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Post by matte on Jul 5, 2021 10:55:57 GMT 10
I don't see the carpark funding as a rort.
People voted for the representatives that lobbied for those carparks and they won their elections. Not everything has to be disconnected from the executive.
If you win, you should get.
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Post by ponto on Jul 5, 2021 10:57:57 GMT 10
Bleat away your masters tune to defend the blatant rorting....its all that you do now.
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Post by pim on Jul 5, 2021 11:03:07 GMT 10
To the winner the spoils - and that means you get to do all the rorting. Due process? That’s for lefty pussies. You get the votes so you get the pork barrel. Welcome to the government of Scotty from Marketing.
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Post by Gort on Jul 5, 2021 16:11:48 GMT 10
I don't see the carpark funding as a rort. People voted for the representatives that lobbied for those carparks and they won their elections. Not everything has to be disconnected from the executive. If you win, you should get. Absolutely! It's called electioneering. The sad sack Lefties here are still wailing: "We woz robbed!" Suck it up losers.
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Post by pim on Jul 5, 2021 16:20:07 GMT 10
The prosperity gospel according to Scotty from Marketing: It's OK to rort if you don’t get caught. Actually, it’s OK any time. It's been admitted on national television: the government no longer cares about getting caught pork-barrelling, as long as it wins elections.
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Post by pim on Jul 5, 2021 16:35:18 GMT 10
It is OK to rort if you don’t get caught. Actually, it’s OK any time
It's been admitted on national television: the government no longer cares about getting caught pork-barrelling, as long as it wins elections.
Kishor Napier-Raman July 5, 2021 Crikey
Finance Minister Simon Birmingham didn’t even try to defend the Coalition’s pre-election rorting of a scheme to build commuter car parks.
“The Australian people had their chance and voted the Morrison government back in at the last election and we are determined to get on with local infrastructure, as we are nation-building infrastructure,” Birmingham told the ABC’s Insiders yesterday morning.
Birmingham said the quiet part out loud. The government no longer cares about getting caught pork-barrelling, so long as it wins elections. And so long as it can ride out any brief political fallout, and wait until a distracted electorate forgets, it knows it won’t suffer any real consequences. That’s why, a day before the latest Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) report dropped detailing the government’s blatant misuse of the Urban Congestion Fund, Bridget McKenzie, briefly sidelined over her role as the architect of sports rorts, returned to cabinet.
As Labor have been quick to point out, the program, worth $660 million, dwarfed sports rorts. And this time the rort was arguably even more brazen, documented in typically blunt, deadpan fashion by the ANAO. Morrison signed off on 27 car parks the day before calling the election, and putting the government into caretaker mode. The government consulted with ministers, MPs and candidates when deciding how to spend the funding. All up, 77% went to Coalition-held seats, 87% if you include target seats.
As the list of rorts gets longer, the sums bigger, the misuse of taxpayer money more brazen, so too does the utter indifference from a government now comfortable in the knowledge it will face no consequences. In fact, aside from Birmingham’s bullish defence of the program, there’s been almost total silence from the government.
Following the report’s release, Urban Infrastructure Minister Paul Fletcher quickly put out a statement noting the government agreed with the ANAO’s recommendations. He later told the ABC the result of the 2019 election made it all OK.
“The great majority of these projects we took to the 2019 election, so we came to government with the authority of the election,” he said.
But Alan Tudge, the minister responsible at the time, whose contributions to cabinet have largely involved a constant stream of gaffes with occasional culture-war screeching, hasn’t said a word.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who was heavily involved in signing off on projects, spent most of last week hiding in the Lodge. He hasn’t yet faced a single question about the rorts.
Assistant Treasurer Michael Sukkar, whose Melbourne electorate of Deakin was one of the biggest winners from the scheme, tried to blame the state government for the lack of progress on building the projects back in May, but has since said nothing. Neither has Jason Wood, another minister whose Melbourne marginal got a rush of funding.
The government knows this latest round of rorting will be easy to move on from. The ongoing chaos around COVID-19 outbreaks and the vaccine rollout pushed it off the front page from the very start. And unlike sports rorts, there aren’t a bunch of aggrieved suburban sports clubs (quiet Australians with flooded footy pitches) to give the story a colourful sense of injustice. Opposition senators will huff and puff at estimates, but won’t get close to blowing the government away.
Birmingham knew all this when he fronted Insiders yesterday. So did NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro, who this year spun his government’s pork-barrelling as “investment”.
“You want to call that pork-barrelling, you want to call that buying votes, it’s what the elections are for,” he said.
When another election rolls around in the next 12 months, the government will funnel millions more in taxpayers’ money toward marginal seats. And if they win, and get caught red-handed, they’ll mount the same defence, pointing to the result as justifying all the grubbiness that helped clinch it. And so the rotten cycle continues.
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Post by ponto on Jul 5, 2021 18:48:13 GMT 10
Its not OK for a government to be self serving as its not their money they are rorting, its all tax payers money, and if a government is not being fair with tax payers money then why pay taxes when a government is only serving their people...that is very Trump like, serving only his community.
Typical fucknut thinking.
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Post by pim on Jul 6, 2021 7:26:26 GMT 10
The myth is that Scotty from Marketing as PM, Mr Smirk and Mirrors, he of the spin and blather, runs the country. The reality is quite different. While the schadenfreude of watching Morrison shrinking in stature before the ascendant state premiers might be hard to resist, there is a bigger picture which sounds the age-old warning: be careful what you wish for! One day a Labor PM might find herself facing off against a cabal of Liberal state premiers with the same power balance. A weakened federal government with state premiers calling the shots and the prime minister just being the messenger who writes the media releases might be Morrison’s legacy.
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Post by ponto on Jul 6, 2021 8:44:06 GMT 10
What I find by observation is that increasingly the coalition are more interested in social engineering than playing fairly. As can be seen with conservative members here as an eg; that ignores the truth and the alt right media is factual albeit when wrong, or another when blatant rorting is passed over as spoils of victory attitude, which is now in these times further widespread in the community with apathy towards coalition corruption. When Glady's was caught out with rorts her response was 'well everyone does it', wink wink nudge nudge. To certain extents that is true, for politicians there is inconsequential consequences....Bridget McKenzie and all a slap on the wrist and carry on regardless. The RW fucknut media that influences conservative thinking is changing sociatal thinking, something untoward to society happens with the coalition and its blast away with megaphones Labor Labor Labor socialist or China China China distractions...and the reach of this influencing media has been broadened by the coalition removing ABC journalist from regional news broadcast and replaced with Skynews after dark influence. This blatant Trump like manipulation of society will impact on democracy itself which given past history is heading towards something more totalarian and that creates a society easily manipulated into war....and hooray for Hollywood. Meanwhile you conservative type fucknuts will bleat along thinking everything is honk dory with rorting and manipulation. The Guardian ‘Ludicrous’: Coalition paid $115,000 a space for car park in Melbourne Paul Karp 3 hrs ago | The Coalition’s commuter car park fund paid $115,000 a space for a project in the Melbourne suburb of Berwick, which the auditor general found was almost double the benchmark price. an empty street: Photograph: Dan Peled/AAP© Provided by The Guardian Photograph: Dan Peled/AAP Stuart Norman, the chief executive of peak body Parking Australia, has queried the price tag, telling Guardian Australia he can’t see “any logical reason” the project should cost so much. But the urban infrastructure minister, Paul Fletcher, has defended the 500-car-space project to be built by the Victorian government, citing the state’s assessment it will return $3 for every $1 invested. Related: ‘Completely false’: Victoria says Coalition can’t blame state for commuter car park failure On 28 June, the auditor general released a scathing report into the $660m commuter car park program, finding not one of the 47 projects was chosen by the infrastructure department. Car park sites were instead identified by Coalition MPs and candidates and selected by ministers through a process that “was not demonstrably merit-based”, the report said. The auditor general found the department briefed then minister Alan Tudge on 9 September 2020, reporting the Berwick project would cost $115,000 a car space, which was 190% above the benchmark. The minister was advised the cost was above the benchmark and the department would “continue to work with Victoria to understand the market prices and determine any additional funding that may be required”, it said. Market prices “confirmed these costings” but the department “remained concerned”. On 21 September 2020 the Berwick project was approved, with Victoria to build the car park as part of its level crossing removal project, which the federal infrastructure department noted should result in “delivery efficiencies”. Victoria later asked for a top-up of funding to build the project as part of an integrated solution with a bus interchange, including demolition of existing car parks, protection of adjacent rail assets, kiss-and-ride facilities, bicycle parking, and improved separation between cars and buses. On 15 April 2021, the Australian government decided to commit additional funding of $49.2m to the Berwick project, bumping its total price tag to $64.2m. The extra funding was announced in the May budget. The Victorian transport department later clarified to the auditor general that “while the state proposed to take advantage of efficiencies” in building the car park as part of the level crossing removal project at Clyde Road “these efficiencies are no longer able to be realised owing to delays in the Australian government only confirming its funding for delivery of the project on 28 May 2021”. Auditor general’s report into the Coalition’s $660m commuter car park program found the approval of 47 projects ‘was not demonstrably merit-based’. Norman said “there doesn’t seem to be any logical reason why those spaces should cost that much [$115,000 a space]”.
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Post by Gort on Jul 6, 2021 9:53:35 GMT 10
This particular carpark is part of Dan the man's Big Build. Removing a nightmare level crossing and improving the bus interchange that was a diabolical narrow and dangerous setup. Good on ya Dan and thanks to our local Federal member for pushing for this much needed train station improvement. I reckon I'll vote for him again.
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Post by pim on Jul 6, 2021 12:21:59 GMT 10
I dunno what Trickles posted and I don't care. Whatever it is you can bet it isn't about Scott Morrison's refusal to lead. I'll endeavour to keep the thread on topic, and Trickles on ignore. The latest revelations by Julie Banks regarding the misogyny that is rampant within the Morrison government and the mansplaining spin and blather with which Scott Morrison attempts to "manage" it adds further fuel to the crisis of leadership which is progressively engulfing the government. This is in addition to the ongoing shambles of the vaccine "strollout" and the resulting failure by the government of Scott Morrison to keep Australians safe, as well as the emerging picture of an unaccountable government wracked by scandal after scandal and in perpetual crisis in the year leading up to an election. It isn't as if the government is sitting on a landslide victory in the last election giving it a comfortable buffer with which to face the next one. Its majority is razor thin so there is no "fat" that it can afford to shed. It can't afford to lose any seats and its prospects of gaining seats at the expense of the Labor opposition appear slim. Even if Labor keeps all of its seats and its efforts at sandbagging its Qld seats pay off, government losses at the next elections might not be Labor gains. A more likely scenario is that the government loses seats to independent candidates who stand on a platform of action on climate change. If that happens that will mean the defeat of the Morrison government. Especially if the independents offer a minority Albanese Labor government confidence and supply in exchange for action on climate change. If the next elections are the climate change elections, Morrison's gone. www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/women-swing-against-the-coalition-since-the-2019-election-20210705-p58709.html
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Post by pim on Jul 8, 2021 14:16:23 GMT 10
The nation’s leader goes to ground while waiting for scandals and lockdown to disappearScott Morrison hasn't been seen for nearly a week, and left military personnel to do most of the talking on the pandemic. It's appropriate for a prime minister who has ceded so much of his authority to others.Bernard Keane 8 July 2021 www.crikey.com.au/2021/07/08/the-nations-leader-goes-to-ground-while-waiting-for-scandals-and-lockdown-to-disappear/The fact that in the last two weeks we’ve seen more of “COVID-19 Taskforce commander” Lieutenant General John Frewen than the prime minister, while the country’s largest city was back in lockdown along with much of the rest of the country, isn’t an accident. Since June 21, Morrison has done five interviews and two media conferences, the most recent last Friday after the national cabinet meeting. He hasn’t been seen for nearly a full week. In the same time period, Frewen has done four media conferences — one with Morrison — and six interviews, including two this week. He’s often been accompanied at media conferences by another military figure, Commodore Eric Young. It’s reminiscent of Operation Sovereign Borders, when Morrison used a military uniform, filled by Angus Campbell, to impart authority to the operation and justify a persistent refusal to share any information about “on-water matters”. Back then, though, Morrison would present at media conferences to refuse to provide information. Now he simply doesn’t hold media conferences. To do so this week, to even call his usual 2GB radio interlocutors, would be to invite difficult questions about the Sydney lockdown, given Morrison’s previous endorsement of Gladys Berejiklian’s “gold standard” management of the pandemic and his support for her previous refusal to enter lockdown. And difficult questions about the culpability of the Commonwealth around quarantine facilities, the general vaccine rollout and, most particularly, the failure to vaccinate aged care workers, which was a specific Commonwealth responsibility that cannot, even with the most Morrisonian casuistry, be sloughed off to the states. Other questions might also crop up — about his treatment of Julia Banks, about the presence of an alleged sexual harasser in his cabinet, about the Nationals’ failure to properly resolve allegations of sexual harassment against Barnaby Joyce, about his role in the car park rorts scandal. It was somewhat different with Victoria’s most recent lockdown, when Morrison referred to that state as choosing to go into lockdown, and declining to offer any financial assistance until the optics looked so bad he was compelled to. Now Josh Frydenberg has been left to deal with Dominic Perrottet’s calls for help. There’s something to be said for a “less is more” approach to prime ministerial media, rather than feeling the need to fill the news cycle, respond to every trivial issue and incessantly feed the media’s demand for announcements. But that’s during business-as-usual, and this is anything but. The vaccination program is off the rails, Sydney is locked down, a new virus variant is wreaking havoc with planning, and there’s growing evidence that people in Sydney aren’t paying much attention to lockdown rules. A national leader has to lead in such circumstances. But Morrison’s last two media conferences have proved damaging. Last Friday’s media conference to unveil the halving of passenger caps, forced on him by the states, and a meaningless “four-point plan” out of lockdown. The one before that, from quarantine in the Lodge, was the now-notorious press conference where he appeared to urge young people to get AstraZeneca, leading to a week of bitter Commonwealth-state fighting. Is he worried his once sure touch in managing the press gallery is starting to slip? Morrison had already ceded enormous power to state premiers. Now his absence makes him seem even less relevant, as if he were more ceremonial president of the federation than an actual political leader, waiting for a state funeral or royal visit to emerge and undertake his duties — or, at least, for the media to move on from Julia Banks, and Barnaby Joyce, and sexual harassment, and other inconveniences. When will it be judged safe for Morrison to come out of hiding?
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Post by pim on Jul 8, 2021 14:34:52 GMT 10
Fears Pfizer Jab May Cause Recipients To Lose All Sense Of Responsibilitywww.theshovel.com.au/2021/07/08/jab-may-cause-recipients-to-totally-disappear-in-a-crisis/This Sydney man in his 50s – who has received both Pfizer doses – is said to have totally vanished six days agoScientists are investigating claims that the Pfizer vaccine has caused some recipients to lose all sense of responsibility before entirely evaporating from view, especially when faced with an emergency. In one prominent case, a Sydney man in his 50s – who has received both Pfizer doses – is said to have totally vanished six days ago. “We know he’s there somewhere, but we just can’t see him,” one friend said. Scientists say they are investigating the new side effect. “From what we can tell it’s not an immediate reaction. It seems to be triggered when the patient is faced with a difficult situation that they don’t want to deal with – it’s like an allergic reaction. Their responsibility levels immediately drop and they disappear, sometimes for days at a time,” one scientist said. Despite the findings, some are sceptical, with one long-time associate of the Sydney man saying he has had a habit of disappearing in a crisis for years, well before the vaccine was invented. “He’s been doing it his whole life, so I’m not worried at all. You watch; in a few days he’ll be posting pictures of curries and dogs on Instagram and be back to himself again”.
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Post by pim on Jul 22, 2021 16:23:16 GMT 10
If the myth is that Scott Morrison as prime minister “leads” Australia, what’s the reality?
The Reality: ...
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Post by pim on Jul 23, 2021 12:16:00 GMT 10
I am so over these lockdowns and political "leaders" who refuse to lead. This is from an email ...
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Post by Gort on Jul 23, 2021 12:23:24 GMT 10
So ... just let it rip? That would solve the world's over population problem.
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Post by pim on Aug 7, 2021 0:15:32 GMT 10
He still refuses to lead. He absolutely won’t do it. Business wants clarity on mandatory vaccination and all he can do is fly up his own arse in a cloud of smirk and mirrors. Business needs leadership on vaccine mandates, but the PM isn’t providing itBusiness wants clarity but Scott Morrison just waffles and declines to give it. Is it because he's scared of his own backbench?Bernard Keane 6 August 2021 www.crikey.com.au/2021/08/06/business-needs-leadership-vaccine-mandates-pm-isnt-providing/One of the most important and potentially divisive issues in the transition to “living with COVID” is the willingness of businesses outside the immediate health and caring professions to require their workers to be vaccinated. Food manufacturer SPC decided to take the lead with a vaccine mandate to come into force over the next two months for its workers. Its legal authority to do that, however, is contested, and there’s no clear advice from the Fair Work Commission or Safe Work Australia. Safe Work Australia tells employers: “You must do all that is reasonably practicable to minimise this risk and vaccination should be considered as one way to do so in the context of a range of COVID-19 control measures” but “it is unlikely that a requirement for workers to be vaccinated will be reasonably practicable”. As Crikey forecast — albeit in a much shorter timeframe than we expected — businesses are calling for clarification by the government on what they rightly term a “grey area”. The SPCs of the industry can afford litigation brought by workers or unions, but smaller firms can’t, and need something a bit better than “is unlikely”. The prime minister had an opportunity to provide that clarity yesterday after he was invited to reflect on SPC and the issue of mandating vaccines. In response he offered this all-you-can-eat word salad: People will make a choice to get vaccinated or not vaccinated. Businesses have to make choices. And on SPC, you’ve indicated, the choice that they’ve been making, Qantas have been making similar noises about the choices they’ll be making, about how they run their business, because remember that in a business, that business at the end of the day will bear the costs of having to do the cleaning down the facilities and the various other things that could happen as a result of an outbreak or or something like that of that nature in their premises. So I understand businesses looking to make choices. Now the legal basis for that, I’m sure they’ve taken advice about that. And that could be, that that will be an issue that we watch very closely. So where people are taking decisions that they believe are dealing with their concerns and their interests, then that’s something that the Coalition governments, Liberal governments have always been supportive of. But that’s always subject to the rule of law.The appropriate response from business to this would be: “FFS!”“That could be, that that will be an issue that we watch very closely,” says Morrison, as if he weren’t prime minister and makes the legislative framework for industrial relations. As if he gets to determine what the rule of law means in these circumstances. Morrison promises to hit the ground watching on one of the most important economic and health issues of the next six to 12 months. It’s almost as if Morrison wanted to confirm the stereotype of him as a man incapable of providing leadership. It’s true that Morrison is somewhat stymied by the horse-punchers in his party room who invoke Nazi Germany at the first mention of vaccine passports. But that’s, erm, what leadership is supposed to be: persuading people of different views to cooperate, or minimising the capacity for disruption of those who won’t. But clearly Morrison is so worried about the possibility of becoming a minority government that he won’t do anything to upset his noisier, and generally rather noisome, backbenchers. Andrew Laming is allowed to flout Morrison’s demands with impunity; George “I swear I will cross the floor and this time I really really mean it” Christensen can undermine virus suppression efforts without censure. These don’t have much impact in the real world. Morrison’s refusal to provide leadership on vaccine mandates, however, is making an already difficult time for business even more challenging. The prime minister needs to get off his arse, stop watching and worrying about his backbench, and start leading for the sake of business.
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Post by caskur on Aug 7, 2021 2:59:17 GMT 10
So ... just let it rip? That would solve the world's over population problem. It doesn't really solve problems because it is indiscriminate. It kills good people. No one would care if it killed just the bad guys, would they?
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Post by ponto on Aug 11, 2021 4:07:08 GMT 10
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Post by pim on Aug 11, 2021 10:50:38 GMT 10
Sydney Man Allegedly Pretended To Be Prime Minister For Past 35 MonthsHe tells anyone who’ll listen that he’s the Prime Minister of Australiawww.theshovel.com.au/2021/08/11/sydney-man-allegedly-pretended-to-be-prime-minister-for-past-35-months/Police are investigating a Sydney man who has allegedly pretended to be the Prime Minister of a medium sized nation for almost three years. A spokesperson for Canberra police said they were alerted to the man after several hundred thousand tip offs. It is unclear how the man was able to go unnoticed for so long, given he is unqualified for the position. But sources say he may have been able to trick colleagues into thinking he was the PM by adopting sophisticated language such as ‘If you have a go you get a go’ and ‘The sooner we get there the sooner we get there’. His meticulous attention to dress sense also helped him project a sense of authority – he was often seen wearing board shorts, a baseball cap and an Australian flag facemask. Initial investigations suggest that the man has not actually done any work in his 35 months in the role, but has taken home the PM’s monthly salary. More to come ...
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Post by pim on Aug 20, 2021 22:42:49 GMT 10
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Post by Gort on Aug 20, 2021 22:48:11 GMT 10
If you're going to post it, at least make it less fuzzy ...
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Post by ponto on Aug 23, 2021 18:15:44 GMT 10
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Post by ponto on Aug 23, 2021 18:41:22 GMT 10
Solar exceeds coal output as renewables set new record share of demand in Australia's main grid, and coal a record low.
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Post by ponto on Aug 23, 2021 18:47:52 GMT 10
On this day in 1966 - 55 years ago - Vincent Lingiari led 200 Gurindji, Mudburra and Warlpiri people to walk off the Wave Hill Cattle Station. The spark that lit the Aboriginal Land Rights movement.
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