A friend of mine is a teacher. Walking our dogs together last night she said they had after school staff meeting. An Aboriginal woman spoke to them…about her story and the black fella history.
I asked did she request you vote Yes. Her Response :Not directly but that was certainly the message underneath.
Me: well?
Her: i dont like having views shoved down my throat.
So its a no from her and a no from me.
To the Yes campaign Bring out your next tactic.

Johnny Rotten

Oct 5, 2023 12:11 AM

Oh, you know I live in melbourne, you live in Sydney, but telling us where in the UK you hail from is a classified secret in case Chinese spies find out? You complete dolt.

LOL. It is none of your business. So, try something else. I already have have the Chinese and Japanese ladies all over me …

Are you sure they are ladies?

Rough handling.
That’s the way you do it.

“As an Aboriginal man, I’ve seen too many of my people dying at a very early age. We are lucky to get to 50 years old.”

Names and causes of death, please.

Lest we forget? The Prime Minister cheerfully appeared to do exactly that on June 4.

We’re courting Vietnam as a market for agricultural exports that used to go to China.

(That’s an observation re the context, not an endorsement of Albanese’s actions, btw.)

“As an Aboriginal man, I’ve seen too many of my people dying at a very early age. We are lucky to get to 50 years old.”

Thank you for my early chuckle of the day Mr Fisher. Geez I better get myself together, I’m 5 off the half century!

the judges said Australia’s first nations peoples faced “unacceptable differences in health and socio-economic status”.

That makes it sound like it is something that happens to them (whether or not through the malice of others).

They ought to have said “partly complicit in…” as far as lifestyle choices are concerned.

But I would also blame the industry that has been telling them non-stop that they are victims, that they were robbed, that they are owed some other life without any responsibility on their part, and they will only get anywhere if they submit to a special benefactor class that has their best interests at heart. Promise!

Going to be interesting if the number of votes recorded exceeds the number of people enrolled.

It doesn’t even have to be that.
They are bound to publish duplicated voter numbers (people crossed off the roll more than once).
So, let’s say Yes gets over the line narrowly, both nationally and in four states, and the number of duplicate voters exceeds the “majority”.
I think that would be grounds for a Court of Disputed Returns (HC) challenge.

C.L.

Oct 5, 2023 9:56 AM

Chris Kenny takes a journo’s vibe knife to a lawyer’s gun fight

Kenny has buried any objectivity he had in the potato patch about three months ago.

It’s almost as if a pen and beer coaster were involved in the planning. Courier Mail:

A multimillion-dollar crisis accommodation announcement was cobbled together in the 24 hours before the state government sold it as the key solution dreamt up at its flagship housing roundtable.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk billed the state government’s takeover of disused student accommodation at Griffith University’s Mount Gravatt campus in September 2022 as a plan which would “help solve one of the multiple housing issues” Queensland faced.

But bombshell emails and texts seen by The Courier-Mail have exposed how the university was largely blindsided by the government on the rapid progression of the deal – which was ultimately dumped in April, and cost taxpayers more than $2 million.

An almost 2000-page Right to Information dossier obtained by the LNP has released hundreds of exchanges since September, including how one Griffith executive said the state government had previously been “lukewarm” on the idea, concerns of a lack of due diligence, and questions about bushfire management and security on the site.

A 10-word text message sent by State Development Director-General Mike Kaiser to Griffith Chancellor Andrew Fraser the afternoon of September 15, 2022 – the day before the housing roundtable and the announcement – appeared to be an attempt to seal the deal.

Mr Fraser – former Queensland Deputy Premier and Treasurer – and Mr Kaiser are both former Labor MPs.

In the 1:07pm text Mr Kaiser says, after appearing to attempt to call Mr Fraser: “want to use Mt Gravatt student residences for crisis accom”.

In a later exchange about 3.33pm with Griffith University Vice-Chancellor Carolyn Evans and chief operating officer Peter Bryant, Mr Fraser says “I just got the phone call”.

“Said we would not seek a commercial return but come knocking on other matters. Banked.”

The housing deal was ultimately a flop, with taxpayers forking out more than $2 million in development works which went nowhere.

Announcing the project would not go ahead on the floor of parliament in April, Deputy Premier Steven Miles blamed issues with surrounding forest management and fire risks – issues which the emails expose were already risk factors over the site.

An email sent on the morning of September 16 shows Mr Bryant apologising to his team for the “short notice”, saying “its all happened in less than 24 hours”.

“EDQ (Economic Development Queensland) called yesterday arvo and went from being lukewarm on the idea to indicating the arrangement would be announced today,” he wrote.

Another messenger exchange between two Griffith staff on September 15 shows one saying “FYI. State government is going to announce tomorrow they are taking over student accommodation at Mt Gravatt for crisis accommodation.”

The responder says “oh wow. From when? 2025?”

The reply is: “next week”, to which the other person responds “ohhhhh woah ok”.

And an email from Griffith’s Sophie Betts – Major Projects and Planning – on the 16th described the deal as a “great opportunity”, but also says “would generally prefer for DD (due diligence) to occur before an announcement – but I understand the imperative!”

Following a November Courier-Mail report about a lack of progress two months after the announcement the site would be used as an “urgent” housing fix, an email from Professor Evans expresses concern they are the source of the hold up.

In response she is assured by Mr Bryant it is an issue on the state government’s end, saying: “We met with EDQ and the broader State development team just over a week ago – to that point they have been conducting their own due diligence (with full support from Griffith team).

“Since then we have been discussing a site access and license, I believe we have only just received EDQ’s first attempt. Other than refusing to allow them to start work until the access and use license is sorted, Griffith has not delayed in any way.”

Professor Evans replies: “Very helpful – thanks. They will be incentivised to come to a sensible conclusion.”

Mr Miles told The Courier-Mail the university and EDQ began discussions about potential uses for the campus months prior to the housing roundtable, given Griffith intended to vacate the campus between late 2025 and early 2026.

“Once the decision was made to progress with investigative work to use the former student accommodation, an announcement was made quickly to get work underway as soon as possible,” he said.

“The proposal was fast-tracked with the sole aim of delivering more housing as quickly as possible.”

He said after the investigative work found the site wouldn’t work, the state government made the decision – after consulting with QShelter – to purchase homes directly on the private market.

“Instead we purchased 65 houses and units, delivering 165 extra rooms. This accommodation will remain in the states social housing stock permanently,” he said.

“The technical studies undertaken, including responding to emerging bushfire, environmental and site access issues will assist with future use investigations for the Mount Gravatt campus, when the site is handed back to the state.”

Emails released from Griffith managers highlight concerns about the potential bushfire risk in the area and the need to work it through with the government as far back as October 2022 – six months before the deal was pulled.

LNP Deputy Leader Jarrod Bleijie said the emails and texts “proves Labor cared more about building an announcement and headline for themselves instead of actually putting a roof over the heads of Queenslanders”.

“This is the definition of chaotic policy on the fly where a last minute text message cost Queenslanders at least $2 million and didn’t deliver a single home,” he said.

“This is the price Queenslanders are paying for Labor’s chaos and crisis.

“This shows Labor’s housing summit headline never stacked-up and it was always about announcing their way out of a media crisis, not delivering genuine solutions to the Queensland housing crisis.

The Premier unveiled the plan immediately after the first roundtable in the lead up to the October housing summit, which was convened in response to reporting from The Courier-Mail.

Ms Palaszczuk announced at the time Griffith University had approached the government after it identified 200 unused beds it could offer for emergency accommodation.

I imagine there are a few vacancies in those positions now?

Point taken, but it’s still a remarkably tactless gesture, even by Albanese’s standards.

The price to pay for admission of our wheat & barley into their market?

In a later exchange about 3.33pm with Griffith University Vice-Chancellor Carolyn Evans and chief operating officer Peter Bryant, Mr Fraser says “I just got the phone call”.

“Said we would not seek a commercial return but come knocking on other matters. Banked.”

There you have it.
A neat summary of ALP politics right there.

feelthebern

Oct 5, 2023 10:14 AM

I imagine it would be hard to in-person vote multiple times if the AEC systems are updated real-time.

Exactly.
A digital database which can be ticked off electronically.
And I know this will set the Big Klaus hares running, but perhaps an image taken of the person claiming to be the voter (to be destroyed after polls declared and challenges exhausted) with decent penalties for misrepresentation.

I voted on Tuesday.
This is the first time I’ve voted and the AEC chaps were working off laptops.
In the past it was the big paper based ledger.

But not real-time update of the central roll?

Top Ender

Oct 5, 2023 10:21 AM

Meanwhile in Danistan the workers are helping themselves:

Victorian thieves are responsible for almost a third of Australia’s $85m of stolen fuel revenue each year

Brisbane Lions supporters down for the weekend.

Wodney’s a hedge fund manager running
Bovver Capital Management out of the Anguilla with Marty and Monty. The three y’s.

Re complexity of language

There was a time when translating the odd bit of origami with Nelson’s A Modern Reader’s seemed like it could be fun.
Bound by the 214 historical radicals and the Twelve Steps
there’s no way to profit from intuitive leaps or likely combinations
such as you get with the Roman alphabet.
There are no seven league boots, only rote learning.

So, to the extent that personal agency is excluded (for cultural or practical reasons), ‘solutions’ are going to be ineffective and pretty dreadful for all concerned.

Damned by low expectations.

Yet the missionaries were racists, apparently.

Ms Allen is from the country.

Wiki informs me that Ms. Allen is from Bendigo.

In this part of the country, she’d be called a “townie.”

Wiki informs me that Ms. Allen is from Bendigo.

She is indeed. As is Lisa Chesters the federal MP. The latter being about as useful as Marcia Langton’s beautician.

Here you go Bruce O Newk:

The Voice is struggling to gain support in Labor’s coal mining heartland with voters in key Hunter electorate turning away from ALP’s vision.

As pre-polling kicks off, of the 30 people The Daily Telegraph spoke to in the Hunter, 23 were voting No and 7 were voting Yes but in the western and southwestern Sydney electorates of Parramatta and Banks the results were more evenly split with the biggest chunk of voters still undecided.

The Hunter Region has been a key seat for Labor, one it had to work to turn, in both state and federal elections.

Those against the Voice named the risk of division and a lack of clarity from the government as the reason behind their vote.

Muswellbrook couple Luke and Cathlin Wells will be voting No, calling the Voice proposal “uncosted” and without “sufficient evidence” it will help Indigenous Australians.

“It’s a largely it’s uncosted policy. There’s no sufficient evidence there would be positive outcomes for the Aboriginal community,” Mr Well said.

“No one is giving us a clear message yet. All the people can believe great change can happen with a yes vote. What have they been doing so far? Why haven’t they been implementing change without the vote?

“Constitutional recognition would be an amazing outcome if we could achieve that somehow that would be great but this isn’t the way how. An additional body is just going to siphon more money to the white men.”

“There wasn’t enough info given on what the yes vote was all about. Very vague,” Stuart Crichton, 59, from Cessnock said

“It doesn’t seem like they have (the government) an idea.”

Mudgee local Mick Bremer, 50, added: ”I don’t think we have enough detail. The government hasn’t been transparent enough.”

Cessnock man Seth Eagleton was one of several people who feared the Voice would be divisive: ”It’s divisive, I don’t like it.”

Others who were going to vote Yes said they hoped a Voice to Parliament would improve outcomes for Indigenous Australians.

”It’ll be better for the Indigenous people in the long run … It should’ve been done way before now,” Cessnock woman Lena Mouat said.

Upper Hunter Shire Mayor Maurice Collison said the overwhelming community sentiment was leaning towards a No vote.

“A lot of people are asking what exactly does this mean?,” he said.

Responding to the findings and the threat of blowback in Labor seats, Education Minister Jason Clare moved to distance the Voice from being a Labor idea.

“Over the next two weeks we’ve all got an opportunity to do what we should have done 122 years ago, to recognise the fact that Australia didn‘t start when Captain Cook arrived. That we’ve got a story that goes back 60,000 years,” he said.

”This is not a Labor idea, this is not a Liberal idea. This is the idea of Indigenous Australians asking us to work with them, asking us to listen, holding out their hand.”

Nationals leader David Littleproud said the “angst” around rising cost of living pressures meant voters were tuning out of the Voice proposal.

“The issue for Labor is that it’s their referendum and it’s Albanese’s referendum and when cost of living is hurting so badly, they feel that Labor has for the past 17 months focused on the Voice rather than cost of living,” he said

In key seats in the city, Labor had more of a chance with the majority of people in Banks and Parramatta undecided just two weeks out of the referendum.

In Banks, which covers suburbs across southwestern Sydney including Oatley, Padstow and Peakhurst, nine people said they would vote Yes, six were in the No camp while 10 were undecided.

The seat is held by Liberal David Coleman but was historically a Labor electorate with the party securing a 3.1 per cent swing its way in the last federal election.

At the state election, the electorate of Oatley, which falls within Banks, was almost within the reach of Labor.

Early childhood educator Kate Armstrong said she had at first thought she would vote yes but since listening to the opinions of Indigenous advocates in the ‘no’ camp was no longer sure.

“I really don’t know now,” the 35-year-old said.

“I need to do more research because I’m not voting for myself.

“Listening to the opinions of Indigenous people from both camps, I really don’t know what to think.”

Retiree Greg King, 70 said he would be voting yes as it was the right thing to do.

“We’ve tried other policies and it’s been a disaster,” he said.

“I’ll be voting yes because it’s the right thing to do and hopefully it will change the outcomes for Indigenous Australians.”

In Parramatta, Labor’s key Western Sydney CBD, seven people said they would vote Yes, six said they would vote No while a dozen were undecided.

Parramatta auditor Joyce Thiravium said she would likely do some research on the day of the referendum to decide how to vote.

The 26-year-old said while she was aware of the campaign it wasn’t something she believes involved her.

“I haven’t thought about it very much,” she said. “I’ll definitely do some research the morning of and decide which is the best way to vote.”

Friends Madi Floody, 22, Rhea Fernandes, 31 and Anne Amituanai, 25 all said they had not decided how to vote.

Ms Floody said it was a difficult decision to make as it did not directly affect them. “I’ll ask my family and friends their thoughts,” she said. “But more than likely I’ll decide on the day.”

Oath Lan from Parramatta said she also had more research to do before deciding.

“I’ve got the ‘yes’ pamphlets, I’ve seen the campaigners but I still don’t know how I’m voting,” she said. “I’ve got a lot more reading to do before the day.”

MP Andrew Charlton, who holds the seat on a thin margin of 3.5 per cent, said his office had been using WhatsApp to dispel misinformation about the Yes case to win over the undecided voters.

“The level of undecided voters means there’s everything to play for in the last two weeks and we have a good chance of convincing the those still making up their minds.”

Parramatta has been in the sights of the Yes camp with five visits from Yes campaigner Noel Pearson in the past four weeks and another four from moderate Liberal and former premier Barry O‘Farrell.

Did I notice a waft of poo from Clare’s direction?

Top Ender: Anastacia Palletjack faces a state election in October next year. It is municipal & shire council elections that are in March.

Palachook is up for re-election in March next year. Good luck with that one.

She gave her State of the State address yesterday.

A raft of promises were made to woo voters, all presumably funded by coal royalties.

ABC report here.

Goolag’s widget today is for the World Cup opening day.

The image is of two batsmen-ducks scoring runs.

Ducks.

Runs.

They don’t really understand cricket, but they do understand how good it looks if pretend – even when their pretence reveals how little they know.

Black Ball at 11:39 quoting from, I think, the Daily Telegraph.

Parramatta has been in the sights of the Yes camp with five visits from Yes campaigner Noel Pearson in the past four weeks and another four from moderate Liberal and former premier Barry O‘Farrell.

What a ridiculous thing to say.
Or do.
That is the sort of thing you would hear in a Federal or State election:-
“The XYZ party is focusing on the marginal electorates of Springfield and Shelbyville which are seen as critical to winning a majority.”
It is meaningless in a Referendum where state and federal totals are the only things that matter.
Winning Parramatta and losing the whole shooting match is no consolation.
And Parramatta won’t swing the National total.
Basically what they are doing is taking comfort in preaching to the converted.
Which is precisely what Ray Martin was doing with his “dinosaurs and dickheads” speech – basking in the applause of the faithful. I doubt he would have tried that on in Bathurst or Bendigo.

Which is precisely what Ray Martin was doing with his “dinosaurs and dickheads” speech – basking in the applause of the faithful.

I’ve got two words for Ray Martin:

John Safran.

Malmo, like fantasy football, marrying into assets and joining the middle class are long running gags. I can’t imagine what the common denominator is?

” Facts are that there are laws which relate to handling of classified information and there is no evidence that Trump declassified anything, especially not the classified documents he removed to his personal address after leaving office. “

You do realise, of course, that it is US law that the President does not need to follow any procedures in order to declassify a document – in fact, even a statement to the effect that the document is no longer classified is not required, he just has to act. In this respect, there is none to gainsay his decision – he is the head and ultimate authority of the executive branch, and can declassify any document at will, or authorise any individual to see any document at will.

Regardless of the above, the Presidential Records Act specifies that the president alone determines what is an official government document and what is a personal document. Even should the official record keepers disagree, they can not bring criminal charges, only civil ones. And the precedents are in Trump’s favour – during an FOIA case, the judge decided that the records agency had no authority to demand any record from the president. This was Clinton holding onto recorded conversations “in his sock drawer”. This was never appealed as far as I know, or if it was, was denied.

This will, IMO, all wash out in Trump’s favour after the usual long-delayed and costly exercise of trial, appeal all the way to SCOTUS and so on – and that is, after all, the point. The process IS the punishment. The ultimate outcome is neither here nor there, preventing Trump from getting elected is all that matters – and having him indicted, then convicted prior to the election is all that matters. That he will have these things reversed on appeal is of no concern – that will be after the election anyway.

One also can’t help wondering what the next Trump indictment will be, and what Biden Inc corruption revelation it is designed to distract from will be.