In Greek mythology, the Lernaean Hydra (Greek:  Λερναία Ὕδρα (help·info)) was an ancient nameless serpent-like chthonic water beast (as its name evinces) that possessed many heads — the poets mention more heads than the vase-painters could paint, and for each head cut off it grew two more — and poisonous breath so virulent even her tracks were deadly.[1] The Hydra of Lerna was killed by Heracles as the second of his Twelve Labours. Its lair was the lake of Lerna in the Argolid, though archaeology has borne out the myth that the sacred site was older even than the Mycenaean city of Argos since Lerna was the site of the myth of the Danaids. Beneath the waters was an entrance to the Underworld, and the Hydra was its guardian.[2]

The Hydra was the offspring of Typhon and Echidna (Theogony, 313), both of whom were noisome offspring of the earth goddess Gaia.[3

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lernaean_Hydra

from Crikey's Andrew Crook .....

Glenn Milne has egg all over his face after the re-hired columnist filed an error-filled op-ed reviving discredited allegations that Prime Minister Julia Gillard had somehow been an accomplice to her one-time partner Bruce Wilson's alleged fraud.

The piece rehashed 16-year-old claims -- vociferously denied by the Prime Minister whenever they are dredged up -- suggesting Gillard had lived in a house with Wilson bought using illegal cash.

Milne had previously written about the saga in 2007. But this morning the Walkleys brawler went further, stating that "Gillard shared a home in Fitzroy bought by Wilson using the embezzled funds."

Crikey understands that this sentence, removed by News Limited lawyers four years ago, is false.

Now, the entire piece has been deleted from The Australian's website, with the newspaper forced to issue a grovelling apology acknowledging that the "assertions are untrue". Damningly, Milne had failed to ring the PM's office for comment.

The Australian's editor, Clive Mathieson, issued the following statement to Crikey this morning: "We're investigating the Prime Minister's claim of inaccuracies in the story. As the correction points out, we regret that the PM was not given any chance to respond to the allegations."

Asked whether Milne would be sacked, Mathieson said "he remains a contributor to The Australian."

But while the article has been removed, the line continues to fester on fellow News Limited columnist Andrew Bolt's blog. Interestingly, Bolt has written the following disclaimer directly after it:

"I am not sure that Gillard did share a home with Wilson. My own understanding is that she maintained her own house."

Late this morning, the Ten Network talk show host issued an "update", acknowledging The Oz had pulled the story.

While a popular topic in the right wing blogosphere, the allegations are rarely taken seriously by professional journalists.

The fresh outbreak was three days in the making. Bolt had first blogged about the saga on Saturday, publishing part of a statutory declaration by embittered ex- Australian Workers Union Victorian vice president Bob Kernohan that was quoted by Milne. "It could be the last straw for Gillard's leadership," Bolt hypothesised.

The yarn had gathered steam a day earlier when 2UE afternoons jock Michael Smith said on air that he had been contacted by "a number of listeners" who had dredged up the Kernohan claims -- first aired under privilege by Phil Gude in the Victorian parliament in 1995 and then again in 2001 by Liberal MP turned lobbyist Geoff Leigh.

Leigh told parliament that former AWU state secretary (and future jet-setting MP) Bob Smith had told Kernohan that Wilson had "spent $17,000 of women's clothing for Gillian (sic) Gillard out of union funds" while Gillard was John Brumby's chief-of-staff.

Kernohan's story goes that during her time as a partner at Slater & Gordon, Gillard set up the association Wilson used as WA state secretary to allegedly funnel cash from employers. In a new statutory declaration made last year, he says two houses -- one owned by Wilson in Fitzroy and another by the PM -- had been bought or renovated using dirty funds.

Despite the usual legal disclaimers, 2UE's Smith lapped it up to opine that "much of this comes to the heart of the judgement of the lady who runs the country."

The factional motivation for the leaks has gone mostly unnoticed.

Bob Kernohan was in office when elements of the left took control of the old Victorian AWU in 1989. He has been at war with his internal AWU enemies ever since, alleging financial fraud in 1992 and in 1995 lobbed a kamikaze bid to unseat Bill Ludwig as the union's national president.

Bruce Wilson was an ally of Ludwig and former national secretary Ian Cambridge, but was dumped  after the financial irregularities emerged. National Crime Authority and fraud squad investigations were initiated but there were never any adverse findings and Wilson never returned any money. On 2UE this afternoon, Kernohan said he was offered a seat in parliament -- presumably by forces loyal to Ludwig -- if he stayed silent.

The weak Gillard link has been doing the rounds among the PM's enemies for years. In 2006, Kim Beazley supporters revived them when they thought she was hatching a deal to knife him as opposition leader.

And in 2007, The Age's Jason Koutsoukis wrote that he had been summoned to a meeting with a figure who had presented him with a disappointing file that included a "well-worn tirade aired in the Victorian parliament last century."

It's worth quoting these lines:

"The one skeleton in Gillard's closet is the allegation - first raised under parliamentary privilege in 1995 by former Kennett minister Phil Gude - that Gillard's one-time partner Bruce Wilson, a former secretary of the Australian Workers' Union, was under investigation by the National Crime Authority and Victoria Police over the misappropriation of union funds.

"According to Gude, the union funds were used to renovate Gillard's house and buy her some personal items.

"Gillard has repeatedly dismissed the allegations as being totally untrue and those who repeat them as 'lying cowards'.

On Friday, 2UE's Smith said one of the reasons for the rehash was that Gillard had said (to Milne in 2007) that she was "young and naive". In fact, the PM has consistently shot down the suggestions with supreme force each time they get trotted out.

On Australian Story in 2006, she stated point blank that the suggestions were "absolutely untrue ... of course I was angry and anybody whose subject to those sort of allegations under the privilege of Parliament, you are going to be angry and you don't get a fair go in responding ... so once the allegations are out there they are going to be reported and that might lead some people even though you have denied them to think that there's something in them, so I was yeah you know angry but nothing you can do about it except sort of just issue the denials and move on."

There were a number of other factual howlers in Milne's article. He referred to the Health Services Union as the "Hospital Services Union", made a hash of the HSU's Victorian factional dynamic (Jeff and Kathy Jackson were hardly friendly with Craig Thomson) and got hopelessly confused over the separation between the national office and the HSU's former No. 1 Victorian branch.

On 2UE early this afternoon, the key portions of a promised pre-recorded interview with Kernohan failed to proceed on legal grounds. Hilariously, Michael Smith said that his talent had been moved to a "safe location".

Meanwhile Paul Sheehan from the SMH should join the Liberal (conservative) party and become a poltician... He should stop writing with his one-sided bile pen... At present, it seems to me that Tony Windsor is more honorable than Paul. That Paul had a 'broken" agreement with Windsor means squat. Tell us the terms of the broken agreement and they would show that Tony Windsor may have had good reason to break — it if he ever did... As far as Tony Abbott's arse not being for sale, his small brain is up for grab to the grubbiest of unknowledgeable bidders...

Sheehan is entitled to his opinions but they often lack proper analysis of the next — and of the others.

The Prime Minister made a furious early morning call to John Hartigan, the chief executive of News Ltd, which publishes The Australian and another to the editor, Chris Mitchell. She demanded an immediate retraction and apology amid threats of legal action.

Soon Milne's column disappeared from The Australian's website and was replaced by a short apology.

On Saturday The Australian published in its ''Cut and Paste'' column an item from the Herald Sun of November 11, 2007, headed ''Back to the future''. It read: ''Julia Gillard has revealed she fell in love with a former union official and fraudster who broke her heart and threatened to destroy her political career.''

Also on Saturday, the Herald Sun columnist Andrew Bolt put on his blog ''a tip on something that may force Gillard to resign''.

Ms Gillard contacted Mr Hartigan on Sunday to ask whether Bolt or another journalist was planning to revisit the story. He made inquiries at the Herald Sun and Daily Telegraph and assured her there were no such plans.

But Mr Hartigan did not check with The Australian.

Milne could not be contacted.

from Crikey .....

Bolt sulks then fires back: 'News regrets apology to PM'

Crikey senior journalist Andrew Crook writes:

ANDREW BOLT, HERALD SUN, JULIA GILLARD

News Limited columnist Andrew Bolt has returned from self-imposed exile to launch a frenzied defence of free speech -- using his regular Herald Sun column and his radio slot on low-rating Melbourne station MTR to attack the prime minister for complaining about a false and defamatory column filed by disgraced Australian columnist Glenn Milne.

In his regular Wednesday spray under the anodyne headline "Prime Minister Julia Gillard's hand overplayed", Bolt -- who went on strike yesterday to protest the deletion of two of his blog posts by News Limited management -- was in crusading form, lambasting the PM for calling News CEO John Hartigan about his company's coordinated Bruce Wilson hatchet.

"What are you so afraid of? What else would you stoop to in order to cling to power? I was considering resigning as a News Limited columnist," an incredulous Bolt stormed.

"I thought this company that I love, that I have long admired for its defence of free speech, had caved in to pressure from a Prime Minister to close down reporting of a matter of public interest."

After Milne's column wading back into tired 16-year-old claims over Gillard's former partner was yanked from The Oz's website and a grovelling apology issued on Monday morning, the incorrect line over the PM's living arrangements that drew her ire remained on Bolt's blog.

The post and a previous entry warning the scandal could topple the government was deleted later that afternoon, prompting Bolt to chuck a midnight hissy fit declaring "no politics until further notice". The next morning he went on 2GB with Ben Fordham and got all sarcastic in the style of a wounded schoolboy.

After long discussions with News management yesterday, the "associate editor" finally felt up to again hitting the keyboard. But the issues he raises over the Wilson saga still don't stack up.

According the Bolt, "the matter was Gillard's former relationship, professional and romantic, with union official Bruce Wilson who, unknown to her, was ripping off employers and members of the Australian Workers Union, of which he was state secretary" [emphasis added]. "But", Bolt wrote, "questions are raised about Gillard's judgment in having had this relationship."

The logic seems to be that the ex-Slater and Gordon partner was supposed to avoid her boyfriend because of issues she had no knowledge about.

He was at it again this morning on 2GB's Melbourne sister station MTR. In a discussion with co-host Steve Price, Bolt said that if you couldn't tell "the full truth about the political situation I think you're defrauding, you're conning listeners, viewers, readers ... and I couldn't be part of that". He went on, suggesting that Milne's column was mostly right:

"But what I find really bad about this is, one, the number of really amped up phone calls from the prime minister to demand the retraction entirely of a story that was 95% correct ... the normal procedure would be to apologise for or remove only those bits that were incorrect, not the whole lot."

What gives him comfort, Price asked? "The fact they ran my column today."

In the Hez, Bolt also launched a faux-sledge at his own employer, perhaps to restore his credibility in the eyes of his readers, some of whom thought he'd developed weak knees.

"I thank News Limited for defying the Prime Minister and letting me write as I have above. I apologise for doubting its commitment to free speech. But be aware how endangered is our freedom to speak as we find, especially of this Prime Minister."

But Bolt was hardly alone at News. This morning, his associates also hit back in loss-making national broadsheet The Australian, with CEO John Hartigan claiming he was "disappointed" at Gillard's statement yesterday that the paper had breached "all known standards of journalism".

On MTR Bolt reckoned The Australian's correction was overdone and the company regretted it.

"I've said that I thought News Limited overreacted and I see comments today from John Hartigan and the editor of The Australian to suggest they believe that too in that there seems to be a repudiation or at least a clarification in some of the things that were said in an apology to the prime minister printed by The Australian in place of where the column written by Glenn Milne used to be.

"They pulled the column and put an apology and said things they now perhaps regret."

The backstory to the fracas was very important, Bolt mused:

"People have got to understand why News Limited overreacted and it is forgivable to some extent, and that is the government has been for a long time ... claiming that News Limited is on a campaign to get rid of Julia Gillard ... this is the whole back story. And they have been looking for ways to intimidate and shut down News Limited. They know the ABC is in their pocket, they know that Fairfax is generally very supportive, but some News Limited papers are not. They wanted to shut that down."

He then suggested, with nothing much to go on, that Gillard had issued an "implied threat" to News that the government would proceed with an inquiry into media ownership mooted by the Greens.

If the scandal has any further to run, it might come via an extension of Stephen Conroy's freezing out of News when it comes to briefing journalists. But there's also a commercial angle. Laura Tingle's Australian Financial Review piece this morning suggested ministers were considering withdrawing government advertising from The Oz, with potentially devastating consequences for its already severely eroded bottom line.

As Crikey revealed last year, around $8-10 million of taxpayer cash ends up each year in the paper's coffers from Australian Government job ads, concentrated for the most part in its 300,000-selling weekend edition. Before he resigned, finance minister Lindsay Tanner often aired the strong view that the massive spend should be heavily pared back.

No matter whether we like or dislike the "Malaysian solution" for boat people, the High Court erred in its decision for one single reason: there is a precedent that invalidates the judgement: Nauru. Thus one can see that the High court was politically motivated to "embarass" the present government while the previous Nauru solution of the previous Liberal government — a solution which was more "horrendous" — was not challenged.

I am not a lawyer, but, hey, if the law was always correct, no-one would be arguing about the law...

---------------

Prime Minister Julia Gillard says yesterday's humiliating High Court decision to overturn the Malaysian solution for asylum seekers puts the entire offshore processing system in doubt.

Saying the court "has rewritten the Migration Act" and that the Government had based its swap deal on sound legal advice, Ms Gillard would not accept responsibility for the debacle.

More than 330 asylum seekers the Government wanted to transfer to Malaysia are in limbo on Christmas Island until a decision is made on where to send them for processing.

Ms Gillard said the High Court's decision was "deeply disappointing" and contradicted precedents set by other courts in challenges to the Migration Act.

"Yesterday the asylum seeker and refugee law of this country changed - changed from how it had been known and understood before with a different interpretation," she told a press conference in Brisbane.

"The High Court's decision basically turns on its head the understanding of the law in this country."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-09-01/gillard-says-ruling-puts-offshore-processing-in-doubt/2866956

The next best thing for the government to stop the illegal boats now is to organise the transport from indonesia. Cut the middle men and give a passage for 10 pound to those who want to come here. The High court is of course rabid rite-leaning with an wiff of human right in its socks...

Of course I was facetious suggesting the government should organise the transport of "queue jumpers". Actually the government can do what most developers do with the land and evnvironment court after rejection by councils: Tweak the plans a tad and reapply. Make sure the objection by the high court to a particular point is addressed by placing a side-door and relaunch.

The UNHCR person who advised the government on the deal with Indonesia seems to be happy by the high court decision — meaning that in all fairness, he was working against the government behind its back while "helping" on the deal. Nothing new here. 80 per cent of Australians want the boats to be stopped. 70 per cent of Australians want the refugees to be treated decently... The Malaysian solution addresses both concerns in the best way possible in a relative world, whether we like the "solution" or not. The High court erred and was politically motivated.

---------------------

On September 11, 2001 in the Federal Court, Justice North ordered the Commonwealth to release the passengers rescued by the Tampa and bring them to a place on the Australian mainland.

Justice North's order was granted on the basis that "the Commonwealth had detained without lawful authority the people rescued by MV Tampa". On September 17, as the HMAS Manoora (carrying the rescued passengers) arrived in Nauru, the majority of Federal Court judges concluded on appeal that the Commonwealth had acted within its executive power and the original decision was set aside.

We will never know what would have happened to John Howard's policies if the Commonwealth's appeal to the Federal Court had been unsuccessful in 2001. Howard was only lucky that he avoided a backdown from his bold claims that the people on the Tampa "would never set foot in Australia" (although some now live here). And Howard was fortunate that his open cheque book bartering succeeded in hooking the poverty stricken Nauru and Papua New Guinea when many other Pacific countries were telling his government to go away. The stars aligned for Howard, his big bold gamble paid off and he won his way back into office in the 2001 election.

In stark contrast, Julia Gillard's tough talk and high stakes gamble on the Malaysia arrangement has backfired and the Labor Party now finds itself in deep trouble.

A significant difference back in Howard's time was that the Coalition government faced a largely compliant Labor opposition, one that was willing to support the government's Federal Court appeal along with all but the most draconian of its proposed actions and legislation.

http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/2866878.html

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In fact, it appears that the High Court is like a wind-vane on this subject... and in my book, the high court actually created the problem, not the government.

from Richard Ackland

There's lots more potential controversy to come in the months ahead: the government's school chaplains program; a challenge to restrictions placed on the free speech of Lex Wotton, who was involved in the Palm Island riots; and the appeal involving James Hardie, dealing with standards of fairness in the prosecution of directors who were found to have made misleading statements.

Another case about judicial powers looms, this time as to whether the independence of federal magistrates is infringed by not having a proper pension scheme.

In 2008 Justice Robert French, then of the Federal Court, and on the cusp of his appointment as Chief Justice of the High Court, defended the role of judges. Quite apart from ''activist'' judges, he mused that there may be such a thing as an ''activist executive''. Like the judicial activist, he said it may turn out to be a ''mythical monster''.

French had already been a judge for 21 years when he went to the High Court. Throughout that time he had constantly heard ''voices'' telling him what to do.

Owen Dixon said that if anyone stayed long enough on the bench they would go mad.

Despite having voices in his head for nearly 25 years, French has not gone mad yet.

Veteran political journalist Glenn Milne has been dumped from ABC TV's The Insiders because of a column he wrote in News Ltd's The Australian.

The column, retracted in full after furious demands from Julia Gillard, made claims about the Prime Minister's one-time relationship with former unionist Bruce Wilson, the embezzlement of union funds and his eventual fraud conviction.

Milne was told he would no longer be part of future episodes of the program on Thursday evening after a meeting by the ABC's news management team.

The ABC's head of policy, Alan Sunderland told The Sun-Herald, last night that Milne had not been "sacked ... because we don't employ him and never have" but confirmed the column had been the catalyst for the decision to cancel his scheduled appearance on the show this morning.

"We have in the past occasionally used Glenn as a guest panelist on Insiders, and he was due to appear again this week," Mr Sunderland said.

"Given the issues surrounding his journalism this week, ABC management felt it was not appropriate for him to participate. His column, which led to a withdrawal and apology by his employer, was the obvious catalyst for this decision, but it was not the only factor."

Mr Sunderland said it was unlikely the ABC would "be calling on him in the future to participate in Insiders" as it was essential that participants could be relied upon not to compromise the ABC's editorial standards.

Milne's offending article disappeared  from The Australian's website mid-morning on Tuesday after Ms Gillard made a series of heated phone calls to News Ltd chief executive, John Hartigan, and editor-in-chief of The Australian Chris Mitchell. It was replaced with an apology which confirmed "The Australian acknowledges these assertions are untrue."

It added, "no attempt was made by anyone employed by, or associated with, The Australian to contact the Prime Minister in relation to this matter".

Milne - who made headlines in 2006 when he stormed the stage at the Walkley Awards and pushed host Stephen Mayne off the stage, screaming he was "a disgrace" - has been told by other media outlets, including Channel Ten's Meet the Press he remains welcome as a contributor.

Attempts to contact Milne late last night were unsuccessful.

ABC dumps Glenn Milne from Insiders over Gillard column

As one watches Andrew Bolt and his Liberal (conservatives) back bench baiting the Labor Party to change leadership, one despair at the ridiculousness of the proposition. The Labor party would be completely bonkers to consider replacing Julia with say Bill Shorten, a fine person though... First, all the agreements with the independents would become null and void, basically handing over the running of this country to the mad man, Tony Abbott (of course the darling of Andrew Bolt)...

Even Andrew Robb, that ritewingnut ningnong with a loopy black dog, suggested on "Meet the Press" that the Labor leadership change was on... This deserves the epithet just above, especially when lying about the financial black hole of the liberal (conservative) direct action on climate change....Andrew Robb lied... End of story.

I repeat, the Labor Party would have rocks in its pants to change leaders... Julia, despite "setbacks" is actually making big strides which, of course, sends the ritewingnutters mad: The Carbon Tax, the Mining Tax, and other issues such as the Pokies laws will come in good time... Now, the asylum seekers will have to be processed ONSHORE — not even in Nauru... Tony, in his madness, would have actually guessed that Julia was "burning" his Nauru solution. And as far as that person of the human rights (possibly a Julia hater too) saying that there is a simple solution to stop the boats and be kind to refugees at the same time, why does not he tell all what he's got in mind... short of organising the transport himself.