Michael Duffy, Journalist, Author - Seer

It may have taken more than a year before Tony Abbott was sent into Opposition by the Australian electorate, but all those years ago, Michael Duffy eeriely called it like it is.

Pessimism may be the ruin of us all: [2 Metro Edition] Duffy, Michael The Daily Telegraph, 24 Mar 2001, p17:

The poem is of course a gentle satire on rural pessimism, but Abbott's point is that in the past the rest of the country took this with a grain of salt (except when things were genuinely bad), whereas now Roonism is taken by the media at face value and is spreading to the cities. This is occurring in defiance of the reality that things are much better today for most Australians than they were 10 years ago.

The process is being driven, he argues by "a strange alliance between the economically vulnerable and the commentariat, which would like nothing better than the destruction of the Howard Government". The political motivation behind this theory is clear enough, and we can be sure that Abbott will become a leading Roonist himself should be find himself in opposition later this year.  [my red bolding]

Myall Creek Massacre Commemoration 10 June 2012

Myall Creek Massacre. NRS 19437 [SZ1053]

View more documents from State Records NSW

In memory of the Wirrayaraay people who were murdered on the slopes of this ridge in an unprovoked but premeditated act in the late afternoon of 10 June, 1838.
Erected on 10 June 2000 by a group of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians in an act of reconciliation, and in acknowledgement of the truth of our shared history. [Memorial plaque at Myall Creek]

Friends of Myall Creek:

The annual memorial commemoration ceremony is for those who died in the Myall Creek massacre. This public commemoration is held at Myall Creek, the site of the massacre, west of Inverell on the Bingara-Delungra Road, commencing at 9.30 a.m. This year the meeting will be held on the Sunday, not Saturday, of the June long weekend.

9.30 Arrival and morning tea
9.45 Short AGM, with a focus on concept plans for the new educational/cultural centre
10.30 Start of ceremony
From 12.00  Lunch (can be purchased)
Brief contributions by invited guests

For further information or interviews please contact Ivan Roberts at (02) 6257 4600 or iroberts@iinet.net.au ; Sue Blacklock (02) 6723 3279, Lyall Munro (02) 6752 5792, Graeme Cordiner (02) 9817 0288

Oi, Barry O'Fibba! Keep those bloody guns out of our national parks, state conservation areas and nature reserves!

Fair dinkum – why is it that everyone who gains control of New South Wales turns into a power hungry, greedy nong of the first water?

O’Farrell, Stoner & Co. are all set to open our national parks, state conservation areas and nature reserves to recreational shooters.

Giving open slather to those very same eejits who upset the working dogs, scare the sheep, put holes in the water tank and don’t understand what line of sight is so there is a crazy crack in the kitchen window right where the wife was washing up at the time {and yes, all those things did happen}.

And now Premier O’Fibba backs out of an election promise and intends to let them loose amid both protected wildlife and tourists who are the life blood of many NSW North Coast towns and villages.

To make matters worse – he’s put Environment Minister Robyn Parker in charge. The minister who turns a blind eye on local illegal logging and antimony contamination of a major river.
Yes siree, these shooters are going to be well policed aren’t they?
And Mr. Gulaptis, I noticed your vote to stall debate on this big blunder.

Here’s what most people polled by Granny Herald think of that idea, Bazza.

So if you live on the NSW North Coast don’t go anywhere near at least 6 local areas marked out for shooters, including Yabbra, Richmond Range, Nightcap, Dorrigo, Gibraltar, Barrington Tops national parks, state conservation areas and nature reserves.

It won’t be bloody safe. Even if do you try using one of those useless North Coast Nats MPs as a body shield.

This is the man who heads the political party in the NSW Upper House that O'Fibba and his cronies are pandering to:

"The Shooters and Fishers are currently led by Robert Borsak, a self-styled “big game” hunter who, among other things, has paid the Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe thousands of dollars to shoot elephants in the wild, particularly those with mature ivory tusks. They are protected species elsewhere."

There's a good chance this elephant in the photo was a young female.

Abbott votes with Thomson in Parliament on the morning of 30 May 2012

TONY Abbott says the Gillard government only survives because of the tainted vote of Craig Thomson and he’s challenged the Prime Minister to bar the central coast MP from voting. [The Australian 30 May 2012]

In which Abbott, Entsch and Pyne show just how silly they can be on 30 May 2012.....

http://youtu.be/LE16yS_n9HE

In a media doorstop Australian Opposition Leader Tony Abbott himself called, he at first denied outright that he had voted with Independent MP Craig Thomson against a motion to gag Opposition Treasury spokesperson Joe Hockey.

Commonwealth Hansard states differently at approximately 9.10am: 

In division—

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: The Leader of the Opposition was on the floor at the time—that is the chamber. We will now proceed with the vote. The question is that the member be no longer heard.

NOES
Abbott, AJ	Alexander, JG
Andrews, KJ	Andrews, KL
Bandt, AP	Billson, BF
Bishop, BK	Bishop, JI
Briggs, JE	Broadbent, RE
Buchholz, S	Chester, D
Christensen, GR	Ciobo, SM
Cobb, JK	Coulton, M (teller)
Crook, AJ	Dutton, PC
Entsch, WG	Fletcher, PW
Frydenberg, JA	Gambaro, T
Gash, J	Griggs, NL
Haase, BW	Hartsuyker, L***
Hawke, AG	Hockey, JB
Hunt, GA	Irons, SJ
Jensen, DG	Jones, ET
Kelly, C	Laming, A
Ley, SP	Macfarlane, IE
Marino, NB	Matheson, RG
McCormack, MF	Mirabella, S
Morrison, SJ	Moylan, JE
Neville, PC	Oakeshott, RJM
O'Dowd, KD	O'Dwyer, KM
Prentice, J	Ramsey, RE
Randall, DJ	Robb, AJ
Robert, SR	Roy, WB
Ruddock, PM	Schultz, AJ
Scott, BC	Secker, PD (teller)
Simpkins, LXL	Smith, ADH
Somlyay, AM	Southcott, AJ
Stone, SN	Tehan, DT
Thomson, CR	Truss, WE
Tudge, AE	Turnbull, MB
Van Manen, AJ	Vasta, RX
Washer, MJ	Wilkie, AD
Windsor, AHC	Wyatt, KG

***The NSW Nationals Member for Cowper, Luke Hartsuyker, on the NSW North Coast also voted with Thomson.

While the above video of the House of Representatives just prior to the vote shows Abbott’s attempt to leave the Chamber, improperly and in defiance of parliamentary procedure, after the Acting Speaker had called for the doors to be locked on a division.

Not being so swift when not clad in Lycra, he was caught by the Acting Speaker and forced to return to his seat to then take part in the vote.

The Acting Speaker, Deputy Speaker Anna Burke had the last word on the subject:

...it is not for the opposition or the government to accept a member's vote. We need to clarify this: it is for the parliament to accept a member's vote...

End of story.

A Special Event For Australia: Venus crosses the face of the Sun on 6 June 2012

Transit of Venus 2004 from Google Images

Scienceworks:

On the 6th June, Venus will line up directly with the Sun and we'll get to see the planet as a small black dot against the bright Sun. It's an astronomical curiosity today, but in times past it prompted major scientific expeditions. Men devoted their lives to the Transit – some were successful and there were also many tales of despair – as they tried to unlock the true size of the Solar System.

Only six transits have occurred since the phenomenon was discovered – 1639, 1761, 1769, 1874, 1882 and the most recent in 2004. Each has its own story. Like the transit of 1769 that provided the public reason for James Cook's voyage to the Pacific but led him to chart the east coast of Australia.

The transit in June will be the last in our lifetimes. No one will witness this event again until 2117……

The best time to view this phenomenon is thought to be between 8.16am and 8.35am EST as it first moves onto the Sun's face.

Forget Gina - Kev's better half finally made it into The Rich 200 in 2012

Go Razee! You’ve got more heart than Gina any day.

“The Rich 200 remains largely a man’s domain. Just 16 women make the list, up from 15 last year. Many of them are wives of primary wealth creators.

Not so the new entrant. Although Therese Rein’s husband is a former prime minister of Australia (Kevin Rudd) it is her entrepreneurial skill in the employment services industries that has led to her $210 million fortune.”

What Chris said yesterday ...

The Member for Clarence, Chris Gulaptis, provided these little gems yesterday:
"... the Australian public love the monarchy. ... The love of the monarchy has even extended to Pippa's derrière—we just cannot enough of it."
(Mr Christopher Gulaptis (Clarence) [6.34 p.m.]: speaking to the Constitution Amendment (Restoration of Oaths of Allegiance) Bill 2011)

Cripes! We pay good money to have a local represent us in Macquarie Street and that is what we get. Is the bloke for real or is he a fruit cake?

Source: Hansard, NSW Legislative Assembly, 29/5/12