Mood:
chattyTopic: aust govt
Author’s general introductory note
This is not a well packaged story. It’s a contemporaneous traverse of the Sunday television free to air political talkies indicating the agenda of Establishment interests: Better to know ones rivals and allies in Big Politics and Big Media.
For actual transcripts and/or video feeds go to the programme web sites quoted including Riley Diary on 7. And note transcripts don’t really give you the image content value.
Media backgrounders
* Oliver Stone film director with a very mainstream capitalist pedigree with a father who worked on Wall Street describes Senator McCain like this in Weekend Review in The Australian 25 Oct 2008, at p21 in film review of W about the current US president:
"I think McCain's a very special story because he was never a soldier," Stone says coldly. "He's said he never saw the results of his own bombing. I saw the damage we did [in Vietnam], I saw the corpses, the decay, I smelled the flesh, I saw the people who'd been napalmed, people who'd been killed by shrapnel, mutilated, I saw horrible things.
"McCain was a prisoner and he has a siege mentality. He doesn't see a balanced portrait of cause and effect; there's something missing in the man, mentally."
* Today’s Sydney SunHerald - Rudd warning on global recession hit on Australia – and blaming NSW for economic failures. Looks like return of fire on Keating's ‘culture war’ over interpretation of Gallipoli .
* Rudd's bold attack on NSW ALP politics possibly informed by Imre Salusinszky's piece this weekend p31 of The Australian that the PM can go to the election after NSW because he convenend parliament in Feb 2008 giving him until after March 2011 when NSW must. Not sure if this is true but very important if it is, in "Forcing polls may save Rudd".
* Rudd is also emboldened by China releasing a report saying they recognise the challenge of climate change as evidence that in terms of international momentum it's a happening thing to get on board the climate change expres, via ABC China correspondent here -
China warns of more natural disasters 30 Oct 2008 ... The Chinese government has made dire predictions of increased disasters due to global warming. China correspondent Stephen McDonell reports ...
* Sunday Telegraph - Minister for Tourism Jodi Mackay, who took the NSW seat of Hunter in the wake of the creepy ALP MP Orkopoulous arrest and conviction for child abuse and drug use, worries about “weird aggressive” hut user with a “fetish for conspiracy theories”. McKay says this justifies developers being greenwashed into national parks with commercial tourism to guarantee “safety”. The story is "National parks face a fork in the track" by Claire Harvey p37 2 Nov 2008.
Who is she worried is stalking around in national parks?: Former or current ALP MPs and ministers
- Orkopoulous, convicted of child sex and drug abuse?
- Matt Brown MP, alleged harrassment?
- Paul Gibson MP alleged domestic violence?
- Belinda Neal MP, alleged bullying?
- Tony Stewart MP, alleged bullying?
- Steven Chaytor, ex MP alleged domestic violence, overturned on appeal?
- Paul Keating ex PM with his famous (political) aggression?
- Joe Tripodi MP with some scandal there about alleged harrassment.
- Nathan Rees who was maybe 'weird' cycling 1000 km in a week', and preferring V8 revheads at Olympic Park?
- Or maybe Mal Turnbull who is known to have a few conspiracy theories about Treasury chief Ken Henry and has an explosive temper (at least when he was younger)?.
Or is Ms McKay MP worried the Shooters Party MPs and their Game Council/Sporting Shooters mates with their Deliverance style pig hunting and their guns will stray out of the 1 million hectares of State Forest gifted by the ALP Govt. Stray into national parks and get their skinning knife out and “stab” innocent campers?
Picture: Hunters during the bird shooting season in Victoria intimidate a conservationist/animal rights protester, image taken several years ago.
The irony is that lead greenie Andrew Cox of the big conservative NSW National Parks Aassociation, opposed to commercialisation, is about the most mild mannered NGO rep under the heel of this aggressive weird NSW ALP government. Let’s see Ms McKay argue her case against the Greens Lee Rhiannon MLC MP on Stateline – I’d like to see that. The fact is there is huge opportunities for development of commercial tourism next to and outside national park boundaries and the rest is greenwash:
The Greens say a developer contributed more than $50,000 for Jodi McKay's printing. (ABC TV)
Jodi Makay MP might do better resolving issues of her own about developer donations and internal ALP corruption:
14 April 2008 We haven't declared all donations: NSW ALP - ABC News (Australian ...
with spin off into the Sydney City Council elections where the ALP were reduced to a rump of one only (Cr Burgmann who has left for the US elections):
Labor election funds tangled in development August 25, 2008 by Malcolm Knox
And then we notice the corporate sponsorship of the Sunday Telegraph to the tourism awards from the new minister with probity questions about developer donations:
* Range of pre-emptive efforts by rivals of John Howard ex PM Howard years in 4 installments out on Nov 17 by Fran Kelly, and 2 other ABC veterans. Good summary in the Weekend Australian today by John Lyons. Pre-emptives as follows:
* Mal Turnbull "The Opportunist" charging "bull" last weekend's front colour mag Weekend Australian,
* Peter Costello flying flag on his financial credentials as a statesman ex treasurer here 15 October smh
* George Brandis damns Howard with faint praise, not least for marching away from Menzies social liberalism, and economic Deakinism leading to an inevitable neurosis and collapse of the Party.We must not sow the seeds of the next crisis - Opinion - smh.com.au
23 Oct 2008 The Howard paradox | The Australian
* John Robertson pictured at his squatters homestead like home at East Kurrajong, who walked with the greenies against climate change pre federal election.
But what about the forests John? Record levels of woodchipping at Eden for trees like this?
It's true it's not just one chair, in the propaganda in the Good Weekend here this weekend, it's whole forests including giants like this of which say 50-80% will be woodchipped, or burnt on the forest floor:
* Keith Orchison of the energy industry in various veteran capacities is throwing his lot in with the CFMEU coalminers and woodchippers as climate change denialists or more accurately sophists, as per this quote last 1/5 of his column in the climate change denialist The Australian:
The "unintended consequence" risks of emissions trading to the economy are well illustrated by the pulp and paper mills. They have virtually no capability to pass on extra costs to customers because they are exposed to vigorous international competition - from countries such as China, Brazil and Indonesia - within Australia as well as overseas. Overseas suppliers have managed to grab 40per cent of the Australian papermarket.
As the sector is striving to get across to Wong and her colleagues, if the domestic mills become non-viable and close in the medium term, there is a flow-through effect to tree growers and sawmillers.
Overall, the forest industry employs more than 80,000 Australians. Ultimately, argue the millers, if they fail, fewer trees will be planted (because the growers have less income), less timber will be available to the construction industry (because the sawmillers will be less viable) and more concrete and steel will be used in buildings, involving an increase in carbon emissions.
How much of this information will be on the table when federal cabinet finally comes to make a decision about emissions trading - not just when to introduce it but, even more important, how to support emissions-intensive, trade-exposed domestic industries against global rivals - is anybody's guess.
Wong's focus is transparently on positioning the Government on the high ground for the critical negotiations on a post-Kyoto Protocol treaty at a meeting to be held in Copenhagen in 14 months.
Who in the cabinet, therefore, has responsibility for ensuring that this ground is not made up of the rubble of the Australian manufacturing sector?
Keith Orchison is director of Coolibah energy consultants and editor of the Powering Australia yearbook. He is a formerenergy industries association chiefexecutive.
in 22 Oct 2008 Climate plan pulps employees downstream | The Australian
* Sad to read ex ex ex Treasurer Michael Costa trying to crawl to revive his destroyed reputation in The Australian with the most ironic of titles "When principle gets left behind". Not the guy you would go to for moral guidance. In 24 Oct 2008 Deep green elitists in charge | The Australian
* Minister Tripodi et al pull off the electricity privatisation policy mark 2, in the last 36 hours, and wait to see fireworks with the United Services Union. He is also moving to annexure all executive political power in the NSW ports sector as per this low key but important article: 1 Nov 2008 Joe Tripodi's bill is a ports power grab | The Australian
* The highly praised First Australians can be veiwed again on the net apparently and see this profound advert adapting what looks like a real historic document only 60 years ago, as Obama leads the US presidential race. How incredible.
[Media Watch reveal that the document is an advert gimmick, it's not historically accurate but claims to reflect the actual implementation in the 1950ies behind the actual bureaucratise of an official White Australia policy.]
10 Meet the Press: 8- 8-30 am
Press round up re Age Rudd warns of global recession impact on Australia.
US election round up.
Panel is Jennifer Hewitt with dodgy deposit guarantee story in The Australian labeled as WRONG. Also Phillip Coorey of Fairfax.
Out take is joke cracked by Mal Turnbull – something about nude bathers on the beach as the tide goes out.
Talent is Chris Bowen as Assistant Treasurer.
Classic out take of McCain ‘winning’ by one vote.
2nd guest is
Meet The Press - Watch Political Video Online - Channel TEN.
Riley Diary 7, from 8.30am
Riley who did a tour of duty in the US previously is back there and saying it's like Disneyland for political junkies.
Really good traverse of the campaign in summary leavened with some understated humour, with comic Tina Fey meeting the real Sarah Pallin complete with Deliverance soundtrack etc.
http://www.seven.com.au/sunrise/weekend
9 Sunday newshour Laurie Oakes interview 8.40 am
Talent is Foreign Minister Stephen Smith - mostly about US election and pretty general and competent if not a bit boring.
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/oakes
Insiders 2: 9- 10am
Panel Dae Levine Essential Media, Bruce Wolpe of Fairfax and ex foreign minister Alexander Downer.
Chris Uhlmann re Rudd on global recession in the Sunday press, and attack on ‘sick man’ of Australian politics namely NSW.
Discussion of phone call with George Bush ‘re G20?’ Was it Chris Mitchell the editor of The Australian who leaked the story?
Home page is http://www.abc.net.au/insiders/
