Archive
Week 3 of Australia's "Hung Parliament"
Compiled by Andrew Middleton
An update on “The latest on Australia’s Hung Parliament,” August 31st
Abbott touted pub relief in Wilkie deal
4 September, 2010From: The Australian
TONY Abbott offered to consider compensation for clubs and pubs as part of his drive to win the support of independent MP Andrew Wilkie.
The compensation would have been for clubs and pubs dependent on poker-machine income for their survival. This was part of his promise to crack down on problem gambling .
But Mr Wilkie, who has agreed with the Gillard government to vote against a no-confidence motion if Labor forms minority government, instead accepted Julia Gillard’s offer to impose restrictions on poker machine use and losses.
The Opposition Leader essentially offered the same deal, based on the findings of the Productivity Commission, to limit poker machine losses, as the ALP.
And Mr Abbott also offered to look at an industry adjustment package to help clubs and pubs with potential job losses.
Clubs Australia executive director Anthony Ball has accused the Prime Minister of backflipping on a deal to consult the industry before making any changes to gambling regulations.
Read full article
Black rights top Bob Katter’s wish list
4 September, 2010 From: The AustralianINDEPENDENT MP Bob Katter has accused successive governments of oppressing Aborigines, declaring that indigenous policy will affect his decision about whether to back Labor or the Coalition to form a government.
The north Queensland MP wants 100 per cent of the workers on indigenous housing projects to be Aborigines, and for Canberra to sink Queensland Premier Anna Bligh’s Wild Rivers legislation.
He says Aboriginal people should have full control over their own land.
Mr Katter is one of three independent MPs who will next week resolve the nation’s political deadlock by giving one of the major political parties his support to form a minority government after the August 21 election produced no winner.
Read full article
Parliament reform spat slows govt result
5 September 2010From: MyWestnet
A decision on who forms government could be delayed with a squabble breaking out over parliamentary reform.
Labor and the coalition have previously indicated they would support changing parliament’s rules, but on Sunday the opposition declared some of the reforms could strengthen the hand of future governments.
“My role as manager of opposition business is to ensure that the parliament is not diminished and the executive’s power increased,” key coalition negotiator Christopher Pyne told AAP.
Rob Oakeshott wants both sides of politics to sign off on the reforms before he and fellow independents Tony Windsor and Bob Katter announce whether they’ll back Prime Minister Julia Gillard or Opposition Leader Tony Abbott.
Asked on Sunday whether the current squabbling could delay that announcement, Mr Pyne said: “What is important is the changes to the standing orders for the last 110 years be correct, not rushed”.
The coalition opposes proposed reforms to the speaker’s role and the guaranteeing of “pairing” for votes.
It supports other changes, including boosting the role of independents, elevating private members’ business, strengthening committees, establishing a parliamentary budget office and reforming Question Time.
A draft document outlining the proposed reforms was released by Mr Oakeshott on Saturday. Labor has supported all the measures.
Read full article
One may have to compromise: Windsor
6 September, 2010From: NineMSN
One of the three rural independents may have to compromise and back their least favoured political party in the interests of stable government, Tony Windsor says.
Mr Windsor and his fellow independents Bob Katter and Rob Oakeshott are still deciding whether to support a Labor or coalition minority government.
Labor is ahead in that race, holding 74 of the required 76 federal lower house seats – one more than the coalition.
Mr Windsor said if the trio couldn’t agree on whom to support, someone may have to compromise their views in order to avoid a 75-all outcome.
Read full article Related: "Oakeshott prepared to compromise," September 6th
Tony Windsor supported radical action on climate change
6 September, 2010From: The Australian
TONY Windsor introduced a private member’s bill to radically cut Australia’s carbon emissions before the Garnaut report was even released.
The Member for New England proposed Australia’s carbon emissions be cut by at least 30 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020 – and by 80 per cent by 2050.
Mr Windsor’s decision to vote against the Rudd Government’s emissions trading scheme has been read in some quarters as a sign he will back Tony Abbott’s ‘direct action’ approach to climate change.
But as the trio of country independents continue to weigh up their options, Mr Windsor has hinted the ambitious targets in his private member’s bill may not reflect his personal beliefs.
Read full article Also see: "Gillard faces Rudd-made climate trap," September 3rd
Coalition’s hopes for power sink
6 September, 2010 From: The AustralianTHE Coalition is increasingly pessimistic about its chances of winning the support of the three rural independents it needs to take power.
The trio is preparing to end two weeks of political limbo.
Hopes are rising in the government that Labor will be able to win the backing of at least two of the three independents, even as senior Coalition figures made a last-ditch bid for support.
Tony Abbott’s chief of staff, Peta Credlin, and senior Liberal senator Bill Heffernan lunched with north Queensland independent Bob Katter yesterday in Canberra to discuss his 20-point wishlist as well as water and development issues.
Mr Katter is expected to declare his decision today, but Tony Windsor said he might not make a decision until tomorrow while Rob Oakeshott said he may need until Wednesday.
Senior sources believe the decision could go either way, but pessimism has grown among some senior Coalition figures over the “disengagement” of the independents during key briefings last week with senior frontbenchers.
…
Coalition sources worry about the fact that issues such as its broadband policy to counter Labor’s NBN and Treasury’s costing of the Coalition’s election promises were only briefly canvassed in the meetings, leaving them concerned the independents were “going through the the motions . . . It would seem they have not nearly negotiated and discussed and exchanged documents and all those sorts of things with us, like they have with Labor,” one Coalition source told The Australian.
“That’s the reason for the pessimism.”
Read full article
Greens to rush same-sex bill
4 September, 2010From: The Australian
THE Greens will use their alliance with Labor to prosecute their push for same-sex marriage and liberalising the treatment of refugees by bringing forward their legislation and demanding it be debated, possibly with conscience votes, in the new parliament.
Greens leader Bob Brown confirmed his intentions yesterday as the Coalition warned that a returned Labor government controlled by the Greens would be the most radical in Australian political history.
Read full article Related: "Gillard dumps citizen assembley as Labor, Greens strike alliance deal," September 1st Also see: "Same Strategy, Different Socialists," August 28th
Final count still weeks away: AEC
6 September, 2010 From: The AustralianTHE final count in the federal election can be expected within three weeks, the electoral commission has said.
At noon on Monday, 91.92 per cent of the House of Representatives vote had been counted, with the Senate count slightly behind on 87.3 per cent.
But so far only nine lower house seats have been officially declared out of 150.
Read full article
Decision likely for Tuesday, major parties prefer Government over re-election
6 September, 2010From: ABC News
Independent MP Tony Windsor says a decision on which party will form government is unlikely to be made today.
Mr Windsor and his fellow independents Bob Katter and Rob Oakeshott have spent the weekend mulling over which party to support, and will hold talks together in Canberra today.
Mr Windsor says they also plan to meet Labor leader Julia Gillard and Coalition leader Tony Abbott one more time before making a final decision.
“My guess is, on the basis of all that, we’ll make a determination probably tomorrow morning,” Mr Windsor said.
Although keen not to raise expectations, he has not totally ruled out a decision today.
“Anything could happen,” he said.
“I won’t be making a final call until I’ve really sat down with the other two and talked through it, because there is a possibility here that we end up with 75-all, in a mathematical sense.
“I’ve asked people from both sides of the parliament ‘Do you want another election?’ and they nearly run in fear when you suggest that to them.”
The independents are hopeful that the Coalition will today join Labor in signing onto a series of parliamentary reforms.
Mr Oakeshott says there will be a decision soon.
“Realistically, a couple more days at worst, and hopefully by within 24 hours at best,” he said.
The Greens holding the balance of power in the Senate from July next year is a serious point of consideration.
“The reality is, the Greens are in the House,” said Mr Oakeshott.
“That is a pragmatic reality we all have to get used to, like it or not.”
Read full article
Recent comedy skit on Australia’s “Hung Parliament” by Clarke & Dawes, as featured on The 7:30pm Report, September 2nd
Who is Barack Obama?
Researched & Written by Cel Eden
Edited by Andrew Middleton
Barack Hussien Obama is the current president of the United States of America. During his campaign for the Presidency, it was thought that he was a catalyst, a signal of changing times, as he was the first African-American candidate to be elected. When it was announced that he was to become the 44th president of the USA, there was a public outpouring of emotion screened on televisions around the world, celebrating the perceived step forward.
To become the President, the United States Constitution states candidates must be natural born citizens. Section 1 of Article 2 in the United States Constitution states, “No person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty-five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.”
There have been several reports that bring into question [1], and lawyers demanding that Obama proves, where he was born, as the birth certificate he presented was obtained in Hawaii through the clause that only one family member needs to be a witness to claim a birth there. This is a hot topic because his grandmother in Kenya is on record as saying he was born there and she was in the delivery room. [2] There are also several pictures in existence showing his visits there over a period of time. If Obama was born in Kenya, it would make his rise to the presidency one that broke the Constitutional laws of the United States and therefore void his position.
While being sworn in as an attorney of Illinois, Obama stated he had never been known under any other names. However, there is factual evidence that he attended Fransiskus Assisi School in Jakarta, Indonesia, as “Barry Soetoro.” [3] This fact has been conveniently and constantly left out by the mainstream media up until recently when a report surfaced that his stepfather, Lolo Soetoro, had ties with the CIA and suggested Obama’s rise to power may have been manufactured. [4]
Certain policies and decisions he has made in his term as President have been controversial and made headlines around the world. Some of these include: an Executive-ordered internet ‘killswitch’ [5], declaring the H1N1 virus a ‘national emergency’ – which violated parts of the Constitution [6] and saw him able to force people to take a flu vaccine at gunpoint if he felt it necessary – and the fact he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize within months of deciding to send a 40,000 strong contingent of soldiers to Iraq over 2010 [7].
Many Australians may ask what Obama’s Soetoro’s constitutional ineligibility & agenda has to do with our country. The United States of America seems to dictate policies to the rest of the world through its agenda and Australia traditionally – but particularly since 9/11 – been quick to align itself with that dictation and rarely question it. For evidence of this, we can look at the agendas of Australian & USA Governments since 2001 and find similarities in the “War on Terror” (including Afghanistan, Iraq, and defence/intelligence agreements), the aforementioned push to vaccinate entire populations in response to the swine flu “pandemic,” the push for a price on carbon emissions, the nationalising of healthcare systems, and general attitudes towards other countries, just to name a few. With so many of these issues commonly arising in national politics World-wide, it is important to know who the leaders around the World really are, and not just accept what we are told about them.
References
[1] http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=139481
[2] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Vru5pz2pwQ
[3] http://www.educate-yourself.org/cn/orlytaitzletter24feb09.shtml
[4] http://www.presstv.ir/detail/140093.html
[5] http://www.smh.com.au/technology/security/obama-internet-kill-switch-bill-approved-20100625-z8sf.html
[6] http://www.infowars.com/obamas-national-emergency-violates-the-constitution/
[7] http://www.infowars.net/articles/november2009/101109Obama_troops.htm
My Letter to Robert Oakeshott, Independent MP
Robert Oakeshott (Lyne, NSW): robert.oakeshott.mp@aph.gov.au
Tony Windsor (New England, NSW): Tony.Windsor.MP@aph.gov.au
Bob Katter (Kennedy, QLD): bobkatter@gmail.com
Andrew Wilkie* (Denison, TAS): wilkie.andrew@bigpond.com
* Probable – see latest vote count.
Hello Robert,
I appreciate that you would be endlessly communicating with people all over Australia, so may I just congratulate you on your re-election as the member for Lyne and list 5 points with references for your consideration, largely in response to your focus on combating apparent climate change as I read about here:
http://www.roboakeshott.com/node/527 (November 2009)
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/special-reports/emissions-trading-scheme-is-my-priority-rob-oakeshott-says/story-fn5ko0pw-1225908483106 (August 22nd, 2010)
1) You say you’re happy providing anyone the “relevant documents” regarding human-based influence on the climate if they have their doubts. I would certainly appreciate being provided with that, and I’ll offer some of my proof as to why I’m sceptical of your point of view:
The Sceptics Handbook: http://joannenova.com.au/global-warming/
The weather stations can’t be trusted: http://surfacestations.org
Former NASA Scientist Dr. Roy Spencer’s thoughts & satellite tempreture stations:
31 500 scientists don’t accept your point of view:
http://petitionproject.org
CLIMATEGATE: The Mother of all Scientific Scandals:
(did you hear about this when encouraging the implementation of an ETS last November?)
From: http://www.climate-gate.org
Also see:
Other related scandals
Legal verdict: Manmade global warming science doesn’t withstand scrutiny
http://opinion.financialpost.com/2010/06/06/legal-verdict-manmade-global-warming-science-doesn%E2%80%99t-withstand-scrutiny
India Says it “Cannot Rely” on Biased UN Climate Panel, Forms National Institute of Himalayan Glaciology
http://www.dailytech.com/India%20Says%20it%20Cannot%20Rely%20on%20Biased%20UN%20Climate%20Panel%20Forms%20National%20Institute%20of%20Himalayan%20Glaciology/article17621.htm
The IPCC consensus on climate change was phoney, says IPCC insider
http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2010/06/13/the-ipcc-consensus-on-climate-change-was-phoney-says-ipcc-insider
9 lies of Al Gore’s “Inconvenient Truth” – as decided on by a Judge
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/3310137/Al-Gores-nine-Inconvenient-Untruths.html
UN wrongly linked global warming to natural disasters
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article7000063.ece
Expert report says claims of livestock causing global warming are false
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/geraldwarner/100031389/now-its-cowgate-expert-report-says-claims-of-livestock-causing-global-warming-are-false/
“NOAA Satellite failure means decade of Global Warming data doubtful” (August 11, 2010)
http://www.climatechangefraud.com/climate-reports/7491-official-satellite-failure-means-decade-of-global-warming-data-doubtful
http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/26603
Even the head scientist of the IPCC Phil Jones says: “There’s been no warming since 1995”
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1250872/Climategate-U-turn-Astonishment-scientist-centre-global-warming-email-row-admits-data-organised.html
2) You say: “I would personally say, let’s go back to the Garnaut report and try and get something through based on that. The template is there, stick to the script, keep it simple.” Garnaut however, appears accepting of the fact that Australia acting alone would be pointless:
He also accepts that a global recession is not a “good time for good policy”
http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/national/might-be-best-to-dump-ets-says-garnaut/story-e6frea8c-1225699388402
Accepting these two points as fact, why would you, and for that matter the next Parliament of Australia, be so hell bent on an ETS? We’re not out of that global recession yet by any means, are we Robert..? Or would that also depend on whether “Garnaut says so”?
3) An ETS would be so open to manipulation I’m surprised anyone who wants to see People before Profits would support it. I personally have been to the Walk Against Warming community events (http://www.walkagainstwarming.org) and there was far from a consensus amongst those who believe the man-made global warming theory on any sort of a carbon price/trading scheme, and after speaking to my group of friends and myself, some were even in more doubt about it being a worthwhile venture in achieving carbon emission reduction. Lets have a look at how it has gone in Europe in regards to corruption in their trading scheme:
[The flyer I handed out at the Walk Against Warming] http://wearechangewa.com/downloads/documents/pdf/Flyers—We.Are.Change—ClimateGate.pdf
“Denmark rife with CO2 fraud”
http://www.cphpost.dk/news/national/88-national/47643-denmark-rife-with-co2-fraud.html
“Hackers hit Europe’s Carbon Market”
“Carbon Permit Tax Fraud Drove Huge Increases in Market Volume, Report Finds”
“Europol: $7.4 Billion Lost from Carbon Trading Fraud in Europe,” 10 December 2010
“U.K. Arrests 22 as CO2 Tax Probe Widens in Europe,” 30 April 2010
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-04-30/u-k-arrests-22-as-co2-tax-probe-widens-in-europe-update2-.html
“The great carbon credit con: Why are we paying the Third World to poison its environment?”
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive/article-1188937/The-great-carbon-credit-eco-companies-causing-pollution.html
4) The Greens suggestion for climate change action are the most extreme out there, of course. What many are not aware of is the Global Governance agenda behind the talk. Please read the Greens “Global Governance” policy off their website: http://greens.org.au/policies/human-rights-democracy/global-governance
They also have related Global Governance measures in their other economic policies, such as:
15. At the international level, support the implementation of a currency transaction tax (Tobin Tax) to discourage global currency speculation and to provide an independent tax base for international institutions.24. establish mechanisms to prevent the debt crisis from recurring, such as introducing the potential for penalties for surplus as well as debtor nations.
From: http://greens.org.au/policies/sustainable-economy/global-economics
5) This is an agenda backed up by the United Nations, as seen at the Copenhagen Summit and announcements since:
“A deal must include an equitable global governance structure. All countries must have a voice in how resources are deployed and managed. That is how trust will be built.”The 4th benchmark for success at Copenhagen of UN General Secretary Ban Ki-Moon writing for the NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/26/opinion/26iht-edban.html?_r=4
Copenhagen Accord Establishes Global Government Framework:
http://www.prisonplanet.com/copenhagen-accord-establishes-global-government-framework.html
Leaked UN Documents reveal plan for “Green World Order” by 2012:
http://www.prisonplanet.com/leaked-un-documents-reveal-plan-for-green-world-order-by-2012.html
So do you understand what’s at stake here negotiating favourably with the Greens and for a carbon reduction agenda? The erosion of Australian sovereignty. The Liberals aren’t totally against a carbon tax or trading system but in the position you’re in, you can influence the possibility of it in any future Government structure. Consider your position and possible assumptions carefully, because initial indications show you’re being led down the Greens Garden Path…
I have a book called “The past and future of Climate” by Professor David Archibald along with DVDs to send you if you’d like.
Regards,
________________
Beau Woods – Senate Candidate (WA) for The Climate Sceptics Party
From: http://climatesceptics.com.au
Born: Perth, Australia, 1983
Education: Narrogin Senior High School
Murdoch University
Qualifications: B.Sc(Chiro) B.Chiro, Bachelor of Commerce (Management)
Employment: 4 years self employed as a chiropractor in both rural and metro Western Australia.
Faced with the constant barrage of Global Warming propaganda, Australians can be forgiven for thinking ‘the science is settled’, ‘climate change is real’ and the existence of a ‘scientific consensus’ with the only solution….wait for it…more tax of course. Most Australians (myself included previously) don’t have the time to investigate the issues and as such we have allowed the extreme green left to control the discourse. The encouragement of critical thinking is something sadly lacking from our democracy, but it is my hope that my involvement with The Climate Sceptics will stimulate debate and critical evaluation of this issue by the people of Western Australia.
The Australian Senate was designed by our founding fathers to be a house of review, where each state elected an equal number of senators who would represent the best interests of their state. This is no longer the case. The senate is a house of rubber stamps, where senators rarely cross the floor and are controlled by faceless power-brokers. If elected, I will represent the best interests of West Australians first and foremost. A carbon tax would not be in West Australia’s interest as it is a tax on economic output and ultimately will cost jobs.
WeAreChange Western Australia endorses Beau Woods (The Climate Sceptics Party) as a Federal Senate Candidate for WA. Find him on your white Upper House voting ballot paper this Federal Election, August 21st.
WeAreChange Western Australia - weblog 