Thursday 8 December 2011
Japan the Unspeakable
Jaw dropping stupidity caught in one short quote
“As far as the Clarence Valley is concerned, I haven't, as yet, noticed conflict between population growth and the environment.” {Letter writer in The Daily Examiner on 5th December 2011}
Wednesday 7 December 2011
Member for Clarence: take your pick, 'Steve' Gulaptis or 'Chris' Cansdell
It seems there's a good deal of confusion in the electorate of Clarence as to who the current Local Member is and who might be pulling the Member's strings.
Valley Watch calls for a NSW Royal Commission into Coal Seam Gas Mining
Valley Watch, a Clarence valley community organisation, has launched a petition requesting the NSW Parliament to:
The wording of the petition is:
In 1960 the Menzies Government decided to inflict Master Anthony John Abbott on the nation
Father
At sixteen years of age Richard Henry Abbott, (Ernest Henry Abbott- father and Jane Elizabeth Abbott née Keir - mother) arrived in Sydney, Australia on 17th January 1940 aboard the passenger ship Ulysses accompanied by his mother, four months after Britain declared war on Germany.
{http://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/Scripts/PassengerReport.asp}
Richard's father Ernest, an English maritime engineer, appears to have been in Australia when war was declared and arranged for the family to reside in the vicinity of Newcastle port in New South Wales. {http://nbhsoba.net/images/Registers/!%20Register%20Index%20Complete%20140121.xlsx}
As required by British law as a British citizen/subject Richard was called up in 1942.
ABBOTT RICHARD HENRY : Service Number - 422371 : Date of birth - 06 Jan 1924 : Place of birth - NEWCASTLE-ON-TYNE ENGLAND : Place of enlistment - SYDNEY : Next of Kin - ABBOTT ERNEST {http://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/DetailsReports/ItemDetail.aspx?Barcode=5389535}
Richard Abbott the former Newcastle-on-Tyne labourer, now a qualified dentist, returns to the U.K. with his mother Jane on 16th April 1954 aboard P&O Strathnaver. Intending to reside at Park West, Marble Arch W1 {http://www.movinghere.org.uk/search/catalogue.asp?RecordID=50142}
Mother
Fay Peters
“ mother was born in Australia but gained British citizenship when she emigrated to the UK to marry old Richard Henry Abbott.” {http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/national/national/general/qantas-chief-vows-to-stay/2342620.aspx?storypage=0}
On 5th November 1955 Fay Peters arrived in England at Tilbury aboard the the P&0 liner Himalaya, stating an intention to visit in the U.K. for 18 months. She gave her U.K. address at the time as Crosby Hall, Cheyne Walk, Chelsea.
Parents marry in England
On 12th January 1957 in the district Westminster in the county of London Fay Peters wed Richard H. Abbott.
Family arrives in Australia in 1960 after paying the princely sum of twenty pounds to emigrate from 5 Castlebar Road London to Australia
“ABBOTT Richard Henry born 6 January 1924; Fay (nee Peters) born 23 May 1933; Anthony John born 4 November 1957; Jane Elizabeth born 25 January 1959; travelled per ORONSAY departing Tilbury on 7 September 1960 under the Assisted Passage Migration Scheme” Intending to live with wife’s parents at Bronte, NSW. {http://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/DetailsReports/ItemDetail.aspx?Barcode=7328488}
Tony’s progress
“Abbott is the only son of Richard and Fay Abbott, of Killara on Sydney's upper North Shore. His father has one of the largest orthodontist practices in Australia and Tony Abbott was born into the privileged world of secondary education at St Ignatius College, Riverview, one of only eight Sydney GPS schools.” {Sydney Morning Herald 27th March 1994}
Although by now an adult, Tony Abbott did not attend any interview with the Dept. Immigration and Ethnic Affairs concerning this citizenship application according to an internal memo signed by a migration officer and held in the National Archives of Australia.
Oxford academic record
{http://junkee.com/oh-this-old-thing-just-tony-abbotts-1983-academic-transcript-from-oxford-university/24136/transcript3}
When Tony Abbott was twelve years old his parents set up a company, EATONWEST PTY LTD, which acted as trustee for a family trust in which he may have been a beneficiary. The company was deregistered in 2004.
{http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;db=CHAMBER;id=chamber%2Fhansardr%2F1995-03-30%2F0020;query=Id%3A%22chamber%2Fhansardr%2F1995-03-30%2F0025%22}
{https://www.gov.uk/check-british-citizen}
No person holding dual citizenship can lawfully be a senator or member of the Australian Parliament.{http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/coaca430/}
In March 2014 a Mr. Tony Magrathea entered into correspondence with Oxford University concerning the possibility that Abbott held dual citizenship.
{http://tonymagrathea.blog.com/2014/06/21/tony-abbott/}
The Sun Herald expanded on this news item with “An online petition with more than 5400 signatories has called on Mr Abbott, who was born in London to a British father, to produce his British citizenship renunciation form. A spokesman for Mr Abbott last night would say only: “The Prime Minister is an Australian citizen and he does not hold citizenship of any other country.”
Political career
A broad consensus emerged in the Australian media in relation to Abbott's term in office, which is encapsulated in this 19th September 2015 quote:
“I think that it’s very important that we empower people to reject this kind of rampant sensuality.” {http://thedawnchorus.wordpress.com/2010/08/05/reasons-to-not-vote-for-tony/}
"I find it difficult enough staying faithful to the one woman for the rest of my life"
{http://francesjones.wordpress.com/2013/06/22/the-faceless-men-of-the-liberal-party/}
Tony Abbott the politician with his parents
# This post is updated whenever further information is found
Tuesday 6 December 2011
'Steve' Gulaptis, please stand up
'Steve' Gulaptis MP gets a chance to prove how effective his representation is for Clarence
Opposition Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey exposed
The ruling is an embarrassment to the Coalition which claimed during the campaign the costing was “as good as you could get anywhere in the country, including in Treasury." In recent months it has threatened to use private accountants once again.
Geoffrey Phillip Kid and Cyrus Patell, both of the Perth office of WHK Horwath produced a one-page report for the Coalition two days before the election which Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey tendered as an audit, saying the pair had certified “in law that our numbers are accurate".
“If the fifth-biggest accounting firm in Australia signs off on our numbers it is a brave person to start saying there are accounting tricks,” he told ABC radio. “I tell you it is audited. This is an audited statement.’’
In fact the document was the result of a carefully-worded agreement between the accountants and the Coalition to produce work primarily "not of an audit nature".
An audit would examine the assumptions used by the Coalition and whether they were reasonable.
Kidd and Patell’s unpublished agreement with the Coalition explicity required them to make no inquires about “the reasonableness of otherwise of the assumptions used"...
A professional conduct tribunal established by the Institute of Chartered Accountants ruled in July that Kidd and Patel were liable to face disciplinary action because their one-page report failed to contain “a statement that the procedures performed do not constitute either an audit or a review” and so failed to properly describe the limited nature of the agreed upon procedures…
Something to ponder about the 2011-12 Federal Budget
Monday 5 December 2011
A few barefaced political untruths in November-December 2011
"...controlled burns, despite these problems over the recent couple of weeks, [are] absolutely essential." WA Premier Colin Barnett in ABC News, 4 December 2011
The US said it was committed to making a success of the UN climate talks currently taking place in South Africa. BBC News, 3 December 2011
Christopher Pyne insisted there was a sacred and immutable Westminster principle that a Speaker must come from the government party... The Canberra Times, 27 November 2011
the police gave the same holding statement that has been issued for the past six weeks about ''investigations [into disgraced former Clarence MP Steve Cansdell are] ongoing''. The Age, 13 November 2011
Church parties accept their responsibility when victims of abuse seek damages through legal proceedings and when liability or potential liability is clear. Cardinal George Pell in The Australian, 4 November 2011
From Obama to McWho? Where punters are putting their money in the lead up to the 2012 U.S. Presidential Election
It only takes a casual glance at the U.S. media to know that, aside from the incumbent president, guesses as to who else will contest next year's race for the White House are somewhat unrealistic and all over the place.
Here's where the average punter is laying win-only money (market depth) at Betfair according to OddsChecker:
2012 Presidential Election - Next President | ||||
1.89 $36 | 1.9 $1359 | 1.91 $106 | ||
4.3 $223 | 4.4 $19 | 4.5 $4 | ||
5.6 $30 | 5.7 $79 | 5.8 $3 | ||
28 $4 | 30 $95 | 32 $18 | ||
60 $3 | 65 $9 | 95 $5 | ||
60 $12 | 100 $27 | 130 $18 | ||
34 $5 | 40 $5 | 60 $9 | ||
3.75 $15 | 24 $6 | 38 $13 | ||
25 $3 | 38 $12 | 50 $20 | ||
250 $3 | 300 $4 | 320 $6 | ||
380 $3 | 390 $4 | 400 $3 | ||
100 $66 | 200 $7 | 1000 $32 | ||
380 $3 | 490 $3 | 500 $5 | ||
400 $10 | 410 $4 | 500 $5 | ||
420 $3 | 520 $10 | 550 $11 | ||
300 $6 | 360 $7 | 430 $3 | ||
840 $3 | 990 $3 | 1000 $14 | ||
590 $3 | 650 $3 | 770 $3 | ||
250 $3 | 500 $3 | 1000 $58 | ||
130 $3 | 250 $3 | 1000 $41 | ||
920 $3 | 980 $3 | 1000 $18 | ||
27 $13 | 500 $3 | 1000 $22 | ||
60 $7 | 500 $3 | 1000 $44 | ||
30 $3 | 34 $7 | 1000 $96 | ||
25 $3 | 500 $3 | 1000 $45 | ||
90 $15 | 500 $3 | 1000 $82 | ||
500 $3 | 730 $3 | 1000 $56 | ||
130 $3 | 500 $3 | 1000 $80 | ||
3.5 $3 | 500 $3 | 1000 $92 | ||
60 $7 | 500 $3 | 1000 $86 | ||
500 $3 | 640 $4 | 1000 $84 | ||
500 $3 | 610 $8 | 1000 $94 | ||
30 $12 | 500 $3 | 1000 $89 | ||
60 $14 | 500 $3 | 1000 $92 | ||
40 $15 | 500 $3 | 1000 $93 | ||
75 $9 | 500 $3 | 1000 $78 | ||
90 $7 | 410 $3 | 520 $3 | ||
300 $4 | 500 $3 | 1000 $93 | ||
34 $9 | 500 $3 | 1000 $90 | ||
3.5 $3 | 500 $3 | 1000 $88 | ||
3.5 $3 | 500 $3 | 1000 $92 | ||
480 $3 | 500 $3 | 1000 $90 | ||
40 $7 | 500 $3 | 1000 $82 | ||
44 $7 | 50 $7 | 1000 $66 | ||
3.5 $3 | 500 $3 | 1000 $82 | ||
100 $10 | 500 $3 | 1000 $88 | ||
90 $6 | 500 $3 | 1000 $86 | ||
100 $11 | 500 $3 | 1000 $88 | ||
3.5 $3 | 500 $3 | 1000 $76 | ||
470 $13 | 500 $3 | 1000 $52 | ||
90 $6 | 500 $3 | 1000 $84 | ||
100 $10 | 500 $3 | 1000 $87 | ||
3.5 $3 | 75 $7 | 1000 $55 | ||
90 $6 | 500 $3 | 1000 $88 | ||
120 $7 | 500 $3 | 1000 $85 | ||
120 $7 | 500 $3 | 1000 $85 | ||
70 $7 | 500 $3 | 1000 $85 | ||
120 $7 | 500 $3 | 1000 $85 | ||
120 $7 | 500 $3 | 1000 $85 | ||
120 $7 | 500 $3 | 1000 $85 | ||
120 $7 | 500 $3 | 1000 $85 | ||
120 $7 | 500 $3 | 1000 $85 | ||
120 $7 | 500 $3 | 1000 $85 | ||
3.5 $3 | 500 $3 | 1000 | ||