Now Abbott wants to spend an est. $250 million on his own VIP air transport while ripping funding from vulnerable Australians

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott leaving one of the current VIP jets

The Royal Australian Air Force operates the Special Purpose Aircraft fleet out of Defence Establishment Fairbairn, Canberra. Currently the leased fleet comprises two Boeing 737 BBJ (Boeing Business Jet) and three Challenger CL-604 aircraft.

On average these planes fly a combined total of between 1,200-1,800 special purpose flights each year. This costs an estimated $50,000 for every hour spent in the air.

A limited range of persons are entitled to request use of these planes. Federal Government ministers and their staff as well as leading Opposition MPs and their staff have featured heavily on passenger lists in the past.

News.com.au reported on 1 January 2014 that Prime Minister Tony Abbott is intending to buy or lease at least one VIP jet capable of carrying up to two hundred passengers.

The news article suggested that he was considering either the Boeing 777 or Airbus A-330 in VIP configuration at an estimated cost of $250 million per plane.

It also stated that; the government will seek agreement from media companies to limit criticism of any decision to opt for bigger planes.

Any negative publicity would be limited to plush add ons such as gold taps or marble sinks.

Presumably Abbott is asking the media to keep quiet because he intends to embed members of the Canberra Press Gallery in his future VIP jaunts.

Well, I’m not part of this strange relationship between Tony Abbott and the Canberra Press Gallery being a very ordinary citizen living in regional New South Wales.

So I am less than impressed with this further hit on the Coalition budget bottom line. Especially when hospitals are having federal funding withdrawn – with at least $150 million reportedly cut from health services ($28 million of this apparently from projects budgeted for this financial year) and Aboriginal legal aid funding being reduced by $43 million – and Abbott is now testing the waters with regard to introducing a co-payment for GP visits.

As far as I’m concerned Abbott & Co (and their media choir) can board commercial flights, catch a train, hop on a bus, car pool or get out and walk like the rest of us.

An example of a Boeing 777 in VIP configuration:

An example of an Airbus A-330 in VIP configuration:

Declaration of Registrable Interests of Clive Palmer MP - owner of Waratah Coal which has mining interests on the NSW North Coast

Because the new Federal Member for Fairfax and Leader of the Palmer United Party, Clive Palmer MP, appears to be the sole owner of exploration and coal mine development company Waratah Coal Pty Ltd and, because this company holds at least two exploration licenses  in the Nymbioda district of the Clarence River catchment area it would be wise for local residents to familiarise themselves with the diverse and often complex business relationships of this politician as set out in his Statement of Registrable Interests.

Clive Frederick Palmer MP - Statement of Registrable Interests, 44th Australian Parliament (10 December 201...

Over 100 years ago a man half a world away nailed the conundrum facing us today

There once was a time in history when the limitation of governmental power meant increasing liberty for the people. In the present day the limitation of governmental power, of governmental action, means the enslavement of the people by the great corporations, who can only be held in check through the extension of governmental power. [Theodore Roosevelt, Address at the Coliseum, San Francisco, Sept. 14, 1912]

So how does Australian society fare if any extension of governmental power under an Abbott Government is primarily established to further the interests of corporations both great and small?

It must be something in the air.....

Google’s web page summaries can sometimes be mildly disconcerting when efforts to be concise have unexpected results.

Take this item from a recent search which appears to suggest that the Hon. Anthony John Tony Abbott lasted as Australian Prime Minister for less than three months:

Snapshot taken 29 December 2013

Or is Goggle Search accidentally playing into the hands of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire which was beginning to maliciously suggest Australian Labor Party leadership instability on 30 December 2013:

I'd like to be Man of the Year, even if it is no more than an award from a Herald reader, Lyn McGrath, of Bilambil Heights, and even if she has set the bar very low. Having revealed that I make my wife breakfast in bed and acquired pro-feminist credentials, Ms McGrath wrote to the Herald last week saying that all I have to do to be in the running for her award is to say one positive word about the ALP.

I accept the challenge. I offer two positive words: Tony Burke.

Tony Burke will be the next Labor prime minister. He is authentic, a crucial advantage in politics, and pragmatic, intelligent and decent. (I'm way over my quota here Lyn.)

However, I also point out he is, like most Labor MPs, yet another former union official and has thus not spent a day of his career in a wealth-creating business. The bulk of his career has been at public expense.

And by 4 January 2014 was lining Liberal Party ducks up in a row:

ALL governments engage in succession planning. Not necessarily in a formal sense, but the competitive juices of politics mean that ambitious individuals like to position themselves as the potential heir-apparent to the current leader, often well before their time is up.....

even if his polling numbers collapse my suspicion is that the Coalition government would not allow itself to let leadership instability dominate its time in power.

That doesn't mean that the informal positioning of ambitious future leadership candidates won't continue. Names such as Joe Hockey, Scott Morrison and Malcolm Turnbull would all see themselves as viable alternatives to Abbott one day....

Race caller's double vision

TVN's race caller Terry Bailey had the lads at the table of knowledge in stitches on Saturday arvo. The lads, who don't mind a small wager on the nags, were counting their winnings when Bailey was calling the last race at Caulfield. 

Bailey had galloper Cosentino in the call all the way throughout the race and reckoned it finished 4th - that was rather good for the galloper, considering the gelding was first into the straight but then faded badly to finish 9th in a field of 12 in the previous race.

Australian Bureau of Meteorology's Climate Statement 2013

No matter how hard the Australian Prime Minister and Liberal-National Coalition MPs in the Abbott Government attempt to minimise the effects of climate change or deny outright the reality of global warming, the facts are increasingly evident.

http://youtu.be/ASnp8VO6n3E

* Summer 2012-2013 heat records

* Special Climate Statements
* Annual Climate Statement 2013