A Few Good Men

#auspol      #gordonthomsonci   #rac_sydney     #labor4refugees1    #Greens  #AustralianLabor

 Coalition bully-boy Scott Morrison has had plenty of opportunity since the elections to chest-beat, yap and howl over asylum seeker policy and so-called “border protection”..  We well remember the three-word “Stop the Boats” bogan slogan and brand-new hot Lindsay MP Fiona Scott wailing about the millions of leaky boats heading up the M4.

Now as promised they have found a two-star general, promoted him to three-star general and made him the fall guy for when things go wrong, which will happen – we would only need another Siev X  to watch this failed process in action.

We have no doubt that the newly minted Lieutenant-General is a fine soldier and good bloke. He probably deserves a VC for having served under John Howard in administrative as well as combat roles.

However he is now the bombastic Morrison’s scapegoat for anything that goes wrong with their boat policy.

And rest assured, this government will be very keen to find scapegoats for anything of theirs which goes wrong. Especially if they can sheet the blame to a soldier or public servant.

The unfortunate Lieutenant-General Angus Campbell

Cartoon by Wes Mountain

North Korean despot Kim Jong-Un hails the name of Australian xenophobic border policy as aligning with his government’s own paranoia

We cannot help thinking of North Korea as we watch the new government rush to drag a veil of secrecy over its great big new militarised response to asylum seekers and boat arrivals

We remember how keen the Coalition were when they were in Opposition from 2007 to stir up the bogots into a hate frenzy every time a boat arrived, to the extent that racism is now an integral part of Coalition policy. We remember how they poured scorn on any attempts to humanise Australia’s approach to refugees and asylum seekers. We know the awful far right Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) has given them a shopping list of demands which include the abolition of the AHRC

But two men, Christmas Island locals, are trying to shine a light on the shrouded, ridiculously-titled “Operation Sovereign Borders”.

One of them is Gordon Thomson. Gordon Thomson is the Secretary of the UCIW, which covers all workers on the island except for those in the AFP.

Gordon Thomson, general secretary of the Union of Christmas Island Workers. Photo: Wolter Peeters

Via his Twitter, Thomson is keeping the rest of the world informed on boat arrivals.

Thomson has long advocated for better treatment for asylum seekers incarcerated on Christmas Island. He is now providing an information source to the public on boat arrivals. The service the government will not give you.

The second man is Jon Stanhope, former Chief Minister of the ACT and now Administrator of Christmas Island.

Jon Stanhope Administrator of Christmas Island

Stanhope also has long advocated better treatment for asylum seekers. As a public servant and former Labor politician he is likely to lose his job as the new regime purges the public service to make room for its yes-men.

So a heads-up to the bogots. The boats will still come.

Except your prime minister is not going to tell you. So you know where to direct your unfocused and ridiculous anger and hate  from now on – to your prime minister.

Another information source

The Curmudgeon’s Magazine

Election special No 14 – ”Go sit on the M4, people see 50,000 people come in by boat …”

Liberal candidate links asylum seekers to traffic jams and hospital queues

September 3, 2013 – 11:01AM

James Robertson

Reporter

Fiona Scott suggested asylum seekers were making traffic worse and also exacerbating traffic queues. Photo: Screen grab, 4 Corners

A Liberal candidate in western Sydney has said she believes asylum seekers are contributing to outer-suburban traffic jams.

”[Asylum seekers are] a hot topic here because our traffic is overcrowded,” Fiona Scott, the Liberal candidate for the seat of Lindsay told the ABC’s Four Corners program.

Fiona Scott with Opposition Leader Tony Abbott. Photo: Alex Ellinghausen

When asked to explain her view she said: ”Go sit on the M4, people see 50,000 people come in by boat – that’s more than twice the population of [western Sydney suburb] Glenmore Park,” she said.

Ms Scott also suggested asylum seekers were exacerbating hospital waiting queues.

Ms Scott is challenging Assistant Treasurer David Bradbury in the September election. She came to prominence last month when Tony Abbott controversially described her as having ”sex appeal”.

Refugee Action Coalition spokesman Ian Rintoul described Ms Scott’s comments as ”shockingly ignorant” and said there were only a few thousand refugees in the area.

On the issue of asylum seekers, Mr Rintoul said Ms Scott’s comments ”reflected the scaremongering and the xenophobic views of the Coalition”.

”She should be well informed, but she is saying absurd and ridiculous things.”

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Mr Rintoul estimated that just a few thousand refugees, mostly from Afghanistan and Iran, would call suburbs in the seat of Lindsay, which includes Emu Plains and Castlereagh, as home.

”She has characterised [refugees] as creating social problems,” he says. ”Western Sydney is full of migrants who have very often experience some kind of discrimination and these negative views on asylum seekers will do no good to her campaign whatsoever.”

And of course some humour followed

Sex Appeal in Politics

Random Observations of Life

Tony Abbott copped a lot of flak in the media, mainstream and social, for introducing the candidate for Lindsay, Fiona Scott, by saying “I think I can probably say have a bit of sex appeal”.

Tracey Spicer wrote a great article for The Hoopla:

Too often, a woman’s stocks rise and fall on the value of her sexuality. I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s wanted to scream, “Stop looking at my tits and listen to what I have to say!”

Then in middle age, we are disappeared by the diminution of this appeal.

http://thehoopla.com.au/hey-tony-1950s-called/

Clementine Ford wrote for The Sydney Morning Herald:

Some people have leapt on the comments as evidence of Abbott’s inherent misogyny, but that’s being a little opportunistic. Abbott isn’t a misogynist (he owns four women, remember?) any more than he is a worthy candidate to run the country.

http://www.smh.com.au/comment/abbotts-gift-of-the-gaffe-no-joke-for-women-20130814-2rwqy.html#ixzz2cVHZLUYk

Ed Butler wrote a piece for AusVotes2013

View original post 1,388 more words

Election special No. 2 – while Abbott just loves mountain women, the Kelly Gang rides again

Yeh ha!

Things are jumping in the lower Blue Mountains and the nearby Penrith area as the election campaign reaches new heights of lunacy.

Source

Now for people with short memories, who is this Jackie Kelly who so arouses the budgie ?

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Heath Aston went on to say

Drafting in Ms Kelly has raised some eyebrows in the party. The Penrith MP was a poster girl for John Howard’s dominance of the outer suburbs during his decade in office but it was also Ms Kelly’s campaign in 2007 that derailed the Howard re-election effort.

The western suburbs of Sydney turned their back on Mr Howard after Ms Kelly’s husband, Gary Clark, and others were caught distributing dodgy pamphlets thanking the ALP, on behalf of an Islamic group that did not exist, for supporting terrorists.

The scandal was credited with preventing any hope of Mr Howard mounting one of his trademark late comebacks and Ms Kelly’s seat of Lindsay fell to Labor on her retirement in the ”Ruddslide” of 2007.

When asked about Ms Kelly’s role in her office, Ms Markus indicated her role was not official. “Jackie is a close friend of mine but I have my campaign staff,” she said before cutting the call short.

Probably a wise move on the part of Louise Markus to dump her bestie if she doesn’t want Macquarie to become the Siege of Glenrowan.

Coalition headwear for Western Sydney campaigns

Now let’s take a look at the notorious and laughably amateurish pamphlet from 2007.

Two of the culprits were Kelly’s husband and incoming Lindsay candidate Karen Chijoff’s husband Greg Chijoff.

And here’s Squadron Leader Kelly’s husband doing his deer-in-the-headlights act after being caught.

What a quality act!

Lateline had the whole unsavoury saga here.