MH17: Sky News offends the standards of any decent society

In a case of birds of a feather flock together; Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott insensitively inserted himself into a national and international tragedy for political advantage during the same period Sky News (part-owned by Rupert Murdoch's 21st Century Fox through its 39% shareholding in BSkyB) was forced to apologise for an appalling breach of community standards:

London: British broadcaster Sky News has apologised after one of its presenters searched through luggage at the crash site of downed flight MH17 live on air.

In a news broadcast on Sunday, presenter Colin Brazier was shown rooting through personal belongings in an opened suitcase at the site, picking up a set of keys before saying: "We shouldn't really be doing this."

MH17 and the reason why Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott will trade on the personal grief of so may families around the world

When a Malaysia Airlines plane went down in March 2014 with all passengers and crew lost Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott made the most of the political opportunity that tragedy presented.

With the loss of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 on 17 July 2014 it would appear that he is again attempting to insert himself into the very real grief of so many families around the world:

And this is the reason why he has seized this opportunity:

The Age, Nielsen Poll, 21 July 2014

Things must have beeen going badly for Tony Abbott - he went back to touting his fire fighting credentials

This is Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott allegedly taking part in a scheduled hazard reduction burn at Cottage Point in Ku-Ring-Gai National Park on Sydney's north shore.

Cottage Point has an enclave of approximately 52-60 mostly holiday and luxury homes.

Jon Russell of the Cottage Point brigade and Prime Minister Tony Abbott at Cottage Point

One can see in this posed photograph that Mr. Abbott is wearlng the only the only stained uniform of the three people pictured.

In fact the only item of uniform not heavily stained are his protective googles.

Remarkably for someone presumably so smoke and oil affected, Mr. Abbott's face is also almost as fresh as if he was just walking into a media conference in Canberra.

There were reportedly only 27 volunteers attending this controlled hazard reduction which probably took place somewhere within a 352 hectare section of the 154 sq km park - so it was not a large burn.

One has to wonder if Mr. Abbott's media team went looking for an old unwashed uniform and helmet belonging to another firefighter, so that the Prime Minister could be snapped looking as though he had actually been fighting a fire.

Six days later in yet another spin cycle Prime Minister Abbott was able to insert both himself and his daughters into the private grief of so many families:

Snapshots from The Age, 20 July 2014

Peta Credlin said to have denied FOI request re Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott's citizenship status

Tony Magrathea‏ who tweets as @dickybeacholdie had this to say on Twitter on 17 July 2014:

My foi request for Abbotts form RN, renounce British citizenship has been denied by Peta Credlin. Home Office [U.K.] still looking.

The form Mr. Magrathea is referring to is here.

Nationals MP for Page Kevin Hogan skites away again

Slipped into letter boxes in the Page electorate in the first half of this year was a leaflet from Nationals MP Kevin Hogan.

In this leaflet Mr. Hogan listed under Kevin Getting The Job Done the fact that he Stopped GST on moveable homes. Reducing the cost of living.

Er, no it was not just your letter Mr. Hogan which saw the Australian Tax Office back down.

It was the Affiliated Residential Park Residents Association (ARPRA) who first went to the media and, it was ordinary people power (combined with the efforts of Jill Hall, Justine Elliot, Joanne Ryan and other Labor MPs) which first placed pressure on the Tax Office.

Aside from the fact that the Tax Office's 20 October 2013 draft ruling concerning GST and moveable homes had invited submissions and that offer was taken up.

By 20 December the ATO draft ruling had been withdrawn and Echo NetDaily was reporting that:

‘Over the past seven weeks, we have been considering a range of submissions from the community and stakeholders as part of our consultation process,’ tax commissioner Chris Jordan said.

‘We have carefully considered the legal arguments and practical implications and decided that we don’t need to change the existing GST treatment of these estates,’ he added.

‘With the benefit of submissions, it is evident that while moveable-home estates have changed, they are still similar enough to caravan parks to receive the concessional treatment. In particular, both involve letting of sites separately to the building, and provide communal facilities to residents.

Project Blueprint: making the Clarence coastline a safer place

Every accessible beach and rock platform in the Clarence Valley is to be assessed as part of a statewide program aimed at preventing drownings.

The assessments will be done as part of Project Blueprint, a Clarence Valley Council-supported coastal risk project being run by Australian CoastSafe.

As part of the assessment process, public forums will be conducted at:

* Treelands Drive Community Centre, Yamba, from 10.30am-noon on Sunday July 27, and 

* Grafton Community and Function Centre, Duke Street, Grafton, from 6.30-8pm on Thursday, July 31.

Email Luke Stigter of your attendance at lstigter@coastsafe.org.au

Those interested can send written submissions to Coastal Risk Officer, Luke Stigter, SLSNSW, PO Box 307, Belrose, NSW, 2085. 

[From CVC eNews: Speak up and help prevent drownings]

Chinese Media: "Bishop calls for standing up to China, but what resources does she have to do so with?"

Australian FM’s China stance senseless

Source: Global Times Published: 2014-7-12 0:08:01

Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop appalled Chinese people on Wednesday by saying that Australia will "stand up to China to defend peace, liberal values and the rule of law," and "China doesn't respect weakness."

It just added fuel to the outrage caused by Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott's earlier comments on Japanese submariners involved in the attack on Sydney Harbor in 1942, in which Abbott said he "admired the skill and the sense of honor" of the Japanese troops.

If Abbott's words were meant to flatter his visiting Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe, Bishop's provocation appeared to have come out of nowhere.

Many Chinese people who read about this could not believe these words came from the Australian foreign minister. China is Australia's biggest trade partner and has not offended Australia in any way. Bishop's verbal provocation made her look more like one of the often pointless "angry youths" found in the Chinese cyber sphere than a diplomat.

The current Australian government has been widely considered as inexperienced, particularly in dealing with foreign relations. Still, the naivety of its foreign minister still surprised Chinese people.

Australia has been relying heavily on the Chinese market in exports. But it has been so conceited in selling its value system that it has become one of the loudest voices in attacking China's human rights record.

Australia's history is not short of records of human rights infringement on the aboriginal population. The country used to be a place roamed by rascals and outlaws from Europe. Perhaps it has to boast its values to cover up its actual lack of confidence in front of Western countries.

For many Chinese people, Australia is a good place for business, travel and higher education. That's about it. There is no point in China being overly upset by Bishop's words.

The new power structure in the Asia-Pacific region led by China and the US has become a challenge for some countries in this region. It is understandable that Australia as a country standing alone at the outskirts will try to show its loyalty to the Western world. It's no surprise that Australia and Japan will develop their ties, too.

However, the current Australian government's moves do not fit the Asia-Pacific stage.

Given Australia's growing economic reliance on China, the government's stance on China will fluctuate.

Bishop calls for standing up to China, but what resources does she have to do so with? The next day, Australian leaders will smile at China again, just as they do now to Japan. 

Posted in: Editorial