Abbott And Abetz Announce Workers Paradise

 australia  6 Responses »
May 102013
 

In a joint press conference yesterday, Tony Abbott and Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations, Eric Abetz outlined their long awaited plan to turn Australia into a workers paradise. But is it as worker friendly as they would have you believe? Sally McManus of the ASU has done an analysis of the proposed changes, and is less than happy with them. You can read her analysis here: What Tony Abbott Proposes To Take Away One of the most salient points is: Weaken the Award safety-net (loosen the “better off overall test” so agreements can go below even the Award minimum). Wages apparently, cannot go low enough for the Tories. Cheap labour is their holy grail. Cheap-labor conservatives don’t like social spending or our “safety net”. Why.

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Cory Bernardi Wrecks Abbott’s Good Vibrations Tour

 australia  2 Responses »
Jan 282013
 

Things must be getting very desperate at LNP headquarters. Every attempt to try and nullify the negative image most Australians have of Tony Abbott have ended in failure. Margie and the kids didn’t work. The Peta Credlin gambit didn’t work. In what must be the final attempt to remove Abbott’s negative image, this weekend he kicked off his “Good Vibrations Tour” to try and woo the punters. No sooner had he kicked off his tour though, revelations about South Australian Senator Cory Bernardi’s associations have derailed it, and look like turning it into The Tour De Farce. Now, as much as I hate John Howard and everything he stood for, even I have to give him a gold star for what he did to control

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Abbott Attempts To Rewrite History Again

 australia  4 Responses »
Jan 272013
 

On a day that many Indigenous Australians regard as Invasion Day, Tony Abbott gave them another kick in the teeth by airbrushing their history out of the picture. At a Citizenship ceremony in Adelaide Abbott had the following to say: It is a proud people that you are joining. We had inauspicious beginnings. The first lot of Australians were chosen by the finest judges in England, not always for good reasons, and from that rather inauspicious beginning we have become a rich, a free and a fair society which has contributed so much to the wider world in good times and in not so good times. Say, what?!?!?!?! The “first Australians” were sent here by English judges?!?!?! The “first Australians” actually arrived here of their

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Peta Credlin And The Streisand Effect

 australia  18 Responses »
Jan 062013
 

The Streisand Effect has been discussed a couple of times on this blog.  It refers to the effect that trying to cover something up or suppressing it, has the opposite effect of drawing attention to it. The last time it was covered was when Margie Abbott was given blanket coverage in News Limited‘s fish-wrappers to try and convince women voters that her husband, the lying, hypocritical, cowardly Tony Abbott isn’t a misogynistic relic from the distant past (See Margie Abbott And The Streisand Effect). The women (and men) of Australia were not fooled by the shallow attempt to raise his appeal amongst women voters however, and so all that pathetic effort did was draw attention to his obvious shortcomings. Albert Einstein said that (words to

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Confirmation That Libspill Is On

 australia  4 Responses »
Nov 192012
 

Over the last few months there has been growing speculation that embattled Leader of the Opposition, Tony Abbott is going to get rolled. This has now all but been confirmed. The embattled Abbott’s popularity has been tanking for a long time now causing him to try ever more desperate stunts to try and revive his flagging fortunes. His carbon tax scare campaign has utterly failed. His constant attacks on the Prime Minister have made him appear to the voters as a misogynistic, sexist bully. He’s even dragged his wife and kids out to spruik for him, which again, has been an utter failure. The only thing keeping him in his job has been the sycophantic musings of his fans in the Fourth Estate. However, the

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Abbott Tries To Rewrite History On Twitter

 australia  7 Responses »
Nov 182012
 

Tony Abbott has been caught out trying to rewrite history on Twitter. On Friday November 16 he tweeted this: Tony AbbottVerified ‏@TonyAbbottMHR Pleased to see research on the positive impacts of Gardasil being on the PBS; a decision I made as health minister This tweet pretty much sums up the incident: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/life-saving-vaccine-is-blitzing-cervical-cancer-virus/story-e6frf7kx-1226517718064 This is a blatant lie. The truth is he had to be overruled by his boss (then Prime Minister John Howard) to include Gardasil on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) (source: Howard overrules Abbott on cancer drug). Prior to that Abbott had bizarrely claimed that using Gardasil may actually result in an increase in cancer rates. Corinne Grant was all over this:    Corinne Grant ‏@corinne_grant @TonyAbbottMHR I’m sure Howard’s going to love that

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One Trick Tony Dispatched To The Knackery

 australia  No Responses »
Nov 032012
 

TONY ABBOTT: I am giving you the most definite commitment any politician can give that this tax will go. This is a pledge in blood: this tax will go. We can get rid of it, we will get rid of it, we must get rid of it. October 12, 2011 (source: Abbott promises to repeal carbon tax) Since the first day it was announced Abbott has described the “carbon tax” (actually a price on carbon emissions), a “toxic tax” that will increase the cost of living for everyone. He also disingenuously described it as a “great big tax on everything”, which would put in the same league as the “never, ever” G.S.T. I’d imagine. So, four months after its implementation, let’s have a look at

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Context Shmontext

 media  1 Response »
Oct 242012
 

chris murphy @chrismurphys  Can’t sell us news ‘cos we’ve got it. Can’t sell us views we don’t want ‘em.The dead end job of journalists in an online world. #auspol Following the video of Prime Minister Julia Gillard ripping a new one in Tony Abbott, there has been much discussion about the relevance of the Fourth Estate (4E hereafter). On last week’s Gruen Planet show, they hit the nail on the head. They said (words to the effect), that since everyone now has access to more information than you can poke a stick at, no-one needs the 4E to tell them what we’ve all just seen or heard. The above tweet from Chris Murphy sums up this idea perfectly. In a world where newspapers, TV and

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