=== Todays Toon ===
Captain Philip Gidley King RN (23 April 1758 – 3 September 1808) was a British naval officer and colonial administrator. He is best known as the official founder of the first European settlement on Norfolk Island and as the third Governor of New South Wales.=== Bible Quote ===
“so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”- Ephesians 3:17-19=== Headlines ===
Deadly tornadoes and treacherous thunderstorms tear through several states, leveling dozens of homes and killing seven peopleTerror Plot Details Revealed
Court documents show alleged motives of suspects in N.J. terror raid — including plans to kill Americans
Ex-Bush Rep Takes on Helen Thomas
Ari Fleischer says White House reporter should be fired for telling rabbi Israelis should 'get the hell out of Palestine'
BP's Oil Cap Is Working, but...
Containment cap that has siphoned some oil offers glimmer of hope, but problems could persist for months
Guard shot in armed robbery dies
A SECURITY guard has died after being shot in the chest in a botched armed robbery today.
ASX down as global debt fears spread
SHARES down almost 3pc as fears the Europe debt crisis could spread spooked investors.
Rudd faces voter desertion over mining
LABOR could lose up to 29 seats at this year's election as poll shows voters reject mining tax. THE results of two new polls show the Federal Government will lose the next election, with voter dissatisfaction over the proposed $12 billion mining super profits tax a key issue. A Newspoll survey, commissioned by the mining industry, shows 48 per cent of those polled are against the new tax and 28 per cent support it, but marginal seats in Western Australia and Queensland would swing the vote to the Opposition, The Australian reports.Cancer shock for World Cup squad
AUSSIE player forced to leave team on eve of World Cup after devastating news about his son.
Ernie Dingo's open marriage revealed
FORMER Channel 7 host Ernie Dingo is living in an open marriage his wife tells magazine.
Street pastors calm angry revellers
VOLUNTEERS from 13 churches are hitting the streets to curb late-night violence in Sydney.
$300m business gift in budget payroll cut
PAYROLL tax cuts worth more than $300 million will be announced in the NSW Budget.
Kristina Keneally kept public in dark over ICAC inquiry involving Ian Macdonald
PREMIER Kristina Keneally referred corruption allegations over Ian Macdonald's flight upgrades to ICAC last week - but she failed to tell the public. Even when asked in Parliament if she would hold an investigation, Ms Keneally did not mention the ICAC inquiry. Instead, she continued to stand by the then minister over his controversial honeymoon trip to Dubai and Italy, which has now cost him his job.$300m business gift in budget payroll cut
PAYROLL tax cuts worth more than $300 million will be announced in the NSW Budget.
Premier Kristina Keneally rules out Star City Casino's 1000 extra pokies request
NEW South Wales Premier Kristina Keneally has ruled out Star City's plea for an extra 1000 poker machines. Casino executives asked for the pokies to pay for a massive redevelopment. In exchange, they had pledged a $65 million entertainment centre which major international acts could use
Scientists excited by signs of life on Saturn's moon
EVIDENCE of life has been discovered on Saturn's biggest moon, Titan. Analysis of data sent back by NASA's Cassini probe suggests primitive aliens are breathing in Titan's atmosphere and feeding on fuel at the surface. The startling discoveries, made using an orbiting spacecraft, are revealed in two separate reports. Organic chemicals had already been detected on Titan but the liquid is methane, not water, and scientists expect life there to be methane-based. The first paper said hydrogen gas flowing down through Titan's atmosphere disappears at the surface, suggesting it could be being breathed by alien bugs. The other paper reports there is a lack of a certain chemical on the surface, leading scientists to believe it may be being consumed by life.=== Comments ===
EMBIGGEN THE NATIONTim Blair
Not one single human being in the planet’s history has ever died of overpopulation.
Lots of people is never the problem. Too little food and water, on the other hand, will kill you. The two circumstances aren’t related; availability of resources is dependent on economic development rather than the number of people sharing a certain space.
If things were otherwise, Sydney would be littered with scrawny corpses while the sparse Tuareg nomads of Africa would be known as the Sahara Lardarses. Five million people packed into a former penal colony will thrive if they have access to resources that can sustain five million people. Drop one urban green into the massive Congo River Basin, however, and he’ll starve to death before his mobile is flat.
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UNEXPECTED COMMENTS FROM FAMOUS PEOPLE
Tim Blair
Via the Guardian‘s “This I Know” series:
• Actor Michael Caine: “I moved to America when they put the tax up here to 82%. I said, ‘I’m out of here,’ and I never came back until Maggie put it down.”
• Python Eric Idle: “I was once mistaken for Brian Jones, the Rolling Stones guitarist.”
• Comedienne Joan Rivers: “I was at a dinner party where one actress had adopted a child from Africa and she was saying: ‘I want my children to know their heritage.’ I said: ‘Lock them in a room and throw them a jar of flies.’ “
• Actress Jenny Agutter: “I really like rap music.”
• Conservationist David Bellamy: “I’ve always liked motor cars. I’ve been a petrolhead all my life.”
• TV chef Jamie Oliver: “I wouldn’t employ me, frankly.”
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THEY ARE AS ONE
Tim Blair
Greens, unionists, students, socialists and people with Che banners stand in solidarity with Sheikh Taj el-Din al Hilaly and Iran:
It’s Blair’s Law, friends. We’re seeing it happen right here in Sydney.
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RUDD THUD
Tim Blair
A happy new poll to start the week:
The Rudd government would be wiped out if an election were held today with the latest Herald/Nielsen poll showing the Coalition ahead of Labor for the first time in more than four years and disillusioned voters flocking to the Greens and independents.Those two-party preferred numbers would quickly cinch back to about 50-50 if an election date were announced. As pollster John Stirton notes, there is a large protest element at play here that would burn off if things got serious. Still, the trend is interesting:
The poll shows the Coalition leading Labor on a two-party-preferred basis by 53 per cent to 47 per cent, an increase of 3 percentage points to the Coalition in a month …
Disturbingly for the government, only 55 per cent of voters now believe it will win the next election, a fall from 71 per cent only two months ago.
Since the last poll a month ago, Labor’s primary vote has slumped 4 points to 33 per cent – the lowest for Labor since just after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks – while the Coalition’s primary vote nudged up 1 point to 43 per cent.All good. But:
The only downside for the opposition was Tony Abbott’s approval rating plunging over the last month to the same level as Mr Rudd’s.We’re at an unexpected point in this race when a Liberal leader’s approval rating has to “plunge” in order to match Rudd’s. Malcolm Turnbull tried the plunging tactic and never even got close.
Mr Rudd, who once enjoyed stratospheric popularity, continues to fall from favour.And the Greens are up to 15 per cent – a massive 15 per cent! – prompting this call:
His approval rating fell 4 points to 41 per cent and his disapproval rating rose 3 points to 52 per cent.
The Greens leader, Bob Brown, said given the rise in support for his party, he should be allowed to participate in the leaders’ debate during the election campaign.I agree. Let the man speak! The Greens are picking up default numbers lately, but putting Bob Brown next to Rudd and Abbott would likely drive voters back to the major parties. Although it would be fun to see the Greens peel seats away from Lindsay Tanner and Tanya Plibersek. Incidentally, put me down among the 55 per cent who still expect a Labor victory, but I’d be a little nervous now if I had a lot of money on it. The mood among punters is pro-Labor, too. A Labor win is currently paying from between $1.35 to $1.40. The Libs? From $2.95 way out to $4.00.
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ISSUE RAISED, DISPUTED, SOLVED
Tim Blair
John Hawkins presents the 20 hottest conservative women in the new media. Newsweek gets all huffy about it. Lori Ziganto, one of the 20 hottest, sets them straight.
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Labor faces wipeout - unless it ditches Rudd
Andrew Bolt
Stunning:
THE Rudd government would be wiped out if an election were held today with the latest Herald/Nielsen poll showing the Coalition ahead of Labor for the first time in more than four years and disillusioned voters flocking to the Greens and independents.So much for Labor’s last conceit and consolation - that however bad Kevin Rudd is, the voters could never go for Tony Abbott.
The poll shows the Coalition leading Labor on a two-party-preferred basis by 53 per cent to 47 per cent, an increase of 3 percentage points to the Coalition in a month.
This represents a swing of 5.7 per cent to the Coalition since the last election which, if replicated uniformly at an election, would strip Labor of 29 seats.
Newspoll says Rudd is being killed now by his “super profits” tax - which is a disaster, since it would kill what’s left of his credibility if he backflipped on that, too:
As Kevin Rudd faces calls from leading business figures, the mining industry and state premiers to revamp or drop the tax, 78 per cent of voters in crucial marginal seats agree the tax should be made more acceptable to the mining industry or dropped…Again I ask: how much longer do you give Rudd as leader?
According to a Newspoll survey commissioned by the mining industry, of 1800 voters in the Labor marginal seats of Dawson, Flynn and Longman in Queensland, Wakefield, Hindmarsh and Kingston in South Australia, and Perth, Brand and Hasluck in WA, 48 per cent of those polled were against the new tax and 28 per cent supported it.
I would offer this qualification, though: Abbott still does need to do more convincing that he’s an alternative leader, and not just a leading critic. Second, in an election, this kind of protest vote is replaced more by a judgement on who’s offering the best for the future.
That said, Labor is still in deep, deep strife, with a leader who few people now want to listen to or will believe when they do.
UPDATE
Dennis Shanahan:
The weekend’s events produced another snapshot of the government’s problems. Four illegal boat arrivals within the 48 hours of Friday and Saturday undermined the Prime Minister’s claims that Labor’s tough new actions would stop the boats. News emerged of new roofing insulation-related fires, highlighting the government’s impotence over the botched $2.45bn scheme, and pressure continued over waste in the $16.2bn school building stimulus program.It’s personal:
These things are happening as polling has shown the government has already lost the fight on the new mining tax, and is suffering from its $38 million advertising campaign to counter the mining companies’ ads.
The speed of the collapse in Labor’s support suggests not a drift but a rupture - Rudd’s popularity has collapsed from 59 per cent to 41 per cent in two months.Michelle Grattan retains hope:
And the government’s standing has suffered accordingly. “This is a big protest against the government,’’ said the Herald’s pollster, Nielsen’s John Stirton. ‘’It looks like a protest against Kevin Rudd.”..
“Once you start to believe a person is unreliable - I hesitate to use the word untrustworthy - you start to view all their policies through that framework,” said Stirton.
Tony Abbott isn’t pulling across to the Coalition as many of the disillusioned voters as he should.I agree Abbott needs to do work, but this is not the evidence for it, and overstates Abbott’s problems. After all, global warming is THE issue for green voters - there is none greater - and Rudd’s reputation-trashing backflip on his emissions trading scheme would have two inevitable consequences. First, passionate warmists would desert Rudd; second, they would desert to the Left. These are voters that would never vote Liberal, and the Liberals would be suicidal to chase them.
Pollster John Stirton, who says the result still looks like a protest, observes Labor is down 10 points on 2007, but the Coalition is getting only 10 per cent of that, with 90 per cent going to the Greens and independents. The opposition’s biggest problem is that Abbott is just as unpopular, if not more so, than Rudd, Stirton says.
Only commentators who still think global warming alarmism is rational and non-ideological would see in Abbott’s failure to pick up green deserters from Labor some vote in no confidence in him personally.
Indeed, it’s chasing these voters that killed Malcolm Turnbull’s leadership, and it’s defying them that has brought Abbott such success.
UPDATE
Someone has got this badly wrong. The Labor-aligned Essential Media puts Labor ahead, 52 to 48.
UPDATE 2
And this will only make it harder for Rudd to sell both his radical new tax and his economic credentials:
THE Australian sharemarket rout shows no signs of easing as a further $35.67 billion was slashed off the value of domestic stocks today.
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May data: little change
Andrew Bolt
The El Nino seems to be ending, and the latest UAH satellite data suggests the global temperature has stayed at the same slightly elevated level for three months. The next few months will be interesting.
Anthony Watts:
In the race for the hottest calendar year, 1998 still leads with the daily average for 1 Jan to 31 May being +0.65 C in 1998 compared with +0.59 C for 2010. (Note that these are not considered significantly different.) As of 31 May 2010, there have been 151 days in the year. From our calibrated daily data, we find that 1998 was warmer than 2010 on 96 of them.
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No wonder he cancelled
Andrew Bolt
The Rudd Government can’t even design a simple mug properly, let alone run a country.===
Japan seethes
Andrew Bolt
Kevin Rudd sacrifices another ally for cheap political points at home:
Japanese officials believe the Rudd Government is willing to risk Australia’s relationship with Japan to help it win the election.Is there nothing this Government won’t trash to win a worthless vote? The damage done already is alarming.
The recent decision to take Japan to the International Court of Justice to try to end its “scientific whaling” program has been anticipated for years.
It was a 2007 election commitment but was only initiated a week ago because the legal case is so fraught.
But the manner in which it was announced - on the same day Labor ditched an election commitment on political advertising - appalled the Japanese Government.
Japanese officials have told the ABC that “on balance” it is hard to escape the conclusion that the Australian Government is prepared to risk the relationship for domestic political ends
Let’s stocktake. Lee Kuan Yew, still the real power in Singapore, privately considers Rudd a flake who’s offended the region with his look-at-me plans for an Asia forum. India is offended by Rudd’s ban on sales of uranium for the (clean) power it badly needs. Indonesia is unimpressed by Rudd’s highhandedness and his people smuggling policies, which have turned it once more into a half-way house for boat people. Japan has been snubbed and now threatened.
And China, which has sent several signals that it consider Rudd a lightweight whose word means little, now has this Rudd insult to consider:
Those Chinese f..kers are trying to rat-f..k us.Rudd must be replaced in the national interest.
(Thanks to reader Alan RM Jones.)
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Treat boat people as potential terrorists: Indonesia
Andrew Bolt
An Indonesian general says what Kevin Rudd (and the media) refused to hear from Wilson Tuckey:
INDONESIAN police have moved to treat all asylum-seekers passing through the country on their way to Australia as potential terror suspects.But remember the fuss when Liberal MP Wilson Tuckey said something similar, referring also to the clear risk of Tamil Tigers coming over:
The new approach comes with help from the Australian Federal Police, who have helped Jakarta to build a computer database that can cross-check illegal immigrant and terrorism arrests…
(Indonesia’s) most senior police officer in charge of transnational crime… Brigadier General Saud Usman Nasution said at least one recent people-smuggler arrest in Indonesia had suggested a direct link to international terrorism, possibly al-Qaeda…
“I think they (terrorists) will always change their modus operandi, and will come to areas with a new cover as an asylum-seeker,” General Nasution said.
“If they come as an asylum-seeker, it’s not easy for us to arrest them, because we have no data about them.”
He said terrorist agents could have already made it to Australia as asylum-seekers.
What Liberal MP Wilson Tuckey actually said:UPDATE
There could be the occasional terrorist in a boatload of people. If you wanted to get into Australia and you have bad intentions, what do you do? You insert yourself in a crowd of a hundred for which there is great sympathy for the other 99. You go on a system where nobody brings their papers, you have no identity, you have no address.
Kevin Rudd’s reaction:
I think these are deeply divisive, disgusting remarks and they do not belong in any mainstream political party… Mr Turnbull should show some leadership and withdraw his support for Mr Tuckey’s preselection as a Liberal candidate for the next election.
I cannot reveal the reader’s name our how she has heard this:
Here in Newcastle harbour I’ve been told our commercial floating dock at Forgacs Ltd is tentatively booked to take a ship for conversion from gas platform purposes to accommodation purposes under lease by the federal government, and is destined for Christmas Island. Forgacs has a forward list of navy and commercial oil and gas work extending into the next couple of years under government and private contracts.How symbolic. Reassigning a ship working on gas projects (threatened by Rudd’s tax) into accommodation for boat people (lured by Rudd’s weakness).
But we’re yet to confirm the facts.
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Beattie warns: Rudd’s bungling raises fears of sovereign risk
Andrew Bolt
Former Queensland Premier Peter Beattie says he cannot speak freely about Kevin Rudd, but what he still manages to say should be devastating:
MONICA ATTARD: Peter the Government is facing a few challenges these days to its credibility. There’s a bungled insulation program. And I’m sure you’ve kept up with all of this from LA.The problem for Labor is not just that tax itself may be disastrous. It’s that Rudd’s management of it is a disaster of its own.
PETER BEATTIE: (Laughs)
MONICA ATTARD: The schools program seemingly in chaos.
PETER BEATTIE: I’ve tried not to (laughs).
MONICA ATTARD: A partially ditched ETS and now the mining tax which is causing enormous heartache ... In this volatile time is bringing in a mining tax and driving away foreign dollars, does that seem like a bad move to you?
PETER BEATTIE: Well let me answer my own question rather than yours because yours is too difficult politically for me to answer even though I’m retired.
The reality is that if you are going to bring that sort of tax in Monica what you have to do is to make sure you consult the industry so they when they look at their global operations - all these mining companies by and large are global…
You’re looking at the real global players like Rio Tinto, like BHP Billiton, like Vale which is a Brazilian company, like Xstrata. They look at the world. They will say well where is the highest risk? Now they will invest where the certainty is when they have uncertain times.
That’s the problem for Australia....
MONICA ATTARD: ... In your mind is this tax representative of a sovereign risk for this country?
PETER BEATTIE: Frankly if there had been more consultation about it and the industry had been dragged in and it was flagged with them and they had a chance to make a submission the answer is no.
The problem is when you have uncertainty and it comes in within a short period of time without that level of consultation, then you start to raise those sorts of issues. It’s a perception issue...
UPDATE
My boss at MTR isn’t impressed, either, and has an election slogan for Tony Abbott:
ADVERTISING veteran John Singleton is willing to sell just about anything - except Kevin Rudd. Mr Singleton, whose campaigns helped win elections for former Labor Prime Ministers Bob Hawke and Paul Keating, says he hates the Prime Minister’s “mad” proposed mining super profits tax.My own election slogan for the Liberals:
He hates it so much he would even be willing to make advertisements for Opposition Leader Tony Abbott with the slogan: ”I’m not Kevin Rudd, I’ve got cauliflower ears and I don’t talk gobbledygook.”..
“...Rudd seems so bloody weak and wishy-washy on everything. Everything he stood for, he’s backed down on, and if he backs down on this, he can’t win…
“Kevin Rudd, I know a lot of guys close to him and I’ve never heard anyone say anything good about him, except he’s good at winning elections and he talks s--t”
Vote Abbott. He couldn’t possibly be worse.(Thanks to readers Peter and Nonna.)
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“Peace activists”?
Andrew Bolt
More on the “humanitarians” on board the Mavi Marmara that was intercepted by Israel, with the loss of nine lives:
Israel released the names on Sunday of the Turkish passengers aboard the Marvi Marmara who it claims have been involved in terror activities.UPDATE
Among those named was Fatima Mohammadi (31), from Iran, who lives in the US and is active in the group Viva Palestine. Mahmadi tried to bring electronic components into the Gaza Strip, which Israel has forbidden.
Ken O’Keefe was also accused by the IDF of having ties to terror. O’Keefe (41), who holds US and British citizenship, was described by the IDF as an “extreme Israel-hating activist, Hamas activist. His aim was to reach Gaza for training and to set up commando units for Hamas.”
There were also two Turks on the list released by the IDF. Hassan Aynsey (28), a member of a Turkish charity association, regularly transfers funds to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement, the IDF claimed. Hussein Orush, from the Turkish IHH organization, intended to assist al-Qaeda activists into the Strip via Turkey.
Ahmed Omemun (51) from Morocco, who also has French citizenship, is a Hamas activist, according to the IDF.
It’s now being claimed by Hamas apologists that this exchange - with protesters on board the flotilla jeering “go back to Auschwitz” and “don’t forget 9-11? - was an Israeli hoax:
The IDF clarifies:
Yesterday evening on 4 June 2010, the IDF released an audio recording of a radio transmission between the Israeli Navy vessel and the Flotilla ships wherein unidentified flotilla passengers tell the Israeli Navy vessel to “shut up, go back to Auschwitz” and “we’re helping Arabs go against the US, don’t forget 9/11.” There have been questions regarding the authenticity of the recording as well as its attribution to a communication with the Mavi Marmara.The full, unedited tape does the flotilla organisers no favours at all:
So to clarify: the audio was edited down to cut out periods of silence over the radio as well as incomprehensible comments so as to make it easier for people to listen to the exchange. We have now uploaded the entire segment of 5 minutes and 58 seconds in which the exchange took place and the comments were made.
This transmission had originally cited the Mavi Marmara ship as being the source of these remarks, however, due to an open channel, the specific ship or ships in the “Freedom Flotilla” responding to the Israeli Navy could not be identified. During radio transmissions between Israeli Navy and the ships of the “Free Gaza” Flotilla on 31 May 2010, the Israeli Navy ship attempts to make contact with the ‘Defne Y’ on channel 1-6. Other ships from the flotilla respond on the channel, without identifying themselves. At some point during the radio exchange the Israeli Navy is told by one of the ships to “shut up, go back to Auschwitz” (2:05) and “don’t forget 9-11? (5:42).
UPDATE 2
I’ve long said Israel was recklessly slow to catch up with ways to exploit the new media in responding to the propaganda barrage of its more techno-savvy critics, and never was that clearer than in responding to atrocity claims in the operation in South Lebanon (the Red Cross ambulance bombing hoax) or Operation Cast Lead (the bombing of the UN school hoax and other massacre claims).
The IDF response to the shootings on the aid flotilla shows it’s got a lot faster and (thus) more effective at last.
But The Australian’s John Lyons notes that in the rush and bombardment of pro-Israeli propaganda has come gaps and mistakes - or falsehoods:
The Israeli army has a team of people going through hundreds of videotapes looking to prove violence against them… But what about a key scene: the shoot-out in which the commandos shoot dead nine activists? Why haven’t those pictures been released yet?…I can’t see anything in this so far that isn’t explained by rush, adrenalin, a lack of TV cameramen right on the spot of the worst fighting ,and an unwillingness to show the IDF shooting people, no matter how justified. But it’s worth noting.
Within four hours of the confrontation, Israeli Foreign Ministry officials rang me and other journalists to claim the soldiers were shot at first. They were insistent that one commando had had his weapon “snatched” as he boarded. So where are the pictures of the commando having his weapon snatched?…
For the past week, journalists have been invited to briefings of anonymous commandos. I went to one where “Sergeant Y” said he saw two colleagues fired on with live ammunition and both were “on the floor spitting blood”.
He’d gone onto the boat only with his “bare hands”. He later changed that to taking on a paint-ball gun.
Then another anonymous briefing was told that all the commandos were armed with hand guns. Then the IDF released pictures of the commandos coming off the ship carrying M-16s…
Then, at yet another secret briefing, “Staff Sergeant S” claimed he saw three colleagues lying unconscious as he slid down a rope. Somehow he knew instantly that one had his head fractured and two had been shot.
Asked about the claims of commandos becoming unconscious, an IDF spokesman told Media there had been “a lot of pushing and shoving” and “I know for sure there was a moment at the beginning that they don’t remember”. Not remembering is not quite unconsciousness…
Soldiers spitting blood has become “they were thrown to the ground"…
Initially, the head of the IDF’s media unit, Major Avital Leibovich, insisted the activists had two pistols. Last night another IDF spokesman said only one pistol had been found. But Major David Elmaliach, who searched the boat, announced no gun had been found on any boat.
And now the number of fractured skulls is down to one. Could we see the X-ray please?
Still, if Lyon wants evidence that Israeli soliders on board the Mavi Marmara were truly injured, here’s a picture from an unimpeachable source - the Islamist IHH “charity” which arranged the stunt and took this photograph of an IDF commando bleeding from the face and groin, while trying to fend off the “peace activists” and “humanitarians” around him:
More of the IHH photos (published in a Turkish paper) here, including this:
UPDATE 3Speaking of giving out only half the story, here’s the IHH picture Reuters sent out of an Israeli soldier in the hands of the “humanitarians” and “peace activists”:
Funnily enough, in cropping the picture it removed the evidence that one of the “humanitarians” and “peace activists” was threatening the soldier with a knife:
Charles Johnson has a close-up, and another damning detail Reuters obscured.Indeed, note how Reuters cropped the first of this series of photographs, too, cutting out the knife held by the “humanitarian” on the right;
The original:
It’s not the first time that Reuters’ photographers in the Middle East have helped to whip up anti-Israeli feeling with a little, um, creativity:(Thanks to reader David N.)
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Another promise doesn’t compute
Andrew Bolt
Another dud promise:
TASMANIA’S school students have been shortchanged by the Federal Government, the Federal Opposition says. Less than one third of the computers promised under the computers in schools program have so far been delivered, according to figures obtained during Senate Estimates Committee hearings last week.UPDATE
And then there’s always the unintended consequences:
TRADESMEN working on school building projects around the country are being blamed for the unexpected fall in housing construction over the past six months.One of the most surprising details buried in last week’s national accounts was a 4.3 per cent fall in investment in new housing following a 3.2 per cent drop in the December quarter.(Thanks to reader CA.)
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If it’s not recorded, you weren’t assaulted
Andrew Bolt
This is one way to produce statistics showing Victoria is the “safest state”:
POLICE aren’t recording thousands of violent crimes that are being phoned in to 000. Figures released to the Herald Sun exclusively reveal police were dispatched to attend 45,900 assaults in Melbourne and Geelong last year, almost double the 25,300 recorded by police.
The discrepancy has ignited fresh debate over the level of violence, police officer numbers, and the accuracy of official crime figures.
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Vote Labor and vote often, whoever you are
Andrew Bolt
Labor is keener on their votes than on their bona fides:
A PLAN to allow people to vote for a new State Government without first registering on the electoral roll will lead to rorting, the state Opposition says.More votes for Labor, that is.
And the Opposition claims it could be easier to vote for a new government than to hire a DVD under proposed new arrangements.
The State Government has unveiled plans to change the law so people can join the electoral roll on election day and cast their vote. The law changes would also mean school students who turn 18 are automatically enrolled.
Victorian Attorney-General Rob Hulls said the move would lead to tens of thousands of more votes on polling day.
(Thanks to reader CA.)
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The Sheikh of hate
Andrew Bolt
Paul Sheehan wonders what an earth a senior religious figure is doing preaching war, and why Labor let in such a hate-monger:
On the steps of Sydney Town Hall in the wet dusk of last Tuesday, the former mufti of Australia, Sheikh Taj el-Din al Hilaly, raised his arms and asked for silence as the crowd chanted anti-Israel slogans and waved the flags of Turkey, Lebanon, Palestine and the Socialist Alliance.(Thanks to readers Marie and Jarrod.)
‘’Israel is a terrorist state. Yes?’’
The crowd cheered. A series of chants drowned out his next sentence, which ended with the words, ‘’a clear message to the Israeli government.’’
‘’Listen!’’ cried Hilaly, and the crowd grew silent.
He then lifted a Turkish flag and said, ‘’Turkey is coming!’’
More Cheers. A section of the crowd, young men, broke into a chant of ‘’Allahu akbar!’’
Hilaly continued: ‘’Turkey is coming. And Iran is ready!’’
This was greeted with more cheers.
Iran is ready? For what? If you were to ask Hilaly, his record suggests you would receive disingenuous piffle of the type he has been offering for years whenever questioned about his war-mongering, especially the comments he has made in Arabic when he thought he would not be scrutinised in the wider society.
For this you can thank Paul Keating and his government and the NSW Labor machine, for overriding the advice of the Australian intelligence community that Hilaly be deported. He was too useful to Labor…
Where does the Australian Human Rights Commission stand on matters such as calls to religious war made in Australia? It has nothing to say.
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Bligh slumps
Andrew Bolt
Queensland is becoming so over Labor, whether it’s Rudd or Bligh - who won’t be able to help her old ally much in this year’s election:
ANNA Bligh’s personal popularity has sunk to a dramatic new low, hampering hope of a Labor resurgence…(Thanks to reader CA.)
(The Galaxy poll showed) the number of people dissatisfied with Ms Bligh’s performance hitting 69 per cent, up from 64 per cent in February. Only one in four were satisfied…
On a preferred premier basis, (Opposition leader John-Paul) Langbroek leads Ms Bligh 43 per cent to 36, a major result for such a low-profile leader.
According to the Galaxy poll of 800 voters taken late last week, the Liberal Nationals lead 55 per cent to 45 on a two-party preferred basis, with Labor’s vote recovering four points.
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The price of Rudd’s tax goes up again
Andrew Bolt
Meanwhile, Kevin Rudd’s super tax costs another project:
ANOTHER major mine development is in doubt over the super-profits tax, turning boom to gloom in the outback Queensland town of Cloncurry.
The Australian understands that Perth-based FMR Investments put on hold last week plans to reopen the Eloise copper mine near Cloncurry, 1800km northwest of Brisbane, where the community is reeling from Xstrata group’s move to mothball the $600 million expansion of its Ernest Henry mine.
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Billions more at risk
Andrew Bolt
Another warning that the Rudd Government’s $43 billion broadband scheme may be a colossal waste of money:
ONLY 16 per cent of homes and businesses passed by national broadband network fibre-optic would choose to connect to it, even after 15 years.Tasmania is the state chosen for the initial roll-out.
The surprisingly low estimates were prepared by the Tasmanian government and have been released to The Australian under Freedom of Information law, in a ruling by state Ombudsman Simon Allston.
Also released are documents showing Tasmania initially wanted the NBN rolled out mostly via wireless technology - rather than fibre - as a more cost-effective delivery method.
(Thanks to reader cynical1.)
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