Summary: STOP THE GROUP What a funny old fellow is Tony Tony is a HUGE fan of that sporting thing Australians are staying up late for, telling the captain of the Socceroos “Ange, Mike and the Socceroos, in this World Cup you have the opportunity to make the world game our national game,” Abbott said. “Throughout this cup we’ll burn the midnight oil as you take the field in our name”. Which would have gone down better if the captain’s name wasn’t Mile. Tony declares himself a “conservationist” and says “Frankly, we should rest lightly on the planet and I’m determined to ensure that we do our duty by the future here”. The future generations who would have been irrationally terrified of coral reefs, for example. News Ltd papers trumpet “Tony Wins Unlikely Fan” as Kim Beazley says nice things about him! The very Kim Beazley Abbott has just reappointed to the plum job as Australia’s ambassador to the US! What an unlikely supporter! A man dependent on Abbott’s patronage for his job! Tony visits Texas, goes into loving detail about his hopes for coal, is given a Stetson, cries out “yee-ha” (AUDIO ON LINK - followed by awkward HA HA HA) Wait We Still Have An Environment? Talking of coal, Greg Hunt has to eat crow when he announces $500m for solar roofs without the PM’s permission. In what way is his position in any way salvageable now? Head of Tony’s renewable energy review tells wind farmers they were foolish to “build a whole business model on government largesse”, raising fears he will recommend a severe winding back of the renewable energy target. The March To War Tony affirms support for US in whatever it’s going to do in Iraq Julie Bishop suggests we won’t have boots on the ground, but we’ll participate in intelligence gathering. Ben Eltham argues that the case for war is as weak today as it was in 2003 BUT WHY CAN’T WE TRY ALL THE DICTATORS BEFORE WE GIVE UP Do we lefties saying SEE THIS IS WHAT WE SAID WOULD HAPPEN hold “a hollow morality towards Iraq”? An Equitable Country Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey reveals rising income inequality, also that living standards are falling for middle-class Australians, and that between 2001 and 2011, the percentage of Australians 18-64 receiving welfare has dropped from 23% to 18.5%. Which is weird, cos Hockey told us welfare spending was out of control because of lazy bludgers everywhere. Oxfam releases figures indicating that the richest 1% in Australia now own as much wealth as the poorest 60%. Somehow we don’t think they pay even 60% of the tax. Point made how once you pass a tipping point, without the public reining them in, the rich can pretty much twist politics even further in their favour. Maybe it’s time to reclaim the word “tax” as something other than an evil? LAW LAW LAW High Court strikes down National Chaplaincy Program - but who will save the children from not being indoctrinated on the public purse now? Aboriginal Legal Service to lose federal funding from July, despite pre-election promise not to cut frontline services in Indigenous affairs. Queensland - Beautiful One Day, Sliding Back Into Nepotism And Corruption The Next. Bleijie appoints judge who’s very publicly supportive of him to highest role in the state, tells MPs what to say to media about what a great bloke he is: Survivors of 2010 Christmas Island asylum seeker disaster sue Federal Government for its failure to have properly resourced rescue services on the island. (Or, if you want to lie about it, Senator Cory Bernardi describes it as “the government is being sued for saving people from drowning”. To be fair, that’s the same Cory who told his email subscribers this week that “In the US, the country’s Pledge of Allegiance is banned”.) It’s BACK - from last week TonyR
