from Crikey …..

Officials admit: we can't justify data retention

from Crikey …..

Officials admit: we can't justify data retention

Tony Abbott's leadership has been rocked by a political earthquake and is under imminent threat, with backbench MPs variously calling for the Prime Minister to resign, for a party room ballot next week and expressing doubt he can revive his political fortunes.

In 458 BC, with Rome facing imminent defeat by the combined forces of the Aequi and the Sabines, the Senate declared Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus dictator of the city for six months. The retired statesman, an aristocrat of reduced means, drove off Rome’s enemies. Fifteen days after being appointed, he resigned his dictatorship and returned to his humble family farm.

from politicoz ….

In his new book titled "Dangerous Allies," Malcolm Fraser, the former prime minister of Australia worries that the Canberra's dependence on the United States will eventually bring the nation into a direct conflict with China. His words echo those of Georgetown University professor Amitai Etzioni in an article he wrote for the Diplomat on Jan. 20.

If there is ever a day that I don’t feel Australian, it would be on Australia Day.

My mother is a fifth-generation Australian of English and Irish heritage and my father is Munanjahli and an Australian-born South Sea Islander.

Statement by a former Labour Leader on the death of a brutal dictator… breathtaking …

When people say they have no politics, it means that their politics aligns with the status quo. None of us are unbiased, none removed from the question of power.

You might think life here in America is expensive. But it turns out that when compared to the rest of the world, the U.S. doesn't even make the list of the 20 most expensive countries to live in.