Scott Morrison presents his political agenda as prayer

Even in public prayer Australian Prime Minister and Liberal MP for Cook Scott Morrison is an overbearing specimen - at 1:09 mins into this video he interrupted Planetshakers' minister Russell Evans & took back the microphone in order to keep centre stage and complete what was obviously on his political agenda for the day - the re-election of himself and his government at the forthcoming federal election.

https://youtu.be/GLWuMd0vzBc

Letter of the Week

Letter to the Editor published in The San Francisco Chronicle, 27 September 2018.

Quote of the Week

“Among those things, he said, was a "fair go for those who have a go in this country".

"I think that's what fairness means in this country. It's not about everybody getting the same thing," he said.

"If you put in, you get to take out. And you get to keep more."  

[Australian Prime Minister & Liberal MP for Cook Scott Morrison explaining why only affluent people matter in his version of Australian society, 9News, 6 September 2018]

Yet another Morrison Australia Day argument shot down

This is part of Prime Minister Scott Morrison's weak argument for not changing the
 current date of the national holiday known as Australia Day, which has been something of a movable feast since inception.

Newcastle Herald, 4 October 2018:

"You don't pretend your birthday was on a different day," Prime Minister Scott Morrison passionately reasoned with Sam Armytage on Sunrise last week.

9News, 25 September 2018:

"You can't pretend your birthday isn't your birthday," he said.

"We have a lot more to be proud about than not being proud about. It's a great day to celebrate Australia.

"Australia Day is Australia Day."

It was inevitable that he would be called out on this assertion.

In Qld, Queens Birthday is now in October, used to be in June, but it's actually in April.     Alex McDonnel‏ Oct 3

And what does he think those born on 29th Feb do each year? 

Jacqueline Kane‏  Oct 3

We pretend Jesus was born on 25 December. Hands Off Aunty‏  Oct 3

Morrison is a bit like me. My mouth works before my brain. But then I am not pretending to be prime minister like he is. Dude69‏  Oct 2

BACKGROUND

The Northern Star, 4 October 2018:

BYRON Shire Council's decision to change the date of their Australia Day event from January 26 to the evening before in 2019 has been praised by the National Congress of Australia's First Peoples (Congress).

The decision led to considerable criticism by some, and the Prime Minister Scott Morrison stripped council of its right to hold citizenship ceremonies altogether.

But the congress thanked Byron Shire Council "for its sensitivity toward the feelings by many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander citizens who are uncomfortable about the celebration of Australia Day on 26 January each year”.

The congress is the peak representative body for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and members include almost 9000 individuals and 180 organisations from around the country.

In a letter to council dated September 25 CEO Gary Oliver said the move was "an important milestone”.

"It is the local government level that is showing the most leadership on this issue and we urge you to hold firm despite the considerable criticism of your decision on this matter.

"For many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, Australia Day represents oppression and dispossession.....

Scientists, traditional owners & community call on NSW Premier Berejiklian to withdraw the Water NSW Amendment (Warragamba Dam) Bill 2018 from the NSW Parliament, and that plans to raise Warragamba Dam be taken off the table immediately

Water NSW Amendment Bill 2018 - Proposed Inundation of the Blue Mountains National Park by clarencegirl on Scribd

Let's talk about Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison's inability to face the truth about renewable energy

This was then Australian Treasurer Scott Morrison in late July 2017 on the subject of the Tesla battery planned to be used as part of the power grid in South Australia.

"By all means have the world's biggest battery, have the world's biggest banana, have the world's biggest prawn like we have on the roadside around the country...30,000 SA households could not get through watching one episode of Australia's Ninja Warrior with this big battery. So let's not pretend it is a solution."

Now when Morrison was mocking the South Australia government of the day he knew full well that the Tesla battery was never intended to supply energy in the same manner as a coal-fired power station – it was always intended to boost supply to keep energy flow from dropping below 49.2Hz and therefore minimise load shedding/brownout events. Media had discussed the issue in some detail.

Tesla boss Elon Musk built the battery facility within 100 days and the 100-megawatt lithium ion battery was switched on late last year to provide reserve capacity from renewable energy for the state’s electricity network.

According to the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) executive general manager of operations Damien Sanford; "Its ability to respond very, very quickly to the different types of conditions that we see on the power system has been very encouraging for us". 

He told ABC News in October 2018 that; AEMO's data shows that it can dispatch power far more rapidly and precisely than conventional thermal power stations and more swiftly and accurately than the market operator thought possible — while also pushing down prices.

"We've been pleasantly surprised and would encourage more of this technology into the grid," Mr Sanford said.

ABC News also reported that; In the first quarter of this year, the cost of FCAS [Frequency Control Ancillary Services] fell by nearly $33 million, or 57 per cent, according to AEMO — in large part because of the introduction of the Tesla big battery.

The Tesla battery proved it worth in September 2018 when South Australia was isolated from the main grid by a lightening strike explosion in another state but despite this situation Morrison's 30,000 televisions were unaffected.

Oi, Scott Morrison! Hands off, it's not your ABC

Kerry O’Brien takes us through ABC’s tumultuous week following revelations of political interference, and the importance of reporting without fear or favour. #TheProjectTV pic.twitter.com/XorAJdgrCi

— The Project (@theprojecttv) September 30, 2018

Next time a Liberal or Nationals minister ot backbencher starts to boast about how they are reducing national greenhouse gas emissions, look at this graph

It doesn't take a genuis level IQ to identify the point at which the Abbott and then Turnbull federal governments (with Scott Morrison as a cabinet minister in both) began to dismantle climate change policies.

Quarterly Update of Australia’s National Greenhouse Gas Inventory: March 2018 Incorporating emissions from the NEM up to June 2018 - Australia’s National Greenhouse Accounts, released September 2018. excerpt:

1. National emissions levels are inclusive of all sectors of the economy, including Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF)…..

The year to March 2018 annual change saw national greenhouse gas emissions rise by 1.3 per cent.

This Liberal politician thinks the national electorate is composed of gullible fools

Under Labor, the gender pay gap increased from 15.5% to 17.2%. Under our Government it has fallen to 14.5% and heading in right direction #Moretodo.

— Scott Morrison (@ScottMorrisonMP) September 22, 2018

What Australian Prime Minister and Liberal MP for Cook Scott Morrison is failing to point out in that tweet is that these statistics were released by the Workplace Gender Equality Agency. 

An Australian Government statutory agency created by the Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012 which is a piece of legislation passed during the period that Labor MP Julia Gillard was prime minister.

This Agency is charged with promoting and improving gender equality in Australian workplaces.

The reporting requirements under the Act apply to all non-public sector employers with 100 or more employees. Although smaller employers do not need to report, it is an explicit function of the Agency to provide education and advice to all employers – large and small.

Morrison failed to point out that the 14.5% he is bragging about is a national average, with most states having a lower gender pay gap percentage. Although women living in West Australia have to endure an eye watering 24.9% less in their pay packets than men.

He was also careful to ignore the fact that in November 2014 under an Abbott Coalition Government (in which Morrison was a cabinet minister) the national gender pay gap average was 18.5% - the highest it has ever been.

In addition Morrison neglects to mention that in Australia; The full-time total remuneration gender pay gap based on WGEA data is 22.4%, meaning men working full-time earn nearly $26,527 a year more than women working full-time.

However, what is unforgivable about Scott Morrison's tweet is that the Liberal Party objected to the bill which created the Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012 and Morrison himself tried to vote the bill down at 16:11 on 18 March 2012 according to Hansard.

Labor calls for Australian Communications Minister Mitch Fifield's resignation and points the finger at the Institute for Public Affairs

MEDIA RELEASE - FIFIELD NOT FIT MINISTER FOR OUR ABC - 28 SEPTEMBER 2018

Scott Morrison needs to act and move Senator Mitch Fifield out of the role of Minister for Communications, with Fifield’s fingerprints all over the political interference scandal at the ABC. Senator Mitch Fifield’s role as minister responsible for the ABC is untenable.

According to reports, Minister Fifield was present at the meeting with Malcolm Turnbull and Justin Milne which prompted the former ABC Chairman to ring former Managing Director Michelle Guthrie and demand the sacking of an ABC journalist.

Minister Fifield has not denied he was present at the meeting, which reportedly left the ABC Chair with the impression a journalist needed to be sacked in order for the ABC to receive government funding.

While Minister Fifield has released a statement denying involvement in staffing matters, it is apparent that Justin Milne was influenced by his meeting with Turnbull and Fifield.

It is the role of the Minister for Communications to act as custodian of the ABC, not as a conduit for Liberal Government interference.

Minister Fifield’s attendance at the meeting that left the ABC Chairman with the impression that an ABC journalist needed to be sacked cannot possibly be consistent with his role as Minister for Communications.

Yesterday Justin Milne resigned his role as ABC Chairman over this political interference scandal, and it is incumbent upon Senator Fifield to now do the same.

Mitch Fifield has a long record of attacking and undermining the ABC:

He is a card-carrying member of the Institute for Public Affairs (IPA) which advocates that the ABC be ‘broken up’ and privatised

He has made a private donation to the IPA, as revealed by answers to Questions on Notice

He addressed the Australian Adam Smith Club in October 2008 stating: “Conservatives have often floated the prospect of privatising the ABC and Australia Post. There is merit in such proposals.”

He was rebuked by former ABC Chairman Jim Spigelman in November 2016 for attempting to influence ABC internal staffing policies

He used the ABC as a bargaining chip in a deal with One Nation in August 2017

He is a serial complainant to the ABC on everything from the date of the Hottest 100 to the content of comedy sketches

He is behind the budget cuts, three bills and two inquiries that form part of the Liberal Government’s latest rounds of attacks on the ABC. 

The ABC doesn’t belong to the Liberals and Mitch Fifield – it belongs to the Australian public.

Fifield must resign or be removed from the role of Minister for Communications before he does any more damage to Australia’s national treasure, the ABC. [my yellow highlighting]

Abbott Booted Out Of Borroloola

IndigenousX, 27 September 2018:

Tony Abbott, the Special Envoy that nobody asked for and nobody wants, appears to have been unceremoniously booted from a school meeting in Borroloola NT, on his first trip to remote communities in his new role.

The community was angered by Abbott’s hypocrisy, cutting millions from community based services while he was the ‘Prime Minister for Indigenous Affairs’, and his vision for assimilation through education and punitive policies linking attendance rates to welfare payments.

Parents, Elders and school council members challenged Abbott over his comments that Aboriginal children should not only speak English first, but ‘think’ in English too, and attempts to force failed ‘direct instruction’ policies on the school.

Gadrian Hoosan, a parent and school council member told Abbott he ‘was not welcome in the community since intervention policies ripped out community funding leaving residents worse off, while denying much needed new housing and basic services.’

‘He looked like he couldn’t wait to get out of there when we all started bailing up on him. He picked the wrong community to try and bully. We have a strong school here and strong families. He’ll be having nightmares tonight. We told him we don’t want him as our envoy.”

Jack Green, an Elder and bilingual education advocate from Borroloola said,

“Tony Abbott says he wants Aboriginal culture and language out of our schools but we know these things are what keep our kids and our communities strong and healthy. Abbott doesn’t represent our community or Aboriginal people – he’s not our envoy!

As Elders and educators we know what is best for our children. Its time he stepped back, stood down and let us speak for ourselves.”

This is the latest criticism of PM Scott Morrison’s bewildering and insulting decision to make Tony Abbott a ‘Special Envoy to the PM on Indigenous Affairs’ rather than explore options to promote Indigenous self-determination, enter into a Treaty/Makarrata, push for an Indigenous voice to parliament, or instigate a Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

It appears the Australian Government's $487.6 million* grant to the Great Barrier Reef Foundation may end up paying for little more than ‘feel good’ greenwashing exercises

The Guardian, 26 September 2018:

Great Barrier Reef scientists were told they would need to make “trade-offs” to the Great Barrier Reef Foundation, including focusing on projects that would look good for the government and encourage more corporate donations, emails tabled in the Senate reveal.

The documents, including cabinet briefing notes, contain significant new details about the workings of the foundation and the government decision to award it a $443m grant, including:

The executives of mining, gas and chemicals companies – and international financial houses that actively back fossil-fuel projects – were among the guests at a six-star retreat hosted by the foundation less than a month after the grant was announced;

The media companies Foxtel and Fairfax and the tech giant Google are among a tightly held list of donors to the foundation;

The only CSIRO employee contacted about the grant before the announcement in April was in Patagonia, and did not get the email. Documents have previously revealed that the government’s peak science agency was cut out of the decision to award the grant;

In August, as scrutiny of the grant intensified, public servants pushed to block a long-planned meeting between the then science minister, Michaelia Cash, and the head of the foundation, Anna Marsden, because of concern about the “optics”.

Emails sent by staff at the Australian Institute of Marine Science outline how government expectations, the ability to leverage private donations and public perceptions “may drive the [foundation] to prioritise shorter-term research initiatives in order to demonstrate progress and return on investment”.

“Where it becomes challenging is that … interventions with the largest future benefit also take the longest to develop,” the institute’s executive director of strategic policy, David Mead, wrote in an email to colleagues. 

 “Among other trade-offs, we will need to determine to what degree we focus on quick wins or whether we progress longer-term strategic interventions and accept that we will only partially progress them during the next five years (perhaps with little outward visibility of success/progress).”

The emails also reveal an initial state of uncertainty about how a $100m allocation for reef restoration and adaptation would be handled.

Three weeks after the announcement about the money, Mead was trying to get answers about how the grant would be allocated.

“I followed up with the granting agreement, did not really get an answer other than they are working on it over the next month,” Mead wrote on 18 May. “So we will just have to watch this space.

“Once the thing is signed by GBRF we are going to need them to make some definitive statements one way or the other, as everyone is wondering and I don’t want the team to destruct … ”

Emails between staff at the industry, innovation and science department reveal discussion about the “optics” of a long-planned meeting between Cash, Marsden and the chief executive of institute, Paul Hardisty.

Note

* The total Great Barrier Reef Foundation grant was for $487,633,300.

A tale of NSW Liberal politicians & a printing company with no commercial printer

BuzzFeed, 25 September 2018:

In a perfectly manicured cul-de-sac in Bella Vista, a suburb in the Hills district northwest of Sydney’s CBD, a business called Zion Graphics operates out of a mansion.

Run by Rudy Limantono, the president of the Bella Vista Liberal branch and also a party donor, Zion Graphics is the printer of choice for the local federal member of parliament, Alex Hawke…..

Hawke, 41, was recently promoted to the ministry after the latest Liberal leadership spill that saw Morrison take the top job. Hawke is now the special minister of state, responsible for integrity and parliamentarians’ spending, and is Morrison’s representative on the NSW Liberal state executive.

Hawke uses Zion Graphics to print his newsletters, flyers, community surveys, and more…..

Limantono also would not disclose the amount of business Hawke has sent him, claiming “commercial in confidence”. He said that he has been Hawke’s go-to printer “since his election” but would not specify how many years. Hawke was first elected to federal parliament in 2007.

Zion Graphics has no website or Facebook page. The phone number connected to the business is registered at the Limantonos’ family home.

And BuzzFeed News understands the company doesn’t actually own a commercial printer…..

Hills Banners (which recently merged with Bannerworld in Winston Hills) confirmed to BuzzFeed News that it has been printing material for Zion Graphics for at least the last two years.

Hills Banners said it received electronic files (PDFs) from Zion Graphics and would print tens of thousands of copies. Depending on the size of the order, it would take four to seven working days to complete the job.

NSW Liberal sources say that Zion Graphics charges clients a premium rate, then contracts out the actual printing to Hills Banners, which charges much less for the same service, leaving Zion Graphics with a tidy profit.

Limantono did not deny this, but told BuzzFeed News there was no “impropriety”….

BuzzFeed News asked Zion Graphics how much it would cost to print 30,000 newsletters and received a quote for $7,150 + GST. Hills Banners said it would charge $4,000 + GST for the same job.

BuzzFeed, 26 September 2018:

Hawke isn’t the only Liberal politician that uses Zion Graphics. Limantono refused to reveal who his clients were, claiming "commercial in confidence".

But BuzzFeed News has found at least eight other Liberal politicians who have given hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayer funded business to Limantono.

Federal families and social services minister Paul Fletcher; federal backbencher Julian Leeser; NSW treasurer Dominic Perrottet; NSW minister for mental health, women and ageing Tanya Davies; NSW minister for Western Sydney Stuart Ayres; NSW minister for innovation and better regulation Matt Kean; NSW member for Seven Hills Mark Taylor; and NSW member for Baulkham Hills David Elliott use Zion Graphics to print documents including newsletters, flyers and community surveys.

Adani Group has Morrison, Price, Littleproud & Taylor wrapped around its little finger

Since September 2013 the Australian Liberal-Nationals Coalition Government has been a rolling national disaster.

This latest episode appears to have its roots in the hard right's commitment to dismantle environmental protections.

Especially replacing Labor's "water trigger" amendment to the ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION AND BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION ACT 1999 with a band-aid which fooled no-one.

ABC News, 25 September 2018:

A farmer has been denied access to a river system Adani plans on drawing 12.5 billion litres of water from in what activists are calling a "double standard", documents obtained under freedom of information laws show.

The mining giant plans to take 12.5 billion litres of water from the Suttor River every year, nearly as much as all local farmers combined.

Despite this amount, the documents show at least one irrigator had their application for a water licence rejected in 2011, leading activists to claim farmers were assessed more harshly than Adani.

The documents also show the modelling used by the company to predict the impacts of the water usage ignored the past 14 years of rainfall data and, despite planning to take water until 2077, it did not take into account the impacts of climate change.

The revelations came a week after the Federal Government decided to assess the environmental impacts of Adani's water take without a full environmental impact statement.

"Altogether, this underscores how poor the decision was last week to allow 12.5 billion litres to be taken without assessment," Carmel Flint from anti-mining group Lock The Gate Alliance said. The group obtained the documents under Queensland's Right To Information laws.....

Quotes of the Week

“There are some people who seem to find it a very funny circumstance that last week, in full daylight, and in a main street of Cooktown, two black troopers, with their clothes in the same condition as those of a clumsy butcher’s apprentice, fresh from the shambles, exhibited a naked black girl, not twelve years old, as their newly caught prize. This young slave, taken by force . . . has since been transferred, either for payment or as a gift, to a citizen in this town, whose property she has now become. What were the circumstances that attended, or immediately followed, her capture we do not know, nor do we very much care to inquire ...”  [ Journalist & author Carl Feilberg writing in the Cooktown Courier in January 1877 ]


“Adding a new level of fear and uncertainty onto that with the findings coming out of a royal commission is going to harm the community as well as the industry,”  [CEO Clarence Village Ltd Duncan McKimm acting as an apologist for the aged care industry in The Daily Examiner ahead of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety]

Tweet of the Week

The absurdity of the appointment of Mr. Abbott to the role of 'envoy' on Indigenous affairs demonstrates the Government's lack of respect for First Nations.
As one of my good friends, an old West Australian man told me:
'We don't need an envoy. We need an Abbott Proof Fence.' pic.twitter.com/sMEi8AocMR

— Patrick Dodson (@SenatorDodson) September 20, 2018

Fran Kelly asked if he supports the #Uluru Statement.
SM: "Yeah, I don't support a third chamber."
FK:"It's not a third chamber, its a representative body."
SM:"But it is though."
FK: "No, it's not."
SM: "Two chambers is enough."
FK: "It's not a chamber of parliament."

— Calla Wahlquist (@callapilla) September 25, 2018

Two Boats: Australian Prime Minister caught out by media

News.com.au, 20 September 2018:

Mr Morrison was the immigration minister who enforced the controversial policy to stop asylum seeker boats reaching Australia.

The Prime Minister addressed the trophy in an interview with the Nine Network on Thursday.

“It was given to me by a mate down in the Shire who runs a sign business. He loved the fact that we did that,” Mr Morrison said.

“It has been sitting in my office, by the way, for about five years. I don’t think that there is anything terribly new about it.”

The Guardian, 22 September 2018:

Scott Morrison gave a model of an asylum-seeker boat emblazoned with the words “We stopped these” to Roman Quaedvlieg as a thank-you gift for his work on the Coalition’s border protection policy, Quaedvlieg has said….

Morrison said his model had been with him for about four years but he did not mention that he had also given out others as gifts….

It’s understood other [boat] trophies were also handed out.

Americans now spending time imagining their president's genitalia

Yet another book about US President Donald J. Trump has hit the bookstores.

This one includes a desciption of Trump's genitalia - unusual... smaller than average with a huge mushroom head... like a toadstool... like the mushroom character ... surrouded by "yeti pubes".

The US media kindly supplied various images of "Red Toad" to help with the imagining.....

Red Toad

Who was it that told ABC Chairman Justin Milne that the public broadcaster would be denied funding if it didn’t remove journalists that federal government ministers wanted silenced?

On 24 September 2018 the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) board announced the sacking of Managing Director Michelle Guthrie, stating “it was not in the best interests of the ABC for Ms Guthrie to continue to lead the organisation”.

By 27 September the facts began this statement had emerged. 

These showed political appointee to the ABC board chairmanship, Justin Milne, in a less than attractive light.

Having now been caught out acting as a heavy-handed surrogate for the Liberal-Nationals Federal Government, this very same government is reportedly now pressuring Milne to resign ahead of the 20 October Wentworth by-election to save it further embarrassing revelations.

This is how the matter is playing out in the media…….

9 News, 26 September 2018:

Political pressure is mounting on the ABC chair Justin Milne after revelations he ordered sacked managing director Michelle Guthrie to get rid of a senior presenter because the Turnbull Government "hates her".

The instruction to sack Emma Alberici came in an email from Mr Milne to Ms Guthrie in May, Fairfax Media reported. 

"They [the government] hate her," Mr Milne wrote. "We are tarred with her brush. I think it's simple. Get rid of her. We need to save the ABC - not Emma. There is no guarantee they [the coalition] will lose the next election."

The comments were circulated to members of the ABC board a week before Ms Guthrie was sacked on Monday.

Malcolm Turnbull sent a list of concerns to ABC news director Gaven Morris about Ms Alberici's coverage of the government in May.

The Guardian, 26 September 2018:

The ABC chairman, Justin Milne, vehemently opposed moving the Hottest 100 away from Australia Day and tried to convince the ABC board to reverse the Triple J decision, saying “Malcolm [Turnbull] will go ballistic”, Guardian Australia has been told.

Multiple sources have said that the former managing director Michelle Guthrie supported the Triple J decision, which was taken after a year’s consultation, and convinced the board not to bow to pressure from the government.

There was huge pressure on the ABC because the communications minister, Mitch Fifield, had asked the ABC board to reconsider the decision to move the Triple J Hottest 100 from Australia Day because it was “making a political statement” by taking an action that would “help to delegitimise Australia Day”.

Milne was also opposed to Guthrie’s handling of the ABC’s Tonightly sketch in which they used the word “cunt” when highlighting the racist past of the grazier John Batman.

In a skit aired in March, a candidate for Cory Bernardi’s Australian Conservatives party, Kevin Bailey, was lampooned about the name of the electorate of Batman.

Milne was furious and adamant that Tonightly presenter Tom Ballard should immediately apologise for the sketch on the program, but Guthrie insisted that the ABC’s internal complaints process run its due course.

The ABC’s internal complaints unit and the Australian Communications and Media Authority cleared the Tonightly sketch.

“Michelle was always saying we should back our artists and staff but Justin was always interfering and saying this will annoy the government,” a source close to the board said.

“Michelle stood up to Milne when he tried to interfere with management decisions. He believe Emma Alberici should be sacked and the top 100 should not be moved.”

Financial Review, 26 September 2018:

ABC chairman Justin Milne asked former managing director Michelle Guthrie to take action against two ABC journalists, political reporter Andrew Probyn and radio broadcaster Jon Faine, who had upset the government, according to a source familiar with the conversations.

The complaints about the two high-profile journalists were made verbally, and followed Mr Faine's clashes with a government minister and coverage that upset the Coalition by Mr Probyn, the source said.

The Guardian, 26 September 2018:

Another source said: “He [Milne] would intervene by contacting an executive and, not long after, a formal complaint would come in from minister’s office.

“He also referred to former ABC managing director Michelle Guthrie as ‘the missus’.”

The New Daily, 26 September 2018:

The Scott Morrison government and the ABC board are moving to pressure ABC chairman Justin Milne to resign as soon as possible.

Mr Milne has refused to budge after a leaked email has been widely viewed as direct evidence of a breach of his director duties under the ABC Act.

But overnight there was another leak to The Daily Telegraph – an ABC board document in which sacked managing director Michelle Guthrie alleges Mr Milne ordered her to fire political editor Andrew Probyn. “You have to shoot him”, The Telegraph reported the document as saying, because former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull “hated” Mr Probyn. The exchange was said to have occurred in a telephone conversation on June 15.

“He told me I was putting the future of the ABC at risk as we are asking the government for half a billion dollars for Jetstream and we won’t get it unless I do what I’m told,” The Telegraph reported the leaked Guthrie document said.

The Sydney Morning Herald, 27 September 2018:

Turnbull, a former journalist who knows how errors of fact or judgment can infect a journalist's copy, might have tried negotiating directly with Alberici before reaching for the official complaints switch, and he might have respected the ABC's actions to correct matters of fact after the ABC's independent complaints review department had investigated.

Instead, by exerting his clout at high levels within the broadcaster, it appeared to anyone who cared to look that the old business of serially intimidating the ABC, which relies on government funding, had reached peak velocity.

In turn, Milne, a former business partner of Turnbull and thus requiring considerable steadiness to prevent being accused of bearing a conflict, lost all sense of proportion at the sound of shot.

No cool-headed chairmanship here: apparently infected by hysteria, he waved his own sword. "Get rid of her. We need to save the ABC - not Emma."

No-one has yet answered the burning question; Who was it that told Justin Milne that the ABC would be denied funding if it didn’t remove journalists that Liberal-Nationals federal government ministers wanted silenced?