TheMostFrench posted:

I wrote to some Liberal MPs about their opposition to gay marriage a couple of weeks ago and one wrote back to me - this was my email.






It is comforting to know that some of them read this stuff.

quote:

However, we need to abandon the ugly rhetoric and start from the proposition that there are people who aren’t in the workforce through no fault of their own. If we put aside politics for just a moment, most people would accept that our shared values of decency demand that people down on their luck receive support rather than vilification.

Maybe their marriage broke down and they are struggling to raise children alone. Maybe they are sick and genuinely unable to work. Maybe they have a mental illness. Maybe they are homeless. Perhaps they are over 50 years of age and have been made redundant and are unable to find anyone who will give them a shot at a second career.

Whatever their circumstances, people receiving welfare deserve neither disrespect, nor this government’s transparent attempts to punish them for their misfortune, with ever more tests to maintain their payments.

Hundreds of people in my electorate in Sydney’s inner west are on disability pensions because they are literally unable to work. Many sole parents would love to work but their circumstances and their responsibility to raise their children make work difficult. Such people endure a daily struggle to overcome their circumstances and raise their children to become educated so they can escape the poverty trap.

That’s something to be applauded. Instead, the current rhetoric of the government tries to make people feel as though they’re lazy or burdensome. That’s just not fair. It is completely disrespectful. The approach of the current government appears to be punitive, rather than helpful. The very last thing elected representatives should do is encourage working Australians to treat welfare recipients with suspicion or hatred.

xutech posted:

+1 The people's Albo

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/aug/01/welfare-recipients-arent-bludgers-and-they-deserve-respect-from-joe-hockey

quote:

157 Tamil asylum seekers sent from Curtin detention centre to Nauru
Updated 5 minutes agoSat 2 Aug 2014, 9:51am


The 157 asylum seekers at the centre of a High Court battle have been sent to Nauru after they declined to return to India.

The Sri Lankan Tamils set sail from the Indian state of Pondicherry in mid June in a bid to seek Australia's protection.

The group, which includes families and children, were intercepted by Customs officials and held at sea for nearly a month.

Refugee advocates launched a High Court challenge before they were eventually taken to the Curtin Detention Centre in remote Western Australia.

Immigration Minister Scott Morrison had planned to have Indian officials assess them in the hope they would choose to return to live in India.

But all have refused to meet Indian officials and they have now been taken to Nauru to have their claims for asylum processed.

Under the Government's policy, they will not be re-settled in Australia.

Greens immigration spokeswoman Sarah Hanson-Young says the Government has mismanaged the case from the start.

"First they pretended they didn't even exist. Then they refused to be upfront with the Australian people with what was going on," she said.

"Now they've secretly smuggled them out to Nauru to keep them away from lawyers and advocates and this Government is making policy up on the run."

Lawyer accuses Government of 'trafficking'

Lawyer George Newhouse challenged the group's detainment at sea in the High Court and the group was eventually brought to the mainland.

Mr Newhouse says the asylum seekers were given the chance to talk to their lawyers about their options before they were moved to Nauru.

"These people were trafficked under the cover of darkness. This is the second time they've been disappeared," he said.

"They've been taken on the high seas, held prisoner for a month then shipped around to Cocos Islands, then the Curtin detention centre, and now in the middle of the night taken to another place."

i got banned posted:

Libs trying to reverse the onus of proof of innocence on anyone that has been to Syria or Iraq
Innocent until proven guilty was OK for the first couple of thousand years but lets try reversing it like they did in Salem and see what happens guys

froglet posted:

"Because at least she had a job! She worked hard, paid into the system and it would be unfair to pull the rug underneath her. If Granny has a pokie addiction, she is in need of treatment by professionals, not judgement by latte-sipping champagne socialists."

i got banned posted:

Oh yeah forgot about that

quote:

The office of Ricky Muir has spectacularly imploded, with allegations of racism, sexism, bullying - and even personal threats against the rookie senator - at the heart of a dispute that led to the sacking of his most senior aide, Glenn Druery.

Mr Druery, known as the ''preference whisperer'' for his success in getting micro parties elected, was escorted out of the Parliament by officers on Thursday night.

He was sacked by an email from Senator Muir that accused him of ''not getting along with other staff''.

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But Mr Druery has laid the blame for his shock dismissal with Australian Motoring Enthusiast Party founder Keith Littler who he accused on Friday of plotting to take Senator Muir's seat in Parliament through a bizarre plot known as ''Plan Z''. Mr Littler moved from Queensland to Melbourne to head Senator Muir's electorate office with his wife Sharyn Littler.

Senator Muir issued a statement on Friday saying Mr Littler retains his full confidence but Fairfax Media has obtained an incident report to the Parliament dated July 18, raising serious questions about Mr Littler's conduct since July 1.

The email, sent by Peter Breen, a policy adviser in Senator Muir's office, outlines ''numerous clashes'' between Mr Druery and Mr Littler and states that ''at least one Senator'' has complained about Mr Littler.

''Mr Littler and Mr Druery had numerous clashes about Mr Littler's presence in the office, his volatile temper, aggression, offensive language, inappropriate remarks about Aboriginal people, Asians and women and his disagreeable demeanour more generally when confronted by people or issues that did not comply with his world view,'' the letter states.

''[Littler] is a heavy smoker and appeared to have no consideration for the comfort of others in the confined space of the Canberra office.

''At least one Senator complained about the way they were treated by Mr Littler as did lobbyists and staffers.

''It should also be said that Mr Druery has had a difficult relationship with Mr Littler ever since he, Mr Littler, made personal threats against Senator Muir prior to the Senator taking office over the appropriate pay-grade at which Mr Littler and his wife should be employed.''

Mr Breen ends the letter by saying: ''I have been advised by Human Resources at the Department of Finance that I have a legal obligation to make this incident report.''

Mr Littler, a truck driver who produces motor sport programs known as 'The Grunt Files', did not return calls.

Senator Muir issued a statement in support of Mr Littler, saying it was his decision alone to sack Mr Druery.

Mr Druery said: ''I don't expect the party to survive in the long term but I wish Ricky all the best.''

NTATA posted:

Obviously the Australian Government deplores any use of torture. We deplore that, wherever it might take place, we deplore that. But we accept that sometimes in difficult circumstances, difficult things happen.

Endman posted:

Ricky seems like a decent bloke, to be honest. He doesn't deserve to be subjected to the Australian Parliament.

hooman posted:

They've failed to sell most of the Public on the terrible decisions they're making. They're bad at negotiating their awful policies through the senate. They keep losing high court challenges.

I mean the only good thing they do is being fairly incompetent at being evil.

bell jar posted:

Mattjpwns posted:

Albo: saying exactly the poo poo people want to hear from an ALP leader, but instead we get to have Shorten grasping at straws.

Anidav posted:

If Shorten loses the next election and god help us if he doesn't then Albo will probably step up quite quickly.

Measly Twerp posted:

I've been watching old The Chaser's War on Everything episodes and this caught my attention: shortly after the miners from the Beaconsfield Mine collapse were rescued, the price it costs to get an interview:



Poor Bill, nobody wants to hear him speak.

EvilElmo posted:

Chris Bowen.

The Deadly Hume posted:

The Victorian election will also be a landslide back to the ALP but it'll be relatively free of rancour as Napthine is fairly beige.

Endman posted:

Ricky seems like a decent bloke, to be honest. He doesn't deserve to be subjected to the Australian Parliament.

You Am I posted:

Dunno, Vic Labor has copped a hiding this week over the handling of the stolen dictaphone from an Age journalist which contained and interview with Ted Baillieu.

IronicBeetCriminal posted:

Hmm I actually haven't heard about that.

adamantium|wang posted:

i got banned posted:

Libs trying to reverse the onus of proof of innocence on anyone that has been to Syria or Iraq
Innocent until proven guilty was OK for the first couple of thousand years but lets try reversing it like they did in Salem and see what happens guys