Does Gillard inspire confidence?

[sptrawler]

To me Michelle Grattan's article is pretty reasonable and even handed.
She has, imo, appropriately criticised both sides:

Your probably right, this may have helped her.

http://afr.com/p/national/media_face_bans_for_leaking_parliament_DuZt3umTctakeEWXHJDnFL

Nothing like a good whipping to get everything "ship shape"

 

[noco]

Listen very carefully to this interview between Alan Jones and Julie Bishop form your own opinion.

http://www.2gb.com/article/julie-bishop-awu-affair

 

[drsmith]

Any eager legal beaver want to go over the following,

http://michaelsmithnews.typepad.com/files/301112-pressconference.pdf

It's a transcript of GEORGE BRANDIS's press conference today.

 

[IFocus]

One of your mob Peter Hartcher writes an adult summery of the week

Julia Gillard is tougher than diamonds, and has cowed even the notorious political streetfighter Tony Abbott.

This is the telling bit

the opposition did not even attempt to move a motion of censure against her or, more seriously, a motion of no confidence.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/polit...another-day-20121130-2amng.html#ixzz2DkQjYCmn

 

[IFocus]

Mike Carlton

My bold

Even in quiet times the Oz's Canberra political coverage has a hectoring tone. Obsessive, bombastic, endlessly repetitive, it is a newspaper with Asperger's. Platoons of reporters, columnists and commentators, all grandly titled - chief this, national that - tumble over each other in furious agreement with their proprietor's view that only nice Mr Abbott can save the nation from the perdition to which Labor is leading us.

This week they soared to dizzy new heights. What I suppose we must call the Gillard/AWU Affair whipped them to a frenzy, to page after page of grey print that bellowed and howled like some lunatic chained in a padded cell. It seems every hack on the payroll has lunged into the fray, save for the golfing writer and the food editor so far as I can gather, but sooner or later even they will be expected to join this News Ltd stampede to crucify the Prime Minister. It's the group-think way the joint works. HOPELESS JULIA DOUBLE-BOGEYS 18TH. PM's COQ AU VIN POISONS CAT. With the federal election due next year, the creative possibilities are endless.

Yes, she once had a dud boyfriend, until she dropped him like a hot brick. Show me a woman her age who hasn't. Even the

sanctimonious but risibly ineffectual Julie Bishop might have to plead guilty to that heinous offence.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/stirring-this-storm-in-a-teacup-20121130-2alxv.html#ixzz2DkTETLw0

 

[moXJO]

One of your mob Peter Hartcher writes an adult summery of the week



This is the telling bit






Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/polit...another-day-20121130-2amng.html#ixzz2DkQjYCmn

Wollongong local labor council thrown out due to corruption.
Nsw state labor corruption.
Fed labor corruption.
There is a long list of people happy to turn a blind eye to it or try and play it down.
Abbott wanting to give the unions the once through isnt a bad idea.
Gillards character is dodgy, her actions have proven that to be true.

 

[noco]

Gillard was influenced by Communism in the early 90's and most likely still leans in that direction.

http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/...ything_gillard_says_the_socialist_forum_case/

 

[Calliope]

It's nice to see that Gillard still inspires confidence in IFocus, Mike Carlton, and Laurie Oakes.

Oakes said; "No impropriety has been pinned on the PM."

impropriety, noun. - bad taste, improper action, improper behavior, imprudence, inappropriate behavior, inappropriateness, incongruousness, incorrectness, indecorousness, indecorum, indelicacy, inelegance, inexpedience, inexpediency, inopportuneness, lack of good taste, misbehavior, peccadillo, quod indecorum est, tactlessness, unaptness, unfitness, unfittingness, unseemliness, unsuitability, unsuitable accion, unsuitableness, untimeliness, want of caution, want of circumspection
Associated concepts: crime, violation

None so blind as a rusted-on lunar leftie.

 

[drsmith]

Listen very carefully to this interview between Alan Jones and Julie Bishop form your own opinion.

http://www.2gb.com/article/julie-bishop-awu-affair

She lays it out very clearly, doesn't she.

 

[drsmith]

She doesn't like all this at all.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/na...union-corruption/story-fndo317g-1226527799306

 

[Julia]

Typical spray from Mr Carlton who is known for his hatred of the conservative side of politics.

The reporting on the AWU matter has been led by Hedley Thomas for The Australian.
I went looking for what journalistic awards had been won by Carlton and Thomas respectively.
Nothing I could find for Mr Carlton. Mr Thomas's name, however, brings up the following:

Hedley Thomas is The Australian’s national chief correspondent. He writes across the newspaper, specialising in investigative reporting with a particular interest in legal issues, the judiciary, public administration, corruption and politics.

Hedley, 43, first joined The Australian in 2006 after working for The Courier-Mail, The South China Morning Post and the Gold Coast Bulletin.

He is the author of Sick to Death, a book revolving around surgeon Dr Jayant Patel who was tried for manslaughter and grievous bodily harm in Brisbane after working as a director of surgery in Queensland. Dr Patel was convicted in July 2010. Hedley was responsible for uncovering his appalling background, leading to a public outcry and the criminal prosecution.

Hedley has won five Walkley awards including the Gold Walkley, in 2007, for his investigations into the fiasco surrounding the Australian Federal Police investigations of Dr Mohamed Haneef. Hedley is based in the Brisbane Bureau of The Australian, which he returned to in early 2010 after a two year stint in investor relations and media for a resources company.

I know which of the two I'd regard as the more thorough and proven investigative journalist.

 

[sails]

She doesn't like all this at all.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/na...union-corruption/story-fndo317g-1226527799306

What a nasty snarl...lol

And I wish she didn't wear pink - she is an embarrassment and insult to decent women, imo.

And I agree with Bolt that she is using the "sexism" thing as a weapon. Also the most smear and inuendo isn't coming from the opposition - she is spitting out plenty all on her own.

It is evidence of how Gillard uses sexism as both an accusation and a weapon. She screams “sexism” at Abbott, hoping to be excused as a woman the scrutiny and criticism any Prime Minister should face.

Read more:
http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/gillard_returns_shouting/

 

[Tink]

Agree, sails, not a very nice person at all. She isnt coping too well with her past being rehashed, is she?
Those loud sarcastic laughs say it all.

As for that pink outfit, does not suit her at all.
Feminine? pffft.

 

[MrBurns]

Agree, sails, not a very nice person at all. She isnt coping too well with her past being rehashed, is she?
Those loud sarcastic laughs say it all.

As for that pink outfit, does not suit her at all.
Feminine? pffft.

Agree, notice how she reacts when backed into a corner ? Like the weasel she is.
Very nasty piece of work is Gillard, probably backstabbed throughout her life to get ahead...it worked though BUT the Karma train is coming

 

[sptrawler]

Is this the same Mike Carlton, or just someone with the same name?

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/new...e-carlton-sacked/story-e6frg6n6-1111117335029

As an aside, the flack from the unions is going to be unbelievable, now Abbott has announced an investigation into unions.
The proverbial is going to hit the fan, like nothing we have seen before.IMO

 

[Julia]

Is this the same Mike Carlton, or just someone with the same name?

The same person.

 

[sptrawler]

Well that would explain his stance, wouldn't it.
Like I said, IMO this is going to go feral as the unions close ranks.
Abbott has taken on a major fight here, it will be a defining moment in Australian politics, if it plays out.

 

[Julia]

Ms Gillard has said she cannot remember whether $5000 was deposited into her bank account.
She says she has checked with the bank and they do not have records going back that far.

This seems at odds with Hedley Thomas's contention in "The Weekend Australian", where he discusses a potential judicial inquiry, as follows:

Banking records first obtained when the AWU's national leadership called for a royal commission into this scandal in 1996 remain readily available.

I suppose the difference might be that the banking records were obtained back then and kept in some file on the AWU since. It needs clarification imo.

 

[drsmith]

What a nasty snarl...lol

A very dangerous place to stand is between Julia Gillard and power. That's where Kevin Rudd found himself and where Tony Abbott currently finds himself.

The conclusion I've reached is that she is obsessed by power and prepared to sacrifice anything in her quest to both obtain and maintain power. It's a fundemantal character flaw that I think is a large contributer to Labor's policy failures. Amongst it all, she has maintained her prime-ministership and the power trip that provides her.

The question is the cost, to both the Labor movement and the the country as a whole while Labor remains in office under her leadership. This is certainly something she does not care about.

It's a character flaw and Labor has had a recent history of elevating flawed characters to leaders. Mark Latham is essentially little more than a thug and a bully and Labor's own assessment on Kevin Rudd speaks for itself.

Tony Abbott and the Coalition won't win with trench warfare if the playing field is not level. Rather than just shooting, the Coalition need to level the playing field by targeting her character weaknesses and not her strengths. Even though there have been stumblesw along the way, the past week in Parliament may be a sign that the Coalition have realised the above.

 

[drsmith]

Ms Gillard has said she cannot remember whether $5000 was deposited into her bank account.

She won't catagorically deny it which in itself raises suspicisions. One does not remember every transaction, but if something has been done that is naughty, one is more inclined to remember.

Her defence is simple. Produce the hard evidence. This is fine in an enquiry or a court of law, but there, people are complelled to answer questions. She's avoiding them in the hope that in the court of public opinion, she will survive. Personally, she can only lose by coming clean and she will defend herself in the above manner to her last political breath.

Labor faces a difficult choice. She is ultimately poison to the party, but her power is such that there is little they can do about it at the present time, whether they want to or not. If all else was to fail, I would hope there's are a growing number of politicians on the Labor side hoping for a shallow election defeat, enough to facilitate her removal as leader but not send the party to electoral oblivion. If Labor can't see and ultimately act on the monster it has nurtured, then it has well and truely lost its way.