tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46748038504794891492024-03-13T21:41:14.503-07:00AUSTRALIA HALL OF SHAMEABBOTT : LIBERALS / MURDOCH / NATIONALS AXIS OF EVILAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06411370614239868500noreply@blogger.comBlogger55125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4674803850479489149.post-51678643010190794792015-01-26T16:41:00.001-08:002015-01-26T16:41:16.991-08:00Australia Has A Lot Of Growing Up To Do<a href="https://newmatilda.com/2015/01/26/australia-has-lot-growing-do">Australia Has A Lot Of Growing Up To Do</a><br /><br />
<br /><br />
<h1 class="page-title"><span style="color: yellow;">Australia Has A Lot Of Growing Up To Do</span></h1><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><div class="author"><span style="color: yellow;"><b>By Amy McQuire</b></span></div><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
<br />
</b></span><div class="boxout right"> <div class="image"> <div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><span style="color: yellow;"><b><img alt="" height="170" src="https://newmatilda.com/sites/newmatilda/files/styles/article/public/article/images/Australia-FlagS_0.jpg" width="248" /></b></span></div></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-keywords field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label"><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Keywords: </b></span></div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><span style="color: yellow;"><b><a href="https://newmatilda.com/category/tags/australia-day">australia day</a></b></span></div><div class="field-item odd"><span style="color: yellow;"><b><a href="https://newmatilda.com/category/tags/january-26">january 26</a></b></span></div><div class="field-item even"><span style="color: yellow;"><b><a href="https://newmatilda.com/category/tags/adam-goodes">adam goodes</a></b></span></div><div class="field-item odd"><span style="color: yellow;"><b><a href="https://newmatilda.com/category/tags/neil-mitchell">neil mitchell</a></b></span></div><div class="field-item even"><span style="color: yellow;"><b><a href="https://newmatilda.com/category/tags/mick-dodson">mick dodson</a></b></span></div></div></div></div><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><div class="field field-name-field-teaser-page field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Amy<br />
McQuire doesn't celebrate 'Australia Day'. She does, however, hope one <br />
day for a mature conversation about changing the date.</b></span><br /><br />
<br />
</div></div></div><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Every<br />
year on January 26th, Australians are given a license to act like <br />
immature children, as if to mirror the illusion that Australia really is<br />
a “young country” and not an ancient land with 70,000 years of history <br />
written over its surface.</b></span><br /><br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>If you step out to beaches and parks across the country, ‘Australia <br />
Day’ is about booze and bikinis, and being “proud” to be “Australian”. <br />
But if you fall outside the narrow margin of Australian ‘values’, and <br />
refuse to accept this historical amnesia, Australia Day becomes one of <br />
exclusion. </b></span><br /><br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>I remember a few years ago, a flag-wielding young patriot drunkenly <br />
shouting in my face “Aussie Aussie Aussie” only to be confounded when I <br />
stared back at him blankly. </b></span><br /><br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>“What?! How do you not know it? Are you even Australian?” was his response. </b></span><br /><br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>This isn’t an uncommon experience for those who don’t subscribe to <br />
the national jingoism of January 26, but it’s one that sticks in my mind<br />
because of the comically confused look on his face.</b></span><br /><br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>There was a complete inability to understand how anyone could feel <br />
marginalised by this date, and a damning ignorance of the deep pain and <br />
disgust felt by many, even by a growing section of non-Indigenous <br />
Australia.</b></span><br /><br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Whilst it is still a minority, there is a building chorus that agrees<br />
we should not celebrate a date that for generations of Aboriginal <br />
people has been one of mourning.</b></span><br /><br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Blackfellas have mourned January 26th for decades because the arrival<br />
of the First Fleet not only announced the invasion of the British, but <br />
also heralded the massacres of entire tribes, poisoned waterholes and <br />
flour sacks, stolen children and stolen land, the dispossession of <br />
thousands of Aboriginal people onto missions and reserves, the deaths in<br />
custodies, the rising incarceration of men, women and children, and the<br />
attempted destruction of an ancient culture and the endangered <br />
languages.</b></span><br /><br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>If Aboriginal people are to be included in ‘Australia Day <br />
celebrations’ why is this unpleasant history washed away by a sickening <br />
sea of jingoism encased in cheap Reject Store trinkets?</b></span><br /><br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>The refusal to even consider starting a national conversation about <br />
changing the date, as suggested by former Australian of the Year Mick <br />
Dodson, was met with aversion by the public, who acted like whinging <br />
children threatened with the possibility of one less public holiday.</b></span><br /><br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>But the refusal to open up a dialogue about changing the date shows <br />
Australians would much rather stay stunted in this phase than progress <br />
towards puberty. </b></span><br /><br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>An example of just how far we have to go in our race relations can be<br />
seen in the year endured by Aboriginal footballer Adam Goodes as <br />
Australian of the Year.</b></span><br /><br />
<br />
<div><span style="color: yellow;"><b><img alt="" src="https://newmatilda.com/sites/newmatilda/files/Adam-GoodesL.jpg" style="float: none; margin: 0px; width: 600px;" /></b></span></div><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Despite being a member of a league worshipped as religion in many <br />
states of this country, Goodes has had to field a barrage of criticism <br />
whenever he dares state a truth about the current situation for <br />
Aboriginal Australia.</b></span><br /><br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>It was only last November when Goodes drew an angry response from <br />
3AW’s Neil Mitchell for mentioning Australia’s atrocious history of <br />
racism on British Radio.</b></span><br /><br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Goodes’ comments were in no way radical. In fact, they were <br />
optimistic about the ability of Australians to change, stating he felt <br />
education about Australia’s black history would help Australia move <br />
forward. </b></span><br /><br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>But any mature conversation about Goodes’ comments was completely <br />
pushed off the table by Mitchell, who said he was “sick” of the <br />
“continued sniping”. </b></span><br /><br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>“Goodes seems not to like Australia. He’s trying to change the <br />
country. Yes parts of our history are not decent but we have moved on <br />
from that”.</b></span><br /><br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>The fact is, of course, we haven’t moved on, and to begin to even <br />
suggest this to Aboriginal nations across the country is as offensive as<br />
the day itself.</b></span><br /><br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b> How can you move on without justice? How can you heal when every year on January 26<sup>th</sup> your history is deemed unimportant and marginal?</b></span><br /><br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>The weight of history burdens every Aboriginal community, because the<br />
denial of this past creates a false diagnosis of the deep pain felt <br />
across the breadth of Aboriginal Australia.</b></span><br /><br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>It misleads Australians about the intergenerational trauma that has <br />
left many blackfellas mired in bad statistics. If you don’t have the <br />
correct diagnosis, how can you begin to medicate and heal?</b></span><br /><br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>How can you expect black and white Australia to unite when the power <br />
is overwhelmingly weighted on one side? You can’t wash away a black <br />
history so easily.</b></span><br /><br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Australia Day is, and always will be, a day of shame, regardless of <br />
the marketing and press releases pumped out by the National Australia <br />
Day Council. </b></span><br /><br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>It does nothing to represent ‘fairness’. Instead it represents <br />
compounding pain and the inequalities that stem from a history that is <br />
continually denied.</b></span><br /><br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>To celebrate this denial means you are complicit in the current <br />
suffering of Aboriginal Australia. And to not even consider a <br />
conversation about changing this date means Australia still has a lot of<br />
growing up to do.</b></span><br /><br />
<br />
</div></div></div><span style="color: yellow;"><b> <br />
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</b></span><h2 class="entry-title"><span style="color: yellow;"><a href="https://truthseekersmusings.wordpress.com/2014/09/27/shorten-wtf-are-you-doing/" rel="bookmark">Shorten WTF are you doing?</a></span></h2><span style="color: yellow;"><b> <br />
</b></span><div class="entry-meta"> <span style="color: yellow;"><b><span class="meta-prep meta-prep-author">Posted on</span> <a href="https://truthseekersmusings.wordpress.com/2014/09/27/shorten-wtf-are-you-doing/" rel="bookmark" title="10:14 pm"><span class="entry-date">27/09/2014</span></a> <span class="by-author"><span class="sep">by</span> <span class="author vcard"><a class="url fn n" href="https://truthseekersmusings.wordpress.com/author/stejocpa/" rel="author" title="View all posts by Truth Seeker">Truth Seeker</a></span> </span></b></span> </div><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><div class="entry-content"><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b><em><strong>Shorten WTF are you doing?</strong></em></b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><div class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_3299" style="width: 248px;"><span style="color: yellow;"><b><a href="https://truthseekersmusings.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/shorten-40.jpg"><img alt="Bill Shorten, Mr 40%" class=" wp-image-3299" height="134" src="https://truthseekersmusings.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/shorten-40.jpg?w=238&h=134" width="238" /></a></b></span><div class="wp-caption-text"><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Bill Shorten, Mr 40%</b></span></div></div><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>When the ALP announced that they were going to change the criteria <br />
and allow the R&F to have more of a say, I thought that might be a <br />
good start and a new direction for a factional mishmash that was slowly <br />
but surely killing itself.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Little did I know!</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><div class="wp-caption alignleft" id="attachment_1756" style="width: 170px;"><span style="color: yellow;"><b><a href="https://truthseekersmusings.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/images6.jpeg"><img alt="Albo, Mr 60%" class="size-full wp-image-1756" src="https://truthseekersmusings.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/images6.jpeg?w=640" /></a></b></span><div class="wp-caption-text"><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Albo, Mr 60%</b></span></div></div><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>The fact is, that with around 60% of the R&F voting for Albo, and<br />
only 40% for Shorten, the members made it perfectly clear who they <br />
wanted, and yet the factions, once again stepped in to make sure their <br />
bloke got over the line.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Now at the time, I made my feelings clear, along with a large <br />
majority of the R&F, that Albo was the man to rebuild the party and <br />
take us to the next election.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>I said that Shorten had too much baggage from the last two terms, <br />
that he doesn’t inspire, that he’s from the right of the party, and they<br />
desperately need to return to their roots and core values.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>I have to say I was pissed off that once again the powerful factions <br />
got their way, over the membership, but many said “Wait and see” and <br />
“At least give him a go”</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Well I waited, albeit somewhat sceptically, and I saw!</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>And what I saw, was not a Labor leader, but what looks more like a <br />
right wing plant, who’s softly softly approach is seeing this once great<br />
nation relegated to the last century, where all the gains we’ve worked <br />
so hard to achieve, are being either seriously eroded, or completely <br />
wiped out on the back of rabid right wing ideology!</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Make no mistake, if Abbott as LOTO could have mustered the numbers in<br />
the senate,, during the Gillard term, he would have happily blocked <br />
supply to bring down the government, but he didn’t have either a valid <br />
reason, or the numbers.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>When Hockey brought down his horror fudge-it, it was, to use Abbott’s<br />
own expression, CRYSTAL clear, that he lied to the public, to gain <br />
office and was, as such, a perfectly legitimate reason to use those <br />
numbers to block supply and force a DD.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><div class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_1755" style="width: 310px;"><span style="color: yellow;"><b><a href="https://truthseekersmusings.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/ipad-art-wide-bill-shorten-420x0.jpg"><img alt="Billy, Billy, Billy… WTF are you doing?" class="size-medium wp-image-1755" height="217" src="https://truthseekersmusings.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/ipad-art-wide-bill-shorten-420x0.jpg?w=300&h=217" width="300" /></a></b></span><div class="wp-caption-text"><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Billy, Billy, Billy… WTF are you doing?</b></span></div></div><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>But what did Shorten do?… NOTHING?</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>In fact, he did worse than nothing <span class="wp-smiley wp-emoji wp-emoji-surprised" title=":shock:">:shock:</span> he guaranteed supply, leaving the door wide open for Abbott to do deals with the new senators and Palmer</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>He has sold out Labor, and Gillard’s legacy, but worse than that <br />
he’s sold out Australia to the rabid right wing ideologies, and voted to<br />
take us back to war, on the say so of a man (?) who is a proven, and <br />
some would say pathological liar, and who’s only goal is to maintain <br />
power at any cost.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Their dishonesty and hypocrisy are astounding, and over the last <br />
couple of days, we’ve seen yet another example, as Morrison signs up for<br />
an asylum seeker deal to resettle genuine refugees in Cambodia, one of <br />
the poorest and most corrupt countries on the planet, handing over a <br />
cool $40 mill, for a commitment to take only 4-5 refugees on a trial <br />
basis, and that’s not including the resettlement costs, which works out <br />
at 8 – 10 + million $’s each? W…T…F???</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>And yet we all remember when they rejected Gillard’s Malaysian <br />
solution, because Malaysia wasn’t a signatory to the UNHCR convention, a<br />
decision that resulted in some 300 more deaths at sea?</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Coincidentally a convention that these hypocrites, effectively tore <br />
up at the same time as they signed up with Cambodia, and committed us to<br />
a war in which even more people are becoming refugees!</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>We are now witnessing our hard fought for rights and freedoms being <br />
taken away and shoved in a cupboard to “protect them”… WTF? And <br />
the most incompetent, and arguably corrupt government in our history, <br />
stirring up hysteria and fear, for the sake of their own political <br />
advantage.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>And all the while, Shorten’s opposition is not only MIA for much of the time, but complicit in many of these decisions… W…T…F???</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>The thing is that I along with many others, tried to warn Australia of how Abbott would destroy this great country <span class="wp-smiley wp-emoji wp-emoji-rolleyes" title=":roll:">:roll:</span> and he has more than lived up to our expectations! <span class="wp-smiley wp-emoji wp-emoji-surprised" title=":shock:">:shock:</span></b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>And likewise with Shorten <span class="wp-smiley wp-emoji wp-emoji-angry" title=":mad:">:mad:</span></b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>In his first year, Abbott has done damage that will take decades to <br />
fix, if in fact it can be fixed, and all for the sake of his own twisted<br />
ambitions and ideologies.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>And in his first year as LOTO, Shorten has basically made the ALP irrelevant.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>I did hope hope he would prove me wrong… He didn’t!</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>I did try to give him the benefit of the doubt… But he just confirmed all my fears at every turn!</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>But I’m still prepared to give him a go <span class="wp-smiley wp-emoji wp-emoji-surprised" title=":shock:">:shock:</span></b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><strong>So Billy boy, If you do genuinely care for this country and the once great Labor party, the only Go that I can still give you is… <em><strong>GO AWAY!</strong></em></strong></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Do the decent thing and resign your position as LOTO, and let the will of the R&F prevail!</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>We need a LOTO that will reform the party, whilst taking the fight up<br />
to Abbott and his mendacious mob of mistits, hitting him with both <br />
barrels, not a limp lettuce leaf!</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Cos too many times over the last year, too many of us have asked the question:</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b><em><strong>Shorten, WTF are you doing?</strong></em></b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><div class="wp-caption aligncenter" id="attachment_3296" style="width: 610px;"><span style="color: yellow;"><b><a href="https://truthseekersmusings.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/abbotts-mini-me.jpg"><img alt="Abbott's mini me" class="size-full wp-image-3296" src="https://truthseekersmusings.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/abbotts-mini-me.jpg?w=640" /></a></b></span><div class="wp-caption-text"><span style="color: yellow;"><strong>Abbott’s mini me</strong></span></div></div><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
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<h1>
<span style="color: yellow;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="font-size: large;">It’s time to get on with it <br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="font-size: large;"><time class="entry-date" datetime="2015-01-16T22:57:32+11:00"><br />
January 16, 2015 </time></span></span></b></span>
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Written by: <br />
<a class="url fn n" href="http://theaimn.com/author/kayelee13/" rel="author" title="View all posts by Kaye Lee">Kaye Lee</a></span></span></b></span>
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://theaimn.com/time-get/#comments" title="Comment on It’s time to get on with it">30 Replies</a></span></span></b></span> </li>
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img alt="billforlabor" class="attachment-post-thumbnail wp-post-image" src="http://theaimn.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/billforlabor-e1421409680847.jpg" height="333" width="500" /></span> </span></b></span>
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Category: <a href="http://theaimn.com/category/politics/" rel="category tag">Politics</a></span></span></b></span> </li>
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://theaimn.com/time-get/" rel="bookmark" title="Permalink to It’s time to get on with it">permalink</a></span></span></b></span>
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img alt="" class="avatar avatar-40 photo grav-hashed grav-hijack" src="http://1.gravatar.com/avatar/fe1fcf01c861c0343626e8dd443db27e?s=40&d=identicon&r=PG" height="40" id="grav-fe1fcf01c861c0343626e8dd443db27e-0" width="40" /> <br />
<a class="gk-author-name" href="http://theaimn.com/author/kayelee13/" rel="author"><br />
Kaye Lee <br />
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</aside><span style="color: yellow;"><b><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
<br />
<br />
</span><span style="font-size: large;">To Bill Shorten and the Labor Party,</span></span></b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b><span style="background-color: black;"><br /></span></b></span>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><span style="font-size: large;">You are no doubt aware of the growing concern amongst progressive <br />
voters about your performance. And by performance, I don’t mean pithy <br />
one-liners delivered at Question Time or the meal you cooked for Annabel<br />
Crabb.</span></span></b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><span style="background-color: black;"><br /></span></b></span>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><span style="font-size: large;">I mean your failure to hold the Coalition to account, your silence <br />
when we should hear outrage, and your refusal to offer a better <br />
alternative.</span></span></b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><span style="background-color: black;"><br /></span></b></span>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><span style="font-size: large;">I understand that you have countless strategists planning your moves <br />
but they are also failing in their job. We need to hear from you. You <br />
need to prepare the road for the way ahead.</span></span></b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><span style="background-color: black;"><br /></span></b></span>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><span style="font-size: large;">Stop beginning every sentence with “Tony Abbott”. The phrase “Tony <br />
Abbott’s unfair budget” has become as grating as “Labor’s debt and <br />
deficit disaster”.</span></span></b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><span style="background-color: black;"><br /></span></b></span>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><span style="font-size: large;">What you should be saying is “We do not support the Government’s proposal because……Our plan is to……”</span></span></b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><span style="background-color: black;"><br /></span></b></span>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><span style="font-size: large;">You need to delineate clear differences between the Labor Party and <br />
the Coalition because at the moment you are being referred to as the <br />
lesser of two evils, and not by much, which is a damning indictment <br />
considering how badly this government is performing.</span></span></b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><span style="background-color: black;"><br /></span></b></span>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><span style="font-size: large;">You don’t have to pay millions for advertising to tell us how bad <br />
this government is – we already know – just go back through the quotes <br />
from the Coalition and show their hypocrisy and lies.</span></span></b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><span style="background-color: black;"><br /></span></b></span>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><span style="font-size: large;">You don’t have to pay consultants to come up with ideas – the <br />
internet is full of them, many with the accompanying research already <br />
done for you. You could do worse than reading the articles and comments<br />
here and on other independent sites to get you started.</span></span></b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><span style="background-color: black;"><br /></span></b></span>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><span style="font-size: large;">You don’t have to conduct polls and focus groups to find out what <br />
people think – it’s all there on blogs and social media, in letters to <br />
the editor and phone calls to radio hosts.</span></span></b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><span style="background-color: black;"><br /></span></b></span>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><span style="font-size: large;">The latest Roy Morgan poll shows Australian electors are not <br />
convinced how well Bill Shorten’s handling his job as Opposition Leader;<br />
40% (down 2%) disapprove and 37% (unchanged) approve although a much <br />
higher 23% (up 2%) still can’t say how they view the Opposition Leader.<br />
After more than a year in the job, almost a quarter of the electorate <br />
don’t have a view on how Mr Shorten is going. That’s a telling figure.</span></span></b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><span style="background-color: black;"><br /></span></b></span>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><span style="font-size: large;">It’s time to get on with it – tell us your thoughts. Give us some <br />
choices. You don’t have to commit to a detailed plan, just throw up <br />
some alternatives. Get the conversation started.</span></span></b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><span style="background-color: black;"><br /></span></b></span>
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&nbsp; I thought I would allow the main stream media dust to settle for a few days before commenting further on the LNP 's Broadband Policy announcement, Tuesday April 10. Firstly let me congratulate the opposition spokesperson Malcolm Turnbull on his performance. After all he was selling a lemon and…">NBN AND THE attack of the Luddites. Part Two.</a></span></h4>
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Tony Abbott is your friend. In fact, he's everyone's friend. He's so inoffensive to anyone that why there should be resistance to his nefarious schemes is inexplicable. Tony Abbott, and his Coalition, are unfeasibly flexible; whoever you might be, whatever interest group you represent, the Coalition is on your side.…"><img alt="Love the one you're with" class="jp-relatedposts-post-img" src="http://i1.wp.com/theaimn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/tony_friendly.jpg?resize=350%2C200" width="350" /></a></b></span><h4 class="jp-relatedposts-post-title">
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Tony Abbott is your friend. In fact, he's everyone's friend. He's so inoffensive to anyone that why there should be resistance to his nefarious schemes is inexplicable. Tony Abbott, and his Coalition, are unfeasibly flexible; whoever you might be, whatever interest group you represent, the Coalition is on your side.…">Love the one you're with</a></span></h4>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06411370614239868500noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4674803850479489149.post-55252786843632487062014-12-26T19:10:00.001-08:002014-12-26T19:10:46.861-08:00Inside Tony Abbott's new menistry<a href="https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/abbotts-new-ministry,7223">Inside Tony Abbott's new menistry</a><br /><br />
<h1 class="titleLink"> <span style="color: yellow;"><a content="https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/abbotts-new-ministry,7223" href="https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/abbotts-new-ministry,7223" itemprop="url" title="Permanent Link : Inside Tony Abbott's new menistry"><span itemprop="name">Inside Tony Abbott's new menistry</span></a></span></h1><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><div class="articleResultItems"><span style="color: yellow;"><b><span class="arItems"><span class="glyphicon glyphicon-user"></span> <strong itemprop="author"><a href="https://independentaustralia.net/profile-on/sarah-brasch,288" rel="tooltip" title="View all of this authors articles">Sarah Brasch</a></strong></span><span class="arItems"><span class="artTimeTag"><span class="glyphicon glyphicon-calendar"></span> <time content="2014-12-27T09:00:00+10:00" itemprop="datePublished">27 December 2014, 9:00am</time></span></span> <span class="arItems"><span class="glyphicon glyphicon-comment"></span> <a class="commentNotice" content="https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/abbotts-new-ministry,7223#disqus_thread" data-disqus-identifier="dc:7223" href="https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/abbotts-new-ministry,7223#disqus_thread" itemprop="discussionUrl">1</a></span></b></span><br />
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</div></div></div><figure class="articlesHeroCaption"><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><img src="https://independentaustralia.net/_lib/slir/w900-h600/http://independentaustralia.net/i/article/img/article-7223-hero.jpg" /><br />
</b></span><figcaption><span style="color: yellow;"><b><span class="heroTextCaption">Tony Abbott's new ministry after being sworn (Image screenshot ABC 7.30)</span></b></span></figcaption><br />
</figure><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b><em><strong><a href="https://independentaustralia.net/profile-on/sarah-brasch,288" target="_blank">Sarah Brasch</a> takes some time out from refining her household budget to analyse Tony Abbott's new ministerial line-up.</strong></em></b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>SORRY, but I have just got to stop bothering about the <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/tony-abbott-names-carbon-tax-repeal-as-his-top-achievement-as-minister-for-women-20141222-12bw42.html" target="_blank">all-consuming household budget</a> — but only for a few minutes, mind you, because that is all I can spare from the search for $550 in carbon tax savings.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b><span style="font-size: 16px;"><a href="https://www.pm.gov.au/sites/default/files/media/14-12-21_abbott_ministry.pdf">Tony Abbott’s third ministry</a><br />
deserves closer examination. There has been far too much store placed <br />
on the so-called “winners and losers” so far framed around the celebrity<br />
personalities, such as they are.</span></b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b><span style="font-size: 16px;">There are other ways to skin this cat. <br />
Rather, it is horses for courses so the best runners in wet conditions <br />
get to be in the right jobs. That is the theory anyway.</span></b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b><span style="font-size: 16px;">There is not a lot to see in the new Abbott line-up and</span><span style="font-size: 16px;"> certainly</span><span style="font-size: 16px;"> no<br />
breathtaking moves in portfolio rankings. It is more some fiddling down<br />
the back-end of the list, where the bottom-feeders scrap.</span></b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b><span style="font-size: 16px;">The top seven portfolios were untouched <br />
other than a new face or two in the junior jobs while the next two down,<br />
Pyne and Macfarlane, got changes of title to add words like “Training” <br />
and “Science, thereby dealing with two of the smallest barnacles.</span></b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b><span style="font-size: 16px;">All this means is that there will be <br />
some public servants reporting to new big bosses and some different <br />
ministers, or the same ministers talking about new topics, popping up by<br />
the end of January — other than Scott Morrison fast out of the blocks <br />
on the case of his <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/social-services-scraps-funding-for-homeless-and-housing-groups-20141222-12cf67.html" target="_blank">new enemies</a> from Day One.</span></b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b><span style="font-size: 16px;">Machinery of government changes, as they<br />
are called, get bedded down very quickly in Canberra, even if they <br />
occur four days before Christmas and more than a few people are not <br />
going to get much of a holiday. The public workforce is flexible and <br />
very good at this sort of thing, contrary to the myths pedalled about <br />
it.</span></b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b><span style="font-size: 16px;">Shame on Abbott for <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-12-04/tony-abbott-has-confidence-in-david-johnston/5944876" target="_blank">spruiking Senator David Johnston</a> in Defence as capable, trusted, on <a href="https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/team-epic-failure,6801" target="_blank">Team Australia</a><br />
and so on, and then moving him out. Loyalty and that first rule of <br />
being a minister: “cause no trouble, ruffle no feathers and do as you <br />
are told” obviously counts for much with the PM and, no doubt, <a href="https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/peta-credlin-drink-driving-charges-dismissed-via-lnp-immunity,5713" target="_blank">Peta Credlin</a>.</span></b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b><span style="font-size: 16px;">We know this because <a href="https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/arthur-sinodinos-goes-down-the-gurgler,6354" target="_blank">Arthur Sinodinos</a><br />
was retained on the books for nearly a year when he should have been <br />
dropped immediately. Abbott also held open a place in Cabinet for his <br />
special chum going back to <a href="https://independentaustralia.net/australia/australia-display/an-open-letter-to-tony-abbott-from-australian-republicans,6419" target="_blank">republic referendum</a> days, <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/tony-abbott-hosts-dinner-for-ousted-mp-sophie-mirabella-with-whos-who-of-mps-20140303-33yak.html" target="_top">Sophie Mirabella</a>, in the hope she could scrape into her seat, long after it was prudent to do so.</span></b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b><span style="font-size: 16px;">Four things about the portfolio rankings in Abbott’s new ministry stand out.</span></b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b><img alt="" data-img-desk="/_lib/slir/w700/https://independentaustralia.net/sc/politics/AbbottMinistry.jpg" data-img-tablet="/_lib/slir/w500/https://independentaustralia.net/sc/politics/AbbottMinistry.jpg" src="https://independentaustralia.net/_lib/slir/w700/https://independentaustralia.net/sc/politics/AbbottMinistry.jpg" style="height: 664px; width: 552px;" /></b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b><span style="font-size: 16px;">Firstly, the important health portfolio <br />
is in last place at number 16, with a brand new minister from the <br />
National Party, of all places. In fact, both <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sussan_Ley" target="_blank">Sussan Ley</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiona_Nash" target="_blank">Fiona Nash</a> – “the Nationals’ girls” – however capable, are languishing at the end of the table.</span></b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>What do they say: “Put women in jobs where there are unpopular <br />
decisions to be made”? Thought so. Ley, of course, has copped the <br />
unforgiving assault on Medicare and co-payment debacle.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>We won’t see much of her on TV as the frontbench seating is also <br />
dictated by Cabinet ranking. Only the first among equals get to sit <br />
behind the Prime Minister in Question Time.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>When the chips are down, there is not much money to throw around and <br />
the finance minister is hovering, you want to be as high up on the <br />
ministry list as possible. That is when your ranking in the Cabinet <br />
pecking order really counts. Good luck to health and sport.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Secondly, environment remains stuck at 14. This job is much too <br />
important to be left cellar-dwelling but, yes, we’ve got the drill and <br />
it is Direct Action. If there was ever an economically important <br />
portfolio, it is this one. <a href="https://independentaustralia.net/environment/environment-display/greg-hunt-and-the-paid-polluters-electricity-prices,7048" target="_blank">Greg Hunt</a> should be on <a href="http://www.directory.gov.au/directory?ea0_lf99_120.&organizationalUnit&00adba18-3c7b-40b1-800a-a9374a704187" target="_top">Expenditure Review Committee</a> (ERC).</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>But Scott Morrison now in social services at number nine got the nod <br />
for ERC and will have a finger in the pie of every decision about the <br />
budget. Looks like he’s being groomed for the top job if you asked me, <br />
but no one will because <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/women-rate-tony-abbott-poorly-on-all-fronts-20141226-12dgit.html" target="_blank">I am fittingly consumed</a> by the homefront finances.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>If Julie Bishop is going to be able to seriously challenge Abbott for<br />
the PM’s job, she would have wanted a move like the one Morrison got. <br />
It is hard to be taken as a serious player in Cabinet and have a high <br />
domestic profile if you are hardly ever around.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>What is new is to have the social services minister as a permanent <br />
member of ERC. To have a junior minister in Assistant Treasurer <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josh_Frydenberg" target="_blank">Josh Frydenberg</a> also a member is unheard of. That move is clearly a warning shot across Joe Hockey’s bows.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Frydenberg may have the gift of the glib and is <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/frontbench-reshuffle-josh-frydenberg-tipped-to-replace-arthur-sinodinos-20141220-12bapz.html" target="_blank">said to be on Team Morrison</a> but is mostly an ideology-driven motormouth.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>They have a smart answer for everything, don’t listen and talk too fast. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelly_O%27Dwyer">Kelly O’Dwyer</a> also needs to watch this habit.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Lastly, the important communications job headed two places south from<br />
Number 11 to 13, taking Malcolm Turnbull with it. This tells us <br />
something is on the slide ... Malcolm, probably.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>For all the talk about Scott Morrison’s “promotion”, the social <br />
services portfolio has only moved from up one place from 10 to 9, <br />
swopping spots with industry and science.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Peter Dutton must be an Abbott favourite. He moved from health at <br />
number 12 to immigration and border protection at 11 — work that one <br />
out. Dutton’s elevation to the <a href="http://www.directory.gov.au/directory?ea0_lf99_120.&organizationalUnit&e3c454c6-f964-4da6-ab46-2f4ece27fc25" target="_blank">National Security Committee</a> should be setting off alarm bells. We need smart brains and cool heads on there.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Finance creeps off last spot from 16 to 15, also moving <a href="https://independentaustralia.net/art/art-display/cormann-the-barbarian,7013" target="_blank">Matthias Cormann</a> up one place. As finance minister, Labor’s <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindsay_Tanner" target="_blank">Lindsay Tanner</a> was number four in the <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/the-full-rudd-ministry/story-e6frg6nf-1111114993680" target="_blank">Rudd ministry</a>. How things change.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>While it was notable that the Cabinet representation of women <em>doubled </em>from<br />
one to two and we now have a permanent female presence at the table to <br />
cover Julie Bishop’s absences, it is equally notable that no women but <br />
two men were made assistant ministers, the stepping stones to Cabinet.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>The two new women, Kelly O’Dwyer and Karen Andrews, only got to <br />
Parliamentary Secretary so will be stuck answering correspondence and <br />
doing little, low profile tasks that the real Ministers cannot be <br />
bothered with. There is not much chance to shine in one of these jobs <br />
that have little input to policy direction and decisions.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Birmingham" target="_blank">Simon Birmingham</a>,<br />
a senator from South Australia, moved to assistant minister in <br />
education and training. He is a republican, being one of only two <br />
ministerial appointees not to pledge allegiance to the Queen of <br />
Australia in Abbott’s first ministry, preferring the oath of allegiance <br />
to Australia, as did Human Services Minister <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marise_Payne">Marise Payne</a>.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Two out of 42 thus far was not much of a show for the country to put <br />
it mildly. At time of writing, it is not clear which option the two <br />
newbies chose at the <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/new-abbott-ministry-sworn-in-by-governorgeneral-sir-peter-cosgrove-20141223-12cnfl.html" target="_blank">23 December swearing-in</a> but, whichever way they went, it is not going to make much difference to advancing our government.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>That brings me to the subject of the representatives for women, still<br />
the Prime Minister himself and sidekick, Minister Assisting Senator <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michaelia_Cash" style="background-color: white;" target="_blank">Michaelia Cash</a> — not in Cabinet and who has had little impact in this role. Publicly, she’s well-tethered.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Abbott could have followed his “bro” <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Harper" style="background-color: white;" target="_blank">Stephen Harper</a> in Canada and appointed women to nearly one third of an <a href="http://www.parl.gc.ca/parliamentarians/en/ministries" style="background-color: white;" target="_blank">impressive cross-section of a ministry</a><br />
[.] But no, not enough merit can be found. Antennae should start <br />
jangling as soon as any (conservative) man starts talking about women <br />
and merit in the same breath.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>In fact, the best thing that the PM could have done for women this <br />
year, given no sweeping gestures Harper-style could ever have been <br />
contemplated, would have been to command all his male Ministers to wear <br />
ties of any colour other than blue, follow his own diktat and then get <br />
rid of the speedos. Peta Credlin really needs to do a good throw-out of <br />
all the polyester horrors Abbott routinely turns out in.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Still defying Gillard, in her face and ours, after all this time. It is a pathetic badge of honour.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b><a href="https://independentaustralia.net/profile-on/sarah-brasch,288" target="_blank"><strong><em>Sarah Brasch</em></strong></a><em> <strong>is the National Convenor of <a href="http://www.womenrep.org/">Women for an Australian Republic</a>.</strong></em></b></span><br /><br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06411370614239868500noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4674803850479489149.post-2605254170669877462014-12-24T13:37:00.001-08:002014-12-24T13:38:07.950-08:00En Passant » At a time of hope Abbott gives us fear<a href="http://enpassant.com.au/2014/12/24/at-a-time-of-hope-abbott-gives-us-fear/">En Passant » At a time of hope Abbott gives us fear</a><br />
<br />
<h2>
<span style="color: yellow; font-size: large;">At a time of hope Abbott gives us fear</span></h2>
<span style="color: yellow; font-size: large;"><b><br />
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</b></span><br />
<div class="postinfo">
<span style="color: yellow; font-size: large;"><b>Posted by <a href="http://enpassant.com.au/author/john/">John</a>, December 24th, 2014 - under <a href="http://enpassant.com.au/category/fear/" rel="category tag">Fear</a>, <a href="http://enpassant.com.au/category/racism/" rel="category tag">Racism</a>, <a href="http://enpassant.com.au/category/resistance/" rel="category tag">Resistance</a>, <a href="http://enpassant.com.au/category/xenophobia/" rel="category tag">Xenophobia</a>.</b></span></div>
<span style="color: yellow; font-size: large;"><b><br />
<br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow; font-size: large;"><b>Christmas and the New Year is a time of hope. Yet all this Abbott <br />
government and its media spruikers offers is fear – fear of terorism; <br />
fear of asylum seekers and fear of the unemployed are its current <br />
playthings.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: yellow; font-size: large;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow; font-size: large;"><b>Thus Abbott tells us about terrorism ‘chatterings’, fitting well <br />
into his initial narrative of the Sydney siege as our ‘ brush with <br />
terrorism’ and the Daily Telegraph lyingly painting the hostage crisis <br />
as being carried out by the IS death cult.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: yellow; font-size: large;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow; font-size: large;"><b>Now two men have been arrested as part of the show trials of <br />
Australian justice, one of whom, shock horror, breached his bail <br />
conditions by making a phone call from a pay phone.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: yellow; font-size: large;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow; font-size: large;"><b>This government has no jobs to offer the unemployed, no real wage <br />
increases for workers, nothing for the homeless, and cuts for health and<br />
education. Its only recourse is scaremongering about security and the <br />
treats Islam, refugees and ‘dole bludgers’ pose to normal, so called <br />
peaceful, society.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: yellow; font-size: large;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow; font-size: large;"><b>It hopes its climate of fear will distract from the increasing <br />
unemployment lines, the cuts to real wages, and the engineeered decline <br />
in social welfare and public services. It hopes in this climate its <br />
ruling class unfairness, as exposed so well by its rotten Budget and its<br />
attacks on the poor and working class, will disappear into the <br />
background.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: yellow; font-size: large;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow; font-size: large;"><b>At times of job insecurity like today, scaremongering can working class supporters.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: yellow; font-size: large;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow; font-size: large;"><b>Normally this type of fear is the enemy of resistance. Yet such is <br />
the depth of anger against this government of the 1% that the <br />
anti-Muslim rhetoric didn’t catch on and so now Abbott is shifting to <br />
the threat of terrorism, seemingly as a cover for Islam, nudge, nudge, <br />
wink, wink.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: yellow; font-size: large;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow; font-size: large;"><b>It is possible that some alienated individuals could undertake <br />
violent actions, perhaps superficially cloaked in the flag of IS or <br />
similar (Monis comes to mind) but to date the terrorist scare campaign <br />
seems based more on vague suggestions or misleading interpretations (for<br />
example of Monis, of plastic swords) than hard evidence.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: yellow; font-size: large;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow; font-size: large;"><b>Meanwhile, the government 3 days before Christmas announced massive <br />
cuts to funding for homeless organisations. As unemployment grows the <br />
number of homelss will increase and all this government can offer is <br />
scare campaigns.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: yellow; font-size: large;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow; font-size: large;"><b>The appointment of Scott Morrison as Minister for screwing the <br />
unemployed will see the targetting of the 780,000 unemployed when only <br />
150000 jobs are available. His mate, the Daily Telegraph, led with a ‘ <br />
Stop the bludgers’ headline. The real bludgers of course are the ruling <br />
class, those who live off our labour, and the politicians, Liberal and <br />
Labor, doing their work.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: yellow; font-size: large;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow; font-size: large;"><b>The best way to counter the ruling class climate of fear is to <br />
resist their attacks, not fall for their racist, xenophobic and <br />
anti-working class rantings and actions. As Orwell said: ‘If there is <br />
hope..it lies in the proles.’<br />
</b></span><br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06411370614239868500noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4674803850479489149.post-25130608464950035522014-12-22T19:55:00.001-08:002014-12-22T19:55:33.617-08:00Three not so wise men - The AIM Network<a href="http://theaimn.com/three-not-wise-men/">Three not so wise men - The AIM Network</a><br /><br />
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<h1> <span style="color: yellow;">Three not so wise men <br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b><time class="entry-date" datetime="2014-12-23T10:28:17+11:00"><br />
December 23, 2014 </time></b></span><br />
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Written by: <br />
<a class="url fn n" href="http://theaimn.com/author/johnbkelly/" rel="author" title="View all posts by John Kelly">John Kelly</a></b></span><br />
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</b></span><section class="content"><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><strong>Firstly, Tony Abbott. As if he had not <br />
embarrassed himself enough during this year, the latest but not <br />
necessarily the last effort was his astonishing suggestion that removing<br />
the carbon tax was <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/julie-bishop-defends-tony-abbott-over-latest-comments-on-women-20141222-12c0tf.html">his greatest achievement</a> in 2014.</strong></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b><em>“Well, you know, it is very important to do the right thing by families and households,” </em>Abbott said. <em>“As<br />
many of us know, women are particularly focused on the household budget<br />
and the repeal of the carbon tax means a $550 a year benefit for the <br />
average family.” </em></b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>What a comment bereft of inspiration!</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Then, when questioned about the number of women in cabinet he said, <em>“The<br />
challenge for all of us is to get more women into public life, more <br />
women into the parliament, once we have got more women in the parliament<br />
we will have more women in the ministry and more women in the cabinet.”</em></b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b><a href="http://theaimn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/abbott2.jpg"><img alt="abbott" class="alignleft wp-image-30837 size-full" height="183" src="http://theaimn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/abbott2.jpg" width="275" /></a>Why<br />
is it a challenge? Does he mean that there is no one of sufficient <br />
competence or that the challenge is for him to overcome his own <br />
difficulties relating to women? One would think that there are plenty to<br />
pick from already; many of whom would clearly outshine some of the male<br />
deadwood he has there now. So, do we conclude that he is the problem, <br />
not the women? Or should we just let Anthony Albanese have the last <br />
word? <em>“There is no issue too big for Tony Abbott to show how small he is as a thinker,” </em>Mr Albanese told Fairfax Media.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><strong>Now let’s look at Joe Hockey. If ever we needed <br />
proof that his budget measures and his actions since were creating a <br />
defence line for his elite, excessively wealthy neo liberal support <br />
base, we have it with what we read on page 117 of his MYEFO statement.</strong></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>In short, his broken promise to impose <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/hockey-backflips-on-tax-laws-to-target-multinational-profit-shifters-20141216-128ebg.html">new tax avoidance rules</a> to stop multinational companies from loading debt on their Australian subsidiaries, says it all.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>It was the Gillard government that planned legislation to abolish <br />
section 25/90 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 that enabled tax <br />
minimisation deductions for global corporations.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b><a href="http://theaimn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/hockey1.jpg"><img alt="hockey" class="alignleft wp-image-30838 size-full" height="168" src="http://theaimn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/hockey1.jpg" width="299" /></a>In<br />
November 2013, Joe Hockey announced that the government would not <br />
proceed with the package but instead would introduce a targeted <br />
anti-avoidance option after consultation with the participants involved.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>In this month’s MYEFO statement we find hidden way back on page 117 the following announcement: <em>“The<br />
government will not proceed with a targeted anti-avoidance provision to<br />
address certain conduit arrangements involving foreign multinational <br />
enterprises, first announced in the 2013-14 MYEFO.”</em></b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>The reason? That it would cause, <em>“unreasonable compliance costs on Australian companies” </em>with subsidiaries offshore. <em>“That means more revenue flowing out the door to multinationals, which means worse services and higher taxes for Australians,”</em> according to Andrew Leigh, Shadow Assistant Treasurer.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>What a pathetic cop-out by Hockey. How hard would it be to exempt Australian owned companies from the legislation?</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>On his Facebook page, Wayne Swan says, <em>“This decision leaves open<br />
a huge loophole that will bleed our tax revenue for years and is yet <br />
another example of how this Government is reneging on essential <br />
structural reforms required to make our budget sustainable.”</em></b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Swan concludes by saying, <em>“Joe Hockey’s deceptive rhetoric about <br />
all Australians needing to pay their fair share is yet again exposed by <br />
this decision to give further tax breaks to large multinational <br />
corporations.”</em></b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><strong>Then there is Scott Morrison whose actions as Minister for Immigration and Border Protection betray <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/comment/scott-morrisons-calculated-cruelty-is-his-legacy-20141222-12c05g.html">his self-professed Christian principles</a><br />
of standing up for the truth, standing up for justice, standing on the <br />
side of the poor and the hungry, the homeless and the naked.</strong></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Contrast this with the circumstances on Manus Island that led to the <br />
death of Reza Berati, with the recent transfer of Sri Lankans at sea, <br />
with blackmailing the Senate cross benches promising to release children<br />
in detention on Christmas Island in return for the reintroduction of <br />
Temporary Protection Visas.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b><a href="http://theaimn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/morrison.jpg"><img alt="morrison" class="alignleft wp-image-30839 size-full" height="183" src="http://theaimn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/morrison.jpg" width="275" /></a>Many<br />
politicians cloak themselves with so-called Christian principles when <br />
describing themselves publicly, so in that sense Morrison is not alone. <br />
And it is easy to recall such obvious contradictions in one’s words with<br />
one’s actions as we can with most of them. So we should not be <br />
surprised when so-called Christian principles employed to win votes are <br />
quickly dispensed with in favour of pragmatism.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Now he had been given the Social Services Ministry as a reward for <br />
stopping the boats, as if stopping the boats was an achievement; as if <br />
engaging a nation’s Navy to stop a handful of desperate people trying to<br />
find a safe haven was considered clever.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>However, he may well find treating Australian citizens similarly is a<br />
different kettle of fish. We shall see if his belief in standing up for<br />
the truth, standing up for justice, standing on the side of the poor <br />
and the hungry, the homeless and the naked continue to conflict with <br />
pragmatism. If it does, he might well find himself and his government in<br />
a different kind of struggle.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>So, what is left to say about 2014 that hasn’t been said? The ongoing<br />
incompetence and absurdity of the Abbott government has provided a rich<br />
canvas for political commentators. We can only hope they keep providing<br />
us with similar material in 2015. I certainly expect they will.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b><a href="http://theaimn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/liars.jpg"><img alt="liars" class="alignleft wp-image-30846 size-full" height="170" src="http://theaimn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/liars.jpg" width="296" /></a>This<br />
constant harping on about removal of the carbon tax, the mining tax and<br />
stopping the boats only serves to highlight the absence of any vision <br />
for the future. They represent an ideas vacuum; a government that won by<br />
default, that was never prepared for what lay ahead and doesn’t know <br />
how to move forward.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Meanwhile the world will face some pretty ominous challenges in 2015 <br />
and there’s not a lot of confidence that those who lead us will manage <br />
those challenges well.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
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</b></span><div class="jp-relatedposts" id="jp-relatedposts" style="display: block;"> <h3 class="jp-relatedposts-headline"><span style="color: yellow;"><em>Related</em></span></h3><div class="jp-relatedposts-items jp-relatedposts-items-visual"><div class="jp-relatedposts-post jp-relatedposts-post0 jp-relatedposts-post-thumbs" data-post-format="false" data-post-id="30789"><span style="color: yellow;"><b><a class="jp-relatedposts-post-a" data-origin="30836" data-position="0" href="http://theaimn.com/latest-greatest-minister-women/" rel="nofollow" title="The latest and greatest from the Minister for Women
This is too good not to share (courtesy of Support the Honourable Julia Gillard Facebook page). LOL! When our Minister for Women, Tony Abbott, was asked to nominate his top achievements in 2014 in his "portfolio", he said: "Well, you know, it is very important to do the right thing…"><img alt="The latest and greatest from the Minister for Women" class="jp-relatedposts-post-img" src="http://i1.wp.com/theaimn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/julia-e1419205681507.jpg?resize=350%2C200" width="350" /></a></b></span><h4 class="jp-relatedposts-post-title"><span style="color: yellow;"><a class="jp-relatedposts-post-a" data-origin="30836" data-position="0" href="http://theaimn.com/latest-greatest-minister-women/" rel="nofollow" title="The latest and greatest from the Minister for Women
This is too good not to share (courtesy of Support the Honourable Julia Gillard Facebook page). LOL! When our Minister for Women, Tony Abbott, was asked to nominate his top achievements in 2014 in his "portfolio", he said: "Well, you know, it is very important to do the right thing…">The latest and greatest from the Minister for Women</a></span></h4><div class="jp-relatedposts-post-context"><span style="color: yellow;"><b>In "Politics"</b></span></div></div><div class="jp-relatedposts-post jp-relatedposts-post1 jp-relatedposts-post-thumbs" data-post-format="false" data-post-id="6762"><span style="color: yellow;"><b><a class="jp-relatedposts-post-a" data-origin="30836" data-position="1" href="http://theaimn.com/give-tony-a-chance-youre-kidding-me/" rel="nofollow" title="Give Tony a chance! You're kidding me!
I quite like the Sydney Morning Herald journalist with the acid wit, Mike Carlton. He's one of the only journalists left in the country in touch with us common folk and besides, any journalist who refers to Andrew Bolt as Melbourne's village idiot is worth listening to. Yesterday he asked…"><img alt="Give Tony a chance! You're kidding me!" class="jp-relatedposts-post-img" src="http://i2.wp.com/theaimn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/abbott-a-chance.jpg?resize=350%2C200" width="350" /></a></b></span><h4 class="jp-relatedposts-post-title"><span style="color: yellow;"><a class="jp-relatedposts-post-a" data-origin="30836" data-position="1" href="http://theaimn.com/give-tony-a-chance-youre-kidding-me/" rel="nofollow" title="Give Tony a chance! You're kidding me!
I quite like the Sydney Morning Herald journalist with the acid wit, Mike Carlton. He's one of the only journalists left in the country in touch with us common folk and besides, any journalist who refers to Andrew Bolt as Melbourne's village idiot is worth listening to. Yesterday he asked…">Give Tony a chance! You're kidding me!</a></span></h4><div class="jp-relatedposts-post-context"><span style="color: yellow;"><b>In "Politics"</b></span></div></div><div class="jp-relatedposts-post jp-relatedposts-post2 jp-relatedposts-post-thumbs" data-post-format="false" data-post-id="7219"><span style="color: yellow;"><b><a class="jp-relatedposts-post-a" data-origin="30836" data-position="2" href="http://theaimn.com/government-what-a-difference-an-election-makes/" rel="nofollow" title="Government - what a difference an election makes
THEN TONY Abbott has kicked off the Coalition campaign by pledging anew that his first order of business would be to scrap carbon pricing should he win the September 7 election. The Coalition Leader revealed he had written to secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, Ian Watt,…"><img alt="Government - what a difference an election makes" class="jp-relatedposts-post-img" src="http://i1.wp.com/theaimn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/abbott-tax-e1403232454700.jpg?resize=350%2C200" width="350" /></a></b></span><h4 class="jp-relatedposts-post-title"><span style="color: yellow;"><a class="jp-relatedposts-post-a" data-origin="30836" data-position="2" href="http://theaimn.com/government-what-a-difference-an-election-makes/" rel="nofollow" title="Government - what a difference an election makes
THEN TONY Abbott has kicked off the Coalition campaign by pledging anew that his first order of business would be to scrap carbon pricing should he win the September 7 election. The Coalition Leader revealed he had written to secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, Ian Watt,…">Government - what a difference an election makes</a></span></h4><div class="jp-relatedposts-post-context"><span style="color: yellow;"><b>In "Rossleigh"</b></span></div></div></div></div></section>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06411370614239868500noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4674803850479489149.post-15582884020379001452014-12-18T09:53:00.001-08:002014-12-18T09:53:17.167-08:00I won't be carrying a gun, and I don't want you to either - The AIM Network<a href="http://theaimn.com/i-wont-be-carrying-a-gun-and-i-dont-want-you-to-either/">I won't be carrying a gun, and I don't want you to either - The AIM Network</a><br /><br />
<br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">THE DEMENTED SENATOR </span></b></span><br /><br />
<header><br />
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<h1> <span style="color: yellow;">I won’t be carrying a gun, and I don’t want you to either <br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b><time class="entry-date" datetime="2014-12-18T20:38:41+11:00"><br />
December 18, 2014 </time></b></span><br />
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Written by: <br />
<a class="url fn n" href="http://theaimn.com/author/miglo/" rel="author" title="View all posts by Michael Taylor">Michael Taylor</a></b></span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b><a href="http://theaimn.com/i-wont-be-carrying-a-gun-and-i-dont-want-you-to-either/#comments" title="Comment on I won’t be carrying a gun, and I don’t want you to either">31 Replies</a></b></span> </li>
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b><img alt="Senator Leyonhjelm - idiot extraordinaire (image from the australian.com.au)" class="attachment-post-thumbnail wp-post-image" height="225" src="http://theaimn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/ley-e1418894676295.jpg" width="400" /> <br />
</b></span><figcaption><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Senator Leyonhjelm - idiot extraordinaire (image from the australian.com.au)</b></span></figcaption> </figure><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
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Category: <a href="http://theaimn.com/category/politics/" rel="category tag">Politics</a></b></span> </li>
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b><a href="http://theaimn.com/i-wont-be-carrying-a-gun-and-i-dont-want-you-to-either/" rel="bookmark" title="Permalink to I won’t be carrying a gun, and I don’t want you to either">permalink</a></b></span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b><img alt="" class="avatar avatar-40 photo grav-hashed grav-hijack" height="40" id="grav-a0d49527d585a5f751d3e7e921a9bf9f-0" src="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/a0d49527d585a5f751d3e7e921a9bf9f?s=40&d=identicon&r=PG" width="40" /> <br />
<a class="gk-author-name" href="http://theaimn.com/author/miglo/" rel="author"><br />
Michael Taylor <br />
</a></b></span><br />
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</ul></aside><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
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</b></span><blockquote><span style="color: yellow;"><b>“What happened in that cafe would be most unlikely to <br />
have occurred in Florida, Texas, or Vermont, or Alaska in America, or <br />
perhaps even Switzerland as well,” <a href="http://www.news.com.au/national/political-debate-begins-on-gun-law-reforms-in-the-wake-of-the-sydney-siege/story-e6frfkp9-1227160190851">Senator Leyonhjelm told ABC Radio</a> — adding at least “one or two” there would have had a concealed gun.</b></span></blockquote><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>If that’s the likely case, then I’m to assume that dozens of people <br />
would have been carrying arms at Port Arthur on April 28, 1996. Somebody<br />
could have taken out Martin Bryant.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>And guns might have been blazing at Julian Knight in Hoddle Street, Melbourne, August 9, 1987.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>But despite our gun laws at the time, Australians simply weren’t in <br />
the habit of entering restaurants, using public transport, visiting the <br />
zoo or going to the cricket armed to the teeth.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Senator Leyonhjelm would like to see us get into the habit. He wants <br />
us to carry a weapon so we can, in a nutshell, kill people should the <br />
need arise. Just how many nutcases does he want to see armed?</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>It’s ludicrous for him to postulate that the outcome that evolved in <br />
Martin Place would have been ‘unlikely’ in America because armed <br />
citizens could have easily dealt with the perpetrator. He needs to do a <br />
bit of research on the mass shootings in America and note how many of <br />
the murderers were taken out by an armed citizen. I think he’ll find <br />
that all – or if not all, then close to it – were left to the police to <br />
deal with.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>What happened in Martin Place was tragic. Very tragic. And despite <br />
the deaths of two innocent people I’d rather live in a country where <br />
such situations were always left to the police.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>I won’t be carrying a gun anywhere, and I hope don’t want you too either.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
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<h2><span style="color: yellow;"><a href="https://archiearchive.wordpress.com/2014/12/07/i-have-sold-my-conscience/" rel="bookmark">I Have Sold My Conscience</a></span></h2><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
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</b></span><div class="postinfo"><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
Posted on <span class="postdate">December 7, 2014</span> by archiearchive FCD </b></span></div><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
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</b></span><div class="pd-rating" data-settings="{"id":31656,"item_id":"_post_35083","settings":"{\"id\":31656,\"unique_id\":\"wp-post-35083\",\"title\":\"I%20Have%20Sold%20My%26nbsp%3BConscience\",\"permalink\":\"https:\\\/\\\/archiearchive.wordpress.com\\\/2014\\\/12\\\/07\\\/i-have-sold-my-conscience\\\/\",\"item_id\":\"_post_35083\"}"}" id="pd_rating_holder_31656_post_35083" style="display: inline-block;"><div class="rating-icons" id="pd_rate_31656_post_35083" style="float: left;"><div class="rating-star-icon" id="PDRTJS_31656_post_35083_stars_1" style="background-size: 32px 48px !important; background: url(https://polldaddy.com/images/ratings/star-yellow-sml.png) top left; cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 16px; line-height: 16px; margin-right: 1px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 16px;"><span style="color: yellow;"><b> </b></span></div><div class="rating-star-icon" id="PDRTJS_31656_post_35083_stars_2" style="background-size: 32px 48px !important; background: url(https://polldaddy.com/images/ratings/star-yellow-sml.png) top left; cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 16px; line-height: 16px; margin-right: 1px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 16px;"><span style="color: yellow;"><b> </b></span></div><div class="rating-star-icon" id="PDRTJS_31656_post_35083_stars_3" style="background-size: 32px 48px !important; background: url(https://polldaddy.com/images/ratings/star-yellow-sml.png) top left; cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 16px; line-height: 16px; margin-right: 1px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 16px;"><span style="color: yellow;"><b> </b></span></div><div class="rating-star-icon" id="PDRTJS_31656_post_35083_stars_4" style="background-size: 32px 48px !important; background: url(https://polldaddy.com/images/ratings/star-yellow-sml.png) top left; cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 16px; line-height: 16px; margin-right: 1px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 16px;"><span style="color: yellow;"><b> </b></span></div><div class="rating-star-icon" id="PDRTJS_31656_post_35083_stars_5" style="background-size: 32px 48px !important; background: url(https://polldaddy.com/images/ratings/star-yellow-sml.png) top left; cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 16px; line-height: 16px; margin-right: 1px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 16px;"><span style="color: yellow;"><b> </b></span></div></div><span style="color: yellow;"><b><span style="float: left;"> </span></b></span><div class="rating-msg" id="PDRTJS_31656_post_35083_msg" style="float: left; font-family: arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 10px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-synthesis: weight style; font-variant: normal; line-height: 16px; padding-left: 5px; text-align: right;"><span style="color: yellow;"><b>4 Votes</b></span></div></div><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br /></b></span><h3><span style="color: yellow;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>I was once a proud Australian.</strong></span></span></h3><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Then I took part in an electoral process which led to tony abbott becoming Prime Minister.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>tony abbott, who began by lying about something his predecessor said <br />
and who, after his election, continued to lie about everything he said <br />
and ignore all facets of truth.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b><img alt="beginning" class=" size-medium wp-image-35085 alignleft" height="229" src="https://archiearchive.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/beginning.jpg?w=300&h=229" width="300" />He lied about how he was going to tax us. He did say that there would be no changes to the GST.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>He lied about no changes to Pensions even as he reduced the increases.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>He lied about cuts to the ABC and SBS, calling them “efficiency dividends” before finally admitting they were cuts.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>He lied about his education policy.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>He, and his Ministers, lied about so many things.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Australia’s foreign aid was changed from being aid to help the needy to aid to help Australian Business people.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>All of which made me sad</strong></span><br />
but not discouraged for these are the actions expected of a Tory <br />
Government. Even if they did lie about them before the election.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>What has destroyed my faith in Australia is what we have done to those refugees seeking our help.<img alt="MrMorrison" class=" size-medium wp-image-35084 alignright" height="253" src="https://archiearchive.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/mrmorrison.jpg?w=300&h=253" width="300" /></b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>We used to be the country of a “Fair Go”, of “Mateship”. Now we are a<br />
Nation which has chosen to ignore our international obligations to help<br />
others.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>We have chosen to thumb our collective nose at the UNHCR. We have <br />
chosen to incarcerate the innocent. We have chosen to lock up children. <br />
All in the name of “saving lives at sea”. And we have accepted the <br />
secrecy our Government has imposed so that we do not even question <br />
whether lives have been saved.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Yes that has destroyed my faith in my Nation.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Yet even all that did not cause me to reach the depths I have reached in this past 48 hours.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>I now must give up my conscience.</strong></span></span></b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>We have a Prime Minister who was once intending to become a Priest, <br />
with an Immigration Minister who is a member of an Evangelical Church, <br />
with most of the rest of the front bench and a large group of <br />
back-benchers being avowed Christians of assorted persuasions. Yet those<br />
Biblical strictures appear to have no relevance.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b><img alt="TONY ABBOTT BUSINESS PRESSER" class=" size-medium wp-image-35086 alignleft" height="300" src="https://archiearchive.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/moral-vacuum.jpg?w=297&h=300" width="297" />They<br />
have, individually and collectively, broken almost all of the Old <br />
Testament’s Ten Commandments and the New Testament’s New Commandment <br />
which Jesus gave to all who follow Him. “<em><span class="text John-13-34" id="en-AKJV-26665">A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.</span></em><span class="text John-13-35" id="en-AKJV-26666"><em> By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another</em>.</span>“</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>So we have a Government of Christians who, in other circumstances would be declared “Apostate”.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>It is this Government which has destroyed my faith in my country.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Now my taxes, your taxes, will be going to schools set up to educate <br />
new priests, parsons and ministers. The ones who hope to be a part of <br />
Churches which have histories of Child Abuse.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>That’s correct.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><strong>Our taxes are going to support and educate child abusers.</strong></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>That is the final straw.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>That is the real cause of my anger and my tears.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">I need to join the rest of my Nation and sell off my conscience!</span></strong></span></b></span><br /><br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06411370614239868500noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4674803850479489149.post-42592886862142090902014-12-06T21:00:00.001-08:002014-12-06T21:00:48.354-08:00New law gives Morrison unprecedented control over asylum seekers<a href="http://theconversation.com/new-law-gives-morrison-unprecedented-control-over-asylum-seekers-35106">New law gives Morrison unprecedented control over asylum seekers</a><br /><br />
<header class="grid-prepend-four grid-twelve"><br />
<time content="2014-12-06T02:42:51Z" datetime="2014-12-06T02:42:51Z" itemprop="datePublished" pubdate="pubdate">6 December 2014, 1.42pm AEDT</time><br />
<h1 class="entry-title grid-eight instapaper_title" itemprop="name"> <span style="color: yellow;">New law gives Morrison unprecedented control over asylum seekers<br />
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</b></span><div class="entry-summary" style="overflow: hidden; text-indent: 100%; white-space: nowrap;"> <span style="color: yellow;"><b>Immigration Minister Scott Morrison now has unchecked power to <br />
decide the outcomes that will affect the lives of asylum seekers and <br />
refugees coming to Australia. Previous immigration ministers have had…</b></span><br /><br />
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<h4><span style="color: yellow;">Author</span></h4><ol class="semantic"><li class="vcard author-avatar large" id="author-36553" itemprop="author" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person"><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/don-mcmaster-36553" rel="author"><br />
<img alt="" height="54" itemprop="image" src="https://62e528761d0685343e1c-f3d1b99a743ffa4142d9d7f1978d9686.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com/avatars/36553/thumb54/image-20141205-8667-1u6yf1c.jpg" width="54" /><br />
<h3 class="fn"> <span itemprop="name">Don McMaster</span><br />
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<span class="role">Visiting Research Fellow, School of History & Politics at University of Adelaide</span><br />
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<section class="module" id="disclosure-statement"><br />
<h4><span style="color: yellow;">Disclosure Statement</span></h4><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Don McMaster does not work for, consult to, own shares in or <br />
receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from<br />
this article, and has no relevant affiliations.</b></span><br /><br />
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</section><br />
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<div class="does_not_contribute"><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
University of Adelaide is not a member of The Conversation and does not financially support the project. <a href="https://theconversation.com/who-funds-the-conversation-13921">Find out more.</a></b></span><br />
</div><section class="module nocontent" id="funding"><br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><strong>The Conversation is funded by CSIRO, Melbourne, Monash, RMIT, UTS, UWA,<br />
ACU, ANU, ASB, Baker IDI, Canberra, CDU, Curtin, Deakin, Flinders, Griffith, the Harry Perkins Institute, JCU, La Trobe,<br />
Massey, Murdoch, Newcastle, UQ, QUT, SAHMRI, Swinburne, Sydney, UNDA, UNE, UniSA, USC, USQ,<br />
UTAS, UWS, VU and Wollongong.<br />
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No other minister has the same unchecked control over the lives of other people as the immigration minister has.<br />
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Lukas Coch</span></span></b></span><br />
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</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Immigration Minister Scott Morrison now has unchecked <br />
power to decide the outcomes that will affect the lives of asylum <br />
seekers and refugees coming to Australia. Previous immigration ministers<br />
have had this power, but the passage of the <a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_Legislation/Bills_Search_Results/Result?bId=r5346">Migration and Maritime Powers Legislation Amendment (Resolving the Asylum Legacy Caseload) Bill 2014</a> this week handed Morrison unprecedented, unchallengeable and secret powers to control the lives of asylum seekers.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
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</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>So, what does this mean for Australia’s obligations under international law?</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>It means that Australia is now no longer obliged to adhere to the <a href="http://www.unhcr.org/pages/49da0e466.html">UN Refugee Convention</a><br />
– a treaty Australia was instrumental in constructing and implementing<br />
after the Second World War. Australia was, at that time, at the <br />
forefront of human rights in terms of the status of refugees. It signed <br />
the initial UN convention and the subsequent <a href="https://treaties.un.org/doc/Treaties/1967/10/19671004%2007-06%20AM/Ch_V_5p.pdf">1967 Protocol</a>. This had previously set the framework for Australian immigration and refugee policy.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>It also highlighted and placed Australia as a “good world citizen” <br />
with an agenda to uphold human rights, and, in this case, treat people <br />
seeking sanctuary with dignity, fairness and compassion.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Refugee law is built upon the fundamental principle of <a href="http://www.asylumlawdatabase.eu/en/keywords/non-refoulement">non-refoulement</a>:<br />
that is it is forbidden to return a person to a country where they may <br />
still be persecuted or tortured. This is recognised by every country and<br />
exists in the Refugee Convention.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Morrison’s bill, now Australian law, states that:</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><blockquote><span style="color: yellow;"><b>… it is irrelevant whether Australia has non-refoulement obligations in respect of an unlawful non-citizen.</b></span></blockquote><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>This is saying that Australia is now entitled to return an asylum <br />
seeker to a country where they have been, or know they may be, tortured <br />
or persecuted.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Arrivals by boat will also no longer have access to the Refugee <br />
Review Tribunal. They will have an appeal mechanism which is not a <br />
hearing but only a paper review. This too is an alarming and worrying <br />
development.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><h2><span style="color: yellow;">Evolution of ministerial powers</span></h2><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
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</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Asylum seekers first entered the Australian psyche in the late 1970s <br />
when Vietnamese “boat people”, as they became known, reached our <br />
northern shores.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>To the then-Fraser government’s credit, the Vietnamese asylum seekers<br />
were well received. The government acknowledged Australia’s legal <br />
obligations, recognising the interests of the asylum seekers but <br />
complying with the UN declarations. Various waves of asylum seekers have<br />
arrived from other countries since then, with differing and hardening <br />
treatment of them.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Immigration ministers have extended powers compared to other <br />
ministers. The refugee determination system is an administrative system<br />
based on ministerial discretion. This means the immigration minister of<br />
the day has powers to overrule any decisions made by tribunal <br />
determination panels and to have individual decision-making in any <br />
determination application.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Ministerial discretion powers were inserted in to the Migration Act in a <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/mlaa1989310/">1989 amendment</a><br />
to provide an outlet to deal with difficult cases that did not fit <br />
statutory visa criteria. Under the act, the minister may substitute a <br />
more favourable decision than the one handed down by a tribunal:</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><blockquote><span style="color: yellow;"><b>… if the minister thinks it is in the public interest to do so.</b></span></blockquote><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Significantly, the discretionary powers are non-compellable, <br />
non-reviewable and non-delegable within domestic law. This means that <br />
the minister does not have a duty to exercise the discretionary powers; <br />
the powers must be exercised personally by the minister and cannot be <br />
delegated.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>This has led to inconsistencies in the refugee determination system <br />
over the decades when ministers have changed. Some have used this power <br />
extensively, for example Philip Ruddock <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2003/s940254.htm">in 2003</a>. Others, such as Robert Ray <a href="http://www.multiculturalaustralia.edu.au/doc/ray_1.pdf">in 1989</a>, have relieved themselves of the discretionary powers.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>The passage of Morrison’s bill gives a new interpretation to these <br />
powers. Australia will now follow a new, independent and self-contained <br />
statutory framework, and this will have the government’s own <br />
interpretation of international law. Australia now regards itself as <br />
free from the bonds of the Refugee Convention.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Any checks and balances that were previously in Australia’s refugee <br />
system have been stripped away, removing basic protections for those who<br />
arrive seeking asylum. No other minister – not the prime minister, the <br />
foreign minister nor the attorney-general – has the same unchecked <br />
control over the lives of other people.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Morrison now has unchecked power and control over asylum seekers' lives. His decisions cannot be challenged.</b></span><br /><br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06411370614239868500noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4674803850479489149.post-81495567062254318062014-12-06T20:57:00.001-08:002014-12-06T20:57:15.098-08:00A Most Immoral Act - The AIM Network<a href="http://theaimn.com/immoral-act/">A Most Immoral Act - The AIM Network</a><br /><br />
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<h1> <span style="color: yellow;">A Most Immoral Act <br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b><time class="entry-date" datetime="2014-12-07T07:50:51+11:00"><br />
December 7, 2014 </time></b></span><br />
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Written by: <br />
<a class="url fn n" href="http://theaimn.com/author/johnlord2013/" rel="author" title="View all posts by John Lord">John Lord</a></b></span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b><a href="http://theaimn.com/immoral-act/#comments" title="Comment on A Most Immoral Act">42 Replies</a></b></span> </li>
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b><img alt="Morrison and Abbott" class="attachment-post-thumbnail wp-post-image" height="174" src="http://theaimn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Morrison-and-Abbott.jpg" width="290" /></b></span> <br />
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Category: <a href="http://theaimn.com/category/politics/" rel="category tag">Politics</a></b></span> </li>
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b><a href="http://theaimn.com/tag/abbott/" rel="tag">abbott</a>, <a href="http://theaimn.com/tag/coalition/" rel="tag">Coalition</a>, <a href="http://theaimn.com/tag/government/" rel="tag">Government</a></b></span> </li>
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b><img alt="" class="avatar avatar-40 photo grav-hashed grav-hijack" height="40" id="grav-d44030a8b1d53aa6a153a8845e0613d7-0" src="http://1.gravatar.com/avatar/d44030a8b1d53aa6a153a8845e0613d7?s=40&d=identicon&r=PG" width="40" /> <br />
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John Lord <br />
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</ul></aside><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>In a lifelong experience of following politics I have, until now, <br />
never witnessed children being horse traded, and senators being <br />
blackmailed, for the passing of legislation. In this case to reintroduce<br />
Temporary Protection Visas.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><strong>It looks as though Immigration Minister Scott Morrison (and the senators) have taken the yes side on the ageless Christian ethical dilemma<em> “Does the end justify the means”.</em></strong></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>It is a fascination to me as to why people assume that religion has <br />
some form of monopoly on morality. And even worse, they pretend to speak<br />
on Gods behalf in dispensing it.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><strong>Morrison said:</strong></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><blockquote><span style="color: yellow;"><b>“I will not take moral lectures from Bill Shorten or <br />
Sarah Hanson-Young when it comes to border protection on that or any <br />
other issues,’’</b></span></blockquote><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><strong>Abbott said:</strong></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><blockquote><span style="color: yellow;"><b>“So this is a win for Australia, it’s also a win for humanitarian values, it’s a win for human decency’’</b></span></blockquote><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><strong>Jesus said:</strong></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><blockquote><span style="color: yellow;"><b>“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”</b></span></blockquote><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>We are all wired for decency and conscience with or without religion.<br />
Some understand it better than others illustrated by either what we do <br />
or don’t do. By our mercy and compassion or deficiency in it.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Morrison like many of the Cabinet are serious practicing Christians <br />
who interpret God’s word to fit snugly with their political ideology. <br />
They easily accommodate policy with their own definition of scripture, <br />
justifying their immorality to themselves. An evil in itself.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>As someone who spent many years in a church environment similar to <br />
Morrison s (now an open-minded atheist) I can assure the reader that <br />
there are many who think like Morrison. They worship their politics and <br />
religion without demarcation. In doing so they believe that telling the <br />
truth isn’t necessarily in their best interests.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>This government seems intent on imposing its own particular form of <br />
Christianity on an unsuspecting population. And I might add, one that is<br />
completely at odds with current Papal uttering on social inequality.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>The decision to sack highly credentialed social workers, doing <br />
excellent work in high schools and replace them with accredited <br />
Chaplains is outrageous.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>And now it seems that taxpayer funds are to be used to fund the training of Priests in religious institutions.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>What ever happened to the secular society?</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><strong>The fools that frequent the senate.</strong></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>The inexperienced cross-bench senators buckled into the ransom <br />
dangled before their collective conscience and awarded the executive the<br />
power to ‘’play God ‘’ with the lives of those seeking safety from this<br />
supposed Christian nation.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>In all fairness it could not have been an easy decision.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><strong>Senator Muir, said he was:</strong></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><blockquote><span style="color: yellow;"><b>“Forced into a corner to decide between a bad decision and a worse decision, a position I do not wish on my worst enemies”.</b></span></blockquote><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Maybe the Palmer United Party senators felt the same.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>It has also been reported that Morrison’s department had children on <br />
Christmas Island phone Muir and beg their freedom even giving them the <br />
phones to do so. Now that’s something straight out of the “classic <br />
hostage situation” handbook. That’s what terrorists do with hostages.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>So, with the passing of this Bill what have we ended up with?</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><strong>Crikey put it this way, calling it an immoral disgrace:</strong></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b><em>“At 8.06 this morning it was done: the House of Representatives <br />
passed the government’s Migration and Maritime Powers Legislation <br />
Amendment (Resolving the Asylum Legacy Caseload) Bill 2014, following <br />
its passage and amendment just after midnight in the Senate. <br />
Parliamentarians then got to go home for Christmas, having delivered the<br />
Immigration Minister extraordinary powers that in effect obliterate any<br />
further pretence that Australia regards asylum seekers as human beings.</em></b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b><em>The bill restored the failed Howard-era policy of temporary <br />
protection visas, a mechanism that actually increased boat arrivals when<br />
last attempted. Whether Clive Palmer seriously believes that there is a<br />
pathway to citizenship contained in a kind of homeopathic form within <br />
the legislation — or it merely suits its purposes to pretend there is — <br />
we don’t know, but Scott Morrison has been crystal clear that TPVs will <br />
never provide permanent protection.</em></b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b><em>But the bill goes much further, freeing Australia from any <br />
obligations associated with the Refugee Convention, including giving <br />
Morrison and his department — which has repeatedly demonstrated it is <br />
profoundly incompetent and resistant to the most basic forms of <br />
accountability — the power to return people to torture and persecution <br />
without judicial review.”</em></b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>On the one hand cross bench senators like Ricky Muir, Nick Xenophon <br />
might argue that the end does indeed justify the means. After all there <br />
will be many freed from their dreadful incarceration and the migrant <br />
intake has been increased. But did they consider that Morrison already <br />
held powers to resolve these issues, to release people. Especially <br />
children. His threat was that unless they passed his legislation they <br />
could rot in hell.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><strong>They could have called his bluff.</strong></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Their pretentious anguish at having to deal with such a choice can’t hide the grim reality of their actions.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><strong>Greg Barnes (a spokesman for the Australian Lawyers Alliance and barrister) put this way:</strong></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b><em>“But in passing this legislation Senator Muir and his colleagues <br />
have done what many would think is unconscionable in a society that <br />
supposedly subscribes to the rule of law – allow the executive to “play <br />
God” with the lives of those in our world who want to put their case for<br />
asylum to a rich, developed world country with ample capacity to take <br />
them.”</em></b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Morrison is now effectively above the High Court and our conformity <br />
to the International Convention on Refugees has been written out of our <br />
law.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><strong>The bill, in all probability is the most immoral ever passed by an Australian Parliament.</strong></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Not only that, it is also bad policy. It says much about the leaders <br />
of this country and their shameful misrepresentation of the faith they <br />
profess to follow.<br /><br />
No matter in what sphere of government policy (immigration, health, <br />
pensioners, education etc) one looks, you find the hand of Abbott’s hate<br />
on those who refuse to join Team Australia.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>He seeks to reward those who follow and punish those who don’t. In <br />
the past week much has been written about the horrendous failings of his<br />
government.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><strong>A lot has centered on Abbott’s credentials as a leader. Therein lies <br />
the fundamental problem. For those of us who have followed his career <br />
closely, it’s easy. He has none.</strong></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><blockquote><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Leviticus 19:33-34<br /><br />
“When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him <br />
wrong. You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native <br />
among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in<br />
the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.</b></span></blockquote><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
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</ul></div></div></div><h3 class="sd-title"><span style="color: yellow;">Like this:</span></h3>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06411370614239868500noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4674803850479489149.post-51171455056832733382014-10-27T13:04:00.001-07:002014-10-27T13:04:54.834-07:00Silencing dissent and the mastery of fear<a href="http://www.independentaustralia.net/life/life-display/silencing-dissent-and-the-mastery-of-fear,7035">Silencing dissent and the mastery of fear</a><br /><br />
<h1 class="titleLink"> <span style="color: yellow;"><a content="http://www.independentaustralia.net/life/life-display/silencing-dissent-and-the-mastery-of-fear,7035" href="http://www.independentaustralia.net/life/life-display/silencing-dissent-and-the-mastery-of-fear,7035" itemprop="url" title="Permanent Link : Silencing dissent and the mastery of fear"><span itemprop="name">Silencing dissent and the mastery of fear</span></a></span></h1><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><div class="articleResultItems"><span style="color: yellow;"><b><span class="arItems"><span class="glyphicon glyphicon-user"></span> <strong itemprop="author"><a href="http://www.independentaustralia.net/profile-on/kellie-tranter,246" rel="tooltip" title="View all of this authors articles">Kellie Tranter</a></strong></span><span class="arItems"><span class="artTimeTag"><span class="glyphicon glyphicon-calendar"></span> <time content="2014-10-27T08:00:00+10:00" itemprop="datePublished">27 October 2014, 8:00am</time></span></span> <span class="arItems"><span class="glyphicon glyphicon-comment"></span> <a class="commentNotice" content="http://www.independentaustralia.net/life/life-display/silencing-dissent-and-the-mastery-of-fear,7035#disqus_thread" data-disqus-identifier="dc:7035" href="http://www.independentaustralia.net/life/life-display/silencing-dissent-and-the-mastery-of-fear,7035#disqus_thread" itemprop="discussionUrl">55</a></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b><img src="http://www.independentaustralia.net/_lib/slir/w600-h900/http://independentaustralia.net/i/article/img/article-7035-hero.jpg" /><br />
</b></span><figcaption></figcaption><br />
</figure><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><strong><em>The power elite are using well-worn, time honoured <br />
methods of silencing reputable sources of dissent to keep ordinary <br />
Australians in a docile, compliant state of perpetual fear, writes <a href="http://kellietranter.com/bio-contact/">Kellie Tranter</a>.</em></strong></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>FROM THE <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/education/christopher-pyne-tackles-leftist-bias-in-classrooms/story-fn59nlz9-1226798590821">review</a> of the National School <a href="http://ipa.org.au/publications/2223/scrap-the-national-curriculum">Curriculum</a> to the relentless claims of <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/comment/ignore-the-hysteria-its-time-we-privatised-the-tone-deaf-leftleaning-abc-20140130-31o39.html">bias</a> by both our public broadcaster and in our academic <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/media/uni-degrees-in-indoctrination/story-e6frg996-1227088176478">institutions</a>,<br />
there is a concerted campaign playing out in this country to implement a<br />
model of thinking that occupies the entire intellectual and cultural <br />
space.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Whether or not you call it social engineering, its purpose is to <br />
aggressively block unwanted progress, to maintain tribalism and to <br />
insulate the power elite. The mechanism is fear, and the main vehicles <br />
are media of all kinds and government policies.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>No one can make progress or speak out until they master their fear; <br />
until they isolate which fears are worth listening to and how that fear <br />
is engendered in them; and until they understand how the political class<br />
and the power elite manipulate those fears in order to maintain <br />
discipline and control of the population.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>As <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marilynne_Robinson">Marilynne Robinson</a>, American novelist and essayist, pointed out in a recent <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/05/magazine/the-revelations-of-marilynne-robinson.html">interview</a> with the <em>New York Times</em>:</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><blockquote><span style="color: yellow;"><b><em>“Fear has, in this moment, a respectability I’ve never seen in my life.” </em></b></span><br /><br />
<br />
</blockquote><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>In July 1962, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King,_Jr.">Martin Luther King Jnr</a> wrote <a href="http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/primarydocuments/Vol6/July1962-March1963DraftofChapterXIV,TheMasteryofFearorAntidotesforFear.pdf" target="_blank">the sermon</a>:</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><blockquote><span style="color: yellow;"><b>‘<em>The Mastery of Fear or Antidotes for Fear</em>’.</b></span><br /><br />
<br />
</blockquote><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>His words are still prescient over 50 years later:</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><blockquote><span style="color: yellow;"><b><em>‘Today it is almost a truism to call our time an “age of fear”. <br />
In these days of terrifying change, bitter international tension and <br />
chaotic social disruption, who has not experienced the paralysis of <br />
crippling fear? Everywhere there are people depressed and bewildered, <br />
irritable and nervous all because of the monster of fear. Like a nagging<br />
hound of hell, fear follows our every footstep, leaving us tormented by<br />
day and tortured by night…’</em></b></span><br /><br />
<br />
</blockquote><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>While Martin Luther King Jnr prescribed the cure for fear as facing <br />
them without flinching, through love and through faith because of the <br />
consciousness of deficient resources and of consequent inadequacy for <br />
life.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Zinn">Howard Zinn</a> ‒ American historian, author, playwright and social activist ‒ <a href="http://fearlessstories.com/magazine/courage-springs-from-fear/">suggested</a> that collectivity reduces<br />
fear. Community reduces fear. Doing something with other people reduces<br />
fear, because being part of a movement you believe in and being <br />
associated with other people who believe in the same thing, helps to <br />
overcome fear.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Perhaps it is fear of a critically thinking population who have <br />
mastered their fears and who join together to challenge the existing <br />
political and economic system that scares the power elite the most. <br />
Particularly if, as some experts suggest, the goal of state terror is to<br />
isolate and separate social movements.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>In Australia, we have witnessed the gradual introduction of a range of laws which affect non-violent resistance — including <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/12/victorian-anti-protest-laws-passed-amid-outcry-from-public-gallery">anti-protest laws</a>, the expansion of National Security <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/consumer-security/terror-laws-clear-senate-enabling-entire-australian-web-to-be-monitored-and-whistleblowers-to-be-jailed-20140926-10m8ih.html">laws</a>, Preventative Detention <a href="http://www.mulr.com.au/issues/35_3/35_3_13.pdf">Orders</a>, ASIO and AFP <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/asio-eyes-green-groups-20120411-1wsba.html">spying</a> on environmentalists, proposed <a href="http://www.afr.com/p/national/activists_meeting_loophole_tightened_FUcsywJELyzQhrjCknmKBJ">bills</a> disallowing political activists from disrupting companies and the gagging and punishment of public servants and <a href="http://www.independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/liberal-party-corruption-stench-grows,7031">whistleblowers</a>. Riot <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/five-arrested-after-protests-at-university-of-sydney-20130326-2grfu.html">police</a> are even called in to university campuses as a ‘precautionary’ measure.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>The list is more extensive than most of us probably realise.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Of special relevance in understanding what’s happening today is a 1971 <a href="http://law.wlu.edu/deptimages/Powell%20Archives/PowellMemorandumTypescript.pdf">memorandum</a> from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_F._Powell,_Jr.">Lewis F. Powell Jnr</a> to the Chair of the Education Committee of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Chamber_of_Commerce">U.S. Chamber of Commerce</a>.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Titled <em>‘Attack On American Free Enterprise System’</em>, the memo outlined ways in which business should defend and counter attack against a <em>‘broad attack’ </em>from ‘disquieting voices’.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>The tactics and recommendations he put forward to block any assault <br />
on the economic system still reflect the mindsets of those in power and <br />
the beneficiaries of that power.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Powell writes:</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><blockquote><span style="color: yellow;"><b><em>‘The most disquieting voices joining the chorus <br />
of criticism, come from perfectly respectable elements of society from <br />
the college campus, the pulpit, the media, the intellectual and literary<br />
journals, the arts and sciences and from politicians. Yet these often <br />
are the most articulate, the most vocal, the most prolific in their <br />
writing and speaking.’</em></b></span><br /><br />
<br />
</blockquote><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>It seems that the <em>‘hostility of respectable liberals and social reformers’</em> is what the elite fear the most because, according to Powell:</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><blockquote><span style="color: yellow;"><b><em>‘… it is the sum total of their views and influence which could indeed fatally weaken or destroy the system… </em>[because they] … <em>exert enormous influence far out of proportion to their numbers.’</em></b></span><br /><br />
<br />
</blockquote><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>The lesson is that people protesting, including the left, need to <br />
recruit and encourage conservatives to raise their voices about issues <br />
of concern because, as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_George_%28political_scientist%29" style="background-color: white;">Susan George</a> describes in her satirical book <em><a href="http://www.tni.org/briefing/how-win-class-war">How to win the class war</a></em>, the target of their foes is, and always has been, institutions, groups, organisations, or centres of power <em>‘where ideas are developed, discussed and disseminated’ </em>and which may ultimately shape the thinking, attitudes and emotions of the population.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Powell’s tactics to maintain the status quo and block change can be <br />
clearly seen throughout Australia today: concerted attempts to try and <br />
silence critical comments from <em>‘respectable elements of society’. </em></b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Conservative think tanks yield a constant stream of critics of <br />
progressive ideas, who are given disconcertingly regular and <br />
disproportionate airtime. <em>The Australian</em> newspaper regularly disparages intelligent critical commentators and their opinions.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>But the attacks aren’t limited to publishing opposing views on television or in print.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>A perfect illustration is social media sensation Father Rod Bower’s <a href="http://www.skynews.com.au/video/program_viewpoint/2014/08/31/father-rod-bower.html">interview</a> with Chris Kenny on <em>Sky News</em><br />
in August this year during which he was accused of directing his church<br />
signage to the Green/Left end of the political spectrum, for not being <br />
able to separate religion from politics, for favouring the former <br />
government instead of the current government and for criticising the <br />
current policies of the government.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Kenny litters the interview with false premises and unjustified assumptions, as <a href="https://www.facebook.com/anggos">Father Bower</a> attempts to point out.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Whether its trouncing the views of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cate_Blanchett">Cate Blanchett</a> for participating in a climate change <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/i-want-to-be-able-to-look-my-children-in-the-face-20110530-1fd01.html">advertisement</a>, <a href="http://forward.com/articles/186694/australian-professor-jake-lynch-sued-over-boycott/">litigation</a> against <a href="http://sydney.edu.au/arts/peace_conflict/staff/profiles/jake.lynch.php">Professor Jake Lynch</a><br />
for his refusal to sponsor an application for a fellowship in Australia<br />
by an Israeli academic because of Lynch’s support of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boycott,_Divestment_and_Sanctions">Boycott Divestment and Sanctions</a> campaign against Israel, or continued <a href="http://www.crikey.com.au/2014/05/29/a-conservative-host-for-aunty-mark-scott-faces-bias-grilling/?wpmp_switcher=mobile">complaints</a> that conservatives are not employed in prominent positions, all are tactics raised in the Powell rule book.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>When you understand the tactical rationale of this institutional <br />
criticism and its methods, it becomes an object of contempt, and <br />
something that can be dealt with rather than a source of fear. The same <br />
applies to publications online and in social media which always attract <br />
similar disparaging comments from pseudonymous trolls — and there’s an <br />
army of them out there.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Speaking out almost always attracts some sort of criticism, but <br />
different viewpoints and rational criticisms are a fair price to pay for<br />
being able to say what you need to say. Living your life without ever <br />
speaking out, suppressing your need to be heard in support of things you<br />
regard as socially good and your need to express your questioning of or<br />
opposition to things that are socially bad, is no way to live at all.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>We all have an obligation, both to ourselves and to society, to speak<br />
out and to act when we see unfairness, injustice and the orchestrated <br />
manipulation of true discussion of issues that affect us all.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b><em><strong><a href="http://www.independentaustralia.net/profile-on/kellie-tranter,246">Kellie Tranter</a></strong></em> <em><strong>is a lawyer and human rights activist. You can follow her on Twitter <a href="http://twitter.com/KellieTranter">@KellieTranter</a>.</strong></em></b></span><br /><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06411370614239868500noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4674803850479489149.post-58868288405682056422014-10-16T11:19:00.001-07:002014-10-16T11:19:50.651-07:00Dealing with this ‘boy’ Prime Minister - The AIM Network<a href="http://theaimn.com/dealing-boy-prime-minister/">Dealing with this ‘boy’ Prime Minister - The AIM Network</a><br /><br />
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<h1> <span style="color: yellow;">Dealing with this ‘boy’ Prime Minister <br />
</span></h1><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b><time class="entry-date" datetime="2014-10-16T13:33:59+00:00"><br />
October 16, 2014 </time></b></span><br />
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Written by: <br />
<a class="url fn n" href="http://theaimn.com/author/johnbkelly/" rel="author" title="View all posts by John Kelly">John Kelly</a></b></span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b><a href="http://theaimn.com/dealing-boy-prime-minister/#comments" title="Comment on Dealing with this ‘boy’ Prime Minister">27 Replies</a></b></span> </li>
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b><img alt="diplomacy" class="attachment-post-thumbnail wp-post-image" height="194" src="http://theaimn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/diplomacy.jpg" width="260" /></b></span> <br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b><img alt="" class="avatar avatar-40 photo grav-hashed grav-hijack" height="40" id="grav-831443585decd7c4c94315a7ee3672e2-0" src="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/831443585decd7c4c94315a7ee3672e2?s=40&d=identicon&r=PG" width="40" /> <br />
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John Kelly <br />
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</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><strong>At Head of Government level, there is a protocol <br />
that enables messages of disapproval to be passed from one leader to <br />
another in a way that maintains the dignity of the position, if not the <br />
person. It has been developed over the centuries to avoid <span data-reactid=".2i.1:3:1:$comment945375362158568_945503285479109:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.3"><span data-reactid=".2i.1:3:1:$comment945375362158568_945503285479109:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.3.0"><span data-reactid=".2i.1:3:1:$comment945375362158568_945503285479109:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.3.0.$end:0:$0:0">the<br />
sort of crass, undignified, amateurish language used by those who have <br />
little understanding of the necessity of cultural niceties that are an <br />
integral part of international diplomacy. </span></span></span></strong></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b><a href="http://theaimn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/abbott1.jpg"><img alt="abbott" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-28808" height="168" src="http://theaimn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/abbott1.jpg" width="299" /></a>Tony<br />
Abbott fits neatly into a category that doesn’t understand this <br />
diplomacy. And, he seems incapable of adapting to this level of <br />
diplomatic dignity. He is like a street thug pretending to be the <em>Maître Di’</em> for a 5 star hotel; a role he is ill prepared for and either unwilling or unable to develop.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>While occasionally giving the appearance of being able to hold a <br />
conversation with some world leaders, he has a predilection for common <br />
street talk which translates on the international level as <br />
unprofessional. In short, he doesn’t know how to conduct himself. As a <br />
consequence, for those of us who take pride in our international <br />
reputation, he has become a national embarrassment.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>The most recent example is, of course, his brain snap comment about <br />
shirtfronting the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, at the G20 meeting <br />
in Brisbane next month. His follow-up comment, <em>’You bet you are’</em> was so out of sync with the first remark that it suggested he was not in control.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>The Russian response to this ‘boy’ prime minister comment has been <br />
dignified and restrained but more importantly, it has been predictable. <br />
They know how to conduct themselves on the world stage. To be warned to <br />
choose one’s words carefully by<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/15/russian-pm-abbott-politicians-choose-their-words"> Premier Dmitry Medvedev,</a><br />
a man who has more diplomacy in his little finger than Abbott could <br />
hope for in a lifetime, is a lesson Abbott, we dearly hope, would heed. <br />
But given his past performances it is unlikely.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>The last international leader I can recall who became a figure of <br />
international amusement was, coincidentally, a former Russian president,<br />
Boris Yeltsin. Boris was a drunken fool; a buffoon who somehow worked <br />
his way up the Communist party chain of command while keeping the most <br />
bizarre of his antics under the radar. You can read about some of his <br />
more <a href="http://www.cracked.com/quick-fixes/4-international-incidents-caused-by-drunk-boris-yeltsin/">colourful goofs here.</a></b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b><a href="http://theaimn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Yeltsin1.jpg"><img alt="Yeltsin" class="alignleft wp-image-28811 size-full" height="214" src="http://theaimn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Yeltsin1.jpg" width="235" /></a>He<br />
lasted eight years but that was probably because of the tremendous <br />
upheaval Russia experienced in transition from a socialist economy to a <br />
market based economy; from communism to capitalism. No one really knew <br />
what was happening at the time both inside and outside the country and <br />
that failing allowed a great deal of the wealth of the country to fall <br />
into the hands of a small number of oligarchs. Internationally, Yeltsin <br />
was a figure of derision.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Tony Abbott is not a Yeltsin; not even close, but he is fast becoming<br />
a figure of amusement to the rest of the world. That we are a small <br />
player on the world stage could be regarded as a blessing in disguise, <br />
but not for long.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>While Abbott’s antics are not even close to those of Yeltsin, the <br />
‘shirtfront’ comment coming on the back of his comments about the <br />
Scottish vote for independence will ensure that future overseas trips <br />
taken by him will attract a lot more attention from the international <br />
media and for all the wrong reasons.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>For that alone, the Liberal Party should be taking some action. He is<br />
their responsibility. Forty two of their parliamentary members voted <br />
him leader. Given the quality of his opponent at the time, one can only <br />
conclude that those forty two members had a brain snap. Surely it is <br />
time to correct that moment of madness. How much more of this should we <br />
be expected to endure?</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Should they not act, then in all likelihood, the people will in 2016.<br />
The quality of the Coalition governance has been appalling. They fail <br />
on several fronts; the economy and the environment being the most <br />
obvious. But an election is still two years away. The prospect of two <br />
more years under Abbott’s leadership is becoming intolerable.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b><a href="http://theaimn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Bishop.jpg"><img alt="Bishop" class="alignleft wp-image-28809 size-full" height="168" src="http://theaimn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Bishop.jpg" width="299" /></a>The<br />
most likely successor, although not without her own idiosyncratic <br />
oddities, is Julie Bishop. She can at least hold a conversation and <br />
would be viewed in a far better light internationally. So why wait? The <br />
Liberal Party should put the people first; they should show some ticker <br />
and end this charade. It is time to restore some international diplomacy<br />
to our reputation and regain some national pride.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>One can only hope that in the corridors of conservative power a <br />
transition conversation is in play. With an opposition that is viewed as<br />
lacklustre and subservient, the timing is perfect. Not that it is <br />
likely to save them.</b></span><br /><br />
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</ul></div></div></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06411370614239868500noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4674803850479489149.post-41111313207506029372014-10-13T11:03:00.001-07:002014-10-13T11:03:22.693-07:00Secret agent Sharri uncovers seditious academics not praising the Sun King<a href="http://www.independentaustralia.net/business/business-display/secret-agent-sharri-exposes-academics-for-the-sun-king,6991">Secret agent Sharri uncovers seditious academics not praising the Sun King</a><br /><br />
<h1 class="titleLink"> <span style="color: yellow;"><a content="http://www.independentaustralia.net/business/business-display/secret-agent-sharri-exposes-academics-for-the-sun-king,6991" href="http://www.independentaustralia.net/business/business-display/secret-agent-sharri-exposes-academics-for-the-sun-king,6991" itemprop="url" title="Permanent Link : Secret agent Sharri uncovers seditious academics not praising the Sun King"><span itemprop="name">Secret agent Sharri uncovers seditious academics not praising the Sun King</span></a></span></h1><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><div class="articleResultItems"><span style="color: yellow;"><b><span class="arItems"><span class="glyphicon glyphicon-user"></span> <strong itemprop="author"><a data-original-title="View all of this authors articles" href="http://www.independentaustralia.net/profile-on/martin-hirst,364" rel="tooltip" title="">Martin Hirst</a></strong></span><span class="arItems"><span class="artTimeTag"><span class="glyphicon glyphicon-calendar"></span> <time content="2014-10-13T18:00:00+10:00" itemprop="datePublished">13 October 2014, 6:00pm</time></span></span> <span class="arItems"><span class="glyphicon glyphicon-comment"></span> <a class="commentNotice" content="http://www.independentaustralia.net/business/business-display/secret-agent-sharri-exposes-academics-for-the-sun-king,6991#disqus_thread" data-disqus-identifier="dc:6991" href="http://www.independentaustralia.net/business/business-display/secret-agent-sharri-exposes-academics-for-the-sun-king,6991#disqus_thread" itemprop="discussionUrl">10</a></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b><img src="http://www.independentaustralia.net/_lib/slir/w900-h600/http://independentaustralia.net/i/article/img/article-6991-hero.jpg" /><br />
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</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><strong><em>Media editor for The Australian, Sharri Markson, bravely goes where she has never been before — journalism school. <a href="http://deakin.academia.edu/MartinHirst">Associate Professor Martin Hirst</a> describes her shocking revelations.</em></strong></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>THERE IS A FIFTH DIMENSION; a parallel universe that revolves around a<br />
decrepit, dying and dangerous orb of hot gasses that is liable to <br />
frequent explosions raining down hot solar gusts of bile and venom on <br />
any random planetary object that displeases the ancient <a href="http://www.crikey.com.au/2011/06/24/sun-king-survival-tips-what-it-takes-to-be-a-murdoch-man/">Sun King</a>.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Welcome to the universe of News Corp; a solar system cut off from the<br />
rest of creation by an impenetrable wall of bias and a cult-like <br />
devotion to a host of terrible Gods.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>This parallel universe defies the laws of gravity and the morality of<br />
humans; it relies instead on the ancient and immutable laws of <br />
Murdochracy.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Even those who have served the Sun King with loyalty for many years <br />
live out their lives in fear of his vengeful minions. As former <em>Times</em> editor <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Neil">Andrew Neil</a> <a href="http://www.vanityfair.com/business/features/1996/12/rupert-murdoch-199612">famously wrote</a>,<br />
to lose favour with the Sun King; to break the unwritten rules of <br />
Murdochracy is to be cast out from the universe to while away your days <br />
among mere mortals.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><blockquote><span style="color: yellow;"><b><em>All life revolves around the Sun King; all authority comes from <br />
him. He is the only one to whom allegiance must be owed, and he expects <br />
his word to be final. There are no other references but him. He is the <br />
only benchmark, and anybody of importance reports directly to him. <br />
Normal management structures—all the traditional lines of authority, <br />
communication, and decision-making in the modern business corporation—do<br />
not matter. The Sun King is all that matters.</em></b></span><br /><br />
<br />
</blockquote><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>So we know that to cross the Sun King or one of his ambitious <br />
courtiers means that vengeance will be slow and brutal. It will also go <br />
on for a long, long time. There is no swift beheading; no merciful <br />
bullet to the brain in the rules of the Murdochracy. There is just <br />
eternal, painful torture at the hands of those who are beholden to the <br />
Sun King and who drink deeply from the NewsCorpse kool-aid.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>The list of the Sun King’s enemies is long and getting longer; as <br />
older hands die they are replaced by new names. There is no way, except <br />
death, to remove your self from The List.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>When your name comes to the top of the list the comets of doom come <br />
hurtling from the orbit of the Sun King to inflict shame and damage.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Today it was the turn of Australia’s journalism educators. Just about<br />
all of them are on The List and subject to frequent meteor showers.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>The problem is, as <em>The Australian</em>’s media editor <a href="http://www.crikey.com.au/2014/03/24/obsession-cuts-both-ways-in-the-australians-war-on-media-watch/">Sharri Markson</a> found out, there is a palpable and unhealthy leftwing bias in journalism and media education.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>According to <a href="https://www.google.com.au/search?q=uni+degrees+in+indoctrination%5C&oq=uni+degrees+in+indoctrination%5C&aqs=chrome..69i57.5344j0j9&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=93&ie=UTF-8#q=uni+degrees+in+indoctrination">Markson’s EXCLUSIVE</a> in <em>The Australian</em>’s media section this week:</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><blockquote><span style="color: yellow;"><b><em>‘Uni media students are getting an anti-Murdoch message.'</em></b></span><br /><br />
<br />
</blockquote><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Of course, such blaspheming of the Sun King can never go unpunished.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>In order to confront the menace of university lecturers in journalism<br />
and media studies saying unkind and critical things about her boss, <br />
Sharri Markson went ‘undercover’. That’s right, she posed as a student <br />
to gain access to a handful of lectures given by staff at the University<br />
of Sydney and Sydney’s University of Technology (UTS).</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><blockquote><span style="color: yellow;"><b><em>Over a period of five weeks, The Australian attended some <br />
lectures on an undercover basis and obtained the audio recordings of <br />
other lectures from students.</em></b></span><br /><br />
<br />
</blockquote><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Wow, powerful journalism from Ms Markson, but we are not told if she <br />
identified herself to the students she ‘obtained’ the lecture recordings<br />
from.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Did she perhaps maintain her cover and gain access to the recordings <br />
on false pretences? You know, like did she pretend that she needed them <br />
to study for her essay or something; a little white lie maybe?</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>We’ll never know; just like we’ll never know if Ms Markson <br />
interviewed any students for her story and, if so, did she follow the <br />
MEAA <em><a href="http://www.alliance.org.au/code-of-ethics.html">Code of Ethics</a></em> and identify herself according to clause 8:</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><blockquote><span style="color: yellow;"><b><em>Use fair, responsible and honest means to obtain <br />
material. Identify yourself and your employer before obtaining any <br />
interview for publication or broadcast. Never exploit a person's <br />
vulnerability or ignorance of media practice.</em></b></span><br /><br />
<br />
</blockquote><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Markson’s excuse may well be that by going undercover she is absolved<br />
from this clause. That’s a tenuous argument, but it can be made if <br />
there is a strong public interest in the story that’s being pursued.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Frankly, it’s hard to see much real public interest in what Ms Markson wrote as a result of her experiences in the classroom.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>I also tweeted <a href="https://twitter.com/SharriMarkson">@sharrimarkson</a> to ask if she took any notice of these following clauses too (numbers 4, 5 & 6):</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><div style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span style="color: yellow;"><b><em>Do not allow personal interest, or <br />
any belief, commitment, payment, gift or benefit, to undermine your <br />
accuracy, fairness or independence.</em></b></span></div><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><div style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span style="color: yellow;"><b><em>Disclose conflicts of interest that <br />
affect, or could be seen to affect, the accuracy, fairness or <br />
independence of your journalism. Do not improperly use a journalistic <br />
position for personal gain. </em></b></span></div><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><div style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span style="color: yellow;"><b><em>Do not allow advertising or other commercial considerations to undermine accuracy, fairness or independence.</em></b></span></div><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>I think this is important because clearly Markson’s <em>personal interest</em> is in serving the Sun King and his minions – in particular her editor Chris Mitchell.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>There could well be a <em>conflict of interest</em> here to be <br />
disclosed too. The interest of News Corp is to deflect any criticism, <br />
particularly informed criticism from people who know a thing or two <br />
about the news media. Finally, I am pretty sure that <em>accuracy, fairness and independence</em> would be <em>undermined</em> in this story by the Sun King’s <em>commercial considerations</em>. I’m sure that if Sharri Markson overlooked the MEAA code it was inadvertent and that explanations will be forthcoming.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Well, when you orbit close to the Sun King, as Markson does in the <a href="http://www.news.com.au/national/australian-terror-raids-uncover-plot-to-attack-parliament-house/story-fncynjr2-1227063518810">constellation of <em>Terror Australis</em></a>, your vision can become a little blurred, the heat and the sweat in your eyes can also overheat the brain.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>That is why the kool-aid is supplied in industrial quantities in the <br />
NewsCorpse bunkers. It appears to be a cooling drink, soothing for the <br />
parched throat, but it is really a deadly and corrosive poison excreted <br />
from the bile ducts of the Sun King himself.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Not content with the exposure her EXCLUSIVE would receive in <em>The Australian</em> – which as we know is <a href="http://neilchenoweth.com/2014/03/25/how-much-is-the-australian-losing">an underperforming</a> and loss-making newspaper – Markson also <a href="https://soundcloud.com/morrison954/sharri-markson-on-2gb-re-unis">went onto the 2GB</a><br />
program of her fellow Sun King devotee Miranda Devine to expound for <br />
nearly seven minutes on the “load of garbage” being taught at USYD and <br />
UTS.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>The dead giveaway though – the reason why we should all just laugh <br />
out loud at this pathetic attempt at (ahem) ‘journalism’ – is the <em>faux</em> moral outrage that Markson and Devine express at they way that the reporting of climate change is taught in these <em>“most prestigious” </em>of universities.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>According to Markson, climate science is ideological:</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
</b></span><blockquote><span style="color: yellow;"><b><em>Journalism students should always be taught to present a balanced<br />
point of view. Climate change, there are about seven or eight slides <br />
that the students are shown where they’re told to present only one side <br />
of a [sic] argument and the lecturer was very strong on this point and <br />
she said, she likened it to the topacco [sic] debate in the past, even <br />
to racism in ah, in ah in the American, south America [sic] saying that <br />
if we give the skeptics air time it gives the perception that there’s <br />
this raging debate going on on global warming when there’s not. So, even<br />
from 18 years old, young students are being fed a very, very left-wing <br />
ideology.</em></b></span><br /><br />
<br />
</blockquote><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Yep, so not only is Ms Markson a super-sleuth undercover reporter, she’s an expert on global warming and she knows it is a <em>“very, very left-wing ideology”.</em><br />
Of course she does and of course it is because that’s been the <br />
editorial line in the Sun King’s newspapers for a decade or more.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Markson says she was also disappointed about how critical the targeted lecturers were about News Corp.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Again, no surprises there. Sharri Markson has <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/media/at-just-28-tv-journalist-sharri-markson-to-take-the-reins-at-cleo/story-e6frg996-1226533230306">literally grown up</a> inside the court of the Sun King</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>The daughter of a famous media insider and spin doctor to the stars, <br />
Markson now has an exhalted place in the firmament of loyal minor <br />
planets orbiting the Sun King. She is a regular guest on Andrew Bolt’s <br />
Channel 10 show too.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><strong>As a trusted acolyte, Markson would know very well the lessons of the Murdochracy; no criticism, no dissent and no questioning of the Sun King’s authority.</strong></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>As a result of internalizing the lore of the Murdochian alternative <br />
universe, Ms Markson finds it almost beyond comprehension that such <br />
criticism is allowed within the journalism classroom.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><blockquote><span style="color: yellow;"><b><em>Students were left with the impression that all The Daily <br />
Telegraph, The Australian and other News Corp papers did was to serve <br />
Rupert Murdoch’s interests.</em></b></span><br /><br />
<br />
</blockquote><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Incomprehensible really.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>The simple beauty of assassination by stealth is that it plays well to bleachers</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>However, the flipside is that it is also quite easy for a counter-narrative to spread via social media too.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>You can access other critiques of Ms Markson’s performance on <em><a href="http://www.crikey.com.au/2014/10/13/note-to-sharri-students-arent-passive-information-sponges/">Crikey</a></em>, at <em><a href="http://birdeemag.com/studying-bachelor-indoctrination/">Birdee magazine</a></em> and at <em><a href="http://junkee.com/the-australians-media-editor-goes-undercover-at-uni-is-outraged-that-media-degrees-are-teaching-media-students-about-the-media/43081">Junkee</a></em>, among others.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>You can also read <a href="http://www.jeaa.org.au/">a statement</a> <br />
from the journalism educator’s professional association, the Journalism <br />
Education & Research Association of Australia (JERAA).</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><strong><em>You can read more by <a href="http://www.independentaustralia.net/profile-on/martin-hirst,364">Dr Martin Hirst</a> on his blog <a href="http://ethicalmartini.wordpress.com/">Ethical Martini</a> and follow him on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/ethicalmartini">@ethicalmartini</a>.</em></strong></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b><a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/au/" target="_blank"><img alt="Creative Commons Licence" src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-nd/3.0/au/88x31.png" /></a><br /><br />
This work is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/au/" target="_blank">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia License</a></b></span><br />
<br /><br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06411370614239868500noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4674803850479489149.post-7416487842889991862014-10-11T11:14:00.001-07:002014-10-11T11:15:08.476-07:00Looking back: Australia and the world in 2019 - The AIM Network<a href="http://theaimn.com/looking-back-australia-and-the-world-in-2019/">Looking back: Australia and the world in 2019 - The AIM Network</a><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;">Looking back: Australia and the world in 2019 <br />
</span></h1>
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b><time class="entry-date" datetime="2014-10-11T17:04:32+00:00"><br />
October 11, 2014 </time></b></span>
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>What will this country be <br />
like after two terms of an Abbott Government, let alone one? Shane <br />
Crocker takes himself to 2019 for a candid (or perhaps prophetic) look <br />
to review the damage.</b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>In this election year of 2019, I take a look at how Australia and the world have been faring.</b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Tony Abbott was returned as Prime Minister for his second term in </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>2016. Cabinet changes in the new government include sending David </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Johnston and Malcolm Turnbull to the backbench with George Brandis </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>taking over as Minister for Communications and keeping his portfolio of </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Minister for Arts. Scott Morrison is now Attorney General as well as the</b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>head of a super department that combines Immigration and Border </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Security, Customs, and Defence, making Senator Brandis the second most </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>powerful person in the country.</b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>The five years since 2014 have seen some not so fortunate changes to </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>the government’s ministerial line-up. We lost our Foreign Mister, Julie </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Bishop, the same year to mesothelioma. Somehow, when she was working for</b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>law firm Clayton Utz back in the 1990s, she was exposed to asbestos </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>while defending CSR from compensation claims by asbestos mining workers.</b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>That year was capped off by another in a series of ironic </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>co-incidences. Former Prime Minister, John Howard, died from massive </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>blood loss after a car accident in which he was a passenger. The Red </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Cross Blood Bank in the city of Sydney did not have enough supplies of </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>the type of blood that the former PM required, due to drastic funding </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>cuts to the Red Cross by the Abbott Government as retribution for that </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>NGO’s criticism of Australia’s refugee policy. The circumstances of Mr </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Howard’s demise were even more ironic as when he was Prime Minster he </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>had a change made to the Australian Public Service Act and banned </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Australian government employees from donating blood in work time, a </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>practice that had endured until then since the First World War.</b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>The second Abbott Government still does not have a Minister for </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Science. The Abbott government in 2017 set up a Royal Commission into </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>the Australian Bureau of Meteorology alleging the bureau had been </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>exaggerating temperature figures over the last fifty years. Meanwhile </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>natural disasters including bush fires, storms, tornadoes and tropical </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>cyclones have been occurring with increasing frequency and ferocity.</b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>In 2017 a high end category 5 typhoon destroyed the city of Darwin. </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Two years later the Federal Government has done little in the way of </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>disaster relief or recovery for the northern city. Treasurer Joe Hockey </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>has blamed the Gillard Government of 2012 for the lack of funds needed </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>to repair Darwin to an inhabitable state.</b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>In 2016 a group of government ministers including Minister for </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Industry Ian Macfarlane, Minister for Environment Greg Hunt, and </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Minister for Agriculture Barnaby Joyce were enjoying a whale watching </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>cruise in Hervey Bay, Queensland, when a freak tornado struck and their </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>sightseeing boat sank with the tragic loss of all three. Minister for </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Communications and Arts George Brandis called for the sacking of ABC </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>presenter Jonathan Green when Green pointed out the irony that all three</b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>deceased politicians were climate change deniers. “The ABC are </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>terrorists!” exclaimed an enraged Senator Brandis in Parliament.</b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>The ABC still exists but a Special Commission that included Andrew </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Bolt was set up to restructure the national broadcaster. The ABC is now </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>down to only one national television station, one FM radio station, and </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>one AM radio station in each region. It still has a significant news </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>section, albeit vetted by the government, but all of its current affairs</b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>shows including <i>4 Corners</i> and <i>7:30</i> are no longer </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>running. The new ABC charter also bans the ABC from producing Australian</b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>content. The Triple J radio network was broken up and sold piecemeal to</b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>the various capital city FM radio stations. Due to the ABC’s severe </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>funding restrictions most of the remote and regional AM radio stations </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>have closed down. One of the ABC’s most popular television shows, <i>Doctor Who</i>,</b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>has also been taken off the air in Australia. Communications Minister </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Brandis said it wasn’t just a matter of cost, he stated that the </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>popularity of the long running sci-fi classic was taking away market </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>share from American TV shows.</b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Ebola has infected over one million people in Africa, killing half a </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>million people. The death toll from Ebola, so far, includes over two </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>thousand each in Europe and the United States, and over two hundred in </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Australia. Since the $7 Medicare co-payment was introduced (and </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>increased to $40 due to rising insurance costs) few people can afford to</b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>pay medical bills directly or afford the very high health insurance </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>premiums which rose to over $10,000 per year since the first Ebola death</b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>in Australia.</b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Joe Hockey said, “the age of entitlement has long since ended, if you</b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>can’t be bothered looking after your own health insurance don’t expect </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>government to help you.”</b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>The Ebola crisis has overshadowed another health crisis in Australia.</b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Since the Federal Government ceased funding tuberculosis (TB) </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>vaccinations one in three Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders has </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>contracted TB with half of those dying from the lung disease. From 2009 </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>the life expectancy of Aboriginal men rose from 69.1 years to 73.7 in </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>2013, then went back down to 64.1 years from 2013 to 2019. Just as </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>worrying, life expectancy in Aboriginal women has gone down as well </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>since the massive shutdown of Aboriginal health programs since 2013. </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Prime Minister Tony Abbott still calls himself “Minister for </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Aboriginals”.</b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Treasurer Joe Hockey finally got his dole reform through after the </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Palmer United Party (PUP) collapsed when its leader Clive Palmer died </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>suddenly from a massive heart attack while giving a speech in </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Parliament. The remaining PUP members were given special attention to </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>approve the drastic measures of refusing welfare relief for six months </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>at a time to people under the age of thirty.</b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>With Australia’s unemployment running at over 15% and at 25% for </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>under thirties there has been a massive rise in crime and the creation </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>of a criminal underclass. Those who can afford it live in gated </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>communities patrolled by private police forces.</b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>The government has effectively re-introduced conscription with many </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>younger Australians lining up to fight overseas as a way of escaping </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>poverty.</b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Another ABC journalist was sacked for the headline “The Economic Draft is Here”.</b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>The ban on gays and lesbians in the Australian Defence Force was </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>lifted by Prime Minister Paul Keating in 1992 (the twentieth anniversary</b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>of which was celebrated by Prime Minister Julia Gillard in 2012). In </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>2016 the ban on LGBT members in the ADF was reintroduced. Later that </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>same year the ban on people excluded from serving in the Australian </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>military was extended to all Muslims and people born in Muslim </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>countries.</b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Scott Morrison’s famous 2016 speech, “We are a Christian nation! We </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>fight for Christian values!” was his first speech in which redefined </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>what it meant to be a full Australian citizen and was a series of </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>speeches that paved his way to the leadership.</b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Australia’s military involvement in Iraq has continued to escalate </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>over the last five years, with no end in sight. Two years in a row </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>(2016, 2017) Australian troop losses in combat exceeded five hundred </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>(500 was the total number of Australian troops killed in the whole of </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>the Vietnam War). When Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott was </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>reminded that former Prime Minister Julia Gillard had a crisis of </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>conscience and came close to breaking down in Parliament when five </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Australian servicemen died on her watch in Afghanistan in 2012, he said,</b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>“That just goes to show that leadership of a nation is no job for a </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>woman. When it comes to making the hard calls, it takes a man. It takes a</b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>man to make those tough decisions and if two thousand or even three </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>thousand have to make the ultimate sacrifice in a single year it is </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>worth it to secure freedom. May I remind you that it is exactly one </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>hundred years ago, in 1916 and 1917, one hundred years since the great </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>battles of the Great War that the Australian sacrifice was greater”.</b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>At home the military picture is not great either. Since the F/A 18-F </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Super Hornets were retired Australia has no front line fighter aircraft </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>for the first time since before the Second World War. The first F-35 </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Lightning II fifth generation jet fighter was supposed to arrive in </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Australia last year in 2018, and the first squadron, Number 3 Squadron, </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>was supposed to operational in 2021. However, due to ongoing development</b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>issues, Australia won’t receive its first Lightning IIs until 2022. The</b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>weapons control software and head mounted display system for the </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Australian version of the aircraft is still not ready. Also, due to </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>quality control issues the USAF has priority of supply of the multi-role</b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>stealth fighters. Defence Minister Scott Morrison has blamed the Kevin </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Rudd Government of 2013 for “not doing enough to look around for an </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>alternative strike fighter for Australia when it had the chance”.</b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>The Americans have not had much operational success with their F-35s.</b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>In the five years since the USAF received their first aircraft twenty </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>have crashed in non-combat incidents. Of these incidents twelve were </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>caused by software failure and eight crashes were caused by airframe </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>failure. During a skirmish with the Russian air force over eastern </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Ukraine the Americans lost twenty F-35s in one day when they encountered</b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>a squadron of ten advanced Russian Sukhoi Su-35s. Although they </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>outnumbered the Russian jets two to one all twenty of the American </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>stealth jets were shot down with no losses of the non-stealth Russian </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Sukhoi jets.</b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Back in Australia, the lack of any government commitment to </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>scientific and industrial research and the conscientious destruction of </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Australian manufacturing plus the abandonment of Australian youth has </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>resulted in staggering unemployment, high cost of living, and high crime</b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>rate. Yet these problems have been increasingly blamed on homosexuals, </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Aboriginals, and Muslims. Scott Morrison in his “Second Great Leadership</b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Speech” has talked about a solution to these problems. A solution which</b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>he says will be a final solution to the Muslim Problem.</b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Tony Abbott announced his simultaneous retirement from politics with </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>the date of the 2019 federal election (it was hinted Mr Abbott would not</b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>stand again when, earlier this year, he confirmed his relationship with</b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>his personal assistant, Peta Credlin).</b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Tomorrow Australia will be voting and Leader of the Coalition and PM </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>in waiting Scott Morrison has just read his latest speech live on air, </b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>“As a Christian I have no duty to allow myself to be cheated, but I have</b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>the duty to be a fighter for truth and justice.”</b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br /></b></span>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06411370614239868500noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4674803850479489149.post-82836571990573367302014-10-10T16:36:00.001-07:002014-10-10T16:36:43.997-07:00Call that a sword? This is a joke<a href="http://www.smh.com.au/comment/call-that-a-sword-this-is-a-joke-20141009-113kgy.html">Call that a sword? This is a joke</a><br /><br />
<h1 class="cN-headingPage" itemprop="name"><span style="color: yellow;">Call that a sword? This is a joke</span></h1><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
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</b></span><div class="meta hnews"><dl><dt class="hiddenVisually"><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Date</b></span></dt>
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b><time datetime="October 11, 2014 - 9:26AM" itemprop="datePublished">October 11, 2014 - 9:26AM</time></b></span>
</dd></dl><ul class="tools"><li class="reading"><span style="color: yellow;"><strong>441 reading now</strong></span></li>
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b><a href="http://www.smh.com.au/comment/call-that-a-sword-this-is-a-joke-20141009-113kgy.html#comments">Comments <strong>88</strong></a></b></span><br />
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</ul><div class="author"> <div class="cT-headshot"> <div> <span style="color: yellow;"><b><a href="http://www.smh.com.au/comment/by/John-Birmingham"><img alt="John Birmingham" height="90" src="http://images.brisbanetimes.com.au/2010/11/19/2052564/jb_127.jpg?rand=1392072140178" title="John Birmingham" width="90" /></a></b></span><br />
</div><h3 class="authorName"><span style="color: yellow;"><a href="http://www.smh.com.au/comment/by/John-Birmingham" itemprop="author" rel="author">John Birmingham</a></span></h3><h4 class="authorTitle"><span style="color: yellow;">Columnist</span></h4><div class="authorBlog"> <span style="color: yellow;"><b><a href="http://www.smh.com.au/comment/by/John-Birmingham">View more articles from <span class="author-name">John Birmingham</span></a></b></span><br />
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</div></div></div><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br /></b></span><ul class="social sponsored cfix"><li class="linkedin"><span style="color: yellow;"><b><span class="IN-widget" style="display: inline-block; line-height: 1; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="display: inline-block ! important; font-size: 1px ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important; text-indent: 0px ! important; vertical-align: baseline ! important;"><span id="li_ui_li_gen_1412980203337_0"><span id="li_ui_li_gen_1412980203337_0-logo">in</span><span id="li_ui_li_gen_1412980203337_0-title"><span id="li_ui_li_gen_1412980203337_0-mark"></span><span id="li_ui_li_gen_1412980203337_0-title-text">Sh</span></span></span></span></span></b></span></li>
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<br />
</b></span><div class="cT-imagePortrait"> <span style="color: yellow;"><b><img alt="<i>Illustration: Glen Le Lievre.</i>" itemprop="image" src="http://images.smh.com.au/2014/10/10/5866434/Article%20Lead%20-%20narrow62312290114f7himage.related.articleLeadNarrow.353x0.113kgy.png1412931925228.jpg-300x0.jpg" /></b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><i>Illustration: Glen Le Lievre.</i></b></span> <br /><br />
<br />
</div><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Stephen King once wrote that horror and humour were two of <br />
the most difficult story forms to master, because funny gone wrong is <br />
almost always horrifying, while a bungled horror story runs the risk of <br />
eliciting shrieks of laughter in place of terror.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>It didn't take long for the narrative threads of "Death Cult <br />
in the Suburbs" to unravel and the snickering to begin. And so we find, a<br />
few weeks after September's terror raids, that the mystery sword that <br />
featured so prominently in everybody's fever dreams of jihad come to <br />
Martin Place was not in fact the mighty blade of slashening; woe be <br />
unto the infidel. It was just a plastic toy, according to its owner. A <br />
replica artefact, as common in Shiite Muslim households as sun-faded <br />
happy snaps of Pope St John Paul II in the homes of Polish Catholics.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>I guess it's a lucky thing the raids only turned up a plastic<br />
sword then. What if those 800 cops had found a toy light sabre? The <br />
headlines would have screamed "ISIS develops terrifying Stars Wars <br />
capability". The SAS might have been despatched to Tatooine.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>There was always something dodgy about the scale of those <br />
raids, especially given the thin pickings they seemed to turn up. Very <br />
few arrests and now a prime piece of "evidence" negated.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Note the air quotes around the term "evidence", though. The <br />
sword, which promised such horror in so many published, shared and <br />
retweeted photos, never made it into court.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b> If all the world's a stage, it was a prop and the hundreds <br />
of citizens whose homes were raided weren't even players. They were <br />
extras. Not even bit players, like the sailor whose story of being <br />
attacked while in uniform, perhaps because he was in uniform, was <br />
revealed as a bizarre fantasy, but only after that story had turned the <br />
crank on tensions a few notches further.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>There's something at play here that isn't as simple a <br />
narrative as good v evil. For instance, in the month that Daash killers <br />
cut the heads off three captives on the internet, our Saudi Arabian <br />
allies publicly decapitated eight for various crimes including adultery,<br />
apostasy and sorcery. Woe be unto you, Harry Potter.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b> Our particular malady is not even a politics as theatre, <br />
however. Although Tony Abbott and the media are playing the terror card <br />
for all it's worth and more, there are legitimate security issues buried<br />
somewhere beneath the witless hysteria, fear-mongering and click bait.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b> It's fraught and complex, and the pity of our current <br />
derangement is that it not only prevents us from seeing this and dealing<br />
with the threat, it aggravates the condition.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>***</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>While absolutely nobody anywhere was giving as much <br />
prominence to the truth of the plastic sword as they had to its <br />
original, scarier manifestation, Reuters' Matt Siegel published an <br />
informative and thus widely unread piece about the unusual nature of <br />
Australia's jihadi.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Unlike other Westerners who've travelled to fight in Syria, <br />
our 150 or so warrior bogans have emerged from a criminal milieu, <br />
centred on western Sydney, and specifically from "a tight-knit criminal <br />
gang culture, dominated by men with family ties to the region around the<br />
Lebanese city of Tripoli, near the border with Syria".</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Siegel spoke to NSW Deputy Police Commissioner Nick Kaldas, a<br />
native Arabic speaker of Egyptian background. The boss of the state's <br />
Middle Eastern organised crime squad, Kaldas was tapped by the United <br />
Nations to lead the investigation "into the assassination of former <br />
Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri in a car bomb attack in Beirut in <br />
2005".</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>He told Siegel that "the divide between criminal gangs and <br />
radicals in the Lebanese community, who were driven by different <br />
motives, had narrowed".</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>None of this is to narrow the focus of our paranoia from the <br />
wider Muslim community to its much smaller Lebanese element. Kaldas is <br />
talking about a couple of dozen crims, buried like ticks in the folds of<br />
four or five western suburbs home to hundreds of thousands of people. <br />
But focusing in like this, with hard clarity, can concentrate the mind <br />
and suggest remedial action that doesn't necessarily involve squadrons <br />
of fighter bombers or hundreds of special warfare operators. <br />
Unfortunately for those who profit from the theatre of politics, it does<br />
mean giving up cherished and profitable myths about the dire threat <br />
from cultural contagion.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>***</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b> So, maybe we should just ban hate preachers instead.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>The sharpest jab at Tony Abbott's latest attempt to inoculate<br />
us against the virus of jihad – and his government against some really <br />
shabby poll numbers – came not from the opposition. Because, duh. But <br />
rather from a couple of ordinary punters.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Enjoying a nice mutual cat lick with Alan Jones on 2GB, the <br />
PM confessed himself to be as frustrated and angry as his host with <br />
security laws that didn't let him just ban whoever he damned well felt <br />
like – laws presumably passed or at least reviewed by the Howard <br />
government after the 9/11 September 11, 2001 atrocity, but let's never <br />
speak of that again.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Instead, once the ALP rolls over in Parliament – which will <br />
be happening in 3 ... 2 ... 1 ... – toned Abs will be red-carding "hate <br />
preachers" because ... well, because Joe Hockey is a terrible Treasurer <br />
and worse salesman.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Do we hear much from Labor about this? No, it was left to <br />
Paul Dutton, a proud Barkindji man of Western NSW, to tweet, "Abbott of a<br />
sudden worried about hate speeches & red flagging them. Well I'm <br />
hoping that'll include shock jocks makin' idiotic claims as well."</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>To which Angelo Caon quipped, "We will decide who makes hate <br />
speeches in this country and the conditions under which they are made." <br />
Ouch.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><strong>Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/JohnBirmingham">@JohnBirmingham</a></strong></span><br /><br />
<br />
<br />
</div><div style="background-color: white; border: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;"><br />Read more: <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/comment/call-that-a-sword-this-is-a-joke-20141009-113kgy.html#ixzz3Fmgl7pnC" style="color: #003399;">http://www.smh.com.au/comment/call-that-a-sword-this-is-a-joke-20141009-113kgy.html#ixzz3Fmgl7pnC</a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06411370614239868500noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4674803850479489149.post-48695961383462879202014-10-09T20:27:00.001-07:002014-10-09T20:27:47.139-07:00The 'humanitarian' war furphy<a href="http://www.independentaustralia.net/article-display/the-humanitarian-war-furphy,6981">The 'humanitarian' war furphy</a><br /><br />
<h1 class="titleLink"> <span style="color: yellow;"><a content="http://www.independentaustralia.net/article-display/the-humanitarian-war-furphy,6981" href="http://www.independentaustralia.net/article-display/the-humanitarian-war-furphy,6981" itemprop="url" title="Permanent Link : The 'humanitarian' war furphy"><span itemprop="name">The 'humanitarian' war furphy</span></a></span></h1><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><div class="articleResultItems"><span style="color: yellow;"><b><span class="arItems"><span class="glyphicon glyphicon-user"></span> <strong itemprop="author"><a data-original-title="View all of this authors articles" href="http://www.independentaustralia.net/profile-on/adam-henry,45" rel="tooltip" title="">Adam Henry</a></strong></span><span class="arItems"><span class="artTimeTag"><span class="glyphicon glyphicon-calendar"></span> <time content="2014-10-10T08:00:00+10:00" itemprop="datePublished">10 October 2014, 8:00am</time></span></span> <span class="arItems"><span class="glyphicon glyphicon-comment"></span> <a class="commentNotice" content="http://www.independentaustralia.net/article-display/the-humanitarian-war-furphy,6981#disqus_thread" data-disqus-identifier="dc:6981" href="http://www.independentaustralia.net/article-display/the-humanitarian-war-furphy,6981#disqus_thread" itemprop="discussionUrl">18</a></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b><img src="http://www.independentaustralia.net/_lib/slir/w900-h600/http://independentaustralia.net/i/article/img/article-6981-hero.jpg" /><br />
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</figure><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><strong><em>This new rush to war not an intervention designed to meet humanitarian goals and objectives, writes <a href="https://researchers.anu.edu.au/researchers/hughes-henry-an">Dr Adam Hughes Henry</a>, but simply another bloody bombing campaign to protect strategic Western interests.</em></strong></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>THERE IS A PUBLIC PRESENTATION that a war against the Islamic State (IS) is justified outright on clear <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/columnists/on-firmer-moral-ground-for-action-against-islamic-state-in-iraq/story-e6frg74x-1227045551568?nk=844027ea93f08c1c8448823c63a88ecf">humanitarian grounds</a>. That is, universally accepted standards of human rights have been transgressed and these unique perpetrators need to be <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/abbott-declares-war-on-the-islamic-state-death-cult-20140914-3fol3.html">brought to account</a>.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>There is evidence that IS actions on the battlefield contravene international human rights law. There are <a href="http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/08/27/uk-syria-crisis-warcrimes-idUKKBN0GR0RN20140827">numerous allegations</a> of ethnic cleansing, atrocities and threats of possible genocidal intent against their enemies.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Yet the actions of IS, in terms of our contemporary world, are very <br />
far from unique and as grotesque as their crimes are, cannot possibly be<br />
considered the <a href="http://www.cavr-timorleste.org/">worst of the worst</a>. There are examples of <a href="http://www.hrw.org/world-report/2013/country-chapters/saudi-arabia">barbaric behaviour</a> which continue to be exhibited by U.S.-UK allies all over the world.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>There does not seem to be any clamour to arrest and try any of the IS<br />
leadership in a court of law. There is, however, a clamour to bomb <br />
them.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Bombing from the sky is not a very useful humanitarian response — it <br />
is clearly a one dimensional military tactic contingent on targets. If <br />
there is a clear danger of ethnic cleansing and potential genocide in <br />
Iraq or elsewhere then the United Nations Security council is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Security_Council_Resolution_1674">duty bound to act</a>.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Current actions do not appear to have <a href="http://www.timescolonist.com/opinion/op-ed/comment-harper-s-war-plan-might-make-matters-worse-1.1419578">any such UN sanctioned legitimacy</a>.<br />
Furthermore, there are no foreign troops on the ground to specifically <br />
defend these threatened ethnic populations, set up safe zones or <br />
sanctuaries and there is also absolutely no talk from nations like <br />
Australia of taking in any of the threatened groups as refugees as a <br />
matter of priority.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>As in Kosovo in 1999, the way to save civilians from the stated threat of ethnic cleansing is apparently to <a href="http://www.independentaustralia.net/article-display/from-pol-pot-to-isis-saving-iraq-by-bombing-everything-that-moves,6978">bomb the place</a>.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>In the case of Kosovo in 1999 the <a href="http://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1246&context=auilr">NATO bombing</a><br />
killed scores of civilians, attacked civilian infrastructure once they <br />
quickly ran out of legitimate military targets and NATO effectively <br />
provided aircover for the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosovo_Liberation_Army">Kosovar Liberation Army</a> (KLA) to engage in their own campaign of <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7990761.stm">ethnic cleansing on the ground</a>.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>The response of the Serbs to the bombing was a rapid escalation of reprisals against the <a href="http://www.chomsky.info/articles/200005--.htm">KLA and Kosovar civilians</a>. That is, the bombing <a href="http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Yugoslavia/Kosovo_Good_War%3F.html">did not decrease atrocities</a>, they actually helped to create and indeed initiate a new cycle of <a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/08/30/kosovo-where-nato-bombing-only-made-the-killing-worse/">Serbian atrocities</a> in reprisal to a relentless <a href="http://fpif.org/kosovo_east_timor_r2p_and_ian_williams/">U.S. led NATO bombing</a>.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Given the behaviour of IS so far in Syria and Iraq, even <em>before</em><br />
the U.S. led bombing, it is very difficult to imagine that the current <br />
air campaign will have much of a deterrent effect, perhaps exactly the <br />
opposite. The campaign of anti-Western beheadings and other civilian <br />
atrocities in Syria and Iraq all ready for mass media distribution <br />
through the internet is hardly encouraging.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>It might then get worse ‒ much worse ‒ particularly for the civilians<br />
in the cross hairs and one does not have to imagine the potential saga <br />
if a pilot on a bombing run against Islamic State is forced to eject <br />
over IS controlled territory.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>In Libya, we <a href="http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=11624">had our first</a> recent <em>humanitarian</em> precedent.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>After throwing support behind the anti-Gaddafi militias on the basis of ousting an <em>evil</em><br />
regime, and providing material support to assist their efforts, the <br />
NATO no fly zone (designed to prevent Gaddafi using his air force <br />
against his own citizens) unleashed a furious air campaign to help oust <br />
Gadhafi on <em>humanitarian</em> grounds. </b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>The end results were that not only did the campaign kill scores of <br />
civilians, guarantee a cache of captured arms to Islamic extremists and <br />
destroy infrastructure — it has left a civilian humanitarian catastrophe<br />
as the militias engage in outrage after outrage in efforts to control <br />
territory. Libya has ceased to be a functioning nation-state, but there <br />
is certainly no clamour for humanitarian intervention in Libya anymore.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>In Syria, the so called <em>humanitarian impulse</em> centred on a tug of war between outside powers either keen to keep or destroy the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bashar_al-Assad">Assad regime</a><br />
for strategic and political reasons, while the well-being civilian <br />
population of Syria (or lack of thereof) could be used to promote <br />
political support one way or the other. Again, anti-Assad regime forces <br />
were provided assistance and every encouragement by the U.S. and the UK;<br />
among these anti-Assad forces were supporters of groups such as al <br />
Qaeda and those that now pledge fanatical allegiance to IS.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Now back to Iraq, where 25 years of U.S. led war, sanctions and intervention have <a href="http://fas.org/sgp/crs/mideast/R40824.pdf">devastated and destroyed</a> a once modern nation, leaving <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/10/AR2006101001442.html">staggering civilian casualties and suffering in their wake</a>.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>The deliberate U.S. policy of <a href="http://pfiffner.gmu.edu/files/pdfs/Articles/CPA%20Orders,%20Iraq%20PDF.pdf">divide and rule</a>, instrumental after the 2003 invasion in creating a corrupt and repressive <a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/11/11/the-imperial-roots-of-iraqs-sectarian-violence/">sectarian government</a>, unable after billions of dollars of U.S. arms and a decade of training to defend itself from an IS dominated Sunni insurgency.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>The question must be asked: how can the new mission to Iraq, <br />
particularly one spearheaded by the U.S. and backed by regimes like <br />
Saudi Arabia (who <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/aug/31/combat-terror-end-support-saudi-arabia-dictatorships-fundamentalism">routinely funds Jihadist terrorist groups</a>) be based on any notion of universal humanitarian values?</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>This might be the fig leaf that covers the naked David ‒ and the <br />
feeling of revulsion at Islamic State is genuine ‒ but this is selective<br />
outrage. The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Covert_United_States_foreign_regime_change_actions">human rights abuses and atrocities</a><br />
of Western allies over the past 50 years have washed the ground with <br />
the blood of their faceless victims over and over again. Islamic State <br />
do <u>not</u> have anything approaching a unique monopoly over human <br />
rights abuses, terror or fanaticism — they are certainly not an <br />
unprecedented human <em>evil</em>. </b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>We might pause for thought that very real abuses and crimes against <br />
humanity every bit as grave as those committed at this stage by IS, <br />
regularly occur in our world and many of the worst examples nether <br />
compel us toward war, elicit ethical revulsion from our political <br />
leaders, or immediate ideas of humanitarian intervention. The U.S. and <br />
the West surely cannot have it both ways; we either strongly support <br />
international laws, human rights covenants, strongly adhere to the <br />
various Geneva conventions as matter of principle in letter and in <br />
spirit, or we do not. </b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>This new rush to war is not an intervention designed to fulfil any <br />
specified humanitarian objectives and outcomes. Where are the safe <br />
zones, where is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_High_Commissioner_for_Refugees">UNHCR</a>, where are the troops and diplomacy designed to defend, protect and negotiate for the safety of civilians?</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Such a mission would surely be very different to what we are seeing now. </b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>The primary U.S. led mission in Iraq appears only to be a <em>major bombing</em> campaign against IS in support of strategic interests, with <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/no-new-taxes-to-pay-for-iraq-war-tony-abbott-20141007-10r4vo.html">no clear statement of its expected timeframe</a> or even a <a href="http://www.independentaustralia.net/article-display/tony-abbotts-reckless-crusade,6951">secondary option</a>.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>If war is really only the process of translating diplomacy into <br />
killing and death and Afghanistan, Libya and Syria are any indicators of<br />
what we are about to see unfold as we folly back to Iraq without as <br />
much as a second thought — the <a href="http://www.independentaustralia.net/article-display/from-pol-pot-to-isis-saving-iraq-by-bombing-everything-that-moves,6978">very worst is still to come</a>.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b><a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/au/" target="_blank"><img alt="Creative Commons Licence" src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-nd/3.0/au/88x31.png" /></a><br /><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06411370614239868500noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4674803850479489149.post-81032201900867899852014-10-09T20:09:00.001-07:002014-10-09T20:09:18.472-07:00Experts tell Fact Check Australia is at war with Islamic State in Iraq<br /><br />
<div id="watch-uploader-info"> <span style="color: yellow;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><strong class="watch-time-text">Published on 2 Oct 2014</strong><br />
</span></b></span></div><span style="color: yellow;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></b></span><div id="watch-description-text"><span style="color: yellow;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></b></span><div id="eow-description"><span style="color: yellow;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Prime Minister Tony Abbott says <br />
Australia's commitment in Iraq is "best described as a mission rather <br />
than as a war". ABC Fact Check asks the experts. Read more here: <br />
ab.co/1rBBAgj</span></b></span></div></div><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/G45IQz_0y6k" width="480"></iframe>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06411370614239868500noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4674803850479489149.post-3406321879796738072014-10-07T19:37:00.001-07:002014-10-07T19:37:33.381-07:00Australia’s forthcoming conscription<a href="http://www.independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/australias-forthcoming-conscription,6975">Australia’s forthcoming conscription</a><br /><br />
<h1 class="titleLink"> <span style="color: yellow;"><a content="http://www.independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/australias-forthcoming-conscription,6975" href="http://www.independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/australias-forthcoming-conscription,6975" itemprop="url" title="Permanent Link : Australia’s forthcoming conscription"><span itemprop="name">Australia’s forthcoming conscription</span></a></span></h1><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><div class="articleResultItems"><span style="color: yellow;"><b><span class="arItems"><span class="glyphicon glyphicon-user"></span> <strong itemprop="author"><a data-original-title="View all of this authors articles" href="http://www.independentaustralia.net/profile-on/ross-jones,138" rel="tooltip" title="">Ross Jones</a></strong></span><span class="arItems"><span class="artTimeTag"><span class="glyphicon glyphicon-calendar"></span> <time content="2014-10-08T07:00:00+10:00" itemprop="datePublished">8 October 2014, 7:00am</time></span></span> <span class="arItems"><span class="glyphicon glyphicon-comment"></span> <a class="commentNotice" content="http://www.independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/australias-forthcoming-conscription,6975#disqus_thread" data-disqus-identifier="dc:6975" href="http://www.independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/australias-forthcoming-conscription,6975#disqus_thread" itemprop="discussionUrl">26</a></span></b></span><br />
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</div></div></div><figure class="articlesHeroCaption"><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><img src="http://www.independentaustralia.net/_lib/slir/w900-h600/http://independentaustralia.net/i/article/img/article-6975-hero.jpg" /><br />
</b></span><figcaption><span style="color: yellow;"><b><span class="heroTextCaption">Where there is war, there is death. We should be chary of putting our young in harm's war (Image via abc.net.au)</span></b></span></figcaption><br />
</figure><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><strong>Were it legal, I’d open a book on conscription being introduced before the 44<sup>th</sup> Parliament finally faces the voters. It’s what Tories do.</strong></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>They’ll creep it up. The sequence goes: advisors, air-drops, air-strikes, regular army, conscripts.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>On 5 November 1964, Coalition Prime Minister <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Menzies">Robert Menzies</a> introduced <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conscription_in_Australia">National Service</a> aimed at boosting army numbers to 33,000 by 1966 to address a perceived weakness <a href="http://www.independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/the-uglies-faction-and-our-anti-commo-history,3921">against the Asian Communists.</a></b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Service_Act_1964"><em>National Service Act (1964</em></a><em>)</em> required 20 year-old males, <em>‘if selected’</em>, to serve two years in the regular army plus three years in the reserves.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>In March 1966, Coalition Prime Minister <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Holt">Harold Holt</a> announced National Servicemen would be sent to Vietnam to fight with units of the regular army.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>The Coalition’s answer to the <em>‘if selected’</em> question was a grotesque, almost medieval, ritual — a bastard cross of casino and death.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>365 marbles, each marked with one day of the year, were placed in a <br />
barrel. If your birthday came out, it was the jungle for you. Happy <br />
Birthday!</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Abbott is better placed. By denying unemployed <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/10/wait-for-the-dole-for-113000-under-30s-will-have-deeply-disturbing-effect">young men any form of social support</a>, he’s got a ready, albeit half-starving, pool of young Australian men to sacrifice on the altar of Mars.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Howard, notwithstanding the contempt in which he should be held for <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/22/howard-should-be-tried-for-conspiracy-to-commit-mass-says-andrew-wilkie">conspiring to create the state of</a> mind that is ISIS, resisted the urge to conscript for Iraq or Afghanistan. It was bit like a man fighting back a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourette_syndrome">Tourette’s symptom</a>, but Australia had no appetite at the time and Howard was the consummate political animal. You could see him chafing though.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>The U.S. was not so constrained. They didn’t need conscription for the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_on_Terror">War on Terror</a>. They had a <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/03/AR2005110302528.html">pool of poor, unemployed young people</a><br />
with no prospects whatsoever unless they joined the military. Many <br />
joined because it was the only way they could obtain an otherwise <br />
unfeasibly expensive college degree. Others so they could eat. Others to<br />
have their teeth fixed.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>We are told our current escapade in the Levant is <a href="http://www.news.com.au/national/prime-minister-tony-abbott-defends-new-iraq-mission-against-isis/story-fncynjr2-1227058549179">going to be a long war</a>, though it’s not really a war because we don’t recognise ISIS as a state and so we can’t declare war on it. It’s <a href="http://www.independentaustralia.net/article-display/abbott-and-obamas-iraq-the-war-that-is-and-is-not,6970">an operation</a>. A long operation.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>It has already dawned on the Coalition that the best way to deal with<br />
the unemployed is to kill them. Then glorify them. Then use contrived <br />
media to entice other young men to their deaths.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Get ready for the body bags draped in flags.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b><a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/au/" target="_blank"><img alt="Creative Commons Licence" src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-nd/3.0/au/88x31.png" /></a><br /><br />
This work is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/au/" target="_blank">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia License</a></b></span><br />
<br /><br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06411370614239868500noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4674803850479489149.post-20573866620905233072014-10-07T16:07:00.001-07:002014-10-07T16:07:06.280-07:00A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats, So No Wonder We Have A Stop the Boats Policy. - The AIM Network<a href="http://theaimn.com/rising-tide-lifts-boats-wonder-stop-boats-policy/">A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats, So No Wonder We Have A Stop the Boats Policy. - The AIM Network</a><br /><br />
<header><br />
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<h1> <span style="color: yellow;">A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats, So No Wonder We Have A Stop the Boats Policy. <br />
</span></h1><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
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</b></span><ul class="meta"><li><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><time class="entry-date" datetime="2014-10-07T19:16:49+00:00"><br />
October 7, 2014 </time></b></span><br />
</li>
<li><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
Written by: <br />
<a class="url fn n" href="http://theaimn.com/author/rossleighbrisbane/" rel="author" title="View all posts by Rossleigh">Rossleigh</a></b></span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b><a href="http://theaimn.com/rising-tide-lifts-boats-wonder-stop-boats-policy/#comments" title="Comment on A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats, So No Wonder We Have A Stop the Boats Policy.">20 Replies</a></b></span> </li>
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Category: <a href="http://theaimn.com/category/politics/" rel="category tag">Politics</a>, <a href="http://theaimn.com/category/rossleigh/" rel="category tag">Rossleigh</a></b></span> </li>
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b><img alt="" class="avatar avatar-40 photo grav-hashed grav-hijack" height="40" id="grav-e34368e2ce1f748f7d39839135dc0d05-0" src="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/e34368e2ce1f748f7d39839135dc0d05?s=40&d=identicon&r=PG" width="40" /> <br />
<a class="gk-author-name" href="http://theaimn.com/author/rossleighbrisbane/" rel="author"><br />
Rossleigh Brisbane <br />
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</ul></aside><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
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</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><strong>One thing you can depend on with our current government is that <br />
they’ll contradict themselves. And I’m not talking about going from a <br />
budget emergency to spending billions on a war in the Middle East, where<br />
Australia has resembled some loser wandering up and down the street <br />
outside a party, suggesting that their invitation must have been lost in<br />
the mail, but they’re here now, so why doesn’t someone just let them <br />
in. And I just loved the Defence Minister’s warning not to expect a <br />
quick end to our involvement. It may take <em>months</em>, he said.</strong></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Yeah, well, given enough time, everybody contradicts themselves, but these blokes do it within the course of a single interview.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b><em>(Is the term “blokes” sexist? If it is, I apologise to the woman in Cabinet)</em></b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Take Eric Aid&abetts this morning. Yes, they were backing down <br />
from 40 applications a month, but it wasn’t a backdown, it was because a<br />
lot of time would be wasted with token applications. Not the <br />
applicant’s time, but the poor people forced to read them.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Applicants have plenty of time, so applying for one job in the <br />
morning and another in the afternoon shouldn’t be something to complain <br />
about. Because when someone is unemployed, looking for work should be “a<br />
full-time job”.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Get it. <em><strong>“A full-time job”!</strong></em></b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>That’s what the man said.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Ok, now there whole waiting six months for the dole thing is likely <br />
to be blocked in the Senate so the absurdity is never going to be fully <br />
demonstrated.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>But let’s leave for a moment the obvious point that the Keystone Coalition weren’t going to be paying those under 30 for this “<em><strong>full-time job” </strong></em>in<br />
that first six months, and let’s move onto the work for the dole where <br />
these lucky bastards will be effictively paid below the minimum wage for<br />
25 hours work. What he was actually suggesting that those under 30 – <br />
at least the ones who’d managed to survive for six months with no <br />
income – were expected to work 25 hours a week but still maintain their <br />
other “full time job” of looking for work.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Amazingly, he did say in the event of a person obtaining a job <br />
interview, they could be excused from their work for the dole to attend <br />
the interview. (<em>I wonder if they have to make the time up later…)</em></b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Of course, Eric did go on to say that work for the dole was a <br />
wonderful thing because that way people would be doing something useful.<br />
<em>(Had I been the interviewer I would have asked at this point <br />
whether this was hearsay or did he have personal knowledge of doing <br />
something useful at some point in his life.</em>)</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>And there you have it. The Liberal philosophy in a nutshell: People <br />
are best able to manage their own lives without a lot of government <br />
interference because we don’t want a nanny state, but if you’re <br />
unemployed, you’re clearly incapable of finding a way of doing something<br />
useful without us managing you.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Contradiction? What contradiction?</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
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</ul></div></div></div><h3 class="sd-title"><span style="color: yellow;">Like this:</span></h3>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06411370614239868500noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4674803850479489149.post-53226272435564125332014-10-06T20:25:00.001-07:002014-10-06T20:25:43.122-07:00Sword removed in counter-terrorism raids a common plastic decoration, owner reveals<a href="http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/sword-removed-in-counterterrorism-raids-a-common-plastic-decoration-owner-reveals-20141007-10r7nj.html">Sword removed in counter-terrorism raids a common plastic decoration, owner reveals</a><br /><br />
<br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">THERE MUST BE A LOT OF RED FACES IN THE AFP AND ASIO </span></b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br /></b></span><br />
<h1 class="cN-headingPage" itemprop="name"><span style="color: yellow;">Sword removed in counter-terrorism raids a common plastic decoration, owner reveals</span></h1><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
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</b></span><div class="cT-imagePortrait"> <span style="color: yellow;"><b><img alt=""Wouldn't be able to cut a cucumber": Police remove the sword, one of the major symbols of Shiite Islam, during the September 18 raids. " itemprop="image" src="http://images.smh.com.au/2014/10/07/5852995/Article%20Lead%20-%20narrow6173580710r9pgimage.related.articleLeadNarrow.353x0.10r7nj.png1412650000917.jpg-300x0.jpg" /></b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>"Wouldn't be able to cut a cucumber": Police remove <br />
the sword, one of the major symbols of Shiite Islam, during the <br />
September 18 raids. <em>Photo: AAP</em></b></span><br /><br />
<br />
</div><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>It was one of the most frightening, powerful images to emerge from counter-terrorism raids across Sydney last month.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>As one man was charged with conspiring to behead a random <br />
person in Sydney's CBD, police removed a sword in an evidence bag from a<br />
Marsfield home.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>But the owner of the menacing item has revealed that it is <br />
actually a plastic decoration common in almost every Shiite Muslim <br />
household.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Mustafa Dirani, a 21-year-old part-time painter, was detained<br />
and his parents' Marsfield home raided at dawn on September 18 as part <br />
of the Joint Counter-Terrorism Team's Operation Appleby.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>He said he doesn't know Omarjan Azari, who was detained, <br />
along with two of Azari's brothers, when their Guildford home was raided<br />
on the same day.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Azari, 22, was charged with conspiring to commit a terrorist <br />
act after allegedly speaking to terrorist Mohammad Ali Baryalei via <br />
phone and taking orders to seize a random person from the city's streets<br />
and behead them.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Dirani was detained and later released without charge.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>His parents' Marsfield home was searched for about eight <br />
hours and several items taken including computers, mobile phones and the<br />
sword.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>The sword has an Arabic inscription on it that reads:لا فتى إلا علي لا سيف إلا ذو الفقار</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>It roughly translates to: "[There is] no hero but Ali; [there is] no sword but Zulfiqar".</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>The sword - a Zulfiqar or Dhu al-Fiqar - is one of the major <br />
symbols of Shiite Islam that one leader said "wouldn't be able to cut a <br />
cucumber".</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Dirani's family are Afghani-born Shiite Muslims, however, the<br />
terrorist groups seeking to overthrow governments in Syria and Iraq are<br />
almost exclusively Sunni Muslim.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Dirani said his parents bought the plastic sword at a night <br />
market in Sydney. It has been on display in the family home for years.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>He is still waiting for the police to return it.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Jamal Daoud, a prominent member of Sydney's Shiite community,<br />
said the sword would be found in almost every Shiite household as a <br />
decorative item either hanging on the wall or sitting in a drawer.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Sheikh Zaid Alsalami, leader of the Nabi Akram Islamic Centre<br />
in Granville, said many Shiite Muslims would also wear the sword as a <br />
pendant similar to Christians wearing a crucifix necklace.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>"It basically denotes the sword that was carried by Imam Ali,<br />
the first Shia Imam," he said. "The Prophet handed Imam Ali this <br />
particular sword [in a battle]. It's not anything of any ritual value, <br />
it's just a reminder of something that represents the relation that Imam<br />
Ali had with the Prophet."</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Another Shiite leader, who didn't wish to be named, said the <br />
sword is usually made from plastic, wood or blunt metal. It is bought <br />
from jewellery shops, religious shops and online.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>"Sometimes it's made out of metal but you wouldn't be able to<br />
cut a cucumber with it," he said. "This item is not attached to any <br />
events overseas or anything like a war-style weapon."</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Dirani said he had been living in fear since the September 18 raids and was too scared to go to the shops.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>When Fairfax Media visited him at his Marsfield home, he was <br />
wearing tracksuit pants and a T-shirt, playing X-box with another person<br />
detained during the raids, Maywand Osman.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>"Do we look like terrorists?" he asked. "It's ridiculous. I <br />
have never talked about carrying out a terrorist attack, I've never <br />
thought about it, it has never even crossed my mind."</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>The warrant from the Australian Federal Police still sits on a bookshelf in the family's duplex home.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>It says: "Between 8 May 2014 and 17 September 2014 in the <br />
state of NSW and elsewhere, Mustafa Dirani did engage in other acts done<br />
in preparation for or planning terrorist acts contrary to Section 101.6<br />
of the Criminal Code."</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Dirani and Osman, who met at Epping Boys High School, had not<br />
come to the attention of counter-terrorism authorities before but have <br />
both had run-ins with the law.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Osman recently pleaded not guilty to charges arising from a <br />
car crash, in which he was allegedly chasing a group of men who had been<br />
bashed with bats, poles and a machete.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>His passenger, Dirani, was given an eight-month suspended sentence for affray and concealing a serious indictable offence.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>The AFP have been contacted for comment.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><strong>Media storm</strong></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>In the wake of the raids, it was widely reported that AFP <br />
officers had confiscated a sword for forensic testing, with some stories<br />
picturing the ceremonial sword sealed inside a federal police evidence <br />
bag. In the context of an alleged plot to "behead" a random victim, <br />
ordered by one of the most senior Australians serving with Islamic State<br />
forces, Mohammad Ali Baryalei, the sword appeared to be a weapon.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>The <em>Daily Mail Australia</em> linked it directly to the beheading plot under the headline: <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2759903/Terror-suspects-arrested-200-police-officers-swoop-targets-series-dawn-raids-Sydney.html" target="_blank">"Was this the lethal sword terror cell planned to use to behead an innocent victim on a Sydney street?"</a></b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b><em>The Daily Telegraph</em> set the <a href="http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/news/claims-of-a-plan-to-behead-as-prime-minister-reveals-terrorism-plot-came-from-islamic-state/story-fngr8gwi-1227062729516" target="_blank">beheading plot claim beside the discovery of the sword</a>.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Many articles by Fairfax Media described the sword as large <br />
and curved with a gold handle and engraved with Arabic writing. Police <br />
did not explain to the media at the time that the sword was plastic.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>In the article "Sword taken from duplex", News Corp's <em>Courier-Mail</em> directly linked the object with the threat of beheadings:</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>"More than 1m long, the sword was carried from the home in a <br />
federal police evidence bag (right). Police believe its owner was one of<br />
at least 15 men plotting to kidnap an Australian from the streets and <br />
decapitate them."</b></span><br /><br />
<br />
<br />
</div><div style="background-color: white; border: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;"><br />Read more: <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/sword-removed-in-counterterrorism-raids-a-common-plastic-decoration-owner-reveals-20141007-10r7nj.html#ixzz3FQSxaOFR" style="color: #003399;">http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/sword-removed-in-counterterrorism-raids-a-common-plastic-decoration-owner-reveals-20141007-10r7nj.html#ixzz3FQSxaOFR</a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06411370614239868500noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4674803850479489149.post-85195827058850479432014-10-06T02:01:00.001-07:002014-10-06T02:01:58.258-07:00A New World Order or yet another Monumental Blunder? - The AIM Network<a href="http://theaimn.com/new-world-order-yet-another-monumental-blunder/">A New World Order or yet another Monumental Blunder? - The AIM Network</a><br /><br />
<header><br />
<br />
<h1> <span style="color: yellow;">A New World Order or yet another Monumental Blunder? <br />
</span></h1><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
<br />
</b></span><ul class="meta"><li><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><time class="entry-date" datetime="2014-10-06T08:55:23+00:00"><br />
October 6, 2014 </time></b></span><br />
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Written by: <br />
<a class="url fn n" href="http://theaimn.com/author/johnbkelly/" rel="author" title="View all posts by John Kelly">John Kelly</a></b></span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b><a href="http://theaimn.com/new-world-order-yet-another-monumental-blunder/#comments" title="Comment on A New World Order or yet another Monumental Blunder?">44 Replies</a></b></span> </li>
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b><img alt="" class="avatar avatar-40 photo grav-hashed grav-hijack" height="40" id="grav-831443585decd7c4c94315a7ee3672e2-0" src="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/831443585decd7c4c94315a7ee3672e2?s=40&d=identicon&r=PG" width="40" /> <br />
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John Kelly <br />
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</ul></aside><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><strong>Can someone tell me just what it is that our <br />
eight strike fighters are expected to achieve by joining an <br />
international coalition aimed at defeating Islamic State? What can they <br />
do that the awesome power of the USA together with Great Britain and <br />
other NATO countries could not do?</strong></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>It seems to me that all this brouhaha that we have been subjected to <br />
by a heavily compliant media about our involvement in yet another Middle<br />
Eastern conflict has been little more than an exercise in mind <br />
manipulation. It is similar to the kind we were earlier mesmerised with <br />
in 2003 when the coalition of the willing invaded Iraq. Remember <br />
‘Mission Accomplished’? What happened?</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>At that time it was all about weapons of mass destruction. As we all <br />
know now, there weren’t any and the Iraqi Army which was, at the time, <br />
described as the fourth largest army in the world, turned out to be a <br />
bunch of pussies who turned and ran away.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>And have we now forgotten that we spent eight years in Iraq with that<br />
same coalition on the pretext of training the new Iraqi Army to deal <br />
with any subsequent incursion. Now, just five years later it appears <br />
that this same western trained Iraqi army has all but collapsed and <br />
can’t even protect its own people. So isn’t it reasonable to ask just <br />
what kind of training we gave them over that eight year period? What the<br />
hell were we doing?</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b><a href="http://theaimn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/david.jpg"><img alt="david" class="alignleft wp-image-28461" height="214" src="http://theaimn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/david.jpg" width="154" /></a>On <em>Insiders</em><br />
last Sunday, Defence Minister David Johnston said there were still <br />
pockets of the Iraqi army functioning. Pockets? By now it should be <br />
patently obvious to anyone that Iraq was a far better governed nation <br />
under Sadam Hussien than it is today. It was wealthier, militarily <br />
stronger and more than capable of defending itself against its immediate<br />
neighbours.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Today, it resembles a basket case. It is oil rich but cannot defend <br />
itself against an insurgency far smaller than the size its own regular <br />
army. And, once more that army has chosen, when under threat, to run <br />
away. So how good was our training program?</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>No one would contest that Sadam was a despot who ruled with <br />
unrelenting brutality. He deserved to be toppled but the real reason the<br />
USA invaded in 2003 had more to do with sectarian politics and personal<br />
hatred than any concern about his brutality. If you think otherwise <br />
then ask why hasn’t America intervened in Syria.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b><a href="http://theaimn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/abbott.jpg"><img alt="abbott" class="alignleft wp-image-28463 size-full" height="168" src="http://theaimn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/abbott.jpg" width="300" /></a>Our<br />
present government and the Labor opposition have betrayed us. Our <br />
presence, our involvement in the establishment of the new Iraq has been <br />
exposed as a monumental failure. Now we are going back to try and fix <br />
it. The reality is that we know nothing of what these air strikes will <br />
achieve and will be given nothing but heavily censored, favourably <br />
worded reports of “ongoing successes” as the campaign drags on till <br />
whenever.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Civilian casualties will be concealed or minimised, if not redacted, <br />
so as not to upset our delicate sensitivities or impact upon our <br />
support. It will be years before the truth comes out, at which time all <br />
the excuses about the damage done will have been carefully rehearsed, <br />
denied or made to look like someone else’s fault.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>The only reasons the public have shown their support for our <br />
involvement in this engagement is a few beheadings and because it has <br />
been restricted to air strikes, not combat soldiers on the ground. We <br />
rationalise that our pilots will be safe at 30,000 feet. If it escalates<br />
to a point where combat troops are being considered, the support will <br />
evaporate very quickly.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>The strength of Islamic State seems to be somewhere between 20,000 <br />
and 100,000 depending on which source you believe. Such a disparity in <br />
their perceived numbers suggests that nobody really knows. Western <br />
intelligence looks to be somewhat flawed. They seem to be making it up <br />
as they go along, just like they did prior to the 2003 invasion of Iraq.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b><a href="http://theaimn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/order.jpg"><img alt="order" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-28464" height="194" src="http://theaimn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/order.jpg" width="259" /></a>And it is the 2003 conflict where today’s problems were born. <a href="https://newmatilda.com/2014/10/03/explainer-how-2003-iraq-invasion-led-2014-disaster">Michael Brull of New Matilda</a><br />
gives a detailed account of how ISIS came into being; the result of yet<br />
another monumental blunder by the invading, conquering Western <br />
coalition.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>We are such a far cry from George Bush Senior’s promise of a new <br />
world order made back in 1990; not that I believed him at the time. We <br />
have every reason to doubt this latest intervention will bring us any <br />
closer. If I sound cynical, it’s because I am.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
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</ul></div></div></div><h3 class="sd-title"><span style="color: yellow;">Like this:</span></h3>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06411370614239868500noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4674803850479489149.post-44292666510142918042014-10-01T07:38:00.001-07:002014-10-01T07:38:58.343-07:00Abbott’s bogus war narrative and his problem with history<a href="http://www.independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/abbotts-bogus-war-narrative-and-his-problem-with-history,6954">Abbott’s bogus war narrative and his problem with history</a><br /><br />
<h1 class="titleLink"> <span style="color: yellow;"><a content="http://www.independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/abbotts-bogus-war-narrative-and-his-problem-with-history,6954" href="http://www.independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/abbotts-bogus-war-narrative-and-his-problem-with-history,6954" itemprop="url" title="Permanent Link : Abbott’s bogus war narrative and his problem with history"><span itemprop="name">Abbott’s bogus war narrative and his problem with history</span></a></span></h1><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><div class="articleResultItems"><span style="color: yellow;"><b><span class="arItems"><span class="glyphicon glyphicon-user"></span> <strong itemprop="author"><a data-original-title="View all of this authors articles" href="http://www.independentaustralia.net/profile-on/adrian-vandermey,367" rel="tooltip" title="">Adrian Vandermey</a></strong></span><span class="arItems"><span class="artTimeTag"><span class="glyphicon glyphicon-calendar"></span> <time content="2014-10-01T08:00:00+10:00" itemprop="datePublished">1 October 2014, 8:00am</time></span></span> <span class="arItems"><span class="glyphicon glyphicon-comment"></span> <a class="commentNotice" content="http://www.independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/abbotts-bogus-war-narrative-and-his-problem-with-history,6954#disqus_thread" data-disqus-identifier="dc:6954" href="http://www.independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/abbotts-bogus-war-narrative-and-his-problem-with-history,6954#disqus_thread" itemprop="discussionUrl">86</a></span></b></span><br />
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</div></div></div><figure class="articlesHeroCaption"><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><img src="http://www.independentaustralia.net/_lib/slir/w900-h600/http://independentaustralia.net/i/article/img/article-6954-hero.jpg" /><br />
</b></span><figcaption><span style="color: yellow;"><b><span class="heroTextCaption">"The prime minister is <br />
playing a political game, attempting to frame the threat to Australia in<br />
a way that absolves Australia as the cause of the threats itself."</span></b></span></figcaption><br />
</figure><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><strong><em>Tony Abbott has fundamentally broken faith with the <br />
Australian people by saying ISIS is targeting Australia because of “who <br />
we are and how we live”, writes <a href="http://twitter.com/VandermeyA">Adrian Vandermey</a>.</em></strong></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>IN A <a href="https://www.pm.gov.au/media/2014-09-18/doorstop-interview-arnhem-land">door stop interview</a> in Arnhem Land two weeks ago ‒ reminiscent of <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/nation/specials/attacked/transcripts/bushaddress_092001.html">George W Bush’s ‘freedom’ address</a> to Congress in 2001 ‒ Prime Minister Tony Abbott stated:</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><blockquote><span style="color: yellow;"><b><em>“These people…. do not hate us for what we do, they hate us for who we are and how we live.” </em></b></span><br /><br />
<br />
</blockquote><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Unfortunately, in attempting to capitalise on these new events in an <br />
attempt to bolster his opinion polling by using Howard-style tactics, PM<br />
Abbott is ignoring some harsh realities about why domestic Australia is<br />
now seen as a target for Middle East struggle.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>A <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/islamic-state-followers-urged-to-attack-australians-by-any-means-possible-20140922-10kg74.html">Government spokesperson</a> last week repeated the PM’s statement word-for-word:</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><blockquote><span style="color: yellow;"><b><em>"ISIL will claim that our involvement in this international <br />
effort is the reason they are targeting us, but these people do not <br />
attack us for what we do, but for who we are and how we live."</em></b></span><br /><br />
<br />
</blockquote><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Despite this narrative’s denial of the truth, the harsh reality is <br />
Australia has caused the threat to itself by striding clumsily with guns<br />
blazing and meddling in Middle Eastern affairs — something that began <br />
with military action in Afghanistan in 2001.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Mr Abbott went further <a href="https://www.pm.gov.au/media/2014-09-18/doorstop-interview-arnhem-land">to add</a>:</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><blockquote><span style="color: yellow;"><b><em>“Australians were subject to a terror attack in Bali long before there was any talk of Australian involvement in Iraq.”</em></b></span><br /><br />
<br />
</blockquote><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>This statement from the PM is ambiguous at best and disregards the cause of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_Bali_bombings">2002 Bali bombings</a> conducted by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jemaah_Islamiyah">Jemaah Islamiyah</a>,<br />
an Indonesian terrorist organization with close links to Al Qaeda, <br />
which was fighting Australian soldiers on the ground in Afghanistan at <br />
that time.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>A taped recording reportedly from Osama bin Laden in November 2002 <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/11/13/1037080786315.html">stated</a>:</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><blockquote><span style="color: yellow;"><b><em>"Australia was warned about its participation in Afghanistan and <br />
its ignoble contribution to the separation of East Timor, but it ignored<br />
this warning until it was awakened by the echoes of explosions in <br />
Bali.” </em></b></span><br /><br />
<br />
</blockquote><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>It was Australia’s foreign policy actions abroad, for good or bad, <br />
which resulted in the attacks in Bali in 2002, not the Australian way of<br />
life.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Last <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/islamic-state-followers-urged-to-attack-australians-by-any-means-possible-20140922-10kg74.html">Monday</a>,<br />
in a call for action against it enemies, ISIS urged its members to kill<br />
civilians and soldiers of the nations aligned against it, naming <br />
Australia.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>They did this not because Australia is a liberal democratic country, <br />
but rather because Australia has allowed itself to become embroiled in <br />
Middle East politics and line up as an ally and soldier on the <br />
battlefield with the United States.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Why then would the PM come out and claim differently?</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>The prime minister is playing a political game, attempting to frame <br />
the threat to Australia in a way that absolves Australia as the cause of<br />
the threats itself.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>By framing ISIS’s objections to Australia as an aversion to the <br />
Australian way of life rather than the questionable actions of previous <br />
Australian governments, Tony Abbott can now repeat with impunity the <br />
actions of John Howard, his predecessor and political mentor, by <br />
attempting to write a narrative around Australia’s national security, <br />
thereby embroiling Australia in another military campaign using an <br />
incorrect justification.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>It has also allowed the Abbott Government to push through, <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/consumer-security/terror-laws-clear-senate-enabling-entire-australian-web-to-be-monitored-and-whistleblowers-to-be-jailed-20140926-10m8ih.html">with bipartisan support</a>, questionable national security legislation which improves ASIO’s ability to monitor citizen’s actions online with a <a href="http://www.independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/terrifying-tonys-terrible-terror-laws--and-lil-bills-big-betrayal,6939">significant loss of freedoms</a>.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>This piece is not suggesting ISIS is something Australia shouldn’t be<br />
dealing with — rather that, in the interests of properly informing the <br />
public ‒ an essential responsibility for governments in a democracy ‒ <br />
the narrative for such action should be accurate.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>According to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Woodward">Bob Woodward</a> in <em><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plan_of_Attack">Plan of Attack</a></em>, in 2002 Secretary of State <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colin_Powell">Colin Powell</a> privately told then President George W. Bush about his <em><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pottery_Barn_rule" target="_blank">“Pottery Barn rule”</a>:</em></b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><blockquote><span style="color: yellow;"><b><em>“You’re going to be the proud owner of 25 million people… all their hopes, aspirations and problems”.</em></b></span><br /><br />
<br />
</blockquote><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Or in on other words:</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><blockquote><span style="color: yellow;"><b><em>“You break it, you own it.”</em></b></span><br /><br />
<br />
</blockquote><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>This is the narrative that should have been written.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Mr Abbott should, in his address, have said words to the effect of:</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><blockquote><span style="color: yellow;"><b><em>As the government in power in 2003, we started something in the <br />
Middle East which was left half finished when we ended operations in <br />
2007. </em></b></span><br /><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><em>Now the state of Iraq is under threat from an enemy which would <br />
see a weakened Iraq fall and be replaced by a nation that is far worse <br />
than the former Hussein regime. </em></b></span><br /><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><em>Australia is partly responsible to Iraq and the Australian <br />
soldiers who have died there, so that we must ensure this new threat is <br />
prevented from securing a greater foothold and posing a potential a <br />
threat not only to the people of the Middle East, but also the <br />
international community.</em></b></span><br /><br />
<br />
</blockquote><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>By being honest and upfront about Australia’s military actions, the <br />
Government still may have seen its polling improve, given the emphasis <br />
placed on national security by voters. But, in any case, the Government <br />
needed to own the intervention and breakage it made, respectively, in <br />
2001 and 2003 in the name of ‘freedom and security’ to show good faith <br />
with voters and to reduce the vicious Islamophobia we are now, <br />
unfortunately, seeing spread like wildfire through the community.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><strong><em>Adrian Vandermey is a masters of international relations <br />
student at the University of New South Wales. You can follow Adrian on <br />
Twitter <a href="http://twitter.com/VandermeyA">@VandermeyA</a>.</em></strong></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b><a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/au/" target="_blank"><img alt="Creative Commons Licence" src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-nd/3.0/au/88x31.png" /></a><br /><br />
This work is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/au/" target="_blank">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia License</a></b></span><br />
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<br /><br />
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<a href="http://www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/" style="background-image: url("data:image/png; border: medium none; cursor: pointer; display: none; height: 20px; left: 58px; opacity: 0.85; position: absolute; top: 297px; width: 40px; z-index: 8675309;"></a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06411370614239868500noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4674803850479489149.post-30827971140006470022014-09-30T11:12:00.001-07:002014-09-30T11:12:52.750-07:00Australia's Anti-Terror Laws I The Feed<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/Sn2aFH3ZY1s" width="480"></iframe><br /><br />
<br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Australia had no anti-terrorism laws until 9/11, but since then we've <br />
passed 61 pieces of legislation, and George Brandis wants to introduce <br />
more. Do we need them?</span></b></span><br /><br />
<a href="http://www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/" style="background-image: url("data:image/png; border: medium none; cursor: pointer; display: none; height: 20px; opacity: 0.85; position: absolute; width: 40px; z-index: 8675309;"></a><br /><br />
<a href="http://www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/" style="background-image: url("data:image/png; border: medium none; cursor: pointer; display: none; height: 20px; opacity: 0.85; position: absolute; width: 40px; z-index: 8675309;"></a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06411370614239868500noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4674803850479489149.post-21591937790080923602014-09-29T19:19:00.001-07:002014-09-29T19:19:27.571-07:00Tony Abbott’s reckless Crusade<a href="http://www.independentaustralia.net/article-display/tony-abbotts-reckless-crusade,6951">Tony Abbott’s reckless CrusadeThis work is licensed under a </a><a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/au/" target="_blank">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia License</a><br /><br />
<h1 class="titleLink"> <span style="color: yellow;"><a content="http://www.independentaustralia.net/article-display/tony-abbotts-reckless-crusade,6951" href="http://www.independentaustralia.net/article-display/tony-abbotts-reckless-crusade,6951" itemprop="url" title="Permanent Link : Tony Abbott’s reckless Crusade"><span itemprop="name">Tony Abbott’s reckless Crusade</span></a></span></h1><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><div class="articleResultItems"><span style="color: yellow;"><b><span class="arItems"><span class="glyphicon glyphicon-user"></span> <strong itemprop="author"><a data-original-title="View all of this authors articles" href="http://www.independentaustralia.net/profile-on/bruce-haigh,366" rel="tooltip" title="">Bruce Haigh</a></strong></span><span class="arItems"><span class="artTimeTag"><span class="glyphicon glyphicon-calendar"></span> <time content="2014-09-30T08:00:00+10:00" itemprop="datePublished">30 September 2014, 8:00am</time></span></span> <span class="arItems"><span class="glyphicon glyphicon-comment"></span> <a class="commentNotice" content="http://www.independentaustralia.net/article-display/tony-abbotts-reckless-crusade,6951#disqus_thread" data-disqus-identifier="dc:6951" href="http://www.independentaustralia.net/article-display/tony-abbotts-reckless-crusade,6951#disqus_thread" itemprop="discussionUrl">19</a></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b><img src="http://www.independentaustralia.net/_lib/slir/w600-h900/http://independentaustralia.net/i/article/img/article-6951-hero.jpg" /><br />
</b></span><figcaption></figcaption><br />
</figure><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><strong><strong><em>Tony Abbott is desperate to go to war, but what are the <br />
costs and what is he really signing the Australian people up for? <br />
Veteran Australian diplomat <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Haigh" target="_blank">Bruce Haigh</a> says </em></strong><em>— a world of unintended consequences.</em></strong></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>The so called <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_State_of_Iraq_and_the_Levant">Islamic State</a> is a marauding force of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunni_Islam">Sunni</a><br />
adherents with an ambitious and opportunistic agenda. It seeks to fill <br />
the political and military vacuum brought about by the first <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_War">American invasion of Iraq</a>. Acquiring power behind the shield of religion is its <em>modus operandi</em>.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Commonsense and compassion dictates that the rampaging rebels must be halted and contained. They must be stopped from <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/09/algeria-fighters-behead-abducted-frenchman-2014924153845171677.html">beheading western hostages</a>, abducting and raping women and executing prisoners of war.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>But who is it that should stop them?</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>On Monday 15 September, France <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2014/sep/15/isis-leaders-hold-crisis-meeting-on-isis-in-paris-live-coverage">hosted a one day meeting</a><br />
in Paris of 30 countries, including the five permanent members of the <br />
UN Security Council, major European states, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait <br />
the UAE and Iraq’s neighbours; Iraq did not attend and undertakings were<br />
vague. Further meetings are planned.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Australia has made preparations to <a href="http://time.com/3433346/isil-isis-uk-belgium-denmark/">join military action</a>, with the United States and just one other country, Denmark.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Britain and Canada are considering their options.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>France has undertaken some air strikes in Iraq and Saudi Arabia, the <br />
UAE, Qatar and Bahrain have joined U.S. air strikes against targets in <br />
Syria. Involvement of the Gulf States is likely to be limited and will <br />
not extend to boots on the ground. None are likely to have been <br />
enthusiastic volunteers. </b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>This is not Australia’s fight.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Despite the recent outbreak of official hysteria, which might <br />
incubate some home grown terror, Australia is not threatened in the way <br />
Iraq and neighbouring states might feel threatened.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>This is a fight for a broad coalition of Arab states. In the absence of this why should Australia step up?</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>No doubt the United States feels compelled to contain the damage from<br />
past mistakes. The Chinese must be watching askance our rush to the <br />
American cause.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Abbott is approaching military involvement as a religious crusade. He has said that anyone fighting for the rebels is <a href="http://www.canberratimes.com.au/comment/tony-abbotts-decision-to-join-usled-fight-against-islamic-state-recalls-shakespeare-20140924-10l9wr.html">against God and religion</a>. He didn’t nominate which God and which religion.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>The Attorney General, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Brandis" style="background-color: white;">George Brandis</a>, appears to be on the same hymn sheet, describing the “mission” as <a href="http://newsroom.macleay.net/iraq-intervention-a-humanitarian-mission/" style="background-color: white;">humanitarian with military elements</a>. They describe the rebels as evil.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crusades">original Crusaders</a> saw their missions as an act of love, righting the wrongs of Islamic occupation of the Holy Lands.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Abbott imbued with the history and heraldry of mother England and steeped in the tradition and atmosphere, if <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/tony-abbotts-oxford-transcript-released-20131125-2y6a1.html">not the scholarship</a>, of Oxford appears inspired by Shakespeare’s <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_V_of_England">Henry V</a>, during his invasion of France,</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><blockquote><span style="color: yellow;"><b><em>“Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more; Or close the wall up with our English dead!”</em></b></span><br /><br />
<br />
</blockquote><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>English is interchangeable with Australian as we are all subjects of the Crown.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Shakespeare’s jingoistic rallying cry ends with:</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><blockquote><span style="color: yellow;"><b><em>“The games afoot, Follow your spirit, and upon this charge, Cry ‘God for Henry, England and Saint George’!” </em></b></span><br /><br />
<br />
</blockquote><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Words much beloved by school masters and boys of the Empire, which paraphrase Abbott’s televised exhortations.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Tellingly, in 2003, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_National_Theatre">Royal National Theatre</a> reproduced Henry V as the invasion Iraq.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>As with American entry to the war in Vietnam, this current <br />
undertaking is bereft of strategic thinking and planning. There is a <br />
forward rush based on emotional footage and commentary.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Cool and calm heads are few and far between in the major Australian <br />
political parties. There is a reluctance to debate the issues involved. <br />
There is a sense that the Australian people are being railroaded — that <br />
if the momentum for war was slowed and discussion took place, public <br />
opinion might give the venture the thumbs down.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Abbott and his followers are banging an urgent military tattoo, in order to drown out dissent and numb clear thought.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>In building the <a href="http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/conversations/Summers/summers2.html">case for war in Vietnam</a>, media outlets in 1963 were swamped with images of village headmen decapitated, hung and disembowelled by the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viet_Cong">Viet Cong</a>. Emotion and fear was exploited. </b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>The <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/comment/tony-abbotts-decision-to-join-usled-fight-against-islamic-state-recalls-shakespeare-20140924-10l9wr.html">slogan of the time</a><br />
was that it was better to fight Communism in Vietnam than at home. <br />
Abbott’s better to fight the Jihadists in Iraq than Australia eerily <br />
echoes the propaganda from that earlier ill-judged and failed war.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b><a href="https://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/vietnam/">From 1962</a>, when <br />
there were 1,400 American advisers, until 1967 when there were 550,000 <br />
US led troops in Vietnam, it was downhill all the way.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>A small group of Australian officers and warrant officers were sent to help train the Army of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Vietnam">South Vietnam</a> in 1962. In 1965 selective conscription was introduced and, by 1967, there were 8,300 Australian troops in Vietnam.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>In all from 1962 to 1972, 60,000 Australians served in Vietnam, 521 died and 3,000 were injured.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Nothing was achieved.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Negotiations which might have taken place between the south and the <br />
north in 1964 were sabotaged by the Americans in the interest of <br />
defeating “Communism”.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>For emotional, religious and ideological reasons, America fatally misread the political and social dynamics of Vietnam.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Yet here is Abbott, a latter day lap dog, swallowing every grim U.S. <br />
‘intelligent report’ on IS and Iraq, not factoring in the earlier <br />
failure of U.S. policy, which has led to the present imbroglio.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>How exactly does Abbott believe the U.S. confrontation of IS will <br />
proceed to a more successful outcome than Vietnam, the first and second <br />
Iraq wars and Afghanistan?</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>U.S. foreign policy is flawed — it is directed by U.S. military <br />
imperatives. The U.S. is a militarised democracy with a President <br />
captive to the industrial/military complex.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Questions abound.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>We have gone to war with the IS in conjunction with the Iraqi <br />
military in order to support the government of Iraq, but what if the <br />
government in Iraq collapses and/or the Iraqi military fades into the <br />
desert?</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Will the ‘Coalition’ continue the war? Will they take over the instruments of the failed Iraqi state?</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>If Vietnam is any guide, the answer is yes — and with predictable and catastrophic results.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>What if IS should have further success, gaining more ground and <br />
assets and, in the process, look and behave more like a functioning <br />
state to the point that a number ‒ perhaps a majority of Arab countries ‒<br />
give recognition and trade with the new entity or state?</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>What, then,. if Arab states desert the ‘Coalition’?</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>What if they turn against the ‘Coalition’ on the basis that it comprises interfering infidels?</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>What if the Taliban in Afghanistan use the ruggedness and remoteness of the country to train IS and other fighters?</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Some say involvement with the IS could be a drawn out affair; it <br />
could also come to range over a wide area. As such, it might start to <br />
bleed U.S. military and financial power and influence.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Is Australia prepared to be similarly disadvantaged?</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>As the war drags on, or perhaps before even that situation is <br />
reached, will the Abbott government introduce a war levy (tax) and <br />
re-introduce selective conscription, for what is likely to become an <br />
unpopular war?</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>To top off Abbott’s silly and alarming sabre rattling, we have heard <br />
little from the immature government he leads regarding the far greater <br />
threat to the world posed by the <a href="http://theconversation.com/gung-ho-on-terror-australia-is-missing-in-action-against-ebola-31896">Ebola plague</a>.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><strong><em><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Haigh" target="_blank">Bruce Haigh</a> is a political commentator, conscript and retired diplomat, who served in the Middle East, Pakistan and Afghanistan.</em></strong></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
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<h1 class="cN-headingPage" itemprop="name"><span style="color: yellow;">Mega suburb land value jumped after deal</span></h1><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b><time datetime="September 30, 2014 - 6:48AM" itemprop="datePublished">September 30, 2014 - 6:48AM</time></b></span>
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</b></span><div class="ad adSpot-textBox"> <span style="color: yellow;"><b><ins class="adsbygoogle" data-adsbygoogle-status="done" id="googleAds" style="display: inline-block; height: 60px; width: 620px;"><ins id="aswift_1_expand" style="background-color: transparent; border: none; display: inline-table; height: 60px; margin: 0; padding: 0; position: relative; visibility: visible; width: 620px;"><ins id="aswift_1_anchor" style="background-color: transparent; border: none; display: block; height: 60px; margin: 0; padding: 0; position: relative; visibility: visible; width: 620px;"></ins></ins></ins></b></span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b><img alt="A 1350 lot subdivision is planned for land next to The Gap." itemprop="image" src="http://images.brisbanetimes.com.au/2014/09/29/5827405/Article%20Lead%20-%20wide6157482210nrp2image.related.articleLeadwide.729x410.10nrfq.png1412025656296.jpg-620x349.jpg" /></b></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>A 1350 lot subdivision is planned for land next to The Gap. <em>Photo: Louie Douvis</em></b></span><br /><br />
<br />
</div><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>A land owner sold a site slated for a new mega suburb for $70<br />
million more than it was valued at earlier this year, after signing a <br />
deal with Brisbane City Council.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b> <br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>The council signed an infrastructure agreement with Ian <br />
Macallister, a long-time LNP donor, in February that paved the way for <br />
him to sell 227 hectares of land bordering The Gap to West Australian <br />
property developer Cedar Woods for $74 million in May.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b> <br />
<br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Without the legally binding agreement, the Upper Kedron <br />
property's unimproved capital value was just $2.5 million, according to <br />
council calculations.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b> <br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>The document forms part of an assessment application made to <br />
Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt by Cedar Woods, which has <br />
proposed a high density, 1350 lot subdivision for the leafy site that <br />
has been met with <a href="http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/residents-of-the-gap-fight-bcc-over-massive-development-plans-20140922-10kf6n.html">fierce opposition from neighbouring residents</a>.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b> <br />
<br />
</b></span><div class="ad adCentred" id="conditionalAd-300x250-pos-3" style="display: block;"> <span style="color: yellow;"><b><small>Advertisement</small></b></span> </div><span style="color: yellow;"><b><br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Lord Mayor Graham Quirk is on leave, so was unavailable for comment on Monday.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b> <br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Acting Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner was also unavailable for comment.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b> <br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Save the Gap president Shane Bevis said the document appeared<br />
to confirm residents' fears that the development application was a done<br />
deal, despite contravening the allowable density for the area in both <br />
the new City Plan 2014 and the Ferny Grove Upper Kedron local plan.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b> <br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>He said no developer would outlay tens of millions of dollars for land without some guarantee their plans would be approved.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b> <br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>"This agreement appears to have been worth in the order of <br />
$60 million, so this is no insignificant document council has entered <br />
into with the original land owner," he said.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b> <br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>"What it looks like to us is council has been trying to hide <br />
this document, to hide the existence of it, they have not discussed it <br />
publicly.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b> <br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>"They have entered into a legally binding agreement that says<br />
something completely different to what the City Plan says and how the <br />
local plan says this land should be developed.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b> <br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>"It's time for council to come clean and start answering some<br />
serious questions about how this agreement was entered into and on what<br />
basis."</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b> <br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>The infrastructure agreement is not available in publicly <br />
accessible documentation relating to Cedar Woods' application on the <br />
council's planning website, PD Online.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b> <br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>A council spokeswoman said the document did not guarantee <br />
approval of Cedar Woods' development application but rather, was a bid <br />
to protect the site's "significant ecological and waterway corridors".</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b> <br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>The infrastructure agreement, which the council spokeswoman <br />
said was binding on future development, irrespective of property owner, <br />
was signed just 20 days after the council endorsed City Plan 2014, which<br />
came into effect on July 1.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b> <br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>It appears to override planning instruments in both the City <br />
Plan and the Upper Kedron Ferny Brook neighbourhood plan, both of which <br />
were endorsed after extensive public consultation.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b> <br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>In both plans, the site is designated for low density future development and as environmentally sensitive.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b> <br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>"Everybody who believed the council and the Lord Mayor when <br />
he said City Plan would protect our leafy suburbs, when this document <br />
was created at the same time, it's a real kick in the guts," Mr Bevis <br />
said.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b> <br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>"To those who thought they would have protection, the <br />
residents of Upper Kedron who rightly have an expectation council would <br />
stick to the local plan, it is just a real kick in the guts.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b> <br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>"This agreement runs counter to everything council endorsed just 20 days earlier."</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b> <br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>A huge backlash from residents of The Gap and Upper Kedron <br />
greeted the massive subdivision proposal, when it was submitted by Cedar<br />
Woods in June.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b> <br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>The council spokeswoman said the site had been identified as a<br />
location for future housing development under the South East Queensland<br />
Regional Plan.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b> <br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>She said it was not uncommon for infrastructure agreements to precede a development application.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b> <br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>The council's opposition leader Milton Dick called for a <br />
special council meeting to examine the emergence of the infrastructure <br />
agreement.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b> <br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>"The Lord Mayor personally met with this developer on two <br />
separate occasions, including the day the Infrastructure Agreement was <br />
signed and it's been reported he has made supportive comments in a <br />
statement calling for investors to the project," he said.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b> <br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>"We need to restore independent scrutiny to the assessment of<br />
this development application and I call on the Lord Mayor to cut his <br />
holiday short and immediately re-call councillors for a special meeting <br />
of the Brisbane City Council."</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b> <br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>The council is currently in its spring recess period.</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b> <br />
<br />
</b></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Mr Macallister has donated on several occasions to the <br />
Queensland LNP, as well as to the respective election funds of Cr Quirk <br />
and former Lord Mayor Campbell Newman, Team Quirk Forward Brisbane <br />
Leadership and Forward Brisbane Leadership.</b></span><br /><br />
<br />
<br />
</div><div style="background-color: white; border: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;"><br />Read more: <a href="http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/mega-suburb-land-value-jumped-after-deal-20140929-10nrfq.html#ixzz3EkLsu2D0" style="color: #003399;">http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/mega-suburb-land-value-jumped-after-deal-20140929-10nrfq.html#ixzz3EkLsu2D0</a></div><br /><br />
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