Open Thread – Tues 7 Feb 2023


Daedalus and Icarus, Charles Le Brun, 1645


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Johnny Rotten
February 10, 2023 4:33 pm

Victoria is already a long way down the road toward a treaty with Victorian Indigenous groups with none of us any the wiser what that might mean in practice.

Sicktoria is a State of Australia and is in a right state. Only the Federal Guv’ment can sign a treaty with another sovereign people. A State cannot do this. In 1788, there was not a sovereign nation on this Continent. There is now though and it is one Nation. And it does not need a treaty with itself.

rickw
rickw
February 10, 2023 4:33 pm

Another very odd thing about the Australian system is that kids can progress from one year to the next while being totally incompetent in achieving what was taught each year.

The Mongocracy isn’t going to build itself.

Vagabond
Vagabond
February 10, 2023 4:41 pm

Cassie said:
To be fair, what opposition has Andrews ever had? In the lead up to November 2022, what did the Liberal opposition offer the voters of Victoria…

Quite right. The miracle is that the SFLs got the votes they did or in fact any at all. That anyone voted for them is a reflection of a blend of desperation and stupidity. The sooner they are consigned to the dustbin of history and a proper alternative emerges the better.

H B Bear
H B Bear
February 10, 2023 5:01 pm

Vagabond

The sooner they are consigned to the dustbin of history and a proper alternative emerges the better.

The WA Lieborals are about half way through the process.

Real Deal
Real Deal
February 10, 2023 5:02 pm

“Adios Perrottet and Kean”

I doubt it will be adios Kean. Post the election my guess is that the architect of the Coalition loss will become Coalition Leader of the Opposition.

MatrixTransform
February 10, 2023 5:08 pm

it is possible to have sympathy for and feel solidarity with the Russian people without sharing Putin’s zeal for reconstituting the czar’s empire.

that’s a pretty retarded statement … even for a journalist

shatterzzz
February 10, 2023 5:09 pm

Another very odd thing about the Australian system is that kids can progress from one year to the next while being totally incompetent in achieving what was taught each year.
The yearly system is the easy way out of kids being educated on individual ability .. that would require some effort by the Education folk to assess whilst block year education requires far less attention to detail ..
let’s remember this is public service top heavy with “administrators’ busy carving out empires you can’t expect them to consider the kids, as well!
No different repairs/ air conditioning and ALL schools being up to date! .. lotza kids are going to school for their several hours a day in conditions the head office administration unions wouldn’t put up with ….!

bons
bons
February 10, 2023 5:12 pm

The SFL were destroyed by cronism, read corruption.
Love or loathe Abbott, he did attempt to stem the tide of corrupt cronyism by fighting to remove the ‘lobbyists’ but hadn’t chance especially with Turnbull undermining him and wealthy Libs on board the climate scam.
Once established in the Party, the cronies had to destroy the democratic membership base, which they did with extraordinary ease through removing any branch autonomy.
Critical to the coup was ensuring that only apparatchick candidates were offered for election and independant minded members were driven out, eg Kelly.
Morrisson was arguably the principal agent for implementation of uniparty crony power by refusing to support senior liberals falsely accused by the Left, and by instituting the antidemocratic National Cabinet secret cabal.
The National Cabinet belled the death of Australian democracy.
It is an indictment against Dutton that he continues to permit that animal to sit in the party room. Morrisson is the cronies’ Tik Tok .

shatterzzz
February 10, 2023 5:13 pm

Only the Federal Guv’ment can sign a treaty with another sovereign people.
Stairman Dan had no qualms signing up to “belt & road” so the “legality” of a treaty with the 251s ain’t gonna concern him, overmuch if at all!

rosie
rosie
February 10, 2023 5:14 pm
calli
calli
February 10, 2023 5:24 pm

Wow rosie! Have you got webbed feet yet?

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
February 10, 2023 5:28 pm

Diogenes at 1:08.
Yes, non compliant stuff shouldn’t be up to the residents to fix. The proprietor of the village should be sucking that up.
The things I was trying to flag are at the other extreme. That is, the residents engage a building surveyor who tries to win brownie points by highlighting stuff which really doesn’t matter. Things to ask:-
.1 If he starts talking about “As Builds”, ask him if the departures from drawing would have been legal if drawn that way;
.2 If he says “not to code” ask him whether it would have been legal at the time of construction, and all that has happened is regs have been amended*;
.3 Every time he raises a fault, ask him to assess it in terms of structural integrity and/or building efficacy and the time frame over which it could be remedied.
…..
* Our house was built in 1906. It is solid stone and brick on monster bluestone foundations. Not a sign of a crack anywhere. But I would bet a surveyor would find heaps of “not to code” discrepancies (as at 2023 code).

Speedbox
February 10, 2023 5:29 pm

Good grief.

Shell’s board of directors sued over ‘flawed’ climate strategy in first-of-its-kind lawsuit

Shell’s board of directors are being personally sued over their alleged failure to properly manage risks associated with the climate crisis. The lawsuit says the British oil giant’s 11 directors have breached their legal duties under the UK’s Companies Act by failing to bring their climate strategy in line with the Paris Agreement.

Environmental law charity ClientEarth, which filed the lawsuit, says it is the first case in the world that looks to hold corporate directors personally responsible for failing to prepare for the energy transition. “Shell may be making record profits now due to the turmoil of the global energy market, but the writing is on the wall for fossil fuels long term,” says Paul Benson, a senior lawyer at ClientEarth.

“The shift to a low-carbon economy is not just inevitable, it’s already happening.”

But the Shell board is persisting with a transition strategy that is “fundamentally flawed,” Benson claims. He says it leaves the company seriously exposed to the risks climate change poses to their success in the future – “despite the board’s legal duty to manage those risks”.

https://www.euronews.com/green/2023/02/09/shells-board-of-directors-sued-over-flawed-climate-strategy-in-first-of-its-kind-lawsuit

Rockdoctor
Rockdoctor
February 10, 2023 5:29 pm

The separation of powers is about all we have left. It didn’t do too well during Covid.

HB am not a legal o but an observation having been educated with civics at school and a small amount of law at Uni. I’d actually put forward it hasn’t done well at all lately. High and Federal Courts have been pushing the boundaries into Parliaments realm with activism recently and the Legislature or Executive have effectively accommodated it.

rosie
rosie
February 10, 2023 5:30 pm

It’s a bit wet and windy and I heard a few things go bump in the night.
Just trying to find out if the trains are running.
Supposed to be going to Syracuse today and the trains tend to hug the coastline.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
February 10, 2023 5:32 pm

rosiesays:

February 10, 2023 at 5:14 pm

it’s a a little bit cyclone

You were warned about this and ignored it.
OK, we might have said earthquake, but you were warned about natural phenomena.

rosie
rosie
February 10, 2023 5:33 pm

It’s a bit wet and windy and I heard a few things go bump in the night.
Just trying to find out if the trains are running.
Supposed to be going to Syracuse today and the trains tend to hug the coastline.
Oh My host says the trains are running. Now my biggest problem might be the hole in the ridiculously expensive Brooks shoes.

rosie
rosie
February 10, 2023 5:38 pm

I know how dare there be weather.
My host apologised for it yesterday and I told him I was grateful to him for taking personal responsibility.
I was planning to visit the Bellini museum yesterday afternoon but it was closed without explanation as was the tourist point. At least I got to visit the castle.
Not many people on the streets late afternoon, eventually just me and the poor umbrella salesmen.

rosie
rosie
February 10, 2023 5:42 pm

Actually Sancho I think the energy flow thingy ended up in Libya where it turned into wind and got all twirly and took off towards Sicily.

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
February 10, 2023 5:43 pm

Looks like the memo has gone out..

“Christian Nationalists” are the new bogeymen to scare the Dems back onto the plantation.

Most US Republicans sympathetic to Christian nationalism, survey finds
Survey also finds that 29% of white evangelical Protestants qualify as nationalism adherents while 35% qualify as sympathizers

According to a national survey released on Wednesday by the Public Religion Research Institute and Brookings Institution, 29% of white evangelical Protestants qualify as Christian nationalism adherents while 35% qualify as sympathizers.

Meanwhile, more than half of Republicans are classified as adherents or sympathizers, at 21% and 33% respectively.

Dunn Dunn DUNNNNNN!!!!

calli
calli
February 10, 2023 5:46 pm

Bellini museum yesterday afternoon but it was closed

Go to the pub and drink one instead.

calli
calli
February 10, 2023 5:46 pm

I’m a glass half full kind of gal.

Mother Lode
Mother Lode
February 10, 2023 5:51 pm

I just realised Burt Bacharach wrote the title tune of the original Casino Royale.

Out there somewhere is the guy who wrote the music for the sobfest version with Daniel Craig. He will be telling people he wrote the theme for Casino Royale and be elated by the praise, only to have someone ask “The original one or the recent one?” and watch the awkwardness in other people with going silent with half smiles, suppressing unjust resentment as if he had abused their good natures.

H B Bear
H B Bear
February 10, 2023 5:51 pm

Rockdoctor – having thought about it I’m not sure it was really a separation on powers issue at all. I was replying to a comment about police actions. Police powers are almost (if not exclusively) a matter for parliament and the executive. The courts vacated the field for the Executive under Covid regs. I would not be looking to them to curb Executive powers going forward.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
February 10, 2023 5:57 pm

Only the Federal Guv’ment can sign a treaty with another sovereign people.

I’m expecting a legal dogfight of unprecedented proportions…..the ideal verdict would be a High Court ruling that “First Nations” sovereignty was ceded when they could not defend those “Nations..”

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
February 10, 2023 5:58 pm

Supposed to be going to Syracuse today and the trains tend to hug the coastline.

Watch out for unfriendly Athenians in triremes.

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
February 10, 2023 6:05 pm

I posted an interview last week doing the rounds of Willie OAM interviewing an Australian foreign fighter saying that Wagner are effectively peer equivalent of Aust or US infantry, that claims of human wave tactics were hyperbole, and that the tactics employed were very good and effective.

I have read that wagner tend to have a “valuable’ tier of troops as well as a warm bodies approach to others.

Having said that I dont see a mercenary group wanting to squander its assets (warm bodies) or it doesnt have a product anymore.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
February 10, 2023 6:09 pm

Wagner are effectively peer equivalent of Aust or US infantry

May well be true, given woke.
Wagner’s um, material, though isn’t the highest quality.
Murderers and African plebs.

Indolent
Indolent
February 10, 2023 6:21 pm
132andBush
132andBush
February 10, 2023 6:30 pm

bons says:
February 10, 2023 at 5:12 pm

Well said!

It’s no more than a giant networking piss-up, populated by people not interested in and not up to the fight.

Crossie
Crossie
February 10, 2023 6:30 pm

But the Shell board is persisting with a transition strategy that is “fundamentally flawed,” Benson claims. He says it leaves the company seriously exposed to the risks climate change poses to their success in the future – “despite the board’s legal duty to manage those risks”.

Shell board are just looking after their own investors and their own business. Climate change does not pose any risks to their success in the future, the only threats are like the environmental charity that is suing them.

Sanity has been banished from Europe.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
February 10, 2023 6:31 pm

Thank Dr John, Fightback and his GST birthday cake for that one. It’s possible we may never see policy from an Opposition again in Australia again after that.

Paul Keating went from supporting a G.S.T as part of “Option C’ for tax reform, to opposing such a tax during the election campaign. He was never called of to explain his change..

Indolent
Indolent
February 10, 2023 6:33 pm
Miltonf
Miltonf
February 10, 2023 6:33 pm

Sanity has been banished from Europe.

yes and parasite lawyers killing the host they feed off.

Crossie
Crossie
February 10, 2023 6:36 pm

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha says:
February 10, 2023 at 5:57 pm
Only the Federal Guv’ment can sign a treaty with another sovereign people.
I’m expecting a legal dogfight of unprecedented proportions…..the ideal verdict would be a High Court ruling that “First Nations” sovereignty was ceded when they could not defend those “Nations..”

I would not take anything for granted with Albo in charge federally. I see him letting it all slide in favour of getting the “screech” over the line.

Roger
Roger
February 10, 2023 6:38 pm

The separation of powers is about all we have left. It didn’t do too well during Covid.

I’d actually put forward it hasn’t done well at all lately. High and Federal Courts have been pushing the boundaries into Parliaments realm with activism recently and the Legislature or Executive have effectively accommodated it.

The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.

(It’s a quote from Shakespeare, ASIO…OK?)

Separation of powers has always been a bit muddied in Australia.

We have politicians appointing judges, for example. Hello, Victoria.

Miltonf
Miltonf
February 10, 2023 6:39 pm

Jeez that Lowe is tenth rate crumb- a very highly remunerated tenth rate crumb.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
February 10, 2023 6:39 pm

Furious single woman shames her ‘horror’ date in flyers posted around one of Australia’s busiest beaches: ‘Ladies don’t let him do this to you’

A woman made posters slamming her horror date
The posters were seen around Sydney
She detailed their dating story and named and shamed the man

By Louise Allingham For Daily Mail Australia

Published: 12:58 AEDT, 10 February 2023 | Updated: 14:30 AEDT, 10 February 2023

A single woman has unleashed on a man who she had a horror date with, plastering posters of his name and photo all over their neighbourhood to warn others against meeting up with him.

The disgruntled woman, from Bondi, detailed their dating story on the flyer and said the man became agitated with her ‘because she wouldn’t go home with him’.

She said he then left her at the bar to foot the hefty bill he had racked up.

A resident spotted one of the posters by the beach and shared it with anonymous Instagrammer Miss Double Bay.

Indolent
Indolent
February 10, 2023 6:43 pm

I Thought I Was Saving Trans Kids. Now I’m Blowing the Whistle.

I left the clinic in November of last year because I could no longer participate in what was happening there. By the time I departed, I was certain that the way the American medical system is treating these patients is the opposite of the promise we make to “do no harm.” Instead, we are permanently harming the vulnerable patients in our care.

Today I am speaking out. I am doing so knowing how toxic the public conversation is around this highly contentious issue—and the ways that my testimony might be misused. I am doing so knowing that I am putting myself at serious personal and professional risk.

Almost everyone in my life advised me to keep my head down. But I cannot in good conscience do so. Because what is happening to scores of children is far more important than my comfort. And what is happening to them is morally and medically appalling.

Dr Faustus
Dr Faustus
February 10, 2023 6:43 pm

Speedbox says:
February 10, 2023 at 5:29 pm
Good grief.

Shell’s board of directors sued over ‘flawed’ climate strategy in first-of-its-kind lawsuit

Shell’s board of directors are being personally sued over their alleged failure to properly manage risks associated with the climate crisis. The lawsuit says the British oil giant’s 11 directors have breached their legal duties under the UK’s Companies Act by failing to bring their climate strategy in line with the Paris Agreement.

Environmental law charity ClientEarth, which filed the lawsuit, says it is the first case in the world that looks to hold corporate directors personally responsible for failing to prepare for the energy transition.

Step One: Determine whether the feisty ladies at ClientEarth have sufficient corporate and personal assets to cover Shell/Shell Directors’ costs. Because the costs will be eye watering – even at the ‘vexatious litigant’ stage

There is no way the Shell Board will have been negligent, or recklessly indifferent to the issue (Shell has a huge division given over to climate change policy) – so Shell’s D&O policy will respond and cover Directors’ costs. And when Shell does litigation, it does an extremely thorough job.

By the look of things, the ClientEarth folk may have a cat, or two.

Dr Faustus
Dr Faustus
February 10, 2023 6:45 pm

The week’s toil is over.
Time for a hand sanitizer and rosé spritzer.

Indolent
Indolent
February 10, 2023 6:49 pm
Crossie
Crossie
February 10, 2023 6:51 pm

Dr Faustus says:
February 10, 2023 at 6:45 pm
The week’s toil is over.
Time for a hand sanitizer and rosé spritzer.

Or a nice Margaret River white.

When my husband and I toured the region in 2011 we loved some the winemakers’ names, Howling Wolves caught my attention but I have not seen any of their products at Sydney retailers.

bons
bons
February 10, 2023 6:53 pm

Is the sanitizer taken before the rose or are they mixed together.
I have normally gone for Stolie to add a little extra boot but I’m willing to try sanitiser.

Crossie
Crossie
February 10, 2023 6:56 pm

I see that lions mane mushrooms are good for your memory. By the looks they could be related to enoki mushroom that I like to add to stir fries and omelettes. I must say I have not noticed any memory improvement.

Roger
Roger
February 10, 2023 6:56 pm

Time for a hand sanitizer and rosé spritzer.

Steady on…!

Zipster
February 10, 2023 7:25 pm

U.S. Is Most Powerful Indo-Pacific Nation: Report | China In Focus
00:43 U.S. Is Most Powerful Indo-Pacific Nation: Report
02:13 China Lost Top U.s. Trader Title in 2022
03:11 Classified Briefing Set on Chinese Spy Balloon
03:47 China Balloons Flew in U.S. Under Trump: Dod
05:40 China’s Growing Interest in Balloon Tech: Docs
06:45 Chinese Balloons Gathered Intel for Years: Officials
07:16 ‘We Will Act to Protect Our Country’: Biden on China During State of the Union
09:56 Company Tied to China Buys Terminals in Port of NY And NJ
16:00 India Bans 200+ Gambling, Loan Apps: Report

Morsie
Morsie
February 10, 2023 7:25 pm

I suspect half the problem with reading is the way it’s taught.You can’t read for the joy if reading you have to read and apply Marxist feminist or racist perspectives.
Takes all the joy out of it

johanna
johanna
February 10, 2023 7:26 pm

Victoria has a long history of being tilted to the Left. Remember Bill Hartley? Ideology has long been much more important in the political culture there.

I recall living there for a while in the early 1970s, as someone who grew up in Sydney. It was fashionable, indeed necessary, for artists, musicians and everyone else to assume a veneer of political ‘caring’. And, at demonstrations, there were (and still are) a hard core of leftists and anarchists who enjoy throwing bricks and the like.

The unions were central, as they still are. Their influence goes way beyond their numbers.

As a huge country, like the US, we do have separate cultures in our far flung cities.

H B Bear
H B Bear
February 10, 2023 7:29 pm

Time for a hand sanitizer and rosé spritzer.

Just crack a Woodie!

H B Bear
H B Bear
February 10, 2023 7:33 pm

Anyone who’s been in Victoriastan over the Melbournibad Comedy Festival doesn’t need convincing it really is another place.

Ed Case
Ed Case
February 10, 2023 7:34 pm

Wagner’s um, material, though isn’t the highest quality.
Murderers.

Murderers aren’t good at killing people?
Go on …
and African plebs
The Sudanese?
Mercenary and Australian Welfare Recipient are the only jobs they’re any good at.

Cassie of Sydney
February 10, 2023 7:35 pm

Vikki Campion on Credlin tonight….asked by Credlin about the Liberals, the seat of Aston, and who the Liberals should pick for the seat, Campion said….”it’ll be a test for the Liberals, will they put in a quasi Teal Liberal or a real Liberal because you’ve got to remember that at the last election, all those really offensive people everyone hated, they all kept their seats whereas all those inoffensive ones everyone loved (Sharma, Zimmerman, Higgins and co), they’re all out there looking for new jobs.

Nailed it.

Ed Case
Ed Case
February 10, 2023 7:41 pm

they all kept their seats whereas all those inoffensive ones everyone loved (Sharma, Zimmerman, Higgins and co), they’re all out there looking for new jobs.

Surely she didn’t say that?
I suspect you might have Higgins on the brain, Cassie of Sydney.

Crossie
Crossie
February 10, 2023 7:43 pm

Something keeps bothering me about the school bus fire that featured on tonight’s news. The whole bus seemed to be on fire evenly distributed over the length of it. The 200 litre fuel tank was blamed for the blaze. Isn’t a fuel tank localised in one spot? Wouldn’t the front only be alight if the tank was at the front? Or the back? What am I missing? Unless it was an electric bus with batteries placed along the length of it. Have I got it wrong?

Ed Case
Ed Case
February 10, 2023 7:44 pm

Why would you ask Vikki Campion about the Liberal Party?
It’s not like she would have any inside information, let alone an opinion worth listening to.

rosie
rosie
February 10, 2023 7:44 pm

Now my host tells me I might just find out at the station.
Great.

Zipster
February 10, 2023 7:46 pm

BIDEN BEHIND NORD STREAM BOMBING, PULITZER-WINNING JOURNALIST CLAIMS – ACT OF WAR AGAINST NUCLEAR POWER? WH DENIES

as an aside I am told most of the recently mobilised forces are not in ukraine but preparing for direct conflict with nato

Black Ball
Black Ball
February 10, 2023 7:46 pm

Jim Chalmers has a piece in the Hun. It’s all everything else to blame it seems:

This week we saw the independent Reserve Bank raise interest rates by 25 basis points to 3.35%. it continued the cycle for increases that began before the election, following the highest quarter for inflation in 2022 – the March quarter.

The strong expectation other market was for another increase and homeowners were expecting it as well. But knowing it’s coming doesn’t make it any easier to handle for millions of Australians already feeling the pinch.

Rising interest rates are a consequence of the inflation challenge that is weighing heavily on our economy – as pressures that come at us from around the world are felt around the kitchen table. The job for the independent Reserve Bank is to get on top of this inflation without crunching the economy. Central banks around the world face the same conundrum. This inflation challenge is the defining feature of our economy in 2023, just as it was in 2022-and that means addressing inflation is the primary Focus or the Albanese government.

Our plan to address inflation has 3 parts to it – responsible cost of living relief, dealing with supply chain issues and keeping spending under control.

The October budget funded cheaper childcare and cheaper medicines, and the May budget will include direct energy bill relief for households and businesses struggling with higher power prices. These measures are targeted and affordable, taking some of the pressure of household budgets without putting more pressure on inflation.

Roger
Roger
February 10, 2023 7:47 pm

Anyone who’s been in Victoriastan over the Melbournibad Comedy Festival doesn’t need convincing it really is another place.

All the nuts from up north eventually roll down and settle there.

Ed Case
Ed Case
February 10, 2023 7:47 pm

Something keeps bothering me about the school bus fire that featured on tonight’s news.

Ever seen a car on fire?
Yeah, the tank’s at the back, but the seats, upholstery, hood lining, wiring, it’s all extremely flammable.

Boambee John
Boambee John
February 10, 2023 7:49 pm

Ed Casesays:
February 10, 2023 at 7:44 pm
Why would you ask Vikki Campion about the Liberal Party?
It’s not like she would have any inside information, let alone an opinion worth listening to.

Mirror, mirror on the wall, has Ed got any interesting opinions at all?

Tintarella di Luna
Tintarella di Luna
February 10, 2023 7:49 pm

Mother Lodesays:
February 10, 2023 at 1:38 pm

Thank you for this excellent summary, Albo is such a pedestrian intellect, therefore and clearly totally out of his depth – seeing that twerp slushing meaningless sentences convincing not even himself. Must suck to be him, aware as he is of his utter ineptitude.

Zipster
February 10, 2023 7:49 pm

Bill O’Reilly on Hannity just now said “I know for a fact Susan Rice is the one running the White House“ Hannity asked him if he knew for sure or if he just thought that, O’Reilly told him he knows for a fact.

Roger
Roger
February 10, 2023 7:49 pm

…the May budget will include direct energy bill relief for households and businesses struggling with higher power prices.

Government creates a problem, then raids tax payers so it can be seen to be “doing something” about it.

Rinse and repeat.

Pedro the Loafer
Pedro the Loafer
February 10, 2023 7:50 pm

Trying to watch the cricket on Fox Sports.

Yap,yap, yap, do the commenters ever stop to take a breath?

It is like a tag team gibbering contest. FMD.

sfw
sfw
February 10, 2023 7:53 pm

Crossie, this video shows the fire at an early stage, confined to the rear of the bus in the engine bay. It would’ve spread very fast and within a few minutes the entire bus would’ve been involved.

https://www.skynews.com.au/australia-news/sydney-school-bus-catches-on-fire/video/9d8a5ad80c9f2b70ba162f7386b2d214

Black Ball
Black Ball
February 10, 2023 7:54 pm

He continues:

The supply chain problems our government inherited have sent prices higher and made us more vulnerable to international shocks. That’s why we’re investing in cheaper and cleaner forms of renewable energy and firming up the energy grid. That’s why we’re getting more people into apprenticeships and vocational training, as well as responsibly increasing our skilled migration intake. It’s while we’re making the National Broadband Network better, and it’s why where establishing the National Reconstruction Fund.

The third part of our plan is just as important – delivering a responsible budget with spending restraint as it’s hallmark. (Don’t laugh) On this measure, we’ve made substantial progress already. The October budget banked 99% of the revenue when falls over the next 2 years-when inflation is at its highest – so that we weren’t contributing further to inflation in the economy. This stands in stark contrast to the previous Coalition government’s record of returning just 40% of revenue upgrades to the bottom line.

Payments will fall in real terms over the next 2 years, and real spending growth average just 0.3% a year across the next 4 years. This is real spending growth at a rate nearly 10 times slower than the previous governments pre-pandemic average 2.6% a year.

We found 22 billion in new savings in our first budget, after our predecessors couldn’t find a cent of new expenditure savings in their last budget. While the impact of our new policy decisions came in under 10 billion dollars – with most spending for unavoidable measures left and funded by the previous government – the former government’s final budget had a 30 billion dollar impact through new policy decisions.

No matter which way the numbers are cut, our first budget did some heavy lifting to take pressure off inflation, and will continue that approach in our second in May. This is being noticed by the ratings agencies and international organisations that have back in our plan.

Robert Sewell
February 10, 2023 7:54 pm

rosie:

it’s a a little bit cyclone

But… Global Warming!

Roger
Roger
February 10, 2023 7:56 pm

“I know for a fact Susan Rice is the one running the White House“

Plausible because it would explain so much.

m0nty
February 10, 2023 7:56 pm

I posted an interview last week doing the rounds of Willie OAM interviewing an Australian foreign fighter saying that Wagner are effectively peer equivalent of Aust or US infantry, that claims of human wave tactics were hyperbole, and that the tactics employed were very good and effective.

You reckon convicts dragged from Russian gaols and given a month or two basic training in Belarus are equivalent to US infantry? Pull the other one.

The cope here by you is extreme. As has been said here for months, the winter has essentially been a stalemate, and any “victories” are purely for domestic propaganda to fuel internecine squabbling among Russian generals. There is little to no strategic value in these podunk villages. It will all be forgotten once the real offensives start.

Cassie of Sydney
February 10, 2023 7:57 pm

“I suspect you might have Higgins on the brain, Cassie of Sydney.”

LOL, I meant to write ‘Allen”, the former member for the seat of Higgins.

Bourne1879
Bourne1879
February 10, 2023 7:57 pm

Just sat down for Dr’s McCullough and Pierre Kory.

Hi Indolent wherever you are.

spotted Monica Smit.

Crossie
Crossie
February 10, 2023 7:57 pm

Thanks for the bus fire explanations.

Crossie
Crossie
February 10, 2023 8:01 pm

Zipster says:
February 10, 2023 at 7:49 pm
Bill O’Reilly on Hannity just now said “I know for a fact Susan Rice is the one running the White House“ Hannity asked him if he knew for sure or if he just thought that, O’Reilly told him he knows for a fact.

I recorded the show today so will have to play it to see.

This provides a bit more info to my comment today of the US not having a presidency but a regency. Is Susan Rice the regent or just the foot soldier for Obama, the real regent?

rickw
rickw
February 10, 2023 8:06 pm

You reckon convicts dragged from Russian gaols and given a month or two basic training in Belarus are equivalent to US infantry?

US Army basic combat training is 10 weeks, 14 weeks for Infantry. So if you cut out all the diversity training and practicals on penis tucking. It’s not a mile different.

(Just hilarious that someone with a physique that would see a cardiac arrest in week one of netball training is so into critiquing this!!)

Zipster
February 10, 2023 8:06 pm

SpaceX to curb Ukraine military’s access to Starlink satellite service | DW News
President Zelensky’s wish list for his military may suddenly be longer, as it might now include internet and communication satellites. On Wednesday Elon Musk’s firm SpaceX said it is curbing use of its Starlink satellite communications service by the Ukrainian military. Apparently, Ukraine’s use of Starlink to guide drone attacks against Russian forces is a no go. But why now? SpaceX sent thousands of Starlink terminals to Ukraine last year to provide internet communication. Now, the firm is saying Starlink was quote “never meant to be weaponized” and has taken steps to limit its use with drones. Starlink relies on a network of satelites in low orbit around the Earth to provide wireless communication.

Black Ball
Black Ball
February 10, 2023 8:07 pm

Final part:

Last week, the International Monetary Fund credited our spending restraint with helping to “support monetary policy in holding back excess demand”. And it said the October budget helped to “address structural economic issues by alleviating labour and skills shortages, promoting productivity growth, and facilitating the climate transition”

Several ratings agencies have reaffirmed Australia’s AAA credit rating in the month after the budget. Standard and Poor’s pointed to the government’s expenditure restraint in its decision, Fitch highlighted the budget’s broadly neutral fiscal stance to avoid exacerbating inflation, and Morningstar endorsed the banking of revenue windfalls, the targeted nature of our cost of living relief and the savings decisions we made.

Inflation is still unacceptably high, and it will stay high then we want it to for longer than we want it to. But there is growing evidence that inflation is now around its peak and will begin to moderate in 2023. Plenty other factors influencing inflation and interest rates are outside the government’s control – like the war in Ukraine, the volatility in global supply chains, and the independent decisions of the central bank.

It’s our job to use the levers we’ve got to get on top of the inflation challenge in our economy. There are three key parts to tackling inflation – helping people who are hurting most by it, addressing the supply pressures that help cause it and delivering a responsible budget to avoid adding to it and our plan hits all these targets.

So I guess pissing money away to those getting stung by price rises in energy whilst capping prices and indeed, as Plibbers did, putting embargoes on coal and investing in useless renewable rubbish is the best thing to do. FMD Australia, you are standing in it.

johanna
johanna
February 10, 2023 8:07 pm

Shooters and Fishers shooting themselves in the foot and hooking themselves in the nostril:

A New South Wales election candidate has backed away from old social media posts where he called for the Koran to be banned, capital punishment to be reintroduced, and the right to bear arms in public.

The Shooters Fishers and Farmers Party today announced Aaron Kelly as its candidate for the seat of Orange in the state’s central west.

It is currently held by Phil Donato, who was first elected as an SFF member in 2016 but has since quit the party.

SFF deputy leader Mark Banasiak said Mr Kelly was contesting the seat with the “hopes to replicate the success they had following the 2019 state election”.

At that poll, Mr Donato increased his primary vote to almost 50 per cent, after being elected three years earlier by just 50 votes.

He defected last year because of comments made by SFF leader Robert Borsak, who suggested a female MP should be ‘clocked’.

Mr Donato is running for re-election as an Independent.

What a mess.

rickw
rickw
February 10, 2023 8:09 pm

the National Reconstruction Fund

Government fixing what it wrecked would be a nice change.

rickw
rickw
February 10, 2023 8:10 pm

A New South Wales election candidate has backed away from old social media posts where he called for the Koran to be banned, capital punishment to be reintroduced, and the right to bear arms in public.

What a f’cking pussy.

There’s three massive vote winners right there.

Old Lefty
Old Lefty
February 10, 2023 8:18 pm

Memo to Chalmers – no need for a 6,000-word essay.

If you don’t like the way the Reserve Bis slamming on the brakes, get your foot off the accelerator. That is, stop borrowing and spending like a drunken sailor.

Old Lefty
Old Lefty
February 10, 2023 8:19 pm

‘Reserve Bank is’. Damn autocorrect!

Ed Case
Ed Case
February 10, 2023 8:21 pm

A New South Wales election candidate has backed away from old social media posts where he called for the Koran to be banned, capital punishment to be reintroduced, and the right to bear arms in public.

Yeah.
Was reading about that the other day.
It’s called a Belief Cluster.

Spooks posing as Right Wingers/Conservatives/whatever will profess belief in 3 things [ usually Anti Abortion, Capital Punishment and the right to bear Arms] to establish their Commenting cred, then gradually put forward their real agenda, usually contempt of Conspiracy Theories, abject admiration for the Police … you get the idea.

H B Bear
H B Bear
February 10, 2023 8:21 pm

A New South Wales election candidate has backed away from old social media posts where he called for the Koran to be banned, capital punishment to be reintroduced, and the right to bear arms in public.

Does that get you selected in or out? I better review my posts.

feelthebern
feelthebern
February 10, 2023 8:21 pm

If Joe Aston’s scoop is on the money, Dr Lowe is giving Dr Chalmers all the ammo he needs to shoot him.

H B Bear
H B Bear
February 10, 2023 8:23 pm

Who’s running you Groogs?

Vicki
Vicki
February 10, 2023 8:24 pm

Dr McCullough must be in Australia at the moment.

We are booked to see him speak inSydney on 13 February. Really looking forward to it. He is a hero. He put his career and reputation on the line to speak up for what he knew to be a medical fiasco.

johanna
johanna
February 10, 2023 8:25 pm

People here keep complaining about autocorrect. Can’t you switch it off?

I have a similar function on my system, and I just switched it off. Why can’t you do the same?

Just wondering.

Roger
Roger
February 10, 2023 8:25 pm

Is Susan Rice the regent or just the foot soldier for Obama, the real regent?

Oh, I don’t knbow…Take a stab in the dark (no pun intended).

Miltonf
Miltonf
February 10, 2023 8:28 pm

The SFL were destroyed by cronism, read corruption.
Love or loathe Abbott, he did attempt to stem the tide of corrupt cronyism by fighting to remove the ‘lobbyists’ but hadn’t chance especially with Turnbull undermining him and wealthy Libs on board the climate scam.
Once established in the Party, the cronies had to destroy the democratic membership base, which they did with extraordinary ease through removing any branch autonomy.
Critical to the coup was ensuring that only apparatchick candidates were offered for election and independant minded members were driven out, eg Kelly.
Morrisson was arguably the principal agent for implementation of uniparty crony power by refusing to support senior liberals falsely accused by the Left, and by instituting the antidemocratic National Cabinet secret cabal.
The National Cabinet belled the death of Australian democracy.
It is an indictment against Dutton that he continues to permit that animal to sit in the party room. Morrisson is the cronies’ Tik Tok .

That’s very interesting Bons. Make sense.

H B Bear
H B Bear
February 10, 2023 8:32 pm

It’s ISI isn’t it? That would explain the jacarandas. Are you any good against the turning ball? Contrary to popular opinion you might be useful after all.

Cassie of Sydney
February 10, 2023 8:35 pm

I really like Nancy Mace, the GOP rep from South Carolina. She’s intelligent, serious, measured and calm. Her takedown of the ex-Twitter head honcho and all round fascist Vijaya Gadde was brutal. Gadde is a sinister, lying totalitarian.

In December 2022, at another congress hearing, she confronted and exposed a lying trans pervert.

GreyRanga
GreyRanga
February 10, 2023 8:39 pm

All my mistakes are my own. So are my wife’s. Well, I’m responsible.

Wally Dalí
Wally Dalí
February 10, 2023 8:40 pm

Crossie, Howling Wolves was the label of a winemaking facility…. being ressurrected at the moment. Sales online at the dot com dot au…. I don’t know what they’re up to long term. It’s not uncommon for ten labels to be launched, and any which get traction can then be onsold…. famously one joint’s second tier wines eclipsed the top price stuff, and had to be moved off-estate, so to speak. But the owners cashed in on i.p. for something which might have a ten year lifespan, tops, before inflation will kill the mental value point.
Margaret River could have a fun coupla years. There are numerous estates on the breadline now, Allocade is positioning for asset sales, and LVMH have offloaded Cape Mentelle…

Roger
Roger
February 10, 2023 8:40 pm

If Joe Aston’s scoop is on the money, Dr Lowe is giving Dr Chalmers all the ammo he needs to shoot him.

His term expires in seven months.

Old Lefty
Old Lefty
February 10, 2023 8:41 pm
H B Bear
H B Bear
February 10, 2023 8:50 pm

His term expires in seven months.

Might just make it.

JC
JC
February 10, 2023 8:51 pm

I really like Nancy Mace, the GOP rep from South Carolina. She’s intelligent, serious, measured and calm. Her takedown of the ex-Twitter head honcho and all round fascist Vijaya Gadde was brutal. Gadde is a sinister, lying totalitarian.

In December 2022, at another congress hearing, she confronted and exposed a lying trans pervert.

She hates whites and particularly conservatives. I have a theory that in lots of ways Indians find it harder than most other Asians, including Chinese, to integrate into a white society. I believe their caste system and negative aspects of the dating market is the problem.

Gadde told the story about her life in the US growing up in Texas and coming face to face with KKK’ers. Judging how old she is, that’s a lie. I’m not saying there was no KKK in Texas during her youth but three wouldn’t count for much. 🙂 I suspect her problem was rejection in the dating market.

Boambee John
Boambee John
February 10, 2023 8:52 pm

The cope here by you is extreme. As has been said here for months, the winter has essentially been a stalemate, and any “victories” are purely for domestic propaganda to fuel internecine squabbling among Russian generals. There is little to no strategic value in these podunk villages. It will all be forgotten once the real offensives start.

All bow before the wisdom of Field Marshal m0nty=fa, VC and six Bars, KCMG, Dux of the Staff College and all round solid chap.

Crossie
Crossie
February 10, 2023 8:54 pm

Roger says:
February 10, 2023 at 8:25 pm
Is Susan Rice the regent or just the foot soldier for Obama, the real regent?
Oh, I don’t knbow…Take a stab in the dark (no pun intended).

Obama’s third term?

Boambee John
Boambee John
February 10, 2023 8:56 pm

H B Bearsays:
February 10, 2023 at 8:23 pm
Who’s running you Groogs?

Spooks.

shatterzzz
February 10, 2023 8:57 pm

The Oz/NSW education is bad Baltimore sez, “You ain’t even close” .. FFS!

Shock in the USA: In 23 schools in Baltimore, no student was able to pass the math exam
We are talking about over 2000 students, of which ZERO managed to take the state exam in this discipline.
Baltimore’s math scores were the lowest in the state of Maryland. Only 7 percent of students in grades three through eight demonstrated proficiency in math, meaning 93 percent were unable to solve problems at the curriculum level.
This is despite the fact that Baltimore schools enjoy some of the highest funding in the country – about $21,000 per student. Compare that with Japan, where $9,923 is allocated per

DrBeauGan
DrBeauGan
February 10, 2023 8:58 pm

J.K. Rowling is a notorious transphobe. That is, she thinks women and blokes pretending to be women are different.

I’d say anyone who claims she’s wrong is a whacko. The concept of truth is too hard for some people. They conflate a statement being true with it being socially approved.

Roger
Roger
February 10, 2023 8:58 pm

Obama’s third term?

Yep.

Zipster
February 10, 2023 9:09 pm

I have a similar function on my system, and I just switched it off. Why can’t you do the same?

chatgpt just smacked my fingers for trying

Zipster
February 10, 2023 9:12 pm

U.S. Shares Chinese Balloon Info With 40 Nations | China In Focus
00:45 U.S. Shares Chinese Balloon Info with 40 Nations
03:20 Experts Warn of EMP Attack on U.S. Via China Balloon
06:01 China Tested Balloon With Hypersonic Missiles in 2018
06:48 U.S., UK, Australia Perform China-Focused Air Drills
08:19 Australia to Remove Chinese-Made Surveillance Cams
09:39 Rally Against Medical Benefit Cuts in China’s Wuhan
11:19 Over 60 Deaths Unnoticed in Shandong Village: Local

JC
JC
February 10, 2023 9:26 pm

Reason magazine, finally a little sanity:

The balloon in question is absolutely massive, with “an undercarriage roughly the size of three buses,” as The New York Times put it. This would be an absolutely bonkers way to spy on the United States—especially since the images it picks up are reportedly no better than those it can obtain through satellites. One defense official said, as summarized The Washington Post, that the images a balloon like this could obtain “wouldn’t offer much in the way of surveillance that China couldn’t collect through spy satellites.”

Anyone on the ground could see the balloon in the sky without any sort of specialized equipment. To believe this was meant as a secret spycraft, you’d have to believe the Chinese authorities are just absolute morons, which (whatever else they might be) clearly isn’t true.

Zipster
February 10, 2023 9:31 pm
Zipster
February 10, 2023 9:37 pm

To believe this was meant as a secret spycraft, you’d have to believe the Chinese authorities are just absolute morons, which (whatever else they might be) clearly isn’t true.

just saunter over with a balloon carrying an EMP device and the real fun begins

rickw
rickw
February 10, 2023 9:44 pm

One defense official said, as summarized The Washington Post, that the images a balloon like this could obtain “wouldn’t offer much in the way of surveillance that China couldn’t collect through spy satellites.”

One hopes…

JC
JC
February 10, 2023 9:45 pm

just saunter over with a balloon carrying an EMP device and the real fun begins

Zip, it’s not precise, slow, visible and an ICBM would do a better job of delivering and EMP attack. Furthermore the US nuke silos are well protected.

rickw
rickw
February 10, 2023 9:46 pm

This is despite the fact that Baltimore schools enjoy some of the highest funding in the country – about $21,000 per student. Compare that with Japan, where $9,923 is allocated

Marxists can’t do Math?

Zipster
February 10, 2023 9:46 pm

Google Embarrass Themselves (A.I. War Is Heating Up)
In this episode we take a deep dive into the chaos surrounding the new A.I. war between Microsoft and Google.

Cassie of Sydney
February 10, 2023 9:47 pm

“Gadde told the story about her life in the US growing up in Texas and coming face to face with KKK’ers. Judging how old she is, that’s a lie. I’m not saying there was no KKK in Texas during her youth but three wouldn’t count for much. ? I suspect her problem was rejection in the dating market.”

When it comes to anything Gadde says, to use the words author Mary McCarthy once said about Lillian Helman, that “every word Vijaya Gadde says is a lie, including ‘and’ and ‘the’.”

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
February 10, 2023 9:58 pm

This one’s for agricultural Cats.
There’s an outbreak of sheep stealing in this part of the world. What you do is turn off the water to the paddock where the sheep are. You wait a day or so, until thesheep are all gathered round the water trough looking for water, arrive with a stock crate on a truck, a couple of accomplices and a dog trained not to bark. You then load the sheep and depart.

Some vooking douchenozzle turned off the water on a remote block, didn’t come back, and a mob of young ewes died of thirst. The owner of the sheep is demanding a fair trial, followed by summary execution for stealing sheep, and two skellums with a record for such misdemeanors have left the district in a hurry…

rosie
rosie
February 10, 2023 9:59 pm

Walk to station, once I get close to the esplanade it gets a little tricky so I take the streets with buildings blocking the wind that run parallel and when I get close enough, diagonal to the station.
Get to station, yeah some trains still running.
A few minutes later the dreaded ‘cancello’ is on the board for the first train to Syracuse and the next is ritardo 100′.
I ask at the ticket office.
Syracuse, today, no trains, no buses, no nothing.
My host has new guests so I’ve booked a place 350 metres from the station. It’s only $56 dollars so no biggie.
It’s not so cold despite being rather wet so am having a coffee at the station bar waiting to see if I can get in my place a little early.

All part of the experience.
I knew when I saw the waves lashing the coast there was little chance of a train.
The train from Messina to Catania occasionally ran right on the water. I’m sure the next leg would be similar. Didn’t fancy waves crashing over my carriage anyhow.

Zipster
February 10, 2023 10:01 pm

Google Embarrass Themselves (A.I. War Is Heating Up)

really pleased to see the woke f*cks at google about to get smashed, even if its by microsoft

Pogria
Pogria
February 10, 2023 10:04 pm

Obama isn’t pulling any strings. He is as retarded as Biden. He’s just younger and darker. It was no surprise he was nicknamed The Manchurian Candidate. The same people who were pulling his strings are the same that are changing Biden’s nappies now. They have developed a greater finesse and have tame Doctors on tap to administer whatever cocktail of drugs is needed. Jill Biden is simply the Caucasian version of Mike Obama. Both just as dumb and useful when it’s time for bottle feeding and nappy change.

Bourne1879
Bourne1879
February 10, 2023 10:05 pm

9pm and Dr McCullough not spoken yet.

Dr Kory spoke for an hour.

Zipster
February 10, 2023 10:06 pm

Zip, it’s not precise, slow, visible and an ICBM would do a better job of delivering and EMP attack. Furthermore the US nuke silos are well protected.

EMP dont need to be precise, it would make a mess of anything not hardened for EMP.

Any high-altitude EMP attack must be conducted at an altitude of 20 miles or above.) At 25 miles, the area of the Earth’s surface within line of sight of the blast, and thus theoretically exposed to the E1 pulse, would have a radius of some 440 miles

The issue is at what point would the US decide to shoot it down. This device got through to the very heartland of the US. Even if it gets near the coast its a potential disaster.

Crossie
Crossie
February 10, 2023 10:13 pm

Zipster says:
February 10, 2023 at 10:01 pm
Google Embarrass Themselves (A.I. War Is Heating Up)
really pleased to see the woke f*cks at google about to get smashed, even if its by microsoft

There has been speculation of the AI takeover of the world since md-90s yet all we get is hundreds of thousands of censors being employed by all of the media and info tech companies to do the thinking for them. There is no there there, the wizards behind the curtains are all transgender, queer and twisted lefties.

rosie
rosie
February 10, 2023 10:14 pm

Good to see medical diagnosis of people one has never even met is still in vogue.
And if ‘vaxx injuries’ are as prevalent as claimed why aren’t Australian hospitals overflowing?

Pogria
Pogria
February 10, 2023 10:18 pm

She hates whites and particularly conservatives. I have a theory that in lots of ways Indians find it harder than most other Asians, including Chinese, to integrate into a white society. I believe their caste system and negative aspects of the dating market is the problem.
JC,
your theory isn’t far off the mark. There have been many documented cases of Indians in the States bringing complaints against other Indians in their workplace. The caste system is still King in many workplaces over there that have a large Indian workforce. It, the caste system, has never really transferred here to Oz in a big way. I know a fella who has an Anglo-Indian girlfriend. He told me the mother, who is the Indian, would rabbit on about how she was High Caste and had servants etc in the old country. I told him to remind her that here in Oz, regardless of her status back home, here she was just another curry-muncher.

As much as our so called “betters” try to tell us otherwise, we are still instinctively egalitarian. Thank God.

Crossie
Crossie
February 10, 2023 10:20 pm

Pogria says:
February 10, 2023 at 10:04 pm
Obama isn’t pulling any strings. He is as retarded as Biden. He’s just younger and darker. It was no surprise he was nicknamed The Manchurian Candidate. The same people who were pulling his strings are the same that are changing Biden’s nappies now. They have developed a greater finesse and have tame Doctors on tap to administer whatever cocktail of drugs is needed. Jill Biden is simply the Caucasian version of Mike Obama. Both just as dumb and useful when it’s time for bottle feeding and nappy change.

You are probably right, Obama was simply better at reading his speeches. That still leaves us with Susan Rice and Valerie Jarrett, the same players who gave us Obama I and II and now Obama III.

With Michelle Obama being in the news recently are we looking at the Obama IV in 2024? It all smell of Argentina.

Zipster
February 10, 2023 10:21 pm

Zip, it’s not precise, slow, visible and an ICBM would do a better job of delivering and EMP attack.

also the US has a very effective anti-ICBM system, so its unclear how close an EMP ICBM can get

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
February 10, 2023 10:21 pm

From the Oz – I’ve posted the whole story.

Weird whodunit: renovation texts in Brittany Higgins trial

exclusive
By JANET ALBRECHTSEN
Columnist
@jkalbrechtsen
and STEPHEN RICE
NSW Editor
@riceyontheroad
10:00PM February 10, 2023

As if there weren’t already enough bizarre tangents thrown up by the Bruce Lehrmann rape case, now there’s this: who was using chief prosecutor Shane Drumgold’s phone to text his builder while Brittany Higgins’ evidence was being heard?

What’s not in dispute is that someone sent messages from Mr Drumgold’s phone to his builder asking for updates on renovations to his NSW south coast properties while he was in the ACT Supreme Court leading the prosecution of Mr Lehrmann last year.

But in a series of letters emerging from a legal dispute over payment for the renovations, Mr Drumgold, the ACT Director of Public Prosecutions, appears to suggest that it wasn’t him sending the texts to builder Matthew Thompson while the trial was in session, but his wife.
Read Next

On October 5 at 10.42am, Mr Thompson received a text message from Mr Drumgold’s phone requesting an update on work at his Batemans Bay property.

“Thanks mate – can you update me on the South St progress,” the text says.

At that moment, according to trial transcripts, the court was watching the police record of ­interview with Ms Higgins.

On October 10 at 12.52pm, Mr Thompson received another text from Mr Drumgold’s phone asking for a completion date as a tenant was due to move in the following week.

“Hey Matt – sorry the Real ­Estate are wanting a date for the new lease – can you confirm 18 October?”

Mr Thompson responded: “Hey Shane just waiting for the stone guy to get back to me he said he’d let me know by the end of the day.”

At that moment, according to the trial transcript, Mr Lehrmann’s police record of interview was being played to the court.

Mr Drumgold hired Mr Thompson last May to renovate his two south coast properties, one in Batemans Bay, the other in nearby Surf Beach, but he then complained of defects in both properties.

In December Mr Drumgold, who had already paid $104,087 for work at one property, texted Mr Thompson, saying he would not pay any outstanding money until both jobs had been satisfactorily completed. He later offered a further $5913 “in full discharge of all works”.

Mr Thompson, who says he is owed $33,912 for the work, then hired Canberra lawyer Ben ­Aulich to pursue the matter.

When Mr Aulich pointed out in correspondence that the texts were sent while the court was in session, Mr Drumgold responded by seeming to suggest that it was his wife who had sent the text from his mobile phone.

“I must say, your bizarre theory of simultaneously leading evidence and sending SMS messages is rather confusing, particularly in light of some expertise in the remarkable capacity for Apple products to send and receive SMS from multiple ­devices should a couple happen to jointly manage a property portfolio,” Mr Drumgold wrote in a letter to Mr Aulich on January 18.

He said Mr Aulich’s “thinly veiled allegations of some undefined impropriety” were “misguided”.

Mr Aulich responded by asking Mr Drumgold to confirm that he was stating that it was his wife who sent the texts, pointing out that his phone records might be subject to the discovery process or the subject of a subpoena, once proceedings started.

When Mr Drumgold hired his own lawyers, Mr Aulich told them he wanted “clarification on whether (Mr Drumgold) took positive steps to mislead me about the origin and author of the Text Messages”.

“If the statements made by your client in his email of 18 January 2023 referred to above are false and/or misleading it is incumbent on him to correct them and to do so as soon as possible,” Mr Aulich told the lawyers.

In the midst of this legal argy-bargy Mr Aulich noted that the Barrister’s Rules and the Solicitors Conduct Rules prohibit a barrister or solicitor from knowingly making a false statement to the ­opponent and confer a duty to correct any false statement as soon as the practitioner becomes aware of it.

Mr Aulich said that when proceedings were started he would adduce evidence including court transcripts from the Lehrmann trial “showing that your client was not ‘on his feet’, rather evidence of Ms Higgins and Mr Lehrmann was being played to the jury at the exact time the Text Messages were sent from your client’s ­mobile telephone”.

He observed that Mr Thompson had addressed his comments to “Shane” and this had not been corrected; and that Mr Thompson had never met or discussed the renovations with Mr Drumgold’s wife, Natasha.

Mr Aulich also alleges that ­despite repeatedly asking Mr Drumgold to deal with him and to stop contacting his client directly about this dispute, Mr Drumgold had continued to do so.

Mr Drumgold told The Weekend Australian that he was in “a small civil dispute” with Mr Thompson, who “carried out contracted building works at a South Coast property that it subsequently transpired he was not licenced to carry out, that do not comply with planning requirements or processes and accordingly now constitute unlawful building works.”

Mr Drumgold said: “It appears Mr Thompson and his lawyer Mr Ben Aulich have realised that Mr Thompson has acted unlawfully and in breach of several provisions of the Home Building Act 1989 and the State Environment Planning Policy Codes that has resulted in a significant loss to myself, and their legal position is untenable, so are leveraging from my current profile to use misinformation to argue their case through the media rather than the courts, no doubt in the hope of avoiding the inevitable legal proceedings.”

Mr Drumgold said he would be engaging only through the appropriate legal channels, “and will not be commenting further on this personal matter”.

He did not address specific questions put to him by The Weekend Australian, including whether he texted Mr Thompson while the court was in session; if so, whether that was appropriate; and if not, who did send the messages.

Mr Aulich and Mr Drumgold have a shared history.

On December 6 last year – ­before Mr Thompson became his client – Mr Aulich’s law partner, Peter Woodhouse, demanded Mr Drumgold’s resignation and an investigation by the ACT Integrity Commission into the decision to prosecute Mr Lehrmann for the alleged rape of Ms Higgins.

Mr Woodhouse, the managing partner of Aulich lawyers, said an investigation was needed after revelations by The Australian that Australian Federal Police believed there was insufficient evidence to prosecute Mr Lehrmann but could not stop the DPP from doing so because “there is too much political interference”.

Mr Woodhouse’s defence of the AFP surprised many in Canberra’s cloistered legal world ­because the AFP had earlier charged Mr Aulich with conspiracy to launder.

Mr Aulich has pleaded not guilty in that case. His defence team – led by Steve Whybrow, who acted for Mr Lehrmann in the rape trial – alleges police used ­illegal actions and entrapment in the operation that led to the charges against Mr Aulich.

That case is still before the courts.

Mr Thompson told The Weekend Australian that Mr Drumgold instructed him not to seek development approval for the works on either property because the ­approvals “would take too long”. He said that Mr Drumgold’s refusal to pay the balance owing for his work was “a kick in the guts”.

“I needed that money to ­finance other jobs and now I’ve had to can those other jobs,” Mr Thompson said.

“I can’t take my kids out on weekends because I don’t have the money. It’s stressing me out big time.”

Mr Lehrmann pleaded not guilty at trial and has at all times denied the allegations against him. The DPP has now withdrawn the charges.

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
February 10, 2023 10:24 pm

Rosie.
It’s an eels wait to see a quack in Feraldton.
Hospital is flat out.

I don’t think it’s the only location like that.

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
February 10, 2023 10:25 pm

Weeks turning into eels?
My hovercraft is full of weeks…

Crossie
Crossie
February 10, 2023 10:26 pm

The issue is at what point would the US decide to shoot it down. This device got through to the very heartland of the US. Even if it gets near the coast its a potential disaster.

The reason the balloon was not shot down over the Aleutian Islands when it was first noticed has nothing to do with China. It was allowed to traverse the continental US to tell the populace who is in charge. They will let the enemy at the peasants if they don’t vote as they are told and keep quiet.

Pogria
Pogria
February 10, 2023 10:27 pm

The latest Please Explain is up. It’s a ripper.

Zipster
February 10, 2023 10:28 pm

Good to see medical diagnosis of people one has never even met is still in vogue.
And if ‘vaxx injuries’ are as prevalent as claimed why aren’t Australian hospitals overflowing?

The simple answer is that hospitals have nothing to offer the vast majority of vax injured, (same applies for long covid). Unless you have diagnosed with myo or peri carditis you are on your own.

Even with the carditis, they have virtually nothing to offer. Neither do the bulk of doctors. These injured people often end up on long covid forums looking for answers, or they suffer in ignorance of available help.

Pogria
Pogria
February 10, 2023 10:31 pm

Crossie,
what you said about Susan Rice and Valerie Jarrett, absolutely agree.

rosie
rosie
February 10, 2023 10:32 pm

There’s a GP shortage, especially in rural areas. But okay Geraldton, maybe, if the hospital isn’t just getting excess from lack of GPs.
I was looking for articles re Australian hospitals being jammed and wait times blowing out, even if the msm don’t accept the Vax injuries theory, which is newsworthy, but I’m not seeing anything recent.

rosie
rosie
February 10, 2023 10:34 pm

It’s very confusing Zippy, symptoms not severe enough for hospital treatment, GPs can’t treat either, but then died suddenly.

Pogria
Pogria
February 10, 2023 10:35 pm

Australia has sent a Spy Balloon to China.

JC
JC
February 10, 2023 10:39 pm

also the US has a very effective anti-ICBM system, so its unclear how close an EMP ICBM can get

They saw the balloon before it even entered US airspace, first just before Alaska, then Canada, and finally over Montana.

This thing was freaking massive and easily tracked by either the human eye or a satellite. Sticking an EMP device on a balloon would likely end up being a worse bet than an ICBM.

Look, if it came to nuclear blows, China would try everything to hit the US badly. However, the US retaliation would  mean that China as a functioning nation would cease to exist. There’s no hiding, and there’s no potential for China at this stage to lop off the American head.

JC
JC
February 10, 2023 10:40 pm

There’s a GP shortage,

Yes, we keep hearing that, but why?

JC
JC
February 10, 2023 10:44 pm

Someone the other day mentioned that ballooning can be reasonably precise. So, why would China send a balloon that they know can be massively loaded and easily visible if they know it will ruin relations with the US even more? The excerpt I posted has a point.

rosie
rosie
February 10, 2023 10:48 pm

Too many girls working part-time and too many choosing to specialise rather than GP?

flyingduk
flyingduk
February 10, 2023 10:49 pm

This is despite the fact that Baltimore schools enjoy some of the highest funding in the country – about $21,000 per student. Compare that with Japan, where $9,923 is allocated

The real denominator is ‘per teacher’, not ‘per student’ – those $ are largely there to benefit the teachers, not the students.

rosie
rosie
February 10, 2023 10:50 pm

According to the AMA both men and women GPs are choosing to work shorter hours, I thought they were shockingly underpaid.
AMA report projects “staggering” GP shortage

JC
JC
February 10, 2023 10:53 pm

Something doesn’t smell right about this, Rosie.

Never heard of GP shortages before COVID and now there is suddenly. I wouldn’t trust the AMA about anything.

flyingduk
flyingduk
February 10, 2023 10:54 pm

And if ‘vaxx injuries’ are as prevalent as claimed why aren’t Australian hospitals overflowing?

Its Friday night, why not pop down the closest public emergency room and do some research. While you are waiting, google ‘ambulance wait times’, ‘ramping’ and ‘elective surgery wait times’ also.

rosie
rosie
February 10, 2023 11:00 pm

These issues are not new.
Incidentally my son suffered two separate injuries, one in November and the other in early January, on neither occasion did he have to wait long at the local public hospital.

JC
JC
February 10, 2023 11:00 pm

Poll: DeSantis leads Trump for 2024 GOP nod — but not if Haley and others split the vote
The Florida governor edges out Trump and performs better against Biden in head-to-head matchups.

This touches on something really important, I think. The more Republican candidates who enter the primaries, the more likely it is that Trump will win because of his strong core vote. They will cannibalize the non-Trump vote in the primaries. This is why Trump congratulated and encouraged Haley to enter the race the other day. Just a view.

rosie
rosie
February 10, 2023 11:01 pm

And by the way I’m in Sicily enjoying an adverse weather event.

JC
JC
February 10, 2023 11:09 pm

Its Friday night, why not pop down the closest public emergency room and do some research. While you are waiting, google ‘ambulance wait times’, ‘ramping’ and ‘elective surgery wait times’ also.

Duk, I had a conversation with a senior doc friend who works at Monash Hospital, which is a huge hospital complex servicing in south-east Melbourne. He reckons that although they still wear masks, they’re not wearing those N95 thingsif they choose not to, and staff no longer give a rats about about COVID. If a patient comes in with COVID they’re no longer doing the “extra nine yards.” They’re now treating it as endemic and mostly non-threatening. Hey, that’s what he said, and I have no reason to doubt him.

Indolent
Indolent
February 10, 2023 11:09 pm

Never heard of GP shortages before COVID and now there is suddenly.

Doctors had to get the vax too. Some might have been injured or worse, some might have refused to get it and lost their jobs, and some might have refused to cooperate on ethical grounds and been prosecuted/ persecuted.

DrBeauGan
DrBeauGan
February 10, 2023 11:10 pm

If someone was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, wouldn’t it be very uncomfortable for the mother?

Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity

Some vooking douchenozzle turned off the water on a remote block, didn’t come back, and a mob of young ewes died of thirst. The owner of the sheep is demanding a fair trial

The owner of the sheep should start by explaining why his sheep ran out of water (this time via human intervention) & he didn’t notice until they were all dead.

If the Westoz govt prosecutes blokes for the manner they throw a scrub bull, they sure as heck will go for a moleskin clad flat-brim hatted member of the squattocracy.
Will he do jail time?

m0nty
February 10, 2023 11:19 pm

LOL. Poor Monty is projecting again. It must require lots of copium to see Ukraine throw reserve after reserve into the defense of Solodar, Bakhmut, and the like, and still believe they serve no operational or strategic significance.

If Putin wants his soldiers to march boldly into the line of sight of enemy machine guns as if it’s a high-stepping procession past the Kremlin, it would be uncharitable for his enemies not to mow them down.

JC
JC
February 10, 2023 11:22 pm

Indolent

That balloon you’re floating is 20X bigger than the Chinese one.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
February 10, 2023 11:30 pm

The owner of the sheep should start by explaining why his sheep ran out of water (this time via human intervention) & he didn’t notice until they were all dead.

The block was some distance from the main homestead, he checked the sheep twice a week, as is normal practice, there was a heat wave, and you don’t really bargain on someone turning the water off.

JC
JC
February 10, 2023 11:32 pm

Were Australian medical schools graduating students in 2020 & 2021?

Jorge
Jorge
February 10, 2023 11:35 pm

the images a balloon like this could obtain …

Wasn’t it monitoring comms ?

Satellites for images.

Bourne1879
Bourne1879
February 10, 2023 11:43 pm

Major wait trying to leave carpark at GC Convention Centre.

One of those weird events. Sat down talking to guy next to me at McCullough event. Telling him about Club Grubbery. As I am mentioning CG a guy sits down behind me and it is the person who first told me about CG ! His was the first interview on CG I ever watched.

Plenty of familiar faces. Monica Smit from Reignite Democracy Australia, Dr William Bay who is going after AHPRA, Malcolm Roberts.

Good on Clive for inviting the speakers. I think it was a loss making venture for him despite nearly full house. That is because he has had so many big ads in the papers.

More to follow but a great reception for all the speakers.

One funny moment in my area was when a guy got up about 40 minutes in and was upset with Dr Kory as the guy kept saying Covid was not real. Clearly low on the IQ scale if bought tickets to an event where three Dr’s going to talk about Covid.

Jorge
Jorge
February 10, 2023 11:45 pm

The caste system is still King in many workplaces over there

It’s interesting to look at their cricket team in that light.

Pakistani Muslims don’t have that problem. They have others.

Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity

The block was some distance from the main homestead, he checked the sheep twice a week, as is normal practice, there was a heat wave, and you don’t really bargain on someone turning the water off.

Quite so.
There’s a lot to be said for a solar powered trough-cam & so on, like they use on those yuuge sheep runs that have a very light carrying capacity (i.e. near uneconomic to drive around the water points)

Someone who pulls that sort of duffing trick needs/deserves to be set up. Depending who sets them up whether they get cops & courtroom, or piss & pickhandles flogged out of them.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
February 11, 2023 12:32 am

The block was some distance from the main homestead, he checked the sheep twice a week, as is normal practice, there was a heat wave, and you don’t really bargain on someone turning the water off.

F*ckwit.
If it is hot you don’t do “normal practice”.
You get round the troughs non-stop from daybreak to midnight if you have to.
Anything less is animal cruelty.

m0nty
February 11, 2023 9:09 am

The foreign fighter reported the casualties sustained by the Ukrainians were higher than those of Wagner.

Uh huh, I am sure Ukraine high command share their casualty numbers with some random grunt.

P
P
February 11, 2023 10:53 am

Satanic Grammy Awards…Brought to You by Pfizer
The reason why the present vaccine regime is satanic has nothing to do with the reality of vaccinations as a form of immunization but, rather, with the rhetoric and mechanisms by which they have been enforced on the population.
Crisis Magazine – Opinion – Kennedy Hall – February 10, 2023

The ardent vaccine disciples have acted like cult followers par excellence. They have looked on the unvaxxed masses as if they were heretics cast into the exterior darkness because they did not acquiesce to the self-evident teachings of the guru. They have not only looked on the unvaccinated or vaccine-skeptical with distrust, but with resentment or disdain.

In one breath, they are concerned for the immunological salvation of the unvaccinated “other” who has not entered into the secret mysteries of Covidian Illuminism; and in the next breath, they are disgusted by the unacceptable views of people so unenlightened that they dare not agree with the beliefs of the cult.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
February 11, 2023 12:43 pm

Anyone on the ground could see the balloon in the sky without any sort of specialized equipment. To believe this was meant as a secret spycraft, you’d have to believe the Chinese authorities are just absolute morons, which (whatever else they might be) clearly isn’t true.

Not long before we visited the DMZ in South Korea the North Koreans sent up four drones over the territory beyond the DMZ thus into South Korea. The South Koreans sent up six fighter jets immediately in response, to shoot them down, although they are so small it was difficult to do so.

These drones were not intended as anything but what the South Koreans call ‘provocation’, just saying nah, nah, narny nah nah. This Chinese balloon is provocation of the same sort. It was a mistake for Biden to let them get away with it. OTT counter-responses seem to work better. There haven’t been any more drones over from North Korea since. Relationships with the North see-saw, they are currently on a downward move. At one stage in they were so good that the SK’s built and partly staffed a major industrial complex producing consumer durables right there in NK over the other side of the DMZ. It is now empty and unused.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
February 11, 2023 1:10 pm

I’ve mentioned here how useless the Prince of Wales Hospital in Sydney was re my second-eldest son presenting with severe synovitis in both wrists, with associated skin eruptions on his hands, in the week after receiving his second Pfizer shot, which was offered only three weeks after the first one he had.

The ordered an x-ray of one of his wrists for any fracture, took no notice of the bilateral presentation, and sent him on his way with Panadol for the absolutely extreme pain he was suffering and his total inability to use his hands for daily living. I pushed him to ask his local GP to order an MRI for which I paid which showed the severe synovitis, the the GP neither then investigated nor treated. My son has never previously had any sort of problem with his wrists.

He cannot claim any compensation for two months of incapacity and extreme pain as no doctor will certify that his injury was vaccine related. My sister, a retired specialist and GP, says she has had very similar but rare cases over the years of autoimmune responses such as this to vaccines or other introduced allergens. She lives far away and my son was not her patient, and she no longer keeps a Provider Number current, so she can be of no help to him, other than suggesting from her knowledge base that the injury was vaccine related. Any GP or hospital Emergency Department he saw should also have known that. They should also have immediately order further investigations.

Thankfully time is now working its magic and his wrists are almost back to normal even though this injury caused a very significant disturbance to his life and life-chances at a critical time for him.
Many Covid vaccine-injured people however have not been so lucky.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
February 11, 2023 1:14 pm

Promise of reform. I am so sick of the errors I unwittingly make in my typing.

I promise to proof read any comment I make here in future prior to pressing submit, regardless of whoever is calling for me or whatever other issue is claiming my attention.

signed E (L) B. of today’s date.

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