Welcome to Australia, the land so magical that we can’t even be sure that we exist. There was even a claim in the USA that we don’t exist and that any ‘Australians’ were just actors being paid to pretend we come from that mythical land.
SloMo the MoFo, Mr Fuppet (pic credit Dominic Lorrimer)
What a wonderful setting this is to be the home of Morrison the Magnifique.
Who else but El Magnifico could make entire things disappear with a dash of the pen or a quick press announcement? (more…)
Craig Kelly, Liberal MP (photo credit AAP)
As little as a year, ago hardly any of us had heard of Liberal MP, Craig Kelly. Yet now he keeps popping up in the news. So, who is he and just what changed?
Kelly was elected to the House of Representatives for the electorate of Hughes in Sydney, in 2010, being re-elected in 2013, 2016 and 2019.
The best part of a decade is long enough for a politician to make their mark. Yet Kelly’s parliamentary record is quite scant. One thing that never goes begging is the availability of parliamentary committee positions. Most MPs and Senators of the same duration as Kelly have a respectable list of committees they have served on. Kelly, however, has very little. And he has nothing even remotely approaching Ministerial or portfolio activity. (more…)
George Christensen – he is quite a puzzle.
I am pretty confident he holds onto his seat through some sort of influence at the local level of the Nationals. Holding some pretty good dirt on someone there? (more…)
Senator Ian MacDonald has a point. Our politicians really are terribly poorly paid. They could have stayed in their original ‘real’ jobs and been paid a proper, living wage. But no, through such determination to serve the public these heroes survive on a mere pittance, only to be tossed to one side like last week’s caviar wrapper. A defined benefits superannuation which provides a hefty guaranteed pension? That is merely a minor recognition of all those years of sacrifice for the nation. We should consider giving them all that free air travel in retirement as a way of saying ‘thank you, oh great one.’ (more…)
One of the Fairfax stable said they were going to take this only to change their mind at the last minute, so you get to read it for free.
As Rod Culleton learned the hard way, getting into parliament is not as easy as it sounds. Your past can have an impact. But once you are safely there, you can do pretty much what you like. You may get booted from a Ministry or something if you mess up badly enough, but you are still there, earning $195,000 at the bare minimum with your backside polishing a red or green leather seat. And this allows a nasty, unintended loophole in the Australia Constitution that far too many politicians have taken advantage of. (more…)
This was written after Culleton’s appearance at the High Court on January 31 and before Friday’s developments. But the essential attitudes are unchanged.
Oh, we’re off to see the Rodney
The wonderful Culleton of Oz
Rod Culleton considering his future (ABC News, Adam Kennedy)
Borrowing from The Wizard of Oz is not that inappropriate when it comes to Mister Rod Culleton. Judging from his performance at the High Court last Tuesday, Culleton is indeed in Lala Land. Although his chief of staff, Margaret Menzel, might be considered a poor substitute for Emma Stone. (more…)
It is surely a first that a President of the USA is being dragged to the courts considerably less than a week after his Inauguration. But it has happened–a crew of serious legal hitters have now filed a lawsuit against President Trump for his “…serious violations of the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution created by the illegal payments he receives from foreign governments” as multiple breaches of the US Constitution. The argument is that nobody, including the President, is above the law. (more…)
