Preview Politics in Australia

[Robbo's my hero]

And here we have the forward defence back down the wicket by those who were happy to dance on Sam Dastyari’s grave and accuse him of sedition. What a ******* bunch of hypocrites!

Politics in this country is so predictable. Fun and games with none of the important issues being tackled.

PM defends Gladys Liu following Chinese connection revelations

Scott Morrison says "smears" on the Liberal backbencher carry a "grubby undertone" and questions about her fitness to sit in the Parliament are "an insult to every single Chinese-Australian in this country".

www.abc.net.au

 

[Robbo's my hero]

Robbo’s waiting for the Great Leap Forward!

 

[Robbo's my hero]

And here’s Michelle Grattan’s rational and sensible response to Liu and her Chinese connections. Don’t expect the politicians to display logic. Morrison’s majority is under threat already.

It's not racist to ask questions about Gladys Liu and her past

Legitimate and important questions have been raised about Member for Chisholm Gladys Liu. As for the Government playing the race card, this was both wrong and foolish, writes Michelle Grattan

www.abc.net.au

 

[Robbo's my hero]

And Annabel’s still my pen pal.

Good morning Robbo, Returning to Canberra in a nauseous fug of economic uncertainty, our elected representatives consoled themselves this week with an exciting round of "reds under the beds", in an episode tentatively entitled: "Is the Member for Chisholm a Chinese sleeper agent?" Fair to say that it was an accusation Gladys Liu herself did not quite hit to the boundary with her initial response, being: "I can't recall." Having eventually acknowledged that she had indeed been a member of a Chinese Communist foreign influence organisation, Ms Liu then insisted that her primary loyalty was to Australia, convincing the PM to the extent that he was happy to be photographed with her in Parliament — a degree of selfie-confidence not shared by his predecessor Malcolm Turnbull , as ABC political editor Andrew Probyn revealed midweek. The thing is, anyone in Canberra throwing a China-related punch today needs to check the backswing first lest an ally be collected in the exercise. It's easy to find MPs who have accepted Rolexes from Chinese noodle billionaires from a plastic bag, or travelled to China to promote a business while on leave from their ministerial portfolios (OK, so both of these were on-again, off-again minister and home-internet whiz Stuart Robert) or of course have actually had to resign in a Chinese pickle, like Sam Dastyari. This might account for the note of caution in the voice of shadow agriculture minister Joel Fitzgibbon (who as Kevin Rudd's defence minister had his own controversy 10 years ago with another Mrs Liu entirely) when asked by RN Breakfast presenter Hamish Macdonald whether he believed Gladys Liu's "I don't recall" line was acceptable. "Well, it's not a defence I'd be running, Hamish," Mr Fitzgibbon replied. The silence of the Lambies The week has also delivered an extraordinary insight into the strategic mind of Senate power-fox Jacqui Lambie, who wields an inordinate amount of power to make or break the fresh new legislation of the rejuvenated Morrison Government, which this week has involved a series of gently reheated plans to drug-test welfare recipients, direct the spending of welfare recipients, and embarrass the Labor Party over John Setka. Brilliantly, Senator Lambie managed to address several of these matterssimultaneously in a fusillade of interviews disclosing that she would back the drug testing of welfare recipients if politicians also were drug tested, and that she had recently tried to convince Mr Setka to quit by cooking him a roast lamb and feeding him "coke and cream and everything else". Perhaps unsurprisingly, the senator cooled on the drug tests by COB Monday, when she spoke to RN's Patricia Karvelas. Here's the detail on the cashless welfare card expansion, in case you were thinking of blowing your Newstart on a stolen Maserati. And in answer to your unspoken question, yes: Barnaby Joyce is happy to be drug tested and also happy for farmers to have cashless welfare cards. That's more or less it for this week. Hope you survived it OK.

 

[Robbo's my hero]

Point of difference between the Australian constitutional crisis of 1975 and the current British malaise.

This time it’s the British PM misleading the Queen. In 1975? You can work out the rest...

Boris Johnson denies lying to the Queen as top court rejects no-deal challenge

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has denied lying to Queen Elizabeth II over the reasons for suspending the United Kingdom's parliament, following multiple legal challenges to his mooted Brexit strategy.

www.abc.net.au

 

[Robbo's my hero]

We’re blessed in this country for succinct commentary through creativity.

 

[Robbo's my hero]

How good’s hubris!

Best-laid plans turn sour for Morrison as his obsession with Labor backfires

Whatever the flaws of our Parliament, it rarely allows best-laid plans to play out as intended, as the Prime Minister saw again this week, writes Laura Tingle.

www.abc.net.au

 

[Robbo's my hero]

The ABC should vet the political candidates. The hatchet job on Liu is like a slow release fertiliser.

Gladys Liu's Liberal branch called to ease foreign ownership laws

Before she was a federal MP, Gladys Liu was part of a Liberal Party branch that pushed an unusual motion calling for a relaxation of laws around foreign investment in agribusiness and agricultural land.

www.abc.net.au

 

[Robbo's my hero]

A nice outcome for our MPs. Redundancy payments just like the private sector! Only problem is they are PUBLIC SERVANTS.

Excerpt from article in today’s Age.

Henderson to hand back part of six-figure payout after Senate win

New Victorian senator Sarah Henderson says she will hand back part of the six-figure, taxpayer-funded payout she received after losing her lower house seat in federal parliament in May.

www.smh.com.au

“New Victorian senator Sarah Henderson says she will hand back part of the six-figure, taxpayer-funded payout she received after losing her lower house seat in federal parliament in May. Senator Henderson, who narrowly lost the Victorian seat of Corangamite to Labor candidate Libby Coker at the federal election, was eligible for a payout of up to $100,000 as a two-term MP. But after being sworn in on Thursday as the Liberal's Senate replacement for former communications minister Mitch Fifield, she said her decision to keep only a "pro rata" amount was "in line with community expectations".

Prime Minister Scott Morrison recently defended the right of MPs who lost their seats at the last election to be eligible for a total of $1.3 million in cash payouts, saying they were similar to redundancies workers in the private sector received.”

 

[Robbo's my hero]

Tony Abbott pearls of wisdom. Spectator must be a great read.

Tony Abbott warns West faces 'extinction' crisis, praises Hungary's far-right leader

After warning of "angry" immigrants "swarming" across Europe's borders, former PM Tony Abbott warns Western nations face an "extinction" crisis if they don't have more children.

www.abc.net.au

 

[Robbo's my hero]

Great article on the ABC news website by an expert on China. Naturally it involved the rise (and possible) fall of Gladys Liu. It demonstrated the manner in which China spreads it influence around the world through the use of organisations that, on the face of it, don’t appear political or influential.

Inside Xi's 'magic weapon' that has backfired on Gladys Liu

It is hard to map China's politics onto ours, and it's even tricker when the United Front Work Department comes up, writes Ryan Manuel.

www.abc.net.au

Of course countries around the world work the margins (some just get right into the ‘thick of it’) and influence in this way. China is flavour of the month but you could mount an argument for the US and Russia as well.

I’m reminded of my own familial background and how Mussolini spread fascism throughout the world. Italians had taken off in all directions in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The US was popular but so was Australia. Argentina as well.

As far as Benito was concerned no matter how tenuous the link all Italians were Italian first and must be loyal to the fatherland.

How did he do this?

A very popular way was to infiltrate cultural organisations and spread the word. One society which resonated was the Dante Society. Language is culture and vice versa. The Dante Society still operates in Lygon Street today.

So sometimes there are more important issues than simply the money.

 

[Robbo's my hero]

Tony (and Barnaby) have been let off the leash. Everyone is entitled to a view and making a choice is never easy. The language used is appalling.

Tony Abbott calls NSW abortion laws 'effectively infanticide on demand'

The former prime minister tells an anti-abortion rally in Sydney that the NSW Government's proposed bill to decriminalise abortion was not what it was elected to do.

www.abc.net.au

 

[Robbo's my hero]

A politician led economic recovery in Victoria. Plough it back into the economy Dan. Your house is big enough.

Daniel Andrews to become highest-paid state leader after salary boost

Premier Daniel Andrews will become the highest-paid state leader after he was handed an 11.8 per cent pay rise by an independent tribunal.

www.abc.net.au

 

[Elmer_Judd]

A politician led economic recovery in Victoria. Plough it back into the economy Dan. Your house is big enough.

Daniel Andrews to become highest-paid state leader after salary boost

Premier Daniel Andrews will become the highest-paid state leader after he was handed an 11.8 per cent pay rise by an independent tribunal.

www.abc.net.au

He has earnt his money I reckon.

 

[Robbo's my hero]

He has earnt his money I reckon.

I’m not saying he hasn’t Elmer. It just irks me a little that the Everyman and Everywoman use to have a centralised system of wage fixing and now only MPs and judges etc have access to the fairest method of setting wages.

 

[Elmer_Judd]

I’m not saying he hasn’t Elmer. It just irks me a little that the Everyman and Everywoman use to have a centralised system of wage fixing and now only MPs and judges etc have access to the fairest method of setting wages.

To be fair, it's not like he asked for the pay raise himself, but I get your point Robbo.

 

[Robbo's my hero]

To be fair, it's not like he asked for the pay raise himself, but I get your point Robbo.

Maybe he should hand it back.

 

[Robbo's my hero]

Sco Mo must be a little confused at the moment.

Xi won’t invite him to dinner.

However he’s being praised by the Chinese for pointing out that Australian’s are racist when they attack a Chinese MP.

 

[Robbo's my hero]

Ya gotta larf! This will fix the problem.

NSW Labor hands back $100K 'Aldi bag' donation

The party's lawyer admits there has been a slew of "alternative facts and nonsense" put forward to the ICAC inquiry and it is clear a scheme was set up to hide the true source of a $100,000 donation.

www.abc.net.au

 

[Elmer_Judd]

Pauline Hanson's latest tirade about female domestic violence victims lying in court is nothing short of disgraceful.

 

[Robbo's my hero]

Pauline Hanson's latest tirade about female domestic violence victims lying in court is nothing short of disgraceful.

And she’s been appointed as Deputy-Chair of a parliamentary inquiry into family law. Only possible with this Government’s support. This is how they buy support.

As for Pauline. She is intellectually challenged like a number of our elected representatives which means we get s**t laws in this country.

 

[juzz88]

Pauline Hanson's latest tirade about female domestic violence victims lying in court is nothing short of disgraceful.

Apologies in advance for my ignorance, I haven't heard what the red head said this time, I'm only going off your comment.

But do you not think that women lying about domestic violence is a problem worth talking about?

I understand they're a minority, but if it isn't spoken about, the problem won't go away. Ironically, no different to domestic violence itself.


*cue somebody posting a link to a video showing Pauline saying that all women are lying about domestic violence and making me look like an idiot*

 

[Robbo's my hero]

Apologies in advance for my ignorance, I haven't heard what the red head said this time, I'm only going off your comment.

But do you not think that women lying about domestic violence is a problem worth talking about?

I understand they're a minority, but if it isn't spoken about, the problem won't go away. Ironically, no different to domestic violence itself.


*cue somebody posting a link to a video showing Pauline saying that all women are lying about domestic violence and making me look like an idiot*

I try not to listen to what she says.

I heard her the other day when talking about climate science using the term ‘imperial’ evidence. I’ll let you work out what she trying to say.

I think her problem is the lack of connect between her brain and what comes out of her mouth. She’s had a personal experience through her son’s marriage breakdown and applies that across the board when talking about domestic violence and women lying to get what they want out of the family law process.

Just a really dumb piece of logic based on the ‘imperial’ evidence which indicates otherwise.

 

[Robbo's my hero]

Make up your own mind on this. Personally I think Daniel’s argument is pissweak. And I wish my pension was tied to pay increases for public servants.

High-paid Premier to review former MPs' pension boost

The government will seek advice on how to avoid a "windfall gain" for former MPs and spouses who are set to receive a significant boost to their pensions this week.

www.theage.com.au

 

[Robbo's my hero]

juzz88

Here you go. It’s an opinion piece but it covers the issues.

The decision Scott Morrison might live to regret

The Prime Minister could soon wish he hadn't agreed to the family law reform inquiry and handed Pauline Hanson the deputy chair position.

www.theage.com.au