Best MSM Headline of the Month

Facts, 360 B.C.-A.D. 2012

In memoriam: After years of health problems, Facts has finally died.

{Chicago Tribune 19^th April 2012}

Abbott on Slipper in 2011 - "He's a mate of mine"

It is hard to see Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott's recent statements concerning The Speaker Peter Slipper as anything other than hypocritical manufactured outrage, given he was still supporting this member of parliament during periods when other serious allegations had surfaced, including those mentioned in current court papers.

Abbott and Slipper posed photograph from Google Images

He’s a mate of mine

Abbott speaking at 7.32 mins on 2011 audio clip

http://youtu.be/kLP2MIggvLs

QUESTION:

Are you concerned that Peter Slipper last night issued a statement threatening to resign from the Queensland Liberal National Party?

TONY ABBOTT:

Look, there are all sorts of issues at a local party level and they’re things that should be sorted out at a local party level.

QUESTION:

Will you be talking to Peter Slipper and Mal Brough to sort out their situation?

TONY ABBOTT:

In the end, they’re both loyal members of the LNP here in Queensland. Peter is a good, strong member of the Coalition down in Canberra.

[Tony Abbott Doorstop, 5 September 2011,transcript]

THE Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott, is urging the Queensland Liberal National Party to show restraint amid a growing push for a quick preselection challenge against the federal Liberal MP and Deputy Speaker, Peter Slipper.

Mr Abbott and others in the Liberal Party feel that if Mr Slipper loses his preselection, he may quit the party and sit on the cross benches, costing the Coalition a precious vote in the finely balanced Parliament.

The Liberal Party federal director, Brian Loughnane, was making representations to the LNP state president, Bruce McIver, yesterday.

Sources said Mr Loughnane was trying to defuse the situation on behalf of Mr Abbott.

[The Sydney Morning Herald, 20 November 2011]

The leader of the opposition, Tony Abbott, recently came out in support of Peter Slipper in an on-air interview with 101.5FM - 4OUR.

Mr Abbott said Mr Slipper was a "good bloke" and was loyal.

"He has been a good loyal servant of the Liberal Party, and more recently the LNP," Mr Abbott told the Morning Magazine in an interview. (Listen to the podcast below)

[101.5FM, Morning Mag, 24 November 2011]

Mr Speaker, we have known each other for many years. We have shared good times and not-so-good times. You have been an extremely effective and efficient Deputy Speaker of this parliament. You certainly have the technical skills and the knowledge of this parliament to be effective in this chair. We congratulate you. We wish you well and we express the hope and the confidence that you will serve without fear or favour. [Tony Abbott welcoming Slipper as The Speaker, Commonwealth Hansard, 24 November 2011]

UPDATE:

When Peter Slipper became an independent Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Tony Abbott-led Opposition began ‘leaking’ damaging documents to The Australian:

SIX months ago when Peter Slipper was spectacularly reinvented by the Gillard government as Speaker, seething kingmakers in the Liberal Party organised a dump.

Slipper, the member for Fisher who had been begrudgingly tolerated by his party despite his penchant for stretching the public purse to accommodate premium travel and perks, was officially a turncoat. The gloves were off.

Among the documents provided to The Australian by political operatives last November was an email exchange dating back to 2003 when Julia Gillard was in opposition and Tony Abbott a minister in John Howard's government. In themselves, the emails are hardly explosive - they evince a warm relationship between two adults: the boss, Slipper, and his employee, Tim Knapp. They discuss plans for a private weekend meeting. It would be thwarted because, as Knapp wrote, "it may be awkward ... unless you want me to introduce you as my boyfriend to them all".

Slipper asked if "Sat night my place for dinner" would be OK. Knapp replied: "To be honest i am a little unsure of coming to your place for dinner i think we need to keep things within the workplace to keep suspicions at a minimum."……….

When this becomes common knowledge in April 2012, Abbott does not deny knowledge of the allegations or the leaks, but tries to spin the facts:

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott says complaints made to Howard government staff by the man accusing Peter Slipper of sexual harassment did not constitute a "formal" complaint.

Former aide James Ashby has filed a civil claim in the Federal Court, alleging Mr Slipper made unwelcome sexual advances towards him in January this year.

The documents also allege the Sunshine Coast MP misused taxpayer-funded taxi vouchers.

The only reasonable conclusion which can be drawn from this scenario is that the Liberal Party of Australia and Tony Abbott (both in government and opposition) concealed serious allegations from the Australian Parliament and voters in order that the Coalition could hold onto the federal seat of Fisher in Queensland, which was retained by Slipper in the 2010 federal election with a +2.28% swing.

Note:

Although Coalition political operatives were involved in approaching the media after Slipper became Speaker, Tony Abbott offers a carefully-worded denial of any Coalition involvement in preparing the Ashby sexual harassment case:

Mr Abbott says he has no knowledge of any coalition personnel helping to prepare the case against Mr Slipper.

Further update:

Slipper on Abbott via Twitter in April 2012.....

Peter Slipper MP‏@PeterSlipperMP

I have been a good friend of Tony Abbott even when he didn't have many. I even delivered him the key vote he needed to become leader!

Peter Slipper MP‏@PeterSlipperMP

#auspol Tony was an honoured guest at our wedding 6 years ago and it was great to have him and other friends and family there.

Peter Slipper MP‏@PeterSlipperMP

@AussiePlease#auspol That's true but if I had voted another way, he wouldn't have become Leader.

Dear Sol, How sweet it is to see another rich patriarch showing an Achilles heel

Dear Sol,

Yes, I freely admit it.  It’s class envy times infinity from someone who grew up in what could be classed an Aussie slum, the son of a man who grew up likewise, the grandson of a man who often went hungry and the great-grandson of a man who spent his life in abject poverty but managed to raise a family which endures to this day.

So I take a somewhat perverse please in seeing you, Solomon Lew, controversial billionaire, in the courts airing the family’s dirty but expensive linen in Lew & Ors v Priester & Ors 28 February 2012

Maudie's Ex
Yamba

* GuestSpeak is a feature of North Coast Voices allowing Northern Rivers residents to make satirical or serious comment on issues that concern them. Posts of 250-300 words or less can be submitted to ncvguestspeak AT gmail.com.au for consideration.

CSG Free Northern Rivers Rally & Concert, Riverside Park Lismore 10am 12 May 2012

Gawd 'elp us all if we grow old, frail and alone in the Land Downunder

This is part of the Gillard Government response to Australia's aged care needs:

"To make it easier for older Australians to stay in their home while they receive care, we will:
Increase the number of Home Care Packages- from 59,876 to almost 100,000 (99,669).

Provide tailored care packages to people receiving home care, and new funding for dementia care.

Cap costs, so that full pensioners pay no more than the basic fee." and

“care recipients with higher than average care needs, an indexed annual cap of $5,000 for single people on income less than $43,000”
A positive policy move. Except Maud Up The Street tells me you need at least six hours care in the home per week and a family member coming in, or living in, to pick up the rest of the care hours to take the pressure of the lack of available dementia-dedicated nursing home beds on the NSW North Coast.

Not every older person has the luxury of children and grandchildren or of having them live close by if they do. In fact, in some areas around 30% of the 50 years plus population is probably childless if ABS stats are any sort of guide.
The Prime Minister and Health Minister speak a lot about "older Australians and their families" - without recognizing that the norm is changing more than they realise and this welcome move which will allow more people to stay in their home as they receive aged care may accidentally exclude the elderly without families.
Even the announced extra aged care beds may not always materialise in regional areas such as the NSW North Coast, because nursing homes sometimes display a reluctance to take up available residential bed quotas.

Prime Minister and Health Minister Media Release 20^th April 2012

Dodgy $20 notes doing the rounds in Lismore area

NSW Police Force media release 22^nd  April 2012

“Detectives on the state’s north coast are conducting inquiries after a number of fake $20 notes were found in circulation in the Lismore area.

A number of business owners contacted local police on Friday (20 April 2012) after the counterfeit notes were used to pay for good and services.

The phony cash was detected by staff at a Lismore kebab shop, pub, convenience store and fast food restaurant, and by two taxi drivers.

Detectives have launched an investigation in a bid to identify who’s responsible for producing them.

The counterfeit notes, totalling $240, have also been seized for forensic examination.

Richmond LAC Duty Officer, Inspector Robert Cairnduff, warned local residents and business owners to be on the lookout for the notes.

“I would encourage everyone to be extra vigilant when handling their money and if you do notice something odd or that doesn’t look quite right, please contact us immediately,” Insp Cairnduff said.

“The counterfeit notes that we have seized are not of great quality; however, in poor light or to the unsuspecting eye they could quite possibly be passed off as the real thing,” he said.

Inquiries by local detectives are ongoing.

Anyone with information that might assist investigators is urged to contact Lismore Police Station or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.”

Oh, Carole, I am such a fool or Click send and lose your job

One can’t help feeling that this particular LNP staffer is no loss to both the Queensland and Federal political systems. Senator Ian MacDonald must have cringed when Crikey published this on 17 April 2012:

Dear Carole,
I have just read your pathetic piece in the Courier-Mail. While I generally ignore the bleatings of sourpusses like you, your piece was so depressing and negative that I was moved to find your email address and simply say: Get a life.
The world would be a better place if people like you stood for political preselection and learned the hard way that ability is not measured by chromosomes.
Question: Why don’t you have a go? Answer: Like most women, you probably don’t possess the necessary drive, determination and decisiveness that men innately possess. It’s not a personal criticism; it’s a fact of biology. Where, for example, are the great female explorers, mountaineers, warriors, inventors, chefs? Blokes dominate most areas of human endeavour because Nature equipped them with something called testosterone. That was part of Nature’s grand design to enable men to be stronger, more fearless and more determined than their sisters. Sorry, Carole, fact not fiction.
Women occupy a special but different place in the world to that of men. I’ve been married to a wonderful woman - a proud mother of four successful adult children, not a nuclear physicist - for nearly 40 years. For yeras [sic] I’ve heard women like you ask my wife at cocktail parties, functions and dinner parties: And what do you do? The clear inference in the pregnant silence that follows my wife’s answer that she is a proud home-maker makes my skin crawl. Women like my wife are the life-givers, the embodiment of sacrificial love (the purest form of love), the primary keepers of the flame of civilisation that separates us from the animal world, and yet the Sisterhood frowns on them for not joining the anti-male club that you so typefy [sic].
The anti-male world of conspiracy theories in which you and the Sisterhood inhabit is the complete antithesis of the world in which positive women thrive. Women who can’t cut it in - what did you call it?, the boys’ club - can easily cover their inadequacies by claiming bias, sexism, misogyny, chauvinism etc. etc. ad infinitum. It’s so tiring to read such twaddle.
Face reality, my dear. Smell the coffee. Try to turn your sour, negative, anti-male view of the world into something more positive and productive. Demonising men may be your life’s quest but fewer and fewer people are listening.
I repeat: GET A LIFE.
Kind regards,
Max
Max Tomlinson

Article which raised Max's ire here.