The ugly face of Abbott's Army reveals itself once more

The Age 10 August 2014:

Young Liberals at one the country's most elite universities have posted racist, crude and misogynist comments on social media, describing women as ''sluts'', Muslims as ''degenerates'' and saying all feminists are ugly.

Only days after two Liberal candidates were forced to quit ahead of November's state election over a series of derogatory posts on Facebook and Twitter, the party has been rocked again by offensive behaviour in its ranks.

In a series of screenshots of Facebook messages leaked to Fairfax Media, the Melbourne University Liberal Club members attack feminist and alumni Germaine Greer, take aim at homosexuality, and repeatedly demean women.

Club treasurer Stefan Eracleous describes Ms Greer as a ''lying f---ing c-m guzzling slut … and a union member''.

''She doesn't believe in God. No kids not married … what do you [e]xpect from a melb uni educated former socialist c---,'' he wrote.

He also refers to London as ''the gay capital of the world'' and appears to hit out at Muslims, telling a friend: ''Just be careful of those mussrats. A lot of them are [a] bunch of Third World degenerate c---s.''

The club's vice-president, Charlie Cartney, said in a Facebook message in January that a venue was ''definitely worth a visit'' because it had a Mexican restaurant and an upstairs bar with ''lots of sluts'', saying in another post: ''Get some sluts for me.''

Other members of the group referred to former prime minister Julia Gillard as a ''twat'' and said ''Tara Moss should only be on TV if she is in a bikini''.

The posts are another embarrassing blow for the Liberals - surfacing days after party chiefs warned MPs and candidates to act appropriately on social media - and have fuelled Labor's claims of a broader cultural problem within Liberal ranks.

The Young Liberals and university Liberal clubs often are seen as a starting point for people interested in politics, with Melbourne University alumni including state treasurer Michael O'Brien, federal senator Scott Ryan and federal Higgins MP Kelly O'Dwyer.

The Melbourne University Liberal Club's Facebook page also shows members campaigning for the state election with candidates and MPs, including Attorney-General Robert Clark and backbenchers Clem Newton-Brown and Neil Angus.

Club president Michael Sabljak said he was not aware of the comments until The Sunday Age contacted him because they were not on an official Melbourne University Liberal forum, but denied the club had a homophobic, sexist or misogynistic culture…..

Gaza: an urgent call to protect civilian life and health from The Lancet

Gaza: an urgent call to protect civilian life and health

The Lancet 9 August 2014

The Lancet is a general medical journal that publishes research, news, and opinion about all aspects of human health and wellbeing. In situations of war and conflict—such as in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, and elsewhere—our perspective has always been to put the interests of civilian lives ahead of the politics of military engagement. In the conflict taking place in Gaza, our position is very clear. We do not support any side whose actions lead to civilian casualties. The role of the doctor is to protect, serve, and speak up for life. That, too, is the role of a medical journal.

Our view of the conflict in Gaza comes from first-hand experience of Gaza itself. When one enters Gaza, it is as if one is entering a prison. At the Erez crossing point in north Gaza, one first passes through an armed passport check, followed by a first set of gates. One walks on through another gate, with a further 150 yards to still another gate. A final 150 yards follow to a last exit. Then one is confronted by a landscape of destroyed roads, buildings, and bridges. Debris lies everywhere. When one reaches a nearby town or Gaza City itself, the first impression one will have is not only the crowded nature of life in Gaza, but also the children, children everywhere. 45% of Gaza's population is younger than 14 years of age.

On July 7, 2014, the Government of Israel launched “Operation Protective Edge”. Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs states on its website that, “Operation Protective Edge will continue until its goals are reached—restoring sustained peace and quiet to the citizens of Israel, while striking hard at the terrorist infrastructure of Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist groups in Gaza”. Israel, as any country, has the right to defend its citizens. International Humanitarian Law requires three principles to be upheld during such a defence. The Principle of Distinction states that, “parties to the conflict shall at all times distinguish between the civilian population and combatants”. The Principle of Precautions in Attack states that, “parties to the conflict must take all feasible precautions to protect the civilian population and civilian objects under their control against the effects of attacks”. The Principle of Proportionality states that, “Launching an attack which may be expected to cause incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians, damage to civilian objects, or a combination thereof, which would be excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated, is prohibited”.

Now return to life in Gaza. A land that no-one can escape from. A crowded land in which children are the largest single group of the population. These are the conditions in which attacks on Gaza combatants are taking place. One does not have to be a military expert or a scholar of International Humanitarian Law to realise the extreme risk to civilians in Gaza if conflict does not follow very strictly the Principles of Distinction, Precaution, and Proportionality. Palestinian civilian populations have no Iron Dome, the Israeli air defence system designed to intercept and destroy Hamas rockets. The children, women, and men of Gaza have had no protection from shelling that has so far claimed 852 civilian lives. The UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports that 252 Palestinian children and 181 Palestinian women have been killed since July 7. 1949 children and 1160 women have been injured. 23 Gazan hospitals or clinics have been damaged. 250 000 Gazans have been displaced from their homes. 1·8 million people have reduced or no access to safe water. Epidemics of lice and scabies have broken out in shelters

.

On July 22, we published a letter from Paola Manduca, Sir Iain Chalmers, Derek Summerfield, Mads Gilbert, Swee Ang, and colleagues drawing attention to the terrifying events taking place in Gaza these past weeks. Their letter has led to a debate about the appropriateness of a medical journal giving space to opinions about an issue that lies at the intersection between health and politics. But here is a war that is having far-reaching effects on the survival, health, and wellbeing of Gaza's and Israel's civilian residents. It is surely the duty of doctors to have informed views, even strong views, about these matters; to give a voice to those who have no voice; and to invite society to address the actions and injustices that have led to this conflict. Our responsibility is to promote an open and diverse discussion about the effects of this war on civilian health.

An opportunity for peace and justice surely beckons. For the health and wellbeing of civilians in both Gaza and Israel, we encourage both parties to have the courage to seize this moment.

BACKGROUND

Israel, Palestine and the Occupied Territories

Click on image to enlarge

Graphic found at Google Images

The Score So Far: ICAC 9 Liberal Party of Australia 0

It is only halfway through the working week and yet more members of the Liberal Party of Australia have been forced to resign after allegations made during NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption hearings.

The tally so far:

Arthur Sinodinos Federal Liberal Senator for NSW and Assistant Treasurer in the Abbott Government  - not fulfilling assistant treasurer duties for the duration of the ICAC Operation Credo and Operation Spicer investigations, after allegations concerning the corporation Australia Water Holdings of which he was a director were made during Operation Credo  .

Barry O’Farrell NSW Liberal MP for Ku-ring-gai  – resigned as Premier and Minister for Western Sydney effective 17 April 2014 and moved to the back bench when it was proven that he had not told the truth when giving evidence at a NSW Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) Operation Credo hearing in relation to an undeclared $3,000 gift from the then CEO of Australian Water Holdings.

Mike Gallacher NSW Liberal MLC – resigned as Minister for Police and Emergency Services on 2 May 2014 after being named as one of the subjects of ICAC’s Operation Spicer investigation, suspended from the Liberal Party and moved to the cross bench.

Chris Hartcher NSW Liberal MP for Terrigal – resigned as Minister for Resources and Energy, Special Minister of State, Minister for the Central Coast on 9 December 2013, suspended from the  Liberal Party and moved to the cross bench.

Marie Ficarra NSW Liberal MLC – resigned as parliamentary secretary on 17 April 2014 after it was alleged she solicited an unlawful political donation, suspended from the Liberal Party and moved to the cross bench..

Darren Webber NSW Liberal MP for Wyong and Member, Legislative Assembly Committee on Law and Safety - suspended from the Liberal Party of Australia (NSW) after corruption allegations, moved to the cross bench and not re-contesting his seat at the 2015 state election.

Christopher Spence NSW MP for The Entrance - suspended from the Liberal Party of Australia (NSW) after corruption allegations, moved to the cross bench and not re-contesting his seat at the 2015 state election.

Andrew Cornwell – resigned as NSW Liberal MP for Charlestown after admitting in evidence that he had received unlawful political donations and paid his tax bill with some of that money.

Tim Owen – resigned as NSW Liberal MP for Newcastle on 12 August 2014 after admitting he had not told the truth concerning unlawful political donations when giving evidence at an ICAC Operation Spicer hearing and had met with another ICAC witness allegedly to convince that witness not to tell the truth.

See Operation Credo and Operation Spicer  hearing transcripts here.

UPDATES

After allegations during evidence given in an Operation Spicer hearing, that he had received an unlawful political donation, on 14 August 2014 Liberal MP for Swansea Garry Edwards announced he had moved to the cross bench.

On 18 August 2014 it was reported that Newcastle mayor Jeff McCloy had resigned his mayoral position due to admissions that he had made unlawful political donations to the NSW Liberal Party and, chief of staff to Opposition Leader John Robertson Ian McNamara has stood aside while ICAC hearings continue.

On 27 August 2014 it was reported by ABC News that the Liberal MP for Londonderry Bart Bassett had moved to the cross bench after ICAC commissioner Megan Latham announced that new evidence had emerged to widen the inquiry's scope to examine whether Nathan Tinkler's firm Buildev tried to influence Mr Bassett.

The score now stands at: ICAC 13 Liberal Party of Australia 0

Some of those Liberal Party nutters have escaped into the wild again

The Minister for Employment and Federal Liberal Senator Eric Abetz, Minister for Social Services and Federal Liberal MP Kevin Andrews, Federal Liberal Senator Cory Bernardi, Victorian Liberal MLC Bernie Finn and Victorian Attorney-General and Liberal MLA Robert Clark are reportedly attending/supporting the World Congress of Families regional conference Families, Life And Freedom in Melbourne on 20 August 2014.

Abetz is hosting a lunch for conference speakers Dr. Angela Lanfranchi, Mrs. Louise Kirk and Dr. Larry Jacobs at Parliament House in Canberra on 28th August 2014, Andrews is opening and closing the conference, Clark is welcoming conference attendees to Victoria, Bernardi is apparently attending, while Finn is an invited speaker on the topic "Marching for the Babies"

Kevin Andrews has been a presenter at this conference on three occasions, the first in 1997 when his topic was “Rebuilding A Culture Of Marriage”.

The Mammamia blog team has listed a number of alleged views held by the group which organised this conference:

1. Women who take the pill lose interest in sex and are more likely to be the victim of violent assault and murder;

2. Women who take the pill are more likely to engage in incest;

3. Social policies should not promote single-parenting;

4. There's a link between abortion and breast cancer;

5. The sole purpose of sex is for procreation and an expression of love between husband and wife;

6. Vladimir Putin's draconian homosexual vilification laws that send LGBT Russians to prison are a 'great idea';

7. All forms of non-heterosexual sex is a sin and gay people should be converted to heterosexuality via Christian therapy;

8. The pill and other contraception can and does kill women all over the world, as well as babies;

9. Abortion, divorce and LGBT people are responsible for devaluation of parenting, promiscuity, sexually transmitted diseases, poverty, human trafficking, violence against women, and child abuse.

A prevaricating Eric Abetz asserted there is a link between abortion and breast cancer, Kevin Andrews believes de facto couples are inherently unstable, Bernie Finn believes there is no acceptable reason for abortion, Cory Bernardi is stridently pro-life and believes legalising same-sex marriage could lead to legalisation of polygamy & bestiality and, Robert Clark refuses to give his views.

I'm not sure if Queensland Liberal National Party MP Freya Ostapovitch will be joining her colleagues at the conference, but in June this year she told state parliament that abortion increases the risk of breast cancer. 

UPDATE

In the face of growing community opposition to state and federal politicians participating in this conference, Bernie Finn, Jan Kronberg, Cory Bernardi, Eric Abetz, Kevin Andrews and Robert Clark have stated they are not attending this event. The reason given by Andrews is that he is withdrawing because the venue was moved to premises owned by  Catch The Fire Ministries. Catch the Fire Ministries is one of the listed conference sponsors and apparently Mr. Andrews would like voters to believe that it was only on 29 August 2014 that he discovered its involvement.

                       

Team Australia!

First Dog On The Moon prints are available at First Shop On The Moon

Metgasco shareholders vent their frustration

Some of the est. 5,000 shareholders (according to Hot Copper) in the coal seam/tight gas exploration company Metgasco Limited are venting their frustration on the Hot Copper MEL forum and trash talking the Northern Rivers in the process.

I particularly enjoyed the attempt to ‘prove’ that the Northern Rivers population, its communities, and economy are in terminal decline.

********

The Greens are playing the third rate, bribe prone political swill that we have representing our interests in Parliament like headless fish with two hooks in their mouths.

This is the same way the Russians brought communism to Eastern Europe...start with telling enough lies enough times about an innocent unprotected party, get some thugs to run around flexing their muscles to subvert and flout authority, convince or coerce the unwashed uneducated and simple souls (yes, those same uneducated farmers, doctors and knitting noneties who think they know everything because they have swallowed the incessant cartload of lies to bloat their lazy mindless brains instead of doing their own unbiased research) to come out to "burn the witclhes.".. and then they seize authority slowly and insidiously.

Heaven help these uneducated puppets when they finally discover, too late, what they have so mindlessly done....when the Green genie that they have unbottled so trustingly morphs into the evil Red Devil it really is.

Those protesting farmers and knitting nannas are sadly going to realise that the farm they are trying to save is really Animal Farm......and the Pigs are already walking cock-a-hoop on their two wretched hind legs.

The Metgasco saga is not the beginning of the end, it is not even the end of the beginning, it is just the beginning of the beginning of a very great calamity that, if unchecked, is going to soon engulf Australia and everyone in it.

A gut wrenchingly realistic account and well researched.

I was thinking the lack of vocal protest thus far over AGLs Gloucester approved fracking program might be Greens baulking at taking on AGL, but a wise "old" soul pointed out to me this evening it was more likely that locals in Gloucester want CSG and actively work to exclude greens protestors.

Drew Hutton laments that it is hard to engage commercial farmers in protests but boasts that it was easy to mobilise "lifestylers" on sub-commercial land holdings in the Northern Rivers. What he means was that he played to the "alternative" demographic with misleading but appealing accounts of fracking and CSG.

What an incredible betrayal Drew, Aidan, Local Govts, the Greens have inflicted on the Northern Rivers by focussing their efforts on driving CSG and its economic benefits from the region ... and the NSW Lib Government has betrayed the region by caving in to save state seats ... a betrayal of families, the employed and the youth of the region.

There is no way the region will rise to deliver to a potential export boom as part of the talked about emerging agricultural boom and as you say, regional tourism is on the wane ... presently it is a region devoid of employment purpose ... commerial activities are experiencing death by 1000 cuts as population declines and as uneployment grows. I am dead set certain local unemployment, especially youth unemployment would be significantly higher in the Northern Rivers than elsewhere in coastal NSW.

We now know that Chris Gulaptis, like all the Northern Rivers politicians, has no concern for the greater economic good of his electorate. He is despised by employers who create jobs and panders only to those who create nothing. He is content to cower with the rest of his opportunistic, cynical party colleagues in the face of the threatening, intimidating and sometimes unlawful actions of anti-csg opponents.

We can take no comfort from the fact that his main electioneering ticket is removing a bat colony from Maclean.

How come AGL (AGK) gets approval in Glouchester which has a greater population in the vicinity? Yet MEL struggles with this. Same product, same state, same country

The NR excels in high welfare dependency and high youth unemployment. The biggest employers are government (Healthcare and Social Assistance, the University and Councils). NR private enterprise is failing.

Big retailers are closing down in every town and there are whispers about more to come:
https://www.facebook.com/LismoreRadio/posts/632736013489648
A foodbank has been established in Kyogle offering subsidised groceries. One wonders what effect this will have on the legitimate local IGA supermarket. Will this need to rethink its existence too?
http://www.abc.net.au/local/photos/2014/06/24/4031770.htm?site=northcoast

It is suggested that tourism replace the Timber and Dairy industries, both in serious decline. With the drought, why not include Beef too?

The solution proposed is the Northern Rivers Rail Trail (a walking and bike trail between Casino and Murwillumbah): 
http://www.northernriversrailtrail.org.au/benefits/community
What does tourism give back? They leave their rubbish behind, littering our highways; and they’re profligate with their water use too.

Perhaps a better alternative is that a gas pipeline follow the Rail Trail to connect with the Tweed gas infrastructure?

Major Jenny Dowel knows that tourism is in decline in the Northern Rivers (-7.5% p.a.). As President of NOROC she released the Northern Rivers Social Profile 2013, comparing the Northern Rivers decline with the mid-North Coast’s increase:
http://www.nrsdc.org.au/regional-social-plan/3956-northern-rivers-social-profile-launched.html
With poor road maintenance and little tourism investment, tourists are likely to remain in the coastal towns. Lismore, Casino or Kyogle are not a destination – they’re a thoroughfare for travelers to more exciting destinations. 
Could Cr Dowel’s $300K expenditure on street sculpture (a Qld import) have been better spent on roads, for example? I hear a number of high street parking spaces have been sacrificed for this sculpture, upsetting retailers and the public alike. More closures to come?
http://www.abc.net.au/local/photos/2014/07/16/4046963.htm
So, yes, we need the gas. The economy of the NR is in terminal decline. 

We are not the Hunter Valley. Vignerons and Bloodstock are protected because they are multi-million dollar investments, employing thousands.

I don’t know why the hairies are worried about sugar cane and macadamia. Just because a PEL has been issued, it doesn’t mean there is gas within it. 

The Hunter and the Northern Rivers share a similar land area, the Hunter has nearly 3 times the NR population because they have jobs and industry and we do not.

Finally, Tasmania is introducing new anti-protest laws. They’re jack of the Greens. NSW, where are you? Step up. Protect your industry and workers.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-08-08/unions-stage-an-anti-protest-protests-in-hobart/5658160

Yes The ABC will claim "it is all about Drew" but one must consider the subtext or context of the segment. Sadly, it is a left-wing (jam packed with rage-driven subtlety) attack on everything scientific and sensible.

As with all T.V (ref: Josh Fox and his "gaslands" drama) the bias is in the evoking of audience emotion one way or another.

The leftists behind this segment did well to exploit the drama.

It's a disgrace that the standards of a so-called "objective" government owned tv station are so low as to allow this to go to air.

Let 'em have it boys!

In the meantime, it is clear that Santos gets away with murder and gets the go ahead with whatever they plan to do without interference whatsoever from our State Government.

And they get the okay to proceed even if they have a very poor record in the drilling and production of CSG. Go figure!!

Obviously there is one law for the Majors and another one for the minnows. Or better still, the Parliamentarians will need all the help they can get to remain in Government, and when they eventually will loose their seats, they will be looking at a Board position in some of these companies. Most of the time, they will end up with Chairmanships positions. Just have a good look at where Mark Vaile ended up, and you will soon know what I mean.

Finally, who's interests and future will the Parliamentarian look after.?? Is it the shareholders of some minnow company, or is it their own.???

Good guess. And with only one option allowed.!!

I wonder who is making the decisions and who is pulling the strings on this issue of ours.

I am also wondering if it was STO, Origin, or AGL owning our tenements, and if they were to go/put through the loops like the ones that we are forced to go through!!!.

25,000 is still a minority in Clarence. The Rosella conventional well is not in the Lismore electorate. When going about its lawful business a company and its 5,000 plus shareholders should not have to demonstrate a single thing.

U got to be crazy saying sitt like that as most of us are in too deep to consider losses,the resource is proven and the time will come,accumulating is the only thing I know!,,,

********

There was a least one happy shareholder on the forum this week:

I, and I presume many other shareholders, have this weekend received another campaign email from the local anti-everythings now resorting to trying to scare off individual shareholders.

My interpretation is that they are becoming more worried that ultimately their silly backward focussed campaign will lose and the modern world will finally penetrate the Northern Rivers with the advent of cheap gas for everyone. They, like the Luddites who tried to stop newly industrialising Britain in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the communists in the twenty first century, and the extremist Islamists trying to stop the modern world from improving the lot of those in the Middle East & elsewhere, will eventually by consigned to the dustbin of history.

Time to accumulate more MEL shares methinks

At close of business on 11 August 2014 Metgasco Limited’s ordinary share price stood at 5.2 cents.

Jobs and unemployment under the Abbott Government

Snapshot from Tony Abbott's press release The Coalition's Job Pledge.

On 18 September 2013 Tony Abbott and his merry band of right-wing ideologues formally took up the reins of federal government in Australia and began relentlessly talking down the Australian economy.

During that September the national unemployment rate stood at 5.6 per cent (seasonally adjusted) and the number of job advertisements was only 5% above the lowest level reached during the Global Financial Crisis:

By October unemployment stood at 5.7 percent, in November 5.8 per cent and in December it mercifully held at 5.8 per cent.

Come the new year and in January 2014 the national unemployment rate (seasonally adjusted) jumped to 6 per cent, in February remained at 6 per cent, in March fell back to 5.8 per cent and stayed at that rate in April.

By the month of May, in which the Abbott Government released it first budget papers, the unemployment rate still held at 5.8 per cent, but the actual number of unemployed people had begun to rise again and job advertisements had fallen sharply by 5.6% m/m.  

In June the rate was back to 6 per cent and the number of unemployed people increased by 20,300 to 741,700.

This week the Australian Bureau of Statistics released the July 2014 unemployment figures and the seasonally adjusted rate jumped to 6.4 per cent, with the number of unemployed persons rising by 43,700 to 789,000 and only an est. 142,600 job vacancies across the country:

Ten months have passed since Abbott was sworn in as prime minister and the first of those millions of jobs he promised are yet to surface - apparently jobs growth is not even keeping up with population growth.

The quiet desperation of the unemployed can be seen in the number of individuals vainly applying for the relatively small pool of jobs in 2013 - jobs for which employers believed most were not suitable:

Snapshot from Australian Government Dept of Employment Labour Market Research and Analysis Branch