Speaker Bronwyn Bishop's head count grows

Cartoon by Mark Night March 2014

The Sydney Morning Herald noted on 27 November 2014 that:

The total number of MPs removed by Ms Bishop in the life of the current Parliament is 285 – 280 of them Labor.

Ed Husic, Nick Champion, and Melissa Parke – who had never before been sent out – were among the MPs to be removed from question time on Thursday.

Excerpt from House of Representatives Hansard of 27 November clearly demonstrates that it takes little to be ejected from the Chamber these days:

The SPEAKER: The member for Freemantle on a point of order.

Ms Parke: Government members have been asking and answering questions all week about the China free trade agreement—

The SPEAKER: You are to speak to the standing order. What standing order are you referring to?

Ms Parke: Standing order 100(d)(i): 'Questions must not contain statements of fact unless they can be authenticated.'

The SPEAKER: The member will resume her seat. Indeed, having sat down she too will leave under 94(a) sequentially.

The member for Fremantle then left the chamber.

Coal seam & tight gas miner Metgasco Limited and community consultation

This is a snapshot from a Metgasco Limited 17 page ‘community consultation’ document dated March 2014:

So is this image a slice of the Berwyndale gasfield in Queensland and is it really a bucolic nivarna as suggested?

Berwyndale and the Undulla Nose gasfields are situated here:

The field configuration in the Metagasco snapshot does not match the Berwyndale South gasfield (left), but appears to be land sandwiched between that intensive gasfield and another to the north. Gas production on this land is apparently not yet fully developed and, the land itself may possible belong to the mining corporation holding the tenement.

Conclusion? 

By not precisely naming the gasfield and limiting the image in its community consultation document to a small number of paddocks, it looks suspiciously like an attempt by Metgasco to conceal the bigger picture in the Berwyndale area.

UPDATE

The 'community consultation' document also states that Metgasco has entered into:

More than 300 voluntary landholder agreements.

These 300 land holder agreements to date appear to cover less than 50 boreholes, 63 drill cores and only two gas sites (NSW Trade and Investment: Energy & Resource MinView) with one potential production well.

However, like its "suscessful co-existence" spin, all is not quite as the community is being told.

The Northern Star, 10 June 2014, Page 4:

When asked about the inconsistency between the claims, Metgasco CEO Peter Henderson said: "We have approximately 50 land access agreements for wells, the remainder are associated with seismic programs." 

Apparently Megasco believes that it is acceptable to fudge the facts during its alleged consultation process.

For those hoping to see Tony Abbott receive a vicarious boot between the legs - here's the Victorian State Election Virtual Tally Room link & apps for 29 November 2014

Follow the action at the official Victorian State Election Virtual Tally Room after 6pm on 29 November 2014 at: http://tallyroom.vic.gov.au/vtr/tallyroom.html

Victoria Votes Mnet Mobile apps for Android and iOS devices.

ABC online coverage at: www.abc.net.au/news/vic-election-2014/

ABC Radio 774 Melbourne at: http://www.abc.net.au/melbourne/ & follow the count on livestream after 6pm at http://www.abc.net.au/radio/player/beta/#live/local_melbourne

The Age newspaper online at: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/victoria-state-election-2014

Herald Sun newspaper online at: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria-state-election-2014/victorian-election-2014-live-coverage/story-fnqggr3j-1227138237845

ABC News 24 Victoria Votes 2014 from 6pm

Once around the park with Australia's political cartoonists

Cartoonists and subjects which were popular in mainstream and social media in November 2014.....

Quote of the Week

Black people are constantly divided, chained to an ideology and sacrificed by others in the pursuit of their idea of the greater good. I’ve worked in the interface between black and white for long enough to be exploited most often as the proof of life.

I am in the ubiquitous photos of participants rounded up to pose and confirm the community engagement objective of a workshop was met. I am the counterweight that provides balanced reportage to a site, once I have been edited and strategically placed. I am the polarizing link that provides the dark to their light. I am what sustains their precedence over my self determination.

Is it any wonder that it is so difficult to find an Indigenous person willing to express an opinion?

[Siv Parker, On Dusk, 22 November 2014]

George Brandis: I will decide who has a right to access my metadata and the manner in which they access it

Personal information contained in metadata is 'owned' by you if you just happen to be Australian Attorney-General George Brandis (left) or one of his political or personal acquaintances, but not if you are unfortunate enough to be Bazza Citizen…..

The Sydney Morning Herald 27 November 2014:

Attorney-General George Brandis wants your private phone and internet metadata to be accessible by law-enforcement agencies without a warrant but won't let you see his.

As the Abbott government moves to make it a requirement for internet and phone providers to store every Australian citizens' metadata for two years, Mr Brandis has refused to divulge the metadata of his mobile phone bill.

Instead, a redacted version not even showing the cost of his bill has been released. It shows his Telstra bill for July is 17 pages long - 13 pages longer than this author's bill for the same month.

According to Mr Brandis' chief of staff, the decision to entirely censor the bill was due to it containing "personal information about a number of individuals' telephone numbers", as well as the time and origin of calls, reports technology publication ZDNet.

"Disclosure of the personal information in the document is unreasonable," Mr Brandis' chief of staff Paul O'Sullivan said, adding that who the minister called was not relevant…..

Meanwhile, the author of this article is seeking his own metadata from Telstra.

Telstra is refusing to hand it over and the case is currently before the Privacy Commissioner, who is set to decide on the matter before the end of the year.

Snapshot from reply to FOI request for Brandis metadata dated 27 November 2014:

* Photograph from news.com.au, May 2014

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott's on again, off again, support for White Ribbon Day 2014

White Ribbon Day helps raise awareness and funds to stop men's violence against women in Australia.

This was Prime Minister and self-appointed Minister for Women Tony Abbott sporting the official white ribbon at one of the main Canberra events on 25 November 2014:

This was the Prime Minister a few hours later minus ribbon during Question Time:

Apparently, unlike many of his parliamentary colleagues, he did not consider it worth the effort to wear this ribbon for the day instead of just for a morning media opportunity.

Bill Shorten on the other hand was wearing his ribbon during the afternoon as this second screen shot shows: