Time for a new open thread post, though I don’t have a whole lot to hang one off. There’s always US pollster Morning Consult’s tracking poll on approval of Anthony Albanese, which continues to record no significant change since June, with Albanese currently on 60% approval and 27% disapproval. This gives him the third best result of 22 international leaders being followed by the pollster, behind India’s Nahendra Modi and Mexico’s Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
There are also two new sets of supplemental results from last week’s Resolve Strategic poll in the Age/Herald:
• A series of questions on outcomes from the Jobs Summit published on Saturday had favourable results for multi-employer bargaining, more TAFE places and allowing older Australians to earn more before losing the aged pension, but only 34% in favour of the increased migration intake, with 33% opposed. Only 24% rated themselves “definitely aware” of the recent Jobs Summit, compared with 38% for “vaguely aware” and 38% for unaware. Thirty-six per cent agreed it had achieved its (non-political) objectives compared with 19% who disagreed and 46% who were either undecided or neutral.
• The Age/Herald had a further result yesterday showing a 64-36 break in favour of a constitutionally enshrined Indigenous voice, evidently based on a forced response. Clear majorities were recorded in all states, and while there is no reason to be dubious about this, the Tasmanian sample especially would obviously have been exceedingly small.
Good morning Cronus 🙂
As to your point on the previous thread. I agree that Putin’s best days in this war are probably behind him because the Ukrainians are just going to keep on pressing to take back their country, and the West will keep on supporting them, until they do. Not simply because they think Zelenskyy is a nice guy, which he is, despite the Russian propaganda which tries to paint him as a cocaine-addicted, corrupt nazi (lol), but because they see the larger picture which involves the ‘No Limits Partnership’ between Russia and China and what that would mean for the world.
It will be interesting to see how Meloni and Italy factor into the equation. I think she might already be getting some phone calls, of congratulations, but with a sting in the tail letting her know in no uncertain terms the limits of her power within and outside the EU.
Repost from previous thread
Cronus says:
Tuesday, September 27, 2022 at 4:34 am
imacca says:
Monday, September 26, 2022 at 7:01 pm
This worth a read for those following the Ukraine thing. I think IWS is a fairly conservative site and while their maps tend to be a day or so behind some other sites i think they are based on more properly confirmed info…most of the time.
https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-september-25
Have a look at the map around Lyman. Looks to me like both main ground lines of supply are under serious threat. I am going to do a bit more searching but i think RU 1st Guards Army that got out of Izium is currently in Lyman?? If the Ukrainians cut off / cause RU pull out / encircle?? Lyman….. then that’s a major defeat.
———————————————————————————————
I found the comment below from the assessment to be unusually strong for a usually conservative journal.
“This mobilization will not affect the course of the conflict in 2022 and may not have a very dramatic impact on Russia’s ability to sustain its current level of effort into 2023. The problems undermining Putin’s effort to mobilize his people to fight, finally, are so deep and fundamental that he cannot likely fix them in the coming months—and possibly for years. Putin is likely coming up against the hard limits of Russia’s ability to fight a large-scale war.”
I share this view in light of the information we’ve seen thus far. I believe Russia can hold ground to some extent but any further genuinely successful strategic gains are likely to be few and far between. In the medium to long term however, this is unsustainable logistically and runs a high risk of significant losses in manpower and weapons to well informed Ukrainian intelligence (credit to USA). Furthermore, growing risk to Russian control of Kherson through an inability to resupply existing troops or to rotate troops is problematic for Putin as it’s loss would be an unambiguous defeat with clear impacts on morale.
Hi C@T
“ It will be interesting to see how Meloni and Italy factor into the equation. I think she might already be getting some phone calls, of congratulations, but with a sting in the tail letting her know in no uncertain terms the limits of her power within and outside the EU.”
Golly, you’re up early!
Agreed re Putin & Zelensky. This ugly show will go on for a long time yet but there appears to be a real potential turning of the tide that might only be changed in some way if the unthinkable (nukes) become involved.
Reports here show Meloni getting a lot of support from the the likes of Orban and Le Pen and the like but there appears to be little real celebration among Italians. We spoke to two women in retail (here in Firenze which voted Left) today who said they were ‘scared’ of the outcome.
Hey Cronus,
Up early because my #2 Son starts work at 6am and wakes at 4am! Thankfully only a couple of shifts a week like that. I get up, make sure he’s up, have a cup of tea and a chat with him before he heads off. 🙂
As far as Italy is concerned, I noticed that toad Silvio Berlusconi was part of the equation again. I can’t see it ending well with his over-sized ego thinking that he is the puppet master of Meloni and I’m sure she wouldn’t agree. He looked like he has been preserved in formalin! Ugh! It’s interesting to note that the Far Right seem to have hit on the formula (Marine Le Pen, Ivanka Trump), that attractive blonde women are their key to success and there’s certainly enough women with Blonde Ambition to take the political jewels offered to them and be the avatar for the darker elements of the movement. Not to mention that they send out that unmistakeable Aryan signal of the ultimate in White ethnic purity to Far Right supporters.
As for the thoughts of the ladies of Firenze, I heard a professor of Italian politics in the UK say that the Left would have won the election if only they would have agreed to form a governing coalition as the Right have done.
Oh well, Italian politics being what it is there’ll probably be a new election soon enough. 🙂
Great. Not. Now we have an unfolding environmental catastrophe thanks to Putin’s derangement:
Visegrád 24
@visegrad24
·
32m
BREAKING:
The Danish authorities confirm that gas has started leaking into the Baltic Sea near the island of Bornholm from the Russo-German Nord Stream 2 pipeline.
And speaking of Putin losing it, this is ominous and I don’t know why it has occurred:
Visegrád 24
@visegrad24
·
3h
BREAKING:
The Russian intelligence agency FSB has detained the Japanese Consul in Vladivostok.
Poor Liz… the respite lasted 5 seconds…
Some mortgage lenders – including Halifax, the UK’s biggest home loan provider – temporarily withdrew their products as financial markets predicted the Bank would need to raise interest rates from 2.25% to 6% to restore confidence.
Nomura, the Japanese bank, forecast that the pound would end the year below parity against the dollar while Paul Donovan, the chief economist at UBS global wealth management, said investors were inclined to see the Conservative party as a “doomsday cult”.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/sep/26/pound-comes-under-new-pressure-after-bank-england-fails-announce-rate-hike
Interesting.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/peter-dutton-abandons-high-court-bid-in-failed-defamation-case-20220926-p5bl6b.html
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/leaked-email-reveals-greens-staffer-scared-and-in-shock-after-lidia-thorpe-s-truly-awful-outburst-20220905-p5bfdn.html
Speaking seriously about Lidia Thorpe, she really needs to go back into Black History, both here and in America, and see how the Civil Rights movement and the campaign for Indigenous recognition here, achieved monumental gains for their cause by strategic subtle force. Not screaming like a banshee at people you don’t agree with until they wilt and give in to you.
https://www.pollbludger.net/2022/09/27/polls-indigenous-voice-leadership-approval-skills-shortages-open-thread/#comment-3984708
Make the rest seem more reasonable, after a beserker
How to not win friends and influence people
I guess there’s always the send armed people around to get a referendum through, like in Ukraine, approach
Morning all. Cronus I have read other similar assessments of the lack of impact of the Russian mobilisation.
One of the best was by retired US general Mark Herling on Twitter. He was their former NATO commander. He pointed out that Putin wound back both Russian army length of conscription in 2008 (to 12 months) and the mobilisation structure itself in Russia.
All the well trained reservists have already been summoned back to service in four previous rounds of call up.
So these people being mobilised now are not trained and not fit. They will be joining units with no capacity to train them either. Herling thinks they will be cannon fodder.
It is also very politicised. Putin’s huge number of police and security will be exempted, as are most white Russians around Moscow and St Petersberg. This will be bad for morale.
There was a Molotov cocktail attack on a Russian Recruitment Centre yesterday.
C@tmomma @ #10 Tuesday, September 27th, 2022 – 6:32 am
And alienating your allies is never a good move. It inevitably comes back to bit you later on.
What’s that saying about the people you trash on your way up are the folks who’ll be waiting for you when you crash back down?
Cat
Its all going so well with mobilisation in Russia.
People love it – just the occasional shooting at a recruiting centre:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/sep/26/russia-man-shoots-commander-drafting-residents-for-war-in-ukraine
Meanwhile the far right groups encouraged by Putin are making Russian safe and stable. 17 dead at this school shooting.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/sep/26/izhevsk-school-shooting-russia-gunman
‘fess,
Exactly. There’s going to be a lot of them probably. I think, if I were in the Victorian Greens, I would be looking around for another Indigenous community leader to challenge her pre-selection next time.
Soc,
Seems like the Nazis are actually in Russia not Ukraine. 😐
it seems rusias strongist backers areChina and indea which makes there participation in th quad not very good indea may support them more then c hina with the foriegn ministers rediculis equilavents claiming ucranes defence of there country is unhelpful as if they should let just let there country be invaded indea is not nutral there backing putin this rubish about negociating when rusia started this is triyingis just propergander
Good morning Dawn Patrollers
Australian Federal Police have launched Operation Hurricane, a global hunt to identify the hackers behind the massive Optus cyberattack, as the Albanese government flagged introducing large fines for future breaches and overhauling the nation’s data retention laws. Matthew Knott and Nick Bonyhady tell us how Claire O’Neill has been less than impressed.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/huge-wake-up-call-optus-to-offer-credit-monitoring-as-government-threatens-big-fines-20220926-p5bl0t.html
Companies may face multimillion-dollar fines for failing to protect customer data from hackers, as Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil rebuked Optus over its data breach that has affected almost 10 million Australians. As class action law firms circle and Optus promised customers credit monitoring services free-of-charge to shield them from scams, Ms O’Neil vowed to overhaul laws regulating the storage of consumer data.
https://www.afr.com/companies/telecommunications/minister-rebukes-optus-for-breach-we-should-not-expect-to-see-20220926-p5bkzr
Optus customers say they are growing increasingly angry and frustrated at the poor communication from their mobile provider over the massive customer data breach that left millions vulnerable to identity fraud. Josh Taylor reports that in the four days since Optus first reported that up to 10 million customers had personal information taken in a data breach, customers have been left scratching their heads over how Optus has communicated with them.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/sep/27/optus-customers-exasperated-by-chatbots-and-rubbish-communication-after-data-breach
The federal corruption watchdog will be given the power to investigate anyone who tries to induce public officials to engage in dishonest conduct, widening its scope to capture “third parties” in the pivotal reform to improve integrity in government. David Crowe writes that ehe new commission will also be able to probe schemes that allow federal ministers to hand out public funds in discretionary grants, subjecting the “pork barrelling” programs to greater scrutiny when the actions raise concerns about serious or systemic corruption.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/third-parties-to-be-covered-by-anti-corruption-commission-20220926-p5bl40.html
Australia needs a national independent anti-corruption body. But its remit should be confined to genuinely corrupt conduct and should not cover matters of integrity that are essentially political, urges the AFR’s editorial. It says its remit should be confined to genuinely corrupt conduct at the level of federal government – defined as abuse of public office for private gain – and, by and large, should not cover matters such as pork barrelling scandals that are essentially political.
https://www.afr.com/policy/economy/federal-watchdog-must-root-out-genuine-corruption-20220925-p5bkvv
Meanwhile, the federal government’s audit of grants allocated by the Coalition has identified millions of dollars across more than 100 community development projects that could be axed in the October budget. Guardian Australia understands there are about 120 projects under the Community Development Grants program that are in Labor’s sights. They were committed by the former government but not yet contracted.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/sep/27/federal-community-grants-audit-uncovers-millions-of-dollars-in-projects-now-facing-axe
James Robertson writes that the government will seek to thread the needle this week when it introduces legislation for a national anti-corruption bill – as the Coalition and crossbench MPs express totally different reservations about supporting it.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/politics/2022/09/25/government-anti-corruption-bill/
Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ hopes of quickly repairing the federal budget face fresh headwinds with warnings the global economy has stalled and will struggle to recover next year due to the war in Ukraine and rising interest rates. The OECD believes the Australian economy will expand by 4.1 per cent this calendar year, down 0.1 percentage point on its June forecasts, with growth to drop to just 2 per cent in 2023. That is half a percentage point lower than it predicted almost four months ago.
https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/higher-rates-and-ukraine-war-force-downgrade-to-australian-economy-20220926-p5bkys.html
Alexandra Smith reports that NSW voters have spread the blame for rolling public sector strikes on both the NSW government and the unions as almost one-third of people say they have been affected by various industrial action.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/a-pox-on-both-houses-voters-turn-on-government-and-unions-over-train-disruptions-20220925-p5bkrp.html
Lisa Visentin reveals that, in an email, the senator’s former chief-of-staff apologised to Aboriginal elders for a meeting in June 2021, describing Lydia Thorpe’s conduct as “appalling”.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/leaked-email-reveals-greens-staffer-scared-and-in-shock-after-lidia-thorpe-s-truly-awful-outburst-20220905-p5bfdn.html
Veterans’ access to compensation and rehabilitation will be simplified under a government promise to overhaul the slow and complex system that has been blamed for contributing to defence suicides. Angus Thompson writes that Minister for Veterans’ Affairs Matt Keogh apologised to the defence community for the barriers faced by veterans seeking support as he handed down the government’s response to the interim report of the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide, published last month.
https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/veterans-promised-greater-access-to-help-after-royal-commission-report-20220926-p5bl32.html
When Australia signed up to the AUKUS pact, it committed to enormously expensive nuclear-powered submarines. And if rumours of the US taking over their construction are true, there will be little if any benefit to Australian workers, writes Rex Patrick. As for strategic benefits …
https://michaelwest.com.au/aukus-was-a-tough-sell-already-and-now-it-seems-local-industry-will-miss-out/
Forcing Asian countries to choose between the USA and China is unlikely to work. Even close Asian allies of the US have shown that they prefer to go their own way in geopolitics, writes Iyanatul Islam.
https://johnmenadue.com/dealing-with-the-china-threat-an-asian-perspective/
“Is Putin, the cornered rat, bluffing on the nuclear threat?”, wonders Peter Hartcher. He concludes with, “In fact, maybe we’re misreading the metaphor of the cornered rat. So far, it’s not Russia but Ukraine that’s behaved like a cornered rat, fighting with desperate determination against all odds. In Putin’s story, the rat won.”
https://www.smh.com.au/national/is-putin-the-cornered-rat-bluffing-on-the-nuclear-threat-20220925-p5bkw4.html
Sewage in NSW will be tested for poliovirus following the detection of the virus in London and New York, where an unvaccinated man in his 20s was paralysed by poliomyelitis in July. Angus Dalton tells us that NSW Health said it was working with Sydney Water to roll out testing “as soon as possible”.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/nsw-to-test-wastewater-for-polio-as-soon-as-possible-20220926-p5bl2w.html
The price of petrol is about to leap, as the previous government’s temporary halving of the fuel excise tax comes to an end this week. Nobody likes price hikes, but cutting fuel taxes was never the solution to our cost-of-living crisis and has probably done more harm than good, say the Grattan Institute’s Marion Terrill and Natasha Bradshaw.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/the-petrol-excise-tax-break-is-about-to-end-good-riddance-20220926-p5bl28.html
Shane Wright tells us that shadow treasurer Angus Taylor has signalled the Coalition is prepared to look at far-reaching tax reform while opening the door to shaking up the way the health, welfare and education systems are run. Oh, yeah.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/tax-reform-could-take-inflation-pressures-off-economy-taylor-20220926-p5bkyz.html
Without radical tax reform, Australia faces an insoluble public finance problem, argues Satyajit Das.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/sep/25/without-radical-tax-reform-australia-faces-an-insoluble-public-finance-problem
Tim Costello calls for stronger, national curbs on gambling.
https://amp.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/we-need-stronger-national-curbs-on-gambling/news-story/de5391dac6660b08e775bbb2221b3d3a
Michaela Whitbourn reports that Federal Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has abandoned his bid for a High Court appeal in his failed defamation case over a six-word tweet. Dutton launched Federal Court defamation proceedings in April last year against refugee advocate Shane Bazzi over a tweet in February that year accusing him of being a “rape apologist”.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/peter-dutton-abandons-high-court-bid-in-failed-defamation-case-20220926-p5bl6b.html
Late last week the Bank of Japan intervened in currency markets for the first time in almost a quarter of a century, hoping to arrest an alarming slide in the value of the yen. It’s an exercise almost doomed to failure. Stephen Bartholomeusz explains how the Japanese central bank’s decision to buy yen to prop up its value came after the yen broke through the 145 yen to the dollar level after depreciating about 20 per cent against the dollar this year.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/markets/the-yen-has-cracked-and-no-one-is-coming-to-its-rescue-20220926-p5bkyj.html
And Karen Maley writes that hedge funds are lifting their bets on a sharp rise in Italian bond yields after Italians elected an extreme-right coalition to lead the country.
https://www.afr.com/companies/financial-services/bracing-for-a-fresh-euro-zone-debt-crisis-20220926-p5bkyw
Right thinking Australians ought to want their nation to be a republic led by a president rather than by a protestant King or Queen of England. Even the local self-effacing should want it if only for international and national self-respect, says Jack Waterford.
https://johnmenadue.com/no-guts-no-glory-in-deposing-the-king/
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard describes the UK cluster bomb of tax cuts as a reckless gamble.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/the-uk-cluster-bomb-of-tax-cuts-is-a-reckless-gamble-20220926-p5bl36.html
The White House switchboard dialled a phone associated with a January 6 rioter after it was clear the deadly Capitol attack had failed to prevent the congressional certification of Joe Biden’s victory over Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election, according to a new book.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/sep/26/white-house-call-january-6-rioter-denver-riggleman-book-the-breach
Melvin Goodman writes about the dangerous civilian-military chasm in America.
https://johnmenadue.com/the-dangerous-civilian-military-chasm-in-america/
Shutting down the internet is another brutal blow against women by the Iranian regime, writes Azadeh Akbari.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/sep/26/elon-musk-iran-women-mahsa-amini-feminists-morality-police
Cartoon Corner
David Pope
Andrew Dyson
Cathy Wilcox
Glen Le Lievre
Dionne Gain
Fiona Katauskas
Peter Broelman
Spooner
From the US
’
Aaron Newton
You make a good point about India’s conflicted role in the Quad given its close ties to Russia.
That being said, China and India have both backed away from any public statements in support of Russia since Putin started talking about nuclear threats.
Russia is now quite isolated.
Reposting from previous thread .. it feels like we’re approaching a 1992-style ‘Black Wednesday’ moment
The National
@ScotNational
5h
BREAKING: Letters of no confidence in Liz Truss are already coming in, according to reports
_________________________________________________________
Aubrey Allegretti
@breeallegretti
5h
Fury from a Tory MP who says talk of no confidence letters going in is not misplaced.
“My colleagues will rule nothing in and rule nothing out,” they say.
“There will come a time where people have to say ‘I know it’ll make us look chaotic, but we can’t go on like this.”
_____________________________________________________
Agnes Chambre
@AgnesChambre
Tory MP + former minister: “Liz if f*cked… You cannot have monetary policy and fiscal policy at loggerheads. Something has to give.”
“They are already putting letters in as think she will crash the economy.”
“Time for a new open thread post, though I don’t have a whole lot to hang one off. There’s always US pollster Morning Consult’s tracking poll on approval of Anthony Albanese, which continues to record no significant change since June, with Albanese currently on 60% approval”…
… Oh, and wait to see the reaction to yesterday’s ABC program on Dutton: “Please, please like me… or else I will send you to Nauru”….
“but only 34% in favour of the increased migration intake, with 33% opposed”….
There you go, it’s time for the Liberals to go all Hansonite again, now with a Melonite twist, and rename their party: “Brothers of Australia”…. Good luck!
Don’t add adjectives or adverbs (“genuinely corruption”) otherwise courts will have to rule on whether ICAC investigations can proceed.
Meanwhile the City of Yarra in Melbourne has cancelled its next meeting as there was ‘nothing on the agenda’.
Really?
In my years in local governmemt no meeting was ever cancelled due to no items on the agenda.
It IS the City of Yarra which has an ‘intetesting’ track record after all.
The Bazzi Dutton resolution appears to leave Dutton and the Bazzi donors out of pocket.
That is not satisfactory. Ordinarily the losing party pays the other side’s legal costs so the donors should be reimbursed. The agreements or requests for donations should provide that reimbursement entitlement.
Alpo,
Wouldn’t it be, ‘Mates of Australia’? 🙂
Chinese economy turns Japanese overnight
https://amp-macrobusiness-com-au.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/amp.macrobusiness.com.au/?amp_gsa=1&_js_v=a9&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.macrobusiness.com.au%2F2022%2F09%2Fchinese-economy-turns-japanese-overnight%2F&usqp=mq331AQIKAGwASCAAgM%3D#amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&aoh=16642275245821&csi=0&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&share=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.macrobusiness.com.au%2F2022%2F09%2Fchinese-economy-turns-japanese-overnight%2F
From the article (with lots of graphs):
China’s property bubble is deflating quickly. The vast industry and local governments are trying to revive it. But it won’t work. The sector is beset by developers’ financing woes and a massive supply overhang amid high household debt, a property affordability crisis and, crucially, a collapse in the rate of marriage.
…marriages plunged to a record low of 7.6 million last year, roughly half of the peak of 13.5 million in 2013. That year, 1.3 billion square metres of new residential properties – roughly 13 million flats – were sold, household debt was low at 16.6 trillion yuan (US$2.4 trillion), and grandparents were rich in savings. By last year, household debt had ballooned to 71.1 trillion yuan, over 140 per cent of disposable household income, and the grandparents had been bled dry.
…Marriage is the only significant driver of demand for property. With about 7 billion square metres in residential property under construction and unsold, if every marriage leads to a property purchase and the number of marriages doesn’t fall further, it would still take about 10 years to digest the inventory. Given that both assumptions are wildly optimistic, and that land banks, meanwhile, will only add to the inventory, it will be a long slog before the market returns to stability.
Thanks for the roundup BK. It is a mixed bag though. Few stories highlight more the AFR’s slide from newspaper to pro-business rag than this piece:
“ Australia needs a national independent anti-corruption body. But its remit should be confined to genuinely corrupt conduct and should not cover matters of integrity that are essentially political, urges the AFR’s editorial. It says its remit should be confined to genuinely corrupt conduct at the level of federal government – defined as abuse of public office for private gain – and, by and large, should not cover matters such as pork barrelling scandals that are essentially political.”
https://www.afr.com/policy/economy/federal-watchdog-must-root-out-genuine-corruption-20220925-p5bkvv
Why have an anti-corruption commission that only considers one side of corruption cases? Abuse of public office usually involves some private interest offering money to the public official. Why exclude one half of every corruption case from investigation?
Socrates @ #29 Tuesday, September 27th, 2022 – 7:36 am
It’s good to see the status of the Business Bastards who run the LNP scam reduced to cockroach bait.
#weatheronPB
cool grey bands wrap tight
an oyster caught us in the night
with moist breaths, all right
Rhwombat
True. There is a distinct lack of self awareness in the ranks of the BCA if they think anyone not a CEO will believe what they are selling now.
Read this and get angry. VERY angry!
In its report to the Australian Charity and Not-for-profits Commission, the Catholic Church Endowment Society — which oversees the Catholic Education Office — said it had received $57 million of funding from schools and would use it for future projects.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-09-26/sa-catholic-schools-defend-receiving-millions-in-jobkeeper/101467622
”
Confessionssays:
Tuesday, September 27, 2022 at 6:19 am
Greens senator Lidia Thorpe’s former chief-of-staff says he was scared and appalled by her outburst in a meeting with two Indigenous community leaders at Parliament House last year, calling her behaviour among the most unprofessional conduct he has ever witnessed.
The claims by Thorpe’s ex-top adviser reinforce the account of the meeting by Aboriginal elder Aunty Geraldine Atkinson, aged in her 70s, who has previously alleged the tirade of abuse levelled at her by the senator distressed her so much she sought medical attention from the parliamentary nurse.
David Mejia-Canales, who resigned from Thorpe’s office in June, accompanied the senator to the meeting with Atkinson and Marcus Stewart, the co-chairs of the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria, and their policy adviser Nicole Schlesinger, to discuss the state’s treaty process in a committee room in Parliament House, Canberra on June 22, 2021.
His account of what happened, and his efforts to inform the Greens’ leadership of Thorpe’s “appalling conduct”, are detailed in an apology emailed from his Parliament House address to Atkinson and Stewart in June, one year after the meeting, as one of his final acts before leaving the senator’s office.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/leaked-email-reveals-greens-staffer-scared-and-in-shock-after-lidia-thorpe-s-truly-awful-outburst-20220905-p5bfdn.html
”
But some people on this website like Rex and nath may admonish us for trying to shut up a Aboriginal woman and restrict her freedom.
”
Scepticsays:
Tuesday, September 27, 2022 at 6:15 am
Poor Liz… the respite lasted 5 seconds…
Some mortgage lenders – including Halifax, the UK’s biggest home loan provider – temporarily withdrew their products as financial markets predicted the Bank would need to raise interest rates from 2.25% to 6% to restore confidence.
Nomura, the Japanese bank, forecast that the pound would end the year below parity against the dollar while Paul Donovan, the chief economist at UBS global wealth management, said investors were inclined to see the Conservative party as a “doomsday cult”.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/sep/26/pound-comes-under-new-pressure-after-bank-england-fails-announce-rate-hike
”
Sceptic
Banks want to increase interest rate from 2.25% to 6% in one go?
King Charles and ‘In Liz we Truss’,
can you wave your magic wand and make the difficulties go away?
”
C@tmommasays:
Tuesday, September 27, 2022 at 6:32 am
Speaking seriously about Lidia Thorpe, she really needs to go back into Black History, both here and in America, and see how the Civil Rights movement and the campaign for Indigenous recognition here, achieved monumental gains for their cause by strategic subtle force. Not screaming like a banshee at people you don’t agree with until they wilt and give in to you.
”
Be careful C@tmomma
Nath and Rex will accuse of trying to shut up a Aboriginal woman and restrict her freedom. 🙂
On submarines Rex Patrick raises some valid questions about the “generous” offer of US built subs to kickstart the RAN.
“ When Australia signed up to the AUKUS pact, it committed to enormously expensive nuclear-powered submarines. And if rumours of the US taking over their construction are true, there will be little if any benefit to Australian workers, writes Rex Patrick. As for strategic benefits …”
https://michaelwest.com.au/aukus-was-a-tough-sell-already-and-now-it-seems-local-industry-will-miss-out/
We do need to get some foreign built subs in a hurry to avoid a gap when the Collins class are too old to be seaworthy. But the US Virginias are the worst choice for that role.
They are very expensive. A Virginia SSN would cost the same as two French Suffren SSNs at current exchange rates.
In terms of local content and ability to maintain them, the Virginia is again the worst choice, having virtually none of the component firms in its supply chain based in Australia.
At this point if Macron offers to build Suffren SSNs for Australia in the short term Albo should take the deal. Then proceed with the joint ASC production of SSNs as soon as possible. Building interim SSKs is a third best option, as it would greatly complicate maintenance and operations.
not shore if the voice will get throughh on trus seems care starmer will be the next uk pm wonder if johnson will run again
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Alexandra Smith reports that NSW voters have spread the blame for rolling public sector strikes on both the NSW government and the unions as almost one-third of people say they have been affected by various industrial action.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/a-pox-on-both-houses-voters-turn-on-government-and-unions-over-train-disruptions-20220925-p5bkrp.html
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Only 1/3 people are affected? Hard to believe.
“C@tmomma says:
Tuesday, September 27, 2022 at 7:33 am
Alpo,
Wouldn’t it be, ‘Mates of Australia’?”…
Yes, I agree…. 🙂
”
When Australia signed up to the AUKUS pact, it committed to enormously expensive nuclear-powered submarines. And if rumours of the US taking over their construction are true, there will be little if any benefit to Australian workers, writes Rex Patrick. As for strategic benefits …
https://michaelwest.com.au/aukus-was-a-tough-sell-already-and-now-it-seems-local-industry-will-miss-out/
”
Some may say what does Rex Patrick know.
Good round up. Thanks BK
This is the first time in the reporting on the OPTUS breach that I’ve seen this point made about the dangers of using personal data as ID verification. This danger has been known about for a very long time.
Some serious thought needs to happen about improving the processes of authentication by banks and others so as to not rely on a flimsy phone number.
How thoughtful of Putin. Now snowden has no reason not to join the fight.
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President Vladimir Putin has granted Russian citizenship to former U.S. security contractor Edward Snowden.
A NASA spacecraft will deliberately slam into an asteroid in a couple of hours. The DART mission, or the Double Asteroid Redirection Test, will crash into the space rock after launching 10 months ago. The spacecraft will attempt to affect the motion of an asteroid in space. The mission is heading for Dimorphos, a small moon orbiting the near-Earth asteroid Didymos. The asteroid system poses no threat to Earth, NASA officials have said, making it a perfect target to test out a kinetic impact – which may be needed if an asteroid is ever on track to hit Earth.
All we have been able to do with respect to the Optus breach, is change our password and monitor bank accounts.
”
Late last week the Bank of Japan intervened in currency markets for the first time in almost a quarter of a century, hoping to arrest an alarming slide in the value of the yen. It’s an exercise almost doomed to failure. Stephen Bartholomeusz explains how the Japanese central bank’s decision to buy yen to prop up its value came after the yen broke through the 145 yen to the dollar level after depreciating about 20 per cent against the dollar this year.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/markets/the-yen-has-cracked-and-no-one-is-coming-to-its-rescue-20220926-p5bkyj.html
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Japan, US, UK, Europe and China are in deep sh*t and about to step into one even though they can see it right in front of them but OECD thinks Australian economy will grow by 4.1% this year. Do they think that Jim Chalmers can charm Australian economy to grow just like that?
”
The OECD believes the Australian economy will expand by 4.1 per cent this calendar year, down 0.1 percentage point on its June forecasts, with growth to drop to just 2 per cent in 2023. That is half a percentage point lower than it predicted almost four months ago.
https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/higher-rates-and-ukraine-war-force-downgrade-to-australian-economy-20220926-p5bkys.html
“
“Aaron newton says:
Tuesday, September 27, 2022 at 7:13 am
it seems rusias strongist backers areChina”…
Not really. The Chinese started with a more pro-Russian stance at the time of Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan. But are now become more neutral (“let’s all work for peace and harmony”), given the Russian escalation in Ukraine. More importantly, the Chinese have sent neither weapons nor military personnel to Ukraine.
Conclusion: The Chinese are the strongest backers of…. China!
”
Forcing Asian countries to choose between the USA and China is unlikely to work. Even close Asian allies of the US have shown that they prefer to go their own way in geopolitics, writes Iyanatul Islam.
https://johnmenadue.com/dealing-with-the-china-threat-an-asian-perspective/
”
Who knew Asian countries would that? PBers certainly are taken by surprise that Asian countries chose their country’s survival than doing something like that (which some may call as betrayal of democracy). 🙂
It’s all very well to be using passport, drivers licence, etc for ID verification, but once used for confirmation, the data should be properly discarded. It should be of no further use to whoever required it.
“A NASA spacecraft will deliberately slam into an asteroid in a couple of hours.”
One hour to go; there’s a live stream here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6Z1E0mW2ag