Summary: This week on SomethingWonky, we track where you’ve been on the internet, demand you explain where you’ve been overseas, and disappoint Andrew Bolt. But we phone him first because we wouldn’t want him to think we’re not mates. THE FOCUS GROUP Govt cancelling a stupid vandal decision Tony backs off on his idiotic changes to 18C of the RDA. Bolt and IPA very unhappy - how will Tony win them around again? He at least calls Andrew Bolt before announcing it, because sometimes PMs have to call people who’ve broken the law to let them know they’re not going to change it. Meanwhile other Liberals (and the Oz) blame Brandis’ asinine “bigots” comment for the debacle Stupid Vandal Decisions Treasury making nearly all its staff reapply for their own jobs Brandis’ “data retention” proposal released to mates at Daily Telegraph before telling cabinet colleagenemies. He’ll be making companies keep your metadata, including a list of websites you’ve visited for two years. Eventually he admitted that, anyway - after an embarrassing melt-down with David Speers. Brandis points out in 2012 that the Australian public does not support their browsing history being retained Tony launches new “anti-terror” laws on vague advice of agencies getting the extra power and money that there’s some kind of increased risk. Calls it Team Australia, complete with logo and new website. Ben Eltham argues they’re “an all-out assault on our freedoms”. Dave remembers Dan Carlin’s recent commentary on the runaway security state because Jeremy just put it in the running sheet. Australians overseas Abbott proposes reversing the onus of proof on people returning from Iraq or Syria to prove they’re NOT terrorists. But will the same standard be applied to those fighting for, say, Israel in Gaza? Short answer: no. Long answer: also no. Baby Gammy’s parents found, father then accused of historical sex crime against child in 1996, so the surrogate mother says she wants the child back, and Child Services intervene. Meanwhile other couples going through process to be victims of a crackdown. Let the sanctimonious insanity continue. Let them eat Brioche Treasury did prepare the Treasurer an analysis before the budget of what his plan would do, which showed that low-income groups would be hit the hardest. Fairfax’s FOI request that obtained those documents reveals the Government is still holding out on two bigger documents Treasury prepared revealing how hard the LNP plan would hit the poor - Joe says they were prepared for Cabinet and are immune from FOI requests. The Oz calls on Hockey and Abbott to stop fighting about “fairness”, because they can’t win, but don’t worry, they’ll fight for “unfairness” as much as you like. The Libs happy to tax sex workers - but Kevin Andrews won’t count their work as real work if they suddenly become unemployed and need to access welfare Because nudity. BREAKING late in the day Andrews backs down. Work-for-the-dole to help businesses exploit unemployed with unpaid work experience (ie taxpayers paying for the profits of big companies) Department of Employment official, Job Services Australia general manager, admits to Senate Estimates that the department hasn’t done basic modelling on the result of WftD Income management bizarrely championed by “classical liberals” like Twiggy Forrest, Tony Abbott (who said Forrest’s proposal was “bold, ambitious and brave”) and the Oz, even though it’s about the nanniest of nanny state proposals. Why? Because it’s okay to nanny people you think of as children. And because it’s about giving the poor some “stick”, and they’re always in favour of that. Jeremy has a rant about our dismantling of a system that, after generations and most countries thinking solv
