Lid posted:

Its happening again

Tony Abbott has refused to confirm or deny an affair with his chief-of-staff Peta Credlin after rumours surfaced in a new book.

Cartoon posted:

You can do next month's if you like and show us all how it's done.

LibertyCat posted:

If you're serious I'd be happy to make an effortpost that tries to be fair to all sides. Will post a draft here near the end of the month for approval if you want.

Laserface posted:

If you dont agree with everyone in this thread on every single measure you are literally hitler.

LibertyCat posted:

If you're serious I'd be happy to make an effortpost that tries to be fair to all sides. Will post a draft here near the end of the month for approval if you want.

Cartoon posted:

I'm not the final arbiter nor would I (or, I hope, any other) insist on a preview. If you are honestly putting your hand up for it I don't remember anyone else claiming it. So April would, by default, be yours. If it isn't up to snuff a mod will gas it soon enough.

Anidav posted:

Turnbull is tanking faster than a Kevin Rudd talking about immigration reform Yeehaw.

quote:

Declaration by the Director of the Holy See Press Office: Protecting minors, 04.03.2016

Vatican City, 4 March 2016 – The director of the Holy See Press Office, Fr. Federico Lombardi, S.J., today issued the following note regarding the protection of minors from sexual abuse:

"The depositions of Cardinal Pell before the Royal Commission as part of its inquiry carried out by live connection between Australia and Rome, and the contemporary presentation of the Oscar award for best film to 'Spotlight', on the role of the Boston Globe in denouncing the cover-up of crimes by numerous paedophile priests in Boston (especially during the years 1960 to 1980) have been accompanied by a new wave of attention from the media and public opinion on the dramatic issue of sexual abuse of minors, especially by members of the clergy.

The sensationalist presentation of these two events has ensured that, for a significant part of the public, especially those who are least informed or have a short memory, it is thought that the Church has done nothing, or very little, to respond to these terrible problems, and that it is necessary to start anew. Objective consideration shows that this is not the case. The previous archbishop of Boston resigned in 2002 following the events considered in “Spotlight” (and after a famous meeting of American cardinals convoked in Rome by Pope John Paul II in April 2002), and since 2003 (that is, for 13 years) the archdiocese has been governed by Cardinal Sean O’Malley, universally known for his rigour and wisdom in confronting the issue of sexual abuse, to the extent of being appointed by the Pope as one of his advisers and as president of the Commission instituted by the Holy Father for the protection of minors.

The tragic events of sexual abuse in Australia, too, have been the subject of inquiries and legal and canonical procedures for many years. When Pope Benedict XVI visited Sydney for World Youth Day in 2008 (eight years ago), he met with a small group of victims at the seat of the archdiocese governed by Cardinal Pell, since the issue was also of great importance at the time and the archbishop considered a meeting of this type to be very timely.

Merely to offer an idea of the attention with which these problems have been followed, the section of the Vatican website dedicated to 'Abuse of minors: the Church’s response', established around ten years ago, contains over 60 documents and interventions.

The courageous commitment of the Popes to facing the crises that subsequently emerged in various situations and countries – such as the United States, Ireland, Germany, Belgium and Holland, and in the Legionaries of Christ – has been neither limited nor indifferent. The universal procedures and canonical norms have been renewed; guidelines have been required and drawn up by the Episcopal Conferences, not only to respond to abuses committed but also to ensure adequate prevention measures; apostolic visitations have taken place to intervene in the most serious situations; and the Congregation of the Legionaries has been radically reformed. These are all actions intended to respond fully and with far-sightedness to a wound that has manifested itself with surprising and devastating gravity, especially in certain regions and certain periods. Benedict XVI’s Letter to the Irish faithful in March 2010 probably remains the most eloquent document of reference, relevant beyond Ireland, for understanding the attitude and the legal, pastoral and spiritual response of the Popes to these upheavals in the Church in our time; recognition of the grave errors committed and a request for forgiveness, priority action and justice for victims, conversion and purification, commitment to prevention and renewed human and spiritual formation.

The encounters held by Benedict XVI and Francis with groups of victims have accompanied this by now long road with the example of listening, the request for forgiveness, consolation and the direct involvement of the Popes.

In many countries the results of this commitment to renewal are comforting; cases of abuse have become very rare and therefore the majority of those considered nowadays and which continue to come to light belong to a relatively distant past of several decades ago. In other countries, usually due to very different cultural contexts that are still characterised by silence, much remains to be done and there is no lack of resistance and difficulties, but the road to follow has become clearer.

The constitution of the Commission for the protection of minors announced by Pope Francis in December 2013, made up of members from every continent, indicates how the path of the Catholic Church has matured. After establishing and developing internally a decisive response to the problems of sexual abuse of minors (by priests or other ecclesial workers), it is necessary to face systematically the problem of how to respond not only to the problem in every part of the Church, but also more broadly how to help the society in which the Church lives to face the problems of abuse of minors, given that – as we should all be aware, even though there is still a significant reluctance to admit this – in every part of the world the overwhelming majority of cases of abuse take place not in ecclesiastical contexts, but rather outside them (in Asia, for instance, tens of millions of minors are abused, certainly not in a Catholic context).

In summary, the Church, wounded and humiliated by the wound of abuse, intends to react not only to heal herself, but also to make her difficult experience in this field available to others, to enrich her educational and pastoral service to society as a whole, which generally still has a long path to take to realise the seriousness of these problems and to deal with them.

From this perspective the events in Rome of the last few days may be interpreted in a positive light. Cardinal Pell must be accorded the appropriate acknowledgement for his dignified and coherent personal testimony (twenty hours of dialogue with the Royal Commission), from which yet again there emerges an objective and lucid picture of the errors committed in many ecclesial environments (this time in Australia) during the past decades. This is certainly useful with a view to a common 'purification of memory'.

Recognition is also due to many members of the group of victims who came from Australia for demonstrating their willingness to establish constructive dialogue with Cardinal Pell and with the representative of the Commission for the protection of minors, Fr. Hans Zollner S.J., of the Pontifical Gregorian University, with whom they further developed prospects for effective commitment to the prevention of abuse.

If the appeals subsequent to 'Spotlight' and the mobilisation of victims and organisations on the occasion of the depositions of Cardinal Pell are able to contribute to supporting and intensifying the long march in the battle against abuse of minors in the universal Catholic Church and in today’s world (where the dimensions of these tragedies are endless), then they are welcome.

http://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2016/03/04/160304d.html

quote:

In summary, the Church, wounded and humiliated by the wound of abuse

tithin posted:

Pretty much this, there's no council or anything. If it's poo poo, a mod will can it, if it's not, it'll stay. If you're calling it, most people will respect that enough not to be a dick and jump in.

Cartoon posted:

Brown Paper Bag posted:

Does anyone have any good AusPol podcasts to recommend? SomethingWonky is great, is there anything else along those lines?

tithin posted:

Pretty much this, there's no council or anything. If it's poo poo, a mod will can it, if it's not, it'll stay. If you're calling it, most people will respect that enough not to be a dick and jump in.

LibertyCat posted:

If you're serious I'd be happy to make an effortpost that tries to be fair to all sides. Will post a draft here near the end of the month for approval if you want.

quote:

Former speaker Bronwyn Bishop wanted to make an immediate apology for the use of taxpayer money to charter a chopper for a Liberal Party event but was told to hold off by Tony Abbott's office, a new book says.

Starshark posted:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-03-06/abbotts-office-told-bishop-not-to-apologise-for-choppergate/7224596


You gotta laugh.

Starshark posted:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-03-06/abbotts-office-told-bishop-not-to-apologise-for-choppergate/7224596


You gotta laugh.

tithin posted:

I have difficulty believing this would have been anything more than a hollow apology, and this just reads as everyone trying to poo poo on tony abbott to force him out of politics. The only popular thing about abbott is how unpopular he is, so I reckon they're trying to get popularity via making GBS threads on him.

Or maybe I'm just being overly cynical

Starshark posted:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-03-06/abbotts-office-told-bishop-not-to-apologise-for-choppergate/7224596


You gotta laugh.

New Matilda posted:

Malcolm Turnbull Escalates His War on the Poor And Unemployed

Unemployed and underemployed Australians can be issued with on-the-spot fines by privately owned job agencies under a tough new Government proposal, writes Owen Bennett.

Later this month the Turnbull Government will be asking the Senate to support one of the most devastating attacks launched against poor and vulnerable Australians in recent memory.

The Bill – entitled Social Security Legislation Amendment (Further Strengthening Job Seeker Compliance) Bill 2015 – proposes to give privately run job agencies unprecedented new powers to financially penalise unemployed and underemployed Australians. If passed, the fines will come into effect on July 1 this year.

Under the proposal, Australians receiving the dole can be fined 10 per cent of their income support – increasing by 10 per cent each day until they ‘re-engage’ – if they:

Fail to sign a job plan at their first job agency appointment; or
Are found by their job agency to have behaved inappropriately at an appointment (“inappropriate behaviour” is defined as acting in a manner “such that the purpose of the appointment is not achieved”); or
Fail to attend a Work for the Dole or Training exercise without an excuse deemed reasonable by the job agency.
All fines (roughly $55) will be deducted immediately. Unemployed Australians who feel they have been unfairly fined will be required to go through Centrelink’s arduous appeals process to get their money back – a procedure that can take up to four months.

This means that even if an unemployed worker successfully appeals against a fine – and thousands do every year – they will still be forced to endure up to four months without a significant portion of their income support.

As privately run job agencies can effectively impose these financial penalties on unemployed workers before having to provide any concrete proof, the Coalition’s proposal gives privately-owned job agencies the power of life and death over unemployed workers.

With the dole already $391 below the poverty line according to the Melbourne Institute, for many unemployed workers a 10 per cent deduction of their income support will place them in severe financial distress.

....

Lid posted:

Bronwyn Bishop was instructed by Tony Abbott’s office not to apologise for the $5,000 helicopter ride that cost the former speaker her job, a new book reveals.

The Road to Ruin author Niki Savva has revealed Bishop wanted to “lay it all on the line” and issue a “grovelling” apology for taking the expensive ride at the taxpayers’ expense.

But the former prime minister’s office told her not to say sorry because it would imply guilt and could spark a domino effect that would affect others.

“She was told not to say sorry, not to admit guilt,” Savva told ABC on Sunday.

Holy poo poo how dumb can you be. This is the most self-inflicted government implosion in history.

toe shoes posted:

Suck poo poo unemployed goons

Ora Tzo posted:

This is certainly a month to keep the popcorn at the ready.

toe shoes posted:

Suck poo poo unemployed goons

LibertyCat posted:

Terrible idea. Why not just relax requirements for people on centrelink for a certain timeframe based on tax previously paid (eg if you've pumped a ton of income tax into the government, you get a longer grace period then Bob the unemployable druggie). After that time, say 6 months for the average person, reduce government benefits to a level that keeps you alive and little else. Special considerations exist for medical purposes.

This treats the unemployed like adults. If they decide to act more like parasites than adults (by not getting another job for a year, even at maccas), they are treated accordingly. It'd save a huge amount of aggravation and bureaucracy.

LibertyCat posted:

The long-term unemployed (not counting ill people) are a drain on society and should be treated as such.

LibertyCat posted:

FYGM arseholes are a drain on society and should be treated as such.

LibertyCat posted:

The long-term unemployed (not counting ill people) are a drain on society and should be treated as such.