Another year, another polly on the ropes over expense claims. Sussan Ley has been on the receiving end of a media pommeling and the collective wisdom is she’s been a naughty minister. She has been dispatched to Coventry and the view is she should settle down and grow accustomed to her new home.
As an observer of various entitlements farragoes over the years, I think Ms Leys’ spending puts her in exalted company, somewhere between Peter Slipper and the guv’nor, Labor’s Mal Colston. Spending $21,000 in a week or so on transport is extraordinary. I didn’t even think it was possible. With those frequent flyer miles, you can forget about the carrot sticks and chardy in the Qantas club. It’s foot-long lobster subs and Moët by the schooner. Hell, they’ll get you your own plane. Maybe even let you fly it.
The Minchin Protocol always sounded like a bad novel and now as it comes to its denouement, it is about as satisfying as an EH Holden Mechanics’ manual or anything knocked out by Clementine Ford.
Full column here.
Dismayed 02:00pm .
The more sh.t people put onnthis women , the greater votes she gets .Remember the 98% media trying to execute Trump? We are slow learners in this country with Richo writing today ,..”Pauline Hanson is a major threat with her political party in this country” .She is all over the media lately catching public transport having media trailing her making ground when those other over fed fat cats living it up overseas in resorts this time of the year.
Making noises on her , just elevates her profile while stealing votes off other parties.
Rodent are you saying just be “a good german” and say and do nothing and let this person lie, use racist , divisive language push regressive isolationist policies? No I will call out bullshit until those people that believe her rubbish wake up. Allowing the trumps, the hansons, the Geert Wilders, the Bernardis, Christensen’s, Canavan’s etc to lie and divide nations is Never the answer or acceptable. If there has ever been a better reason to pump money into education it is the people listed above who pray on people who do not or have not learnt the ability to decipher fact from fiction. Standing by an appeasing these people can never be allowed to happen. Hanson and the others offer nothing but false misleading and divisive rubbish. There is no such thing as post truth it is plain old dishonesty and Lies. this is a timely and good piece by Lenore Taylor.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/jan/13/crying-fake-news-is-handy-for-politicians-but-toxic-for-democracy
So you think the reason Hanson is so obnoxious is a ploy to get people to dump sh.t (?) on her to make her more popular? Or she has an advantage in being naturally obnoxious?
Ah Rodent, I see you are jumping on this new right-wing PC bandwagon!
So you say certain types of populist politicians may not be criticised because that increases their popularity. Poppycock. Maybe a small number of contrarians will latch on to anything abhorred by the mainstream to make themselves feel special, but most people are mostly rational and will assess criticism on its merits. It’s called public debate. You seem to want to shut that down.
The question is, why? If you really believed what you are saying, as a Hanson supporter you would want people to criticise her. The fact that you are advising people against it suggests you don’t believe it at all, and that you are well aware the criticism is hitting its mark.
Bassman 03:10pm .
I do believe we are on the same thinking that all this needs reviewing following both sides equal in rorting while not tittle tatting on each other knowing roughly both sides rorting .SHY on that rort trip over where the ME and African people were catching a boat to Greece and Europe . Away 6 weeks with a possy of staff and other bludges racked up 1.1 million of tax payers money last year interfering with the naval operations at sea. She was hunted back home being a nuisance .
Lets hope as Pauline said today , all these ex PMs gold passes need confiscation.
Richo Bassman sees Hanson now is a major threat with media lately tagging along behind her catching public transport while uniting and mixing with people.
This next years ahead sees Trump like politics here .
How can someone elected as an LNP candidate just cross to One Nation. Surely he was there because his electorate wanted the LNP? Poor old Buderim. They endured Clive Palmer federally, (although they did vote for him) – now they have One Nation in the state system.
As much as I hate to say thisYvonne, the bloke has done his maths. He will hold it. As a political tragic I know each and every one of these seats, state and federal, well. I even beat JTI most times on the close ones.
Yep. I suspect you’re correct. Razor. But I do think that the electorate should have the right to revote in that scenario.
No doubt that Hanson will increase her vote both federally and state.
I’ve been surprised to hear of people in my circle who voted for her last time around as a protest. Silly thing to do – but they see no alternative. I’d rather not vote….
no, you vote for a candidate, and that candidate can vote and sit where they please.
that’s exactly how it should work, otherwise we would be putting even more power in the hands of party officials.
Well that didn’t happen in the case of Windsor and Oakshott – whose electorates felt betrayed – and demonstrated their annoyance at the next election!
Maybe he has seen a Newspoll for his electorate 🙂
Do you know Rousseau’s “Stag Hunt” from his Discourse on Inequality?
Hunters are tracking a deer, and can only succeed if all cooperate by remaining in their positions. But any one hunter could catch the smaller meal of a passing rabbit on their own, provided they act first, at the cost of depriving all the others of a chance at either the deer or the rabbit. The more time goes by without sighting the deer, the greater the chance that someone else will betray the group first, and the greater the temptation to defect.
Looks like Dickson has gone for the rabbit!
Loved that post JOH! I will unashamedly plagiarise that at some time in the future and call it my own.
Bassman,03:17pm.
You still very bias and naive on all this stuff with bloggers know both sides as bad as eash other .
I heard the list and cost of rorts read out early today leaving about equal with your Bowan on the list rorting , the one found can’t add up deficits , He was caught out on 48 billion deficit when said 18 billion deficit he left.
How about some balance for a change if you expect credibility!
It is simple , just tell the truth, both sides involved with near equal rorts .Both equal in rorting as read out today along with print media exposing many.
Dismayed
January 13, 2017 at 2:00 pm
snarls: “I see the mad woman has picked up an LNP member.”
Just a small point of clarification Dismayed if I may.
Were you referring to the state of Ms Hanson’s mental health?
Or were you describing the genuine enthusiasm with which she approaches her job as a senator in our national parliament and as a politician who tirelessly tends to the needs of the 500,000 + (and growing) citizens who support her?
If you were referring to the former, it only reinforces the already wide perception (and growing) by many on here, and perhaps elswhere, that you do have the appearance of possessing a homophobic streak.
Just quielty, I’d get it attended to mate.
Don’t defame me Carl. Just another ridiculous comment from you. For a start Hanson represents Queensland in the Senate. One Nation received 500K votes Nationally not all for Hanson in Queensland. Carl Describe 1 Positive policy of One Nations that will Improve this Nation. You have nothing. Are you applauding her Racism, her isolationist policies? Her attacks against people who want to choose their own religion? you mention Homophobia Hanson is against people having the right to choose who they marry.
Do you seriously think I am concerned about the “perceptions” of a group of people who are mainly right wing conservatives when it suits them agrarian socialist when they want and want more concessions and tax cuts but don’t want to any other generations to have the opportunities and concession they had? People like you is what is wrong with this country. Hanson is not and never will be a positive influence on this country. You have really shown your true colours here. Move along people like you are failing this Nation.
You should be concerned about them because their numbers are growing daily. They have become aware of and they will not be conned anymore by the lies put out by the unions during elections.
Can’t you get it through your head that these people are hurting, feel that they are being ignored by mainstream parties and have found a voice in Pauline.
They will use their vote to protect themselves and have been mobilized by Brexit and Trump..
It was people like yourself in the Democrats in the US that saw Hilary defeated – pure arrogance.
Start to be concerned and get them back into the mainstream camp or we will all face the consequences.
CotC…how does referring to Ms. Hanson’s mental state relate to being a homophobe?
I’d suggest he meant misogynist……
And I must chastise you, never mind “just quietly mate”. Your reckless use of “mental health” and Ms Hanson in the same sentence raises doubt about your own. I will allow your descriptor “genuine enthusiasm ” as qualified by genuine in the origins of the word enthusiasm “excessive zeal through the conceit of a revelation”.
Do you know what “homophobic” means btw? You really must explain yourself better when making your rather weird leaps of logic and innuendos Carl.
One more thing. I hope she is tirelessly tending those that follow her, they need all the help they can get.
Make that two, Ms Hanson should be allowed to pick up all the LNP members she wishes without public scrutiny or comment as long as it is done in private and not at the taxpayers expense.
Best wishes, your old mate JB. Who has stopped worrying about you.
She loved to spend the hard working Aussie taxpayers money but now she’s gone – big Suzy Ley quits as Health Minister, Mr Insider. Plenty more time now to go up to her favourite destination, the QLD Gold Coast, at her own expense of course!
http://tinyurl.com/hzp5rzp
John O’Hagan (Jan 13 12.56pm)
says: ” MPs should only be going if the _destination_ is genuinely relevant to their portfolio …”
I think you may have picked a poor example by targeting the Trade Minister, John. As you may know, “trade” is transacted all over the shop. I wonder if your “five-year-old” would know much about the length and breadth of the trade that was conducted on the Silk Road?
Regarding your reference to the missing ethics gland, you haven’t been attempting to tackle some of Benedict de Spinoza’s work by any chance?
Dismayed
One in six US working-age men are not employed, mainly because they are not looking for a job.
Read more: http://www.afr.com/news/politics/thomas-frank-on-the-elitism-that-crucified-the-democrats-20170111-gtpsis#ixzz4VcBpGh6Q
JS what is your point. Again I am the one on this blog who points out the Participation rate has dropped consistently since before the election in 2013. As I said above I present information you exclude it then you want to present it back to me under the guise of some other strawman argument you are running for the sake of an argument.
Go and have a look. In both the US and Australia the economy and people are always better off under the Democrats and Labor. you may not like it but over a hundred years of data proves it.
I only respond to the immediate blog – I do not read everything that you write.
The point I was making that you were using unemployment statistics to prove how wonderful Obama was. To me this was selective use of statistics by yourself to prove a point and you were just spouting the propaganda from Obama’s camp.
There are around 14 million less people employed in the US now then when he came to power. Sure he inherited a bucket load of problems but the current picture is not as rosy as you paint. There are 10’s of millions of unemployed in the US who are not included in the official statistics and they have discovered that their vote counts.
You continually use selective statistics to prove how wonderful your favourites are and how bad those on the other side of politics are.
You label me as a con – well let me tell you something sunshine – there are 70% (?) of the voting population in Australia who will vote the same way time and time again. They cannot think for themselves and are comfortable with their little bubble. Threaten that bubble and they become abusive.
I am in the other 30% and currently think that all sides of politics suck.
Try something – try writing something nice about the Conservatives – you will find it extremely releasing from the nasty, narrow little world that you inhabit.
RE: Dismayed says:
January 13, 2017 at 9:48 am
Dismayed & Yvonne.
The issue is not quite as clear cut as you say Dismayed.
See the attached brief.
In essence although the claim was that NDIS was fully funded. With so much ill-defined in 2012 – 13, including numbers and cost splitting, the only real claim could have been something like – ” ….given what we know know, and based on the inherent assumptions and in respect of the Forward estimates ( 4 years) ….the NDIS is fully funded…”.
In reality, the numbers were really dodgy as provided by the States, the arrangements regarding what happened and who pays for the excess is disputed, the actual range of services is being developed as you go… and over the top of all that, the NDIS does not exhibit any characteristics of an insurance scheme.
Consider, for example car insurance; premiums are based on a Risk Analysis, a Cost Analysis and premiums are struck on an actuarial basis and premiums are applied over all those covered by the policy.
Hence, really all Australians should be paying a premium (per head up to age 65 yrs) the premiums should go into a ‘Fund’ from which those who establish are claim are paid – instead we have a mish-mash of funding from Federal / States with no ‘Healthy’ payers not claiming.
I suppose the concept of paying all NDIS from ‘Taxation’ was just too hard; principally because taxes would need to increase!
http://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/BudgetReview201516/NDIS
Good post, plmo.
Good points PLMO.
Whatever the NDIS purports to be, an insurance scheme it ain’t. For starters, there is no risk model, claim parameters nor definition of what a participant may actually expect to get. No insurer in their right mind would go near a scheme like this, it is certainly going to blow out costs with little chance of reigning in what has already been committed.
Of course there is nothing wrong with the sentiment of what the NDIS should/hopes to deliver. So just ask the taxpayers, if the real cost were known, would they accept it or not? The open ended nature of so many government schemes mean a delayed payment shock, as we re seeing all too frequently.
Good grief. Been trying to talk sense re The Donald over on the news pages and just got accused of being a member of GetUp! How funny is that?
As noted in my reply to X above, the fawning adulation now being accorded to the man is reminiscent of the hagiographies written in worship of Malcolm Turnbull when he stabbed his way into the top job. How sad would your life have to be to get that excited about a POLITICIAN? And why do people continue to imagine there is such a thing as a political Messiah? For goodness sakes, even Graham Richardson (as cynical and hard-nosed as any of the soul-less bastards who ever stalked the halls of power) was calling for a “redeemer” in Canberra a couple of weeks back.
This is some kind of illness.
Re GetUp, it’s called people power for a reason.
Bag them all you want but they have had plenty of wins in their time.
I say good on them.
Bella
Of course you do. I wouldn’t expect otherwise. But I feel you missed the main point of my post.
perhaps richo has forgotten about gough
Richo wouldn’t ever have dared to say it while Whitlam was alive.
not sure how public they made it, but one of the reasons why the Hawke government was so good was the absolute determination of most Cabinet members not to be much like the Whitlam government.
they had seen at close quarters that, while the great man was wonderful at some things, his government was a shambles and had richly deserved being thrown out. some thought it might have been saved with Hayden as Treasurer, but not many.