Tainted Vote Scorecard Updated

 australia  No Responses »
May 222012
 

After the original tainted vote scorecard was published by The Derp on May 21, additional scores will need to be added. Following Craig Thomson’s historic speech in the House Of Representatives, Leader of the house, Anthony Albanese uncovered another member of Parliament with a cloud over them. The Member for Hughes, Craig Kelly neglected to update the register of MP’s interests after the August 2010 election. Kelly was a director of several companies associated with Sydney furniture importer DV Kelly, a company founded by his parents. ASIC records confirm that Kelly did not officially resign from these positions until March 2011. This brings the Two Party Tainted Score to: ALP – 1 LNP – 8 It has also been brought to The Derp’s attention that

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Which Side Has The Most Tainted Votes?

 australia  1 Response »
May 202012
 

Tony Abbott has made much ado lately about tainted votes in Parliament. Let’s examine just how many tainted votes each side actually has. By The Derp’s reckoning there are a total of 8 tainted votes between the House Of Representatives and The Senate. First cab off the rank (pun intended) is of course The Speaker of The House Of Representatives, Peter Slipper. Mr Slipper is accused of rorting the Cabcharge system and of sexually harassing a staff member, James Ashby (see Slippergate Smells A Lot Like Utegate and Slippergate Update May 5 2012). Mr Slipper is an Independent, so the score so far is: ALP – 0 IND – 1 LNP – 0 Second tainted vote is that of Craig Thomson. Mr Thomson is accused

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Slippergate Update – May 5 2012

 australia  2 Responses »
May 052012
 

In yesterday’s article on the Slippergate affair, The Derp signed off with the comment “Watch this space”. Well we didn’t have to wait long for new developments. The Fairfax Press has revealed that the man at the centre of the scandal, James Ashby was actively promoting Mr Slipper’s rival on YouTube whilst he was employed as a media advisor to the Speaker. (These are the videos on Ashby’s YouTube Channel – hat tip to Frank Calabrese at A Frank View) The beneficiary of these video promotion, Peta Simpson, confirmed she was fully aware that Ashby was doing promotional work for her up until February 2012. This is three months after Ashby resigned from the LNP and commenced work in the Speaker’s office. Asked if her

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Slippergate Smells A Lot Like Utegate

 australia  2 Responses »
May 042012
 

With each passing day the Slippergate affair is starting to smell more and more like Utegate. First there is the obvious Steve Lewis connection. Lewis, a journalist for the low-brow Murdoch fish wrapper, The Daily Telegraph, was the one that “broke” both stories. Utegate was subsequently found to be a beat up and cost Malcolm Turnbull the leadership of the Liberal Party. Someone has posted a video on YouTube looking at some of the salient points of Slippergate which point to the LNP being behind this story as well: On Monday April 30, Vexnews published an article suggesting that the plaintiff, James Ashby, had been paid $50,000 arranged by a “senior LNP figure”. Speaker Peter Slipper’s sex harassment accuser James Ashby could be in sorts

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The Murdoch Virus Part 1 – The Virus

 media  No Responses »
Apr 282012
 

In this seven part series of articles we will examine the detrimental effect Rupert Murdoch’s style of journalism (The Murdoch Virus) has had on the once noble profession of journalism, as well as society and democracy not only in Australia, but also in Britain and The United States. The second part (“Hillsborough”) will look at one of the most shameful episodes in the Murdoch Empires catalogue of sins. “Outfoxed” is the title for part 3, and will focus on Fox News and its effects on US politics and journalism. Part 4 “Hackgate” will look at the ongoing scandal enveloping Newscorp in the UK, and part 5 looks at the biggest threat to the Murdoch Empire in “Murdoch And The Internet”. Part 6 (“The Right To

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