Anthony John "Tony" Abbott has decided that contrary to popular belief he is still Australia's prime minister

This is the very arrogant MP for Warringah backgrounding mainstream media……

Sky News, 1 February 2016:

Tony Abbott has met US President Barack Obama privately in Washington, it's been reported.

The former prime minister also held secret talks with the president's spy chief, News Corp reported on Monday, noting that the meetings could irk Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

Mr Abbott and Mr Obama met at an exclusive banquet on Saturday night, with sources saying the two had a very warm and intimate discussion.

A day earlier, Mr Abbott reportedly held secret talks with the US director of National Intelligence James Clapper - it's believed they discussed the war effort against Islamic State as well as broader global threats….

The Daily Telegraph, 1 February 2016, p.4:

WHO ABBOTT MET IN THE US

Barack Obama, US President

Richard Haass, President of the Council on Foreign Relations

James Clapper, National Intelligence Director

John McCain, Republican senator and former presidential candidate

James Wolfensohn, former president of the World Bank Credit

And the reason for this high-level foray into foreign policy?

Well, in the first instance it is bound to get up the nose of two people most likely high on Abbott’s hate list – Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Foreign Minister Julie Bishop.

Secondly, Abbott has been travelling during that period of the year in which backbenchers typically go on taxpayer-funded ‘study tours’ and I’m betting that these meetings (along with a photo opportunity with former presidential adviser Henry Kissinger) will form the basis of a claim that he was on just such a tour.

Snapshot from Tony Abbott's Twitter account, 28 January 2016

Thus Abbott, who in all probability was paid to speak at the Alliance Defending Freedom dinner in New York on 28 January, will be able to claim a second time for expenses associated with his recent trip.

After all, this is the man who in 2009 decided that taxpayers should fund his own book promotion tour until he was sprung and had to pay back $9,400 in 2010.

Former Australian defence minister Kevin Andrews skips first week of parliament to address Koch Brothers' funded U.S. Heritage Foundation event

Former prime minister Tony Abbott was a guest speaker at an Alliance Defending Freedom dinner on 28 January 2016 and now his political ally former defence minister Kevin Andrews is scheduled to deliver a speech at a Heritage Foundation event being held in the Allison Auditorium, Washington DC.

This speech can be watched live online from 3am AEDT (Sydney) on 3 February 2016 at http://www.heritage.org/events/2016/02/australia .

Like Alliance Defending Freedom, the Heritage Foundation is a far-right American organisation which seeks to influence federal and state elections, as well as politicians and government policy.

It is a pro-gun, pro-coal, pro-deregulation, anti-universal health care, anti-gay marriage, free market advocate with an online magazine at http://dailysignal.com/. It appears to see religion and traditional morality as playing a significant role in American public life.

This foundation has documented links to the Koch Brothers – two oil billionaires who are alleged to have significantly bankrolled the Republican Party for years and are often characterized as being in the business of buying politicians.

Ties to the Koch Brothers

The Heritage Foundation has received funding from organizations with connections to the Koch brothers. In 2012, the Heritage Foundation received $650,000 from the Claude R. Lambe Foundation, which was one of the Koch Family Foundations before it closed in 2013. The Lambe Foundation contributed at least $4.8 million to the Heritage Foundation between 1998 and 2012.

In recent years, the Heritage Foundation has also received funding from Donors Trust and Donors Capital Fund, including $53,300 in 2010 and $69,850 in 2012. The Koch brothers have donated millions of dollars to Donors Trust through the Knowledge and Progress Fund, and possibly other vehicles. [SourceWatch, Koch Wiki]

Andrews has a long history with the Heritage Foundation going back until at least 2009 and he is described on its website as being from The Heritage Foundation.

After the Heritage Foundation event Kevin Andrews is not jetting straight home to represent his electorate for what remains of the first week of 2016 parliamentary sittings. He will remain in Washington for the 63rd National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday at which the US president traditionally speaks.

Because it appears that invited guests have to purchase a ticket to prayer breakfast events, I will be looking closely at the Member for Menzies next claim for expense reimbursement, as I can see no reason why Australian taxpayers should be paying for his personal religious junket.

In the hope of winning back the highest political office in the land is Tony Abbott committing a cardinal sin against gender equality and Australian democracy?

Did anyone really think that American hard-right religious extremism was confined to U.S. shores and missionary outposts in third world countries?

Does anyone really believe that former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott is currently courting the misogynistic, homophobic, religious extremist group Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) simply to support the notion of Christian family ideals?

The reality is very different.

Religious extremism USA-style is already in this country and it appears that Tony Abbott may be intent on tapping its influence and money in order to rebuild his personal political power.

Indeed, in The Guardian on 27 January 2016, a phone conversation between a journalist and an ADF representative is quoted which seems to indicate that Abbott may be doing just that:

Speaking to me by phone, Clarkson conceded that the closed-door nature of the meeting – which has not been advertised on ADF’s site – made it difficult to know what was happening. But it may not just be an after-dinner speech.

“There could actually be some strategic thinking going on. What kinds of contacts does the ADF have in Australia, and how can Abbott tap into them?”

In any case, it’s a networking opportunity, where an increasingly internationally-focused US Christian right and a leader of Australian social conservatives can exchange views, and perhaps resources.

In April 2016 the Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) will be bringing a supporter of this religiously rabid group, Eric Metaxas, to Australia to speak at its national conference.

This is not a simple cultural exchange, it is part of both ACL and ADF’s efforts to eventually turn Australian democracy into a modern version of a 3rd Century theocracy.

ADF has been highly successful in subverting American democratic processes by trading on bigotry and fear and, this makes it a natural ally of Tony Abbott as these tactics are also found in his political arsenal.

Brief background

Then Australian Health Minister Tony Abbott on his feet in the House of Representatives during the Therapeutic Goods Amendment (Repeal of Ministerial Responsibility for Approval of Ru486) Bill 2005 debate on 15 February 2006:

 every abortion is a tragedy, and up to 100,000 abortions a year is this generation’s legacy of unutterable shame.

The Conversation, 29 October 2012:

The bill was presented as a measure to amend the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, but Schedule 3, amending the Health Insurance Act 1973, aimed to “clarify the scope and power to make Medicare tables.”

In effect, the bill would have granted Abbott as health minister extraordinary power to “determine that Medicare benefits are not payable in specific circumstances”, including for items “the government does not wish to fund through Medicare”.

The bill was immediately sent to committee where Schedule 3 was interpreted by politicians and health professionals alike as an attack on abortion, and perhaps IVF.

As with the pro-RU486 legislation, women MPs worked together to condemn the “disconcerting and questionable” Medicare provision.

The following is a transcript of an Australian Christian Lobby: Voice for Values webpage advertising its 2014 national conference

https://youtu.be/Cw4P7inwl1c

Defending Freedom

Australians enjoy tremendous freedoms.

But what if your freedom was removed because of your religious beliefs?

What if your church was targeted for discrimination because of its beliefs?

What if your foundational freedoms were taken away?

This is a sad reality for many people around the world.

It is also now happening in modern, liberal, Western democracies like the US and Australia.

Alliance Defending Freedom is a US-based alliance-building legal organization that advocates for the right of people to freely live out their faith.

With over 300 allied organisations, 2,400 allied attorneys and 31 countries represented ADF are leading the charge in defending religious liberty.

This month ADF Senior Legal Counsel, Roger Kiska will be speaking at ACL’s National Conference.

If you care about the future of religious freedom in Australia, you won’t want to miss Roger’s talk.

Register today to secure your seat at ACL’s National Conference and to benefit from Roger’s deep knowledge and experience in the battle to preserve religious freedom.

ACL fact sheet as of 27 July 2016 advocating the right of a doctor to not only refuse to directly assist a woman seeking pregnancy termination but also to refuse to refer a woman on to a medical facility which will assist her:

Click on image to enlarge

 Excerpt from an Australian Christian Lobby 2015 jobadvertisement:

Combine your God-given talents and abilities to make a lasting difference to Australian society. Australian Christian Lobby is a grassroots movement of over 50,000 people seeking to bring a Christian influence to Australian politics. We want to see Christian values and ethics accepted and influencing the way we are governed, do business and relate as a society.
Working with a team of experienced and dedicated campaigners, you will play a crucial role in what the Sydney Morning Herald has described as one of the “top echelon of lobbying groups” in Australia……

Australian Christian Lobby is at the forefront of the Australian marriage debate. At ACL you will play a key role in preserving the legal definition of marriage for future generations through the 2016 federal election and the upcoming marriage plebiscite.

Did no-one on Australian Prime Minister Turnbull's staff check that 'homeless' app before he fronted media singing its praises?

But there was Malcolm Turnbull, fresh from describing the latest initiative to help Australia's army of homeless as an "act of love", striding up what the well-heeled like to call the Paris end of Collins Street, Melbourne, where he discovered Mr Kerswell sitting on the footpath.

The Prime Minister stopped, squatted on his haunches and told Mr Kerswell about Ask Izzi, a new website designed to grant Australia's homeless instant access to an array of help, such as food, shelter and legal assistance. [The Sydney Morning Herald, 29 January 2016]

Oh dear, did no-one in Prime Minister Turnbull’s office fully road test this app?

This is just one example of what can go wrong with trusting Izzy:

A homeless person just passing through this little coastal town gets no joy from Izzy when it comes to locating Centrelink.

Although the fact that it has its own freestanding building on the main road might have given the game away as he or she went through the second shopping precinct.

Once there the homeless person can access a wide range of Centrelink services, including requests for an advance payment, changes to direct bill pay, lodging changes in financial circumstances or banking details, submit NewStart paperwork, access myGov etc. 

This Centrelink Service Centre is definitely not an "agent".

Izzy also helpfully lists the nearest Centrelink Access Point, but tells the homeless person that it will take 1 hour 2 minutes to get to Maclean from Yamba, instead of the 15 mins or so by car or 20 mins by bus.

Izzy’s information about Yamba was not the only ill-informed page the app produced.

I can only hazard a guess that the prime minister’s staffers did not bother to look at rural and regional data held by the app or, if they did, probably wouldn’t have realised it was both out-of-date by years in some instances and just plain wrong in others.

UPDATE

This is the answer I received from Izzy when shortly before 8am on Sunday 31 January 2016 I asked about hospitals near Yamba:

Apparently a homeless person is being told the two nearest hospitals (which happen to have 24/7 Accident & Emergency departments) are not open at all today and, yes, the travel times are all wrong again.

The map for Maclean Hospital was just a little more help than that for Centrelink. It showed this:

Yes, really helps heaps, Prime Minister. *drips sarcasm* 

This is what Izzy replies to a homeless person asking where he or she might get food vouchers in Yamba:

The list goes on for some length (offering everywhere from metropolitan Sydney to over the border in Queensland & hundreds of miles inland) without mentioning that after a 1300 phone assessment the Salvation Army in Grafton and Maclean will be able to organize emergency relief such as food vouchers etc.

To be fair, Izzy does mention a commercial retreat & conference centre in Yamba, but as the nuns left there long ago I rather doubt that much emergency assistance would be on offer.

Ask Izzy app is also playing stoopid in the suburbs:

So that would mean that Izzy expects a homeless person to travel an est. 84kms going M3 & Mornington Peninsula Freeway then Link - just to use the Internet. When the Internet can actually be accessed at Collingwood Library via its own computers or using the library's unlimited free WiFi on own laptop or device.

I've also heard that on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland it will refer a homeless woman to a local shelter which no longer exists.

To recap - to date this app gives incorrect, misleading and/or useless information in at least three Australian states.

To Kill A Whooping Crane

This is the beginning of a letter sent in relation to an 18 year-old Texan’s 11 January 2016 alleged killing of two Whooping Cranes protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

Read the rest of this sad letter here.

Image of a pair of Whooping Cranes

found at

https://www.learner.org/jnorth/tm/crane/sl/33_annual/feb.html

Quote of the Week

Mr Abbott is more than a lightning rod for internal party dissent; he is an instigator of it and an aggressive leader of the hardline conservatives. 

[Paul Bongiorno writing about former Australian prime minister & current MP for Warringah Tony Abbott in The New Daily, 26 January 2016]

Tweet of the Week

This one was especially tweeted for Liberal MP for Flinders and Australian Minister for against the Environment, Gregory Andrew "Greg" Hunt, by HRH Terry Australis on 25 January 2016: