===
- 1834 – The German Customs Union instituted the first regular census in Germany.
- 1854 – At least 22 people were killed and 35 others were injured when rebelling miners at the Eureka Stockade in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia, clashed violently with the police and the military.
- 1960 – The musical Camelot (Julie Andrews and Richard Burtonpictured), which would become associated with John F. Kennedy's presidency, opened on Broadway.
- 1984 – Methyl isocyanate and other toxic chemicals were accidentally released from the Union Carbide India Limited pesticide plant inBhopal, India, causing the world's largest industrial disaster.
- 1997 – Representatives from 121 countries signed the Ottawa Treatybanning the use of anti-personnel land mines.
===
Births
- 1368 – King Charles VI of France (d. 1422)
- 1560 – Jan Gruter, Dutch critic (d. 1627)
- 1596 – Nicolò Amati, Italian violin maker (d. 1684)
- 1684 – Ludvig Holberg, Norwegian historian and writer (d. 1754)
- 1722 – Hryhorii Skovoroda, Ukrainian philosopher, poet, teacher and composer (d. 1794)
- 1729 – Antonio Soler, Spanish composer (d. 1783)
- 1755 – Gilbert Stuart, American painter (d. 1828)
- 1776 – Johann Spurzheim, German neuroscientist (d. 1832)
- 1800 – France Prešeren, Slovenian poet (d. 1849)
- 1826 – George B. McClellan, American Civil War general (d. 1885)
- 1838 – Cleveland Abbe, American meteorologist (d. 1916)
- 1838 – Octavia Hill, British housing and open-space activist (d. 1912)
- 1842 – Phoebe Hearst, American socialite (d. 1919)
- 1842 – Charles Alfred Pillsbury, American industrialist (d. 1899)
- 1842 – Ellen Swallow Richards, American scientist (d. 1911)
- 1857 – Joseph Conrad, Polish-born British writer (d. 1924)
- 1864 – Herman Heijermans, Dutch writer (d. 1924)
- 1872 – William Haselden, Spanish cartoonist (d. 1953)
- 1875 – Émile Delchambre, French rower (d. 1958)
- 1875 – Max Meldrum, Scottish-born Australian painter (d. 1955)
- 1878 – Francis A. Nixon, American businessman and the father of U.S. President Richard Nixon (d. 1956)
- 1879 – Albert Asher, New Zealand rugby player (d. 1965)
- 1879 – Charles Hutchison, American film actor, director and screenwriter (d. 1949)
- 1879 – Kafū Nagai, Japanese author, playwright, essayist and diarist (d.1959)
- 1879 – Donald Matheson Sutherland, Canadian physician and politician (d. 1970)
- 1880 – Fedor von Bock, German field marshal (d. 1945)
- 1880 – Alexander Hall, Canadian football player (d. 1943)
- 1883 – Anton Webern, Austrian composer (d. 1945)
- 1884 – Rajendra Prasad, first President of India (d. 1963)
- 1884 – Walther Stampfli, member of the Swiss Federal Council (d. 1965)
- 1886 – Manne Siegbahn, Nobel laureate (d. 1978)
- 1887 – Naruhiko, Prince Higashikuni of Japan (d. 1990)
- 1888 – Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog, Polish-born Chief Rabbi of Ireland and of Israel (d. 1959)
- 1889 – Khudiram Bose, Indian Revolutionary (d. 1908)
- 1894 – Deiva Zivarattinam, Indian politician (d. 1975)
- 1895 – Anna Freud, Austrian-born British psychoanalyst (d. 1982)
- 1899 – Ikeda Hayato, Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1965)
- 1900 – Ulrich Inderbinen, Swiss mountain guide (d. 2004)
- 1900 – Richard Kuhn, Austrian-German biochemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1967)
- 1902 – Mitsuo Fuchida, Japanese captain (d. 1976)
- 1908 – Edward Underdown, English actor (d. 1989)
- 1911 – Nino Rota, Italian composer (d. 1979)
- 1918 – Abdul Haris Nasution, Indonesian general (d. 2000)
- 1921 – Phyllis Curtin, American soprano
- 1922 – Sven Nykvist, Swedish cinematographer (d. 2006)
- 1923 – Moyra Fraser, British actress (d. 2009)
- 1923 – Stjepan Bobek, Yugoslav football player (d. 2010)
- 1924 – Wiel Coerver, Dutch football manager (d. 2011)
- 1924 – Roberto Mières, Argentine racing driver
- 1924 – John Winter, Australian high jumper (d. 2007)
- 1924 – Francisco Sionil José, Filipino novelist, Philippine National Artist for Literature
- 1925 – Ferlin Husky, American singer (d. 2011)
- 1925 – Kim Dae-jung, South Korean President, Nobel laureate (d. 2009)
- 1927 – Andy Williams, American singer (d. 2012)
- 1928 – Thomas M. Foglietta, American politician (d. 2004)
- 1930 – Jean-Luc Godard, French film director
- 1931 – Franz Josef Degenhardt, German author
- 1931 – Jaye P. Morgan, American singer
- 1932 – Corry Brokken, Dutch singer
- 1933 – Paul J. Crutzen, Dutch chemist, Nobel laureate
- 1934 – Abimael Guzmán, Peruvian revolutionary
- 1934 – Nicolas Coster, American actor
- 1934 – Viktor Gorbatko, Soviet cosmonaut
- 1935 – Eddie Bernice Johnson, American politician
- 1937 – Bobby Allison, American race car driver
- 1937 – Binod Bihari Verma, Indian linguist
- 1937 – Morgan Llywelyn, American-born Irish author
- 1938 – Jean-Claude Malépart, Canadian politician (d. 1989)
- 1940 – Jeffrey R. Holland, American religious leader
- 1942 – Alice Schwarzer, German journalist
- 1943 – J. Philippe Rushton, Canadian academic and theorist (d. 2012)
- 1945 – Paul Nicholas English actor producer
- 1946 – Joop Zoetemelk, Dutch cyclist
- 1947 – Patricia Krenwinkel, American murderess
- 1948 – Ozzy Osbourne, English singer
- 1948 – Jan Hrubý, Czech violinist (Framus Five)
- 1949 – John Akii-Bua, Ugandan athlete (d. 1997)
- 1949 – Heather Menzies, American actress
- 1949 – Mickey Thomas, American singer (Jefferson Starship)
- 1950 – Alberto Juantorena, Cuban Track & Field athlete
- 1951 – Mike Bantom, American basketball player
- 1951 – Ray Candy, American professional wrestler (d. 1994)
- 1951 – Riki Chōshū, Japanese professional wrestler
- 1951 – Rick Mears, American race car driver
- 1951 – John and Greg Rice, American twin actors
- 1951 – Nicky Stevens, British singer (Brotherhood of Man)
- 1952 – Benny Hinn, American televangelist
- 1952 – Mel Smith, English comedian
- 1952 – Don Barnes, American singer/musician
- 1953 – Franz Klammer, Austrian skier
- 1953 – Lothar Schneider, German footballer
- 1954 – Grace Andreacchi, American author
- 1955 – Steven Culp, American actor
- 1955 – Warren Jeffs, American convicted polygamist
- 1957 – Valerie Quennessen, French actress (d. 1989)
- 1959 – Eamonn Holmes, Northern Irish TV presenter
- 1960 – Daryl Hannah, American actress
- 1960 – Igor Larionov, Russian ice hockey player
- 1960 – Julianne Moore, American actress
- 1960 – Mike Ramsey, American ice hockey player
- 1961 – Adal Ramones, Mexican television host
- 1963 – Joe Lally, American musician (Fugazi)
- 1963 – Terri Schiavo, American right to die figure (d. 2005)
- 1965 – Steve Harris, American actor
- 1965 – Andrew Stanton, American animator
- 1965 – Katarina Witt, German figure skater
- 1966 – Monic Hendrickx, Dutch actress
- 1966 – Flemming Povlsen, Danish footballer
- 1968 – Brendan Fraser, Canadian-American actor
- 1968 – Montell Jordan, American singer and record producer
- 1969 – Bill Steer, British guitarist
- 1970 – Paul Byrd, American baseball player
- 1970 – Lindsey Hunter, American basketball player
- 1970 – Christian Karembeu, French footballer
- 1970 – Lu Parker, American broadcast journalist and former beauty queen
- 1971 – Ola Rapace, Swedish actor
- 1971 – Frank Sinclair, Jamaican footballer
- 1971 – Henk Timmer, Dutch football goalkeeper
- 1971 – Keegan Connor Tracy, Canadian actress
- 1971 – Vernon White, American mixed martial artist
- 1972 – Bucky Lasek, American skateboarder
- 1973 – Holly Marie Combs, American actress
- 1973 – MC Frontalot, Damian Hess, American rapper
- 1973 – Super Crazy, Mexican professional wrestler
- 1973 – Sammy Leung, Hong Kong disc jockey
- 1974 – Jason Morris, Canadian pop singer
- 1975 – Mickey Avalon, American rapper
- 1975 – Csaba Czébely, Hungarian drummer (Pokolgép)
- 1975 – Malinda Williams, American actress
- 1976 – Mark Boucher, South African cricketer
- 1976 – Silvia Fontana, Italian figure skater
- 1976 – Gary Glover, American baseball player
- 1976 – Cornelius Griffin, American football player
- 1976 – Byron Kelleher, New Zealand rugby union footballer
- 1976 – Todd Smith, American vocalist, songwriter and guitarist
- 1977 – Chad Durbin, American baseball player
- 1977 – Troy Evans, American football player
- 1977 – Adam Małysz, Polish ski-jumper
- 1978 – Daniel Alexandersson, Swedish footballer
- 1978 – Jiří Bicek, Slovak ice hockey player
- 1978 – Bram Tankink, Dutch road bicycle racer
- 1978 – Trina, American rapper
- 1979 – Daniel Bedingfield, English singer
- 1979 – Tiffany Haddish, American dancer, comedian & actress
- 1979 – Rainbow Sun Francks, Canadian actor
- 1979 – Rock Cartwright, American football player
- 1979 – Sean Parker, American Internet technology businessman and entrepreneur
- 1980 – Anna Chlumsky, American actress
- 1980 – Jenna Dewan, American actress
- 1980 – Zlata Filipović, Bosnian Author
- 1980 – Laryea Kingston, Ghanaian football player
- 1980 – Jim Sorgi, American football player
- 1981 – Ioannis Amanatidis, Greek footballer
- 1981 – Brian Bonsall, American actor
- 1981 – Tyjuan Hagler, American football player
- 1981 – Edwin Valero, Venezuelan boxer (d. 2010)
- 1981 – David Villa, Spanish footballer
- 1981 – Liza Lapira, American actress
- 1981 – Louise Roe, English television presenter, model, and fashion journalist
- 1982 – Jaycee Chan, Hong Kong singer and actor
- 1982 – Michael Essien, Ghanaian footballer
- 1982 – Franco Sbaraglini, Argentine-born Italian rugby player
- 1982 – Manny Corpas, Panamanian baseball player
- 1983 – Stephen Donald, New Zealand rugby player
- 1983 – Sherri DuPree, American vocalist
- 1983 – James Ihedigbo, American football player
- 1984 – Hind Laroussi, Dutch singer
- 1984 – Avraam Papadopoulos, Greek footballer
- 1985 – László Cseh, Hungarian swimmer
- 1985 – Mike Randolph, American footballer
- 1985 – Sıla Şahin, German actress
- 1985 – Robert Swift, American basketball player
- 1985 – Marcus Williams, American basketball player
- 1985 – Amanda Seyfried, American actress
- 1986 – Radek Smoleňák, Czech hockey player
- 1986 – Josh Vaughan, American football player
- 1986 – James Laurinaitis, American football player
- 1987 – Michael Angarano, American actor
- 1987 – Brian Robiskie, American football player
- 1987 – Alicia Sacramone, American gymnast
- 1989 – Selçuk Alibaz, Turkish footballer
- 1992 – Joseph McManners, English actor
- 1994 – Jake T. Austin, American actor
- 2005 – Prince Sverre Magnus of Norway
[edit]Deaths
- 311 – Diocletian, Roman emperor (b. 244)
- 1154 – Pope Anastasius IV
- 1265 – Odofredus, Italian jurist
- 1533 – Vasili III, Grand Prince of Moscow (b. 1479)
- 1552 – Saint Francis Xavier, Jesuit missionary to the East (b. 1506)
- 1610 – Honda Tadakatsu, Japanese general (b. 1548)
- 1706 – Emilie Juliane of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, German countess and hymn writer (b. 1637)
- 1765 – Lord John Sackville, British cricketer (b. 1713)
- 1789 – Claude Joseph Vernet, French painter (b. 1714)
- 1815 – John Carroll (priest), first Roman Catholic archbishop in the U.S. (b. 1735)
- 1845 – Gregor MacGregor, Scottish con-man (b. 1786)
- 1882 – Archibald Campbell Tait, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1811)
- 1888 – Carl Zeiss, German lens maker (b. 1816)
- 1890 – Billy Midwinter, Australian cricketer (b. 1851)
- 1892 – Afanasy Fet, Russian poet (b. 1820)
- 1894 – Robert Louis Stevenson, Scottish writer (b. 1850)
- 1902 – Robert Lawson, New Zealand architect (b. 1833)
- 1904 – David Bratton, American water polo player (b. 1869)
- 1910 – Mary Baker Eddy, Founder of the Church of Christ, Scientist (b. 1821)
- 1912 – Prudente José de Morais Barros, President of Brazil (b. 1841)
- 1917 – Harold Garnett, English cricket player (b. 1879)
- 1919 – Pierre-Auguste Renoir, French impressionist painter (b. 1841)
- 1928 – Ezra Meeker, American pioneer and businessman (b. 1830)
- 1934 – Charles James O'Donnell, Irish politician (b. 1849)
- 1935 – Princess Victoria of the United Kingdom (b. 1868)
- 1939 – Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll, daughter of Queen Victoria (b. 1848)
- 1941 – Pavel Filonov, Russian painter (b. 1883)
- 1949 – Maria Ouspenskaya, Russian-American actress (b. 1876)
- 1952 – Rudolf Margolius, Czech Government minister (b. 1913)
- 1955 – Cow Cow Davenport, American pianist (b. 1894)
- 1956 – Manik Bandopadhyay, Indian Bengali novelist
- 1967 – Harry Wismer, American original owner of the New York Jets (b. 1913)
- 1969 – Mathias Wieman, German actor (b. 1902)
- 1972 – Bill Johnson, American musician (b. 1872)
- 1973 – Emile Christian, American musician (b. 1895)
- 1973 – Bea Miles, Australian eccentric and writer (b. 1902)
- 1979 – Dhyan Chand, Indian field hockey player (b. 1905)
- 1980 – Oswald Mosley, British Fascist (b. 1896)
- 1981 – Walter Knott, American farmer (b. 1889)
- 1984 – Vladimir Rokhlin, Soviet mathematician (b. 1919)
- 1989 – Fernando Martin Espina, Spanish basketball player (b. 1962)
- 1989 – Connie B. Gay Music executive and founder of the Country Music Association (b. 1914)
- 1993 – Lewis Thomas, American physician and essayist (b. 1913)
- 1994 – Michael Dacher, German mountaineer (b. 1933)
- 1994 – Elizabeth Glaser, AIDS activist (b. 1947)
- 1995 – Jimmy Jewel, English actor (b. 1909)
- 1995 – Gerard John Schaefer, American serial killer (b. 1946)
- 1996 – Georges Duby, French historian (b. 1919)
- 1998 – Pierre Hétu, Quebec conductor and pianist (b. 1936)
- 1999 – Scatman John, American singer (b. 1942)
- 1999 – Madeline Kahn, American actress (b. 1942)
- 1999 – Jarl Wahlström, 12th General of The Salvation Army (b. 1918)
- 2000 – Gwendolyn Brooks, American poet (b. 1917)
- 2000 – Hoyt Curtin, American songwriter (b. 1922)
- 2002 – Glenn Quinn, Irish actor (b. 1970)
- 2003 – David Hemmings, English actor (b. 1941)
- 2004 – Shiing-Shen Chern, Chinese mathematician (b. 1911)
- 2004 – Teo Peter, Romanian rock musician and bass player for Compact (b. 1954)
- 2005 – Herb Moford, American baseball player (b. 1928)
- 2006 – Logan Whitehurst, American musician (b. 1977)
- 2007 – James Kemsley, Australian cartoonist and actor (b. 1948)
- 2008 – Robert Zajonc, Polish-American social psychologist (b. 1923)
- 2009 – Leila Lopes, Brazilian actress (b. 1959)
- 2009 – Richard Todd, British actor (b. 1919)
- 2010 – Abdumalik Bahori, Tajik poet and fiction writer (b.1927)
- 2011 – Dev Anand, Indian actor (b. 1923)
[edit]Holidays and observances
- Advocate's Day (India)
- Christian Feast Day:
- International Day of Persons with Disabilities (International)
- National Day (Saba)
- Basque language day (Basque culture world)
===
Bishop presents the case for slush fund inquiry
Piers Akerman – Monday, December 03, 2012 (1:07pm)
DEFENDERS of Julia Gillard have demanded a case be made against her - well, here’s the case presented by Deputy Opposition leader Julie Bishop.
Bishop outlined the following earlier today.
I look forward to comments.
The Australian Workers’ Union fraud took place between 1992 and 1996.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars went missing and to date no one has been charged.
Many of the missing pieces rest within the knowledge of Prime Minister Julia Gillard and her former partner Bruce Wilson, neither of whom have given testimony to police about their respective roles.
It all began with Gillard’s legal advice on the incorporation of an association in the name of the AWU.
It was a sham from the outset.
According to Gillard, Ralph Blewitt, who lived in Western Australia, was to be the responsible officer for an entity located in WA with Western Australian members, set up under Western Australian laws and registered by the Western Australian Commissioner for Corporate Affairs.
Why wouldn’t a solicitor in the Western Australian office of Slater and Gordon, familiar with the relevant local laws do the work?
After all, that is why national law firms have offices in other states.
Had the Perth office taken such instructions they may have asked awkward questions, like whether Wilson or Blewitt were authorised to set up an entity using the name of the AWU. We now know that neither was authorised.
Instead, Gillard, a partner of the firm in Melbourne, did all the work alone and in secret. She sought no advice from experts in the firm and did not use the firm’s precedents for drafting the relevant rules.
No one else within the firm appears to have any idea what she was up to at the time.
Neither, as it turns out, did the firm’s major client, the AWU, for Gillard did not open a file on the firm’s record-keeping system.
This is a critical point.
Given that the whole point of opening a file is to guard against conflicts of interest, it is simply inconceivable that Gillard overlooked this basic duty to her partners.
Secondly, it was incumbent on her to ensure her partner, Bruce Wilson, and her friend, Ralph Blewitt, had the authority of the AWU to set up a separate legal entity in its name.
She cannot claim that as they were union officials she was entitled to assume they had the authority.
They did not.
Had she opened a file, a routine conflict check would have prevented her from proceeding further.
Gillard completed the application with the name of the association “Australian Workers Union Workplace Reform Association”.
Its purpose was stated to be “Development of changes to work to achieve safe workplaces”.
Yet Gillard described it as a “slush fund” in her exit interview, “into which the leadership team puts its money so they can finance their next election campaign”.
She said that her “thinking” was that it was “better to have an incorporated association, a legal entity, into which people could participate as members, that was the holder of the account.”
Her advice offended against section 8 of the WA Associations Incorporation Act 1987, which provides that an association cannot have a name “likely to mislead” as to the object or purpose of the
association it was a slush fund for elections, not about safe workplaces.
association it was a slush fund for elections, not about safe workplaces.
The name was also “identical with or likely to be confused with” the name of another entity, in this case the AWU.
There were only two members of the association, Wilson and Blewitt, and not the requisite “more than five members”.
Not surprisingly, the Commissioner of Corporate Affairs questioned the application.
Gillard wrote to the commissioner “arguing for its incorporation”.
On whose behalf did she claim to be acting Wilson and/or Blewitt as officers of the AWU?
Using the authority of her standing as a partner in a law firm, Gillard was able to convince the commissioner that the association had the authority of the AWU, that it was for the purpose of workplace safety, and that it had more than five members.
It is an offence under section 43 of the act to knowingly make false and misleading statements.
Once the association was registered, it is alleged that Wilson fraudulently obtained hundreds of thousands of dollars from building companies, who believed they were dealing with the AWU, for workplace safety and training purposes.
The fraudulent activities continued with various twists and turns but the existence of this slush fund was not detected until 1996.
The federal opposition contends that in relation to the setting up of the incorporation, Wilson, Blewitt and Gillard have a case to answer under Section 43 of the act.
Section 170 of the Criminal Code is also relevant, which provides that “any person who being required ... to give information ... knowingly gives information. .. that is false in material particular is guilty of a crime ... “
Section 409 of the Criminal Code sets out the elements of the criminal act of fraud.
“Where’s the smoking gun?” was a familiar refrain in the years before an incriminating transcript came to light during the Watergate investigations that led to President Richard Nixon’s resignation.
In the case of the AWU fraud, the ground is already littered with spent cartridges.
In the case of the AWU fraud, the ground is already littered with spent cartridges.
Given that the Prime Minister refuses to answer to the Parliament, the only way to get to the bottom of this matter is for there to be a judicial inquiry.
In 1996 there was a formal request by former AWU official and current Fair Work Australia commissioner Ian Cambridge for a royal commission into this fraud.
Former WA AWU official Tim Daley has also requested a formal investigation and has been joined in recent days by former NSW Labor treasurer Michael Costa.
This will be the only way that light can be shed on a dark chapter in the history of the AWU.
===
Gillard’s mud-slinging finale
Piers Akerman – Monday, December 03, 2012 (5:45am)
JULIA GILLARD has branded Tony Abbott’s fight for law and order as confirmation he is determined to “stay wedded to sleaze and smear” even in government.
What a finale to the parliamentary year.
It is an indictment on Gillard and her deluded supporters in the Canberra press gallery that she has not been publicly derided and held to account for her appalling performance.
Gillard has been given every opportunity to make a parliamentary statement about the events surrounding the formation of the AWU Workplace Reform Association slush fund (as she described it) in which she undoubtedly played a pivotal role.
She has strenuously rejected the very thought of addressing the topic in the forum in which she sits as leader of the nation.
Despite shrilly and frequently screeching her innocence, her responses have been those of a person in denial.
Rather than give a simple point-by-point explanation of the matter which ended her four-year relationship with the fraudulent former union boss Bruce Wilson and terminated her career as an industrial law partner with the Labor law firm Slater & Gordon, she has claimed loss of memory or, more laughably, said she was young naive at the time.
She was a law partner in her thirties at the time.
Gillard’s image merchants have worked hard to sell her to a truly young and naive audience – girls who may be impressed with the fact that a female holds the highest office in the land.
That campaign stops at gender however as by no analysis can Gillard be portrayed as a successful prime minister.
She is prime minister only because of the ambition of three Independents, Rob Oakeshott, Tony Windsor and Andrew Wilkie, who have attempted to use her as a vehicle for their own overblown ambitions.
Gillard told the Ten Network’s Meet The Press program yesterday: ‘“Mr Abbott is now going to ask the Australian people in 2013 to vote for him on the basis that the centre of his prime ministership would be continuing with this personal campaign of sleaze and smear.”
“‘The driving purpose of his prime ministership would be to continue a fight against me, rather than a fight for the Australian people.
‘
“Well, I think Australians are heartily sick of this.”
‘
“Well, I think Australians are heartily sick of this.”
On my colleague Andrew Bolt’s ratings-winning program which immediately preceded Gillard’s appearance, the former NSW Labor treasurer and one-time union leader Michael Costa called on Gillard to co-operate with any police inquiry into the AWU slush fund affair.
Costa has changed his mind since 1996 when the affair first surfaced in union circles – and he was a union powerbroker.
His reaction today is more attuned to that of ordinary Australians not reliant on propping up union power.
Former Labor Opposition leader Mark Latham has decided that there was no conflict of interest in Gillard working for her former boyfriend though her firm’s client was the AWU – because she didn’t charge Wilson for her work.
That sort of thinking would see absolution for a dodgy tradesman who didn’t bill for his work.
The Galaxy poll taken last week showed that only one-on-five people now believe Gillard has told the truth about the affair.
They would be the people not wedded to the notion of law and order.
Abbott has a range of credible policies for the election - to which he has now added the search for justice in this sleazy affair.
Gillard has only a record of broken promises, failed policies and evasion.
That any people still believe her is the miracle.
===
SPECIFICALLY, THEIR OWN JOBS
Tim Blair – Monday, December 03, 2012 (1:02pm)
Prime Minister Julia Gillard is understandably concerned:
I can understand concern amongst my colleagues, indeed, to a person, where in my cabinet, in my Ministry, in my caucus, people are concerned about jobs ...
===
GREEN CONSEQUENCES
Tim Blair – Monday, December 03, 2012 (10:06am)
New South Wales has a long tradition of exporting trash to Queensland. This is generally referred to as Schoolies Week.
But we also export actual garbage. Huge reeking truckloads of it, hauled for hundreds of kilometres along highways by diesel-burning semis before being deposited in Queensland garbage dumps.
===
WHERE SELF-REGULATION FAILS
Tim Blair – Monday, December 03, 2012 (10:00am)
Twitter folk received a bank-busting alert last month after former British Conservative treasurer Lord McAlpine was wrongly identified as a child sex offender.
===
If Ben means it, he should quit and party while he can
Andrew BoltDECEMBER032012(7:39pm)
If Fairfax’s paid warming alarmist Ben Cubby really believes it’s all over bar the frying, why doesn’t he accept one of Fairfax’s redundancy cheques and party while he can? He couldn’t possibly be saving for a future when we have none, could he?
What has scared Ben:
The new data from the Global Carbon Project found greenhouse gas emissions are expected to have risen 2.6 per cent by the end of this year, on top of a 3 per cent rise in 2011. Since 1990, the reference year for the Kyoto Protocol, emissions have increased 54 per cent.It means that the goal of the Doha talks – to hold global temperature rise to 2 degrees – is almost out of reach…Emissions are growing in line with the most extreme climate models used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, according to a paper in the journal Nature Climate Change that explains the Global Carbon Project’s findings.
The trajectory means a temperature range of between 3.5 and 6.2 degrees by the year 2100, with a “most likely” range of between 4.2 and 5 degrees.
But wait. Let’s not panic, Ben.
Emissions up by 54 per cent in 22 years, more than predicted..
No warming for 16 years, less than predicted.
Conclusion: maybe greenhouse gases aren’t such a powerful driver of warming, after all, and the alarmist scientists really do have their sums wrong, as other scientists suggest.
Just saying. And saving.
UPDATE
It shows the biggest contributors to global emissions in 2011 were China (28 per cent), the United States (16 per cent), the European Union (11 per cent), and India (7 per cent).
Emissions in China and India grew by 9.9 and 7.5 per cent in 2011, while those of the United States and the European Union decreased by 1.8 and 2.8 per cent.
But, wait? Aren’t we told that China is taking global warming seriously and our carbon tax will set an example for it and others to follow?
So no, and not.
===
Riot isn’t about race, although both sides seem to think otherwise
Andrew BoltDECEMBER032012(7:33pm)
Hmm. Why don’t I trust the assurances that “race” has nothing to do with this, despite having on tribe brawling with another? Why do I suspect the police are saying what they feel they must, rather than what is?
Community leaders in the southeast Queensland city of Logan fear racial tension in the area could escalate after a teenager was killed outside a wild house party at the weekend.
Police say between 100 to 150 people were at the party at Station Road in the Logan suburb of Woodridge when a brawl erupted and spilled on to the street on Saturday night.
Jordan Matehaere Tukaki, 17, was seriously injured in a hit-and-run during the fracas and died later in hospital.
A 21-year-old man will face Beenleigh Magistrates Court on Monday, charged with murder and dangerous operation of a motor vehicle.Woodridge MP Desley Scott says community leaders will meet on Monday amid suggestions from witnesses the brawl was sparked by racial tension…
UPDATE
Nothing to do with ethnic stuff, right? The police would tell you if it were.
The Crips and the Bloods are two notorious gangs from Los Angeles’ South Central district and have spawned copycat versions across the world.
Members of the Logan community have spoken of simmering tensions between some Australians of African and Islander descent in recent weeks.
Ms Scott, the Labor MP for Woodridge, said reports the incident was sparked by racial tension appear unfounded.She is blaming a mixture of youth, alcohol and an out-of-control party for the tragedy.
‘‘It doesn’t appear to be a racially planned thing,’’ Ms Scott said.
(Thanks to reader anonymous.)
===
Why did none of the Aborigines there notice the Aboriginal song was a con?
Andrew BoltDECEMBER032012(7:13pm)
But who’d have dared challenge his story? Who’d have dared to even notice he might be a con? More I dare not say for fear of our absurd restrictions on free speech:
Just after dark one night in June 2009, a small crowd gathered in Lane Cove, on Sydney’s north shore, for a special screening of the award-winning documentary Kanyini. Hosted by Lane Cove Residents for Reconciliation, the film, by Sydney director Melanie Hogan, told the story of the Mutitjulu indigenous community near Uluru, in central Australia, through the eyes of traditional owner and elder Uncle Bob Randall.
Randall wasn’t at the screening, but Hogan’s partner, another Aboriginal man by the name of Wadari “Wadi” Wiriyanjara, was. A slim 37-year-old, Wadi wore dark trousers and an open-necked shirt; he had short dark hair and light skin. “He was the kind of person who could have blended in anywhere,” says Lorraine McGee-Sippel, an author and member of the stolen generation, who was in the audience.
After the film, Wadi took to the stage, having been introduced as a Pintjantjatjara man from Mutitjulu. He addressed the audience, answering questions about his culture before singing a song “in language”, a performance that brought some in the audience to the verge of tears...
In August this year, Wadi appeared in Sydney’s Downing Centre District Court, charged with 30 counts of fraud. Only this time, Wadi wasn’t Wadi, son of an “Aboriginal magic man” from Uluru; he was Dallas Gwilliam from Neutral Bay in Sydney. As soon became apparent, Gwilliam, who is 40, was not Aboriginal and had never served in the military. As part of the case against him, DPP lawyer Steve Higgins accused Gwilliam of having constructed “an elaborate web of lies”, a statement which, though true, seems dismally inadequate. Gwilliam’s con was ever-evolving and wildly improvisatory, a 20-year jazz solo of A-grade bullshit in which he had posed not only as Aboriginal royalty and a special forces veteran, but as a Shaolin monk, seeded tennis player, telco millionaire, martial arts expert, UN peacekeeper and Chinese racing-car driver.
It seems to have been unusually easy for Gwilliam to persuade a lot of other people claiming to be Aboriginal that he was, too. You’d think some of the Aborigines presumably at the special screening would twig that his Aboriginal song wasn’t, and his Pintjantjatjara language was babble.
But… but, hush, my lawless mouth.
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Slowing, slowing
Andrew BoltDECEMBER032012(7:01pm)
The big issue, too little talked about this year, is that the mining boom is over with nothing to replace it. Lots of Australians will lose their jobs:
...the number of job advertisements fell almost 3 per cent in November, the eighth consecutive monthly decline…
Australian household spending on food, the biggest component of retail trade, rose almost 1 per cent to $8.9 billion in October, but spending on discretionary items slumped…
Meanwhile, total company profits dipped almost 3 per cent to $61.7 billion, dragged down mainly by mining companies, whose profits fell more than 12 per cent over the quarter as a result of falls in key commodity prices.
And:
A KEY gauge of manufacturing activity in Australia fell for the ninth month in a row, the latest sign a mining slowdown is weighing on the country’s resources-dominated economy.
The Australian Industry Group Performance of Manufacturing Index fell 1.6 points in November to 43.6 from a month earlier. A PMI reading above 50 indicates an expansion in manufacturing activity from the previous month, whereas a reading below indicates contraction…
The contraction in manufacturing activity in November was widespread, with steep declines in the petroleum, coal products, construction materials and metals sectors. Only the food and beverages sector expanded during the month.
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Essential poll: Labor 47 to 53
Andrew BoltDECEMBER032012(6:58pm)
Labor is still a fair bit behind, according to Essential Research’s latest poll - 47 to 53 per cent, 2pp.
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Relentless negativity, smears and no real answers
Andrew BoltDECEMBER032012(11:38am)
Highlights from the Prime Minister’s interview yesterday with Paul Bongiorno on Meet the Press:
HOST: Well at the end of the year, at the end of the Parliamentary session, it seems that the AWU slush fund affair is inconclusive… Wouldn’t a short, sharp inquiry, an independent inquiry, judicial inquiry, end the matter?PM: ... Australians are rightly sick of this campaign of sleaze and smear… Mr Abbott’s made it perfectly clear that he’s going to stay wedded to this sleaze and smear, not only now, but even if he was elected Prime Minister. The driving force of his Prime Ministership would be continuing the sleaze and smear.HOST: ... A new promise from Tony Abbott is that if he wins the election, he will have a judicial inquiry into this issue....PM: Mr Abbott is now going to ask the Australian people in 2013 to vote for him on the basis that the centre of his Prime Ministership would be continuing this personal campaign of sleaze and smear… I think Australians are heartily sick of this, Paul; heartily sick of this negative, personality-based politics from Mr Abbott. We’ll let him just carry on with all that sleaze and smear…HOST: And we will talk about that, Prime Minister, but there’s a Galaxy Poll this morning in the News Limited papers – it finds 31 per cent believe you’ve been economical with the truth. Thirty one per cent believe you’ve lied. Only 21 per cent think you’ve been completely honest. And the poll says 60 per cent want a full account in the Parliament. Will you deliver a full account in the Parliament?PM: ...I am not going to become bogged down in Mr Abbott’s campaign of sleaze and smear. The fact that he’s got no positive plans for the nation’s future is his problem and a matter for him…HOST: Prime Minister, it’s a very big allegation for the Opposition to make, that you misled the WA Corporate Affairs Commissioner. Now union sources tell me – union people I’ve spoken to – is that it’s very unusual for the name of the union to be put on these associations or accounts that are used and, as you’ve told press conferences, every union does it, but it’s unusual to put the union’s name in the name of the association, and that’s where the misleading comes into it.PM: Paul, this is all sleaze and smear from Mr Abbott and his team, because they haven’t got anything positive to say. I did not do anything wrong. The Opposition spent the week in overreach and then humiliating backdown… It just wants the sleaze and smear to keep going… Their political strategy is one of negativity…HOST: More than 30,000 boat people have arrived since Labor came to power, and 1,000 have drowned.... Prime Minister, November was the latest record month for boat arrivals, none of your policies have worked at stopping the boats, stopping the arrivals. Is it time to consider Temporary Protection Visas and turning back the boats, considering they’re the only policies you haven’t yet tried, and the ones that you have tried have failed?
PM: Temporary Protection Visas didn’t work when they were part of our nation’s policy last time… Every step of the way, of course, we continue to encounter negativity from the Opposition, always negativity…
That this evasion and sliming seems to work is profoundly depressing. Or am I wrong to credit voters with such gullibility?
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AWU scandal: the laws that were broken
Andrew BoltDECEMBER032012(9:37am)
Deputy Opposition Leader Julie Bishop explains which laws seem to have been broken when Julia Gillard helped to register the Australian Workers Union Workplace Reform Association - a private slush fund for her then boyfriend and his bag man:
Her advice offended against section 8 of the WA Associations Incorporation Act 1987, which provides that an association cannot have a name “likely to mislead” as to the object or purpose of the association – it was a slush fund for elections, not about safe workplaces.
The name was also “identical with or likely to be confused with” the name of another entity, in this case the AWU.There were only two members of the association, Wilson and Blewitt, and not the requisite “more than five members”.Not surprisingly, the Commissioner of Corporate Affairs questioned the application.Gillard wrote to the commissioner “arguing for its incorporation"… Using the authority of her standing as a partner in a law firm, Gillard was able to convince the commissioner that the association had the authority of the AWU, that it was for the purpose of workplace safety, and that it had more than five members.It is an offence under section 43 of the act to knowingly make false and misleading statements.Once the association was registered, it is alleged that Wilson fraudulently obtained hundreds of thousands of dollars from building companies, who believed they were dealing with the AWU, for workplace safety and training purposes.The fraudulent activities continued with various twists and turns but the existence of this slush fund was not detected until 1996.The federal opposition contends that in relation to the setting up of the incorporation, Wilson, Blewitt and Gillard have a case to answer under Section 43 of the act.Section 170 of the Criminal Code is also relevant, which provides that “any person who being required ... to give information ... knowingly gives information .. that is false in a material particular is guilty of a crime ... “
Section 409 of the Criminal Code sets out the elements of the criminal act of fraud.
Julia Gillard insists she did nothing wrong, did not know of her boyfriend’s frauds and did not benefit from them.
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Finishing with a bang from us, whimper from PM
Andrew BoltDECEMBER032012(9:27am)
Yesterday’s audience results:
Insiders (9am) - 149,000The Bolt Report (10am) - 160,000Meet The Press (10.30am) - 95,000The Bolt Report (4.30pm) - 117,000
A lovely way for our last show to finish, and thank you for it.
But of interest to me is just how many people switched off rather than stay on to hear Julia Gillard on Meet the Press. That is ominous for her.
UPDATE
If you missed it:
Editorial: why the AWU scandal hurts Julia Gillard.
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott on the sexism issue, changing our UN vote on Israel to please Muslim voters, the Brandis “criminal in the Lodge” claim in Parliament and the key difference in election year between the Coalition and Labor.
Peter Costello and Michael Costa on the AWU scandal, the need for a judicial inquiry, Brandis, the disgraceful pandering for the Muslim vote and Bob Carr’s whiteanting of Julia Gillard.
And a goodbye.
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On the new totalitarians with their hands on our throats
Andrew BoltDECEMBER032012(9:08am)
In the old days the Brits censored anything to do with sex; these days anything goes where sex is concerned, but “hurtful” speech is something else. All over Britain, the speech nannies are stirring, eager to ensure that only worthy thoughts can be spoken in public places. Give them an independent body that is able to regulate and punish the press, and they will seek to expand its powers and extend its jurisdiction to “harmful” content as well as harmful methods.The trend against free speech… must be fought. The right of people to say nasty, unkind and untrue things, their right to insult your religion, your dearest moral values, the ethnic and racial groups from which you spring, your eating habits and social customs, your ideals—that is the essence of freedom. Sad but true.The “good” people, the “helping” people, the “nurturing” people and the idealists are usually the ones eager to punish people who say hurtful things.. “Nice” people who want to limit your freedom of speech so that only “nice” ideas will be expressed are some of the most horribly misguided and dangerous people around. They must be relentlessly mocked and resisted so that human freedom can survive.In a complicated, pluralistic society like ours, when life depends on the coordination of large institutions and complex social systems, and there are many groups and individuals whose feelings are easily hurt by the thoughtless or hostile comments by others, the temptation is huge to use the law and the powers of the administrative state to keep disturbing speech out of the system.But that temptation must be fought.Social disapproval of bad ideas is perfectly appropriate… But using the power of the law to shut down speech you think shouldn’t be heard, or in the case of far too many colleges, limiting permissible speech out of some pathetically misguided ideas about community is an existential threat to freedom and is the sure path to soul-destroying dictatorship.The speech nannies are everywhere these days. The left nannies are more potent and dangerous right now than the right nannies ... but they all need to be fought…
A free press isn’t elegant, it isn’t moral, it is often filled with vitriol and lies. A free press holds a mirror up to society, and rather often we don’t like what it reveals. But when all is said and done, government efforts to regulate or civilize the wild and woolly press, however justified by the sleazy conduct of unscrupulous hacks, are worse than the disease they purport to cure.
Or as the philosopher Bertrand Russell put it:
Much that passes as idealism is disguised hatred or disguised love of power.
A social class which uses the law to stifle the opinions of another is is not nice or well-meaning. It is dictatorial and dangerous.
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Column - Honour happiness where you find it
Andrew BoltDECEMBER032012(8:51am)
James Bond and Labor Senator Louise Pratt tell us something has changed, and for the better.
In Skyfall, his latest outing, Bond faces a new villain, Silva, played by the great Javier Bardem.
Silva is gay, and gives the bound Bond’s leg a teasing stroke, but otherwise plays to no gay stereotype, unless you think his fixation with killing the female secret service head who betrayed him is some mummy fixation.
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Column - how Labor sold the national interest for Muslim votes
Andrew BoltDECEMBER032012(7:32am)
LABOR MPs this week didn’t simply force an unwilling Julia Gillard to betray Israel at the United Nations.
They forced the Prime Minister to change our foreign policy to win Muslim votes in Labor’s Sydney seats.
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And on they come
Andrew BoltDECEMBER032012(7:28am)
Before Labor promises to fix anything else, how about fixing what it broke?
TWO more boats carrying 70 refugees and five crew arrived in Australian waters at the weekend, with all onboard transferred to Christmas Island after both vessels had sent distress signals…
The weekend arrivals mean 222 people have arrived in the past few days.
UPDATE
So why so many? What lures them? The Daily Telegraph gives some clues:
ASYLUM seekers in Indonesia ... are ecstatic the government has conceded detention centres are beyond maximum capacity and that asylum seekers would need to be released into the community while their applications for refugee status were processed.They would be given financial and housing support - as well as free basic health care - a massive boost from their current financial status in Indonesia where many are struggling to afford food.However the asylum seekers, based in Puncak, 80km from Jakarta, said they feared Liberal leader Tony Abbott would be successful in his bid to become prime minister.“Mr Abbott is not good for refugees and asylum seekers, he does not like us, he is not really a nice man,” said Zia Haidari, a 25-year-old Afghanistan man…“Ms Gillard seems to understand how we feel and is trying her best...”“Abdulah Sulamani, 41, heaped praise on Ms Gillard: “She is a hero, you are lucky to have this woman for your country."…
Seventeen-year-old Adres {said:] “This is party time.”
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