Showing posts with label Liberal Party of Australia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Liberal Party of Australia. Show all posts

Sunday 3 March 2024

On the afternoon of Thursday 29 February 2029 seven Liberal Party members in pursuit of a 'gotcha' moment rose to their feet in what can only be seen as an organised racist dog whistle in the House of Representatives to question the government based on 'facts' they knew to be false

 

On Tuesday, 27 February 2024 a report of a sexual assault in the Richmond area was made to Victoria Police.


That night Victoria Police charged a 43 year-old West Papuan Richmond resident, a former immigration detainee released under a 2023 High Court ruling, with sexual assault.


The next day, Wednesday 28 February, he faced the Melbourne Magistrates' Court sometime in the morning on charges of sexual assault of one woman, stalking and two counts of unlawful assault involving this woman and another in two separate incidents on the same day. He did not apply for bail.


Victoria Police held a press conference in the afternoon of the same day in which Commander Mark Galliot revealed that police had since interviewed another male Richmond resident in relation to the same offences and apologised for arresting and detaining the West Papuan man in a case of mistaken identity. This second man is not a person released from immigration detention under the High Court ruling and, does not appear to be a migrant, refugee or asylum seeker.


Within hours the charged man's case returned to the Magistrates Court where all charges against him were withdrawn due to "misidentification" and he was released.


Regardless of the relatively swift and public resolution of this incident, members of the Coalition Opposition rose in the House of Representatives on the afternoon of the following day Thursday, 29 February and began to ask questions of the Albanese Government along these lines:


Ms LEY (Farrer—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (14:04): My question is to the Minister for Immigration,

Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs. When was the minister first informed that a serial sex offender that the

Albanese government had released from immigration detention had been charged with sexual assault, stalking and two counts of unlawful assault in Victoria?


Ms McKENZIE (Flinders) (14:08): My question is to the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs. I refer to the minister's previous answer and ask: why did the minister fail to use his powers to seek to redetain this serial sex offender and protect these two Victorian women?


Mr FLETCHER (Bradfield—Manager of Opposition Business) (14:22): My question is to the Minister for

Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs. Out of the 149 hardcore criminals released by the Albanese

government, how many rapists and sex offenders, apart from the one who has just been charged with sexual assault, remain at large in the community?


Mr CALDWELL (Fadden) (14:30): My question is to the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs. On 13 February the minister assured the House that all 149 of the hardcore criminals the Albanese government released were being continuously monitored. Was this serial sex offender being continuously monitored at the time he is alleged to have sexually assaulted and stalked two women in Victoria?


Mr SUKKAR (Deakin) (14:41): My question is to the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs. When did the minister inform the Prime Minister that this serial sex offender had committed new crimes against the Victorian community?


Mr DUTTON (Dickson—Leader of the Opposition) (14:52): My question is to the Prime Minister. Prime

Minister, the immigration minister is a disaster. His decisions have put Australians at risk—

Government members interjecting—

Mr DUTTON: My question is to the Prime Minister. Prime Minister, the immigration minister is a disaster. His

decisions have put Australians at risk, and women in Victoria are alleged to have been sexually assaulted. A hundred and forty-nine hardcore criminals—

Ms Thwaites interjecting— ......

Mr DUTTON: A hundred and forty-nine hardcore criminals have been released into the community. The minister has not taken a single application to redetain one of these criminals, and now more Australians are being harmed, with the likely risk extending to many more Australians. When will you show leadership, stop being so weak and sack this minister?


The Prime Minister's response.


Mr ALBANESE (Grayndler—Prime Minister) (14:53): 'We are not in a position to defy an order of the High Court, and no-one is suggesting that they should do that.' Not my words—the words of Senator Paterson. 'Under the Constitution, you can't detain someone indefinitely. We accept that.' Not my words—the words of the Leader of the Opposition. 'The High Court made the decision. We respect that decision.' Not my words—the words of the shadow minister for immigration. I'll tell you what's not strong. I'll tell you what strength is not. Strength is not asking for responses that would endanger judicial processes. That is not strong. There is no strength whatsoever in that. What is appalling is that the Leader of the Opposition knows full well that that is the case because he has been in that position, including when he was responsible for the legislation which our legislation was based upon. It was his legislation that he presided over, and he knows that that is the case.

[House of Representatives, Hansard, 29 February 2024, pp. 19, 22, 23, 25, 27]


There is little chance in light of the scant two days until the Saturday 2 March Dunkley federal by-election in Victoria that these Coalition MPs - especially Ms. McKenzie and Mr. Sukkar - were not aware of the details of the case of mistaken identity by the afternoon of Wednesday, 29 February 2024. After all, Victoria Police calling a televised press conference 24 hours earlier to essentially admit a wrongful arrest was a notable event.


It appears Ms. Ley was so determined to poison the Dunkley by-election well that she sent this tweet 1:03 hours before she asked her question in the House.



Once the mainstream media began to pick up on these misleading statements being made under parliamentary privilege and on social media, Leader of the Opposition & Liberal MP for Dickson, Peter Dutton, was quick to further mislead and infer the Minister for Immigration was to blame. Presumably for not immediately alerting them to the fact that they were about to accuse the wrong person of sexual assault. 'How were we to know?'


However, despite such a juvenile excuse in front of the camera, the fact remains that in the House and elsewhere this was deceitful politicking and racist dog whistling at its worst.


By the evening of Thursday, 29 February Victoria Police had publicly released details of the second man who was identified as a person of interest for the same offences on Wednesday 28 February 2024.


Finally, two days later at approx. 9pm on Saturday, 2 March, three hours after the polls closed, the Dunkley federal by-election was called for Labor by Antony Green and the Liberal candidate publicly conceded.


So the Coalition's sordid attempt at political theatre had missed its mark.



Thursday 25 January 2024

Byron Echo responds to claims in the Australian Jewish Association advertisement: an "extreme organisation" which "promotes one-sided warped and dangerous views"

 

The Byron Shire Echo
24 January 2024, p.2
Click on image to enlarge

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


The Byron Shire Echo

Volume 38 #33 • January 24, 2024


We’ve had complaints


The Australian Jewish Association (AJA) sure did stir up a lot of complaints to The Echo, given their inflammatory and inaccurate statements in their page 5 advertisement last week.


There is no evidence that Hamas is responsible for all Gazan deaths, for example, and the rest of their claims around the Middle East peace process are contested – at best.


But that’s free speech.


It’s easy to say you support it, but harder as a publisher to actually follow through with it.


So who are the AJA (www.jewishassociation.org.au)?


Despite claiming they do not affiliate with any political party, their members are linked to far-right-wing think tank IPA, and the Liberal Party.


AJA tweet Jan 17


On January 17, the AJA tweeted

their Echo ad with the statement:

Byron Bay is known as a hot spot

for left-leaning activist types. The

local paper, The Byron Shire Echo,

is widely read and often contains

anti-Israel content. AJA decided to

take out a half page ad and share

some facts. The ad was generously

facilitated by Michael Burd. What

do you think of the AJA ad?’


Well here’s what we think:


The AJA is an organisation that should not be taken seriously, because it only promotes one-sided warped and dangerous views.


It is simply untrue to imply that Israel is an innocent bystander/victim in the unfolding clusterfuck.


Their ad appeared designed to divide rather than inform.


Unlike most mainstream media, The Echo is independent and contains a range of views from its readers and contributors.


Saying The Echo ‘often contains anti-Israel content’ is like saying that those who criticise Israel are antiSemite, or are ‘self-loathing Jews’.


As a society, aren’t we past such stupid school-yard bullying?


The AJA appears more aligned with war-mongering types, like Israeli PM, Bibi Netanyahu, than with those seeking genuine peace.


Netanyahu has forged a hardright coalition to remain in power, yet faces much criticism from within Israel over his attempts to curb the powers of the judiciary, for example. Netanyahu also faces court on charges of corruption, and it appears he needs this war to stay in power. There is no two-state solution with Netanyahu.


As for Australian mainstream media (especially Newscorp), they appear ‘state captured’ – that is, they take paid junkets to Israel and subsequently write favourably about Israel’s policies.


By contrast, Israel’s own media is often critical of its government, and there appears more freedom to report without fear or favour in Israel than here in Australia.


ABC journalist, Antoinette Lattouf, was recently sacked after posting a Human Rights Watch video describing Israel’s starvation of Gaza civilians. It’s alleged that the national broadcaster took action after complaints from ‘Jewish lobbyists’.


The Echo is not aligned with either side of the Israel and Palestine conflict.


It’s all too easy to shoot the messenger.


Instead, genuine attempts at peace are required by ‘leaders’ if this intractable ongoing disaster has any hope of resolution.


The Australian Jewish Association (AJA), like any extreme organisation on both sides of this conflict, are not helping that cause.


Hans Lovejoy, editor


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Letter to the Editor, 24 January 2024, p.12:


I live in Byron Bay and always look forward to reading The Echo. I was beyond shocked and horrified at seeing the Zionist propaganda advertisement on page 5 by the Australian Jewish Association (AJA). I certainly didn’t expect this in a Northern Rivers local newspaper.


As a non-practising Jewish woman who is completely appalled at what is happening in Gaza, due to the actions of Israeli leaders and IDF, I’m so disappointed with your choice to accept this advertisement.


Gaza has been under control by Israel for a very long time. They control all access into and out of Gaza with multiple checkpoints for children, women and men. The IDF shoots children throwing stones at them.


I don’t condone the actions of Hamas on 7 October, 2023. Killing civilians is not okay. However, the claims of beheading, rape and burning babies are not verified. Israel’s response was, and is, reprehensible and repugnant. Indiscriminate bombing of civilians and infrastructure is against humanitarian laws. Israel are committing war crimes and genocide against a race of people displaced in 1948 and harassed since then.


Entire families have been wiped out. Journalists, UN aid workers and medical staff are being killed by the IDF. No one is safe in Gaza.


The occupied (by Israel) West Bank is also an unsafe place for Palestinians to live, work and play. Settlers use violence to displace Palestinians from their homes and agricultural land.


To condone Israel is to condone genocide.


Linda Teese

Byron Bay


NOTE


The Byron Shire Echo is a free weekly independent tabloid newspaper that is published in the Byron Shire, New South Wales, Australia....

The Echo is totally owned by people who live in Byron Shire.


It is published by Echo Publications Pty Ltd, an Australian proprietary company, limited by shares, registered in 1990.


Thursday 7 September 2023

The pharmacists of Australia turned faces of naked entitlement towards Parliament and their own client base, jeering and yelling on Monday 4 September 2023

 

Financial Review, 4 September 2023:


Hundreds of pharmacists were in Canberra for a protest on Monday morning, and many pharmacists attended question time in white uniforms, jeering as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese defended Labor’s consultation over the plan.

In an already rowdy question time, Speaker of the House of Representatives Milton Dick warned people in public galleries that they were present as observers, not participants, in parliamentary proceedings and should refrain from interjecting.

But hostilities escalated dramatically when members of the group loudly exited the chamber, with many yelling at MPs on the chamber floor below in a co-ordinated exit.

Some shouted “lies” and at least one pharmacist raised his middle fingers as he walked out. The sitting was disrupted for a few minutes…..




Pharmacists leaving House of Representatives visitor's gallery after disrupting Question Time and also allegedly abusing Parliament House staff. IMAGE: Canberra Times




MPs on the Opposition benches in the House of Representatives cat calling & encouraging pharmacists in the Visitor's Gallery during Question Time on 4 September 2023. It is believed that some of the pharmacists were signed in as visitors by one or more Liberal Party MPs. IMAGE: Daily Mail



Because the industry union, Pharmacy Guild of Australia, has run such a virulent campaign against the the federal government’s reduction of prescription medicine costs to eligible consumer/patients via the introduction of 60-day prescriptions for certain medicines and because Liberal & Nationals members of federal parliament are attempting to turn this issue into a political football, there may be a need to restate what the 60-day prescription scheme entails.


Australian Government, Dept. of Health and Aged Care, 4 September 2023:


60-day prescriptions of PBS medicines


Learn about the changes to Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) medicine prescriptions.


From 1 September 2023, nearly 100 common medicines listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) will have the option of a 60-day prescription. This means many patients can now receive twice the medication for the cost of a single prescription. To qualify, patients must be:

  • living with an ongoing health condition

  • assessed by their prescriber to be stable on their current medicine/medicines

  • have discussed with their prescriber and obtained a new prescription for a 60-day quantity of medicine per dispensing.


The changes are happening in 3 stages over 12 months and will apply to more than 300 medicines once completed on 1 September 2024.


The changes follow advice from the independent Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC), which recommended it was clinically safe and suitable to allow 60-day prescriptions for eligible patients.


The full list of PBS medicines recommended by PBAC as suitable for dispensing in increased quantities includes some medicines for ongoing health conditions, such as:

  • asthma

  • breast cancer

  • cardiovascular disease

  • chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)

  • constipation

  • chronic renal failure

  • Crohn’s disease

  • depression

  • diabetes

  • endometriosis

  • endometrial cancer

  • epilepsy

  • glaucoma and dry eyes

  • gout

  • heart failure

  • high cholesterol

  • hormonal replacement and modulation therapy

  • hypertension

  • osteoporosis

  • Parkinson’s disease

  • ulcerative colitis.


The full list of medicines recommended by the PBAC for 60-day prescribing is available on the medicine list for increased dispensing quantities.


Prescribers have the option to prescribe these medicines for either 30 or 60-day prescriptions, according to their professional clinical judgement.


Benefits and cost savings


Patients with a 60-day prescription for a PBS medicine may save up to:

$180 a year, per medicine for Medicare card holders who do not have a concession card

$43.80 a year, per medicine for concession cardholders….


Stage one – available from 1 September 2023


The first stage of medicines available for 60-day prescriptions will support patients stable on their current treatment and living with ongoing health conditions including:


  • cardiovascular disease

  • Crohn’s disease

  • gout

  • heart failure

  • high cholesterol

  • hypertension

  • osteoporosis

  • ulcerative colitis.


Stage one includes nearly 100 medicines and represents roughly one third of all the medicines available for 60-day prescriptions.


See the list of stage one medicines. The Department is finalising the order of medicines available in stage 2 and 3.


Medicine supply


The move to 60-day prescriptions won’t cause medicine shortages as patients will still buy the same amount of medicine annually. While eligible patients are able to buy double the medication on a single prescription, demand for medicines will remain unchanged.


Of the more than 300 medicines PBAC recommended for 60-day prescriptions, the vast majority have no shortage of supply in Australia. The Department is monitoring the 60-day dispensing medicine list and has ensured that medicines were only included in stage one if they were not in shortage or at risk of shortage.


Medicine shortages can occur for different reasons, like:

  • shortages of raw material

  • transport issues

  • factory quality control issues

  • temporary factory closures

  • natural disasters.


Most shortages are short-term, temporary disruptions and often only limit some brands, strengths or formulations.


The introduction of 60-day prescriptions in three stages over 12 months reduces pharmacy disruption and let’s supply chains adapt, as eligible patients will use existing prescriptions first.


Helping to ensure good medicine supply


Pharmaceutical companies must tell the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) of expected medicine shortages. This means any medicine supply not likely to meet normal or projected consumer demand at any point during the next 6 months.


The Australian Government has made changes to the Medicines Supply Security Guarantee. From 1 July 2023, medicine manufacturers must have more onshore stockholdings for chosen brands. This will help make sure there is stock onshore, ready for pharmacy delivery to meet any temporary increase in demand.


Wholesalers must deliver to any pharmacy in 24 hours (excluding weekends or public holidays) if they are running low on medicine. This applies for most medicines.


Reinvestments into pharmacy services


The government commits to supporting a thriving community pharmacy sector.


All money saved by the government from reductions in fees paid to pharmacy for supplying medication to patients will be reinvested into community pharmacy.


This is to support the ongoing vital role of the pharmacy sector and give new opportunities for expanding pharmacists scope of practice.


Note: All yellow highlighting is mine.


Read the full advice at:

https://www.health.gov.au/our-work/60-day-prescriptions


Wednesday 7 June 2023

In June 2023 Liberal-Nationals Coalition & Liberal Opposition Leader Peter Dutton still failing to breakthrough with the national electorate?

 

At the Saturday, 18 May 2019 Australian federal general election 15.8 million electors turned out to vote, with the vote result giving 77 seats in the House of Representatives to the Liberal-Nationals Coalition, 68 seats to the Labor Party and 6 seats to minor parties/independents.


Three years later the federal general election saw 15.4 million electors vote, with the vote result sending the Labor Party into government in the House of Representatives with 77 seats, the Liberal-Nationals Coalition forming the Opposition with 58 seats and minor parties/independents holding 16 seats.


Twelve months into the Albanese Government’s three-year term and there is a 10 point projected gap in TPP votes in its favour in the 4 June 2023 Newspoll. While there is a 27 point gap in Albanese’s favour when it comes to which leader is seen as better prime minister material.


The Coalition in June 2023 under Dutton is 8 points lower than the Coalition under Morrison in August 2019 (the first poll after the 2019 federal election) and, at 45 points, 2 points lower under Dutton than where the Coalition was placed on election day 2022. On the Newspoll continuum over the last twelve months Peter Dutton as party leader has never guided the Opposition to a poll score higher than 46 points.



Newspoll, 4 June 2023:



FEDERAL PRIMARY VOTE (FP)


Labor ALP 38 (no change)

Coalition Lib/NP 34 (no change)

Greens 12 (+1)

One Nation 6 (-1)



FEDERAL TWO-PARTY PREFERENTIAL VOTE (TPP)


Labor ALP 55 (no change)

Coalition Lib/NP 45 (no change)



BETTER PRIME MINISTER


Anthony Albanese 55 (-1)

Peter Dutton 28 (-1)



SUPPORT FOR THE INDIGENOUS & TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER VOICE TO PARLIAMENT REFERENDUM


YES 46%

NO 43%

UNDECIDED 11%



Sources:

The Australian newspaper, Newspoll, 4 June 2023
Twitter @GhostWhoVotes4 June 2023
Australian Electoral Commission (AEC), 2019, 2022.

Saturday 3 June 2023

Tweet of the Week

 

 

Tuesday 23 May 2023

Where to from here? A perspective on the Liberal and National Coalition



The Echo, 18 May 2023, excerpts from “A case for a Lib-Nats reformation” by Catherine Cusack:



Catherine Cusack is a former Liberal NSW MLC 
Photo Tree Faerie
Trump Fatigue Syndrome (TFS) has been defined by   American Professor, John Rennie Short, as ‘a depressing sense of watching the same drama over and over again. And just like being stuck in a movie theatre watching a badly scripted and poorly produced B movie, it begins with feelings of exhaustion, then panic, with the realisation that it may never end.’ 


So I audibly groaned when a friend sent me one of Donald Trump’s latest pearlers……


The Washington Post speculated his claim that some children are ‘deservedly’ unloved by their parents, is a ‘dog whistle’ to older conservative white Americans. It resonates with those who fear increasing diversity in America, and blame the younger generation of voters for caring about climate change and voting for Democrats, like Barrack Obama and Joe Biden.


Whatever the logic, it is clear a toxic and rampant Trump is back and the hijacked Republican Party can’t control or stop him.


Being found to be a ‘sexual abuser’ only seems to have energised his base. Trump’s angry brand –denying facts, deriding minorities and bullying opponents – is likely to invade at least the next 18 months of newsfeeds, through to the November 2024 presidential election.


Emboldened fringe right wing groups


The impact in Australia has been to embolden fringe right wing groups, including neo-Nazis and evangelical Christians who, for years, have backed minor religious parties like Fred Nile’s old ‘Call to Australia’ Party. That strategy has been replaced with a clandestine USA tactic of infiltrating the major conservative parties.


For example, here in the federal seat of Richmond, where we were looking for local leadership after the floods, the Nationals selected a Pentecostal Christian candidate whose stated mission was to ‘bring God’s Kingdom to politics’.


The past week has seen extraordinary disarray and increasingly selfish behaviour derailing conservative politics. In Victoria, a religious right Liberals MP, Moira Deeming, was expelled from the Parliamentary wing of the Liberal Party after threatening to sue her own leader.


In Tasmania, two right wing Liberals resigned, putting the last Liberal government into minority, because they disagreed with a decision to fund an AFL stadium.


And here in NSW, Nationals MLC, Ben Franklin, betrayed his parliamentary colleagues, who wanted to keep pressure on Labor in the hung Upper House. In order to reduce the number of LNP votes, Labor offered Ben the highly paid, prestigious office of Upper House presidency.


By accepting, Mr Franklin has rendered the entire Liberals-National coalition irrelevant in opposition for four years.


The moral decay of conservative politics


Instead of learning from multiple election defeats, the moral decay of conservative politics in Australia seems to be accelerating.


I am one of many long time Liberals who have left in recent years, owing to a lurch to the right in policy and the unethical LNP deals, which have handed portfolios, including education, most of environment, Aboriginal Affairs, the Women’s portfolio, and even Sydney Water, to the NSW Nationals – a party so backwards they are still voting against daylight savings and in favour of subsidies to turn koala habitat into woodchips.


In Sydney, thousands of moderate Liberal voters have rejected these policies, turning instead to the Teals as representing their views better than the LNP. In regional NSW, many have turned to the Independents as an alternative to the Nationals.


Electing independent MPs is, in my view, a temporary fix for the problem. What is required is a full-scale reformation of Australian centre right politics – a reformed, or new, party that seeks to return to the patrician values of virtuous politics; cleansing itself of religious extremists and political bigots.


Dissolving the LNP Coalition agreement


Step one on the journey to reform conservative politics has got to be dissolving the LNP Coalition agreement, thus freeing both the Liberals and National Party to be true to their roots, and authentically represent their communities…….


The next year will tell if Australian Liberals have the depth and fortitude to detach from the Nationals, to choose their own path, or whether they are doomed like American Republicans to keep repeating the same Trumpian drama.