John McTernan 457 or 747

[Garpal Gumnut]

John McTernan is described in Wikipedia as

A British Labour member, political strategist and commentator. He is currently the Director of Communications for the Prime Minister of Australia.

I believe he is a temporary worker on a 457 visa.

There are a number of issues relating to his role. To mention just two.

1. Was the post advertised and no suitable Australian found capable of performing the duties?

2. Does he have access in such an important position, as an alien temporary migrant, to information of a secret nature, which if used by a foreign power would be detrimental to the good of Australia?

gg

 

[dutchie]

John McTernan is described in Wikipedia as



I believe he is a temporary worker on a 457 visa.

There are a number of issues relating to his role. To mention just two.

1. Was the post advertised and no suitable Australian found capable of performing the duties?

2. Does he have access in such an important position, as an alien temporary migrant, to information of a secret nature, which if used by a foreign power would be detrimental to the good of Australia?

gg

1. She was young and naive when she hired him.
2. She has already dealt with this extensively previously and besides this is just opposition trouble-making.

So she does not have to answer any of these questions.

Another beautiful notch on the Gillard hypocrisy list.

No worries mate.

 

[Garpal Gumnut]

I read an interesting article in The Monthly some time ago on John McTernan.

It would appear that he goes from labour post to labour post and is pretty much a free agent, doesn't like the spotlight and gets quite shirty when his role is exposed or his actions questioned.

For what it's worth, from memory, he has always ended up on the losing side.

I still can't understand why the PM's office couldn't find a homegrown Communications head honcho.

I guess that is what 457 visas are for.

I do hope he has had a security clearance due to his alien status in such a sensitive position.

gg

 

[MrBurns]

He's an arrogant foul mouth pig, perfect match for Gillard, let them go, they're good for one another.

 

[Macquack]

He's an arrogant foul mouth pig, perfect match for Gillard, let them go, they're good for one another.

Bring on the election so this utter gutter rubbish will end.

Your man will win Burns, but what will you do then to amuse yourself?

 

[MrBurns]

Bring on the election so this utter gutter rubbish will end.

Your man will win Burns, but what will you do then to amuse yourself?

I agree Macquack, this whole business is not good for public moral, it needs to end sooner rather than later, you can feel the hatred in the air.
I don't like it.

 

[sptrawler]

Bring on the election so this utter gutter rubbish will end.

Your man will win Burns, but what will you do then to amuse yourself?

I think you have called it MacQuack, there is no way Australian politics can go the way McTernan wants to push it.
We aren't the U.K, we aren't dumb(well maybe a little bit) and we know when we are being fed a $hit sandwitch without tasting it.
My call is, McTernan made Gillard call the election a long way out so they can adapt their campaign to the electorate.
Best of luck with that, all it will do is make Gillard look more of a fake.IMO

 

[So_Cynical]

Now this is the kind of thread that needs to be moved to the Labor bashing thread...its gone quiet in there so perfect to liven things up for the ASF right, give em something to whine about.

 

[Calliope]

Bring on the election so this utter gutter rubbish will end.

I agree. Then McTernan can go home and take his "utter gutter rubbish" with him.

 

[MrBurns]

I agree. Then McTernan can go home and take his "utter gutter rubbish" with him.

Gillard has a lot of strong qualities but how on earth does she put up with his idiot and his BS advice ?

She must be lacking in more than political judgement

 

[sptrawler]

Now this is the kind of thread that needs to be moved to the Labor bashing thread...its gone quiet in there so perfect to liven things up for the ASF right, give em something to whine about.

I for the first time agree with you, how bad is that?

McTernan, really isn't worthy of a thread, just another bit of Labor flotsam floating through.

It's a shame a new lower level of politics had to be introduced, we could have done without it.IMO

 

[Macquack]

I agree Macquack, this whole business is not good for public moral, it needs to end sooner rather than later, you can feel the hatred in the air.
I don't like it.

Well don't spuik the worst in mankind, you are master at it.

I think you have called it MacQuack, there is no way Australian politics can go the way McTernan wants to push it.
We aren't the U.K, we aren't dumb(well maybe a little bit) and we know when we are being fed a $hit sandwitch without tasting it.
My call is, McTernan made Gillard call the election a long way out so they can adapt their campaign to the electorate.
Best of luck with that, all it will do is make Gillard look more of a fake.IMO

I tend to agree.

 

[MrBurns]

Well don't spuik the worst in mankind, you are master at it.
.

Man up Maquack, the worst in mankind is Gillard and her lapdogs and you know it.

 

[Garpal Gumnut]

I read an interesting article in The Monthly some time ago on John McTernan.

It would appear that he goes from labour post to labour post and is pretty much a free agent, doesn't like the spotlight and gets quite shirty when his role is exposed or his actions questioned.

For what it's worth, from memory, he has always ended up on the losing side.

I still can't understand why the PM's office couldn't find a homegrown Communications head honcho.

I guess that is what 457 visas are for.

I do hope he has had a security clearance due to his alien status in such a sensitive position.

gg

Thanks Morry for PM-ing me with the link. I never realised it was you on ASF.

This is an account of John McTernan's role in Rudd's challenge of Gillard in 2012 from The Monthly.

A veteran of the decade-long war of attrition between Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, McTernan arrived well equipped for the internecine conflict between Gillard and Rudd. In the week leading up to the February party room vote, he became a central figure in the six-strong campaign team that conducted conference calls every morning and evening, as if in full federal election mode: Gillard’s chief of staff, Ben Hubbard; her senior press secretary, Sean Kelly; the treasurer Wayne Swan; his fixer, Jim Chalmers; and the prime minister herself. Immediately after Rudd’s resignation as foreign minister, they spoke of “carpet-bombing” him so heavily ahead of the leadership ballot that he would not only lose the vote but be obliterated.

At Westminster, the Blair camp famously labelled Gordon Brown “psychologically flawed”, a phrase that amplified long-standing suspicions about the chancellor’s vindictiveness. In Canberra, the Gillard team adopted a similar line of attack, complaining that the ousted prime minister was by temperament incapable of doing the job. Swan himself fired the first salvo, issuing a written statement that blasted Rudd’s “dysfunctional decision-making and his deeply demeaning attitude towards other people including our caucus colleagues”. Then came Nicola Roxon, who complained of his “ludicrous” management style, Tony Burke, who bemoaned the “chaos” under his leadership, Stephen Conroy, who spoke of Rudd’s “contempt” for colleagues and, finally, Kate Ellis.

Senator Doug Cameron, a Rudd ally, had been warned by left-wing union friends in Scotland to be wary of McTernan, a staunch ‘Blairite’ on the right of the British Labour party. He was shocked that the attacks were so personal. “I don’t think there’s been anything like this in the history of the Labor party,” says Cameron. “It was stupid and undeserved. Politics is a tough game and you need tough people. But you also need smart people.” Others in the Rudd camp argue it was suicidal to trash a Labor politician who might one day return as leader – what they have called the “destroy the village to save the village” strategy. Still, it worked, at least in the short term.

To read the full article, go to this link.

http://www.themonthly.com.au/julia-gillard-s-hard-nosed-director-communications-strategist-nick-bryant-7132

gg

 

[Macquack]

Man up Maquack, the worst in mankind is Gillard and her lapdogs and you know it.

Name the place Burns, I will be there if you want to man up.

 

[MrBurns]

Name the place Burns, I will be there if you want to man up.

Have ot have a beer with you one day, if you're that old

 

[Macquack]

Have ot have a beer with you one day, if you're that old

What is that supposed to mean, is "ot" a type of beer?

 

[MrBurns]

What is that supposed to mean, is "ot" a type of beer?

Typo, any beer you're old gut can handle

 

[Julia]

I read an interesting article in The Monthly some time ago on John McTernan.

It would appear that he goes from labour post to labour post and is pretty much a free agent, doesn't like the spotlight and gets quite shirty when his role is exposed or his actions questioned.

For what it's worth, from memory, he has always ended up on the losing side.

Indeed, viz Tony Blair who ended up looking so utterly foolish.

I think you have called it MacQuack, there is no way Australian politics can go the way McTernan wants to push it.
We aren't the U.K, we aren't dumb(well maybe a little bit) and we know when we are being fed a $hit sandwitch without tasting it.
My call is, McTernan made Gillard call the election a long way out so they can adapt their campaign to the electorate.
Best of luck with that, all it will do is make Gillard look more of a fake.IMO

On this last comment, her week long sojourn in Western Sydney imo will have lost her more votes.
She has failed to make any connections with the general public, absolutely avoiding excursions such as into shopping malls where she'd be likely to encounter the unembellished wrath of the people.
McTernan would have been better advising her to stay in Canberra.

 

[Macquack]

On this last comment, her week long sojourn in Western Sydney imo will have lost her more votes.
She has failed to make any connections with the general public, absolutely avoiding excursions such as into shopping malls where she'd be likely to encounter the unembellished wrath of the people.
McTernan would have been better advising her to stay in Canberra.

I agree Julia, but would you really expect Julia Gillard to pop up at a shopping mall with the highly likely probability of a "Tony Abbott Rent-A-Crowd" rehearsed to throw eggs on cue at the PM.