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May 25, 2024 00:42
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- adamantium|wang
- Sep 14, 2003
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Missing you
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So, who wants to guess at the next Liberal leader? Turnbull doesn't have support, Bernardi is too crazy but might plausibly take the position (although, Senator). Newscorp have been writing Bishop puff pieces about her mangling her lizard features into approximations of sadness re: MH17 dead kids, so that might be a hint.
It'll be Morrison.
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Aug 17, 2014 23:18
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- gay picnic defence
- Oct 5, 2009
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I'M CONCERNED ABOUT A NUMBER OF THINGS
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Enjoy
quote:Sometimes the banal aspects of life are just too much to ignore. When the gods conspire to load them up into a short time frame and throw them at you, it can seem overwhelming. I feel that way now about so much of our media coverage of politics.
The recent reporting on Joe Hockey is just one example. Joe apparently enjoys the occasional cigar. There’s no crime in that. Somewhere footage got out showing he and the Finance Minister Mathias Cormann each enjoying a great big smelly cigar. Since then I have seen numerous cartoons and heard commentary about the cigar smoking. Joe has been portrayed as the guy from the top end of town indulging himself.
Stereotyping and ridicule pass as substitutes for informed debate.
Bill Shorten joined in, calling Joe an ‘‘arrogant cigar-chomping Treasurer’’. Never mind that Bob Hawke had a real taste for cigars. Shorten knows that because, not that long ago, Hawke was enjoying a cigar in the Opposition Leader’s courtyard with Shorten present.
Former Prime Minister Bob Hawke smokes tees off, and smokes a cigar, in 2006.
Former Labor prime minister Bob Hawke tees off, with cigar, in 2006. Photo: Glen McCurtayne
This barrage of negative media has been allowed to come about only because Joe has let people see he has the occasional cigar. Ho hum. Apparently he should, because he is Treasurer, never have anything out of the ordinary. The proposition is ludicrous. And banal rubbish. Of course it is all just flotsam and jetsam on the ocean of media information, but it is there on the surface and the media intend us to see it.
If you think I am kidding myself, consider a reversal of the stereotyping on others. How about users of illegal drugs as an example. If someone were to stereotype them all as useless losers who sponge off society on welfare, break into our homes and steal from us, there would be an outcry. You see, apparently it is OK to engage in stereotyping of a senior conservative politician, but not of others.
There’s a free kick on offer, and plenty of the lazy journalists take it. Hollow infotainment tries to get away with looking like sensible media comment. Stereotyping and ridicule pass as substitutes for informed debate. It adds nothing to the substantive political discourse.
Master manipulator: Clive Palmer gets the spotlight, but does this contribute to the substance of policy?
Master manipulator: Clive Palmer gets the spotlight, but does this contribute to the substance of policy? Photo: Alex Ellinghausen
Another example is the media reaction to Joe’s recent comment to the effect that people with lower incomes don’t drive as far and thus would not be affected as much by a small increase in the fuel excise. In many cases, in an absolute sense, that would be true, although there would of course be exceptions. It would be equally true to say that, in some cases, lower-income earners would be affected more in a relative sense. Yet again, amid all the information we could be looking at, one remark is brought to the surface and has a spotlight trained on it.
In the discussion on this from so many journalists we see little about the overall merit or otherwise of raising the excise on fuel. Do we want fuel to get relatively cheaper and cheaper so the so-called rich, who in absolute terms may well consume more petrol, get a bigger benefit? Even that is not the question.
The real issue we face is: Can we keep going as as we are? Can we keep spending at current rates and have a sustainable economy? Do we just hope things will pick up, or do we start to put our house in order? If we don’t want to collect more money one way, how would we like to collect it?
Much of the difficulties Joe faces are a consequence of the Senate with which he has to deal. We elected some people who in their wildest dreams never expected to get elected. We didn’t expect it either. They had no coherent set of principles that would guide their decision making. These senators seem very much focused on simple political posturing and bargaining. Now Joe has to deal with them in order to get some common sense. Making sense of that isn’t easy.
What do the independents and Palmer United Party members want for the long term in Australia? Do they think we should future-proof the economy against another global financial crisis, or not?
Just how did Clive Palmer achieve such prominence? He’s a rich man, but so what. There have been and still are rich people in Parliament. That alone is no claim to fame. There are three factors that have helped Clive along the way.
First, his party always had a prospect, even likelihood, of holding the balance of power in the Senate. That alone makes you of interest. Some in the media actively built his profile.
Second, sadly there was precious little scrutiny of what he stood for. Being a potential thorn in Tony Abbott’s side made him the darling of good portions of the media.
Third, Clive is a master at manipulating the media, at getting the spotlight – and like moths to the flame, they fly. All of this contributes to coverage of the froth and bubble of politics, not the substance of policy.
Of course, in the great conversation of life that is politics there is room for discussion about people, their personalities, attitudes and quirks. How we say things can matter as much as what we say; it can unintentionally cause offence and it can affect what people think about us and our ideas. That’s no doubt why Joe has apologised for any offence caused. We just need to remember that these things are about the game of politics but they are not the main game, not the substance of government.
The Hockey budget seeks to put Australia’s house back in order. It seeks to do that in a measured way over quite a few years. Sure there are, as there always will be, some tough decisions. Personally, I am in favour of future-proofing us from the next GFC, and very much in favour of stopping the selfish ‘‘spend now, make our kids pay’’ policies.
Some will pillory Joe over his cigars or something he said. I think we should offer him some praise for recognising that we need to clean up Labor’s mess.
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Aug 17, 2014 23:30
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- Seagull
- Oct 9, 2012
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give me a chip
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"I've smoked cigars since I was sixteen and I'm not ashamed of it" - a respectable and adult person who is intelligent
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Aug 17, 2014 23:37
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- Seagull
- Oct 9, 2012
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give me a chip
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The fact that he thinks anything he did at age sixteen isn't stupid explains a lot about his political opinions.
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Aug 17, 2014 23:38
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- i got banned
- Sep 24, 2010
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lol abbottwon
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I am guessing Andrew Bolt from the fact that article was written on the highest horse in the world
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Aug 17, 2014 23:39
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- Contra Duck
- Nov 4, 2004
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#1 DAD
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So, who wants to guess at the next Liberal leader? Turnbull doesn't have support, Bernardi is too crazy but might plausibly take the position (although, Senator). Newscorp have been writing Bishop puff pieces about her mangling her lizard features into approximations of sadness re: MH17 dead kids, so that might be a hint.
Every other option has already proven themselves untrustworthy or incompetent, so it will go to the one man who has actually fulfilled his election promises. Arise, Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
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Aug 18, 2014 00:05
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- Drugs
- Jul 16, 2010
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I don't like people who take drugs. Customs agents, for example - Albert Einstein
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My guess for that article was Vanstone, because of the "why are those unsubordinate plebs so disrespectful of their superiors? " shtick
it was Vanstone
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Aug 18, 2014 00:31
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- Lid
- Feb 18, 2005
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And the mercy seat is awaiting,
And I think my head is burning,
And in a way I'm yearning,
To be done with all this measuring of proof.
An eye for an eye
And a tooth for a tooth,
And anyway I told the truth,
And I'm not afraid to die.
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http://www.news.com.au/national/abu-bakr-australian-isis-supporter-who-stormed-off-sbs-insight-arrested/story-fncynjr2-1227027662421
Abu Bakr, Australian ISIS supporter who stormed off SBS Insight, arrested
A MUSLIM teenager who sparked a wave of controversy after storming off the set of SBS Insight has been arrested after racially abusing a cleaner, it has emerged.
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Aug 18, 2014 00:35
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- adamantium|wang
- Sep 14, 2003
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Missing you
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Tony starts his attempt to reach out to Australia's Muslim community today with a radio interview with Ray Hadley.
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Aug 18, 2014 00:54
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- Pidgin Englishman
- Apr 30, 2007
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If you shoot
you better hit your mark
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Julie Asbestos Bishop is too dead inside for it to work, if you've ever been in her presence there's definitely a chill about.
e. I remember not too long ago when the turnbull leadership challenge poo poo was going on, some poll had Julie Bishop as 1% favourite for the leadership.
Counterpoint: Abbott.
Bishop will get the reigns, and we'll have grand scenes of the soulless bishop facing off against the courageless snorten, all the while the heartless coal-man looks on.
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Aug 18, 2014 01:00
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- BCR
- Jan 23, 2011
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Well you see the national budget is a lot like a household budget.
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Aug 18, 2014 01:03
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- Lid
- Feb 18, 2005
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And the mercy seat is awaiting,
And I think my head is burning,
And in a way I'm yearning,
To be done with all this measuring of proof.
An eye for an eye
And a tooth for a tooth,
And anyway I told the truth,
And I'm not afraid to die.
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I'm actually okay with Bolt being a person who is allowed opinions, because at least people are slowly coming to realise he's a fuckwit, and he's getting called a racist on national TV. Vanstone is just an evil, aristocratic harpy that needs to die.
Counterpoint
quote:IT is easy to attack this stuttering Abbott Government. Just ask me: I’m a conservative and even I’ve joined the pack.
How dare this Government break its promise to restore free speech?
How can it still not have made one single cut to welfare spending?
Why can’t it get its Budget through the Senate and get on with governing?
Why let Clive Palmer, that great bag of wind, posture like a kingmaker?
Business is growing restless, too. Real wages are actually falling and the deficit keeps growing, but where are the reforms to save us? Why this log jam?
Andrew Liveris, the Dow Chemical Company chairman, protested last week: “Instead of working together, you just throw things at each other and yell at each other. That is really scary. I have never seen an Australia like that.”
But wait. Let’s call things by their proper name.
Look at the list of problems I’ve given. Every single one is caused, at least in part, by something not of the Government’s making.
Every single one of those things the Government has dropped or failed to achieve is opposed by the Senate, where the Government is outvoted.
We are blaming the Government for not doing what, in fact, the blockers in the Senate — reckless Labor, extremist Greens and irrational Palmer United senators — stop it from doing.
Yes, we can criticise the Government for not being more deft. Why did Treasurer Joe Hockey wait months before negotiating seriously with crossbench senators over his Budget?
Why did the Government propose unpopular cuts before properly explaining why they were needed?
Why did Hockey get sucked into a stupid and unwinnable debate about whether his proposed 1c-a-litre rise in petrol excise was unfair to the poor, when the big question is how the hell we stop the whole country from getting poorer?
And all that is true. But let us not excuse the real wreckers — the people who have most exposed this country to danger.
The truth is this Budget never was the horror Labor claimed. In fact, government spending still goes up, and the books will not balance for years. We’re still spending borrowed money, and the next downturn could sink us.
Yet in proposing even its pathetic restrictions to the massive spending Labor unleashed, the Government faces a Senate not just hostile but feral. It is a Senate dominated by politicians putting self-interest above the national interest, and opposing the very things many would privately admit need doing.
Take Labor. It shamelessly opposes $5 billion in cuts to education and health programs that it itself promised in government.
Take Palmer’s senators. Palmer in May claimed talk of a “Budget crisis” was “bulls--t” and a “fairytale”, but last week attacked Abbott for having “left the country at a time of critical economic crisis”.
Yet despite now admitting there is indeed an economic crisis, Palmer still opposes every single cut the Budget proposes to welfare spending, and, instead, insists even more billions be spent on health.
Or take the Greens. Despite demanding massive taxes on carbon dioxide to “stop” global warming, it spitefully refuses to pass the Government’s measly 1c hike in petrol excise — a carbon tax by another name. Or take the Motoring Enthusiasts senator, Ricky Muir. This petrolhead opposes a rise in petrol prices, yet suddenly reveals he’s actually a Green wanting to keep the futile renewable energy programs the Government planned to slash.
Then, add this level of complexity to the Government’s task — its opponents in the Senate actually don’t want to make a deal, or haven’t yet figured what they want.
Labor actually thinks the more chaos the better for its re-election chances, and the Greens are simply off the dial. Moreover, Palmer’s senators still don’t know what they’d like in exchange for their votes, making it impossible for the Government to offer them some trade-off. With no agenda of their own, Palmer’s team get their power just by saying “no”.
And just to make the Government’s job even harder, the ABC has become more fiercely anti-Liberal than it was even under the Howard government.
It is also now more dominant than ever, being the largest media organisation in the country by far, with twice as many Canberra journalists than any other outlet.
So, yes, attack the Abbott Government for clumsiness, own goals, poor sales and the rest. But never forget what really stands between the Government and action. Between our busted finances and reform.
That isn’t the Government. It is Labor, the Greens and Clive Palmer.
If you must be angry, start with them.
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Aug 18, 2014 01:03
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- I would blow Dane Cook
- Dec 26, 2008
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Andrew Bolt is right, the left are the real racists.
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Aug 18, 2014 01:12
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- Konomex
- Oct 25, 2010
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a whiteman who has some authority over others, who not only hasn't raped anyone, or stared at them creepily...
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Wait. This was write by someone paid to write things? This was written by An idiot with the intellectual aptitude of a 12 year old.
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Aug 18, 2014 01:15
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- Horseshoe theory
- Mar 7, 2005
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Welcome to Australian global Journalism.
Fixed it to reflect reality.
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Aug 18, 2014 01:17
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- Lid
- Feb 18, 2005
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And the mercy seat is awaiting,
And I think my head is burning,
And in a way I'm yearning,
To be done with all this measuring of proof.
An eye for an eye
And a tooth for a tooth,
And anyway I told the truth,
And I'm not afraid to die.
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Andrew Bolt is right, the left are the real racists.
Yes.
quote:
The blogger and commercial broadcaster Andrew Bolt has been declared a racist “by your own criterion” on his own television program by the former Labor frontbencher Craig Emerson.
The two men locked horns on Sunday morning during a dispute over the “Recognise” campaign.
Recognise is a government-funded organisation spearheading the push to acknowledge Indigenous Australians in the constitution. Bolt took exception to a decision by Qantas last week to work with Recognise in promoting the constitutional campaign.
The campaign for recognition enjoys in-principle multi-partisan support. But Bolt is a vocal opponent of the constitutional recognition of Indigenous people because he contends it divides Australians on the grounds of race, and is therefore racist.
The commentator made that argument in opening remarks to a segment on The Bolt Report on Sunday morning.
But Emerson, a panel guest on program, took sharp exception to Bolt describing Recognise as a “racist” campaign.
“I take fundamental issue with your introduction to say this is a racist campaign,” the guest told his host.
Bolt persisted in his analysis, and said: “Dividing people on the grounds of race is racist.”
“Then you are a racist,” Emerson said, “because of the comments you made in relation to Indigenous people. By your own criterion, and that’s what you did. You identified a group of people and went for them.”
Emerson’s remark relates to the legal case in which Bolt was found to have breached racial discrimination laws in articles that implied light-skinned Indigenous people identified themselves as Aboriginal for personal gain.
A clearly furious Bolt said on Sunday Emerson’s observation was wrong, and completely offensive.
Emerson appeared undeterred by the shocked reaction of the host. “Well, I’m offended by you describing this [Recognise] as a racist campaign,” he persisted. “This is not a racist campaign.”
“I said let’s not divide people on the grounds of race,” Bolt said.
“You went after a bunch of Indigenous people. You know you did,” Emerson said.
“I said don’t divide by race. This is dividing by race,” Bolt said.
Emerson persisted in describing Bolt’s characterisation of constitutional recognition as offensive and incorrect.
“We should be mature enough to recognise there were people here before 1788,” Emerson said. “If we are going to talk about racism, let’s talk about the racism in the constitution.”
It’s not the first time Bolt has been confronted with rebuttals using his own rhetorical criteria. The academic Marcia Langton apologised to Bolt after mounting an almost identical argument to Emerson’s during an ABC current affairs program.
Langton noted that his “singling out of ‘fair skinned’ Aboriginal people goes to the issue of ‘race’ and could be construed as racist”.
Langton later apologised, as did the ABC for broadcasting her comment, when Bolt said the observation had left him devastated.
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Aug 18, 2014 01:17
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- Lizard Combatant
- Sep 29, 2010
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I have some notes.
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Why anyone would apologise to Bolt is beyond me.
Hopefully Emerson keeps his resolve
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Aug 18, 2014 01:24
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- hoiyes
- May 17, 2007
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Stay classy News Corp
Is that an Emirates ad in the bottom corner? They must be thrilled to be paying for space next to a Muslim scare piece.
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Aug 18, 2014 01:25
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- BlitzkriegOfColour
- Aug 22, 2010
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Is that an Emirates ad in the bottom corner? They must be thrilled to be paying for space next to a Muslim scare piece.
There's an old LF goon who works for emirates. Someone would let him know
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Aug 18, 2014 01:46
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- I would blow Dane Cook
- Dec 26, 2008
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Why anyone would apologise to Bolt is beyond me.
Hopefully Emerson keeps his resolve
Andrew Bolt will demand an apology from Channel 10 for allowing the remarks to be broadcast.
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Aug 18, 2014 01:51
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- webmeister
- Jan 31, 2007
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The answer is, mate, because I want to do you slowly. There has to be a bit of sport in this for all of us. In the psychological battle stakes, we are stripped down and ready to go. I want to see those ashen-faced performances; I want more of them. I want to be encouraged. I want to see you squirm.
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quote:"I don't know what the legal position is but frankly the only flag that should be flying is the Australian national flag," Mr Abbott said.
welp
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Aug 18, 2014 02:20
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- Murodese
- Mar 6, 2007
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Think you've got what it takes?
We're looking for fine Men & Women to help Protect the Australian Way of Life.
Become part of the Legend. Defence Jobs.
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Really wish that newsreaders would start referring to Bolt like they would anybody else in his position.
quote:Convicted racist, Andrew Bolt, has been declared a racist “by your own criterion” on his own television program by the former Labor frontbencher Craig Emerson.
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Aug 18, 2014 02:30
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- Gough Suppressant
- Nov 14, 2008
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EIN VOLK, EIN REICH, EIN FLAGGE
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Aug 18, 2014 02:33
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- Lizard Combatant
- Sep 29, 2010
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I have some notes.
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Where from?
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Aug 18, 2014 02:33
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- Adbot
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ADBOT LOVES YOU
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May 25, 2024 00:42
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Aug 17, 2014 21:26
