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The Abbott Government

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IFocus said:
To be honest are Bolt and Jones Media?
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About as much as Tony Jones and Carlton, these guys all think that the garbage they spew influences people.

I think they will all end up out of a job, the lot of them are driving reporting down to the lowest common denominator.

Sensationalism works well untill reality overtakes it, then everyone is in the same head space.:xyxthumbs
 
On the question of whether these 'media celebrities' (I swallow hard at even writing those words) actually influence the public, I don't think there's any question that they do, at least amongst the less discerning of the electorate.

Does anyone remember a segment done by "The Chaser" back in their first series - when they were actually funny rather than obscene - where they'd find a few statements or a short interview with some utter idiot, and at the conclusion put the banner across the screen:

"This person votes".

Said it all for me, and still does.

Why else would people like Jones and Hadley be paid such extraordinary amounts?

Bolt also, I suppose.
 
sptrawler said:
Just shows how disenchanted the electorate was with the previous government.
The way things are going, we could be flipping governments for the next 10 years.
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Oppositions don't win elections. Governments lose them.

It's much the same as companies attract good (or bad) staff but it's the bosses who retain or lose them.

Faced with any sort of crisis, a good leader (political, business, anything) will focus on dealing with the crisis whilst keeping as many people as possible "on side". A bad leader will end up alienating practically everyone amidst the same general circumstances.

If you want a sure fire way to alienate people then just start telling lies, using the crisis (either real or manufactured) to pursue some ideological agenda that isn't actually necessary to fix the problem and adopt an "I know best, it's my way or the highway" attitude toward everything. That's a sure fire way to get practically everyone off side.

So far as the next election is concerned, if Abbott continues as he is (and remains leader) then all Labor needs to do is present themselves as having learned from past mistakes and now being well organised. That's it, nothing else is required other than to sit back and wait. :2twocents
 
I noticed a very succinct quote in one of the papers.

A U.S 'expert' said, "Australia should think about what it wants to be when it grows up".

Very apt. IMO
 
Back to raw politics

Abbott was cast / made / supported by the right wing in the Liberal Party (note not by the Australian Bush Socialists "nationals") in some peoples minds by Australians standards "the extreme right wing of conservative politics" i.e US Republican tea party of which Abbott sang from their hymn book while in opposition.
This worked well and the right gained power in the vacuum while Labor politically made poor choices both in policy and in basic political fore play.
Now reality has set in it will be interesting to see if the moderates in the Liberal party so long marginalised by the right nutters will gain ground.
Interesting to see how fragile the right and Abbott are with the latest attacks on Turnbull.
 
Julia said:
On the question of whether these 'media celebrities' (I swallow hard at even writing those words) actually influence the public, I don't think there's any question that they do, at least amongst the less discerning of the electorate.
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I disagree, Julia. I think Jones reflects the views of his audience rather than shapes them. I also think he needs to be put in perspective; his show attracts about 150,000 listeners, and has been falling for years, in a city that's pushing 5 million. Back in the late 90's and early 00's politicians were deadly frightened of offending Jones, but I think that his influence and power has waned considerably. Mainly because politicians worked out that he didn't really affect elections. I'd put Bolt in the same category, the only person on here who seems to take him seriously is noco, and he's not exactly what you'd call a swinging voter.

As to pay, radio tends to disproportionately favour the top rating station. This means that the extra revenue that Hadley or Jones can bring is not linear to the uplift in ratings. For example, 2CH is owned by the same company that owns 2GB. 2CH has an audience share that is 30%-35% the size of 2GB's, but only can only attract 10% of the revenue. So you end up with large pay packets to chase small ratings increases.
 
Julia said:
Why else would people like Jones and Hadley be paid such extraordinary amounts?

Bolt also, I suppose.
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These people may pull in large audiences on the day, but that doesn't mean that most of their listeners agree with them all the time.

Alan Jones et al can be perceived as rich elites trying to get the government that suits them, not their listeners.

Same with Murdoch, but he's more cunning. News Ltd will always support the Liberal party, up to the time they perceive that the electorate has other ideas. That's why Murdoch supported Rudd in 2007, he knew that the mood had changed and he didn't want to be out of step with his readers or the new government.

Alan Jones and Bolt have nailed their colours so firmly to the Liberal mast that they can't climb down, but people make up their own minds based on personal interest, not what the propagandists like Bolt and Alan Jones say.
 
McLovin said:
I disagree, Julia. I think Jones reflects the views of his audience rather than shapes them. I also think he needs to be put in perspective; his show attracts about 150,000 listeners, and has been falling for years, in a city that's pushing 5 million. Back in the late 90's and early 00's politicians were deadly frightened of offending Jones, but I think that his influence and power has waned considerably. Mainly because politicians worked out that he didn't really affect elections. I'd put Bolt in the same category, the only person on here who seems to take him seriously is noco, and he's not exactly what you'd call a swinging voter.

As to pay, radio tends to disproportionately favour the top rating station. This means that the extra revenue that Hadley or Jones can bring is not linear to the uplift in ratings. For example, 2CH is owned by the same company that owns 2GB. 2CH has an audience share that is 30%-35% the size of 2GB's, but only can only attract 10% of the revenue. So you end up with large pay packets to chase small ratings increases.
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Thanks, McLovin. You, living in Sydney, are much better placed to know the reality here than I am from the rare snatches I hear of Hadley's morning program. This seems to be multiple callers all fawning over him and ringing to agree with whatever he has most recently been mouthing off over.

No other Sydney radio station ever hits our regional airwaves so obviously I've formed a disproportionate conclusion: very happy to know it's not correct.:)
 
McLovin said:
, the only person on here who seems to take him seriously is noco, and he's not exactly what you'd call a swinging voter.

.
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This is a bit off the topic of this thread but it is in answer to the above.

Well McLovin for your information, I have voted Labor when there were genuine Labor men like Clem Jones, past Lord Mayor of Brisbane, who did a hell of a lot for Brisbane......he was not from the looney left like we have today who are intent on converting people to socialism and sending us down the road to ruin....I also voted for Hawke who was a true Labor man but since then the Labor Party have gone too far to the left and are dictated to by unions who now have only 17% of workers in unions but who have 50 % say in caucus.

You have Shorten who a founding member of GET UP.... Chris Bowen, Jenny Macklin and probably a host of other "LABOR COHORTS" who are members of the Fabian Society....both organizations are a front for communism and I won't have a bar of it thank you.

I also voted back in the early 60's for a certain Labor Alderman who I lobbied to get approval to build some shops in Suburbia Brisbane......she introduced me to a Mexican whom she said had more influence in the City Council than she did..... He demanded 30 pounds ( "FOR HIS EXPENSES").... a month passed by when he contacted me again wanting more money.......that is when I started to realize he was a 'bagman' for this Labor Alderman. note: I did not get my approval.

Yes, I will agree fully, the modern media has far too much influence on the young and the naive who have not had the experience to think for themselves so they believe in the lies they are brainwashed with that come out of the biased ABC, the Age and the Guardian and the socialist Labor Party. Alan Jones listed a dozen or more proven lies out of the biased ABC in his interview with Malcolm Turnbull...Go to 2GB and listen to that interview and the truth is there which nobody can deny it did not happen....I will endeavor to find the link.

McLovin, I could probably lay claim to being the oldest member of the ASF.....I am proud to have my OBE and I can assure you I have lived through the 50's and 60's when there was a lot of influence by the communist party upon the unions who were hell bent on wrecking the Australian economy through their outlandish demands for higher wages and conditions and in turn our manufacturing industry which has all but been demolished. We can all observe today the affect it has had and in particular on the car industry..

So the modern Communist Party are now using the Green/Labor extreme left to push their hidden agenda to convert to socialism which means the state want to own and nationalize the banks, the mining industry, farming, agriculture and what is left of the manufacturing industry. They do not believe in free enterprise and profits are a 'dirty' word...Could you imagine how long the communist party would last if they came out in the open and used the appropriate name.?

McLovin, I can assure you if the current Labor Party changed their ideology and came up with some sensible policies to fix the mess they have left us with in 2007/13, I would consider them again...they have no policy and have not suggested one way of rectifying the debt and deficit....all they are intent on doing is making sure the Abbott Government do not succeed in bringing things under control.......as Alan Jones quoted....Abbott has put his career on the line to save Australia....Shorten has put Australia on the line to save his career. unquote.

So I have said my piece and expressed my opinion and I trust the looney left will accept it without coming back with personal derogatory remarks.
 
noco said:
This is a bit off the topic of this thread but it is in answer to the above.

Well McLovin for your information, I have voted Labor when there were genuine Labor men like Clem Jones, past Lord Mayor of Brisbane, who did a hell of a lot for Brisbane......he was not from the looney left like we have today who are intent on converting people to socialism and sending us down the road to ruin....I also voted for Hawke who was a true Labor man but since then the Labor Party have gone too far to the left and are dictated to by unions who now have only 17% of workers in unions but who have 50 % say in caucus.

You have Shorten who a founding member of GET UP.... Chris Bowen, Jenny Macklin and probably a host of other "LABOR COHORTS" who are members of the Fabian Society....both organizations are a front for communism and I won't have a bar of it thank you.

I also voted back in the early 60's for a certain Labor Alderman who I lobbied to get approval to build some shops in Suburbia Brisbane......she introduced me to a Mexican whom she said had more influence in the City Council than she did..... He demanded 30 pounds ( "FOR HIS EXPENSES").... a month passed by when he contacted me again wanting more money.......that is when I started to realize he was a 'bagman' for this Labor Alderman. note: I did not get my approval.

Yes, I will agree fully, the modern media has far too much influence on the young and the naive who have not had the experience to think for themselves so they believe in the lies they are brainwashed with that come out of the biased ABC, the Age and the Guardian and the socialist Labor Party. Alan Jones listed a dozen or more proven lies out of the biased ABC in his interview with Malcolm Turnbull...Go to 2GB and listen to that interview and the truth is there which nobody can deny it did not happen....I will endeavor to find the link.

McLovin, I could probably lay claim to being the oldest member of the ASF.....I am proud to have my OBE and I can assure you I have lived through the 50's and 60's when there was a lot of influence by the communist party upon the unions who were hell bent on wrecking the Australian economy through their outlandish demands for higher wages and conditions and in turn our manufacturing industry which has all but been demolished. We can all observe today the affect it has had and in particular on the car industry..

So the modern Communist Party are now using the Green/Labor extreme left to push their hidden agenda to convert to socialism which means the state want to own and nationalize the banks, the mining industry, farming, agriculture and what is left of the manufacturing industry. They do not believe in free enterprise and profits are a 'dirty' word...Could you imagine how long the communist party would last if they came out in the open and used the appropriate name.?

McLovin, I can assure you if the current Labor Party changed their ideology and came up with some sensible policies to fix the mess they have left us with in 2007/13, I would consider them again...they have no policy and have not suggested one way of rectifying the debt and deficit....all they are intent on doing is making sure the Abbott Government do not succeed in bringing things under control.......as Alan Jones quoted....Abbott has put his career on the line to save Australia....Shorten has put Australia on the line to save his career. unquote.

So I have said my piece and expressed my opinion and I trust the looney left will accept it without coming back with personal derogatory remarks.
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Here is the link to the interview between Jones and Turnbull with mention of the ABC ...Listen from 14.00

http://www.2gb.com/article/alan-jones-malcolm-turnbull-4#.U5Jwy2RzDcs
 
Mike Carlton sticks the boots in

You can smell the doubt in Tory ranks, see the fear in Tory eyes. It’s not yet panic, although in this febrile political climate it wouldn’t take much to start one. But they are worried, deeply worried, that Tony Abbott might just have lost the plot.

This swine of a budget has been a disaster, both in its construction and its political execution. Stunned by the public protest, Abbott and his ministers have been furiously daubing the pig with lipstick, but it’s not working. The polls have the Coalition trailing badly on the primary vote and Bill Shorten is streets ahead as preferred prime minister, even though he has done little but keep his bum pointed to the ground.

So the usual Tory toadies of the media are stampeding to the aid of the party. For more than a week they have been exhorting Abbott to stand firm, to take arms against a sea of troubles, blah blah. Always a sure sign the faecal matter has hit the fan.
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The polls tell you more and more people are realising Abbott has not so much lost the plot as that he never had one. In opposition he was the wrecker, brutally effective against a divided and demoralised Labor Party, promising to lead an adult government faithful to its election commitments. But in power he and his ministers trudge through the smoking ruins of their policy flip-flops and broken promises, haplessly blaming their predecessors for the mess. This scaled new heights of idiocy on Wednesday when Defence Minister David Johnston proclaimed that it was Labor’s fault Abbott’s RAAF VIP jet had been late leaving for Indonesia.
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Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/comment/tory-...y-enjoyable-20140606-zs0e2.html#ixzz33v2iosMM
 
Nice summary of the Coalitions past weeks mess

Just before Alan Jones introduced Andrew Bolt to his radio audience on Wednesday, and launched into a tag-team assault on the character and competence of the most popular figure in the Abbott government, Sydney’s talkback king offered listeners some context for the discussion.

‘‘For some weeks now, the attacks on the Prime Minister of Australia have been unbelievably personal,’’ Jones began, adding that the language critics used to describe Tony Abbott had been ‘‘almost unprecedented’’.

He didn’t explain that uncharacteristic caveat, almost, but it might just have been that, deep down, he understood that the things said about Abbott by his political foes are not in the same league of viciousness that Jones reached when talking about another prime minister, Julia Gillard.

Here was the commentator who, soon after the death of Gillard’s father, said John Gillard had ‘‘died of shame’’ because ‘‘he had a daughter who told lies every time she stood for Parliament’’; who called her ‘‘Ju-liar’’ to her face; and who asserted she should be tied in a chaff bag, taken to sea and dumped.
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The problem for the Coalition is that the attacks on Turnbull have damaged its standing, which was already at a record low for a new government, and almost certainly enhanced his, especially among small-l liberals.

There is no suggestion Bolt was acting in response to any urgings from the Prime Minister’s office, but he does claim to be reflecting concerns about Turnbull from ‘‘some of Abbott’s troops’’. This points to an emerging problem, as does the mischief-making by those ‘‘senior Liberals’’ who told the ABC that Nationals ministers were duped into supporting the reintroduction of petrol excise – a claim flatly rejected by the government.
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Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/comment/after...breaks-down-20140606-zrzw8.html#ixzz33v4pfIN1
 
Great headline by the SMH

ABBOTT EMBARASSING US ON THE WORLD STAGE, SAYS LABOR.
Well who really gives a $hit what Labor thinks, apart from the SMH, IFocus and Rumpole .

Unbelievable nonsense reporting. Please let us go into a full blown recession, so these idiots can report on real news.
Maybe we need a new thread 'Stupid News Headlines'

By the way it is great to see IFocus quoting Jones and Bolt.lol
Not unusual to see Carlton get a jersey though, what a dick.
 
Seems like the Abbott Government wants east Jerusalem and West Bank to be O4B now.

I can't believe Bishop is so ill informed as question the illegality of Israel's settlements on occupied land. Is this some sort of sop to try and keep the Jewish community in Australia on side during the ham fisted changes to the racial discrimination act by the Government? Maybe it's just the tea party right asserting their influence?

http://www.smh.com.au/comment/austr...middle-east-peace-process-20140608-zs15x.html

Australia’s new policy of refusing to describe East Jerusalem as “occupied”, confirmed by a statement made by Attorney-General George Brandis in consultation with Foreign Minister Julie Bishop..

The government’s statement follows Julie Bishop’s earlier break from bipartisan consensus when she said in Israel in January that she’d like to see which international law has declared Israel’s settlements illegal. The answer is that there is overwhelming international consensus that Israel is in clear breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention, specifically Article 49, paragraph 6, which states that “The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies”.

When New Jersey Governor Chris Christie referred to visiting Israel and flying over "the occupied territories", he was immediately upbraided by Adelson and required to issue a clarification. Tea Party Republican orthodoxy prohibits reference to occupation: "occupied territories" are now “disputed" only.
 
sptrawler said:
Great headline by the SMH

ABBOTT EMBARASSING US ON THE WORLD STAGE, SAYS LABOR.
Well who really gives a $hit what Labor thinks, apart from the SMH, IFocus and Rumpole .

Unbelievable nonsense reporting. Please let us go into a full blown recession, so these idiots can report on real news.
Maybe we need a new thread 'Stupid News Headlines'

By the way it is great to see IFocus quoting Jones and Bolt.lol
Not unusual to see Carlton get a jersey though, what a dick.
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I hope you are on statins otherwise I can see you keeling over after reading yet another story that doesn't shower glory on the dear leader.
 
In fighting starting already.........

Coalition split on paid parental leave sparks Joe Hockey budget warning

Of the National party’s six senators (including Country Liberal Party senator Nigel Scullion) only Bridget McKenzie and Fiona Nash have confirmed they support the scheme. Scullion has yet to confirm how he will vote.

Boswell argued PPL was unfair to rural Australians, who generally earn less than their city counterparts, and would discriminate against stay-at-home mothers.

“You help the weak, not the strong,’’ Boswell told the Australian.
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http://www.theguardian.com/world/20...rental-leave-sparks-joe-hockey-budget-warning
 
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