This weekend, the Sydney Moring Herald showcased three conservative ‘young’ white women aged 28, 31 and 37 years. Most definitions of ‘young’ fall short of all these ages (and end at 25), but whiteness has long bestowed a peculiar time-machine effect which bears no relationship to reality, although it is closely associated with the shifting goal posts strategy perfected over centuries.

Anyway, the profiles of Daisy Cousens, Helen Andrews, and Georgina Downer generated a lot of comment. Daisy started a twitter campaign using a hashtag inspired by a dead white bloke who drew despicably racist and transphobic cartoons. Into the fray leapt Caleb Bond, a 17-year-old white boy who has been propelled into the spotlight by Murdoch editors and publishers who for reasons of their own – such as disseminating patriarchal norms via shallow, ill-informed, feminist-hating trash – prefer a proportion of their misogyny and hate to be churned out…

With an outbreak of interest in and ignorance of two legal precepts, Rule of Law and the 1500-year-old lex iniusta non est lexan unjust law is no law at all, here is a bit of background on origins, authors, influences, and adherents.

The bones of the debate are this: the highest placed union leader in Australia, Sally McManus, was asked by Leigh Sales on 730 (ABC1) if she “believes” in the Rule of Law. McManus based her reply on the natural law philosophy that laws must have a moral dimension and a relationship to justice – and ought not cause injustices.

Over the years, philosophers have disagreed on the correct response to an unjust law, and have attempted to codify types of injustice. Do we leave the state which makes unjust laws for a more just society which does not? Do we obey the unjust law for the…

This has been such a disturbing experience.

Recently, I wrote an article critical of Centrelink’s debt collection processes based on my personal experiences. That article is here. It was written with the intention of drawing people’s attention to how impenetrable the debt collection process can be and also, to encourage women to consider fighting against ‘sexually transmitted debt’.

Paul Malone, writing for Canberra Times, has since obtained personal information from my Centrelink file (I’m still not sure how privacy legislation allows this) in order to write an article about my story from the government’s perspective. The article is optimistically titled, “Centrelink is an easy target for complaints but there are two sides to every story”.

It seems the story most neglected is not the helpless ‘client’ of Centrelink, so often powerless in the face of an enormous bureaucratic machine, but the Centrelink machine, itself.

I am incredibly reluctant to go further into…

Does anyone know WTF is going on?

Here in Australia we are but a hop skip and jump behind most US trends

We left the “Old Dart” {of sorts} when troops were ordered home by John Curtin to fight the Japanese advance on Port Moresby [advice given by US General Douglas MacArthur}

The 1950`s saw Robert Menzies amplifying McCarthyism and this wiki description is good enough an explanation leading up to what we now call fake news-alternative facts-[all lies without evidence base]

The biggest communist bogeyman,Stalin`s USSR then Mao`s China,were in fact a Totalitarian States [voting or not]

We saw the Malayan Emergency precede the Korean War but go on much longer [both supposed wars against communism] but now known to be strategic geopolitical Imperialism by Britain and the US-Australia was drawn into these conflicts as well

The British called the “Malayan People`s Anti Japanese Army” communists because they wanted…

This week marks the start of the school year for the majority of Australian students, with NSW, South Australia, the ACT and Northern Territory returning today, Victoria tomorrow and Western Australia on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Queensland students finished their summer holidays last week, while Tasmanian students don’t see the inside of a classroom until Wednesday 8 February.

Irrespective of where they are, when they start or what year they are in, the next 12 months should be filled with learning about the world around them, and about themselves (hopefully like the years before, and to follow).

However, for far too many students across Australia – and teachers and other staff in schools around the country – 2017 is just another year in which they also have to worry about being discriminated against, lawfully, simply because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

That’s because, under the anti-discrimination laws of six…

I was brought up under the misinformation that the Australian Liberals were better economic managers than the Australian Labor party. Given hindsight, I’ll have to say we’ll need to agree to disagree on that. Selling every Government owned enterprise not nailed to the floor is not necessarily good economic management.

From July 17 to 31, 2016, I conducted a survey of the LGBTIQ community, and our allies, to ascertain views about Malcolm Turnbull’s proposed plebiscite on marriage equality.

Specifically, the survey asked whether we should:

• Block it, if possible
• Accept it and fight to win, or
• Wait to see the details.

Based on 1,140 responses, including 840 from within the LGBTIQ community, the survey’s main finding was unambiguous: 69% of people wanted to block the plebiscite, compared to only 11% who believed we should accept it and another 20% who would like to see more details before making a final decision.

For full results of the survey, including breakdowns by different demographic groups, see Plebiscite Survey Results: Part 1.

The survey then asked two open-ended, text-based questions.

The first asked: “Please explain why you chose that answer (for example, I think we should block the plebiscite because…/I think we…

Reachtel 9/06, and Essential 15/06 were deleted.

Reachtel 23/06, Galaxy 26/06 Newspoll 26/06, Essential 28/06 were added

%ages changed to Raw Numbers

Simple maths convert the published % to raw numbers using the electors polled. Liberal and National Party numbers are combined.

Two Party Preferred

2PP History

Translating this into electoral numbers,

assuming 15 million electors
we have a National Two Party Preferred of

L-NP 7,516,650 Votes

ALP 7,483,350 Votes

Which leads to – – –

THE DIFFERENCE CHART

A difference of

0.222% or 33,300 voters.

PRIMARY VOTE

Once upon a time it was expected that the L-NP primary would be around 45% while the ALP could only win with a Primary beginning with a “4”.

The question is rapidly becoming, ‘Can the Coalition win with a Primary number beginning with ‘3’?

This week’s Essential Poll has the Coalition on a Primary vote of 39%

“MINOR” PARTIES

Essential, Ipsos and…

Presumably that’s where the mouth controls are located.

So, the Prime Minister has just confirmed that Coalition MPs will not be bound by the result of the $160 million national plebiscite on whether or not Australia should recognise same sex marriage, and that they will enjoy a “free vote” (ie: not bound by the party’s position) on the matter.

As Malcolm Turnbull explained on Friday 24 June, once the plebiscite is done and if a majority of Australians vote yes, then… um, parliament will vote on legislation to pass marriage equality, which then may or may not happen depending on whether there’s enough support for it among the individual MPs and senators.

“The tradition in the Liberal Party is that on matters of this kind it is a free vote,” Turnbull announced, adding “I have no doubt that if the plebiscite is carried, as I believe it will be, that you will…

This morning, as I was perusing my Facebook timeline, I happened upon an article that a lovely friend shared. It was entitled “24 Things Women Should Stop Wearing After Age 30”, and it triggered Maximum Eye-Rolling from everyone who took the time out to read it.

Written by Kallie Provencher for RantChic.com, this “article” (I use the term loosely) highlighted things such as “leopard print”, “graphic tees”, and “short dresses” (because “By this age, women should know it’s always better to leave something to the imagination”). Kallie, it seems, has a number of opinions on what women over 30 should and shouldn’t be doing, having also penned “30 Things Women Over 30 Shouldn’t Own” and “20 Pictures Women Over 30 Need To Stop Posting Online”. (What is this magical post-30 land where women are suddenly not allowed to do or own so many things?!)

Motivated by Kallie’s “article”, I decided to…

I am distressed.

Right now I feel like never writing another book. And I’ll try to explain why as simply as I can, trying to untangle the messy political drama that is about to change the entire Australian publishing industry and how it affects me personally.

The government has proposed and recommended that Australia does two things:

1. Introduce parallel importation
2. Drastically reduce copyright protection to just 15 years.

(You can sign the petition to tell the government you don’t want this to happen right here.)

How does parallel importation affect me and you?

• The first point I want to make sure you know is that our contemporaries, the USA and the UK do not have parallel importation. We would be going against them. (Which doesn’t make sense, right?)
• The next point I want to make is that New Zealand lifted their parallel importation laws and rather than seeing cheaper…

Essential 12/04 was dropped

Essential 27/04 was added

%ages changed to Raw Numbers

Simple maths convert the published % to raw numbers using the electors polled. Liberal and National Party numbers are combined.

Two Party Preferred

Remarkable agreement amongst all pollsters this week.

2PP HistoryYes! A change in the poll leader.

Translating this into electoral numbers,

assuming 15 million electors
we have a National Two Party Preferred of

L-NP 7,436,250 Votes

ALP 7,563,750 Votes

Which leads to – – –

THE DIFFERENCE CHART

A difference of

0.85% or 127,500voters.

The trend continues.

Consider where the numbers were three months ago!

Next week we will be inundated with post-budget polls.

PRIMARY VOTE

Once upon a time it was expected that the L-NP primary would be around 45% while the ALP could only win with a Primary beginning with a “4”.

This shows the L_NP to be down 3.5% from…

“I swear by Almighty God, that the evidence I shall give will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth”

In a recent blog Vince O’Grady wrote about Fallacious Argument and a Double Dissolution Election. The dishonest use of Language to trick the voting public.
You can read it here

Fallacious Argument and a Double Dissolution Election. The dishonest use of Language to trick the voting public.

He used three examples of the arguments used by Malcolm Turnbull, George Brandis and Michaelia Cash. The Prime Minister, the Attorney-General and the Minister for Employment.
All three have Degrees in the Law, but it seems not much of their training seems to have stuck.
Lawyers are all about facts and presenting them in courts of law. These facts are called Evidence. In the cases of their recent comments about the CFMEU they said the following. So called Evidence from which…

POLL SUMMARY

Ipsos 12/03 and Essential 15/03 were dropped

Reachtel 22/03 and Essential 30/03 were added

%ages changed to Raw Numbers

Simple maths convert the published % to raw numbers using the electors polled. Liberal and National Party numbers are combined.

Note:- GNewspoll lumps PUP voters with “Others”. I split them out at as near to 20-80 as I can with whole numbers. That seems to be how the numbers for other polls fall.

Two Party Preferred

2PP History

Translating this into electoral numbers,
assuming 15 million electors
we have a National Two Party Preferred of

L-NP 7,590,450 Votes

ALP 7,409,550 Votes

Which leads to – – –

THE DIFFERENCE CHART

A difference of

-1.206 % or 180,900 voters.

A small swing of about 36,000 back right.

PRIMARY VOTE

Once upon a time it was expected that the L-NP primary would be around 45% while the ALP could only win…

POLL SUMMARY

Morgan 7/03, GNewspoll 7/03, Essential 8/03 were dropped

GNewspoll 20/03, Morgan 21/03 and Essential 22/03 were added.

%ages changed to Raw Numbers

Simple maths convert the published % to raw numbers using the electors polled. Liberal and National Party numbers are combined.

Note:- GNewspoll lumps PUP voters with “Others”. I split them out at as near to 20-80 as I can with whole numbers. That seems to be how the numbers for other polls fall.

Two Party Preferred

2PP History

Translating this into electoral numbers,
assuming 15 million electors
we have a National Two Party Preferred of

L-NP 7,572,300 Votes

ALP 7,427,700 Votes

Which leads to – – –

THE DIFFERENCE CHART

A difference of

-0.964 % or 144,600 voters.

Around a quarter of a million swinging back to the Left.

PRIMARY VOTE

Once upon a time it was expected that the L-NP primary would be around 45% while…

POLL SUMMARY

Three polls, Morgan 16/11, Ipsos 17/11 and Essential 17/11 were deleted.

Three polls Ipsos 29/11, Morgan 30/11 and Essential 1/12 were added

(Galaxy/Newspoll is too long so from now on they are “Gnewspoll” as in “Gnomes”)

A total of 11,759 voters were polled.

%ages changed to Raw Numbers

Simple maths convert the published % to raw numbers using the electors polled. Liberal and National Party numbers are combined.

Note:- GNewspoll lumps PUP voters with “Others”. I split them out at as near to 20-80 as I can with whole numbers. That seems to be how the numbers for other polls fall.

Two Party Preferred

Translating this into electoral numbers,
assuming 15 million electors
we have a National Two Party Preferred of

L-NP 8,096,400 Votes

ALP 6,903,600 Votes

Which leads to – – –

THE DIFFERENCE CHART

A difference of

-7.952% or

1,192,800 voters.

Another slight swing back to…

On Tuesday 17 November 2015 we learned that the AFP had executed a search warrant on James Hunter Ashby’s mothers property.

Having followed and written about this for a long time now, I was gratified that the actual warrant stated alleged offences which I had written about recently. In October 2015 I reviewed the evidence of the Federal Court and wrote an 80 page timeline which concentrated mainly on the interactions between Ashby, Doane, Brough and Lewis. Specifically in relation to the access and  taking of confidential diary information. The 80 pages is properly referenced to the actual court documents.

By doing this exercise, I was able to look at a continuous and contiguous narrative which highlighted what actually took place and what may have happened between the parties before the actual events. In other words there must have been other forms of communication between the parties for the actual…

POLL SUMMARY

A total of 12,026 voters were polled.

Three polls, Ipsos 18/10, Morgan 19/10 and Essential 20/10 were deleted.

Two polls, Morgan 2/11,  and Essential 3/11 were added

(Galaxy/Newspoll is too long so from now on they are “Gnewspoll” as in “Gnomes”)

%ages changed to Raw Numbers

Simple maths convert the published % to raw numbers using the electors polled. Liberal and National Party numbers are combined.

This week Essential have not posted all their numbers. Just the 2pp. So I’ve added those in and pretended that everything else is unchanged from last week. As soon a Essential update their page, I will update this chart.

Note:- GNewspoll lumps PUP voters with “Others”. I split them out at as near to 20-80 as I can with whole numbers. That seems to be how the numbers for other polls fall.

Two Party Preferred

Translating this into electoral numbers,
assuming 15…

POLL SUMMARY

A total of 12,542 voters were polled.

Three polls, Gnewspoll 7/09, Morgan 7/09, Essential 8/09 were deleted.

Five polls, Reachtel 16/09, Gnewspoll 18/09, Morgan 21/09, Gnewspoll 21/09, Essential, 22/09

A small Morgan Poll published on 16th Sept but taken before the Spill was missed off last week’s numbers. It has been added along with its 826 pollees.

(Galaxy/Newspoll is too long so from now on they are “Gnewspoll” as in “Gnomes”)

Percentages converted back to Raw Numbers

Simple maths convert the published % to raw numbers using the electors polled.   Liberal and National Party numbers are combined.

Note:- GNewspoll lumps PUP voters with “Others”. I split them out at as near to 20-80 as I can with whole numbers. That seems to be how the numbers for other polls fall.

Two Party Preferred

Translating this into electoral numbers,
assuming 15 million electors
we have a National Two Party…

POLL SUMMARY

THIS TWO WEEK PERIOD

A total of 10,123 voters were polled.

Two Polls, Galaxy 20/07, Essential 21/07 were deleted

Two polls, Reachtel 31/07/07, Essential 4/08 were added.

Percentages converted back to Raw Numbers

Simple maths convert the published % to raw numbers using the electors polled.

Liberal and National Party numbers are combined.

Note:- Galaxy/Newspoll lumps PUP voters with “Others”. I split them out at as near to 20-80 as I can with whole numbers. That seems to be how the numbers for other polls fall.

Two Party Preferred

Translating this into electoral numbers,

assuming 15 million electors

we have a National Two Party Preferred of

L-NP 7,000,800 Votes

ALP 7,999,200 Votes

Which leads to – – –

THE DIFFERENCE CHART

A difference of

6.656% or

998,400 voters.

This week sees a shift in numbers back to numbers not seen since April.

. A lead of…

 POLL SUMMARY

THIS TWO WEEK PERIOD

A total of 8,536 voters were polled.

Two Polls, Morgan 13/07, Essential 14/07 were deleted

Two polls, Morgan 27/07, Essential 28/07 were added.

Percentages converted back to Raw Numbers

Simple maths convert the published % to raw numbers using the electors polled.

Liberal and National Party numbers are combined.

Note:- Galaxy/Newspoll lumps PUP voters with “Others”. I split them out at as near to 20-80 as I can with whole numbers. That seems to be how the numbers for other polls fall.

Two Party Preferred

Translating this into electoral numbers,

assuming 15 million electors

we have a National Two Party Preferred of

L-NP 7,023,150 Votes

ALP 7,976,850 Votes

Which leads to – – –

THE DIFFERENCE CHART

A difference of

6.358% or

953,700 voters.

This week sees a major shiftback to the left. Pretty well back to where we were in the…

Dear Lauren,

In the last couple days, I have seen your video “Why I’m Not a Feminist” pop up a few times. In the video, you describe why you are not a feminist. At the heart of your message is the assertion, “I am not a feminist because I believe both genders should be treated equally.” Setting aside for a moment the problems with your assumption that gender can be reduced to a binary of male/female (here’s a decent introduction to that if you want), I want to talk about the misinformation you offer in your video: misinformation about feminist activism and scholarship, and misinformation about domestic violence and rape. I don’t often find engaging in these types debates online to be the most fruitful use of my energies, since people that produce anti-feminist content generally are not very open to meaningful engagement with feminist thought, however I’ve been stewing over your…

A year or even six months ago most pundits would have agreed it was highly unlikely that an Australian prime minister would face prosecution in the International Criminal Court (ICC) regarding Government policy and treatment of asylum-seekers. But that was before the weeks and weeks of abuse testimony, of leaks by detention centres workers, and before the ‘people smugglers’ funding affair. Revelations of abuse (physical, sexual, psychological) of detainees, including children, at the Manus Island and Nauru detention centres, has meant prosecution of the Abbott Administration in the ICC is now far more probable. Indeed, a case against the Abbott Government has been filed with the ICC. Below, we explain what this case with the ICC will involve and, on the way, examine the numerous Australian laws and international protocols that the Abbott Government is accused of violating.

A. Submissions to the ICC re Abbott Administration

In October 2014 Andrew…

There’s an anger in Western Sydney that could cost us the next election – “our schools, trains, roads, hospitals are full of refugees”.

We allowed and encouraged this anger to focus on how refugees can be stopped, a good Liberal issue.  We ignored and continue to ignore the underlying issue of our schools, trains, roads, hospitals being full. We allowed a single Liberal issue to displace a suite of good Labor issues.

In 2010-11, a total of 4828 Humanitarian Program visas were given to onshore applicants, not all maritime arrivals.  That number is from a total of 13,799 visas granted under the Humanitarian Program, itself a number out of a total of 158,943 new immigrants. Putting that number in wider perspective, new immigrants were part of a total population growth for 2012 of 394,200 people. Australia’s population is 22.32 million. Boat people are about 1-2 per cent of annual population…

Last night, just 36 hours from the start of ALP National Conference, the Sydney Morning Herald published an opinion piece by Federal Opposition Leader Bill Shorten explaining why he supports a conscience vote on marriage equality[i].

The article itself is short and, based on any objective reading, the arguments he makes for a conscience vote (or rather, against a binding vote), are weak.

So weak, in fact, that it is tempting to assume Mr Shorten is aware there remains a strong chance that National Conference will decide on Sunday afternoon that the ALP should nevertheless bind (whether immediately, or taking effect from the start of the next federal election campaign), and he does not want to appear to be too out of step with the membership on this issue.

Whatever the motivation, in this post I will respond to the three main arguments against a binding vote put…

POLL SUMMARY

THIS TWO WEEK PERIOD

A small total of 8,308 voters were polled.

Three Polls, Galaxy/Newspoll 6/07, Ipsos 6/07, Essential 7/07 were deleted

Two polls, Galaxy/Newspoll 20/07, Essential 21/07 were added.

Percentages converted back to Raw Numbers

Simple maths convert the published % to raw numbers using the electors polled.

Liberal and National Party numbers are combined.

Note:- Galaxy/Newspoll lumps PUP voters with “Others”. I split them out at as near to 20-80 as I can with whole numbers. That seems to be how the numbers for other polls fall.

Two Party Preferred

Translating this into electoral numbers,

assuming 15 million electors

we have a National Two Party Preferred of

L-NP 7,226,550 Votes

ALP 7,773,450 Votes

Which leads to – – –

THE DIFFERENCE CHART

A difference of

3.646% or

546,900 voters.

This week sees a major shift to the right. One more week like this and we…

Proverbially, There Is Fire!

A naughty biography of Tony Abbott’s Life

or is it

A biography of Tony Abbott’s Naughty Life?

Tony Abbott has come under much closer scrutiny over the past week. There have been many reports of his actions and alleged actions over the past four decades. Each one, individually, has received a contemptuous flick from the Leader of the Opposition and his supporter.

Perhaps it is time to look at them in totality. After all,Tony Abbott says it is “perfectly reasonable” for the media to probe a politician’s past to assess their fitness for office. 

We all know how to treat Tony Abbott’s public comments on any subject because he told us.

Remember this when you hear his statements on these matters.

What follows is not encyclopaedic

and so

I shall make additions as I find (or am told about) them

 1957, 4 November

Anthony John…

THIS WEEK

One Poll, Essential 31/03 was deleted.

Five polls, Morgan 8/04, Essential 8/04, Ipsos 12/04, Newspoll 13/04, Essential 14/04 were added.

A total of 11,645 Australians were polled

FIVE NEW POLLS this week and the news is not all good if you are a supporter of the Left.

Percentages converted back to Raw Numbers

Simple maths convert the published % to raw numbers using the electors polled.

Liberal and National Party numbers are combined.

Note:- Newspoll lumps PUP voters with “Others”. I split them out at as near to 20-80 as I can with whole numbers. That seems to be how the numbers for other polls fall.

Two Party Preferred

Translating this into electoral numbers,

assuming 15 million electors

we have a National Two Party Preferred of

L-NP7,054,050 Votes

ALP 7,945,950 Votes

Which leads to – – –

THE DIFFERENCE CHART

A difference of

5.946% or just

891,900…

THIS WEEK

Three polls, Morgan 23/03, Newspoll 23/03, Essential 24/03 were deleted

One Poll, Reachtel 1/04 was added

A total of 4203 Australians were polled

Yes, only two polls this week. It seems Essential took a holiday today and so today’s expected poll will probably appear tomorrow.

It will be in next week’s Poll Sum

Percentages converted back to Raw Numbers

Simple maths convert the published % to raw numbers using the electors polled.

Liberal and National Party numbers are combined.

Note:- Newspoll lumps PUP voters with “Others”. I split them out at as near to 20-80 as I can with whole numbers. That seems to be how the numbers for other polls fall.

Two Party Preferred

Translating this into electoral numbers,

assuming 15 million electors

we have a National Two Party Preferred of

L-NP6,963,750 Votes

ALP 8,036,250 Votes

Which leads to – – –

THE DIFFERENCE CHART

A…

POLL SUMMARY

THIS WEEK

Three Polls, Newspoll 9/03, Essential 10/03 and Morgan 10/03 were deleted.

Three polls, Morgan 23/03, Newspoll 23/03, Essential 24/3 were added

A total of 7863 Australians were polled

Percentages converted back to Raw Numbers

Simple maths convert the published % to raw numbers using the electors polled.

Liberal and National Party numbers are combined.

Note:- Newspoll lumps PUP voters with “Others”. I split them out at as near to 25-75 as I can with whole numbers. That seems to be how the numbers for other polls fall.

Two Party Preferred

Translating this into electoral numbers,

assuming 15 million electors

we have a National Two Party Preferred of

L-NP6,913,800 Votes

ALP 8,086,200 Votes

Which leads to – – –

THE DIFFERENCE CHART

A difference of

7.816% or

1,172,400 voters.

A substantial swing of nearly 300,000 voters to the Left.

Despite the rogue Newspoll

PRIMARY VOTE

One…

Perceptions are always important in politics. In fact, sometimes perceptions are more important than reality. As a previous article on this site explained, one of the major political problems with the model put forward for an Australian republic in 1999 was that it sought to give the federal parliament the power to appoint the Head of State. That proposal played right into the hands of those who were orchestrating the campaign against a republic. It enabled the monarchists to launch one of the greatest scare campaigns in the history of Australian politics. It allowed them to create the lie of the ‘politician’s republic’. The monarchists continue to disseminate this lie to this day. The great irony here however is that the monarchists have been able to distract most observers from realising that Australia is in fact a ‘politician’s monarchy’.

It is clear that the Australian people will never accept any…

POLL SUMMARY

HEADLINE NUMBERS

Lib |ALP

46.427%|53.573%

6,964,050|8,035,950

THIS WEEK

One Poll, Essential 17/02 was deleted.

Two Polls, Ipsos 2/03, Essential 3/3 were added

A total of 8913 Australians were polled

Percentages converted back to Raw Numbers

Simple maths convert the published % to raw numbers using the electors polled.

Liberal and National Party numbers are combined.

Note:- Newspoll lumps PUP voters with “Others”. I split them out at as near to 25-75 as I can with whole numbers. That seems to be how the numbers for other polls fall.

Two Party Preferred

Translating this into electoral numbers,

assuming 15 million electors

we have a National Two Party Preferred of

L-NP6,964,050 Votes

ALP 8,035,950 Votes

Which leads to – – –

THE DIFFERENCE CHART

A difference of

7.11% or

1,071,900 voters.

A major swing to the right of another 1.5% but still over a…

Every now and then something silly happens in Australia and I wonder whether it’s better to talk about it or lay on the ground and wait for the stupid to subside. Sometimes, I’ll make jokes to highlight how ridiculous something is, other times I write about it.  This is going to be one of those times – no, no. I promise I won’t lay on the ground. Let’s talk about it. Let’s get all the key players out first. (P.S I once made a sarcastic video about how eating halal meat makes you Muslim. You can watch it here. It involves halal animals breeding with non halal ones.)

Kirralie Smith believes in freedom – for her beliefs only, obvs.

Halal Choices

Halal Choices is the baby of Kirralie Smith who claims to ‘love the freedom we have’ in Australia. She has created a website that aims to list all the…

The G20 is a meeting of the leaders of the most powerful countries in the world.

Australia is one of those countries, ranked at No 20 in terms of population, N0 18 in terms of GDP.

We scrape in by virtue of our geographical position and our ethnography. That, and our extreme quarryishness.

The leaders of the big two countries, the USA and China, have spoken about matters of earth-shattering importance.

Or, perhaps, Earth-saving importance.

In the face of irrefutable evidence of Climate Change and the dire consequences of doing nothing at all, they have come to an agreement to reduce their emissions over the next fifteen years.

China agreed to slow and then stop (the increase in) its emissions by 2030 while the US said it would reduce emissions by up to 28 per cent by 2025. Australia has committed to a 5 per cent cut in…

Australia’s police chiefs have cited society’s “vulgar and violent attitudes toward women” as a primary cause of the nation’s high level of domestic violence. Changing men’s behaviour is seen as the ONLY way to address the problem.

Tasmania’s commissioner, Darren Hine, said cultural change can begin with society’s influencers – sportsmen, businessman, actors and other personalities – standing up to condemn violence against women and children.

Yet the same week we had a foreigner and one of our own senators sending different messages entirely.

The foreigner, Julien Blanc, had his visa cancelled and departed. Or departed and then had his visa cancelled, depending on which report you read.

His tactics, which include choking women and pulling them into his crotch, were criticised online as misogynistic and abusive. (Source: ABC.net.au)

Lovely. In my view his attitude is both violent and vulgar. The cancellation of his visa, however, raises…

Image courtesy of theaustralian.com.au

We are all frustrated at the lack of scrutiny afforded to our politicians, and in particular to the government’s repeated claims that we have a debt crisis. Why is it, however, that there don’t appear to be any journalists in the mainstream media who have the gumption to simply ask; “Prove it”? One of our readers has circulated a letter to the independent media sites (The AIMN included) asking that we continue to pose the questions that the mainstream media avoids. The reader, James Fitzgerald, makes a lot of sense.

I sent this to the Guardian Australia this morning, and to the ALP and the Greens as well as New Matilda, The Hoopla and Crikey in the hope that someone (or everyone) runs with it. The journalism sentiments apply to you, too:

Hello, thank you for being a part of the Australian free press.

I…

Voting is a right, use it. Protect that vote, fight any attempts to make it “easier” by kicking you off the rolls.

Enroll to vote, make sure you are in the right electorate, know your candidates and when you vote, vote properly.

Watch out for postal votes which return envelopes are addressed to a political party.

Watch out for aged-care facilities in which party hacks collect votes on behalf of residents, especially when ballots are filled-in in pencil.

Watch out for anyone voting on behalf of the aged or non-English speakers.

Come election time, make sure your less-than-mobile, non-Liberal-National party loved ones have access to a polling place, consider it quality time together – take them pre-poll voting then take them for a coffee.

The following links are for the state and federal electoral commissions, you can easily check you are enrolled and enrolled properly at these sites:

Australian Electoral…

Image courtesy of the guardian.com

Is everybody given a fair go in this country?

Not anymore, says Peter Barnes, and definitely not with a government intent on taking away the services and support most needed by the nation’s poorest.

But what is even more disgraceful, laments Peter, are the lies that these people have to take a ‘hit’ for the sake of (what is already) a strong economy.

“A fair go” could be Australia’s motto.

It’s a phrase that’s uniquely Australian, and one on which we pride ourselves: Fair go, mate!

There are other versions that nobody but an Australian would understand: “Fair dibs”, and of course “Fair suck of the sauce bottle”, but they all mean roughly the same thing.

Fairness, and balance.

Image courtesy of news.com.au

Can anybody make any sense out of what this government doing? asks Jennifer Wilson.

It seems to me that it’s a core conservative tradition to use  the most vulnerable people in society as a means to an ideological end. There are endless current examples of this: threats to pensions, restricted access to Newstart for unemployed youth, destruction of universal healthcare, proposed reduction of the minimum wage and a cap on that wage for the next ten years, all part of the Commission of Audit’s recommendations to the Abbott government prior to its first budget in a couple of weeks.

None of these measures will affect anyone as disastrously as they will affect the poor, and while middle class journalists  on a good wage, some of whom are Abbott’s most vocal supporters,  scream like stuck pigs about the flagged “debt levy” on incomes over…

Dear Tony Abbott

I’m writing to you again with the knowledge that you clearly haven’t read my previous correspondence, including this letter, this letter and this video. Since I wrote those letters, you have gone from my worst nightmare as an Opposition Leader, to an even worse nightmare of a Prime Minister. Yet, as I was reminded this week on Twitter, and as I would like to remind anyone who reads this letter, you aren’t a scary monster. Thinking of you has some scary creature underneath the bed is probably not very helpful because it gives you a status you don’t deserve (and I don’t like the idea of you being anywhere near my bed). But seriously Tony, to be scary and feared, you need to be successful. But when you look at your term as Prime Minister so far, it would be inaccurate to suggest you’ve been…

“We can do without butter, but, despite all our love of peace, not without arms. One cannot shoot with butter, but with guns”
Joseph Goebels

“Guns will make us powerful; butter will only make us fat.”
Hermann Göring

Ok, I think that the title says it all.

I tried to write this as a satire, but when the government announces spending billions on fighter jets, while telling us that we need to save pennies on pensioners, it’s pretty hard to come up with anything more absurd than what they’re already doing. Except when you follow it with their statement that we can afford the jets because the money has been “set aside” in previous years. So this “set aside” will evaporate if we decide it would be better spent on something else – if we saved a few billion by only buying half the number of jets? (I know…

As a backbencher, Andrews authored the Euthanasia Laws Bill 1996 to overrule Northern Territory legislation that legalised euthanasia (the Rights of the Terminally Ill Act 1995).

Andrews also called for an end to trials of the RU-486 drug and voted against a bill that took away the Health Minister’s power to veto applications to allow the drug to be used.

In taking a stance against stem cell research in 2002, he stated that it was the “first time” that “human beings can be treated as a commodity”. He also took a stance against stem cell research during a debate in 2006, which resulted in the overturning of a previous ban on the research.

As the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, he was…

In light of recent outbreaks of measles and other vaccine preventable illnesses, and the refusal of anti-vaccination advocates to acknowledge the problem, I thought it was past time for this post.

Dear parents,

You are being lied to. The people who claim to be acting in the best interests of your children are putting their health and even lives at risk.

There is an old adage that warns we should never discuss religion or politics.  It’s bizarre that two such influential aspects of our lives should be off-limits.  The obvious implication is that, in these two areas, people’s minds are already made up and closed to any information, argument or change.  Are we scared that our beliefs, under scrutiny, may be shown to be flawed?  Are we unable to explain why we believe something, or hold a certain view, or support a certain religion or political party or policy?  Are we unable to be tolerant and civil?  Are we unwilling to learn?  Is it heresy to question?

There is a growing dissatisfaction and feeling of disillusionment and disappointment with both religion and politics.  To use the parlance of the day, their business model is broken.  This is hardly surprising as they have allowed very little organisational change in hundreds of years.

Image courtesy of the heraldsun.com.au

Andrew Bolt’s racial vilification case and the government’s subsequent hasty threat to repeal section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act has placed ‘freedom of speech’ at the forefront of political debate. But its importance is always overlooked, or shunned, when it’s those of the Left side of politics who are exercising it. The media’s response to March in March rallies is an obvious case, writes Jennifer Wilson.

Peter van Onselen (pictured) devotes almost an entire page in the Australian this morning (paywalled, sorry) to complaining about the “unedifying” display of bad manners by some protestors who took part in the March in March rallies, comparing them with the infamously abusive banners held aloft by the three hundred or so activists who took part Alan Jones’s 2011 Convoy of no Confidence against Julia Gillard and her Labor government.

I would appreciate someone drawing up a…

The fate of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 has captured the imagination of the world.

It has also been accused of fuelling a Parliamentary diversion tactic to help minimise the damage from the resignation, or “Standing Aside” of Arthur Sinodinos from his portfolio of Assistant Treasurer. Surely our Government would not stoop to such self-serving tactics!

One of my associates in attempting to bring truth to the National Narrative has put a couple of facts together to draw an interesting conclusion. By putting together media reports of Tony Abbott’s pre-question time announcement on Thursday and previously unpublished screen grabs from the publically available “http://www.marinetraffic.com” he has spotted an apparent anomoly in the public timeline. Thank you Vince.

WHEN THE ANNOUNCEMENT WAS MADE

Beginning with the announcement by Tony Abbott, the public record is consistent with its reports of the announcement being made in Parliament at 2;07pm on Thursday 20th March.

While…

So where do children rate in the Coalition’s priorities?

After assuring us that there was absolutely no difference between Labor and Liberal on education, the government has signed up the remaining states and territory to the Gonski reforms without the required state co-funding or performance obligations.  They have reneged on the bulk of the spending which was to happen in years 5 and 6.  MYEFO also contained more than $1.5 billion in education cuts, including ending the trades training centre program and slashing before and after school care assistance by $450 million.

They are throwing out the recently adopted national curriculum, the product of 26,000 submissions from concerned parties, and several years’ work by experts in the field, in favour of a…