Wednesday 18 July 2012
US Presidential Election 2012: A matching pair of political liars?
Australian Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott is on record as cheerfully admitting that he lies to Australian voters at the drop of the hat.
It seems he has a mate in America, because Republican presidential canidate Mitt Romney has been discovered making his resignation for Bain Capital 'restrospective'.
Something he neglected to tell the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
CNN News 13th July 2012:
"The documents, filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, place Romney in charge of Bain from 1999 to 2001, a period in which the company outsourced jobs and ran companies that fell into bankruptcy.
Romney has tried to distance himself from this period in Bain's history, saying on financial disclosure forms he had no active role in Bain as of February 1999. Obama has labeled Romney a job killer in hopes of undercutting the Republican's claim that his private business experience gives him the ability to turn around the struggling economy.
But at least three times since then, Bain listed Romney as the company's "controlling person," as well as its "sole shareholder, sole director, chief executive officer and president." And one of those documents — as late as February 2001 — lists Romney's "principal occupation" was as Bain's managing director."
If Tony Abbott and Mitt Romney are both leaders of their respective nations in 2013, will anyone be able to trust official foreign policy announcemnts about the Australian-US alliance for the next four years or more?
Tuesday 17 July 2012
Federal Labor MP Janelle Saffin on the subject of her state counterparts
At the picket line on Ramornie Day, I was both inspired by the strength of the community's support for the workers, their families, the families of inmates and for Grafton and Clarence Valley, and saddened as I knew the trucks were in transit to take remaining inmates away, the final act in axing local jobs.
The NSW Government and the National Party representatives, including, and I hate to say this, the local State Member, got everything wrong - the downsizing, the immediacy of it, refusing to talk to locals directly, and no plans put in place for the workers, their families, and the city.
On site at the picket I met with local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families, who were there protesting the jobs going and deeply worried for inmates, up to 70% of them Indigenous, being moved to Kempsey, Cessnock or other faraway jails.
Despite what we know from the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, which recommended inmates have regular contact with family members, there were no transition plans in place either.
There are many cruel impacts caused by this callous treatment; teachers who are offered a redundancy but then told they cannot go into teaching elsewhere for 12 months under some State Government rules. These rules could have been relaxed for them.
When the South Grafton Abattoir closed late last year, a State Government Rapid Response was deployed. Why couldn't there be a similar response for the jail?
We were told it cannot apply to the public sector, but this public service closure, is ripping the guts out of Grafton. Again, these can be fixed by political decisions.
Like all locals, the question we are asking is how much more can the Clarence Valley take?
Grafton is a great city and the Clarence Valley is stocked with solid and stoic people, who will rebuild and pick up the pieces, but this betrayal is hard to accept.
I know Grafton Chamber of Commerce president Jeremy Challacombe said we should not be political, and I understand where he is coming from, but I am political and proudly call myself a politician, and one who speaks up for us locals.
That is my job, nothing more, nothing less. This is political and it was a political decision of the NSW Liberal Premier Barry O'Farrell and his Deputy, National Party Leader Andrew Stoner, to downsize Grafton Jail.
It could have easily been a political decision to not downgrade the jail to a remand centre, and at least, do what the local community kept calling for, 'to push the pause button'.
Where to from here? We must work together to ensure we attract whatever support we can to Grafton and the Clarence Valley, so that all can continue to not only survive but flourish.
We need to take advantage of all opportunities and openings, and go for them. This is what I shall be doing with the local community.
Janelle Saffin MP
Federal Member for Page
Are O'Farrell, Stoner and Gulaptis lying to the Clarence Valley again?
This was NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell on the subject of his under the radar April 2012 decision to close Grafton Gaol:
Is the Clarence electorate being treated like fools and lied to again?
Monday 16 July 2012
Moggy Musings [Archived material from Boy the Wonder Cat]
Boy
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott's carbon price sums
This was Opposition Leader Tony Abbott in full flight on 11 July 2012:
This is what Virgin Airlines is actually charging to cover national carbon pricing:
Zone | Distance (kms) | Surcharge |
1 | 1 – 900 | AUD$1.50 |
2 | 901 – 2000 | AUD$3.00 |
3 | 2001+ | AUD$6.00 |
This is Qantas Airlines carbon price schedule for domestic flights:
Zone | Distance (km) | Charge |
1 | 1 - 700 | $1.82 |
2 | 701 - 1200 | $2.79 |
3 | 1201 - 1900 | $4.00 |
4 | 1901 + | $6.86 |
Jetstar calculated that domestic fares will go up by $5 for fuel and $2.80 for the carbon price for a total of $7.80 on a Melbourne-Sydney flight and by $6 for fuel and $6.86 for the carbon price for a total of $12.86 on a flight to Perth.
So the only time anyone is likely to pay a $6 or over carbon price component per domestic flight is if they are flying to Perth, West Australia or any other destination in the country which exceeds 1,900kms.
For millions of travellers each year, the cost impact of the carbon price on their ticket will be less than the cup of coffee they have at the airport.
At this point in time Abbott's relentless propaganda has begun to border on childish petulance.