It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

The Libs with another ‘public debate’, you know the one where one of them gets the tap on the shoulder and jumps up to say what the country should be doing or offer up some pig ignorant far right extremist view where the rest of them can say ‘that’s not our policy’…until it becomes their policy.

Funny how they’ve never been able to offer any evidence to prove this job creation myth they keep spruiking.

Liberal senator Zed Seselja breaks ranks to back cutting Sunday penalty rates
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-23/zed-seselja-backs-cutting-sunday-penalty-rates/7049516

…A Government senator has broken ranks to push for Sunday penalty rates to be cut for hundreds of thousands of workers in the hospitality, retail and entertainment sectors.

Employment Minister Michaelia Cash immediately distanced the Government from the finding, saying penalty rates were a matter for the Fair Work Commission…

…Current or departed politicians usually concede in their honest moments, that the public usually get it right. The public certainly gets it right on the ABC. The most recent view of the public was captured by Newspoll, which showed 84% of the Australian public believes the ABC represents good or very good value for money. A level of support that must make an old politician (let alone a Channel 9 director and a News Limited columnist) weep…

A MASSIVE pay rise of 15.6 per cent has been approved for Logan City councillors next year.

Wow! Do they work week-ends?

Why does it take a public media campaign to get immigration to show some humanity to a dying man and his family?

…#by my semi-educated-guess`timates, if the teabag slave-choices is successful, about 70% of those being arse-fcuked will be woman
#but note, the feminista `should` be kicking-heads `and` kicking goals on this one, but as the teabag slave-minister(cash) is female, those talking-head feminista will avoid the issue in case the female slave-minister gets the boot, not defend the hundreds/1000`s of under-class women…

I don’t think it has much to do with protecting the female minister T-Bagz. I reckon not much criticism is allowed in the media, the journos are having a turnbull love-in. I’m sure there will be a union led campaign about it and I’m equally sure the people who will notice will be the families who will have to support the retail and hospitality workers from their own pockets. Everyone will have to tighten their belts and not spend, the women will pass up, or give up work because they can’t afford child care anymore. Hardly the way to run an economy. You can’t cut your way to prosperity, the real lifters are going to be the students and the low paid casuals while the employers pocket extra cash, money for jam. I hope the gloss wears off once people realise their personal debt is sky-rocketing, they are working longer for less and their kids, wives and daughters are getting royally screwed by this govt. Perhaps the over worked and over stressed [at home and work] women might just make a stand, fire up and get angry at ‘the system’ for once, using them as fodder for an economy that keeps grinding them down while everyone else leans.

You’re right walrus, the mining companies (for example) continually look for ways to reduce their exposure to expensive and unreliable labour…

That’s an easy fix, leave the stuff in the ground, no exposure, you make the world a better place, re-train the workforce in digital technology and you have an added bonus of no labour costs 🙂

…DECEMBER
And then December appeared, with the painful realisation that the achievements of Ford, Payne, feminism and, indeed, all women standing up to sexism, drew predictable criticism from male commentators for not being the right sort of feminists…

Why John Howard’s IR overreach haunts Malcolm Turnbull
http://www.afr.com/news/why-john-howards-ir-overreach-haunts-malcolm-turnbull-20151220-gls7xn#ixzz3v973lAUj

…One irony of the Coalition’s approach is that employers are now having to rely on Fair Work Commission president Iain Ross, a former senior ACTU official, as their sole potential avenue for reducing labour costs before the election.

…But so gun-shy is the Coalition that Cash is not prepared to have the government make a submission to the Ross review. It also won’t formally submit the Productivity Commission’s findings to Ross, although that will no doubt be done by another party to the proceedings…

Former ACTU boss Martin Ferguson backs cuts to ‘excessive’ penalties:
http://www.afr.com/news/politics/former-actu-boss-martin-ferguson-backs-cuts-to-excessive-penalties-20151220-gls8du#ixzz3v98snuB8

…ACTU secretary Dave Oliver said Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull should make a submission to the Fair Work review, rejecting the recommendations to cut penalty rates.

“The commission’s recommendations are out of step with Australian values, out of touch with the modern lives of working people, and would compromise future economic and productivity growth,” Mr Oliver said…

Nurses are in such short supply that many hospitals come up with all sorts of rostering patterns to attract and retain them.

Sounds lovely, wish I could have that, it’s not my reality.

Nurses work punishing rosters to suit the business model, they can do three different shifts in three days. We all know of the impacts upon health that shiftwork has and I can tell you that it is budget driven rostering and the only choice nurses get is to resign or transfer to somewhere like outpatients or day surgery where there is no shiftwork involved. There is always ‘family flexible rostering’ advertised but in practice it doesn’t happen, there is bullying, peer and employer pressure imposed on anyone who would insist on a personally tailored roster. I know of nurses who finish night duty at 7am and that is considered their day off and get rostered on an early shift the next day. I do not know of the wonderful rostering that you are talking about tomM. Most nurses end up going part-time because the stress, workloads and rostering are just too taxing to do for 40 hrs/wk without causing health and family problems.

Many only work nights and weekends because of the penalties. Reduce them and nurses just won’t be available. Therefore the penalties won’t be reduced for occupations like nursing.

They prefer to work ND and w/ends because the partner is home and they don’t have to pay for child care.
If penalties are reduced, nurses won’t want to work nights and w/ends, why put yourself and family through the pain of continuous shiftwork, looking after others instead of your own when there is no financial incentive? The base pay is not huge [compared to male dominated occupations] it is only the penalties that make it worthwhile.

There are rules to roster preferences and one of them is around insisting on the same shifts every week, it is not allowed. You only get a few special or ‘red requests’ per roster [say 5/month, less for part timers] and wherever I’ve worked you can’t request the days/shifts you want to work, only the ones you must have off. Nurses can’t choose to work every single w/end, others would soon complain that they don’t get them, it is shared, work two and have two off or a part combination. Some would like every w/end off to be with family, but they won’t get it. The budget will always comes first.

Australia is officially closed for xmas 😉

These people and most others have public holidays built into their salaries and awards, it is important to them NOT to be working public holidays and week-ends. So why expect the people who can’t have the days off to work for ordinary rates.

The backbencher for ‘keeping everything the same’ and holding back the tide of social progress always alert and sniffing the breeze for any kind of progressive thought or deed [unless it comes from neoliberal zealots]. Yes, I can see a very similar story about colonial australia and abbott defends that history absolutely.

Is moral vanity as bad as arrogant, self vanity?

Oxford University risks ‘damaging its standing’ if it pulls down Cecil Rhodes statue, warns Tony Abbott
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/oxford-university-risks-damaging-its-standing-if-is-pulls-down-cecil-rhodes-statue-warns-tony-abbott-a6784536.html

…Former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott warns that Oxford University would “damage its standing as a great university” if it bowed to pressure to pull down a public statue commemorating African colonialist Cecil Rhodes.

…In response, Brian Kwoba, a 33-year-old doctoral student at Oxford and one of the campaign’s organisers, said: “Cecil Rhodes is responsible for all manner of stealing land, massacring tens of thousands of black Africans, imposing a regime of unspeakable labour exploitation in the diamond mines and devising pro-apartheid policies…

Prime Minister for Indigenous Affairs? Hardly
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-09-12/graham-prime-minister-for-indigenous-affairs/4951900

A couple of interesting reads

The man who exposed the lie of the war on drugs:
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/dec/26/man-who-exposed-lie-war-on-drugs-roberto-saviano-ed-vulliamy

…Roberto Saviano already lives under armed guard after writing about the Neapolitan mafia. Now he is determined to uncover capitalism’s complicity with the narco-lords of South America…

…“If you’re selling diamonds, you have to get them authenticated, licensed – cocaine, no. Whatever you have, whatever the quality, you can sell it immediately. You are in perfect synthesis with the everyday life and ethos of the global markets – and the ignorance of politicians in the west to understand this is staggering. The European world, the American world, don’t understand these forces, they don’t have the will to understand narco-traffic.”…

When did it become acceptable to remove rights and freedoms from of all of us to protect from the threatened actions of a few? Unbelievable apathy and acquiescence to authority from australians.

The growing assault on our democratic rights
http://www.theage.com.au/comment/the-growing-assault-on-the-democratic-rights-of-australians-20151223-gltv70

…This is especially a problem in Australia. We are unique among Western nations in lacking a national bill of rights or human rights act. In our system, rights usually exist only as long as they have not been taken away. This is not an issue if politicians exercise self-restraint, but if that disappears even the most important rights become vulnerable…

It’s only been sat on for a month, the media MIA again.

So unions are full of thugs. Who on earth would have thought that!!??

http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/dec/30/trade-union-royal-commission-recommends-new-body-curb-corruption

..The report said workers were left worse off by the deal, which was in exchange for the company making a large donation to the union…

A bit like the tax avoiding company that paid no tax into our economy because it made ‘no profit’, yet managed to donate a large sum to the liberal party. It’s not only workers who are worse off in that case, it’s all taxpayers.

…Commission recommends a new body to stamp out corruption…

Was there ever any doubt?

…A majority of fair-minded observers?…

I like the history lesson re ‘majority’ MR

hehe

…This year, Plain English Foundation added a new category to its annual list: the worst sentence of the year. A close runner-up was Dyson Heydon, explaining why he won’t step down as a Royal Commissioner in the best tradition of the double negative:

Glad he cleared that up….

The year of furious laughter, good times! Personally, I think knighting sir prince phil, poor indonesians collecting $ for canberra, putin’s warships off australia after the ‘shirtfront’ fiasco and border farce’s melbourne big day out should be in there 🙂

The 40 most Onion-like Australian politics headlines of 2015:
https://www.themonthly.com.au/blog/evan-williams/2015/08/2015/1449549083/40-most-onion-australian-politics-headlines-2015

…So please savour this list of utterly ridiculous Australian politics headlines. Palm your face extra hard while reading, for old times sake. It might be a while before you mistake the Age for the Onion.

Tony Abbott buys a fridge on Gumtree…

[Evan Williams’ book Australian Leader Eats Raw Onion Whole: Headlines from the government that broke satire is out via Black Inc]

…and what’s wrong with blackmail and illegal boycotts. It’s totally partisan when people expect unions to comply with the law!

As far as I’m concerned, there should not be any illegal boycotts, if capital can strike anytime they like, then so should workers, anything else is state enforced slavery.

Seems that they think they’ll get their IR-penalty rates in on the back of the TURC/heydon RC. Double dissolution will be interesting.

We will fight for the worker’ – Michaelia Cash threatens double dissolution: –
http://nofibs.com.au/we-will-fight-for-the-worker-michaelia-cash-threatens-double-dissolution-qldaah-ausvotes-qldpol-auspol/#sthash.WSdTAwZU.dpuf

…Federal Minister for Employment, Senator Michaelia Cash, has told the Sunrise program that the Turnbull Government has a trigger for a double dissolution election. A double dissolution would result in the full upper house being dissolved along with the lower house for an election.
Cash told presenter, Andrew O’Keefe, that if the government could not get it’s Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) legislation through the Senate, a general vote would be called on the issue.
“The Prime Minister and I announced yesterday that when the Parliament resumes in February we will seek to immediately reintroduce the legislation to re-establish the Australian Building and Construction Commission,” she said….

I haven’t consented to any social contract and I’m not happy with the government’s interpretation of it either.

The Social Contract:
…But the idea of the social contract – that political authority is held through a contract with those to be ruled – began before Rousseau with the work of John Locke, Hugo Grotius and even Plato. We explore how an idea that burgeoned among the 17th century upheavals of the English civil war and then withered in the face of modern capitalist society still influences our attitude to government today…

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/player/b008w3xm

Contemporary Approaches to the Social Contract
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/contractarianism-contemporary/

I’m remembering your contributions about julian simon in previous debates about the environment tosy.

From my link above re the social contract.

…We explore how an idea that burgeoned among the 17th century upheavals of the English civil war and then withered in the face of modern capitalist society still influences our attitude to government today.

It is capitalism that has destroyed all before it, the social contract, which came from the enlightenment and now democracy itself, it devours, ravages and plunders with an insatiable, destructive appetite. We can see it right now as our government legislates for the non-taxpaying wealthy few and screams about non-sustainable provision of services to the many who must pay more taxes which ultimately benefits the wealthy.

The social contract is ‘noblesse oblige’ but that has become noblesse oblige themselves.

Breaking the Social Contract:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/10/8/1024241/-

…As each day passes it becomes clear that any sense of noblesse oblige that may have once existed in the upper echelons of society has devolved into a cynical PR operation designed to sway public opinion toward the belief that someone, anyone still cares about those 99% of Americans who don’t belong to the club. And to instill fear of changing the status quo. Still, as resources dwindle and personal debt accumulates while the middle class strives to maintain a lifestyle before it diminishes to mere economic survival; it becomes harder to distract the unwashed masses from the underlying truths….

…

Perhaps the taxpayer should stop funding alcohol for MP’s? There seems to be a lot of alcohol stocks, partying and damage through alcohol abuse. Shouldn’t they do it on their own money?

Samantha Maiden: Jamie Briggs booted for being fool
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/opinion/samantha-maiden-jamie-briggs-booted-for-being-fool/story-fni0cwl5-1227695533401

from peter martin’s article above:
http://www.smh.com.au/comment/this-easter-give-thanks-for-penalty-rates-they-keep-us-human-20150402-1mdsmg.html#ixzz3w99WkPI1

…Reluctant though we might be to admit it, there’s a class element to complaints about penalty rates. The people who complain about them are those least likely to be forced to work at night or at weekends. The people who serve those people at night and on weekends are often lower paid (without the penalty rates) and less educated…

What About Me? – Holding Kathy Jackson’s Cheerleaders & Accomplices To Account
http://wixxyleaks.com/what-about-me-holding-kathy-jacksons-cheerleaders-accomplices-to-account/

…David Feeney, a current member of Shorten’s opposition cabinet, has spent years organising donations for the Jacksonville election fund, to finance the woman who has for years been trying to take his leader down. Some may think this sounds like high treason, but for Feeney it’s just another day at the office.

How this guy remains in the Labor Party is beyond the comprehension of us mere mortals…

…The profits of aged care homes surged 40 per cent in the past year as operators cut hours of nursing care while claiming higher payments from the federal government for servicing more of the most frail patients…

As soon as the frail elderly are unwell or require more hours of care they bump them over to the public hospital system.

Paul ramsey was the 3rd largest individual liberal party donor in 2013/2014, he gave $600,000, his busines is private hospitals. They get a lot of $ from taxpayers at the expense of public hospitals.
http://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au/news/hospital-workers-morale-chaos/1757041/

http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/millions-in-party-political-donations-unaccounted-for-20130413-2hsjp.html

Capitalism and Conservatism – what a mixed up, muddled up world!

Anti-Gay Bakers Finally Pay Their Fine. Conservatives Throw Them A Pity Party.
http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2015/12/30/3735330/oregon-anti-gay-bakers-fine/

…Aaron and Melissa Klein, owners of Sweet Cakes by Melissa, have finally paid the fine they owe for violating Oregon state law by refusing to sell a wedding cake to a same-sex couple. After refusing to pay for over six months — and refusing to even obtain a bond or irrevocable letter of credit — the Kleins turned over a check for $136,927.07, which includes interest on the $135,000 they owe…

Indiana Lawmaker Introduces ‘Pay To Pee’ Bill For Transgender People
http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2015/12/30/3735386/indiana-criminalize-transgender-bathroom/

This School Cafeteria Worker Gave A Hungry Student A Free Lunch. She Was Fired.
http://thinkprogress.org/education/2015/12/23/3734779/lunch-lady-fired-after-giving-free-lunch/

Yeah, me too. Shorten is probably your typical private school bully.

They all are.

The churches work with the establishment to oppress the people, that’s how ‘the system’ works. No surprise that governments protected the churches for decades over sexual abuse of children. The RC was another good thing to come out of the Gillard govt. Pretty sure that Abbott has well surpassed Gillard in the embarrassment stakes.

You’ve always had an unreasonable hatred for gillard tomM [whilst ignoring all kinds of idiocy and cringing re abbott]. Abbott was no better in speech or accent, at least gillard could speak in full sentences while abbott alone made himself a laughing stock at home and abroad.

They looked pretty cosy and natural to me.

Tony Abbott’s 10 biggest gaffes, clangers and cringeworthy moments

http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/tony-abbotts-10-biggest-gaffes-clangers-and-cringeworthy-moments-20150310-140qnp.html#ixzz3wEzdvqGR
Follow us: @smh on Twitter | sydneymorningherald on Facebook
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/tony-abbotts-10-biggest-gaffes-clangers-and-cringeworthy-moments-20150310-140qnp.html

No, not staged at all, dunno about you but this makes me cringe.

Unless it’s Gillard falling flat on her face in India, I mean she didn’t even bother to try to break her fall by putting her arms out.

So you’re calling accidents like the one above and her losing a shoe when the plods decided aborigines were going to kill her and abbott and bumrushed them out of the place, as ‘staged events’ now? [abbott was the one they were after]

READER POLL
What do you find more confronting?

Tony Abbott’s budgie smugglers – 92%

The burqa – 7%

[This poll ended on 06 October 2014]

Yep. This is what statespersons do during a meeting.

yes, they sometimes do

They also get as many of the royal family as they possibly can to visit australia on the taxpayer’s dollar.

and completely inappropriate actions like these:

And of course you use your power in office to help your family members, nothing like privilege and nepotism..

again:

http://www.news.com.au/national/readers-divided-over-tony-abbotts-daughter-frances-legal-stoush-relating-to-a-rental-property/story-fncynjr2-1226955234697

PRIME MINISTER Tony Abbott’s daughter Frances’ tenancy battle has divided Victorians, with some arguing the landlord is at fault while others say the former design student shouldn’t have signed the lease.
“If security is an issue because she is the PM’s daughter then she should have had the AFP inspect the property and its surroundings before she signed the lease. It’s fine for her to “feel like being independent” and do her own thing, but she also has to accept responsibility for her actions — not play the “I’m the PM’s daughter” card when she stuffs up,” Herald Sun reader Steve said.

and again:

Tony abbott’s daughter also gets secret teacher’s aid job at Whitehouse Institute.

Frances Abbott Chosen ‘On Merit’ To Help Lobby Fed Govt Regulators:
https://newmatilda.com/2014/05/24/frances-abbott-chosen-merit-help-lobby-fed-govt-regulators/

https://newmatilda.com/2014/05/22/whitehouse-staff-register-reveals-no-role-frances-abbott/

Growing community anger over the awarding of a secret scholarship worth $60,000 to Frances Abbott is unlikely to abate amid fresh revelations that the daughter of the Prime Minister appears to have been employed by the college in a job with no defined role.

After the Briggs and Dutton and other senior Liberals comments over Briggs’ termination and Turnbull \’s weak, lilly livered comments … does that demonstrate that the LIBERAL Party is full of MYSOGINISTS?

It’s interesting to note that the current ‘boys behaving badly’ are the religious conservatives, the abbott aligned MP’s. Dutton went to a very big boys club, the Queensland Police Academy [he epitomises the cop mentality doesn’t he] he represents their behaviour and attitudes well. Also totally fkn incompetent.

https://twitter.com/georgiedent

News elsewhere, we don’t want to be too inward looking do we? 😉

A Challenge To American Media: Call the Malheur Refuge Gunmen What They Really Are – Terrorists
https://newmatilda.com/2016/01/03/a-challenge-to-american-media-call-the-malheur-refuge-gunmen-what-they-really-are-terrorists/

…Make no mistake – the siege at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge is a terrorist attack. It just happens to have been perpetrated by white American patriots… so media aren’t calling it that. Yet.

…What this dispute is actually about is environmentalism – the patriots believe in their God given right (via the US Constitution) to treat the environment any way they see fit, and to not have to adhere to government regulations which are designed to protect not just the environment, but everyone’s interests…

These are the british conservatives who are in parliament and preach to everyone else about behaviour, morals and respect.

So call me picky about Gillard…

But not picky about:

I was drunk at work – Howard

or abbott and his photo ops

or any male politician really.

You’ve been more than picky about gillard, when it came to her you were quite misogynist, you’ve made derogatory comments about her earrings, hair, boyfriend, figure, clothes, style, speech etc before we even go into her political efforts.

You were even challenging the word misogynistic when the behaviour was called out.

Never in our blog have you disparaged a male politician the same way and not once did you defend her over the very nasty cartoons, menus and misogynistic political attacks that multiplied throughout her time in office.

Should malcolm just sack the lot of them?

Briggs was wrong to share picture: PM
http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2016/01/05/briggs-was-wrong-share-picture-pm

…Liberal MP Sharman Stone spoke out about the actions of her male colleagues.

“It is just an example of how we’ve still got a way to go, in all parties … to ensure there is the greatest of respect paid in parliament as an example to the broader community.”…