=== Todays Toon ===
Re imagined ancient Mars with water
=== Bible Quote ===
“But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen and protect you from the evil one.”- 2 Thessalonians 3:3=== Headlines ===
Gillard and Mr Abbott's days of friendly sparring on morning television are over'I am woman and I am proud'
Gillard has no regrets over choices she has made - that includes not having children. - not to be believed, no matter how stridently she claims it. She has been hurt and her pain is clear to any who care and some who don't. - ed.
Gillard's rise makes global headlines
Obama congratulates Gillard on her dramatic ascent to the top job in disposing of Rudd.
Kevin Rudd is a far cry from leaving
DUMPED Prime Minister to stay in Parliament, and there's talk Gillard will offer him a Cabinet job. - no change in policy either. Here is hoping the electorate aren't fooled - ed.
Julia Gillard should watch her back, says Mark Latham
FORMER Labor leader Mark Latham is predicting Prime Minister Julia Gillard will eventually be "the next one for the knife" because key ALP figures hate her. "(Deputy Prime Minister) Wayne Swan is no fan of hers," Mr Latham told Sky News today, a day after Ms Gillard toppled Kevin Rudd. "Gillard has, for reasons I never quite understood, enormous animosity from people like (Anthony) Albanese and (Lindsay) Tanner and (Jenny) Macklin." "I don't know what they did down there in the Victorian left in the 80s and 90s but they hate each other." Mr Latham, who lost the leadership in 2005 following Labor's defeat at the 2004 election, said when Ms Gillard's honeymoon in the polls ends "she'll be the next one for the knife ... she needs to watch her back". The dumping of Mr Rudd showed there was no party loyalty to leaders, and leadership was a marketing exercise instead.
Teen filmed speedo before fatal crash
AN unlicensed teen driving his father's car has been jailed for killing a 70-year-old grandmother.
Stop it boy, or you'll see my breasts again
WOMAN who flashed a young neighbour says she'll continue until he starts behaving himself.
Accused surgeon faces up to his vices
MAN accused of killing an escort tells court that he is "no longer in denial" about addictions.
Horror 24 hours on our roads
SIX people died on NSW roads in less than 24 hours. Four of them were in one car in a horror crash near the town of Glen Innes.
Prisoner gets 30 years for eating cellmate
A FRENCH prisoner dubbed Hannibal Lecter has been sentenced for killing his cellmate and devouring his lung.
Man Nabbed After Possible Terror Stash Found in Car Near G-20
Police make an arrest after searching a car and finding a chain saw, a baseball bat and containers of gasoline near the G-20 site in Toronto, but authorities say there's no evidence it's summit related.
Senate GOP Kills Jobless Aid Measure
Senate fails to reach agreement to extend weekly jobless benefits over Republican's fears the measure would add $30 billion to the deficit
Source: Amnesty Talks Behind the Scenes
White House holding behind-the-scenes talks to determine whether Homeland Security can unilaterally grant legal status on a mass basis to illegals, former Bush official says
Condoms for First-Graders?
School board in Massachusetts unanimously votes to offer free condoms to all students in the district without parental consent, sparking national outrage
=== Journalists Corner ===
Gov. Christie Exclusive - Part 2Chris Christie has a message for D.C. : Make our tax system more competitive and lower regulation. But, will his strategy work across the country?
===
'The O'Reilly Factor'
Hey BP -- get your dollars out! Should the gas giant compensate a strip club suffering from the oil spill? The Factor uncovers the story!
===
'Hannity'
Strategy for South Carolina! Candidate Tim Scott reveals his plan to dismantle Obamacare and take back D.C.!
===
On Fox News Insider
Is Petraeus Being Set Up for Failure?Bin Laden Hunter Speaks Out
Bloomberg & Murdoch on Immigration Reform
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi turned 65 last Saturday, June 19th. Thank you for being a part of our global Arrest Yourself campaign to celebrate the courage and determination of our Burmese hero. Thanks to your dedication and efforts for Burma, this year we had over 340 people from 29 countries and 44 American states who signed up for Arrest Yourself events, along with hundreds of rallies and birthday events all over the world. These events are vital to the awareness and fundraising aspects of what we do here at the U.S. Campaign for Burma. We rely on supporters like you to spread the message about Burma, educate and inspire many others, and fundraise to help us continue working for the people of Burma.
If you already hosted an Arrest Yourself event, please send us videos and pictures along with any signed petitions, sign-up sheets, and donations you collected at your event to our office by email or by mail. Our mailing address is 1444 N St NW, Suite A2, Washington, DC 20005.If you signed up to host an Arrest Yourself event, but have not had the chance to do so, no worries. You can still host your event even after June 19th. In fact, many people will be hosting post-birthday Arrest Yourself events.
If you are unable to host an Arrest Yourself event, please consider making a donation to the U.S. Campaign for Burma. Your contributions fuel our advocacy campaigns so that we can continue our fight for human rights and justice in Burma.
Be sure to check out the birthday events that took place around the world and statements from world leaders and NGOs honoring the detained Nobel Peace Prize Winner on her 65th birthday.
Thank you once again for your wonderful efforts for our hero, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the people of Burma.
Nadi
=== Comments ===
Mutiny for the bounty of powerPiers Akerman
DON’T be dazzled by the fireworks erupting from Sussex St. - let me add that the fact the ALP dumped the leader but kept the suit of policies means that Rudd wasn't dumped for his policies, but his unpopularity. This sends the wrong message to school children everywhere. Except for one message their mothers warned them of, beware the godless backstabbing women of the world.
Gillard at nearly fifty is childless and single and that has to count for much as she looks back on the choices in her life and wonders. She has stood by her childhood fancy of communist sympathizer and socialist policy. She has eschewed virtue and espoused sacrifice to bureaucracy, proclaiming the dead hand over the living word. In terms of serving days, unless she wins the election (unlikely, but also disturbingly possible) she will be among the shortest terms PM's in history too.
Gillard never met the challenge given to her on the IR issue involving the whistleblower for Hamidur Rahman. She asked for the challenge on Sunrise and never answered it. She proclaimed a policy standard she never achieved. Her failure in office is not the same as Rudd's, who promised much and delivered an impressive list of failures. Gillard's failures have been hung on the doors of others. - ed.
===
McChrystal vs. Obama
BY BILL O'REILLY
It did not end well for Gen. Stanley McChrystal, a war hero and patriot. A foolish mistake, allowing a reporter from Rolling Stone magazine into his inner circle, got him fired by his Commander-in-Chief Barack Obama.
THE QUESTION: Was the president right to fire the man?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: As difficult as it is to lose Gen. McChrystal, I believe that it is the right decision for our national security. The conduct represented in the recently published article does not meet the standard that should be set by a commanding general. It undermines the civilian control of the military that is at the core of our democratic system.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
In other words, the president would look like a wimp if he kept the general on, and at this point in his presidency, Barack Obama cannot afford to look weak.
Also, he has Gen. David Petraeus in the bullpen as McChrystal's replacement, which might be an upgrade.
As you may know, things have not been going well on the battlefield, primarily because most Afghans won't fight and our guys can't fight all-out because of the civilian causality issue.
President Obama well understands he cannot afford to lose in Afghanistan. It is his war. He is fighting it his way. If the Taliban prevails, Mr. Obama will take a huge hit, and he has only one year by his own yardstick to declare victory.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: I have a responsibility to do what is -- whatever is necessary to succeed in Afghanistan and in our broader effort to disrupt, dismantle and defeat Al Qaeda. I believe that this mission demands unity of effort across our alliance and across my national security team.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
At the heart of the controversy is Rolling Stone reporter Michael Hastings portraying McChrystal and his staff as disdainful of the Obama administration. The president is not a man who embraces criticism, thus the general's fate was sealed.
And McChrystal knows most of the fault lies with him. Hastings is a far-left guy and doesn't hide it. He openly says his job is to f-word those in power. He has called Rudy Giuliani a maniac and John McCain "Captain Ahab." Why would the general allow a guy like that access to him and his staff? Amazing.
But as I said Tuesday night, I did the same thing a few years ago and I got hammered by Rolling Stone as well. The plan here was to reach an audience that knew little about Fox News. It was dumb; I was dumb. These things happen.
The whole McChrystal deal is, of course, bad for the country and bad for the military. But maybe Gen. Petraeus can save the day, as he did in Iraq.
However, the truth is there is chaos right now in America, and that is never a good thing.
===
MANBEARGIGGLES
Tim Blair
Jim Treacher and Iowahawk are having fun:
• Other acts Al Gore requested from the masseuse: an “around-the-earth”Among many, many other lines: “Do u take carbon tax credits as cash?”
• “Dirty Gaia”
• “Copenhagen Steamer”
• “Put this Parental Advisory sticker around it. There you go, wrap it around and around.”
• “Leave all the lights on. Every single one, baby. It’ll cost double? Fine.”
===
SMART AS A MAN
Tim Blair
The SMH’s Peter Hartcher assesses Australia’s new Prime Minister:
She’s a first-class political talent, as smart as any man …Nice of him. Mark Latham – a former supporter of Gillard – sees problems ahead:
“Gillard has, for reasons I never quite understood, enormous animosity from people like (Anthony) Albanese and (Lindsay) Tanner and (Jenny) Macklin.Well, at least she won’t have to worry about Tanner any more. Certain Queenslanders may be on the way out, too. Speaking of which, Shaun Carney retraces Kevin Rudd’s collapse:
“I don’t know what they did down there in the Victorian left in the 80s and 90s but they hate each other.”
The turning point came six months ago, when Tony Abbott was elected Liberal leader as part of a parliamentary and grassroots revolt over the party’s climate change policy, and the Copenhagen talks failed.Conventional wisdom prior to Abbott’s appointment held that opposition to an emissions trading scheme was a vote-loser. Instead, it’s taken down a warmie. I’m not certain that either party (nor the media) has correctly processed this yet. More from Carney:
Under Abbott, with his strategy of blanket opposition, the political contest grew more complex and much more intense. Rudd needed to show agility, to sharpen up his messages to the public and to deal with Abbott’s challenge on the fundamentals of climate change head-on.
The chaos in Rudd’s office, now utterly spooked by the Liberals’ unity under Abbott, meant that it could not generate initiatives and could not follow through in responding to the government’s political problems. Crucially, Rudd’s decision not to look to middle-aged and older, practiced political hands for advice meant that he had deliberately chosen not to surround himself with any equals in his office. The lack of life experience within his office eventually exacted a terrible price on him.He should have stuck with older, wiser heads. Like Joe Hildebrand.
UPDATE. Rebecca Roberts:
I hope the first thing Gillard does is appoint a new Education Minister, because the one we’ve got hasn’t done a very good job. Oh, wait ...UPDATE II. Good start:
Environment groups are angry at a deal by a coal company to export up to 20 million tonnes of brown coal a year from Victoria and say it’s not a good look for new prime minister Julia Gillard.Quite the contrary.
Federal Resources Minister Simon Crean is expected to throw the federal government’s support behind the deal in Melbourne on Friday.
“This is a disastrous first action for the new Gillard government,” Environment Victoria chief executive Kelly O’Shanassy said.
===
SCREEN TO STAGE
Tim Blair
YouTube star Natalie Tran displays impressive stand-up skills:
Millionaire by the time she’s thirty.
===
So how will Gillard go? Probably very quickly (polls say so.)
Andrew Bolt
Lenore Taylor:Tony Abbott put a brave face on Labor’s last-ditch leadership change but privately the Coalition was desperately disappointed that it would not face an election against Kevin Rudd.Jack the Insider:
And it was utterly dismayed the mining industry had – as one source put it – ‘’succumbed to [Gillard’s] guile” by agreeing to her offer of a negotiating truce in the mining super profits tax war and to take the industry advertisements attacking the government off the air.
The Coalition has gone out on a limb in support of the mining industry and the prospect of a deal between the miners and the government has left it edgy.
...imagine the headache Tony Abbott woke up with this morning. Liberal Party polling tells him that he is starting this contest against Gillard from a long way behind. Kevin Rudd may have had his nose in front but the polling tells Abbott that Gillard would win the next election by the length of the straight.Peter Brent:
This was a blunder. For the first time, the Coalition must be slightly favoured to form government later this year…The bookies:
Labor has now thrown away a large chunk of the benefit of incumbency, all but admitted the opposition was right all along about everything, and is pleading for a fresh start.
A wave of large wagers for Julia Gillard’s Labor immediately following today’s leadership spill now sees Labor back to being $1.50 favourites for the next Federal Election with leading online bookmaker sportsbet.com.au.A huge response to the Herald Sun on-line poll (caution - on-line polls are unreliable):
Who will you vote for in the federal election?John Durie warns that Gillard has set a trap for herself:
* Julia Gillard 47.06% (13674 votes)
* Tony Abbott 52.94% (15385 votes)
Total votes: 29059
In an otherwise superb opening performance yesterday, Gillard made the same mistake as Rudd by promising to bring the budget back to a surplus in 2013.A real compromise on the mining tax is very, very difficult while Gillard sticks to that promise, which I think she is bound to do to counter the warnings that she’s from the big-spending Left. But:
Later yesterday, mining industry tax advisers told The Australian it would be possible to conclude a deal that preserved the $3bn in RSPT revenue that the government was counting on to achieve its return to surplus.Dennis Shanahan:
JULIA Gillard can expect a honeymoon, a materialisation of the political goodwill coming through the polls. This should lift Labor’s primary vote and provide an even tougher fight for Tony Abbott.UPDATE
But the manner of Kevin Rudd’s passing and her own role in some of the momentous decisions of the Rudd government mean the new Prime Minister faces some tough political challenges of her own.
It’s all very well to say the government lost its way - or went off the track - but it’s difficult to sustain the argument that it was all Rudd’s fault if Gillard was one of the drivers in the engine room.
As well, Rudd’s announcement of the challenge to his leadership on Wednesday night contained a direct appeal to the Australian public as the “elected prime minister” and a swipe at the ALP’s factional warlords he had battled for so long.
Reader Eccles finds the media on-line polls - admittedly a very unreliable measure - are running strongly against Gillard:
SMH - Are you more likely to vote Labor with Julia Gillard as leader? 43% Yes - 57% NoAnd on Channel 7, more bad news for Gillard, says reader WKH:
News.com.au - More than 46,000 people had their say in the News Ltd online poll.The state-by-state results were:•NSW - Julia Gillard 33.46 per cent supportI notice that the two states with female premiers have least support, with next WA…
•Victoria - Gillard 43.88 per cent support
•Queensland - Gillard 32.73 per cent support
•South Australia - Gillard 48.02 per cent support
•Western Australia - Gillard 35.36 per cent support
Brisbane Times - Who gets your vote? Gillard 54% Abbott 46%
Canberra Times - Gillard 56.5, Abbott 43.5
National Times - Abbott 57%, Gillard 43%
The Australian - Abbort 64%, Gillard 36%
The Courier Mail - Will Julia Gillard make a good prime minister? No 72%, Yes 28%
It appears the Julia has a LOT of work to do...
Who will you vote for?Channel 9 has a huge turnout, with an even worse result:
Julia Gillard 44% 21147 votes
Tony Abbott 56% 26948 votes
Vote: Will you vote for Julia Gillard in this year’s election?UPDATE 3
Yes 75775
No 153893
And some of Labor’s most vulnerable MPs in Queensland are feeling sick as a Victorian replaces a Queenslander as PM:
A QUEENSLAND Labor MP is reconsidering his future and another has declared the party should have stuck with Kevin Rudd in the fallout from the dramatic leadership overthrow.UPDATE 4
Chris Trevor, the first-term member for the ultra-marginal seat of Flynn, would not comment on his future yesterday.
However Labor Party sources confirmed he was contemplating quitting federal Parliament.
Shellshocked Queensland ALP politicians, many of whom were first elected in 2007 off the back of the Kevin 07 juggernaut, yesterday met to take stock after most could only watch from the sidelines as the cold-blooded coup unfolded.
Jon Sullivan, who holds Longman, the most marginal Labor-held seat in Queensland, told The Courier-Mail he remained loyal to Mr Rudd.
Is the Canberra media once more out of tune with the voters they report to?
Paul Toohey (naively) today’s Daily Telegraph:
It was extraordinary to hear the Australian media applaud both Rudd and Gillard after their respective speeches. The Australian media does not do that. It’s seen as too partisan, too familiar.UPDATE 5
Tom Switzer is sceptical:
As Newspoll, AC Nielsen and reportedly both Liberal and Labor private polling indicate, the key voting constituencies that help turn federal elections are not the so-called doctors’ wives from metropolitan Melbourne and Sydney who care passionately about boat arrivals and man-made global warming. The key voters are sections of the Australian working and lower-middle classes, most notably from the outer suburbs of Sydney and Brisbane and especially the sun-belt seats of Queensland.UPDATE 6
It was these people who formed John Howard’s core support in his election wins, save the GST poll in 1998. It was these people to whom Kevin Rudd appealed in 2007…
Can Gillard win back this crowd? I doubt it, primarily because she and her party are wedged on several key issues that affect the battlers. Take climate change: Gillard insists that a re-elected Labor government would put a price on carbon, which is tantamount to raising prices all along the energy chain. If so, she should be forced to explain how the complicated cap-and-tax scheme affects living standards of lower-middle and working class groups. Not an easy task when nations such as China and India keep chugging along the smoky path to prosperity.
Take refugees. Polls indicate that a broad cross-section of the community supports tough border protection policies. Since the Howard policies were softened 18 months ago, the unlawful arrivals have been accelerating and public confidence in the immigration system has been faltering.
How Gillard reassures battlers that she is tough on boat arrivals while she woos her left-wing base on the side is a difficult challenge.
All the negative polls I’ve mentioned are unreliable phone-in or on-line ones. Channel 9 tonight says it’s commissioned a poll which shows support for Labor back up to 54 per cent, after preferences. No news yet how the preferences were distributed, but Labor’s primary vote is much healthier.
(Thanks to reader Watty.)
===
The challenge explained
Andrew Bolt
Double Take spotted Gillard’s challenge coming months ago.
(Thanks to reader Paul.)
===
Gore a “crazed sex poodle”
Andrew Bolt
It’s a very local warming somewhere around his equator that’s got Profit of Doom Al Gore truly steamed. And, once again, man’s emissions play a crucial role:In a bizarre statement to police, the Oregon woman who claims that Al Gore fondled and groped her during a massage session described the former Vice President as a giggling “crazed sex poodle” who gave a “come hither” look before pouncing on her in a Portland hotel suite.Note: Gore must be presumed innocent. Give the planet (saver) the benefit of the doubt.
In a taped January 2009 interview with cops, the 54-year-old woman, a licensed masseuse whose name has been redacted from police records, read from a lengthy prepared statement that detailed her alleged October 2006 encounter with Gore at the Hotel Lucia.
Excerpts from the Portland Police Bureau transcript of the 2009 interview can be found on the following pages.
In December 2006, a lawyer for the woman told police about the purported encounter, but after the masseuse cancelled three interview appointments, the case was closed due to her refusal to “cooperate with the investigation or even report a crime.” It is unclear why, two years later, she approached Portland police and sought to memorialize her allegations against Gore, who she portrayed as a tipsy, handsy predator who forced her to drink Grand Marnier, pinned her to a bed, and forcibly French kissed her.
The woman’s statement--which could be mistaken for R-rated Vice Presidential fan fiction--describes Gore as a man with a “violent temper as well as extremely dictatorial commanding attitude besides his Mr. Smiley Global Warming concern persona.” After fleeing Gore’s suite, the woman returned home to discover, a la Lewinsky, “stains on the front of my black slacks.” Suspecting that the stains were Gore bodily fluids, the woman made sure not to clean them.
===
Nest of vipers
Andrew Bolt
Latham on who-hates-who now:
FORMER Labor leader Mark Latham is predicting Prime Minister Julia Gillard will eventually be “the next one for the knife” because key ALP figures hate her.===
“(Deputy Prime Minister) Wayne Swan is no fan of hers,” Mr Latham told Sky News today, a day after Ms Gillard toppled Kevin Rudd.
“Gillard has, for reasons I never quite understood, enormous animosity from people like (Anthony) Albanese and (Lindsay) Tanner and (Jenny) Macklin.”
“I don’t know what they did down there in the Victorian left in the 80s and 90s but they hate each other..
Ms Gillard, Australia’s first female prime minister, could struggle to win votes from women in key suburban marginal seats, Mr Latham said.
“Gillard ain’t no soccer mum, so there might be a failure to connect there.”
The Greens have ways to convince you to go solar
Andrew Bolt
When reason is not on your side, try threats:
Spain’s Dr. Gabriel Calzada — the author of a damning study concluding that Spain’s “green jobs” energy program has been a catastrophic economic failure — was mailed a dismantled bomb on Tuesday by solar energy company Thermotechnic.(Thanks to reader Charles.)
Says Calzada:Before opening it, I called [Thermotechnic] to know what was inside … they answered, it was their answer to my energy pieces.
===
No wonder Kevin cried
Andrew Bolt
NO wonder Kevin Rudd cried when he was told he was finished as prime minister.
Never has a leader been shown so little mercy by his own.
And, worse, he was brought undone by a great tearing flaw in his character that, once exposed, robbed him of all his power and most of his dignity.
Just seven months ago, Rudd was still one of the most popular prime ministers we’d had.
What’s more, the Opposition was tearing itself to pieces over global warming, and had Rudd then called a double-dissolution election he most likely would have won.
He blinked - and now he’s the first prime minister to be sacked before he could run for re-election.
How did this happen so fast? The key is Rudd’s character.
Blame the early loss of his father, or just his wiring, but Rudd has had a manic need to assert himself, as if to make up for a deep insecurity.
He’d do whatever was needed to win authority over others, or just praise. He’d be whatever you wanted him to be.
And so he’d tell me one pleasing thing in private, but another populist thing in public. He’d hold press conferences outside his church to impress conservatives, but visit a strip club to impress an editor. He’d talk primly to voters, but abuse a stewardess.
To win the election, he promised to be a Howard-lite, crying: “This sort of reckless spending must stop.” To win applause, he embarked on the greatest spending spree we’ve seen.
And he had to be The Man. As chief of staff to the Queensland premier, or as prime minister visiting an office, he’d show his place in the pecking order by putting his boots on the desk or table.
None of this need matter. But Rudd gave in to the same deep insecurities in trying to run a team of ministers.
He had to decide everything, so delays were endless. Most ministers other than Treasurer Wayne Swan, Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner and Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard were cut out of the loop.
Rudd chose as his most intimate advisers, mostly people barely 30, eminently bully-able, and he ordered his MPs to visit homeless shelters and report back, as if they were children doing homework.
But when he tried his hectoring on the premiers over his health “reforms”, he bought a brawl. And when he repeated the dose on our biggest mining chiefs, he bought a war he could not win.
Those insecurities killed him in the end.
===
Help Doucet find the humanity of the hanged eight-year-old
Andrew Bolt
We were told by the BBC to focus more on the humanity of the Taliban:
A BBC presenter has attacked coverage of Afghanistan’s ongoing war, claiming TV reporters are not covering the ‘humanity of the Taliban’.So let’s try to spot the humanity here:
Lyse Doucet, a presenter and correspondent on BBC World News, was speaking at a discussion of TV reporting of the war in the country…
Asked what was missing in British coverage, she added: ‘It may sound odd but the humanity of the Taliban, because the Taliban are a wide, very diverse group of people.”
THE Taliban’s execution of an eight-year-old accused of ‘’collaborating’’ with foreign forces has proved too much even for Afghans hardened by three decades of fighting.
‘’Islam does not permit anyone to sentence a minor to execution,’’ said Mawlawi Mehr Del, deputy head of the Muslim clerical council in Helmand. ‘’It is against Islam, against sharia. God may be extremely upset with them. Those who do something like this are neither jihadis nor Taliban, they are enemies of human life.’’
Islamic law prohibits the execution of anyone under 18. The Taliban’s own code of conduct, drawn up by the movement two years ago, stipulates that no commander may order the execution of minors.
But a senior Taliban member, Mullah Abdul Bari, suggested that code of conduct did not apply in Helmand: ‘’The code has been changed for Helmand because the number of infidels there has increased, and the Taliban don’t have the time to hold trials.’’ ...
Witnesses said the execution of the child, named Delawar, took place in a garden near his home in the village of Heratian in the Sangin district of Helmand.
About a dozen men took part in the hanging death of the child, whom they accused of spying for British forces. Sangin resident Taza Gol, 60, said the boy screamed for his parents as the militants put a rope around his neck.
===
How hard is Gillard?
Andrew Bolt
The test Julia Gillard set in Opposition:
Another boat on the way. Another policy failure.The problem:
Since the Rudd Government’s cynical election fix of suspending processing of asylum seekers from Afghanistan and Sri Lanka was announced just eleven weeks ago, more than 1,500 people on 34 boats have arrived.Gillard now sets herself the high bar:
While identifying the issue as a problem for Labor, Ms Gillard did not state a new position as sources confirmed she would take time to consult closely with cabinet over the best way to maintain a tough-but-fair border security policy that also satisfied public concern and the nation’s international humanitarian responsibilities.Janet Albrechtsen notes:
“I am full of understanding of the perspective of the Australian people - they want strong management of our borders and I will provide it,” she said.
While she talks now about strong border control, as opposition immigration spokeswoman in 2004 Gillard road-tested a soft-touch immigration policy that was rejected by the hard heads in Labor.
===
Tell us frankly, Julia: will you bring in an ETS after the election?
Andrew Bolt
There are two things that need to be cleared up about Julia Gillard’s sneaky explanation of her policy on the emissions trading scheme - a great tax on emissions that will hurt our economy without stopping global warming.
Here’s what Gillard said yesterday:
I believe climate change is real. I believe that it is caused by human activity. I believe that we have got to therefore change the way we do things and that this nation will in the future need a price on carbon.First question: why wait until after the election just to argue for an emissions trading scheme?
I also believe that if we are to have a price on carbon and do all the things necessary for our economy and our society to adjust we need a deep and lasting community consensus about that. We don’t have it now.
That’s why I said today if elected as Prime Minister at the forthcoming election then I will take the time to reprosecute the case with the Australian community to develop that deep and lasting consensus.
Gillard has said before that we cannot wait to introduce an ETS:Second question: Is Gillard actually saying she’ll introduce an ETS after the election, but without first arguing for it?Delay is denial. This country can’t afford it.Yet now she’s not just delaying the ETS, but will even delay having an argument to change people’s minds.
Why? Isn’t delay denial? And is this just a tricky way to stop talking about an ETS that’s on the nose?
Is Gillard actually treating the election as a referendum for an ETS? A referendum without Labor actually making clear it will introduce an ETS if it wins?
This seems profoundly sneaky, if true.
Shouldn’t Gillard then promise voters not to introduce an ETS before a second election, when it will be explicitly part of Labor’s election platform and p;art of the election debate?
===
Gillard walks clear of the wreckage
Andrew Bolt
JULIA Gillard, our new Prime Minister, shouldn’t be able to get away with this, of course.
Who as deputy to Kevin Rudd - the leader she’s just knifed - said “yes” to his every dud policy?
Who said “yes” to spending billions too much to “save” us from the recession that never came?
Who ticked off on such debacles as the free insulation scheme?
Who then persuaded Rudd to drop his planned emissions trading scheme to “stop” global warming, leaving him looking like an unprincipled humbug?
Who personally supervised the botched distribution of “free” computers in schools, blowing budgets and deadlines?
And who personally led the Building the Education Revolution, the most rorted government program in our history, with perhaps $5 billion lost?
It was Gillard each time. Yes, Gillard, who yesterday conceded she bore her “fair share” of blame for the Government’s failures.
Yet there she was, claiming she’d knocked off Rudd to ensure the Government of which she’d been such a critical part got “back on track”.
Lady Macbeth washes her hands.
Still, her superbly executed assumption of power may just work.
===
Can Gillard beat Rudd’s $250 million a day?
Andrew Bolt
Reader Arthur McArthur rates Rudd that fastest spender in the West:
Rudd took a $20 billion surplus and turned it into a $57 billion deficit: a $77 Billion turnaround.Reader Michael checks the record of women sent in mid-term to clean up the mess made by male Premiers and finds the omens not good for Gillard:
Rudd took the $60 billion ‘Futures Fund’ and turned it into a $100 billion debt: a $160 Billion turnaround.
That’s a net ‘spend’ of $237 Billion in just 944 days, at a rate of $250 million a day ($1.75 Billion a week).
Joan Kirner - 1990 moved from deputy to Victorian premier mid-term. 1992 lost election to KennettUPDATE
Carmen Lawrence – 1990 became WA premier mid-term. Early 1993 lost election to Richard Court (who had replaced Barry McKinnon a year prior)
Anna Bligh – 2007 became Queensland premier mid-term. Won the 2009 election only just. Opinion polls have her in trouble and the only reason she won 2009 was the LNP had so much disunity. The LNP could have won with just 4000 more votes if they were distributed well in the right marginal seats. A travesty.
Kristina Kenneally – 2009 became NSW premier. Yet to see what will happen there, but it doesn’t look good.
Reader Bill says Arthur’s figures are wrong:
Future Fund assets at 31 March 2010 - $67.62 billion. It hasn’t been spent. The other similar funds have total assets of $20.87 billion.UPDATE 2
Senator Barnaby Joyce settles the issue:
When this Government came to power Australia’s gross debt was $59 billion. It is now $147 billion. This Government has spent $88 billion in 935 days. This is a new record for Australian Prime Ministers.
“This Government has been an unmitigated disaster for our country, and even the Labor party now agrees. They have been racking up debt on the national credit card at $95 million a day.
No comments:
Post a Comment