Oz Election Thread #6 - Abbott's LNP

Sorry, still working through the backlog while I was OS

Somebody's lying.

Found this in my holiday archives

And this

I've mentioned in other places that the previous minority government's ability to pass legislation contrasts sharply with this current majority government's inability to do the same.

Clive's u-turn on the carbon tax and now this:

Coalition's contempt returned with interest

Date
July 11, 2014
Category
Opinion

Peter Martin
Economics Editor, The Age

The Coalition is reaping what it sowed. It has repeatedly treated the Parliament with contempt in its effort to neuter parts of Labor's financial advice laws before they had full force on July 1.

Rather than put changes before the Parliament as an amendment to Labor's act, it introduced them by regulation when the Parliament wasn't sitting. It was aware of legal advice from Arnold Bloch Leibler that they would not survive a challenge in the High Court. Regulations are meant to assist the implementation of acts, not to nullify them.

Labor alleges that Treasury sent a copy of the regulations to the Senate tabling office on July 1 and then attempted to withdraw them, saying it didn't want them tabled until the last possible date, next Tuesday, July 15. What is not tabled cannot be disallowed.
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Directed by a vote of the Senate to table the regulations immediately, the Minister, Mathias Cormann, refused. Cynics suggest he was trying to delay the process long enough to get through to the five-week parliamentary break and then accuse the Senate of creating uncertainty when it tried to exercise its rights.

Then Labor's Senator Sam Dastyari pulled a stunt, one worthy of Cormann himself.

He read from the regulations and had a Labor senator demand that he table the document he was reading from.

In the confusion the motion passed with the help of the Greens and a handful of independents. On Monday Labor will give notice of a motion to strike the regulations down. If it succeeds, consumers will be protected in the way Parliament originally intended. It will have got around the workaround.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/coalitions-contempt-returned-with-interest-20140710-3bq7e.html#ixzz378EybbDH

Excellent. Spot on about everything.

“From climate leader to no plan at all.”

The Guardian sums up Australia’s position on climate change. Hands up all those not embarrassed? Now clench your fist. Now give yourselves an uppercut.




“Repeal of the carbon laws is a travesty of policy because it is clear from the government’s own reports and independent data that, over their two-year life, the carbon laws were working. Pollution is declining in a growing economy. The latest National Greenhouse Gas Inventory showed the greatest emissions decline since records began ... Meanwhile, the economy continued to grow, employment was largely unaffected and inflation impacts were exactly as predicted at a fraction of 1 per cent.”


John Connor, from of The Climate Institute, nails it writing for Fairfax Media.

Fitz says

TFF has spent a little time in Paris this last week around various members of the international diplomatic corps. Without exception, I can report faithfully, they were stunned, nay, STUNNED at Australia’s abandonment of the one policy we had to address climate change. “How has this happened???” I was rounded on. “How can Australia DO this?”

I had no answer.




Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/comment/theres-no-place-like-home-20140718-zud0i.html#ixzz37yyJUI8X

This is QLD, but I think it's relative to the overall feeling of the public, in regards to LNP policy.

And on a personal note; I've chatted with Indy rep Peter Wellington, and his passion is palpable.

Good to know - we need more indies of the calibre of Windsor and Oakeshott.

I expect Rob Pyne to take Cairns from the News Ltd twat Gavin King in the next election. But it will be as a Labor man.

Great tweet this morning:

Kim Jong-un calls North Korean media together and screams "This! WHY CAN'T YOU WRITE LIKE THIS!!" Via @NewsAustralia

The Conversation had an interesting piece on the budget

INFOGRAPHIC: Hockey’s mounting budget black hole



And apparently 3 govt commissioned reviews have recommended that the PPL money be assigned to child care instead. Dear Leader doesn't like that sort of common sense.

A dismal showing from Barnaby Choyce on QandA last night - just embarassing. I counted three times he said it was best not to express concerns about regional conflicts (specifically about the Israel/Gaza conflagration) because you only feed the hate.

I wonder how that squares with "Dear Leader's" tough stance on Russia's involvement with separatists in Ukraine.

A lightweight dill.

Meanwhile, on the homefront, dole bludgers will have to work 25 hours a week AND apply for two jobs per day. While tightening up on family support regs and defunding homelessnes programmes. Abetz was similarly pathetic about these changes on Lateline.

Help stop Adani from destroying the Great Barrier Reef


Environment Minister Greg Hunt has caved to the mining industry and approved Indian mining giant Adani's monstrous Carmichael Mine, threatnening the Great Barrier Reef.

The coal mine will be the biggest in Australia. It will pollute our climate with massive CO2 emissions for decades. It will mean massive and continual dredging and dumping in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area and will fill the Reef with thousands of coal ships every year.

The good news is that while Adani may have the approval, it still needs to find up to $10 billion before it can proceeed. This means the battle to protect the Reef from Adani is down to who can persuade investors, us or them.

Adani will try and convince investors to lend it $10 billion to wreck the Reef. We'll try and convince them Adani is a company with no public support who cannot be trusted. Game on.

How will it work?
We're working with online advertising experts to target investors, bankers, business partners, and politicians both where they read their news, and any time they research Adani's project online. Every time someone searches "Adani" or "Abbot point" or similar terms, there's a bidding war between advertisers who want their ad displayed.

So if we want to reach potential investors, and show that Adani is not trusted by Australians, every extra dollar beats these people at their own game. Alone, none of us can fight back against a huge company like Adani. But together, we can make sure that everyone knows they should not be trusted with our Reef. Let's do this. https://www.getup.org.au/campaigns/great-barrier-reef--3/adani-video-report/help-stop-adani-from-destroying-the-great-barrier-reef