member for Cook for failing to
disclose the appointments to the House of Representatives, the
Australian people and the cabinet, which undermined responsible
government and eroded public trust in Australia’s democracy.”
At the moment he rose to his feet to make his 31 July 2023 statement to the House the Liberal MP for Cook appeared literally friendless, with very few members of parliament remaining in or returning to the Chamber to hear him speak.
IMAGE: Snapshot via @Terrytoo69,Twitter, 1 August 2023
However, lest anyone imagine Scott Morrison deserves pity,
I give the last words in this post to.....
Mr Morrison, you are a bottomless well of self-pity with not a drop of mercy for all the real victims of Robodebt pic.twitter.com/tdDiK6O6TK
Former Australian prime minister, current lowly backbencher & MP for Cook Scott John Morrison photographed at the Asian Leaders Summit in Seoul - where among other issues he continued to attack Australia's largest trading partner, the People's Republic of China. Xenophobia tinged with racism, a rigid world view, with poor understanding of history & an abrasive bravado, is not a happy combination in any politician. IMAGE: Twitter
The
Echidna Newsletter,
15
July 2022, excerpt:
Morrison?
He told us he'd go back to being a quiet Australian in the Shire and
for a few weeks he did exactly that. But he's re-emerged, with less
hair but the same amount of self-belief. The Murdoch press loathed by
Rudd was handed a speech Morrison was to give at the Asian Leadership
Conference in Seoul. In it, he makes a spirited defence of his
government's COVID response, spinning the shopworn line that its
decisions saved 40,000 lives - never mind the more than 8200 Covid
deaths this year. He also has a good old moan about copping criticism
because of apparent disagreements within national cabinet. The speech
seems to be a hamfisted attempt to rewrite the history we all know.
The vaccine strollout - "It's not a race"; the pressure on
states to reopen their borders; the ill-conceived photo opps; the
interference in preselections; the leaks; the lies - "I don't
think, I know"; the foreign relations disaster in the Pacific
... the list could go on and on.
Morrison
comes across not so much as angry ghost as a sulky one. He blamed
voter confusion over federal-state relations for his electoral
downfall. Not my fault is an easy evolution from not my job.
Former
PMs can contribute meaningfully to the political discourse. Malcolm
Fraser did so with his stance against apartheid and championing of
multiculturalism. Keating's occasional forays into the public
conversation are often thought-provoking and amusing, if a little
angry. But from the revolving door of prime ministers from the last
decade, only Julia Gillard manages good grace and the kind of
self-deprecation Australians admire…..
With
his Seoul speech, Morrison is following the well worn path to the
speakers circuit. How long he'll last is debatable. Given the
self-pitying tone of his first outing, it's not likely to be long.
In
late June, Scott Morrison hired out an entire cinema so about 50 of
his former office staffers could enjoy a private viewing of Top Gun:
Maverick, confirming the former prime minister’s predilection for
fantasy.
The
love affair with escapist fiction has evidently continued, going by
ScoMo’s speech to the Asian Leadership Conference in Seoul on Thursday, which defended his government’s response to the COVID-19
pandemic.
Much
of the (now martyred) messiah from the Shire’s address lamented the
supremacy the state premiers wielded over the federal government
during the crisis. What’s the point of being the most powerful man
in Australia when you’ve got to blame someone else for the 7 per
cent swing against you in the seat of Cook?
“As
the pandemic evolved it became more difficult to keep uniformity in
the various restrictions employed by each state ... When we
inevitably disagreed, this caused great frustration amongst the
public,” he surmised.
Which
public was this? Surely, we’d have to discount the sandgropers, who
awarded Mark McGowan a personal approval rating of 88 per cent in
early 2021, a figure that would make Vladimir Putin blush.
…...Annastacia
Palaszczuk garnered support in the high-60s, and Gladys Berejiklian
and Steven Marshall both enjoyed approval numbers in the 70s.
ScoMo’s
historic revisionism continued, however, proselytising that: “[I]n
a crisis this was no time to engage in a political debate about our
federation, nor as the national leader to pick fights with provincial
leaders.”
Shifting
the blame
It’s
evidently easy to forget the more than $1 million the feds spent
intervening in three separate High Court cases challenging state
border closures, including the $41,000 that went to supporting Clive
Palmer’s WA border closure challenge, from which the government
ultimately withdrew only after public disapproval, but which
undoubtedly contributed to the Coalition’s drubbing in the state
two months ago.
The
former PM’s reckoning that “[f]rustration with the national
cabinet was actually frustration with our constitution and the
federation” is another gem of Morrison’s preoccupation with blame
shifting, given national cabinet was entirely an entity of his
government’s own creation. No one forced him to scrap COAG, and no
one forced him to allow the states such a seat at the table.
A
bit of a bulldozer? The bloke couldn’t even railroad a few premiers
if they were strapped to the tracks......
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The Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 19
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
[Adopted and proclaimed by United Nations General Assembly resolution 217 A (III) of 10 December 1948]
Hi! My name is Boy. I'm a male bi-coloured tabby cat. Ever since I discovered that Malcolm Turnbull's dogs were allowed to blog, I have been pestering Clarencegirl to allow me a small space on North Coast Voices.
A false flag musing: I have noticed one particular voice on Facebook which is Pollyanna-positive on the subject of the Port of Yamba becoming a designated cruise ship destination. What this gentleman doesn’t disclose is that, as a principal of Middle Star Pty Ltd, he could be thought to have a potential pecuniary interest due to the fact that this corporation (which has had an office in Grafton since 2012) provides consultancy services and tourismbusiness development services.
A religion & local government musing: On 11 October 2017 Clarence Valley Council has the Church of Jesus Christ Development Fund Inc in Sutherland Local Court No. 6 for a small claims hearing. It would appear that there may be a little issue in rendering unto Caesar. On 19 September 2017 an ordained minister of a religion (which was named by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in relation to 40 instances of historical child sexual abuse on the NSW North Coast) read the Opening Prayer at Council’s ordinary monthly meeting. Earlier in the year an ordained minister (from a church network alleged to have supported an overseas orphanage closed because of child abuse claims in 2013) read the Opening Prayer and an ordained minister (belonging to yet another church network accused of ignoring child sexual abuse in the US and racism in South Africa) read the Opening Prayer at yet another ordinary monthly meeting. Nice one councillors - you are covering yourselves with glory!
An investigative musing: Newcastle Herald, 12 August 2017: The state’s corruption watchdog has been asked to investigate the finances of the Awabakal Aboriginal Local Land Council, less than 12 months after the troubled organisation was placed into administration by the state government. The Newcastle Herald understands accounting firm PKF Lawler made the decision to refer the land council to the Independent Commission Against Corruption after discovering a number of irregularities during an audit of its financial statements.The results of the audit were recently presented to a meeting of Awabakal members. Administrator Terry Lawler did not respond when contacted by the Herald and a PKF Lawler spokesperson said it was unable to comment on the matter. Given the intricate web of company relationships that existed with at least one former board member it is not outside the realms of possibility that, if ICAC accepts this referral, then United Land Councils Limited (registered New Zealand) and United First Peoples Syndications Pty Ltd(registered Australia) might be interviewed. North Coast Voices readers will remember that on 15 August 2015 representatives of these two companied gave evidence before NSW Legislative Council General Purpose Standing Committee No. 6 INQUIRY INTO CROWN LAND. This evidence included advocating for a Yamba mega port.
A Nationals musing: Word around the traps is that NSW Nats MP for Clarence Chris Gulaptis has been talking up the notion of cruise ships visiting the Clarence River estuary. Fair dinkum! That man can be guaranteed to run with any bad idea put to him. I'm sure one or more cruise ships moored in the main navigation channel on a regular basis for one, two or three days is something other regular river users will really welcome. *pause for appreciation of irony* The draft of the smallest of the smaller cruise vessels is 3 metres and it would only stay safely afloat in that channel. Even the Yamba-Iluka ferry has been known to get momentarily stuck in silt/sand from time to time in Yamba Bay and even a very small cruise ship wouldn't be able to safely enter and exit Iluka Bay. You can bet your bottom dollar operators of cruise lines would soon be calling for dredging at the approach to the river mouth - and you know how well that goes down with the local residents.
A local councils musing: Which Northern Rivers council is on a low-key NSW Office of Local Government watch list courtesy of feet dragging by a past general manager?
A serial pest musing: I'm sure the Clarence Valley was thrilled to find that a well-known fantasist is active once again in the wee small hours of the morning treading a well-worn path of accusations involving police, local business owners and others.
An investigative musing: Which NSW North Coast council is batting to have the longest running code of conduct complaint investigation on record?
A which bank? musing: Despite a net profit last year of $9,227 million the Commonwealth Bank still insists on paying below Centrelink deeming rates interest on money held in Pensioner Security Accounts. One local wag says he’s waiting for the first bill from the bank charging him for the privilege of keeping his pension dollars at that bank.
A Daily Examiner musing: Just when you thought this newspaper could sink no lower under News Corp management, it continues to give column space to Andrew Bolt.
A thought to ponder musing: In case of bushfire or flood - do you have an emergency evacuation plan for the family pet?
An adoption musing: Every week on the NSW North Coast a number of cats and dogs find themselves without a home. If you want to do your bit and give one bundle of joy a new family, contact Happy Paws on 0419 404 766 or your local council pound.
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