=== Todays Toon ===
Portrait of George Canning by Richard Evans, circa 1825
George Canning (11 April 1770 – 8 August 1827) was a British statesman and politician who served as Foreign Secretary and briefly Prime Minister.=== Bible Quote ===
“Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.”- Hebrews 7:25=== Headlines ===
Tech website Gizmodo's exclusive report on a secret iPhone prototype drew plenty of attention — including some the site hadn't counted on, as police reportedly seize computers at home of editor who posted the report.GOP Senators Unified in Opposing Financial Bill
Democrats' legislation seeking crackdown on Wall Street blocked for now — with one Dem joining GOP in voting no
Obama Playing Race Card?
President issues video seeking renewed support from 'young people, African Americans, Latinos and women'
Doc Accused of Murdering Colleague
They worked together at a N.Y. hospital — now one is charged with fatally shooting the other, injuring his wife
Climate Scientist, Heated Up Over Satirical Video, Threatens Lawsuit
The Penn State climate professor who has silently endured investigations, hostile questioning, legislative probes and attacks by colleagues has finally spoken out. He says he'll sue the makers of a satirical video that's a hit on You Tube. Their response: Bring it on. Michael Mann, one of the central figures in the recent climate-data scandal, is best known for his "hockey stick graph," which was the key visual aid in explaining how the world is warming at an alarming rate and in connecting the rise to the increase in use of carbon fuels in this century. E-mails stolen from a university in England were released online, revealing exchanges between climatologists and a reference to a "trick" that Mann had used to get the graph to portray what global warming scientists wanted to see. The parody video, titled "Hide the Decline," had more than 500,000 viewers on YouTube and received national attention when Rush Limbaugh played it on his radio show. It features a cat with a guitar, a talking tree, and a dancing figure sporting the image of Professor Mann. It's the use of his image that Mann is complaining about, arguing that the video supports "efforts to sell various products and merchandise." "The guy is crazy to threaten legal action," said Jeff Davis, the President of No Cap and Trade, a large organization that includes the group Mann is threatening to sue, Minnesotans for Global Warming. "A lawsuit would give us full discovery -- and there's a lot to look at in his work."
Bert Newton says he's with his son Matthew 'all the way' as the Underbelly star seeks treatment at a rehab clinic.Melbourne to be our biggest city
SYDNEY in the growth slow-lane as severe housing shortage drives migrants south, report says.
Parents hammer hotline as flu fears grow
MORE than 250 cases of fever in under-fives after they were immunised against seasonal flu.
Troy Buswell to be sacked over affair
PREMIER set to give disgraced WA Treasurer ultimatum - resign today or you'll be kicked out.
Gored bullfighter faces epic battle for life
TOP matador loses 10 litres of blood and is left fighting for life after being gored by a 500kg bull.
Lucky dog survives being shot in head
DOG undergoes radical surgery after nail gun accident leaves him a hair-width from death.
Opposition claims cost of housing 4200 asylum seekers has topped $344m
THE arrival of another boat carrying of asylum seekers has set a record for the number of arrivals in one financial year - and the Federal Opposition is demanding to know how much it's costing taxpayers. A boat with 49 suspected asylum seekers and two crew was intercepted north-north-west of Ashmore Islands on Sunday night, the 114th to arrive since the Rudd Government softened John Howard's border regime. This took the number of people in 2009-10 to 4210, the highest in a financial year, with two months to go. Opposition immigration and citizenship spokesman Scott Morrison said the number eclipsed the 4175 in 1999-2000 and the 4137 in 2000-01. "To paraphrase Kevin Rudd, he had a gold medal year on boat arrivals in 2009-10," Mr Morrison said.Rudd a 'creep' for insulation death snub
PRIME Minister Kevin Rudd is a "creep" for not apologising to the parents of a man who died while working in the government's bungled home insulation scheme, opposition environment spokesman Greg Hunt said. Mr Rudd met with Brisbane couple Kevin and Christine Fuller, whose son Matthew, 26, was the first installer to be electrocuted while working under the scheme. But the Fullers told last night's ABC Four Corners program that Mr Rudd did not offer them any sympathy for their loss.
=== Journalists Corner ===
Goldman Sachs Exposed!Beck reveals the connections between the White House and Goldman Sachs!
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Guest: Ivanka Trump
She has some unfinished business! So, what's next for the Donald's daughter?
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Guest: Rod Blagojevich
He's called out prosecutors, the feds and now ... Obama! So, what's Blago's big beef?
=== Comments ===
How PM was saved by a perfect StormPiers Akerman
PRIME Minister Kevin Rudd should be sending flowers to Carl Williams’ family and pledging his support to the beleaguered Melbourne Storm. - I would like to add that my own issue is related to Julia Gillard, and not directly with Rudd. However, Julia has failed at every single hurdle to adequately deal with what she appropriately should. Rudd is a failure, but he is not in charge of this mess. He is not smart enough to be in charge of this mess. He isn’t capable or knowledgeable enough to produce this. This mess of the current administration is the result of a weak press and a corrupt underbelly of the ALP. The same corrupt underbelly Hawke and Keating were challenged to fix and failed to address. It is the same disease that eats away at NSW ALP .. the pork barrels are more important than the administration. So long as the ALP guarantee a supply of pork to their mates, they will retain the support of the corrupt. In some ways, they don’t even need to do that, because the corrupt are very needy and will not want a clean administration. In this light, the actions of some journalists are suspect. - ed.
John Jay repliedJJ, the tradition is an old one, predating the drugs of the 60’s, the corruption of the thirties, the polarizing of WW1, the depression of the 1890’s and the Gold Rush of the 1850’s. It even predates modern schooling from the 1790’s and the French Revolution. You can see comics and articles which oppose conservatives out of mere populism for light reasons from the earliest times of the creation of a Prime Ministerial position in Great Britain. You can see the effects of the corrosive nature of it in the pamphlet wars preceding the English civil war. In some ways it is the inheritance of what was described by philosophers as the Western Dialectic, but one side tends to be muted.To DD Ball -One of the great mysteries of Australian politics -
“In this light, the actions of some journalists are suspect.”
Just where are our journalists coming from?
What really goes on in their minds?
Why are they as they are?
Thing is, the liberal media feel justified in what they do, having a philosophy that is intellectually lazy. The vituperous spray you read when they try to counter an argument is their view of acceptable dialog. When President GW Bush was sitting President the lies that were being told were being dismissed as rhetoric that was acceptable because of the sitting President, but similar rhetoric would not be tolerated now of the sitting President. There is a double standard. - ed
John Jay replied- JJ, to use the climate debate as an example, the reason why many side with AGW worship, imho, is because people like to be ‘right’ and rightness is judged by popularity, rather than validity and fidelity to reality. The same thing can be seen in a family where a father agrees with a mother because it is easier .. but also proclaims it to be a good idea so as not to suggest opposition. Victoria attempted to get WA to join with them before folding to the Rudd health tax. It took great strength on the part of WA to withstand THAT attack.
To DD Ball -
Thanks for your response.
Are you saying it is simply a tradition, a groove?
If you have the time, what are your thoughts on -
Why this particular groove?
Why not another groove?
Why do they occupy the mental space they do - yes, feeling justified - when there is a whole universe of thought to explore?
So with AGW you have senior people in science inducting junior ones with the promise of research grants and credit. You have the disenfranchised scientists dismissed as quacks. People who aren’t literate in science would feel pressured to agree with the status quo .. and those who are a threat to status quo are silenced.
This is not to suggest that good scientists did not disagree early, but bad scientists were clearly promoted and the temperature was gradually raised so that reasonable people were sidelined before they could raise the alarm. This is not something that is accidental, but deliberate in an unplanned way. I’m not suggesting some vast conspiracy, but collective incompetence and a malevolent left wing movement which crosses borders.
The reason why this particular issue is expressing itself this way is because it is oppositional to good conservative sense. It is a political expression. Much like my mother who says she hated President Nixon, but couldn’t say what he had done wrong. Any discussion we had on the topic would have her saying any action Nixon took in the worst possible light and was a challenge for me to justify. It is entrenched oppositionalism, a fault of the dirty politics of the left and a legacy of lazy thinking from times past. - ed.
Old Man replied- Old Man, which is it, then? Is Rudd in charge, or is he supposed to be in charge? In fact he is not in charge but has been given the responsibility .. which he has abrogated.
DD Ball, I disagree with you in one respect, Rudd is in charge of this mess. He would like to be elsewhere when the fan gets soiled but nevertheless, he is the person that is supposed to be running the show.
BTW, those junior ministers who give Rudd’s apologies are not in charge either. Those in charge are those who run Rudd’s focus groups. Therese is not in charge, but she is fiddling the books .. and I understand she hasn’t divested herself of those things Rudd promised she would. - ed
foghornleghorn replied
What you say is true but the glaring thing is that at a time that Tony Abbott and the Libs may appear to be becoming a more attractive choice they come out with a stupid policy idea.
The one this week where Tonys brain wave of no dole until after the age of 30 stood out, what are these idiots thinking, there will always be a small percentage of youngish people that cannot stay in the work force, at least a dole payment may keep them out of my house or existing in the streets committing crime.
A dole payment is chickenfeed really so little anyway that is recycled back through the economy in many ways it is a good investment to lower the crime rate, yet the gov wastes billions and not blink. tony pull your head in.
foghorn
Piers' Reply: Don’t worry, Abbott did not say that there should be no dole for under-30s. You’ve been listening to the ABC again. What he did suggest - and it was not policy - was that dole budgers in places where there is no work (Byron Bay springs to mind) may have to move to areas where workers are needed. If you disagree with that you’ve got rocks in your head - or an ALP slogan sheet.
foghornleghorn replied
To my own post AND reply from Piers,
I do not listen to the ABC it was widely reported on the commercial channels without the bit about Byron Bay I saw Abbott commenting that it was not policy, if not then why bring it up, these kind of policy “floats” may give us an insight of what life may be like if or when the Libs get elected with Tony at the helm, the dole keeps the crime rate down there will always be a small amount of job misfits.
The dole is so little anyway when the government wastes vast amounts of money without blinking an eye, this idea if it ever gets a life may disadvantage those genuinely unemployed raised in remote country areas with family ties as against those simply too lazy, try and find the difference it won’t be hard thats the way to get some of them back to work , and I am amazed at your comment re an ALP slogan sheet....I won’t dignify THAT comment any further Piers I DO have a mind of my own.
foghorn.
Piers' Reply: If the dole keeps the crime rate down why is the crime rate highest in those suburbs of Sydney which record the highest levels of dole recipients? Also, why should we pay the dole to people in areas where there are no jobs when there are jobs begging in other parts of the nation? You are reading from the Labor song sheet.
foghornleghorn replied- foghornleghorn, interesting defense you make for yourself. Piers questions and assertions on the matter are legitimate and you haven’t addressed them at all.
to piers reply, Piers, you seem to be overly sensitive to “perceived” criticism of the Libs perhaps I may clarify my comments, firstly I have been a life time Labor voter BUT even at this stage no more will my vote go that way due to never ending Labor stuff ups and mismanagement at ALL levels they are badly letting down the public.
I am seriously considering voting for the opposition and are interested in their policies but at times these kind of policy kite flyings emerge that make me wonder and I feel a little disenchanted with some of the other “policy” floats, we don’t want a government that competes to be worse or “tougher” than Labor is, I want sensible down to earth policies not an I’m tougher than you approach.
You insult my intelligence again!
I have nothing to do with any Labor party apparatus by suggesting that I am reading from a Labor party song sheet, have never seen one and have no desire to so in the future, I am merely commenting as I see fit as a voter, your oversensitivity to open discussion is disappointing.
As for the crime rate in parts of Sydney just think of what it would be like if there were no dole at all it could get out of control as it has in most third world countries where survival and desperation AND crime is pandemic, agree ? or not is up to you.
Also I hate the term “dole bludger” it pastes everyone with the same brush I know of some who without doubt are that.. but also many that genuinely struggle to find a place they don’t fit very well into the workplace are regularly rejected at job interviews and many times don’t even get an interview all I ask is be fair.
foghorn
I have been on the Dole for much of the last three years thanks to government corruption from the ALP. I still look for work and I still do a great deal of work. But then the debate being offered (not policy, but ALP defending journalists are fooled by such distinctions) doesn’t relate to such, but to those with so much time on their hands they appear to be paid to commit crime.
I am not concerned who you claim you vote for, or intend to. In a debate, I’d like my opponents to say what they mean, and offer substance. You, on the other hand claim insult and offer rhetoric.
--- --- ---
So, given what you claim, you voted for Rudd even though he offered no policy and was not asked about what he would do in office by journalists? You voted ALP even though they failed to reform when they had the opportunity and invited Hawke and Keating to review their progress? You voted ALP after Whitlam’s abysmal time in office, and the grotesque defense of indulgence of Hawke and Keating’s terms? But now you have changed your mind? When none of those other telling factors had convinced you otherwise? So what did it take? Did a relative of yours die from neglect or corruption? Are you tiring of being unable to make a profit even though you work harder than you have before? Have you grown tired of ALP’s style over substance? - ed
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Don't We Need At Least One Protestant On the Supreme Court?
By Mark Joseph
It remains troubling that a political culture that champions diversity is on the verge of having a Supreme Court that doesn't share the religious views of nearly two-thirds of its population.
As the old saying goes, some of my best friends are Catholic and Jewish. Still, I find it weird that with the retirement of Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, a country founded by Protestants whose population is today sixty percent Protestant, may very well be ruled by a Supreme Court without one. When other groups have at various times demanded rulers that "looked like America," I nodded and I'm still nodding today as a majority Protestant nation is about to lose its lone Protestant member on the Supreme Court.
There are limits of course to the notion that the Court should reflect America, exemplified by the singularly idiotic comment by Nebraska Republican Senator Roman Hruska who, in the course of defending President Nixon's nominee to the high court Clement Haynsworth, responded to accusations that Haynsworth was mediocre by saying "even if he is mediocre, there are a lot of mediocre judges and people and lawyers. They are entitled to a little representation, aren't they, and a little chance?"
While mediocre people aren't entitled to proportionate representation on the Court, and though I'd never argue that the court should be made up exactly of five women, six Protestants, one African-American etc., it remains troubling that a political culture that champions diversity is on the verge of having a Supreme Court that doesn't share the religious views of nearly two-thirds of its population.
Mark Joseph is a producer, author and editor of Bullypulpit.com
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DARING, IRREVERENT, AND FRIGHTENED
Tim Blair
The Simpsons go as far as they dare in support of South Park:
There’s a lot of fear around. Even among those who wanted to counter fear.
UPDATE:
Australia will check our tax laws to ensure they don’t offend the Koran …(Via Kae)
UPDATE II. Ross Douthat:
In a way, the muzzling of “South Park” is no more disquieting than any other example of Western institutions’ cowering before the threat of Islamist violence. It’s no worse than the German opera house that temporarily suspended performances of Mozart’s opera “Idomeneo” because it included a scene featuring Muhammad’s severed head. Or Random House’s decision to cancel the publication of a novel about the prophet’s third wife. Or Yale University Press’s refusal to publish the controversial Danish cartoons ... in a book about the Danish cartoon crisis. Or the fact that various Western journalists, intellectuals and politicians — the list includes Oriana Fallaci in Italy, Michel Houellebecq in France, Mark Steyn in Canada and Geert Wilders in the Netherlands — have been hauled before courts and “human rights” tribunals, in supposedly liberal societies, for daring to give offense to Islam.Because people are physically scared.
But there’s still a sense in which the “South Park” case is particularly illuminating. Not because it tells us anything new about the lines that writers and entertainers suddenly aren’t allowed to cross. But because it’s a reminder that Islam is just about the only place where we draw any lines at all.
(Via Instapundit)
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THEY ARE JUST AS GOD MADE THEM
Tim Blair
Add it to the list: global warming is attracting “unphotogenic fish” to Greenland.
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STEP UP
Tim Blair
We journalists like to think of ourselves as fearless types, boldly standing up for freedom and liberty.
And it’s true that many among us are very brave, particularly those who report from war zones or who – to give a local example – were perceived not to be on the union’s side when they covered the 1998 MUA waterfront dispute.
Other journalists are hailed as brave for taking stances requiring no bravery at all. Fearlessly attack the Catholic church over pedophilia and all you risk is tinnitus from the wild applause on Walkley night. Condemn Israel and you might cop a scary book contract. Mock the previous US President and win the terrifying admiration of our entire diverse media.
Even if you challenge popular views, all you generally risk is unpopularity. Big deal. I’ve been making fun of global warming for years now, and the worst that’s happened is that the internet thinks I hate science. Which, as my old science teachers will tell you, is a long-standing condition.
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SAVE THE HIGHLAND ROAMER
Tim Blair
British animal rights activists have probably spent years planning to liberate the inhabitants of a haggis battery farm:
One in five people in Britain thinks that haggis, the traditional Scottish dish made from the lung, liver and heart of a sheep, is an animal that roams the Highlands, according to a survey on Friday.Well, it used to. Before the Warming. In other British news:
Families are facing a nightmare future of recycling confusion. In a regime set to spread across the country, residents are being forced to juggle an astonishing nine separate bins.You need one bin for discarded lung chunks, another for heart bits, another for liver slivers …
There has already been a storm of protest with warnings that the scheme is too complex and homes simply don’t have the space to deal with the myriad bins, bags and boxes.
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AGAINST OBAMA BEFORE HE WAS FOR HIM
Tim Blair
Born-again leftoid Charles Johnson denounces the “tidal wave of right wing nuttiness directed at Barack Obama”. Fair enough, in several cases; that birther obsession, for one, is downright crazy. But it’s a little rich for flippy Charlie to rail against “Obama Derangement Syndrome” when for several recent years Johnson himself was a serious sufferer. Following are a few items by Charles on Obama, all posted before Obama had even won the Democrat nomination to run for President:
• “Interesting information about one of the Democrats’ rising stars, who is apparently an unreconstructed Marxist with a slick surface.”
• [Barack Obama and other Democrats are] “going to get us all killed.”
• “Here’s a piece on Barack Obama’s past, based on his own account of his shockingly racist anti-white attitudes.”
• “How would the world’s 249 gazillion Muslims react to having an American president who is also a Muslim apostate?”
Two or three further examples of Johnson’s personal Obama Derangement Syndrome are also available.
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RASH ASH SLASH TRASHED
Tim Blair
The decision to cut British flights may have been a little hasty:
Britain’s airspace was closed under false pretences, with satellite images revealing there was no doomsday volcanic ash cloud over the entire country …So if both empirical observation and now satellite images revealed no doom cloud, how come flights were shut down?
However, new evidence shows there was no all-encompassing cloud and, where dust was present, it was often so thin that it posed no risk.
The satellite images demonstrate that the skies were largely clear, which will not surprise the millions who enjoyed the fine, hot weather during the flight ban … the satellite images will be used by airlines in their battle to win tens of millions of pounds in compensation from governments for their losses.
The National Air Traffic Control Service decision to ban flights was based on Met Office computer models which painted a picture of a cloud of ash being blown south from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano.They just relied on models? No extensive additional testing? Apparently not:
These models should have been tested by the Met Office’s main research plane, a BAE 146 jet, but it was in a hangar to be repainted and could not be sent up until last Tuesday – the last day of the ban.Environmental models are notoriously unpredictable. In the case of the Met and their magical model clouds, Andrew Bolt was on to these jokers last week.
(Via ioxymoron)
UPDATE. In Austria, Niki Lauda considers his legal options. (Via Mr Mark in comments)
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MTR today
Andrew Bolt
Here’s my session today on MTR 1377 - on immigration, the insulation debacle, fare evasion and Steve Price’s strange inability to trot out a dozen examples of Rudd’s failures without faltering.
===
ETS taken out of Budget. But where’s Rudd?
Andrew Bolt
Kevin Rudd two years ago thought no issue was more important, and he was the man to say so:
The biggest challenge the world faces in the decades ahead is climate change. It is the great moral and economic challenge of our time.Today no issue is more embarrassing, and Rudd gets unidentified spokesman to say it’s on the backburner:
It was once a centrepiece of the Federal Government’s election strategy, but now the emissions trading scheme (ETS) has been relegated to the shelf until at least 2013.(Thanks to reader Pira.)
Delaying the scheme means the Government could save $2.5 billion from its budget over the next three years, because it would not be paying compensation to households and industries…
Government sources say it was decided last week to remove the scheme from next month’s budget, bowing to the political reality that the Senate is unlikely to pass the ETS any time soon.
UPDATE
Wasn’t this the position that then Liberal leader Brendan Nelson argued two years ago, to the jeers of Labor and the commentariat?
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says he has been forced to put his emissions trading scheme (ETS) on ice because of the Coalition’s opposition and the slow pace of international climate change action.
Mr Rudd has confirmed the ETS has been shelved until at least 2013 so the Government can consider what the rest of the world will do beyond the expiration of the Kyoto protocol.
===
Obama plans a race war
Andrew Bolt
Barack Obama appeals to two races to help fight the males of a third:
In the video message to his supporters, Obama said his administration’s success depends on the outcome of this fall’s elections and warned that if Republicans regain control of Congress, they could “undo all that we have accomplished.”How would it have played in the media had George Bush appealed to “whites to stand together once again” in the next election?
“This year, the stakes are higher than ever,” he said, according to a transcript of his remarks provided by Democratic officials. “It will be up to each of you to make sure that young people, African Americans, Latinos and women who powered our victory in 2008 stand together once again...”
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Bravely trashing only what keeps them safe
Andrew Bolt
Ross Douthat on the Comedy Channel’s surrender to the Islamists who threatened South Park:
This is what decadence looks like: a frantic coarseness that ‘bravely’ trashes its own values and traditions, and then knuckles under swiftly to totalitarianism and brute force.
The criticism is one that could be made of so many in the media today, including the Pope of Atheism, Richard Dawkins.
(Via Instapundit.)
===
Where’s the Wally whose ideas these were?
Andrew Bolt
Phillip Hudson on the amazing vanishing PM:
Consider these broken promises and problems. In the past few weeks the Government:UPDATESUSPENDED the processing of asylum seeker claims for people from Sri Lanka and Afghanistan. Announced by Chris Evans, Stephen Smith and Brendan O’Connor.You can smell an election in the air.
AXED the new roof insulation rebate due to start on June 1 because of problems caused by the bungled former scheme that was axed in February. Announced by Greg Combet.
BROKE an election promise to build 222 childcare centres. Announced by Kate Ellis.
ORDERED a $14 million inquiry into possible rorting and overcharging under the Building the Education Revolution scheme. Announced by Julia Gillard.
CALLED a $4 million audit of the green loans scheme to look at allegations home energy assessers have been making fraudulent claims. Announced by Penny Wong.
REVERSED softer rules for foreign students and temporary residents to buy Australian property. Announced by Nick Sherry.
WALKED AWAY from moves to create a Human Rights Act. Announced by Robert McClelland.
The Government is trying to get rid of problems. And Rudd is trying to minimise his association with the bad news by leaving it to his ministers.
Once the bad news has been announced by someone else sticking in the sword, Rudd magically reappears to talk about popular things - hopefully to generous applause.
It seems a silly strategy, hardly creating confidence that the buck will stop with him on health.
The criticial extracts from last night’s Four Corners coverage of Rudd’s $2.5 billion insulation debacle - extracts which suggest the blame is all Rudd’s:
WENDY CARLISLE: Within months of the two and a half billion dollar program starting, things began to go terribly wrong. By March of this year there had been more than 120 fires, massive rorting and fraud. But worst of all the death of four young men…
WENDY CARLISLE: 25 year old Matthew Fuller became the first fatality in the home insulation program. His girlfriend Monique Pridmore is still recovering from her serious injuries… It didn’t take long, just a few days after Matthew’s death, for the Fullers to discover that what happened to Matthew was not an isolated case. In New Zealand in 2007, three home handymen were electrocuted while using metal staples to install foil insulation under their floors.
The deaths prompted the New Zealand government to issue a public warning about the dangers of using metal staples when installing foil insulation. New Zealand has since banned foil from its scheme…
WENDY CARLISLE: While this was news to Fullers, Australian government officials were well aware of the New Zealand deaths. Senior Bureaucrats were present at a meeting at old parliament house on the 18th of February last year when it was raised. They were from the two departments most central to the rollout of the scheme, Environment and Prime Minister and Cabinet, as well as the Office of the Co-ordinator General.
Also there was Dennis D’Arcy from the Insulation Council of Australia and New Zealand. His colleague, Peter Ruz, made the report.
DENNIS D’ARCY, INSULATION COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA & NZ: Peter said well you know if, ah, if ah, foil insulation is included in this programme, ah, you should be aware that, ah, there has been, um, some fatalities in New Zealand and this needs to be taken into account.
WENDY CARLISLE: The minutes of the meeting clearly reveal…
(Voiceover reading from the report)
”Peter Ruz provided an example in New Zealand, where a similar program had to be suspended because three people electrocuted themselves.”
(End of voiceover)
WENDY CARLISLE: The question is why was that warning ignored? ... Four Corners spoke to (an environment) department insider who says these warnings were made to senior bureaucrats. We cannot reveal the insider’s identity.
INSIDER: In fact we were told that safety was of less importance than job creation… Job creation was the most important thing. That was mentioned on many occasions…
WENDY CARLISLE (to Insider): Did you advise your superiors that without, um, proper training for installers, um, that there could be deaths?
INSIDER: Yes…
WENDY CARLISLE: Four Corners has found that within the environment department concerns had been raised right from the very beginning. But the crucial question remains, was Peter Garrett told of these, and if so, did he convey to the prime minister that this was the price of rolling out the scheme so fast? The answer could be in four letters that Peter Garrett wrote to the Prime Minister, which Mr Rudd refuses to make public.
GREG HUNT, FEDERAL OPPOSITION ENVIRONMENT SPOKESPERSON: The Prime Minister has declared that these letters to be cabinet in confidence. But ah there’s no evidence that they were presented to the cabinet process, and there’s no reason to hide these letters. Why would the prime minister hide these letters? ...
WENDY CARLISLE (doorstop with Kevin Rudd): Prime Minister Wendy Carlisle, Four Corners. Why won’t you release those letters Peter Garrett wrote to you?
PRIME MINISTER, KEVIN RUDD: Excuse me.
(Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, walks away into the crowd)
===
Rudd invites not loyalty but vengeance
Andrew Bolt
Niki Savva warns Kevin Rudd that his open contempt for his colleagues, staff and bureacrats will one day invite revenge:
A few weeks ago, Rudd called a meeting of the cabinet’s National Security Committee. The most powerful federal bureaucrats, defence chiefs, diplomats and police gathered and waited for the Prime Minister. And waited and waited. Finally, after three hours, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s new head Dennis Richardson decided he couldn’t wait any longer and stalked off. Oh, and Richardson also used the f-word to express his displeasure.How functional can a government be when its top executives are made to hang around for hours like this at their leader’s whim?
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Buswell going, going… soon, Mike Rann
Andrew Bolt
I said yesterday that Buswell, a liar and thief, had to be sacked, and it seems he will be:
WEST Australian Premier Colin Barnett is set to sack Treasurer Troy Buswell if he does not resign today after admitting to misusing parliamentary entitlements in an affair with a Greens MP.This should seal the deal:
Mr Buswell denied he should be treated in the same way as some 40 West Australian doctors and nurses recently sacked for fraudulently claiming work entitlements.Mind you, I thought Buswell should have been finished a long time ago.
“A large number of doctors and nurses who were caught up in that salary package issue still have their job. It is ultimately a matter of degree.”
UPDATE
Buswell has quit. Premier Colim Bartnett says he told Buswell his position was untenable. The issue was the misuse of taxpayers’ money.
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Rudd’s cure puts us only into remission
Andrew Bolt
Terry McCrann says Kevin Rudd’s health “reform” puts off the real funding problems for just a decade at best:
Very simply, the money hospitals need will increase at a faster pace each year than the GST revenues. Because health costs are growing at a faster pace than the nominal economy.
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Newton crashes
Andrew Bolt
Underbelly is rightly attacked for having glamourised wild risk takers and skating over the havoc they wreak:
The infamous Terry Clark, played by Matthew Newton, was painted as some sort of charismatic criminal messiah. The fact that he rotted in a jail cell some two decades after his arrest was pretty much overlooked by the script.Speaking of personal havoc, albeit not caused by drugs, as far as we know:
ACTOR Matthew Newton, the son of TV great Bert Newton, is being treated at a top Melbourne rehabilitation clinic. The Underbelly star was admitted to a small private eastern suburbs hospital that specialises in drug and alcohol addiction this month… It is believed Newton decided to seek help for his undisclosed personal issues..Maybe playing happily married churchgoers may be safer for Newton than immersing himself in the character of a Terry Clark.
Newton was widely praised for his role as drug kingpin Terry Clark in the Channel 9 series Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities.
(To avoid any risk of legal strife, comments are off.)
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Poll bad for ALP. Bolt Paints a different gloss
Andrew Bolt
Yeah, we’ll see if this actually translates into changes of government:
LABOR is in trouble in the two most populous states, with the latest Newspoll showing the Coalition has overtaken Labor’s primary vote in Victoria for the first time in two years, while Kristina Keneally’s popularity in NSW has failed to deliver her government any bounce…
In NSW, the ... Coalition retains a massive lead on primary support, 42 per cent to 31 per cent, and leads 55-45 on two-party-preferred support.
In Victoria, the Coalition leads on primary support by 41 per cent to 37 per cent - the first time it has led on this measure for a sustained period since 2005 - while Labor remains ahead on two-party-preferred terms, 52-48, having seen its lead halved since the previous poll.
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So where are the extra dams, power stations and roads?
Andrew Bolt
This presented as bad news for Sydney, rather than for Melbourne:
A 10-YEAR fall in the percentage of migrants settling in NSW and the lowest rate of economic growth of all mainland states has Melbourne on track to overtake Sydney as Australia’s biggest city, a report predicts.This means Melbourne, which has been on water shortages for eight years, will add an astonishing 1.5 million people to its population in just 17 years:
The Going Nowhere report, produced by the economic forecasters BIS Shrapnel for a property developer lobby group, says lower developer levies on new housing land in Melbourne have allowed construction of homes at twice the rate of Sydney. This is fuelling a population and economic growth in the Victorian capital that means it will become the country’s biggest city by 2037.
BIS Shrapnel senior economist Jason Anderson ...expected Melbourne’s population to hit 5.7 million. Sydney’s current population is about 4.7 million.Oddly enough, the states with the higher population growths are expected to have the slowest growth in wealth per head:
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Lifestyle choice of the planet savers
Andrew Bolt
How much of the planet would be left if we all followed the example of the United Nation’s Environmental Ambassador in building our new home?
Here’s this Environmental Ambassador, supermodel Gisele Bündchen, on her appointment by the UN:
The environment has always been my passion. I grew up in a small town and I had the opportunity to live surrounded by nature. I couldn’t have asked for a better childhood. We must act now, so future generations have the same opportunity.Here’s the UN on its new ambassador:
With her help, we can make environmental action a global brand and a life-style choice...(Thanks to reader Peter M.)
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Twenty times more panic than ash
Andrew Bolt
As we suggested last week:
Britain’s airspace was closed under false pretences, with satellite images revealing there was no doomsday volcanic ash cloud over the entire country.(Thanks to many readers.)
Skies fell quiet for six days, leaving as many as 500,000 Britons stranded overseas and costing airlines hundreds of millions of pounds…
However, new evidence shows there was no all-encompassing cloud and, where dust was present, it was often so thin that it posed no risk…
The satellite images will be used by airlines in their battle to win tens of millions of pounds in compensation from governments for their losses.
The National Air Traffic Control Service decision to ban flights was based on Met Office computer models which painted a picture of a cloud of ash being blown south from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano.
These models should have been tested by the Met Office’s main research plane, a BAE 146 jet, but it was in a hangar to be repainted and could not be sent up until last Tuesday - the last day of the ban.
Evidence has emerged that the maximum density of the ash was only about one 20th of the limit that scientists, the Government, and aircraft and engine manufacturers have now decided is safe.
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