"I for one welcome our insect overlords" - The Politics Thread

[true believer]

Kevin Rudd walks into a club ... I wish.

liberals prone to violence and abuse ,who would have guessed ?

 

[midfielder]

Only three weeks to go thank god ... not much to report this week ... The Phoney gotta love his gay and female speak, TBH I don't think its done him any harm as that's what we all think the Phoney thinks so he is what he is.... The Dud HHHHHHmmmmm looking a little tied me thinks ...

Who do I give the week to ..... AAARRRGGGggg HHHHmmmm ... Draw .... still no inspiring vision thing .... Am quite proud of myself have managed to miss most of the fossil AM talk backs... most of the ABC ... don't read past the headlines of News or Fairfax .... don't watch the news much.... kinda have this listen to the first few words and OMG FFS and switch the channel...

My stand out for the week .... none ...

 

[style_cafe]

The Ashby-gate may soon claim it`s first substantial scalp with strong allegations of
Christopher Pyne`s alledged affair with Ashby about to surface.
Pyne claimed he`d never met Ashby but later recalled meeting him in Slipper`s office one time.
He also forgot that he had Ashby`s mobile number. Further digging has revealed an alleged affair between the two.
More to come...

 

[style_cafe]

Only three weeks to go thank god ... not much to report this week ... The Phoney gotta love his gay and female speak, TBH I don't think its done him any harm as that's what we all think the Phoney thinks so he is what he is.... The Dud HHHHHHmmmmm looking a little tied me thinks ...

Who do I give the week to ..... AAARRRGGGggg HHHHmmmm ... Draw .... still no inspiring vision thing .... Am quite proud of myself have managed to miss most of the fossil AM talk backs... most of the ABC ... don't read past the headlines of News or Fairfax .... don't watch the news much.... kinda have this listen to the first few words and OMG FFS and switch the channel...

My stand out for the week .... none ...

Why would you even read the headlines of a Murdoch paper.?

 

[dibo]

The Ashby-gate may soon claim it`s first substantial scalp with strong allegations of
Christopher Pyne`s alledged affair with Ashby about to surface.
Pyne claimed he`d never met Ashby but later recalled meeting him in Slipper`s office one time.
He also forgot that he had Ashby`s mobile number. Further digging has revealed an alleged affair between the two.
More to come...

The problem here is that if true and it breaks, Pyne won't get panned because of his lying as much as because of the community's homophobia.

 

[midfielder]

The Ashby-gate may soon claim it`s first substantial scalp with strong allegations of
Christopher Pyne`s alledged affair with Ashby about to surface.
Pyne claimed he`d never met Ashby but later recalled meeting him in Slipper`s office one time.
He also forgot that he had Ashby`s mobile number. Further digging has revealed an alleged affair between the two.
More to come...

Have to call you scoop-cafe .... be interesting if true to see if it would get a run this close to an election, generally our media tend to leave private lives alone ... on one hand you have a person lying to arguably hide their sexual preference.. and second do people care much about it any more...

Its not like Pyne was attacking gays .... then it becomes a megga story kinda like if it was Fred Nile ....

If on the other hand Slipper & Pyne where jointly into routing the system this is another aspect ... but if this was an attempt by Pyne to stay in the closet HHHHMMMMmmm would be AAARRRrrrr time will tell .... could go either way in the media ...

 

[dibo]

Have to call you scoop-cafe .... be interesting if true to see if it would get a run this close to an election, generally our media tend to leave private lives alone ... on one hand you have a person lying to arguably hide their sexual preference.. and second do people care much about it any more...

Its not like Pyne was attacking gays .... then it becomes a megga story kinda like if it was Fred Nile ....

If on the other hand Slipper & Pyne where jointly into routing the system this is another aspect ... but if this was an attempt by Pyne to stay in the closet HHHHMMMMmmm would be AAARRRrrrr time will tell .... could go either way in the media ...

Middy, you're missing the main game.

Pyne wasn't attacking gays, he was attacking Peter Slipper. Slipper was attacked for supposedly sexually harassing a staff member (James Ashby) and rorting travel allowances. The Coalition wanted Slipper gone, because then they'd take power. They were willing to use any means necessary.

Pyne teed up meetings with James Ashby to conspire to get the suit off the ground, and Ashby's fellow Slipper staffer Karen Doane and the former Howard Government minister and LNP candidate for Slipper's seat Mal Brough was in it up to his neck.

They brought Steve Lewis in to help build a story for The Australian (quelle surprise, Uncle Rupert's broadsheet conspiring with the Libs and campaigning against the Government); they got Joe Hockey to tee up a meeting with Clive Palmer to bankroll a suit with representation from the law firm Harmers.

In spite of there being clear policies on how sexual harassment should be dealt with, Ashby did not follow these policies - he didn't report anything to the Department, and in spite of having apparently suffered great hurt and torment, Ashby didn't leave Slipper's employment; instead he stayed on to surreptitiously copy extracts of Slipper's diary for Steve Lewis to write up in the paper to build the travel rorts case.

It's not just me saying this, Justice Rares said as much in his 80 page judgment on the matter last year, including this gem of a quote:

…the evidence established that there was a combination involving Mr Ashby, Ms Doane and Mr Brough…. Mr Ashby acted in combination with Ms Doane and Mr Brough when commencing the proceedings in order to advance the interests of the LNP and Mr Brough. Mr Ashby and Ms Doane set out to use the proceedings as part of their means to enhance or promote their prospects of advancement or preferment by the LNP, including by using Mr Brough to assist them in doing so. And the evidence also established that the proceedings were an abuse of the process of the Court for the reasons I have given.

He also wrote this:

[Para] 37. I do not accept Mr Ashby’s commentary that he had feelings of distress and harassment concerning Mr Slipper’s actions. Ms Hubbard’s message quoted in [34] above suggests that at 4 February 2012 Mr Ashby was contemplating that Mr McArdle would use the text messages. The passages I have emphasised from the exchanges of text messages show that Mr Ashby’s discussion with Mr McArdle concerning his text message exchanges with Mr Slipper, particularly those of 1 and 2 February 2012, was to do with empowering Mr McArdle or someone else with the ability to use those messages against Mr Slipper…

38. What is singular about all of the text message exchanges that Mr Ashby had with his friends and others in the period prior to the commencement of these proceedings is the lack of any complaint by him of feeling sexually harassed. And his friends’ texts had no words of comfort for Mr Ashby as a victim of some traumatic experience of that kind. The exchanges between Martin, Mr Nagle, Ms Hubbard and Mr Ashby on 3 and 4 February 2012 do not read like those concerning a man claiming to feel sexually harassed or emotionally distressed by such conduct. Rather they read as if the participants were discussing the political ramifications of Mr Ashby revealing material that was sexually and politically embarrassing and that would compromise Mr Slipper and his position as Speaker if it appeared in the public domain… I am satisfied that if Mr Ashby were the victim of sexual harassment he would not have speculated with his friend in this way about whether he would be rewarded by revealing it.

and

48. In early to mid March 2012 Mr Ashby proposed that he accompany Mr Slipper on a visit to Hungary, at Mr Ashby’s own expense. On 16 March 2012, Mr Slipper emailed Mr Ashby saying that it was not possible for Mr Ashby to accompany him on the trip….

49. It is not credible that when Mr Ashby asked Mr Slipper if he could accompany him to Hungary at his own expense that Mr Ashby had any real concern about sexual harassment or “questionable conduct in relation to travel” on Mr Slipper’s part. Such a trip had every potential to expose Mr Ashby to one or both categories of the alleged misconduct he subsequently complained of. If Mr Ashby were seriously concerned about either of these matters at that time, it defies belief that he would have volunteered to pay his own way to accompany Mr Slipper rather than stay in Australia away from the supposed source of his harassment and concerns. This episode demonstrates the likelihood that Mr Ashby’s case involves an adventitious use by him of incautious text messages by Mr Slipper for the predominate purpose alleged by Mr Slipper.

Ashby was going out of his way to destroy Slipper from inside Slipper's own office, and if he was having an affair with Pyne at the time, Pyne can't have been ignorant of Ashby's actions. Given that Pyne's former cabinet colleague Mal Brough was in it up to his neck, it seems more likely that Pyne knew exactly what was going on.

 

[midfielder]

D

You maybe right OK you are probably right ... However it still gets caught up in private sex lives and most of the time our media leave that stuff alone... difficult in the extreme to bring in the knowledge and what was going on and not discuss the sexual side of things... so if true it becomes a call by the media ... they could go either way ...

 

[midfielder]

Saw this today ... I have no doubt its been there for a long time... its each seat and who holds it and by how much... http://www.abc.net.au/news/federal-election-2013/guide/nameindex/

Lots of seats held by both sides by less than 3% .... anyone game to say who will win and by how many seats...

Gotta give to the Dud he is making a contest of it when you consider the polls from a say 8 weeks ago... still think he is looking a little tied...

 

[FFC Mariner]

Bookies are rarely wrong.

Coalition almost unbackable odds ($1.07 I think)

81-90 seats is at $2.10 which isnt bad value really

 

[dibo]

More fun:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/federal-...0&wa=0&sa=0&tas=0&act=0&nt=0&retiringmps=true

Set state-by-state swings, factor in retiring MPs and even pick the outcomes of the 'outlier' seats - Denison, Kennedy, Melbourne and O'Connor.

 

[dibo]

Bookies are rarely wrong.

Coalition almost unbackable odds ($1.07 I think)

81-90 seats is at $2.10 which isnt bad value really

On the broader outcome that's generally right, however on seat markets they *do* make f**k-ups (betting markets missed Bennelong in 2007 *even though* it was a much talked about marginal with loads of 'smart money'), and of course it's reflective rather than predictive data - a big change in the real world is reflected in the odds and f**ks up the predictive utility.

 

[FFC Mariner]

Lawrie at $15, in all honesty you can't see him getting in

He would most likely have to come at least 2nd on 1st preferences and hope he got the flow from other candidates.

 

[dibo]

Lawrie at $15, in all honesty you can't see him getting in

He would most likely have to come at least 2nd on 1st preferences and hope he got the flow from other candidates.

The McKinna group polled 20% at the Council election, behind the Libs on 35% and Labor on 21% but ahead of the Greens on 10% and the Doyle group on 7%.

For some fun and games, let's assume similar numbers, except Lawrie gets the bulk of the 'non-party' vote wrapped up by Doyle at the Council poll. The Greens go out first of the bigger tickets, but a big slice of their preferences will go to Labor. Labor and McKinna will wind up close together on 27%/28%, but a long way behind the Libs.

If they cross-preference, they can possibly keep the Lib out, but I wouldn't be willing to assume that that's what they'd do. Labor might preference McKinna, but I'm not sure the reverse is true. What's more, Labor's preferences are worth more (Labor voters really want to beat the Libs) where as McKinna will be drawing from both sides of the aisle and the flows will go back the same way.

If the numbers are anything like the council poll, McKinna pretty much ensures Labor can't win, but Labor *can* give McKinna the leg up.

Now, the numbers almost certainly *won't* be the same as the council poll, I'd be *very* surprised if Labor polls anything like that low. Labor will stay in longer than McKinna, but if the Lib gets a lead on primaries they'll need to get a lot more from McKinna's supporters than the Libs to stand a chance.

I reckon $15 might be worth a cheeky wager, but it's 100% a gamble; there's safer money to be made in this election.

 

[style_cafe]

Have to call you scoop-cafe .... be interesting if true to see if it would get a run this close to an election, generally our media tend to leave private lives alone ... on one hand you have a person lying to arguably hide their sexual preference.. and second do people care much about it any more...

Its not like Pyne was attacking gays .... then it becomes a megga story kinda like if it was Fred Nile ....

If on the other hand Slipper & Pyne where jointly into routing the system this is another aspect ... but if this was an attempt by Pyne to stay in the closet HHHHMMMMmmm would be AAARRRrrrr time will tell .... could go either way in the media ...

I don`t give a FF about anyones sexual preference.
The point is when Ashby-gate started Pyne denied any involvement in the conspiracy to bring down Slipper.
He later changed his story to say he only met him once in Slippers office.
This was later changed when it was revealed that Pyne had gotten Ashby`s phone number.

If they had an affair,then it proves Pyne has lied & mislead Parliament.
It also paves the way for a possible Royal Commission into the Slipper /Ashby case, because if Pyne knew about it then the likelihood of Abbott knowing also increases.

 

[style_cafe]

Middy, you're missing the main game.

Pyne wasn't attacking gays, he was attacking Peter Slipper. Slipper was attacked for supposedly sexually harassing a staff member (James Ashby) and rorting travel allowances. The Coalition wanted Slipper gone, because then they'd take power. They were willing to use any means necessary.

Pyne teed up meetings with James Ashby to conspire to get the suit off the ground, and Ashby's fellow Slipper staffer Karen Doane and the former Howard Government minister and LNP candidate for Slipper's seat Mal Brough was in it up to his neck.

They brought Steve Lewis in to help build a story for The Australian (quelle surprise, Uncle Rupert's broadsheet conspiring with the Libs and campaigning against the Government); they got Joe Hockey to tee up a meeting with Clive Palmer to bankroll a suit with representation from the law firm Harmers.

In spite of there being clear policies on how sexual harassment should be dealt with, Ashby did not follow these policies - he didn't report anything to the Department, and in spite of having apparently suffered great hurt and torment, Ashby didn't leave Slipper's employment; instead he stayed on to surreptitiously copy extracts of Slipper's diary for Steve Lewis to write up in the paper to build the travel rorts case.

It's not just me saying this, Justice Rares said as much in his 80 page judgment on the matter last year, including this gem of a quote:



He also wrote this:



and



Ashby was going out of his way to destroy Slipper from inside Slipper's own office, and if he was having an affair with Pyne at the time, Pyne can't have been ignorant of Ashby's actions. Given that Pyne's former cabinet colleague Mal Brough was in it up to his neck, it seems more likely that Pyne knew exactly what was going on.

Dibo ,that was a brilliant summary!

 

[style_cafe]

D

You maybe right OK you are probably right ... However it still gets caught up in private sex lives and most of the time our media leave that stuff alone... difficult in the extreme to bring in the knowledge and what was going on and not discuss the sexual side of things... so if true it becomes a call by the media ... they could go either way ...

Do you really think that Murdoch would let that run in "his" papers?

 

[midfielder]

Style

This News thing .... FFS newspapers are a small part of the media today... you have Fairfax, ABC, SBS, 9, 10, 7 ... various radio networks...

While News maybe 70% of the print media they are not anywhere near that size in the electronic and digital media...

I am not foolish enough to not understand what News is doing .... nor Alan Jones and 2GB as a whole .... nor Mike Carlton ... { I will even confess to working on Rupert Murdock's personal staff for about 22 months 79 / 81]

My son watched a sporting tournament over the last few weeks ... 32 teams from thousands entered across the world ... over ten million in prize money ... more than 400 million watched live over the life of the tournament with the grand final having about 30 million.. did you here about in the news or read about it in the papers ... funny about that neither did I .... live broadcast around the world with crosses to sporting bars ... it was a E game and there are E Bars ... my son kept dragging me into watch... my point is News print media while not having no influence is way over rated same as Alan Jones .... there is media everywhere if you go looking for it...

I am a swinging voter in a swing seat and the best description I have of the two parties is the choice between Food on a plane flight and hospital food ....

What concerns me the most is the way the media seem to polarise almost every issue .... and the way some folk seem almost a love child of a particular party ... the country has some real issues / problems and neither party want to talk about them ... or put them in such simplistic terms that it is insulting...

Aside from Julia I have voted for every winning PM and every person who was voted State Premier ... I still have not made up my mind ....

 

[style_cafe]

Style

This News thing .... FFS newspapers are a small part of the media today... you have Fairfax, ABC, SBS, 9, 10, 7 ... various radio networks...
While News maybe 70% of the print media they are not anywhere near that size in the electronic and digital media...

I agree that the print media is shrinking. However, it still remains the source for the majority of news stories.

I am not foolish enough to not understand what News is doing .... nor Alan Jones and 2GB as a whole .... nor Mike Carlton ... { I will even confess to working on Rupert Murdock's personal staff for about 22 months 79 / 81]

You may not be foolish enough to not understand what Murdoch is doing but there are many, many people out there that don`t enjoy your level of intelligence or access to other sources for their news.People just don`t know what Abbott is about,some just don`t care others rely on the media to give them their information.
Whilst I agree with freedom of the press I also ask the question" How much freedom do the journalists have to write what they really want to".
Murdoch journalists write within the guidelines of what Murdoch wants.Is that really freedom of the press?

My son watched a sporting tournament over the last few weeks ... 32 teams from thousands entered across the world ... over ten million in prize money ... more than 400 million watched live over the life of the tournament with the grand final having about 30 million.. did you here about in the news or read about it in the papers ... funny about that neither did I .... live broadcast around the world with crosses to sporting bars ... it was a E game and there are E Bars ... my son kept dragging me into watch... my point is News print media while not having no influence is way over rated same as Alan Jones .... there is media everywhere if you go looking for it...

I am a swinging voter in a swing seat and the best description I have of the two parties is the choice between Food on a plane flight and hospital food ....

What concerns me the most is the way the media seem to polarise almost every issue .... and the way some folk seem almost a love child of a particular party ... the country has some real issues / problems and neither party want to talk about them ... or put them in such simplistic terms that it is insulting...

So what are the 5 main issues that concern you with this election?

Aside from Julia I have voted for every winning PM and every person who was voted State Premier ... I still have not made up my mind ....

This is the concern I have with Murdoch. A lot of the less intelligent, jump on the bandwagon of who they think will win, instead of who will do the best for the Country.

 

[FFC Mariner]

Kevvy in trouble veterans while the Australian reporting that he is polling 2nd in his own seat.

(I know, its Murdoch)