One of the key aspects of this spill has been the involvement, or otherwise, of high-profile media personalities advocating against Malcolm Turnbull.

On Thursday, Nine journalist Chris Uhlmann pointed a finger at News Corp and Sky News, accusing media figures of going beyond reporting to picking up the phone and lobbying.

Among the big names at Sky and News Corp, there was happiness that Turnbull had gone. However, it has not gone entirely to plan as their rightwing pick, Peter Dutton, lost out to Scott Morrison – a politician now seen as centrist on the ever shifting spectrum of the Liberal party.

They weren’t letting him off the hook.

After initially saying on Thursday that Dutton would be PM, no doubt about it, chief barracker Andrew Bolt was more circumspect.

Speaking to Sky News, Bolt said he wanted policy change and had some kind of epiphany: “If it’s just a change of salesman, all this has been for nothing.”

Amid his many blog posts for Friday, Bolt said he was “sceptical” about Morrison, and would wait to see what he did about immigration and “our pointless global warming policies”.

It was clear who he blamed.

“Dutton did all the work, took the heat, only for Morrison to take the prize, thanks to Malcolm Turnbull’s delays and smears.

“Didn’t I warn you on day one that Turnbull was a narcissist whose one interest was to turn this right-wing party into a mirror of his left-wing self?”

Peta Credlin said it was an “unedifying week”, when the former prime minister would not call a party room and allow “due process”.

She said concerns were about policies, not personalities.

“It’s not about a conservative/moderate divide,” she said. “If they can’t make some serious policy change, they can’t get the base back.”

Credlin also gave a warning: “anyone threatened with demotion can threaten [Morrison] back” with resigning and sparking a byelection, she reckoned.

Paul Murray, whose own show wasn’t on till late on Thursday night, called for deep breaths after Morrison took the mantle, and made a couple of Freudian slips.

The 2GB shock jock Ray Hadley, who famously dumped Morrison from a radio guest spot after Morrison dared to speak to ABC’s Jon Faine, told Fairfax Media the “old Scott” had to return, to bring “the conservative electorate” back into the fold.

“He’ll need to show he’s completely different to Malcolm on three major issues: power supply and cost – ie ditch the Paris agreement – and he’ll need to reduce immigration almost immediately.”

On Sky, Rita Panahi praised Morrison as “the man who stopped the boats”.

Read more:

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/aug/24/conservative-medi...

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CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT

In breaking news out of the nation’s capital, a rich white dude from Sydney has replaced another rich white dude from Sydney as the Prime Minister.

After an incredible week in the bush capital, a rich white man named Scott Morrison has replaced Malcolm Turnbull as the Prime Minister of Australia today.

This comes after Scott Morrison stormed home late to pip Peter Dutton and Julie Bishop in the leadership ballot and become the leader of the Liberal Party and the country.

It can be confirmed that Tony Abbott and Peter Dutton have fucked up the numbers and misjudged their support base in pushing for a second spill which has sensationally allowed the party leadership to be pinched from under their noses.

With many in Dutton’s camp assuming it a done deal after forcing Turnbull’s Ministers to resign and pushing for a leadership challenge, the conservative right-wingers have been left crushed by the decision today.

And, in even more sensational news, a rich white woman has been replaced by a rich white man for the Deputy Prime Ministership, with Josh Frydenberg taking over from Julie Bishop.

Read more:

https://www.betootaadvocate.com/breaking-news/rich-white-dude-from-sydne...

If you can't be expected to know the name of your country's prime minister, your leaders are probably coming and going with alarming frequency.

Take Australia for example - where Malcolm Turnbull has become the fourth PM in a decade to be ousted by colleagues.

The political carnage has been so extreme that in 2015 some emergency workers reportedly stopped asking patients who was prime minister, saying it was no longer a good indicator of their mental state.

There is even a dedicated Twitter account that documents who is in charge on a half-hourly basis.

read more:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-45295667

In this BBC analysis of the crazy Australia politics, the coup capital of the Western World, there are four criteria for why this happens — most invalid reasons, such as the terms of parliament and the compulsory voting. The other two reasons are very borderline, such as 24/7 media coverage though the mediocrity of one candidate could pass the muster (How it all went wrong for Tony Abbott).

But the FIFTH and most important factor has been left out: MR RUPERT MURDOCH. His media makes hail or shine for politicians. 

Murdoch ALWAYS wanted Abbott. So he rubbished Rudd who kicked out our devious warrior, Howard, then, trying to rattle Labor, got Julia to take over by exposing that Rudd was a swearing trooper, then rubbished Julia beyond the pale, while glorifying and making news deals with Rudd till Rudd took over again, when Murdoch drop him like a smelly socks and got Abbott, the unelectable rubbish, to get the PMship... This was a master stroke. But Abbott really sucked at the job, so Malcolm who himself had been deposed as the leader of the Liberal (CONservative) party by Abbott under influences of Mr Murdoch, took over from Abbott in a well-received coup by the people — but TOTALLY HATED by Murdoch. So Murdoch (through his media lackeys) worked his butt off to sabotage Malcolm Turnbull (who had to cater for a vicious right-wing), till recently when a first spill was set up, won by Turnbull, then a second one was called a day later because there was enough signatures for Turnbull to be turfed out. All this to replace Turnbull, first with Dutton — who would not have lasted long on the saddle despite his fancy of himself — thus to be replaced with ... ABBOTT... But things did not go according to plan as Turnbull decided "to go" and left it as a contest between Dutton and Morrison (the Bishop woman did not count eventually). And Turnbull's man, Morrison, got the gig, and the Abbott little game, supported by Murdoch, fizzled. So be prepared for more bad blood, as the script did not go as intended by Mr Murdoch. 

IF YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND THE GAME HERE, please GO BACK TO YOUR PUB.

So Why would Murdoch support a second rate dismal soufflé PM like ABBOTT. Good question. It is in the same vein as to WHY MR MURDOCH HELPED TRUMP BE ELECTED (please don't mention the Russians... they had nothing to do with it)?

Mr Murdoch likes ULTRA-CONSERVATISM. He hates LIBERALS (the US progressive kind) and loves the LIBERALS (the Australian CONservative kind). He HATES any sciences that has some whiff of "global warming". He HATES THE STUFF. He hates anything with the words SOCIAL JUSTICE or WELFARE. Beyond this, Rupert is a charming old kook, like Gus...

After a year of pressure from News Corp the Australian Press Council has removed Carla McGrath from the council because she is the deputy chair of activist group GetUp.

McGrath, the first Torres Strait Islander woman to be appointed to the media watchdog, declined to resign despite The Australian refusing to work with her and publishing a dozen articles in one month attacking her appointment.

The editor-in-chief of the Australian Paul Whittaker said GetUp was “effectively another wing of the Labor party and the Greens” and could not be objective.

But the council removed McGrath as a public member on Friday after a review found her membership was incompatible with her job.

Read more:

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2018/aug/31/getups-carla-mcgrath-ouste...

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The press Council says: In light of the litany of current threats to free speech, press freedom and to journalists themselves, it is now, more than ever, the time for media outlets to work energetically and cooperatively together with the Australian Press Council to safeguard these pillars of our democracy.

The former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull was warned in a phone call from the media mogul Kerry Stokes that Rupert Murdoch and his media company News Corp were intent on removing him from power, Guardian Australia understands.

According to sources close to Turnbull, the former prime minister says Stokes relayed in a conversation in mid-August that he had been in contact with Murdoch and had discussed a News Corp push for a leadership change.

The Australian Financial Review and the ABC have also reported that Murdoch had told Stokes, chairman of the Seven Network, that Turnbull needed to be replaced as prime minister.

Stokes is said to have replied that the likely result of such a campaign would be to deliver government to Labor and Bill Shorten.

Murdoch, according to both reports, brushed aside Stokes’s concerns, saying Labor would only be in office for three years.

Read more:

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/sep/19/turnbull-warned-r...

It's time for the US media and politicians to note that there was no Russian influence in the removal of Malcolm Turnbull... But there was plenty of merde-och machinations to interfere in the due process of government. Malcolm had to be very clever to get as far as he went (especially on the LGBTi issue), despite buying himself some time, by forking out a lot of cash from his own pocket to support the "liberal" (CONservative) party — now completely broke. He should have known better on this score.

See:

https://iview.abc.net.au/show/shaun-micallefs-mad-as-hell/series/9

Former PM Malcolm Turnbull spoke to Rupert Murdoch two days before the leadership spill, urging the media mogul to stop a campaign against him.

• by David Crowe