Gawd help us! This is a National Party federal MP?

http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/barnaby-joyce-vows-lnp-maverick-george-christensen-will-become-a-cabinet-minister-20161130-gt12kw.html

George Robert Christensen, Nationals MP for Dawson (Qld), 38 year old, unmarried former local government councillor who entered federal parliament in 2010. Nationals Party Whip since 17 October 2013.

Well-known for uttering homophobic, islamophobic, anti-environmental protection and climate change denial statements. Can confidently be filed by thinking voters under 'right wing nut job - possibly politically dangerous'.

Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) final decision on the proposed sale of APN News & Media regional newspapers to News Corp due on 8 December 2016

The proposed date for announcement of the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) final decision on the proposed sale of APN News & Media regional newspapers to News Corp is 8 December 2016.

Consideration of the sale is occurring against this backdrop………

Financial Review, 8 November 2016:

News Corporation will rip $40 million in costs out of its Australian publishing arm in 2016-17, some of which will come from job cuts, as the Rupert Murdoch-controlled company deals with falling advertising revenue and a shift to digital.

Advertising revenue at News Corp Australia fell 11 per cent in local currency in the first quarter, which was relatively similar to the same period last year, News Corp chief financial officer Bedi Singh told investors on Tuesday morning during the company's financial results call.

Circulation revenue increased on a local and reported currency basis. News Corp reports in US dollars.

"While we continue to benefit from the cost-reduction program that News Australia announced in the second half of fiscal 2016, which totalled around 5 per cent of the cost base, we are now embarking on further cost initiatives," Mr Singh said.

"We expect an additional Australian dollar $40 million in cost savings this fiscal year while we continue to push digital initiatives more broadly."

It is understood that these costs will come across the local business and will include redundancies. News Corp's Australian publications include The Australian, The Daily Telegraph and The Herald Sun. News Corp shares finished Tuesday 1.3 per cent higher at $16.11 in local trade.

It comes as News Corp has begun offering redundancies at The Wall Street Journal and is planning for $US100 million ($130 million) in annual savings by the end of 2017-18.

Proprint, 24 November 2016:

Less than two weeks after it announced a company-wide cost slashing strategy, News Corp Australia has started canvassing the idea of voluntary redundancies to its staff, encouraging those interested to put their hands up before its redundancy programme begins.

Industry union Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) says it is aware News Corp management had begun gauging staff interest in redundancies.

The inevitable job cuts are a by-product of News Corp’s slowing advertising revenue, which forced the publishing giant to push its $40m cost saving strategy to staff.

In a response to News Corp’s redundancy agenda, the MEAA says it has rallied behind affected editorial staff, and had previously made an effort to ensure forced redundancies are not on the cards.

“MEAA has called on News Corp Australia to confirm that there will be no forced redundancies as part of its latest round of cost savings measures. It is particularly frustrating that the announcement of the redundancies came within hours of voting opening for a new enterprise bargaining agreement negotiated between News Corp and MEAA members over many months – with the company’s management never once indicating that further job losses and cost savings measures were imminent,” the MEAA states.

The Australian, 12 September 2016:

News Corp’s planned acquisition of APN News & Media’s Aust­ralian Regional Media newspaper business will result in up to 300 job losses as back office synergies are sought to secure the future of ­quality journalism in the affected ­regions.

The cuts are expected to be implemented over an initial phase, provided the deal is approved by shareholders and the competition watchdog, and a subsequent round of cost cuts once News Corp has had more time to assess the ARM operations across regional Queensland and northern NSW.

However, there are no plans to shut ARM titles, which ­include The Gympie Times, The Chronicle in Toowoomba and the Ballina Shire Advocate, provided they remain profitable…..

ARM recorded a 42 per cent drop in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation to $3.4m for the six months ended June 30, on revenues of $89m, which were down by 6 per cent.

APN announced its ARM sale plans in February as part of its ­efforts to focus its business on the more lucrative radio and outdoor advertising sectors.

News Corp should benefit from picking up extra printing plants. It distributes The Australian and The Courier-Mail throughout Queensland from presses in Brisbane and Townsville. The acquisition included presses in Yandina, Warwick and Rockhampton, which will cut the distribution costs, although APN closed a printing plant in Toowoomba last year.

The ARM newspapers were ­divested by News Corp as part of its acquisition of The Herald & Weekly Times group in 1987.

Prime Minister 'Truffles' Turnbull polls zero

Malcolm Turnbull faces a perilous final parliamentary week as voters turn against his leadership, key legislation teeters against Senate manoeuvring, and an emboldened Tony Abbott openly criticises the government while virtually demanding a ministry, according to The Canberra Times on 2 November 2016.

The article went on to say:

The poll showed the government lagging behind the Labor opposition at 49 per cent to 51.

Formerly the Coalition's greatest asset, Mr Turnbull's falling personal standing appears to be leading the broader decline, dropping 8 percentage points since June and a colossal 53 percentage points over the last year.

An equal percentage of voters now either approves or disapproves of the way Mr Turnbull is doing his job, giving him a net approval rating of zero.

Worse still, Mr Turnbull has slipped sharply on a range of important leadership characteristics while his opponent, Bill Shorten, has made some improvements.

The latest Fairfax-Ipsos survey appears to bear this gloom out:

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/fairfaxipsos-poll-these-numbers-reveal-an-underwhelmed-and-disengaged-electorate-20161127-gsykz6.htm

One has to suspect that by now Malcolm Turnbull is experiencing a sensation akin to a sharp pain between his shoulder blades every time he turns his back on the right-wing hardliners in his ministry.

Most Australians don't believe that they live in a classless society

Essential Research, 29 November 2016:

An Australian Tale In Seven Tweets

From the keyboard of Blue Mountains resident @R_Chirgwin:

Scene: Katoomba Station, crowded with tourists. A skinny busker is singing “When the Droving’s Done” in an Irish lilt.

Enter: Nazi Skinhead.

Nazi Skinhead: [Spits on Asian tourist]

Busker: [Interrupting song] [In Irish accent] “Oi. You! Don’t bring that shit onto our patch!”

Backbacker: [Upbraids Skinhead for some minutes]

Crowd: Applause

Skinhead: [Raises fist}

Backpacker: [Raises guitar]

Backpacker: [Guitar raised] “You got more fookin’ reach than this, matey?”

Skinhead: “I’ll be back tomorrow!”

Backpacker: “Fookin’ go ahead”

Backpacker: “Cause even on a Monday, there’ll be more of us than there is of fookin’ you. And I see you spit again, ya fookin’ DONE.”

And the tourists and the locals gathered around the Asian who got spit on, and everybody crowded the skinhead so he missed the train.

And the backpacker remembered what bit of an awful song he’d quit at, and took up “Till the Droving’s Done” like no damn thing happened.

Plea from Standing Rock Sioux Tribes falling on deaf ears?

For months now the Dakota and Lakota people and their supporters have been resisting the establishment of an oil pipeline across their ancestral lands in North Dakota.

Thus far the courts have offered no relief and the U.S. Government is showing no desire to require that the pipeline path be altered. 

If you live in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, Australia, reflect on how lucky you are that that traditional owners, retirees, families, farmers, graziers, business people and the communities in which they live all came together and successfully fought off the threat to water security and the environment that coal seam gas mining represented. 

Those proposed gas field were also supposed to have a long pipeline.

Now look in your wallet and see if there are a few dollars to spare and consider donating at http://standwithstandingrock.net/.

"The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe is a federally recognized tribe of American Indians.  81 Federal Register 26826, 26830 (May 4, 2016)." 

#NoDAPL

Excerpt from letter:

"Our Tribe is deeply disappointed in this decision by the United States, but our resolve to protect our water is stronger than ever. The best way to protect people during the winter, and reduce the risk of conflict between water protectors and militarized police, is to deny the easement for the Oahe crossing, and deny it now.

We ask that everyone who can appeal to President Obama and the Army Corps of Engineers to consider the future of our people and rescind all permits, and deny the easement to cross the Missouri River just north of our Reservation and straight through our treaty lands. When the Dakota Access Pipeline chose this route, they did not consider our strong opposition. Our concerns were clearly articulated directly to them in a tribal council meeting held on Sept. 30, 2014, where DAPL and the ND Public Service Commission came to us with this route. We have released the audio recording from that meeting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XARJFdyyfac

Again, we ask that the United States stop the pipeline and move it outside our ancestral and treaty lands.

It is both unfortunate and disrespectful that this announcement comes the day after this country celebrates Thanksgiving—a historic exchange of goodwill between Native Americans and the first immigrants from Europe. Although the news is saddening, it is not at all surprising given the last 500 years of the mistreatment of our people. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe stands united with more than 300 tribal nations and the water protectors who are here peacefully protesting the Dakota access pipeline to bolster indigenous people’s rights. We continue to fight for these rights, which continue to be eroded. Although we have suffered much, we still have hope that the President will act on his commitment to close the chapter of broken promises to our people and especially our children.”

https://www.governor.nd.gov/files/executive-order/Executive%20Order%202016-08.pdf

Plea for assistance sent on behalf of three Sioux tribes to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, 2 December 2016:

Standing Rock, Cheyenne River & Yankton Sioux Tribes - Request for Precautionary Measures - FINAL Dec 02, 2... by clarencegirl on Scribd

If anyone living in the Northern Rivers region would like to show support for the people at Standing Rock they may send a message to U.S. President Barack Obama on the White House website at https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact.

Background

Standing Rock has 2.3 million acres and the fourth largest land base tribe in the United States and the second Indian Nation to be in two states, both North Dakota and South Dakota.....

The people of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Nation are often called Sioux. They are the members of the Dakota and Lakota Nations. “Dakota” and “Lakota” mean “friend” or “allies”. The term “Sioux”, dates back to the seventeenth century when some of the Dakota people were living in the Great Lakes area. The Ojibwa or Annishinaabe called the Lakota and Dakota “Nadouwesou” meaning “adders” or “little snakes”. This term was then shortened and corrupted by French traders, resulted in retention of the last syllable as “Sioux.”

The Dakota and Nakota people of Standing Rock include the Upper Yanktonai (in their language called Ihanktonwana, which translates to “little end villages”) and Yanktonai from the Cut Head Band. The Cut Heads, whose name is literally translated, get their title from the fact that when they withdrew from the Yanktonais, there was a row over secession and a fight. Their leader sustained a scalp wound and the name Cut Head was given. The Yankton and Yanktonais are called the Wiceyala or Middle Sioux. When the Middle Sioux moved onto the prairie, they had contact with the semisedentary riverine tribes such as the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara. Eventually the Yanktonai displaced these tribes and forced them upstream. However, periodically the Yanktonai did engage in trade with these tribes and eventually some bands adopted the earth lodge, bullboats and horticultural techniques of these people, though buffalo remained their primary food sources. The Yanktonai also maintained aspects of their former Woodland lifestyle. Today Yanktonai people of Standing Rock live primarily in communities on the North Dakota portion of the reservation.

The Lakota, as the largest division of the nation, are subdivided into the Oceti Sakowin or Seven Council Fires. The Lakota people of the Standing Rock Reservation included two of these subdivisions, the Hunkpapa, means “campers at the Horn” and Sihasapa or “Blackfeet,” not to be confused with the Algonquian Blackfeet of Montana and Canada, which are an entirely different group. The Hunkpapas get their name from their hereditary right of pitching their tepees at the outer edge of the village as defenders of the camp. The Sihasapa name comes from walking across a burned prairie after an unsuccessful expedition and their feet blackened, thus they were called the Blackfeet. The Lakota Hunkpapas and Sihasapa are the northern plains people and practically divested themselves of all woodland traits of their Dakota ancestors. The culture revolved around the horse and buffalo; the people were nomadic and lived in hide tepees year round. Their Hunkpapas and Sihasapa ranged in the area between the Cheyenne River and Heart Rivers to the south and north and between the Missouri River on the east and Tongue River to the west.

UPDATE

RT Question More, 4 December 2016:

The US Army Corps of Engineers will not grant permission for the Dakota Access Pipeline to cross Lake Oahe, the hotspot of massive protests of water protectors, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe said in a statement, adding that alternative routes are now being studied.

"The Department of the Army will not approve an easement that would allow the proposed Dakota Access Pipeline to cross under Lake Oahe in North Dakota," said a statement on the US Army website, citing the Assistant Secretary for Civil Works, Jo-Ellen Darcy.

U.S. Army statement, 4 December 2016:

The Department of the Army will not approve an easement that would allow the proposed Dakota Access Pipeline to cross under Lake Oahe in North Dakota, the Army's Assistant Secretary for Civil Works announced today.
Jo-Ellen Darcy said she based her decision on a need to explore alternate routes for the Dakota Access Pipeline crossing. Her office had announced on November 14, 2016 that it was delaying the decision on the easement to allow for discussions with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, whose reservation lies 0.5 miles south of the proposed crossing. Tribal officials have expressed repeated concerns over the risk that a pipeline rupture or spill could pose to its water supply and treaty rights.
"Although we have had continuing discussion and exchanges of new information with the Standing Rock Sioux and Dakota Access, it's clear that there's more work to do," Darcy said. "The best way to complete that work responsibly and expeditiously is to explore alternate routes for the pipeline crossing." 
Darcy said that the consideration of alternative routes would be best accomplished through an Environmental Impact Statement with full public input and analysis.
The Dakota Access Pipeline is an approximately 1,172 mile pipeline that would connect the Bakken and Three Forks oil production areas in North Dakota to an existing crude oil terminal near Pakota, Illinois. The pipeline is 30 inches in diameter and is projected to transport approximately 470,000 barrels of oil per day, with a capacity as high as 570,000 barrels. The current proposed pipeline route would cross Lake Oahe, an Army Corps of Engineers project on the Missouri River.