BYRNING DOWN THE HOUSE
Tim Blair – Friday, April 15, 11 (05:04 am)
Marriqville council’s mullahs must decide:
NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell has told the Greens-run Marrickville Council to drop its boycott of Israel or face the sack.
In a letter to Greens Mayor Fiona Byrne, Mr O’Farrell threatened to use his powers under the Local Government Act to move against the Sydney council if it did not comply.
In the letter, the premier gave the council a 28-day deadline.
Ms Byrne may lose her job if she doesn’t back down.
Some of Byrne’s fellow Greens seem inclined to yield:
Greens Councillor Marika Kontellis says the plan may have to be abandoned.
“It may very well be the end of the road for the boycott by Marrickville. It really will depend on how people vote on Tuesday,” Ms Kontellis said.
That vote could be a must-see event. Meanwhile, a pre-election poll turns up some impressive numbers:
It found 63 per cent of Marrickville residents opposed the boycott.
So does the chap at the 39-second mark of this ABC news report.
SALUTE ALLEGED
Tim Blair – Friday, April 15, 11 (04:28 am)
Embarrassment for story-changer Andrew Wilkie:
The man who holds the balance of power in Federal Parliament has been accused of ordering teenage army cadets to salute the 50th anniversary of Hitler’s rise to power in Nazi Germany.
Maverick independent MP Andrew Wilkie last night admitted involvement in “bastardisation” at Duntroon Military College in 1983.
As a senior cadet at Duntroon that year Wilkie was one of a group that allegedly ordered junior cadets to stand to attention and salute to commemorate Hitler becoming Germany’s Chancellor on January 30, 1933.
Wilkie – who says he has “no recollection” of the Hitler incident but admits being disciplined for his treatment of cadets – was just 21 at the time. He could, with some justification, rely on the “young idiot” defence.
THIS WILL CHANGE EVERYTHING
Tim Blair – Friday, April 15, 11 (03:43 am)
In protest against Republican budget proposals, compassionate head-tilters are writing messages on plates and refusing to eat. Their leader is Moby.
445 DAYS UNTIL LABOR’S LABOR-REMOVING TAX
Tim Blair – Thursday, April 14, 11 (11:39 pm)
Another ripper result for Julia Gillard:
West Australian Opposition Leader Eric Ripper has suggested the federal government’s proposed carbon tax is responsible for his poor showing in the latest poll.
According to latest the Newspoll published in The Australian, voter satisfaction with Mr Ripper’s job as opposition leader has dropped its lowest point since he became WA Labor leader after the party’s defeat at the 2008 election.
At this point it almost seems unsporting to be placing bets.
UPDATE. Australians united! Dennis Shanahan reports:
Chief executives of big companies and welders on the shop floor are seeing eye-to-eye on the threats from a carbon tax and the government appears to be losing the argument badly on compensation for want of detail since Julia Gillard announced the carbon tax on February 24.
These changes and difficulties are not just about more complicated and delicate negotiations with MPs on the cross benches but go to the heart of the challenges faced by the government: a lack of authority, a sense of growing cabinet and leadership tension, emboldened critics, community scepticism towards reassurances and a growing list of sections of industry and the community angry with government policies.
Chatting last night with someone close to federal Labor, I said that the government seemed oddly confident in the face of carbon tax criticism. “No,” he said. “They feel doomed.”
COOK THAT MONKEY
Tim Blair – Thursday, April 14, 11 (07:12 pm)
Via the Daily Bayonet, deeply moving scenes of Greenpeace indoctrination:
Don’t miss the flame-broiled monkey baby.
Legging it legal
Andrew Bolt – Friday, April 15, 11 (06:51 am)
Great news for the fitter kind of crook:
A magistrate found that a drunk who sparked a police chase through city streets did not resist police....
Sydney man Andrew Hamilton ran from a Taco Bill restaurant in March last year after an argument about an unpaid $136 bill… Ignoring police sirens and calls for him to stop, Mr Hamilton - who was later cleared of responsibility for the restaurant bill - was eventually arrested near Flinders St station more than 500m away.
He was charged with resisting police, but could not be immediately interviewed because he was too drunk.
In a ruling in Melbourne Magistrates’ Court that is believed to be an Australian first, magistrate Simon Garnett found that Mr Hamilton had a “moral or social duty to stop when requested to do so and assist the police”, but was not legally obliged to do so.
The charge of resisting police was dismissed and Mr Hamilton was awarded costs.
This doesn’t seem right to me at all. Or fair on the fat.
Shouldn’t a powerful politician have a better memory?
Andrew Bolt – Friday, April 15, 11 (06:33 am)
I can identify precisely one person in this story who should be in Parliament. Pity he isn’t:
Maverick independent MP Andrew Wilkie last night admitted involvement in “bastardisation” at Duntroon Military College in 1983.
As a senior cadet at Duntroon that year Wilkie was one of a group that allegedly ordered junior cadets to stand to attention and salute to commemorate Hitler becoming Germany’s Chancellor on January 30, 1933.
When one defiant junior cadet refused to stand at attention in honour of Nazis, Mr Wilkie allegedly allowed other senior cadets to abuse and punish him.
The outspoken former defence analyst - who broke into federal politics after making his name as a whistleblower - refused to meet the man making the allegations this week after publicity about military training abuses.
Mr Wilkie also declined for two days to comment to the Herald Sun on the allegation but yesterday issued a statement admitting involvement in acts of bastardisation at Duntroon. He said he could not recollect the alleged Hitler-salute incident.
Howes: “I now appreciate” how angry members are about Gillard’s tax
Andrew Bolt – Friday, April 15, 11 (06:22 am)
It is what Paul Howes told us on MTR one month ago - but now he’s facing a revolt of his own members to add to his alarm:
Australia’s biggest manufacturing union has called on the government to urgently release details of its protection for industry and householders under a carbon tax, in the face of a growing workers’ revolt on the workshop floor, where union officials are being challenged and jeered for supporting Julia Gillard’s plan.
As Australian Workers Union national secretary Paul Howes prepared for a crisis meeting of union officials today to discuss the impact of the carbon tax, he said his union wanted to ensure that “this carbon price won’t cost a single job”.
Mr Howes, who went on television the night Kevin Rudd was removed as prime minister to declare his union’s support for Ms Gillard as the coup was unfolding, told The Australian last night: “If one job is gone, our support is gone."…
In response to questions about today’s meeting of AWU branch secretaries in Sydney, Mr Howes said he had attended six mass meetings of workers in the past 10 days and was facing angry demands to take action.
“I now appreciate just how upset workers are about the carbon tax,” he said.
Then Howes may as well withdraw his support now, because many, many more jobs than just one will be lost.
News with no views
Andrew Bolt – Friday, April 15, 11 (06:06 am)
In order to better preserve my right to free speech I cannot comment about Marcia Langton’s article, even to correct an error, Nor, on legal advice, may I comment about this news story or this editorial.
For legal reasons I cannot allow you to comment, either.
Fighting back against the demonisation of Israel
Andrew Bolt – Friday, April 15, 11 (05:50 am)
Bravo O’Farrell for standing against a boycott that smacks of bigotry:
AN ultimatum has been given to the Greens-run Marrickville Council by Premier Barry O’Farrell - drop your boycott of Israel or face the sack.
He issued the warning yesterday in a stern letter to Greens Mayor Fiona Byrne, threatening to use his powers under the Local Government Act to move against the Sydney council if it did not comply.
It turns out Byrne’s principles extend only to the point at which they start to cost:
Marrickville Council voted in December to back the global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which boycotts all products said to be directly or indirectly associated with Israel.
A new council business paper declared the sanctions could end up costing ratepayers $4 million if all the recommendations contained within the document were adopted…
Ms Byrne said she will not support all the recommendations and, therefore, ratepayers would not be financially disadvantaged.
Bravo Paul Howes, too:
Australian Workers Union national secretary Paul Howes said yesterday the position of the anti-Israel unions—which include the Queensland branch of the CFMEU and the Sydney branch of the MUA—was divisive, at a time when unity was required.
“A worker is a worker is a worker,” Mr Howes told The Australian. “Creating divisions between Israeli and Palestinian workers is not a good thing.”
Mr Howes revealed he had signed the AWU up with an international labour organisation called Tulip which, according to its website, exists “to challenge the apologists for Hamas and Hezbollah in the labour movement and to fight for a two-state solution to the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians”.
Bravo also The Australian, which has done so much (unlike the Fairfax media) to make the fashionable boycott-Israel movement backed by the NSW Greens suddenly seem so mean, even bigotted and dangerously close to anti-Semitic:
The policy has been labelled a “mistake” by the (federal Greens) federal leader, Bob Brown, and prompted a public rift between him and Greens senator-elect for NSW, Lee Rhiannon, an outspoken supporter of the boycott.
In a combative speech in Melbourne yesterday, federal manager of opposition business Christopher Pyne challenged Julia Gillard to condemn Labor-affiliated unions that support an Israel boycott, and to take action against Human Services Minister Tanya Plibersek, who labelled Israel a “rogue state” in parliament in 2002…
Ms Plibersek told The Australian she no longer held the views she expressed in parliament.
Britain dissolved
Andrew Bolt – Friday, April 15, 11 (12:02 am)
Best that we don’t drift to the point where such speeches become necessary or deserve praise as “brave”:
In his most forthright speech on the issue since he became Prime Minister, he will say that mass immigration has led to “discomfort and disjointedness” in neighbourhoods because some migrants have been unwilling to integrate or learn English.
Pledging to cut the numbers entering Britain to tens of thousands, rather than hundreds of thousands, Mr Cameron will say that “for too long, immigration has been too high"…
Mr Cameron will say: “When there have been significant numbers of new people arriving in neighbourhoods, perhaps not able to speak the same language as those living there, on occasions not really wanting or even willing to integrate, that has created a kind of discomfort and disjointedness in some neighbourhoods.
“This has been the experience for many people in our country and I believe it is untruthful and unfair not to speak about it and address it.”
(Thanks to reader Owen.)
Will Marrickville finally choke on the cost of its hatred of Israel?
Andrew Bolt – Thursday, April 14, 11 (08:05 pm)
How much is their hatred of Israel worth?
A MOVE by a Greens-controlled council in Sydney’s inner west to boycott goods and services from Israel will cost ratepayers at least $3.7 million and force the council to abandon Holden cars and Hewlett-Packard computers, among many other disruptions.The stark warning on the cost of the council’s decision to support the global boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign earlier this year is contained in a paper by the council’s manager of services, Gary Moore, which is due for discussion next week and has been obtained by The Australian.
Marrickville, the only council in Australia that has approved an Israel boycott, has been a hotbed of political controversy since its Greens Mayor Fiona Byrne said she would push for a statewide version of the Israel boycott if elected to the NSW lower house at last month’s election.
During the election campaign, Ms Byrne made contradictory remarks about the boycott, which was a factor in her failure to wrest the seat of Marrickville from Labor MP and former deputy premier Carmel Tebbutt…
Mr Moore’s paper details goods and services the council would have to forgo in order to comply with its directive, such as Hewlett Packard computers, Holden and Volvo cars, telephones and other equipment from Motorola and concrete from Fulton Hogan.
These companies, according to the council’s original motion to join the global BDS movement, “support or profit from the Israeli military occupation of Palestine”.
Singling out Israel of all the countries in the world for such sanctions seems sinister to me. We can only hope that the ratepayers now react from fear of loss of cash with more vigor than their reacted from fear of loss of morality.
(Thanks to many readers.)
Nothing that one more Harmony Day can’t cure
Andrew Bolt – Thursday, April 14, 11 (06:49 pm)
Another day in marvellously multicultural Melbourne:
A 28-year-old man remains in hospital after being attacked by a gang of 10 men as he sat outside a CBD cafe drinking coffee yesterday....
Detective Leading Senior Constable Smith said it was a frenzied attack during which the man had lost a lot of blood… The attackers were described as being of Asian appearance, aged in their late 20s, and wearing dark hooded tops.
And:
A MAN was stabbed in the head during an altercation with two other men at Ascot Vale last night.
Police are seeking witnesses to the assault, which occurred while the victim was walking through a residential car park on Churchill Avenue about 6.40pm… The two attackers are believed to be of African appearance and in their late teens.
Yesterday:
A POLICE investigation into a spate of stabbings in Braybrook in February has been hampered by a lack of co-operation from potential witnesses, according to the investigating officer.
Four stabbings occurred in the space of three hours on the night of February 2 following a festival at the Chùa Quang Minh Temple.
Police said the flurry of violence was gang-related and involved young men described as Asians and Islanders....
About 7.50pm on Tuesday last week, a 24-year-old man was walking along the south side of Irving Street when a man, standing across the street, called out to gain his attention.
The pedestrian approached the caller who lunged, stabbing him in the shoulder with a knife.
The attacker is described as being in his late 20s and of African appearance.
Three days ago:
Two men were assaulted with a baseball bat in Dandenong last Friday. About 12.30am, the Dandenong men, aged 26 and 25, were walking along King Street towards Stud Road after a trip to the supermarket. They were approached by four males, one of whom struck the 25 year old man across the head with a baseball bat. He and his 26-year-old companion attempted to flee, but the 26-year-old man fell and hurt his arm. As he lay on the ground, the man armed with a baseball bat struck him across the head…
A short time later, witnesses saw a grey Toyota Yaris with four men on board drive to the spot where the men were assaulted and steal items from the dropped grocery bags.
Three of the four offenders are believed to be of Asian appearance. The man armed with the baseball bat is of African appearance and was wearing a balaclava.
Four days ago:
Two men were stabbed in a brawl between two groups of men in Melbourne’s southeast early today.
Police said a group of 15 men, aged in their late teens and early 20s, was walking home from a party in Springvale Road, Springvale when an argument erupted with a second group of similar size about 1.30am.
Investigators said the second group of men were carrying knives and set upon the party-goers
Everyone blames everything on global warming
Andrew Bolt – Thursday, April 14, 11 (06:45 pm)
WA Premier Colin Barnett’s performance is explanation enough for his soaring poll figures, but if Labor starts to freak over the carbon dioxide tax as well, I won’t try calm its nerves:
Labor’s two-party preferred vote of 43 per cent is still well below the 48.1 per cent it recorded at the 2008 election. and trails the Barnett government’s 57 per cent support.
Mr Ripper said the poll, conducted between January and March, coincided with the failed leadership challenge by then opposition treasury spokesman Ben Wyatt.
It also came as Julia Gillard announced her plans for a carbon tax, he said…
“I agree on a need for a price on carbon but that’s an issue which will require a long-term fight to explain to people the compensation they will get.”
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