The Abbott Government

sydboy007 said:

I'd thought Abbott would have grabbed the life line provided by the scandals coming out of the banks to launch a Royal Commission into them.

Not often good politics marries so well with good policy.

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They aren't going to investigate their golf partners/dinner guests.

sydboy007 said:

Sorry to say Tony, but I'm more scared to see a financial advisor than I am of being bombed in a Sydney cafe.

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That is untill you are the one in the cafe, with the nut case, then you would be wishing he was a financial advisor.

sptrawler said:

That is untill you are the one in the cafe, with the nut case, then you would be wishing he was a financial advisor.

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The nutcases become that way due to a lack of education and good employment. And of course youth under 25 are still developing and experimenting with life, they absolutely love attention and good ole Tony is giving them prime time.

All the money wasted on war with troops overseas could be much better spent. We have some of the best land in the world for food production, and many of our outer towns would spring back to life in a heartbeat if we banned live meat exports. Things maybe a bit more expensive for awhile but such initiatives would soon correct with less dole, illness/drug taking, war equipment and one could go on.

But Tony does not think or set up inhouse think tanks to involve a cross section of minds. No, ideas are outsourced to private groups who supply recommendations that support thier own income streams and businesses, mostly offshore too.

So noco, for the umpteenth, where are the jobs coming from, and do not quote the latest figures which are so trumped up it is obvious. They will be revising down the previous monthly figures before long as the US have been doing since the crash of 08.

explod said:

The nutcases become that way due to a lack of education and good employment. And of course youth under 25 are still developing and experimenting with life, they absolutely love attention and good ole Tony is giving them prime time.

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Yes I recall the rash of lone wolf terrorism attacks in the early 90's when youth unemployment was at record levels.

Watching Parliament this afternoon, what a joke, not one idea to fix things at all in my view.

Environment Minister Hunt gave a report on the Green action group, meritorious but not scratching the surface on what is needed or could do with just a few simple changes.

Square miles of homes going up across some of the most fertile land in Australia towards Warragul near Melbourne, with good rainfall too. And the roofs are all in black tiles which use 10% more energy to heat and cool.

We need the Greens urgently and growing numbers of people are getting that message. The ideas I put up are what we are developing.

explod said:

Square miles of homes going up across some of the most fertile land in Australia towards Warragul near Melbourne, with good rainfall too. And the roofs are all in black tiles which use 10% more energy to heat and cool.
.

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I agree with both of the above.
But the greens have too much of a loopy mix in to take seriously.
Plod steal all the greens sensible policies and start the 'practical plodders party'

sptrawler said:

That is untill you are the one in the cafe, with the nut case, then you would be wishing he was a financial advisor.

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How many lives have been destroyed by nut cases in a cafe?

How many lives destroyed by financial advisors?

I'm reasonably confident I've got more chance of having my life turned upside down due to a financial scammer than due to a lone wolf nutter.

many years ago it was said 'Good Germans have nothing to fear"

Now with the growing police state in Australia we're told "Those with nothing to hide have nothing to fear."

Except maybe the massive financial cost of the surveillance system, or that the data stored about them is accessed inappropriately, possibly stolen by hackers and used to aid in identify fraud.

Throw in tat the Govt of the day can change with no parliament oversight what is actually stored, and to me there's plenty of potential for the net to continually widen.

I'd hoped Labor woudl grow a spine over this, especially when it's so easily to ridicule the policy since the simple use of whatsapp and viber would render mr terry wrist and mr paedophile invisible to it.

Our internet costs are already uncompetitively high compared to our major trading partners. Why are we voluntarily making them even more expensive?

explod said:

Watching Parliament this afternoon, what a joke, not one idea to fix things at all in my view.

Environment Minister Hunt gave a report on the Green action group, meritorious but not scratching the surface on what is needed or could do with just a few simple changes.

Square miles of homes going up across some of the most fertile land in Australia towards Warragul near Melbourne, with good rainfall too. And the roofs are all in black tiles which use 10% more energy to heat and cool.

We need the Greens urgently and growing numbers of people are getting that message. The ideas I put up are what we are developing.

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Some of the family first housing policies are good too, though the gun law reforms should be left in the NRA garbage can

Was just watching the Senate Committee this morning interviewing Gillian Triggs President of the Human Rights Commission.

Absolute eyeopener. When I started watching Penny Wong was quietly and forensically asking Ms Triggs to discuss how she had been approached by the Attorney Generals staff member to resign her position and was then assured she would be given another job.

Ms Triggs rejected the request to resign and pointed out that she had a 5 year position which was specifically established as a fixed term appointment to ensure governments couldn't simple nobble the Commission.

And in any case asking a person in such a position to resign and then immediately offering another position is effectively a bribe - offering an inducement to an officer to affect their behaviour. To a lawyer with 46 years experience that is as clear a case of corruption as you could find. Gillian Triggs herself would have been as guilty of corruption by accepting the bribe as Senator Brandis is offering one!

Ok discussion finished. So the Senate Chair Ian Macdonald starts haranguing Gillian Triggs over her report !! He is the Chair! He didn't even have the grace to at least step down as Chair while he wanted to question her.

But it gets better.. He begins by asking his questions very belligerently. As Gillian Triggs starts to answer, HE INTERUPTS, and INTERRUPTS AGAIN. She just cannot complete her answer because he won't let her.
Meanwhile Penny Wong and others are asking on Points of Order for Ian McDonald to either temporarily step down from the Chair or at least allow Ms Triggs to answer the question without interruption.

And at the end of it what do we discover? That this pig of a politician who was haranguing Gillian Triggs about the report hadn't even read it

It was an absolute disgrace, an abuse of Parliament and an indictment of this government.

On later reflection I believe I should withdraw my comments about Honourable Ian Macdonald being a "pig of a politician".

It does not reflect well on Mr McDonald and certainly defames pigs who from my experience would have behaved in a far more respectful way..

A much better Question Time from the PM and Govt today. The penny might just have dropped, you dance with the one that brung you.

Labor Lite is not wanted.

Josh Frydenberg, Oxford and Harvard educated (Law and Economics, he's no dill), is showing potential as Asst Treasurer. The Speaker was a bit soft on the Labor 'Phil Spector' Wall of Sound.

Was Professor Triggs offered another job or not...big deal, just a Labor diversion. The Govt has correctly called her out..Professor Labor.

Well we have another special precedent by Senator Brandis.

A message for all judges, commissions and enquiries and in particular those that might embarrass the Government.

"Your welcome to investigate any issue as far as you want. But bear in mind that we are the government and if we don't like what you have to say we will simply "lose confidence" in you, villify you in Parliament and do everything we can to remove you from your position"

Don't feel threatened or alarmed of course. Just make sure that we can at least agree with your final verdicts so we can avoid any unpleasantness"

basilio said:

Well we have another special precedent by Senator Brandis.

A message for all judges, commissions and enquiries and in particular those that might embarrass the Government.

"Your welcome to investigate any issue as far as you want. But bear in mind that we are the government and if we don't like what you have to say we will simply "lose confidence" in you, villify you in Parliament and do everything we can to remove you from your position"

Don't feel threatened or alarmed of course. Just make sure that we can at least agree with your final verdicts so we can avoid any unpleasantness"

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OR maybe they lost confidence in her because.......



Australian Human Rights Commission president Gillian Triggs who is heading an inquiry into children in detention. Picture: James Croucher

THE Human Rights Commission president must resign after turning her inquiry on children in detention into a political witch-hunt last week.

Gillian Triggs’ behaviour was unforgivable for someone with semi-judicial powers, able to force witnesses to appear under threat of jail.

We cannot have the head of an inquiry showing such bias, heckling witnesses and making false and emotive claims from the bench to make the Christmas Island detention centre seem a hellhole.

Nor can we have an inquiry head giving media interviews attacking witnesses and summing up the issues before hearing all the evidence.

We also cannot have an inquiry head refusing to correct explosive claims about suicide attempts in detention when they’ve been debunked.

It is now impossible to have confidence in Triggs’ impartiality.

In fact, it’s hard not to suspect her inquiry is designed to reach a prejudged conclusion ”” to damn the Abbott Government’s successful border laws.

The very fact that Triggs, a law academic, called this taxpayer-funded inquiry is highly suspect.

The last time her commission looked into this issue was 2004 ”” which, what a surprise, was when the Howard government was stopping the boats, too.

No further inquiry was held in the seven years of Labor’s Rudd and Gillard governments, during which the border laws were weakened, luring more than 1200 men, women and children to their deaths and filling detention centres to bursting.

No, Triggs, appointed by Labor in 2012, waited until another Liberal government was back in power, stopping the boats and emptying the detention centres.

Sev Ozdowski, the former human rights commissioner responsible for the 2004 inquiry, calls this timing “very odd”.

“When the boats were arriving in large numbers and Labor was at its peak of cruelty towards the boat arrivals, (the commission) almost did not see the problem.”



But Triggs is now on the case, seemingly filled with a righteous anger at the Abbott Government, even though the boats have now stopped and the number of children in detention more than halved.

Last month, for instance, she claimed “we’ve had reports that have been confirmed during the day that 10 women have attempted suicide” on Christmas Island.

False. There has been only one case of self-harm by a woman that could with any credibility be described as “attempted suicide”. And, no, Madam President, sipping some shampoo does not qualify.

Triggs also claimed last month she’d visited the detained children on Christmas Island and “almost all of them, including the adults, were coughing, were sick, were depressed, unable to communicate (and) weak”, which made her want to ask: “What’s going on? Why is this child not being treated?”

False again. Sick children are indeed being treated and the Government hotly disputes Triggs’ claim that almost every detained child on Christmas Island is sick.

Told this, Triggs ”” with her inquiry still to hear from Immigration Minister Scott Morrison ”” gave another media interview rebuking Morrison as needing “to be better advised”, and insisting “all children should be removed from the detention centres and placed in the community”.

Er, isn’t that the very thing the inquiry is meant to determine at the end of the hearings, and not near the start? Should an inquiry head really be attacking witnesses even before they’ve given their evidence?

But if all that was bad, last week was a disgrace.

Morrison appeared before her inquiry and Triggs flew for his throat: “How can you justify detaining children in these conditions for more than a year when there is no evidence that this is the policy that is stopping the boats but rather Operation Sovereign Borders, however you define it, with three-star generals or civilian authorities, whatever name you put to it, the reality is that physical force and power have stopped these boats?”

Not biased? Triggs?

On it went.

Triggs insisted “the people on Christmas Island are being detained in a prison effectively” because on her three visits she had noticed “you cannot get into any of the sections without going through armed guards”.

That infuriated the Immigration Department secretary Martin Bowles, who protested at Triggs’ “emotive statements”.

“It is not fair to characterise the detention system as a jail,” he said, and Triggs should correct a falsehood.

“We do not have armed guards, President. I would like you to acknowledge that.”

Triggs would not, despite being repeatedly challenged on her “facts”.

But if the head of an inquiry can see armed guards where there are none, and a prison where there are only pool fences, what else is she imagining about what she’s supposed to impartially judge?

No, Triggs must resign. She is meant to confront injustice, not commit it.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/op...ren-in-detention/story-fni0ffxg-1227034983124



Lying is unprofessional.

dutchie said:

No, Triggs must resign. She is meant to confront injustice, not commit it.


Lying is unprofessional.

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But why then are there so many professional liars in politics?

George Orwell – springs to mind:

“In a time of universal deceit - telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”

“The further a society drifts from truth the more it will hate those who speak it.”

basilio said:

Well we have another special precedent by Senator Brandis.

A message for all judges, commissions and enquiries and in particular those that might embarrass the Government.

"Your welcome to investigate any issue as far as you want. But bear in mind that we are the government and if we don't like what you have to say we will simply "lose confidence" in you, villify you in Parliament and do everything we can to remove you from your position"

Don't feel threatened or alarmed of course. Just make sure that we can at least agree with your final verdicts so we can avoid any unpleasantness"

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Yes, today marked a disgraceful attack on the Human Rights Commission, there appears to be nothing this corrupt government will not stoop to. The savaging of Gillian Triggs for telling the horrific truth about the rape and abuse of children in custody was a new low even for this desperate rabble. It was bullying at its worst.

It looks like Brandis may have his actions referred to the AFP, no wonder the Libs dont want a permanent corruption commission - they are rightly terrified of the consequences.

What amazes me is their misjudgement of the winds of public opinion, there is just the most widespread disgust at this behaviour today, lots of lib voters, and women in particular - there is almost no public sentiment in support of the Gov except from the most extreme, bolted on conservatives. The sight of elderly men bullying a woman like that just looks awful and they just dont seem to realise the negative impact in the electorate.

I guess thats one of the problems with a party that has so few women in its cabinet.

Oh, well, I am no fan of Little Bill, but all he has to do is sit back and let the self destruction take its toll and he will be handed government on a platter.

Oh, well, I am no fan of Little Bill, but all he has to do is sit back and let the self destruction take its toll and he will be handed government on a platter.

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I'm no fan of TA either but on the surface, the timing of the HRC does seem political.

No credit seems to be given for the release of 1,000 children from detention by the Abbot government, no mention of what happened under Rudd/Gillard in relation to drownings.

You can certainly make an argument that the handling of refugees by this government has been heavy handed, but frankly I'm not sure that the electorate cares, out of sight out of mind.

Abbott and co screwed up the politics of the report. All they needed to do was highlight the issue, show the progress the Coalition were making to fixing the children in detention and how they were a result of Labor's term. Seems to be the instinct for any other issue - blame Labor. Same bad political advice from somewhere.

Dutchie when you quote Andrew Bolt to support a hatchet job on Gillian Triggs you have dug out of the barrel and into the sewer. I would never, ever, ever take his information as a basis for accurate understanding. It just never happens.

I'm not going to pretend I know everything that has happened in this situation. But so far the things I am sure about are:

1) The immigration department supplied almost all of the information to Gillian Triggs for her report. The bare facts are not contested

2) The Government was given this report back in October last 2014. They had an opportunity to challenge its accuracy. They didn't.

3) The behaviour of the Government representatives in the Senate inquiry to Gillian Triggs was just appalling. I described it earlier. I would sincerely like to see that whole examination put up on You Tube and ask 1000 people what they thought of the behaviour of Senator Ian Mcdonald and Senator Brandis.

The criticial issue is one of the separation of powers. A bedrock of our democracy is that Judges are not subject to direct government intervention. That is specifically done to stop governments just sacking a judge who doesn't follow what they want to happen versus proper judicial processes. The reason why the position of Human Rights Commissioner was made a fixed 5 year term was to offer some protection against any government that wanted to move the President simply becasue they didn't like what they were saying.

So when Senator Brandis the highest legal officer in the country, knowing he can't actually sack Professor Triggs, sends his man over to "ask" her to resign and offers her another job instead - that is as close to corruption and bribery as you can get.

And if he succeeds he sends the message to the head of every organisation that reports to the Government

" Either do us a "nice" report or you will be trashed"

I will be surprised if the legal profession as a whole in Australia doesn't become very concerned at this turn of events.

It looks as if the Australian Federal Police may be asked to investigate the attempt by Senator Brandis to pressure Gillian Triggs to resign and offer her "something else" in in place of the position. This will be interesting...

Defiant Gillian Triggs resists pressure from Abbott government to resign

The Abbott government has been accused of breaching the criminal code by offering Gillian Triggs an incentive to resign as president of the Human Rights Commission.

It came after both Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Attorney-General George Brandis stepped up their attacks on Professor Triggs, accusing her of orchestrating a political stitch-up and losing the confidence of the Australian people.

Labor's shadow attorney-general, Mark Dreyfus, has written to the Australian Federal Police commissioner, Andrew Colvin, saying the offer may "constitute corrupt and unlawful conduct". He has asked that the matter be investigated as a priority for possible referral to the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions. The Greens are set to request their own investigation.

....Senator Hanson-Young later said the Greens were considering a formal referral to the Australian Federal Police.

"This is an extremely serious case. If a position was offered, as an inducement to encourage the President to resign, that would be a clear breach of the Criminal Code," she said.

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http://www.canberratimes.com.au/fed...ott-government-to-resign-20150224-13npiq.html