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.
Mr Insider we read quite a few Democrats are going to boycott the Trump inauguration on the 20th of January, quite petty imho at a time when the USA should all pull together to install a duly democratically elected POTUS. For all the waffle we see that “we are all one nation together” and “we are all in this together” it rings hollow at a time like this. Yes we may vote differently but at a time like this when a new President is being installed the least people could do is wish him well and extend the hand of goodwill imho. Brickbats to this sour lot!
http://tinyurl.com/jgvpaxz
Why are Cormann, Bishop J, Ciobo, Brandis still there? All proven serial rorters.
If Ley was knee-capped this mob deserve the same as well as any Labor people in the trough
with them.
&
Hey…gonna tell you a story my dentist told me whilst I was in his chair.
When Doug Anthony (Deputy PM) was the member up here,
he bumped into my dentist and a few of his mates who were on a trip to Sydney. Doug asked where they
were staying. That night a Comm. car pulled up. Took them to Doyles where they
stuffed themselves with all the grog, oyster and lobster they could. Comm car waited for them
all this time and when they pigged out took them back to their hotel.
When they asked about payment, the restaurant said it was ‘covered’. All on Doug’s ‘entitlement’
card. These were in the days when there was bugger all scrutiny and the pollies did what they liked.
There was no instant news cycle, mobile fones or instantaneous communication
BUSH etc:-the simple question is this.
Is the world a safer place since the Bush’s started all of these wars?
Is Oz a safer place since Howard signed us up to fight
America’s wars?
The answer is a definite NO to both.
Howard has made us a definite target.
Don’t take my word for it. Federal Copper Mick Keelty said so
and so did Peter Cosgrove when he was Chief of Defence.
Howard severely caned them for speaking the obvious and publicly shamed them
In one of the lowest acts I have ever witnessed.
is the world as safe a place since 2008?
which relationships with the US are better?
How is that Libya plan working out?
and the great achievement of the Obama administration?
ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLteUGkvpOc
history is messy and complicated and the blame tends to spread around, unless you are incurious.
I see your point Bassy but the problem is we will never know. What would an unhindered Saddam gone on to do?
I will go along with Keelty, Cosgrove and the rest of the world. They have much mire
at hand knowledge than me Bald.
Lowest act I ever witnessed was the pools of oil still on the ground after Saddam lit up all those wells in Kuwait. 5 to 6 million barrels of oil per day going up in smoke and it took almost 10 months to put the fires out. Apart from that only about 13% of oil was recovered that spilled into the Gulf after an oil production facility was sabotaged. Estimates of the oil spilled was up to 11 million barrels. That was enough for Saddam to earn himself a death sentence right there imo, never mind what he did to the Kurds, or Iran or his own people.
There were an upside of the Kuwait invasion, for Australia anyway. I was working at a racing stable in Hendra in 1990, and two fellas brought a nicely bred filly in to be prepared for the track. They’d made the purchase through an agent, and I recall she cost $40,000, a pricey purchase for a first horse, but her name has got away from me. The Straddie had just been run, so it must have been early winter. They had a company that made hospital equipment. Saddam had liberated all the hospital stuff from Kuwait and these blokes made a good living building new stuff. We had the horse for a while, and prepared her for the Queensland autumn carnival the following year. Every time the horse ran they were there and they always gave the stable staff and the hoop a generous tip, win or lose. Owners are generally aloof lot who stay in the members area but these two liked to hang around the horse on racedays. They liked a drink too. Most owners get a bit cranky if the horse finishes back in the field, but it never worried these blokes. They raced for fun and enjoyed their time at the track. Another quirk with this pair was they insisted on floating the horse themselves, and dragged the box all about behind a beautiful old Studebaker. I changed stables but they were still working in Kuwait the last I saw them, and doing well as I could judge. I guess they found a nitch.
Swepson?? Indian tour mmmm. orright then..lets see
gunna be a great experience for him
Australia squad: Steven Smith (capt), David Warner, Matt Renshaw, Usman Khawaja, Shaun Marsh, Pete Handscomb, Glenn Maxwell, Matthew Wade, Mitchell Marsh, Ashton Agar, Steve O’Keefe, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, Josh Hazlewood, Jackson Bird, Nathan Lyon.
And…what would we lose if S Abbott came in for M Marsh??
What odds on them winning, Smoke? I hope they go well, especially the newbies.
long odds milton…taking 20 wickets consistently will be tough…but hey goodluck to all
Smoke, the Hohns, selection fiasco’s continue. Swepson would be much better served playing shield cricket. S. Marsh gets carried again having hardly scored a run since his last injury and before his next. The Wade selection will be regretted after Australia’s first day in the field when he drops catches misses stumping’s and allows byes to release pressure.
On Sean Abbott, he C. McKay, S. Boland, A.Tye, D. Christain, Henriques, Laughlin, K. Richardson, B. Cutting, Feldman, Worrell and few others must be wondering why they were overlooked for the ODI’s when Stanlake who has bowled maybe 3 good overs in the Big Bash gets a run and runs out of gas after 3 overs. This Jhye Richardson for the Scorchers looks a good skiddy quick, onto the batsman before they catch up, moves it both ways. His action and delivery although a slightly taller is similar to M. Marshall. C’mon Aussie’s we will need to create some good fortune to do well in India.
stanlake and swepson picks smell a bit QLD clubbish..
just hope it works…tho’ bitter experience tells me if I’m holding because of hope, I’m holding the wrong position.
JTI,
I know I am going to regret this but …………
Dismayed et al,
Re the claimed US$5 trillion projected surplus bequeathed by pres Clinton.
Here is a link to the actual Citizens’ guide issued by the President in 1999 / 2000 explaining the Budget.
Page 25 has a table of projected surplus out to 2004 (5 budget years).
The projected surplus total approx US$500 Billion.
https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BUDGET-2000-CITIZENSGUIDE/pdf/BUDGET-2000-CITIZENSGUIDE-5.pdf
So if we apply our ‘Forward Estimates’ analogy the projected surplus is of the order of US$500B. If you want to project out to say 2010 (assuming no change) you probably would get to US$2 Trillion. How far to get US$5 trillion ??
But of course we know how flaky our Forward estimates process is. Just imagine how fraught is the projection say 20 years (perhaps to get to US$5 Trillion) being some 5 Presidential terms.
Anyway, what better start point for the debate than the words of the outgoing President Clinton himself!!
Regrets ….regrets!!!
JTi.
Correction in my previous.
Total of 5 year surplus is about US$620B.
Our 4 year Forward estimate analogy yield about US$500B.
Fat fingers …. Small keyboard …. Slow Brain!!
As I said to JS. I will take the Nations Treasury advice until such time someone else is running the show. You can both stick to Breitbart to forward your won agendas.
http://www.businessinsider.com.au/how-clinton-surplus-became-a-6t-deficit-2013-1
I think you guys are confusing budget surpluses and deficits with gross national debt, which was 5.6 trillion when Clinton left office.
This is the sort of crap that people are talking about. While people out in the burbs are just trying to get ahead our politicians are obsessed with meaningless drivel and gesture politics just to appease the inner city elites.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nsw-government-to-apologise-for-granville-train-disaster/news-story/126f3185078460bb6fb0dc1c25f9267a
I thought it was very odd aslo
“Hell”!,..not again. School principles and teachers contacting AFP on 69accounts ,latest last week, of young girls as young as 9 been taken overseas to marry older men right under the eyes of most ME parents , where are the women’s lobbyist now after suddenly gone silent?
Family and Community Services Minister Brad Hazard says he has no doubt on the magnitude of the problem while still dancing around this problem , long overdue many bloggers and media saying , now
on a wide scale. Imams in Victoria now jumping around caught out . Did someone here ask me if I am moving to the right ? Where are the both party politicians ? Jacqui Rambo , Nick the Zenothon .The way I see this ,this is criminality fast-forwarding in these communities knowing the Islamic Council and Imams will continue this vile defiance of the laws here continuing their practice path rupturing the young girls lives in these societies .
Where is the great Gillian Triggs in all this while trying to chase down innocent people? Where is the Malcolm Turnbull after dragging those shiekhs Imams , and other bludges down to Canberra dinner feasting on Islamic food they demand at the table before the election at tax payers expenses ? At least Murdock media has latched onto this big story festering along while PC do-gooders other media outlets trying to bury this to appease Imams .
The Victoria Board of Imams are looking shaky trying to explain this criminality that politicians known for years giving this the great escape of older men in ME to come out here with their child brides 9 years of age .
Yep!
The lot that support Islamic rights on all sorts of stuff are very very slow to publicly condemn this practice.
The “sisterhood” is very quick to mobilise on a word spoken out of turn by somebody in the public domain but are very quiet on this one.
Maybe they just lump it into all the other “customs” – after all, in this post-modernist world, who has the right to criticize the customs of others – no matter how barbaric they are..
JackSprat….you surprise me with that post. I thought you were better than that….oh well, let’s blame the “sisterhood”
Penny
I watch the “Sisterhood” give forth on many aspects of Women’s rights. Some very trivial and some not so.
I have had long discussions with some of them on the subjugation of women in Islam – they will always spring to the front when defending the right to wear the Burka but on when subjects like this and other aspects of the subjugation of women within Islam they are very silent and almost patronizing towards the women.
I have seen them rally to get men fired but, except in a few rare cases, I have never seen any of them speak out against this stuff.
I would have thought that there would be a very active world wide women’s movement to support the women of Saudi Arabia and Iran in their current struggles. It may exist but I have not seen it.
Fair enough JS, but not all members of the sisterhood are quite so silent. I note that the Moroccan government has banned the sale and production of the burqa, ostensibly for security purposes. The women in Kuwait are quite vocal about the subjugation in women in Saudi Arabia. My point is I guess that there is a sisterhood in Muslim countries who are quite vocal about women’s rights. I have seen more women in government and senior positions in these countries that there are in Australia.
On the so-called sisterhood in Australia however, I agree with you. I was President of a well-known women’s organization for six years and saw and heard things that appalled me. I was also the academic representative for the National Tertiary Educators Union and witnessed absolute ignorant behaviour in their efforts to get male academics and senior management out of their jobs, so that they could be given to women…..I have great admiration for strong women in Arab countries, who support their sisters, not the case in Australia
cheers Penny ….a keeper
Islamic sisterhood gets next to nil coverage
Their not all going overrseas. It’s happening in Australia too. I hear this turd has been sacked. Too late methinks http://www.news.com.au/national/breaking-news/vic-iman-charged-over-forced-marriage/news-story/e4531ac9e90627338bf754f685722725
But I find this information more disturbing and sickening. Caroline Overington deserves an award for this.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/columnists/march-on-but-remember-girls-mutilated-at-home/news-story/b24d0029a8d406cad0d3e9e3b3e67c10
I dont know how this can be stopped. Barbarians. I was grinding my teeth reading this. Someone find a way to stop this. Why are feminists silent?
Penny 01:20am.
Just had another ganda at your line of reply ,and a think that you may be due for some scrutiny at me while I hoping you not sharpening up your tools to come after me again ,ah? I find you an interesting level-headed women of good character willing to challenge.
Ok, ,..lets get down to business keeping our sustained stability alive ,healthy and rolling on.
I have many files stored of interest on the ME wars , skirmishes , you name it, in stock . BTW ,…Bassman tells me ” Why do you read all that shit for , if they kill each other , let them go “. He is right that we should stay out of their wars .
I tuned in when Sadam set off the greatest environment man made disasters ever setting 256 oil well fires taking over 6 months to extinguish . That gave way tuning into Prof Greg Barton been in frontline battles and other team members of world wars and ME tragedies . We must not forget that thugs in the ME , dictators all in the mix makes us vulnerable to ordubious leaderships who will not except democracy. This enticement towards peace in the ME ,will see affliction of populations still the same in centuries to come while Islam is alive. Most of these countries don’t go down the path off assessability injudicous all times making no effort for peace over the horizon . That I say is a case when you look at young kids wandering in bombed out streets in Syria shows Islam has “no”concern on misery not showing any passion having IMAMs saying “go out and fight” , go fight the infidels , go fight the Christians little knowing many they kill are Muslims themselves.
This Penny , sanity in adults of these cultures being men here , have “no” innocent blood among those who fight all for Allah . They don’t give a stuff on populations ,women, kids and even challenge gays when they can . This breed I am talking about , will see kids in Syria still in grave danger years to come .
Just in short , we must congratulate arm forces trying save Christians being burnt out or murdered while trying to inject peace in these regions , but, it is hopeless while maniacs of Islam is alive and well.
Cheers .
Rodent, it’s not enough to have files on the Middle East. I have lived and worked in the MENA for many years. I have taught in American Universities in Lebanon, Kuwait and Morocco. I count many Muslims as my friends. We had Christian students in Kuwait and Lebanon as well and you know what, they all talked together and discussed the issues facing their countries. Talk to my Syrian friends both ex-colleagues and students and ask them how they feel about Russia and the US intervening in what started out as an internal problem in the country.
It’s a mess Rodent, but not one that can be solved by anyone who just writes off Islam as the main source of the problem. Take a look at what the civil war was about in Lebanon and I’ll tell you now, it was more tribal than religious.
My son-in-law went to Iraq last year as part of a Christian missionary group and came back with a very different view of the situation than I would imagine you get from your files.
Look and listen Rodent and stop coming up with opinions on every topic that is brought up on this blog and putting yourself up as an having greater knowledge than anyone else.
This is the last time I’m reading your rubbish Rodent, you take the pleasure out of communicating with others who also may know just a little more than you do about things.
Dismayed
Ahhh! The penny drops.
In the fantasy land bubble that you inhabit on a daily basis, your reasoning goes like this.
Clinton had surpluses of $236 billion during his tenure with about $46 billion in 2000.
Somehow you invented a multiplier effect to turn that into $5 trillion over the duration of Bush’s tenure and are working on the principal that if you say something enough times and loud enough people will believe you.
One fact that you miss is that Bush, at the start of his tenure, was faced with the tech-wreck which wiped out, I think from memory, $5 trillion from the economy.
“The Labor Department estimates that a net 1.735 million jobs were shed in 2001, with an additional net 508,000 lost during 2002. 2003 saw a small gain of a mere 105,000 jobs. Unemployment rose from 4.2% in February 2001 to 5.5% in November 2001, but did not peak until June 2003 at 6.3%, after which it declined to 5% by mid-2005.”
This alone would have put the budget into deficit.
Then of course the Republicans decided to cut taxes to “stimulate” the economy, the US had a guns and butter war that they estimated would cost a few billions but cost well over a Trillion, and the US budget has been on a downwards trajectory ever since.
This projected “fact” logic that you use Dismayed is rubbish – but there again, since you immerse yourself in it on a daily basis, you probably think that you are terribly smart.
C’mon – at least for once in your life admit that you have been wrong on this issue – it will be very uplifting for your soul.
I can only go on the advice of the Nations Treasury. If you know better you should put your hand up for a job. Until such time another agency provides the advice or information this is the only evidence available.
http://www.businessinsider.com.au/how-clinton-surplus-became-a-6t-deficit-2013-1
Gross national debt was about 5.6trillion when Clinton left office, but he did leave a budget surplus.of around 260 billion. GND was increasing all the time during his presidency.
Penny .01:20am.
Just read an old piece from the Age on 1990-91 Bob Hawke supported his stance in going in on the Gulf way. Kim Beasily was not happy going into the Gulf war but this had Hawke supporting the Kuiwait nation being tangled up in this mess as Iraq and Iran having a fued between them , were looking dangerous on the world stage comes to oil supplies disrupted .Don’t forget , these nations and cultures smell blood , they take aim on short notice on each other loving a good old scrap while teaching their sons to fight most times .
When Hawke entered it was UN sanctioned
All of the Bush interventions were unsanctioned illegal wars.
Bassy, a coalition of 28 countries were involved in the Desert Storm campaign in 1990/1991, something like 640,00 people with 450,000 supplied by the U.S. They were sanctioned by the U.N. to get the Iraqis out of Kuwait, which they did.