One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts’ testimony in the High Court yesterday might have been a crippling blow to the 77 people who voted for him but let’s look on the bright side. We haven’t had a senator so amusing since Mal Colston and truth be known, Malcolm Roberts is far more trustworthy around a packet of Tim Tams.
While the senator left the High Court yesterday looking cheerfully optimistic, there was general agreement from most observers that perhaps things had not gone quite as well as expected. This was rudely confirmed when the overflow room, established to accommodate the large number of visiting journalists who couldn’t fit into the gallery of the Brisbane court, spontaneously burst into uncontrollable laughter on numerous occasions.
The case, as far as we can tell, revolves around Malcolm Roberts firing off missives into the ether seeking to determine his citizenship status prior to nominating as a candidate for the Senate. The emails bear the subject heading, “Am I still a British citizen?” which stands at odds with the senator’s belief he has always been an Australian despite arriving in Australia in 1962 as an eight-year-old.
Full column here.
Hugh Hefner the Playboy Empire chap, Mr Insider, has died aged 91yo. I do recall as a pimply faced youth buying his product Playboy magazine in the newsagent and found the “articles” very stimulating.
Oh dear, the Hef has left the mansion. Must be some 18-yo’s who are sad to have missed out on the next appalling geriatric groping and convulsions. He’ll be buried in his pyjamas no doubt.
there WERE some great articles in Playboy over the years: Norman Mailer, the epic last long interview with Groucho Marx whioch ran to some 40 printed pages… but in most senses it was a far more innocent age prior to the internet (and both Playboy and Esquire were at most softcore while maintaining literary pretensions).
Admittedly in his later years, and lámours, it was close to self-parody!
cheers
My literary hero Joseph Heller, too.
I think business knows Malcolm is a goner at the next election so they don’t need to play the game with him. They are constructing their operations around what would be palatable for a Labor government and if I was in their shoes I’d be doing the same thing.
They know MT is drowning and don’t want to be caught paddling the life raft to him.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/pms-faith-in-energy-exporters-to-do-the-right-thing/news-story/82ea82ef35f34d7c118edbfc2109ed20
I think Malcolm would be much better than Shorten as PM if he were just allowed to lead. I would like to see him stretch out, take on the hard right, implement all of the things he really believes in and sit back and watch his numbers surge. He is letting a handful of Luddites hold the whole country to ransom.
I see Hugh Hefner has passed. May he rest his piece. 😱
Vale Hugh Hefner. That man was instrumental in a lot of my growth during my formative years.
Yes Hef certainly helped me get a hold of myself in my youth.
The NO campaign will yelp about this…….
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/same-sex-marriage-weekly-updates-of-postal-survey-to-be-revealed/news-story/7b316841f7a961b9c9f4802dbc681b9b
Sigh – not looking forward to the ugliness of Australian politics when I return next week.
Getting away from it all has been a holiday in itself.
Welcome back to Oz, Boadicea. Not much has happened. Malcolm has Gas and Bill is full of Hot Wind. That’s a brief summary anyway. Cheers.
Not much of an AFL man but I’m going Richmond this weekend. I have put a lot of scientific thought into the process. It has nothing to do with the fact my EA is a crow eater and I want to get some intra office banter going!
Go Tiges
PM Turnbull now claims he has Gas, Mr insider, allegedly striking a deal with the Gas Exporters to hold back some Gas for Australia. Can we take this “agreement” with a grain of salt I do ask? Money talks and our Gas “walks”.
“The Turnbull Coalition Government’s ‘responsible economic management’ (Sigh, Groan) has seen the 2016-17 Budget position improve by $4.4 billion”. Says Steve Ciobo. What a lie…and by the way, $1.1billion of these ‘savings’ were clawed back from the bloody disabled via the C.Link Robot!! Hit the poor, hit the sick, hit the unemployed. Attack Uni fees and those trying to get schooled.
In the government’s first budget in 2014, it said the 2016-17 deficit would be $10.6 billion. Actual deficit $33 billion. Close enough? They have tripled the deficit and are cheering about it!
Huh? It is a $33b deficit. Net govt debt is at a 60 year high and Gross Debt is half a TRILLION for the 1st time ever!! Wages growth is below inflation. Extraordinary claims by Morrison that the economy is surging!!… he personifies a drowning man clutching at straws
Scum Morrison saying all is solved the budget has saved $4billion…nothing to do with him though it is to do with the doubling of the iron ore price in 18 months and the mass cutting of services!! How do they keep getting away with it?
Net govt debt stands at 18,4% of GDP. The highest since the aftermath of WW2. Morrison will try and blame Labor for that like the wandering Belgian did on AM the other morning but he was quickly cut down!!
…..but wait there is more. The day those subs were announced I went to town on this blog saying what a waste of money they were amidst a heap of canon fire from the hard right on this blog. Confirmed in today’s Oz the subs are duds just like the F-35’s, the dud tanks and helicopters. Why is Defence allowed to waste our money like this?
Bassy,
Have you been watching what’s happenning on the Korean Peninsula?
Sorry to bore you with this Bald but the whole Kim thing is a beat-up. He is just saber rattling. He will atom bomb nobody knowing quite well he would be obliterated from the face of the earth in half an hour. The USA has made uninvited incursions into other countries 48 times since WWII so you tell me who is the aggressor in the world. I have no problem with Kim developing a self defence arsenal. Bloody hell everybody else around him has. The deal is whether he uses it or not. That said, my main concern is Russia and China. Now if they get upset that is a whole different story. And the maddest thing I have observed? Bishop J and M Payne rushing over to S Korea and carrying on as if we are some major world power. We should be right out of this mess altogether and stick to our fridge magnets.
You do know Shorten was in South Korea this week as well Bassy…..
Yes and I was highly critical of his presence…he is not even the govt!