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The Abbott Government

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DEAR GOD MAN ... narcissism at it's best ... I gave you the benefit of the doubt but now it is just ignore :banghead:

gorilla.jpg

This is an urban gorilla BTW.
 
trainspotter said:
http://www.news.com.au/national/a-w...bbott-doesnt-use/story-fncynjr2-1226762698863

This is the kind of WASTE that needs to be stamped out of ANY government !!!
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It appears that this lease was taken out by labor prior to the election and the Coalition are trying to end the unnecessary lease.

Senior DPMC official Elizabeth Kelly said the department signed a 12-month lease on August 31, a week before the September 7 federal election.
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http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/2013/11/18/16/05/3000-a-week-for-house-pm-doesn-t-use
 
Julia said:
To praise 'efforts toward something' is completely different from actually praising that something.
So he did not 'praise their human rights record'.
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Cannot find the head line unfortunately I was a bit stunned when I read the piece as Abbott was overly positive.
But given the recent Colombo record I still think the stand was appalling and in stark contrast to other western leaders all conservative.


Knobby's comments were realistic imo.
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Knobby comments are always realistic
 
IFocus said:
Cannot find the head line unfortunately I was a bit stunned when I read the piece as Abbott was overly positive.
But given the recent Colombo record I still think the stand was appalling and in starkg contrast to other western leaders all conservative.

Knobby comments are always realistic
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Not being able to read the PMs praise makes it difficult to comment. A double eged sword. I would be interested to read such an article. From what I have read on the subject matter it was "diplomacy" at its finest ... pity the media did not see it that way (allegedly)
 
Well, the proverbial **** has hit the fan now!

Indonesia will call back its ambassador to Australia and "review" Australian diplomatic positions in Jakarta as anger rises in Indonesia over revelations that Australia tapped the phone of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his wife.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/indones...pying-claim-20131118-2xr5x.html#ixzz2kzVFLsIP​

Given everyone knows a certain amount of spying goes on and...

Last week during his visit to Canberra, Vice-President Boediono said the Indonesian public was concerned about the previous spying revelations and called for a truce on using information gathered by spying against each other.

"I think we must look forward to come to some arrangement which guarantees that intelligence information from each side is not used against the other. There must be a system,"' he said.
​

It would seem quite obvious that Abbott and Bishop would not call a truce and promise not to do it again in the future.

Documents released by whistleblower Edward Snowden reveal that in 2009 Australia's Defence Signals Directorate targeted the personal mobile numbers of both Dr Yudhoyono and his wife, Kristiani Herawati, as well as eight others in the President's inner circle, including the Vice-President.​

So, for the Aus voter, the big unanswered question is who, knew what and when.

Did some sort of covert US intelligence get embedded in our intelligence service during Howards close friendship with George Bush and the war on terrorism, that Labor didn't know about... or is Labor responsible?

Former Coalition government foreign minister Alexander Downer said the revelations were damaging to Australia.

"It's a shocking situation in which Australia will pay a big price," Sky News cited Mr Downer as saying.​

Is Downer speaking from experience and or knowledge?

No doubt it will blow over in time, but why couldn't they come to a truce? Was spying used in the 'turn back the boats' campaign causing that to blow out to be a big a thorn in the side? Not good for trade relations improving any time soon.
 
On the spying issue - it seems the damaging allegations happened in 2009 when Rudd was PM. Why would Fairfax and the ABC try to pin this on Abbott unless they are trying to undermine any progress Abbott has made on Asylum seekers? And now it's another massive mess left by labor for the Coalition to clean up.

How labor supporters can tolerate let alone support this sort of behaviour is beyond me.

The documents reportedly reveal that Australia attempted to listen to Mr Yudhoyono's personal phone calls on at least one occasion in 2009.

The material comes in the form of a slide presentation. One slide entitled "IA Leadership Targets + Handsets" bears the names of the top political figures, the types of phones they own and the network they use – which in all cases is 3G.

The slide's footer bears an Australian Defence Department slogan: "Reveal their secrets - Protect our own".

Another slide is titled "Indonesian President Voice Events" and has a graphic of calls from Mr Yudhoyono's Nokia phone over 15 days in November 2009
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Read more (bold above is mine):
http://www.smh.com.au/world/indones...stralia-over-spying-claim-20131118-2xr5x.html
 
sails said:
It appears that this lease was taken out by labor prior to the election and the Coalition are trying to end the unnecessary lease.



http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/2013/11/18/16/05/3000-a-week-for-house-pm-doesn-t-use
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I would agree with what TS said: "This is the kind of WASTE that needs to be stamped out of ANY government !!!"

BUT, the whole story indicates, even though it was a departmental decision, both Rudd and Abbott knew about the search for a replacement while the Lodge was being refurbished.

It signed even though neither Mr Abbott nor then Labor prime minister Kevin Rudd had been able to inspect the property due to their election campaign commitments.

Ms Kelly said the department had wanted to find accommodation "comparable" to The Lodge.

But after the election, Mr Abbott opted instead to stay in a modest flat at the Australian Federal Police training college in Barton.
http://www.news.com.au/national/a-w...bbott-doesnt-use/story-fncynjr2-1226762698863​

Since Abbott was odds on favourite he could have just said hold off signing anything until after the election, or did he just change his mind about staying there after the election?

A bit Rude to pin that one on Labor when Abbott had every opportunity to declare his intentions, that he wasn't going to be needing it and save the expense.

If he changed his mind after the election, then it's clearly a Lib waste.

But you think that's wasteful... try more like $260,000 a month the qld government is paying for vacant offices after Newman (LNP) put the razor through the public service.http://news.domain.com.au/domain/go...a-month-for-empty-offices-20130826-2skfp.html
 
Rudd was the PM and had the numbers in both houses. Abbott had no say in this lease before the election.

This had NOTHING to do with Abbott.
 
sails said:
On the spying issue - it seems the damaging allegations happened in 2009 when Rudd was PM. Why would Fairfax and the ABC try to pin this on Abbott unless they are trying to undermine any progress Abbott has made on Asylum seekers? And now it's another massive mess left by labor for the Coalition to clean up.

How labor supporters can tolerate let alone support this sort of behaviour is beyond me.



Read more (bold above is mine):
http://www.smh.com.au/world/indones...stralia-over-spying-claim-20131118-2xr5x.html
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What, Fairfax and the abc trying to pin it on Abbott!?

Someone better have a yarn to Rupert about his papers dareing to run the same story about spying and Indonesia withdrawing their ambassador. Is Rupert and News "trying to undermine any progress Abbott has made on Asylum seekers" too?

http://www.news.com.au/national/jak...er-spying-claims/story-fncynjr2-1226762823093
 
Spying and some common sense from Andrew Wilkie,

Federal independent MP Andrew Wilkie, who is a former intelligence officer, was also circumspect in his reaction.

"Give the agencies a break. Of course they're out there spying. Of course they're out there trying to listen into conversations of important people in other countries," he said.

"The issue for Australians is whether their rights are being protected by Australia's legislative framework.

"You know the fact that another country might spy on Australia, we can't tell the other country to stop. We're kidding ourselves if we think we can."
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Indonesia's response I suspect will be more than public bluster for domestic political purposes than anything else.

I praise the Abbott Government for not turning something that happened under Labor's watch into a partisan political issue. Labor needs to be careful not to do the same. Unless our government has hard evidence against the Indonesian government, it wants to avoid being publically too honest to minimise responses such as this,

'I've got news for you': We don't spy, says Indonesia's foreign minister
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http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-11-...by-revelations-australia-spied-on-sby/5100264
 
sails said:
Rudd was the PM and had the numbers in both houses. Abbott had no say in this lease before the election.

This had NOTHING to do with Abbott.
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Struth, do you think every public servant has to get a vote from parliament before they spend any money or do anything!

It was not a parliamentary decision. This was delegated authority... a standard departmental, delegated authority of the type that departments do every day.

When Abbott (and Rudd) was approached about inspecting before signing the contract, he just had to say that he did not intend to use the house if he won... and the department would/could have delayed the decision for a week.
 
sails said:
Why would Fairfax and the ABC try to pin this on Abbott unless they are trying to undermine any progress Abbott has made on Asylum seekers?
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I think you already have your answer. They have been doing everything they possibly can to undermine Indonesian - Australian relations since Abbott took office.
 
drsmith said:
Spying and some common sense from Andrew Wilkie,

"You know the fact that another country might spy on Australia, we can't tell the other country to stop. We're kidding ourselves if we think we can."
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http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-11-...by-revelations-australia-spied-on-sby/5100264
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Yeah, that's the thrust of my earlier point.

Ordinarily a government wouldn't go making a BIG noise about it unless they were particularly p!ssed off over something... or found it a useful lever to use against you for something.

The inconvenient truth though is that much of the Indo government, present and future seems more partial to Labor than Lib. That's the problem I've recognised from the start... Abbott and his style just isn't getting along very well with them.

I'm thinking a bit of ideological conflict going back to when Howard accepted asylum seekers from West Papua, the last time they withdrew their ambassador and maybe still a bit of nose out of joint over East Timor.
 
Even if Abbott was not informed about this lease , I suppose the likes of Whiskers would still blame Abbott.

I guess some people like to live in a world of delusion...
 
sails said:
Even if Abbott was not informed about this lease , I suppose the likes of Whiskers would still blame Abbott.

I guess some people like to live in a world of delusion...
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No delusion, or "even if"... it was clear that abbott was aware of what was happening. That's all that's matters.

How would it look if Rudd had said no, don't lease another house?

He would have been open to accusations of vindictiveness, interfering in normal departmental decision making to harm and inconvenience Abbott.
 
Welcome back Whiskers ... nice to meet the level approach ... yes yes yes... This kind of waste is abhorrent on any stage. SOMEONE knew that if Rabbott got into office it would be prudent IF he would be taking up this lease and if not why or who was in charge of signing this kind of largesse in the taxpayers name ? Heads should roll IMO !!!

Thanks again Whiskers for not knocking out the porch light.
 
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