Australian governance has deteriorated markedly since the election of the Rudd-Gillard government in November 2007. Chronic leadership instability, a preoccupation with spin, loss of the policy agenda to trade unions and the Greens, incompetence, a ''survive at any cost'' mentality and a blatantly pro-ALP bureaucracy draping itself in the sacred cloak of Westminster have produced some of the most appalling public policy and administration since Federation.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/abbott-pm-and-gg-howard-will-restore-the-golden-days-20120816-24bk1.html#ixzz23lAOfE94

 

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ISN'T THIS MAN IN PRISON YET? Or is he out already? Remember Godwin Grech? He's the public servants who was leaking HOT information to the then leader of the Opoosition Malcolm Turnbull — who lost his job for this caper... And the information was so hot it was actually WRONG... Put the lid on that rubbish little idiotic man, who is now glorifying the new CONservative leader, Tony Detritus, beyond belief!!! And the SMH let him have his day in the sun???... Drop dead, Fairfax!... Godwin Grech is telling bigger porkies than Tonicchio! Amazing... and you let him do it?

Insiders presenter Barrie Cassidy says the media has failed to hold Opposition Leader Tony Abbott to account for his prevarications on asylum seekers and the carbon tax.

When Jon Faine interviewed Tony Abbott on ABC's 774 on Tuesday, something unusual happened.

The Opposition Leader's careless use of words was actually challenged.

Abbott, discussing the asylum seekers issue, asserted:

Frankly, we've had 22,000 illegal arrivals, almost 400 illegal boats ...

Faine responded:

They're not illegal. Tony Abbott, do I need to remind you that the use of words in this is critical? They are not illegal arrivals. There is nothing illegal about seeking asylum when you are a refugee.

Abbott:

Well, I'm making my point Jon ...

Faine:

Well, so am I making mine! And I think it's been made to you before.

Tony Abbott did not further dispute the point. Like an errant school kid, he seemed to accept the admonishment. Yet within 24 hours, he was again referring to asylum seekers as illegals. Nobody in the media pulled him up. He knew they wouldn't. They rarely do.

For the record, he is wrong in domestic and in international law.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-08-17/cassidy-a-rare-challenge-for-abbott/4203120?WT.svl=news3

It is quite glaring to see that, of the merde-och press, 

"The Australian" 

had the only article of some importance on Tony Windsor blasting Abbott... 

"INDEPENDENT Tony Windsor has lashed out at Tony Abbott, accusing the Opposition Leader of being willing to do anything but "sell his arse" as he begged to be prime minister during power negotiations in 2010, declaring that Mr Abbott would have introduced an emissions trading scheme or a carbon tax if it secured government.

 

Mr Windsor's broadside came after Mr Abbott moved to suspend standing orders on the second anniversary of Julia Gillard's pre-poll statement that there would be "no carbon tax under a government that I lead" to force the Prime Minister to explain why she had proceeded with carbon pricing.

But Mr Windsor said: "The decision to put a price on carbon was a condition of the formation of government." The Prime Minister had not won the election, which had produced a hung parliament.

"The Leader of the Opposition knows that very well, because on a number of occasions he actually begged for the job," Mr Windsor said. "And he made the point, not only to me but to others in that negotiating period, that he would do anything to get that job.

"You would well remember -- and your colleagues should be aware -- that the only codicil that you put on that was: 'I will do anything, Tony, to get this job: the only thing I wouldn't do is sell my arse.' "

etc at the Australian, that paper than nobody reads during the week...

But the Telegraph, that merde-och rag seem to be more interested in Jeremy Clarkson tirade at the twittering masses against him when he told the world of twitter his cat had died... I haven't been able to find anything about Tony Windsor rightful vitriolic description of Abbott in that paper... NO! The only other thing I find, apart from the usual sexy titbits of stars on diet, there is the usual thrashing of Julia Gillard's government — that of course has only managed to get many-things done and improved, by sheer good luck (while being sooooooooo incompetent according to the Abbott loving journos of the merde-och Teleshit)... No shame...

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has dismissed a report in The Australian newspaper which raises claims about why she quit her job with law firm Slater and Gordon.

The report says Ms Gillard resigned as a partner with Slater and Gordon as a direct result of an internal probe into work she had done for a former boyfriend.

The newspaper's editor at large, Paul Kelly, raised the story with Ms Gillard on Sky News, but did not put any allegations to her.

The Prime Minister responded by describing the story as "malicious nonsense" and challenged Mr Kelly to come up with an allegation of any wrongdoing on her part.

"I'm not going to get myself into a circumstance where I spend my time dealing with a circumstance 17 years ago when the people who are asking the questions about them are unable to even articulate what it is they say I did wrong," she said.

"This is just nonsense and a distraction from the important work that I have to do as Prime Minister."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-08-19/gillard-slams-malicious-australian-report/4208360?WT.svl=news1

 

QUEENSLAND has retained its dubious title of being the worst-performing state in terms of mortgage delinquencies.
A major new study by Fitch Ratings, the credit ratings agency, found Queensland remained the worst-performing state as it recovers from last year's floods, while sea-change areas and first-home buyer belts in New South Wales are also at worryingly high levels.
On the other hand, Victorian home owners are the best payers in the nation with the rate of missed mortgage payments the lowest in the country.
The worst-performing suburbs in Australia, judged by the value of mortgage-holders behind in their repayments, are Nelson Bay (NSW), Hoxton Park (NSW), Surfers Paradise (Qld), Eagle Vale (NSW), Budgewoi (NSW), Arncliffe (NSW), Rooty Hill (NSW), Cessnock (NSW) and Helensvale (Qld).

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/realestate/queensland-tops-mortgage-default-list/story-fncq3era-1226455505490#ixzz24G0xz0a3
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So far and if one reads-on this highly thin article in the Terrorgraph, of the Murdoch stable, one could start to panic... The sky is falling upon Australia's economic performance and of course the Labor government is at fault, etc etc...
But at NO POINT in this article, the "proportion of default" is given... though unemployment is blamed for this (blame the government), though we have no clue as to the proportion of people paying a mortgage without stress versus the amount of default and what is done about it by the banks (poor banks being defaulted upon... A bad marks against the Labor government) ... Thus the article here can be seen as, and written like, an anti-Labor piece...

There has ALWAYS been mortgage defaulters... and people behind in their repayments may not mean "default"... 
And don't worry about the banks, they have ways to get their dues...

Similarly, one always hears about new "small businesses" going up the wall because of government policies... CRAP.  Most new small businesses are doomed to fail no matter what government is doing or who is is power... But the Murdoch press brings this old chestnut to try and harm Labor as much as possible, blaming Labor for business failures... And the small business lobby sings the same song... Too much taxes, too much red tape, etc... CRAP... often new businesses need more luck than government help, or a truck load of business sense, more that new business starters do not have often... They sell products or services that PEOPLE DON'T WANT TO BUY... full stop. End of story... It ain't going to work, no matter what... 
If one is actually fair in this environment, the Labor government has bent over backwards to help small businesses with some very substantial tax breaks on purchases and depreciation — all equivalent to nearly a real ten per cent reduction of taxes paid... New tax breaks have been even brought forward... But then their mates, the Libs (conservatives and business "friendly" especially when it comes to paying employees peanuts) always blame the governments (of course Labor governments) without mentioning the grossly inflated "rents" business have to pay to Liberal (conservative) oriented sharks disguised as owners of premises... In the mind of Liberals (conservatives) It's a bit as if government was supposed to give money to businesses for businesses to make huge profit with no return to the government.... as long as workers earn charitably little and pay all the taxes...
Meanwhile of course the Labor government will be blamed by the Libs (conservatives) for BHP-Billiton decision to defer the Olympic Dam "expansion" while BHP-Billiton knows it's due to world markets being a bit soft (BHP-B coud have dug too much for too long) and nothing to do with mining tax or otherwise...

 

A very disappointing paper today. From just a quick read, here are 35 errors" And he lists them, numbered: Page 1, column 1, the anthem story - bad punctuation; Page 1, column 2, the Mackie story - mixed tenses; Page 1, the students story - apostrophe in wrong place." And so it goes - mis-spellings, sloppy blocklines, badly subbed intros, a "nonsense" crosshead, style mistakes with abbreviations of military ranks, dropped lines, out-of-date pictures all the way to No 35.

This is the same Rupert Murdoch, then obsessed with points of style, accuracy and the detailed polish of journalistic craft, who has spent much of the past year wrestling with the reputational and corporate damage done by phone hacking and the serial misconduct of his highest lieutenants.

Is there a better allegory for journalistic decline?

You could have made arguments once around the freedom and respectability of the press, but what protections did the media trade when it lost its sense of a greater, nobler self in the gritty opportunistic struggles of commercial reality? When it traded the diligent anonymity of the reporter for opinionated personality?

The debate on media regulation is out of joint. Journalism still trades on the privileges and protections of the fourth estate, even when it plays fast and loose with the responsibilities that go with them.

The journalism that Rupert Murdoch so keenly critiqued in 1965 is gone. The journalism of 2012 has made its bargains with sensation, celebrity, advocacy and entertainment.

It shouldn't be so surprised when ultimately the whip comes down. Some day soon it will find a note on its keyboard.

 

Jonathan Green is a former editor of The Drum and presenter of Sunday Extra on Radio National. 

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-08-23/green-an-allegory-of-journalistic-decline/4215850?WT.svl=theDrum

 

CONSERVATIVE political strategist Grahame Morris has apologised to ABC 7.30 host Leigh Sales after calling her a "cow" on live radio.

Morris, a former chief of John Howard, was on 702 ABC Sydney this morning discussing Sales' combative interview with opposition leader Tony Abbott last week when he said: "Leigh can be quite a cow."
 
His comments were instantly slammed on social media, including by ABC PM host Mark Colvin, who said on Twitter: "For asking the same questions Tony Jones or I would have asked Tony Abbott, [Leigh Sales] just got called "a cow" by Grahame Morris on @abc702."
 
Sales responded: "I’d rather be a cow than a dinosaur."
 
Following an on-air apology from Morris, Sales again took to Twitter, writing: "Graeme [sic] Morris has apologized on 702 and I accept that apology and look forward to doing my job again tonight."

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/media/morris-apologises-to-sales-for-cow-comment/story-e6frg996-1226459954114

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Of course Leigh Sales was one of the rare journalists who dared challenge Tony Abbott... His mates did not like it a bit... Tony is god! Tony is the pope of Australian politics... Tony is an idiot.... See toon at top.